sap businessobjects reporting

Ash Usman , Engineering Services Architect [email protected]

SAP BusinessObjects Reporting

mailto:[email protected]

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This presentation was based on current information and resource allocations as of October

2009 and is subject to change or withdrawal by CA at any time without notice.

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2 August 12, 2009 SAP BusinessObjects Reporting Copyright © 2009 CA

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3 August 12, 2009 SAP BusinessObjects Reporting Copyright © 2009 CA

Session Abstract

Do you want to learn how to go from Actuate to

Business Objects?

Join this session to learn Business Object installation

tips, and how to use or expand our universe or how

to create your own.

In addition we will discuss WEBI – what is it and how

to use it.

Agenda

> SAP BusinessObjects Overview

> Installation Tips / Best Practices

> SAP BusinessObjects Components

> Converting from Actuate

> Universe Design

> WEBI Reports / WEBI User Interface

> Crystal Reports

> Importing/Exporting content

> Performance Hints

> Summary

SAP BusinessObjects Overview

> SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise (BOE XI)

Market-leading reporting platform

Wholly-owned subsidiary of SAP

Creates and markets business intelligence applications

Customers have asked for it for a long time

Known for its ease of use

– Long learning curve with Actuate

SAP BusinessObjects and Clarity

> SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise (BOE XI)

Enhances reporting capabilities for Clarity:– Crystal Reports

– WEBI templates

– Ad-hoc reporting

CA has standardised on SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI as its reporting solution for all products

Support for BOE XI comes in Clarity 8.1.1+


> CA Business Intelligence (CA BI) A CA-developed specially licensed OEM version of BOE XI that installs at

a very specific patch-level

> Which version are you supported on?

> CA BI 2.1 – Latest and greatest supported release

Fixes many defects +introduces support for 64-bit Windows

– Note: BOE XI files are compiled as 32-bit native binary. Must use 32-bit data source middleware connectivity.

Use C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe for DSN

CA BI Supported On... BOE XI Release

CA BI 2.0 Clarity 8.1.x / 12.0 BOE XI R2 SP3 + FP3_3

CA BI 2.1 Clarity 8.1.4 + / 12.0.2 + BOE XI R2 SP4

CA BI 3.0 TBD BOE XI R3 SP1 + FP1_5


Crystal Reports

– Similar to the Actuate eReports of old

– Stock reports with Clarity / PMO pack

– Parameterise reports from Clarity UI

Web Intelligence (WEBI) Reports

– Drag-and-drop reporting in your browser

– Once saved, can be launched from InfoView or Clarity

Universe Designer

– Used for managing/administering the “universe”

(Crystal Reports Designer)

– Not included in CA BI - purchase directly from SAP - only required for custom Crystal report design

> Key Components for CA Clarity PPM


> Most-used Components

Central Management Server (CMS)

– Maintains info on security, objects and servers in BOE XI DB

Web Application Server (WAS)

Cache Server

– Looks for cached copies of the report; if nothing found then

forwards a request to Page Server

Page Server

– Generates the report and connects to the Clarity DB and a

new copy of the report is cached to Cache Server


> User Authentication and BOE

Clarity is the system of record for user

When the Clarity user runs any report it will:

– Check the BOE report server to see if that user exists in

BOE

– If the user does not exist it will create the user in BOE

– The BOE user will have the same user name as the Clarity

user with an encrypted password

Does not become a licensing issue as we have an

unlimited user license (see next slide!)


> CA BI Licensing

The CA BI OEM version of BOE ships with a 10 CPU tier

license:

– No restriction on number of users

– Max number of concurrent users supported dependent on

hardware deployed to run SAP BOE

– The OEM license can only be used with the CA products

named in the OEM contract

– Data access is limited to data created or used by CA

products named in the OEM contract

– This license cannot be used with a data mart or data

warehouse beyond CA products named in the OEM contract

Installation Tips / Best Practices

> Can pre-existing BOE deployments be used? Only if:

Your existing license allows enough users for every user in

Clarity that will run reports

– Each Clarity user will have a BOE user that can only be used by

Clarity

– Discuss your licensing/env setup directly with SAP

Be aware that Clarity will create/update users in the BOE

Repository

– If there are users who already use BOE and their Clarity

username is the same, their password WILL be reset each time

they run a Clarity report to an encrypted form!

BOE must be configured to use Enterprise Authentication


> Can pre-existing BOE deployments be used? Only if:

User specified in NSA must have full admin privileges

You have the same BOE patch level as the CA BI release

The BOE Web Services module must be installed

Import Wizard can be used to load the BIAR file, but

reports must be restored to the appropriate folder

(check Reports admin screen in application for path)

CA Clarity Support offers restricted levels of support to

non-CA BI installations

> We highly recommend you deploy the CA BI software


> Go OEM with CA BI:

Be 100% supported by CA Clarity Support

Stay with Tomcat

– No real performance benefit over WebSphere/WebLogic

– Minimal configuration effort required on Tomcat

– From 12.0.3+, WebLogic/WebSphere supported for

upgrade customers only

MySQL OK for < 100 concurrent reports users and small

non-production environments


> Stock Reports Installed from the NSA or Command Line

Any existing CA Clarity universe and Clarity Stock

Reports will be overwritten

Custom universes will not be overwritten

– Custom reports and modified stock reports in custom

folders will not be overwritten

Post Installation Setup

> NSA Configures Both Actuate and BOE

Can only have one configured to run at a time

Can switch later if needed

> One BOE server per Clarity Instance

Last one to install wins

Post Installation SetupWhere you define if you are using BOE or Actuate

Points to the web service URL, CMS (BOE specific) and base URL to reporting server

Actuate

BOE

Define the Actuate Volume Name

The Database ID for the reports to run against

These fields must be fully completed before you install reports from the NSA or command line.

SAP BusinessObjects Components

> Reports and universe packaged in a BIAR file

Business Intelligence Archive Resource (BIAR)

Clarity BIAR files

– ca_clarity.biar (Stock reports and Universe)

– ca_clarity_csk.biar (PMO Accelerator reports)

Installed from NSA or “nikuadmin reports” command

Imports the file using Java

Ensure CMS service is contactable by Clarity before doing

this (check NSA configuration!)

“nikuadmin reports –verbose” can be used to try and elicit

more detailed error messages if you are having problems


> InfoView

A portal that allows

users access to view

and manage

published reports

View history of report

instances previously

run

> URL to InfoView http://<SERVER>:<PORT>/businessobjects/enterprise115/desktoplaunch/InfoView/


> Central Management

Console (CMC)

Web application where

you define users,

groups, security, and

other administrative

tasks

Tune the configuration

settings for BOE services

> URL for CMC http://<SERVER>:<PORT>/businessobjects/enterprise115/admin/en/admin.cwr


> The "Universe"

A set of metadata that describes what’s in the CA Clarity

PPM database and/or data mart

Structured using the concept of

– classes, objects, and measures.

Semantic layer between a user and a database

Have meaningful names and are user-oriented

Can be used for the creation of WEBI (ad hoc) and Crystal

Reports


> The "Universe"

Each universe is organised into logical functional areas, such as Project, Time and Resource.

Universes can be used for Crystal reporting, WEBI templates or simply ad hoc reporting in WEBI.


> Without a Universe

Need to understand Clarity data model

Need to understand the Joins between tables

Have to spend time writing complex SQL

> With a Universe

Simply drag and drop the required fields

> Power of a Universe


> OOTB Universes

CA_Clarity

– Handles security and supports the out-of-the-box Crystal reports and PMO reports

– Not (really) designed for ad hoc reporting

CA_Clarity_EVM

– Comes with the Earned Value add-on

– Not (really) designed for ad hoc reporting

> For ad-hoc reporting Create custom universe based on reporting requirements Alternatively, consider purchasing a pre-built universe

– (see next slide!)


> CA BI Universe Accelerators from GSE

Smaller, manageable universes that are built for ease of use and ad hoc reporting

– Projects - Resources– Timesheets - Project Financials – Earned Value

Encapsulate years of experience of reporting against the

Clarity data model

Accelerates report development

Knows all the tricks so you don’t have to

5 universes so far – more to come

Extensible through building and linking

custom universes

Contact your AD for more information

Universe Design

> Descriptive & User Friendly

Class and Object Naming

conventions come from

Users

Order Objects for effective

user interaction

Users not having to click

from Subclass to Subclass

to find Objects

>Only add what is needed Objects are not overwhelming in number or depth

Users not looking at 100’s of Classes, 1000’s of Objects

Universe Design

Converting from Actuate

> Actuate will be end-of-service with Clarity after 12.x

> Decide which reports you want to keep…

Not all reports may be adding value – remove/redesign?

Work with the stakeholders and get their buy-in and views

> For the reports that remain:

Convert to Webi or Convert to Crystal?

For pure data feeds maybe look at producing a CSV

extract

> CA (GSE) offers a chargeable Reports Conversion service

Please contact your AD for more details

Converting from Actuate

> Remember:

Crystal Reports Designer is not supplied OEM

Possible to reuse stored procedures (if you use them)

Invest up front in a well designed Universe

– Link your custom universe to the Clarity OOTB/GSE

universes

Make universe changes in your custom universe to preserve

changes

See TEC485863, TEC485859 on support.ca.com for

guidance on how to do this

TEC484618 shows how to install Universe Designer on a

client PC

WEBI Reports

> Launched from InfoView

> Web based Java Applet

> Build reports based off the

universes or custom SQL

> Drag and drop formatting

> Drag and drop queries based

on Universe

WEBI User Interface

WEBI User Interface

> Can be deployed

as a Report / Job

in Clarity or run

from InfoView

> WEBI Reports can

be modified in

Clarity

WEBI User Interface

> Modifiable on the fly

Add Totals

Charts

New columns from

the universe

Can not modify

Ad Hoc SQL

> Security Concern

Users can add any available field from the universe

Build a custom Universe without sensitive information if

you wish to roll WEBI out to a wider user base

Crystal Reports

> Design Considerations

End user access to reports / jobs, same as Actuate

3 different ways to handle Row level security:

1. Use “Manage Security” option from Universe Designer

2. Join Security Views/Tables to the Tables in the Universe to

filter what users see

3. Add Security Query to the Report Query in the Report

Designer like Crystal Designer

Examples are provided in the OOTB Universe for stock

reports, such as the 'Key Task and Milestone Report'.

Please refer to TEC495372 on support.ca.com for the

full low-down on applying row-level security

Crystal Reports

> Reports can be built

off a number of data

sources

Universes

Stored Procedures

Crystal Reports

Database Expert

Query Builder

Crystal Reports

Importing/Exporting Content

> Import Wizard

Installed with Business

Objects client tools for

Windows

Used to import / export

content in BIAR file

format from central

management server

– Folders, WEBI report,

Crystal Reports,

Universes, etc…

> Crystal Reports can be distributed as native .RPT files

Performance Hints

> Tuning Parameters in the CMC

Crystal Cache Server– Maximum Cache Size Allowed: 512200 (default=256000)

– Minutes before an Idle Connection is Closed: 10 (default=20)

Page Server– Minutes before an Idle Connection is Closed: 10

(default=20)

– Minutes before an Idle Report Job is Closed: 20 (default=60)

Report Application Server (RAS)– Number of database records to read when previewing or

refreshing a report: Unlimited (default=20000)

– Number of records per batch:1000 (default=100)

Exclusive Offer for CA Customers Only

> Get 20% off the normal price of Crystal Reports

Designer!

http://www.businessobjects.com/campaigns/ca-cr08/







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