SAP BI 4.2 – 45 features in 45 minutes(Can we reach 60?)

Rajesh Ponnurangam

Infosol Inc

BI 4.2 - 45 features in 45 minutes

2

Administration Features1

Semantic Layer Features2

3

4

Web Intelligence Features

Demo (Selected Features)

3

BI Administrators’ Cockpit

1

Cockpit Features

• Enables an administrator to collect basic data about BI 4.2 system

• High level information on servers, scheduled jobs, Content Usage and application

• Restart failed server & jobs

Recycle Bin2

Recycle Bin

• Restore accidently deleted content

• Needs to be Enabled

• Only Public folders content is supported

• Documents automatically removed after a threshold

CMS Driver & Universe3

Unlock CMS Database

• Reporting and Analysis solution for CMS Database

• Sample universe is delivered

• Sample Reports are delivered

CMS Driver & Universe4

Unlock CMS Database

• Pre-packaged Universes & Reports

Audit Driver & Universe5

Unlock Audit Database

• Reporting and Analysis solution for Audit Database

• Sample universe & Reports are delivered

Promotion Management6

Promotion Management

• Selective retrieval of objects from an LCMBIAR file

• Removal of flash dependency

• Lesser load on App server

Promotion Management7

New Wizard

• Enable mass copy of CMS content

• No coding/scripting required

Administration Console8

BI Admin Console

• Automate repetitive tasks across several landscapes

• https://<host>:<port>/BOE/BIAdministrationConsole

• Supported workflows covers

• Change Document ownership

• Document refresh

• WebI Change Source

User Notification9

User Notification

• Broadcast information to a single user/group or all users

• Specify the timeline for notification

• Send notification as a email

Server Groups Exclusivity10

Server Groups

• Servers added to Exclusive ServerGroup will be excluded from the common pool

• servers part of “Exclusive ServerGroup” will be freed from the general load of the system

Server Groups Exclusivity11

Server Groups

• Assign Server groups at folder level for scheduling/ viewing Crystal and WebI reports

• Assign Server groups at User group level for scheduling/ viewing Crystal and WebIreports

Scheduling Features12

Adaptive Job Server

• Support for Custom Headers for Email

• Email from BI Platform (AJS) will have custom header in recipient headers.

Scheduling Features13

Security Setting

• Security settings to authorize users/usergroups using specific scheduling destinations

Scheduling Features14

2 New Schedule Status

• Warning: For WebI Reports that are partially refreshed or partially run

• Expired: Reported when the object has passed the end date(paused) or maximum number of retries

User Deletion15

User Deletion

• Detection if a user has objects attached before deletion

Authentication Configuration

16

List of Auth Types

• New property “logon.authentication.visibleList” is introduced in BIlaunchpad.properties and CmcApp.properties, which will ensure only limited authentication types are available for end user

SAP BW Integration17

Support for BW Events

• BW Event in CMC Events

• New REST API to fetch and Trigger BW Events

• New Process Type called “BOE Trigger Event in BW is introduced”

SAP BW Integration18

BW Password Change

• Change Password in LaunchPad and CMC for BW users registered in BI Platform

• Users get prompted to change BW passwords at

• Initial Logon

• Expired Passwords

Virus Scan Integration19

File Repository Virus Scan

• Support the scan of all files committed to the File Repository for viruses• Directory input of Virus Scanadaptor

Other Misc. Features20

Inbox Limit

• Setting added to limit the number of documents by user or user group

23

Other Misc. Features20

24

WebI Fiori Preferences20

Filtering Objects in IDT21

Stored Procedures in IDT22

Stored Procedures

• The stored procedure result

set is exposed as one or more

tables in the data foundation

• More advantages that UDT

Linked Universes23

Reduce TCO

• Same principle as universe

linking with UDT and UNV

• Changes to a core UNX are

propagated to all derived UNX

universes

• Derived universes are

independed universes and can

be amended

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IDT – Refresh Structure25

Refreshing Data Foundation

• Replace a column instead of

removing and adding it(After

renaming in Database)

• Refresh selected Tables

IDT Usability Enhancements26

IDT Usability Enhancements26

31

IDT Preferences27

Bex Query Universes28

Bex Universes

• Display BEx queries in a

more user friendly way

• Bex Query universes use the

BICS Connector

• Auto generated Business

Layer with ability to rename,

regroup and delete objects

from SAP BEx

• Using the NAII=A option (new in SAP BI 4.2 SP7)▪ Displays all prompts, both mandatory and optional ones, the values of

which are not set in the URL.

▪ Prompts with values set in the URL are not displayed.

▪ If all mandatory and optional prompts are set in the URL, the Prompts dialog box is not displayed.

• sOutputFormat=P option for PDF

• sOutputFormat=E option to export a WebI document as an Excel file

33

WebI – OpenDoc URL29

• sReportMode=Light (for full screen display)

• Use Kiosk Mode in Chrome

34

WebI – OpenDoc URL29

Shared Elements30

Shared Elements

• Share WebI content with

Other Users

• Shared element is saved with

the report part, corresponding

datasource, data providers,

variables and formats

• Browse and reuse WebI

Content created by other

users

Commentary31

Comments on WebI

• Option to store in Audit

database or selected database

• Comments can be copied

• Managed by new security

rights

• Authorizations on commenting

can be defined on folder or

object level

Geo Maps32

Geomaps with WebI

• Integration of geographical

database into WebI

• New WebI Charts: choropleth,

geobubble and geopie

Time Hierarchy33

Calc Extensions

• support for time dimension to

better analyze time in datasets

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View Time Filtering34

New Element Types

• The View Time Filtering is based

on a Business Security Profile

created for this universe and

assigned to users and groups.

• These Business Security Profiles

already apply when you refresh

the query

• No Database refresh needed

• Improves Report Opening time

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Intra Document Linking35

Document Linking

• Provides Guided analysis in a

document

• An alternate way to navigate

from one report to another

HANA Online36

HANA Direct access

• Connect directly to HANA views

• WebI Calculations are delegated

to HANA

• Usual WebI workflow with Query

panel

• HANA hierarchies are supported

Java/DHTML Parity37

Free hand SQL support

• Create a document based on Free-Hand SQL in BI Launch Pad

• The ability to use Free-Hand SQL is now controlled via a security right set at connection level

• Text file can be used as a data source

DeskI Parity38

Same Level Breaks

• Combine multiple dimension into a single Break

DeskI Parity38

Same Level Breaks

• Define breaks based on values within the document

DeskI Parity38

Delete Trailing blanks

• Query level feature equivalent to a RightTrim([Object])

DeskI Parity38

Export to Excel

• Export to Excel with Class Name• If a duplicate name exists,

Export to Excel shows the class name of the objects in it’s header

DeskI Parity39

Export to Excel

• Export to Excel with Class Name• If a duplicate name exists,

Export to Excel shows the class name of the objects in it’s header

HTML Export39

Fiori LaunchPad40

© Copyright 2017 InfoSol Inc.

Fiori LaunchPad40

51

Fiori LaunchPad40

Section and Zoom41

WebI Report Navigation42

WebI Filters42

WebI Filters42

WebI Interactive Viewer43

57

Refreshable Option44

Query Properties

• disable the query refresh in Design mode by unselecting the Refreshablecheckbox of the Query Properties dialog box

• Used for documents based on multiple data sources

58

Schedules & Recycle Bin44

New Charts45

New Functions46

© InfoSol 2019 61

WebI – Input Controls47

Calculation Extensions48

Calc Extensions

• Calculation extensions are used

to create your own functions in

the language formulae

Breaks – Measures in footer

49

Webi Breaks

• When adding a break to a table,

measures for which an

aggregation was defined are

automatically added to the

break footer

Visualization Extensions50

New Element Types

• New framework for developers to

build

• Fully integrates with WebI reports

• Managed at CMC Level

• Authorizations on commenting

can be defined on folder or object

level

Big Numbers51

Improve Calculation Precision

• Integration of IEEE “Decimal

Floating Point” format

• Increased precision from 15 to 40

digits

• New WebI Calculator function to

convert to Decimal format

Parallel Queries52

Parallel Queries

• Boost refresh performance

• Activated by default

• Ability to change max

number of concurrent data

refresh jobs

PDF Book Mark53

Display Bookmarks

• When exporting a document

to PDF, you can select a new

checkbox Display Bookmarksto

have the bookmarks displayed

by default when you open the

PDF file

Chart Animation54

Display Bookmarks

• Add dynamic effect to your

chart by animating them

69

Fiori Theme Designer55

70

Fiori Web assistant56

Lock/Unlock Universes57

Locking Universes

• Prevent other users from

working on the universe

Universe Documentation58

Save As in IDT

• For documentation purposes,

you can generate a PDF, HTML

or TXT file that describes a

local data foundation or

business layer

Other Misc. Features59

Account Status

• New column in User & groups to gain quick insight on the status of the user

Other Misc. Features60

Instance count

• New column in Folders to gain quick insight of number of instances attached to a document

References

• CMS Driver -https://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Unlock+the+CMS+database+with+new+data+access+driver+for+BI+4.2+SP3

• BI Admin Console - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/12/08/introduction-to-bi-administration-console/

• Promotion management Wizard - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/10/27/sap-bi-4.2-sp5-promotion-management-wizard/• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw1XjYS8IXU• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLmBUyZhh0U

• Server Group Exclusivity - https://blogs.sap.com/2016/11/07/servergroup-enhancements-for-scheduling-in-4.2sp03/

• BW integration - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/11/08/sap-bi-4.2-sp05-triggering-schedule-in-bi-platform-from-bw-part-1/

References

• SP 05 What’s new with semantic Layer - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/10/23/sap-bi-4.2-sp5-whats-new-in-web-intelligence-and-semantic-layer/

• WebI Parallel Queries - https://blogs.sap.com/2016/01/22/new-webi-feature-in-bi42-parallel-queries/

• What’s new with BI 4.2 - https://blogs.sap.com/2014/11/24/sap-businessobjects-whats-new-collection/#jive_content_id_SAP_BusinessObjects_BI42_Whats_New_Slides

• What’s New in FIRO LaunchPad - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/11/06/sap-bi-4.2-sp05-whats-new-in-fiori-bi-launchpad/

• What’s new in WebI and Sematic Layer - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/10/23/sap-bi-4.2-sp5-whats-new-in-web-intelligence-and-semantic-layer/

• https://blogs.sap.com/2014/11/24/sap-businessobjects-whats-new-collection/#jive_content_id_SAP_BusinessObjects_BI42_Whats_New_Slides

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