SAP BI BO Commentary solution

Christoph Kretner Victor Saiz Castillo Marcin Chmiel

Solution Owner Frontend Specialist Backend Specialist

SAP BI 4.X Commentary Solution

W E L C O M E

Topics for today

• Why commenting? speed up your processes

• How to comment? add meaning to your reporting

• One Solution! introducing the SAP BO Commentary Solution

• Have a Look! application functionality, frontend integration

• Not enough? handling your own logic

W H Y

C O M M E N T I N G ?

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 5

Comments add a message to your data

analyzes the raw data

adds a comment explaining the

current figures

reviews data and comment

releases or rejects the report

and comment

consumes data and additional

information for quick decisions

EVA Tree Raw Material prices Net working capital

Business Analyst

BU Manager

BA Manager

1

2

3

4

5

H O W T O

C O M M E N T ?

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 7

There are different levels of comments start making use of them

comment on report or keyfigure level

comment on detail or line level

use comments for

differnet purposes as

summaries, tasks / todos,

notes for the next processor or

final remarks

O N E

S O L U T I O N !

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 9

The SAP BO commentary solution is all you need

consume comments across all SAP BusinessObjects solutions

Dashboard Design / Xcelsius

Crystal Reports

Web Intelligence

Design Studio

Analysis for Office

SAP BEx

store comments at any level of detail

Report, Line, Key Figure, Characteristic, Hierarchy Nodes or combination of those

create comments directly from within the report

workflow guided commenting process

use plain text or formatted comments with unlimited length*

have one central solution for managing comments in SAP BW

(single point of truth and single point of entry)

* some restrictions apply depending on client

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 10

Interface

Document

Repository

Framework • Read Interface

• Write Interface

• Services

SAP BO Tools

Presentation

Layer

Commentary Framework

SAP BEx

Dashboard Crystal Reports

Web Intelligence

Design Studio

Analysis for Office

Application

SAP NW Document

Repository

Services Authorization Document History (Change-Log)

Workflow

Document Management

Period-Locking

General Services

Customer

specific

Document

Repository

This is how it works overall architecture of the SAP BO commentary solution

H A V E A

L O O K !

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The commenting application is your main point of entry

built in document workflow comment any combination

of values on any level use SAP standard authorizations and roles

additional information

for administrators

formatted text

with unlimited length tracking document history

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Grant access via SAP authorizations and roles

Editor

Reviewer

Period Admin

Administrator

creates and changes comments within his responsibility

e.g. profit center controller

reviews and releases saved comments

e.g. profit center parent node controller

optional: separate role for unreleasing (e.g. his/her manager)

handles period locking

e.g. chief controller

optional: separate role for re-opening closed periods (e.g. his/her manager)

maintains the commentary application

takes care of customizing the application

e.g. solution responsible IT

Reader

consumes comments with the report in different ways

e.g. enduser in that area

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 14

Use workflow functionality for your commenting process

New Saved Released

save

release

unrelease

New comment has been created by editor

Saved comment is still changable, visible only to editors

Released comment is locked against changes, visible to consumers

can be unreleased only by authorized persons

(not necessarily same as reviewer)

Editor Reviewer

1 2

Reader

consume

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 15

Set standards with commentary templates

create your own templates for recurring tasks use previous period’s comment as template

use different templates for different

reporting scenarios

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Secure reported information against changes

period open create and change comments

period locked comments cannot be changed any more

lock closed periods at any level and for any combination of objects

you don’t even need a time characeristic

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 17

Do it with Design Studio! The new standard for web based reporting and dashboarding

direct link to

commenting application

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Do it with Analysis for Office! capture your comments in Analysis for Office

get the new ribbon for the SAP BO

commentary solution

create and change your comments

with Excel standard functionality

and manage them with the SAP BO

commentary solution

Consume your comments either via

Excels standard functionality or

show them in cells of the resultset

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 19

show comments on

any level anywhere

in the dashboard

Do it with Dashboard Design! your tool of choice for highly interactive reporting

create and change

your comments

directly within the

dashboard

(optionally)

show status of

comment

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 20

direct link to

commenting application

For desktop or mobile

consumption For desktop or mobile

consumption

Do it with Web Intelligence! on desktop or mobile

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 21

Do it with Crystal Reports! for highly formatted reporting or scheduled reporting books

direct link to

commenting application

show the status of a

comment

comment on any

level of detail

N O T

E N O U G H ?

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 23

the customizing options allow you to align the application to the your system specification,

e.g. naming conventions.

for maximum flexibility the

application offers additional

enhancement spots for your own

customer specific coding.

There is a BAdI definition for

example that allows you to

implement or reuse your own

period locking logic without

having deep knowledge of the

solution’s standard logic

Enhance the application with your own logic! if you have special requests

T E C H N I C A L

S T U F F

© 2013 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 25

Netweaver:

BW 7.0 recommended

additional features with BW 7.4

BI:

• BI 4.0 recommended

• Enhanced Universe and Crystal Reports Enterprise support with BI 4.1

• Some restrictions with 3.x

Design Studio

• 1.2 recommended

• Some restrictions (formatting) with 1.1

Technical Information prerequisites

For more Information

Christoph Kretner Victor Saiz Castillo

Solution Owner Solution Specialist

christoph.kretner@sap.com victor.gabriel.saiz.castillo@sap.com