Académique Documents
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October 2010
Disclaimer
This presentation outlines our general product direction and should not be relied on in making a
purchase decision. This presentation is not subject to your license agreement or any other
agreement with SAP. SAP has no obligation to pursue any course of business outlined in this
presentation or to develop or release any functionality mentioned in this presentation. This
presentation and SAP's strategy and possible future developments are subject to change and
may be changed by SAP at any time for any reason without notice. This document is provided
without a warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the implied
warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. SAP
assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document, except if such damages
were caused by SAP intentionally or grossly negligent.
1. Introduction
2. Overview
SAP BusinessObjects Client Tool Overview – pick the right tool for the job
4. Conclusion
Links to companion white papers on SDN
5. Q & A
Product Version
The recommendations in this presentation are based on SAP BusinessObjects XI 3.1
Some of these recommendations will change with SAP BusinessObjects XI 4.0 (independent
of SAP NetWeaver BW release)
The first integration improvements between SAP and SAP BusinessObjects products
are realized with the release of NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1.
NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1 is the prerequisite for the following SAP BI Solutions:
Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) based on NetWeaver 7.0 EhP1
1. Introduction
2. Overview
SAP BusinessObjects Client Tool Overview – pick the right tool for the job
4. Conclusion
Links to companion white papers on SDN
5. Q & A
SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions provide business users with access to unified information
through a broad suite of BI tools for confident decision making and alignment across people
and teams on a single, scalable BI platform
How do I access How do I visualize How do I answer ad How do I determine How do I find
and transform data for better hoc questions and trends from complex immediate answers
corporate data into decision making? interact with historical data and to business
highly formatted information? possibly make better questions?
reports for greater forecasts?
insight?
Ad Hoc
OLAP Query & Production
Professionally Exploration Analysis Dashboards
Analysis Reporting
Informed
Executives,
Managers
SAP Crystal
Business Reports
Objects Xcelsius
Explorer
Information
Consumers Web
Intelligence
Voyager /
Business
Business Explorer
Analysts (BEx) /
Analysis
SAP
Crystal Web
BusinessObjects Xcelsius Analysis
Reports Intelligence
Explorer
• Search and explore • Pre-built report from • Easy to use data • Online and offline • Advanced analysis
data static to visualizations reporting capabilities capabilities
• Common “Google” parameterized • Compelling • Powerful ad hoc • Full hierarchy
style user experience layouts interactive reporting capabilities awareness
• Limited analysis • Operational reporting dashboarding type of • Limited advanced
functionality analytics analysis capabilities
Information consumer
Executive or Management
Business Analyst
1. Introduction
2. Overview
SAP BusinessObjects Client Tool Overview – pick the right tool for the job
4. Conclusion
Links to companion white papers on SDN
5. Q & A
Minimize movement
of data especially for
workflows that use
MDX access to BW
Avoid client side
filtering…
…push that down to
the BEx query level
where possible
Overall recommendation
BI Queries are recommended as data sources for SAP BusinessObjects BI Tools
BI Queries offer a flexible extension to the data modeling environment and require less
effort to change than InfoProviders
BI Queries offer significant functionality to create customized data sources that meet end-
user requirements, such as Calculated Key figures, Restricted Key figures and SAP
Variables.
SAP BEx Query as entry point in a one (BEx query) to many (reports / universes) relationship
Customers can leverage their existing investment with SAP BusinessObjects BI Tools
Crystal Reports is able to leverage a parent child relationship for external hierarchies
In case the hierarchy is changing there is no need to re-design the report
Integration of Crystal Reports into SAP NetWeaver BW Translation and Transport Mechanism
You can leverage common SAP NetWeaver mechanism to globalize and
administrate your Crystal Reports based content
Xcelsius is providing several choices for data connectivity to SAP ERP and SAP BW (Live
Office, Query as a Web Service, Direct SAP NW BW connectivity)
Customers can leverage live or pre-scheduled reports with SAP ERP and SAP
NetWeaver BW
Direct connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW does support BEx Query Conditions and Display
Settings
Xcelsius is able to leverage more of the underlying BEx query compared to Crystal
Reports and Web Intelligence
OLAP Objects not inserted in Web Intelligence query don’t have direct impact on the query
Only use needed objects; results in leaner MDX that performs better (< XI 3.1 SP3)
Starting with Service Pack 03 make use of Query Stripping
Retrieving large List of Values (LOV) can result in prompts taking more than a few seconds
Improve prompt loading by using optional prompts
Use „Delegated search‟ to limit the data loaded in prompt LOV
Store Scheduled Report Instances for large and long running reports
Scheduled instances effectively cache data in the report, improving open and filter
performance.
Reporting against Large Data Set with Master Data Columns: re-factor query into multiple
sub-queries
Separating constant Master data from details records improves query performance
Except Analysis none of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Client tools in the XI 3.1 release do
support Exceptions defined in the BEx Query
Each of the BI client tools is providing you with similar functionality
Except Analysis and Xcelsius none of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Client tools in the XI 3.1
release do support Display Settings defined in the BEx Query, such as scaling factors or
number of decimals
Each of the BI client tools is providing you with similar functionality
Except Analysis none of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Client tools in the XI 3.1 release allow a
selection of elements from a custom structure
Selection can only be done based on descriptions not based on technical names
Custom Structures are represented as single fields without the actual technical names for the
structure elements
The structure is available but you can not select specific elements of a structure
List of values for variables / parameters are static in Crystal Reports Designer
Values are dynamic in InfoView – remember that Crystal Reports Designer is a
Design environment (do you really need all members ?)
Xcelsius is offering hierarchies as part of the direct SAP NetWeaver BI connectivity but there
is no hierarchical visualization component available out-of-the-box
There are hierarchical visualization offered by several partners on SAP EcoHub
Xcelsius dashboards using the direct SAP NetWeaver BI connectivity will NOT work hosted in
the BusinessObjects Enterprise system (as of Xcelsius 2008 SP2)
Xcelsius dashboards using the direct SAP NetWeaver BI connectivity need to be
hosted inside of SAP NW BW.
Custom Structures are represented as single fields without the actual technical names for the
structure elements
The structure is available but you can not select specific elements of a structure
Keyfigure of type TIMS (time) are not properly supported to reflect the data type
You can leverage the Formatted Value or use formulas in the Web Intelligence
report
Scheduling a Web Intelligence report does not provide the option to enter user and password
You can configure server side trust using SNC
Except Analysis and Xcelsius none of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Client tools in the XI 3.1
release do support Conditions defined in the BEx Query
No real workaround possible. Results in all the data being transferred to the client
tool
Except Analysis none of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Client tools in the XI 3.1 release do
support the option to create a report based on master data (vs. data in the InfoProvider)
No real workaround possible. Only data available in the InfoProvider is shown.
Manually created filters or parameters are not passed down to the server, instead they
become client side filters / parameters
Instead of manual filters or parameters make use of variables in the BW query
Crystal Reports 2008 is always using NON EMPTY, means reports based on master data
(e.g. Balance sheet based on complete hierarchy) are not possible
No real workaround possible
Hierarchy Node variables are shown as flat list in Crystal Reports Designer
No real workaround possible. Remember that Crystal Reports Designer only shows
the values for the “default” hierarchy
Xcelisus dashboards based on the direct SAP NetWeaver BW connectivity can not be
launched from SAP BusinessObjects InfoView
Xcelsius dashboards using direct SAP NetWeaver BW connectivity need to be
stored and launched from SAP NetWeaver BW
1. Introduction
2. Overview
SAP BusinessObjects Client Tool Overview – pick the right tool for the job
4. Conclusion
Links to companion white papers on SDN
5. Q & A
Make sure you’re running the minimum suggested versions and fix packs
Pick the right client tool based on target users and requirements