SAP NetWeaver 2004s

– what is new?

Dr. Bjarne Berg

Lenoir-Rhyne College
bergb@lrc.edu
 Time is running out….

BW Re le ase End o f mainstre am

Ve rsio n date mainte nanc e
2.0B 8/14/00 12/31/2005
2.1C 12/18/00 12/31/2005
3.0A 11/15/01 12/31/2005
3.0B 5/13/02 12/31/2006
3.1C 11/11/02 12/31/2006
3.2 3/31/03 12/31/2006
3.3 8/30/03 12/31/2006
3.5 3/31/04 3/31/2010

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 Why NW 2004s?
Let us take a look at some of the major new features of version 2004s:

 Web Application Designer

 BI Accellerator
 BEx Broadcaster
 BEx Query Designer
 BEx Report Designer
 ReModeling Toolbox
 Security Changes
 New ETL Interface
We will now take a
 BPS Integrated Planning quick look at these
 PDF print features
 Real-time data warehousing
 BEx Web Analyzer
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 Web Application Designer gets better
The Web Application Designer is improved with new chart types (Heat Map, GANTT &
Milestone Trend Analysis), as well as new layout elements such as ‘tab strips’.
WAD also has new step-by-step
wizards for maps, command
editing to create Web API
WAD is a key tool
Commands and charts, as well as
for all SAP BI shops
a simplified wizard for layout
and in NW2004s the
elements such as radio buttons,
tool is simplified
action buttons etc.
and more powerful.

This reduce the amount of custom

coding required with the help of
Command wizards, Auto complete
and support for HTML tags.

New: integration with

NW 2004s BEx Report
Designer. 4
 BI Accellerator for 2004s
SAP Any
BW tool

The SAP BI accelerator Analytic

Engine
makes query response time
50-10,000 faster.

You use process chains to

maintain the HPA engine
after each data load InfoCubes
HPA Engine/Adaptive Computing

Data 1. In-memory processing

Acquisition
SAP NW 2004s BI
Both HP and IBM have standard solutions
ranging from $32K to $200K+ that can be
installed and tested in as little as 2-4 weeks
2. Dictionary-based, smart compression
using integers
3. High parallel data access / horizontal
partitioning
4. Column-based data storage &
access/vertical table decomposition
5
 New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s

New Object Types

You can broadcast BEx query views and formatted

reports (“reports”) in addition to Web applications,
queries and workbooks. Reports are a new BEx
object type developed within the new BEx Report
Designer tool.

New Output Formats

New output formats are based on the distribution

type you select. But, you now can broadcast web
documents as PDF files.

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 New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s

New Distribution Types

You can broadcast to any printer using Adobe’s

PDF, Printer Common Language (psl) or Post
Script (ps). (hint: Set up the printers under tools
CCMS  print).

You to broadcast user-specific information based

on attributes in the master data attributes using a
distribution list in BI (bursting of emails). The
information can be controlled by the system so
that users only see data related to them.

7
 New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s

Exception broadcasting is now available in the

Broadcaster. Create the exceptions in the query designer
and select distribution type in the broadcaster. You can
also use additional distributions types (subordinate) and
create rules for when the exception report is
“monitored”/executed. Exceptions can be based on
single events or levels of any performance measure.

NOTE: To manage all alerts and workflow tasks from a single location, an alert
is integrated with the portal’s universal worklist the “central alert framework” of
NW application server.

You can use multiple distribution type to create a setting

that broadcasts many channels (i.e. the printer and the
portal).

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 New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s
To increase the performance of key queries, you can fill the
OLAP Cache, or the MDX Cache. This is useful if you have
large numbers of users accessing a query, or you have a
query that accesses a high volume of data.

The Fill Precalculation Store distribution type allows you to

precalculate Web templates, and the Precalculate Value Set
option you to fill pre-calculated value set variables with
values for characteristic values. The pre-calculated value
sets are then available as variable values in BEx queries.

BREAKING NEWS: Reporting agent “goes-away”. The old Reporting Agent you
could pre-calculate the data of a template and access it through the URL . It
could not broadcast queries, workbooks or web templates by email or to KM
folders.
SAP Dec. 2005: Old Reporting Agent scenarios still run in NetWeaver 2004s. However, the Reporting
Agent will not be developed any further and is removed from the 2004s Workbench. You can now only
reach the Reporting Agent using transaction code REPORTING_AGENT 9
BEx Query Designer gets a needed ‘facelift’

The 3.5x BEx Query Designer This new property pane makes it
easier to format and control displays
than in the past.

The NW2004s BEx Query Designer

Note:
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 BEx Report Designer is here!!

This new tool was

created to simplify the
formatting of reports
and fix many of the
printing issues in
previous versions of
BW.

We now get color

control, header-footer
control and many new
features such as
location control of cells
and integration of
pictures, charts and Source: SAP AG, 2006

fixed text.
Don't
For many, this tool may reduce the need for 3 rd
Forget
party tools to address structured reports.
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 New Remodeling Tool Box

In NW2004s you get a new tool to add characteristics and key figures to your model.

In older BW versions, if
you forgot to include a
field in your infocube,
the rework was quite
substantial and often
involved reloading the
infocube as well.

Source: SAP AG, Richard

Brown, Aug. 2006

NW 2004s goes a long way to address the complaints that BW is a hard to

maintain environment with ‘forever’ fixed models. 12
 Better security features
There are many new security features in NW
2004s, and a conversion is needed (all or
nothing).

Role menus are displayed in the portal and

passwords becomes case sensitive.

Authorizations are
fundamental building
blocks of the new
reporting concept and
security contains both
the data value and
hierarchy restrictions.

The new security can be

built using new
“RSECADMIN”
transaction
Source: SAP AG

ASUG Security Upgrade by Eric Dwyer, Nike: http://www.asug.com/client_files/Calendar/Upload/EA1_upgrade_bw_security_2.ppt 13

Resource
 More Authorization Objects
Authorization objects for the Data Warehousing Workbench:
S_RS_DS: For the DataSource or its sub objects (NW2004s)
S_RS_ISNEW: For new InfoSources or their sub objects (NW 2004s)
S_RS_DTP: For the data transfer process and its sub objects
S_RS_TR: For transformation rules and their sub objects
S_RS_CTT: For currency translation types
S_RS_UOM: For quantity conversion types
S_RS_THJT: For key date derivation types
S_RS_PLENQ: Authorizations for maintaining or displaying the lock settings
S_RS_RST: Authorization object for the RS trace tool
S_RS_PC: For process chains
S_RS_OHDEST: Open Hub Destination You get the ability to
Authorization objects for the Business Explorer: use much lower security
S_RS_DAS: For Data Access Services granularity for
S_RS_BTMP: For BEx Web templates developers and users!!
S_RS_BEXTX: Authorizations for the maintenance of BEx texts
Authorization objects for the Admin of analysis authorizations
S_RSEC: Authorization for assignment and administration of analysis authorizations
S_RS_AUTH: Authorization object to include analysis authorizations in roles
Changed Authorization Objects:
S_RS_ADMWB (Data Warehousing Workbench: Objects):

New sub objects:

CONT_ACT – Installing Business Content; USE_DND - Drag & Drop to InfoAreas and
application components; CNG_RUN - Attribute change run Source: SAP AG July 2006 14
 Upgrading to NW2004s Security
SAP has created an ABAP migration tool to help you upgrade security
in NW 2004s. To access it, goto transaction code SA38, and execute
migration program RSEC_MIGRATION.

About 80% of you security setup is expected to make it using this tool.
i.e. customer exit variables for the object 0TCTAUTHH does not migrate,
and you will have to manually reassign all hierarchy nodes.

While you upgrade, the old security is left intact and you can switch
back if absolutely needed (IMG setting). Plan to test…test..and test…

More Great Details about

the Security Upgrade at :

http://csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/
swp/Berg/Articles/
2004S_Authorizations.pdf
(Source: Amelia Lo, SAP)

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 Better interface for ETL Design
On a typical DW project, 40-60% of project effort will be spent
on data integration, transformation and loads (used to be
higher when tools were more immature).

SAP NetWeaver
2004s has a new and
better GUI and
formula editors to
write complex
transfer rules, update
rules and data
mapping.

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 BPS Integrated Planning
1 2 3 4 5 6
InfoProvider Aggregation Level Filter Planning Function Planning Sequence Pattern

You can now create planning templates using the web based planning wizard to create models
using patterns in the data (tool: “Road map Pattern”). Queries based on aggregation levels can
now also write back to the InfoProvider

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Source: SAP AG, 2006
 New PDF Print
The PDF options allows companies to
protect reports from changes by
employees by taking a ‘snapshot’ of the
data regardless of subsequent updates
to the data warehouse.
Risks: no link back to SAP BW is needed
and security is not validated.
You can also use the PDF to create reports
based on BEx web applications, queries and
reports using the Adobe DS (comes with
NW2004s).
The only Gotchas.. Your users now need to
install Acrobat Reader
(free at http://www.adobe.com/
products/acrobat/readstep2.html).
The PDF document can also be
Broadcasted through BEx Broadcaster
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 BEx web Analyzer integrates Excel

The Excel integration in the BEx

analyzer is far better.

Unlike the old days of dynamic

HTML, you can now use the BEx
analyzer more like a real application
without refreshing the whole page
every time you click on something
(this is due to the Java component
Source: SAP AG, 2006
in NW2004s)

News: BEx browser

goes away in NW2004s

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 Real-time Data warehousing gets better
NW 2004s has more features for updates that does not follow the typical
asynchronomous (batch) updates. This include:

1. We can use XML to fill the PSA directly

2. Daemon-based update from delta queue (BW API)
3. Daemon-based update of the ODS and minimal logging

Note: XML documents creates many

tags that will slow down large
dataloads due to the size of each
XML record (relatively large)

However, it works great for smaller

streams of data.

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 Drag-and Drop in BeX web Analyzer
Unlike the old days of dynamic HTML, you
can now use the web analyzer more like a
real application without refreshing the whole
page every time you click on something.

I.e. You can drag a characteristics into a

filter area and automatically filter on that
value, and you can also drag it into a
column header or a a row.

Building conditions and activating them was

often confusing in earlier versions and
exception based reporting was sometimes
not easy to create for beginning users.
NW2004s has now simplified this with more
wizards that helps users to build this step-
by-step.
BEx web analyzer is a better user
tool than in the past. You now get
the best world of Java & the web
instead of the more ‘clunky’ user
experience related to Dynamic HTML
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 Some hints on the upgrade – client, engines and usage types

We are in a transition period, when

some items of NW2004s are
separate engines, some are
clients, and other are usage types.

Key question: is you organization

committed to java and the new
NW2004s direction?
-- if so, go java ‘all the way’..

Note: standard system copy and SAP

migration tools have no standard
support for splitting or merging
systems with different usage types Source: SAP Installable 22
software units May 2006
 Unicode conversion
Good
Unicode has been available since BW version 3.5.1. and is now highly
recommended as part of the upgrade (hint web application designer is
Thing now also unicode compliant).

Some things to remember and plan for:

Area Recommended increased capacity

Memory 20%
Processing power 20-25%
Disk space 20-30%

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