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January 2006New England Business Objects User Group

Migrating Business Objectsto XI Release 2

A First Look

Migrating Business Objectsto XI Release 2

A First Look

Randy Champagne, DataSense Solutions

Copyright 2006 DataSense Solutions, Inc.. All rights reserved.

Topics

IntroductionRefresher Past, Present & FutureBusiness Objects Migration OverviewA Lab Migration with the Import ToolThe Resulting Lab EnvironmentQuestions


Introduction

What this presentation is going to cover?

A little Business Objects history and direction

Migration concerns from a Business Objects perspective

Migration of a Business Objects 6.5 environment to XI R2

Results and observations


Topics



Refresher Business Objects Reporting History

Where have we come from?

Crystal Decisions Crystal Reports (premier reporting tool) Crystal Enterprise (enterprise reporting platform) Crystal Analysis (OLAP), etc

Business Objects BusinessObjects (traditional client/server reporting suite) Business Objects Enterprise (web reporting platform) Dashboard & Performance Manager (web-based dashboarding and performance

management suite), etc


Refresher Business Objects Reporting Today

Where are we now?Business Objects

Legacy: Crystal Reports Crystal Enterprise Crystal Analysis BusinessObjects Business Objects Enterprise Dashboard & Performance Manager etc

XI Release 1 Consolidated Crystal Products with Universes &

WebIntelligence (thin client reporting)

Where are we all going?....

http://www.businessobjects.com/


Refresher The New Reporting Platform

Shock and awe



Better days ahead

R2

R2



What is XI Release 2 (R2) ?The first completely consolidated BI platform since the merger

Report Tools and Types Supported: Crystal Reports Business Objects full client WebIntelligence OLAP Intelligence

A Crystal Enterprise based server architecture



What functional applications are part of R2 Enterprise Reporting?Metadata management:

Designer (universe management from traditional Business Objects) Business View Manager (business view management from Crystal)

Security and Administration Central Management Console (CMC system management tool from Crystal Enterprise) Central Configuration Manager (CCM server configuration tool from Crystal Enterprise)

System Monitoring Auditor (new monitoring suite for XI architecture necessarily different from 6.x Auditor)

Web Environment InfoView (hybrid of Business Objects InfoView and Crystal ePortfolio portals)

Reporting Desktop Intelligence (formerly BusinessObjects full client) Crystal Reports (extended reporting product from Crystal) WebIntelligence (thin client report tool from Business Objects) OLAP Intelligence (successor to Crystal OLAP tools) Live Office (new product integrating report functionality into Microsoft Office)



Who can move to R2 ?

New deployments (no existing products to migrate)

Crystal products (versions 8.5 XI)

Business Objects products (versions 5.1.4 6.5.x)


Topics



XI Release 2 Migration Tools

Import Wizard

The single migration tool for XI R2

Migrates users, security, BI content and EPM content

Conversion Tool (Optional)

Converts full-client documents already migrated to Release 2 to Web Intelligence documents

Better than previous version from 6.x, this tool takes advantage of new Web Intelligence features in Release 2


Import Wizard ProcessingWhat is the Import Wizard and what does it do?

The Import Wizard is an independent Windows application

Connects to the source system to import server files (e.g. personal docs, inbox docs, etc.) to the destination FRS server

Connects to the source repository to import users and security to the destination CMS database and resources (e.g. universes, reports, etc.) to the to the destination FRS server


Initial Considerations

Migration MethodologiesSingle Pass Method (small to moderate sized deployments)

Everything is migrated in one pass of the Import Wizard

Old system is retired after validation and the new system then becomes production

Incremental Method (large deployments)

Import Wizard migrates users, groups and resources in stages

Old and new systems run parallel in production while users, groups and resources are moved and validated to the new system

This is not an upgradeA new environment is desirable to insure a clean import of files from the old environment, pre-production validation and disaster recovery


Migration Phases

Migration in Four Phases1. Assessment and Planning

How will your products change?What functional impact will change have?How will your resources be affected?What will you need to deploy to achieve migration goals?

2. Building the XI Release 2 EnvironmentInstall, configure and test a new R2 system

3. Importing Resources into the New EnvironmentUsing the Import Wizard

4. Tuning, Validation & AdoptionCheck the migration tool log fileTweak security and folders as desiredValidate reports for calculation changes, etc.


Assessment & Planning - Product Changes 1/2

Desktop Software Status CommentsSupervisor Replaced Most Supervisor and 'Supervisor over the Web' tasks are now managed by the

Central Management Server (CMS). Universe-based parameters have been moved to Designer (i.e.connection overrides, row restrictions, etc.)

Designer Updated Same functionality as before but now also incorporates some functionality previously included in Supervisor

BusinessObjects Updated Same functionality as before but now renamed 'Desktop Intelligence '. Some calculation engine changes, too.

2-tier (client/server mode ) Combined Not true client/server in R2. You must have a CMS available for login.

3-tier (ZABO mode) Combined Install from CD required; no downloaded installation through InfoView.

How have Desktop products changed in R2?


Assessment & Planning - Product Changes 2/2

Server Software Status CommentsData Integrator Unchanged You can re-install over the existing version.

On Windows New No Upgrade - New environment required

On UNIX New No Upgrade - New environment or side-by-side installs on same machine

WebIntelligence Updated Same product but now with synchronized DP's, etc. Renamed Web Intelligence

InfoView Hybridized Combined Business Objects InfoView and Crystal ePortfolio features into new architecture for new look and feel to both.

Auditor Updated New system auditing product based on new architecture

Broadcast Agent / Publisher Replaced Scheduling capabilities are handled by the CMS

Renamed Performance Management, consisting of:

Dashboard Manager

Performance Manager

Set Analysis

Predictive Analysis

Process Analysis

Cluster Infrastructure

Application Foundation Updated

How have Server products changed in R2?


Assessment & Planning - Resource Migration 1/2

How will Resources migrate to R2?

Resources Migration Method

Comments

Security domains Import Wizard Users and groups are migrated as users and groups in the CMS.

Universe domains Import Wizard Universe domains are imported as universe folders in the CMS. Distributed universe domains are consolidated in a single file system.

Document domains Import Wizard Document domains are imported as document folders in the CMS. Distributed document domains are consolidated in a single file system.

BusinessObjects (.rep) Import Wizard Note: Calculation engine changes can change report behavior.

VBA add-ins (.rea) N/A VBA add-ins dont work on the server in XI R2

WebIntelligence (.wqy) Import Wizard .wqy are automatically converted to .wid format during import. Note: Calculation engine changes can change report behavior.

WebIntelligence (.wid) Import Wizard Note: Calculation engine changes can change report behavior.

Inbox Documents Import Wizard These documents are migrated into the users Inbox folder in the CMS (for migrated users only). You cannot choose which Inbox documents you migrate (all or nothing)

Personal Documents Import Wizard These documents are migrated into the users Favorites folder in the CMS (for migrated users only). You cannot choose which Inbox documents you migrate (all or nothing)

Universes Import Wizard Restrictions are migrated and stored as InfoObjects in the CMS repository. In R2 they are called access restrictions and are managed with Designer.

Stored procedures Import Wizard Stored procedures are migrated as connection rights

Connections Import Wizard Connections are automatically imported in R2. User variables are converted to comparable variables in R2.

Repository Structure

Documents

Semantic Layer


Assessment & Planning - Resource Migration 2/2

How will Resources migrate to R2?

Resources Migration Method

Comments

BCA Schedules Recreate No import of BCA schedules. Schedules must be recreated in R2. Also, in R2 a job can only consist of one refreh and one action. Multiple-action jobs and complex conditional jobs cannot currently be recreated.

Publisher Email Publications Recreate Recreate using the CMC (Central Management Console) scheduling capabilities

WebIntelligence OLAP Recreate Recreate using OLAP Intelligence

BusinessQuery Docs Recreate Recreate using Live Office

BusinessObjects OLAP Recreate Recreate using Web Intelligence or Crystal Reports

Application Foundation repository Import Wizard 6.1.b, 6.1.3 through 6.5 repositories are updated in place

Documents (.afd) Import Wizard Documents pull required universes

Sets, metrics, goals, calendars Import Wizard Metrics pull required universes

Dashboards, menus, applications Import Wizard Dashboards pull .afds, .reps and .wids, which pull universes.

Role definitions in Performance Manager 6.5 Recreate

Scheduling

OLAP

Application Foundation


Assessment & Planning Old Architecture

The client tier contains products or features that run on the end-users computer (either as a standalone application or in the web browser).

The presentation layer contains the third-party web and application servers, as well as the Business Objects components hosted on them (server SDKs, portal pages, servlets, WIDispatcher, and HSAL).

The application services layerprovides the essential framework and services to the processing layer, such as WISessionManager, WILoginServer, and WIStorageManager.

The processing layer contains report engines, as well as the additional components that implement business logic (portal workflows, repository access, scheduling, etc.).

The database tier is made up of the databases containing the data used in documents and reports.

BusinessObjects 6.x Architecture


Assessment & Planning New Architecture

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 Architecture

The client tier contains client applications.

The application tier includes the web and application servers, as well as the Business Objects components hosted on them.

The intelligence tier manages the XI R2 system, maintaining security information, routing requests to the appropriate processing layer services, managing audit information, and storing report instances for rapid report viewing.

The processing tier accesses the data and generates reports. This layer contains fewer servers, or processes, than the BusinessObjects 6.x processing layer. Transactional workflows are therefore simplified, with each server processing requests for aspecific type of object. In a BusinessObjects 6.x context, this corresponds to a dedicated role such as WIReportServer, which processes WebIntelligence 6.x reports only, rather than a provider of shared services such as WIQT, which plays a shared role in several types of processing workflows.

The data tier is made up of the databases containing the data used in reports.


Topics



The Source & Destination Environments

Lab Environment Parameters (Source and Destination)Windows 2003 ServerIIS 6.0 Web/App ServerSQL Server 2000 Repository

1 Domain per Type (e.g. Document, Universe, Security)Multiple Report Data Sources

SQL Server 2000 (Universe) Spreadsheets Freehand SQL XML File Web Connect Add-in

Source DestinationBusiness Objects Enterprise 6.5.2 Business Objects XI Release 2ASP (COM) ASP.NET


Using the Import Wizard

Defining the system source type, the repository source and the location of any server files to migrate



Defining the destination CMS server



Choosing Object Types and their associated security to import



Determining which universes and connections to migrate



Choosing import scenario options



Choosing Users and Groups and their database credentials options to bring over



Summary and action progress indicator


A Couple of Bugs in the Works

A small number of objects didnt migrate


A Couple of Bugs in the Works

Initial use of the Import Tools appeared to knock all server processes into disabled status

Could not reproduce this bug with additional migration attemptsResolution required enabling all server in the CMS


Topics



The New Management Interface (CMC)

Security in 6.5 Security in XI Release 2

Management interfaces are VERY different


Security Structure Translation

User Groups are all accounted for in the new system



6.5 Group Hierarchies converted to Groups and Sub-Groups in R2



User Group membership converted to Sub-Group membership


Resource Structure TranslationUniverses & Reports migrate and Domains convert into Object Folders


Report Navigation for Users

In InfoView report objects can be navigated by Folders or by Categories

The Document Domain from 6.5 is now represented as one of many potential Object Folders in InfoView

Report Categories from 6.5 have migrated over and continue to act as filters for reports in InfoView


Enhanced Designer

Designer inherits Universe Overrides and manages them as Access Restrictions


Migration Summary

Migration StatusGroups, Users and User Passwords were imported and maintained an appropriate relationship with resources

The document and universe Domains were converted to folders as containers for reports and universes

Universes migrated and maintained their parameters

Most Reports migrated, though a couple inexplicably failed to migrate

Database connections migrated

Categories migrated

Inbox documents and Personal documents migrated


Migration SummaryFunctional Observations

Universe overrides (e.g. row restrictions, etc.) properly transferred and continued to work in R2

Excel data sources worked

XML data sources worked

Freehand SQL data providers worked

Web Connect data sources did NOT migrate due to the fact that add-ins are no longer supported

Schedules DO NOT transfer

Dual hierarchy for security migrates but the restrictions part of the tree no longer serves any purpose


Conclusion

Comments and shameless plugMigration tools are highly useful in helping migrate systems from a traditional Business Objects platform to the new R2 platform

However, due to a major system paradigm shift, moving to XI Release 2 from 5.1.x or 6.x represents a VERY significant challenge

DataSenses experienced migration consulting services can help mitigate risk, speed up delivery and insure a successful outcome


Questions

Questions?

Contact Information

Email: [email protected]

Web: http://www.datasensesolutions.com

mailto:[email protected]://www.datasensesolutions.com/

Migrating Business Objectsto XI Release 2A First LookTopicsIntroductionTopicsRefresher Business Objects Reporting HistoryRefresher Business Objects Reporting TodayRefresher The New Reporting PlatformRefresher The New Reporting PlatformRefresher The New Reporting PlatformRefresher The New Reporting PlatformRefresher The New Reporting PlatformTopicsXI Release 2 Migration ToolsImport Wizard ProcessingInitial ConsiderationsMigration PhasesAssessment & Planning - Product Changes 1/2Assessment & Planning - Product Changes 2/2Assessment & Planning - Resource Migration 1/2Assessment & Planning - Resource Migration 2/2Assessment & Planning Old ArchitectureAssessment & Planning New ArchitectureTopicsThe Source & Destination EnvironmentsUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardUsing the Import WizardA Couple of Bugs in the WorksA Couple of Bugs in the WorksTopicsThe New Management Interface (CMC)Security Structure TranslationSecurity Structure TranslationSecurity Structure TranslationResource Structure TranslationReport Navigation for UsersEnhanced DesignerMigration SummaryMigration SummaryConclusionQuestions