SAP Crystal Reports & SAP HANA - Integration and Roadmap

SAP Crystal Reports & SAP HANA: Integration & RoadmapKenneth Li SAP

SESSION CODE: 0401

Topic: Data Manipulation in Lumira

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These are not demonstrations. These are one-on-one sessions where you will be working directly

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12 Available Testing Times (1 hour in duration)

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LUMIRA USABILITY TESTING

https://usability.sap.com/

Learn about Crystal Reports for HANA

Glance at the road map for the product

Overview of deploying & configuring CR for HANA

Quick view of existing limitations & restrictions

Learning Points

For Internal Operational Reports and Customer Facing

Easy to consume, highly formatted documents with guided interactivity

Personalized, information rich documents communicate value quickly

SAP Crystal ReportsProven world standard for pixel-perfect reports

Reporting for HANA with simplified landscape

Pixel perfect formatted reports

in Lumira Server

Connect to HANA models

directly

Use HANA’s repository and

toolset to secure and manage

Crystal Reports content

No additional need for BI

Platform

Built-in life cycle management

for native & unified HANA

application deployment

Large Scale

Business Applications Multiple delivery options

HANA

CR for HANA Roadmap Overview Reflects the current planning state & may be changed by SAP at any time

Reporting in Lumira Server

Authored content using Crystal

Reports for Enterprise

Dimensional access to Analytic

and Calculated views

Content management through

on-premise Lumira Launchpad

Crystal Reports engine packaged

with Lumira server for HANA

appliance

Using HANA LCM to manage

CR content

Publications and Bursting

Charting enhancements

Crystal Reports for Lumira

cloud

Current(Release 4.1 SP4) Planned Future Direction

Embedded Reporting

•Packaging

•Restful service for reporting

•UI embedding SDK

Unified interface shell and HTML

prompting

Improved integration with HANA

toolset to manage Crystal Reports

service

Crystal Reports for HEC/HCP

cloud

Freehand SQL access to HANA

Mobile support through Mobile BI

Crystal Reports for Enterprise Roadmaphttps://websmp202.sap-ag.de/saproadmaps

Current Planned Future Direction

Streamlined report design

Improved user experience

Custom SQL objects

Verify database

Data sources

Modeled and unmodeled connectivity to

data.

Enhanced SAP HANA support

SAP BW BICS connectivity

Mobile, visualizations and viewers

Interactive Crystal Reports in SAP

BusinessObjects Mobile

New visualizations

Right to left UI

OEM/developer

RESTful web service, Odata, Opendoc

AJAX API

Information access

Alerting

Insight to action (RRI)


Charting enhancement: waterfall chart

Data sources

Enhance BW prompt experience

Crystal Reports for HANA / HANA

Cloud Platform

Support Crystal Reports for HANA

Cloud Platform.

Restful API for report viewing, refresh

,export workflow.

SAPUI5 embeddable viewer.

OEM/Developer for BI platform

Continued REST API enhancements

Customizable and embeddable SAPUI5

viewer


Chart extension API.

Richer chart formatting.

Enhance report formatting.

CR 2013 to CR for Enterprise bulk

transition tools

Data sources

Additional BW, SAP ECC table

support.

Direct to data connectivity

enhancement.

Support UNX view time security

Mobile, and viewers

Crystal Reports content in custom

built mobile applications

OEM/Developer

Richer RESTful web services

This is the current state of planning and may be changed by SAP at any time.

SAP Crystal Reports for HANA 1.0Overview

CR for Enterprise

Designer

Used to author report

content

Used to save to, and open

from, HANA repository

Installed on a MS Windows

client

Crystal Reports

Reporting Service

Crystal Reports processing

service

Handles report requests

Processes report data

Generates report pages

Installed as a standalone

Linux service

Crystal Reports

Delivery Unit

Provides browser viewing

capabilities (CR DHTML

viewer)

Provides connectivity to CR

Reporting Service

Installed/imported into

HANA system

Provides integration with

Lumira Server

There are 3 main components that are required to deploy and use CR for HANA.

SAP Crystal Reports for HANA 1.0Architecture

MS Windows

Desktop

SAP HANA

Appliance

SUSE 11 SP1

Server

Crystal Reports for Enterprise

&

HANA Studio

CR for HANA

Connector

Delivery Unit

CR for HANA

Reporting Service

Report requests

sent to Reporting

Service

Processed report

pages sent back to

XS application

Report viewer and

page(s) sent to

client to view in

web browser

Deployment / Product RequirementRecommendations based on SAP BusinessObjects BI4.1 PAM

CR for Enterprise

Designer

Designer version: 4.1 SP4

OS: Windows Desktop (7 -

8.1)

Minimum Hardware

Requirements:

• Memory: 2 GB RAM

• CPU: Dual Core CPU

• Disk space: 3.5 GB

Crystal Reports

Reporting Service

CR Reporting Service

OS: Linux SUSE 11 SP1

Minimum Hardware

Requirement:

• Memory: 12 GB RAM

• CPU performance >= 8000

SAPS (Quad Core approx)

• Disk Space: 11 GB

Crystal Reports

Delivery Unit

SAP HANA SP08

Lumira Server 1.17

Each component of Crystal Reports for HANA has specific requirements

CR for HANA Reporting ServiceConfiguration

MS Windows

Desktop

SAP HANA

Appliance

SUSE 11 SP1

Server


&

HANA Studio

CR for HANA

Connector

Delivery Unit

CR for HANA

Reporting Service

Report requests

sent to Reporting

Service

Processed report

pages sent back to

XS application

Report viewer and

page(s) sent to

client to view in

web browser

CR for HANA Reporting Service Installation

Refer to Chapter 4 in the CR for HANA Components Installation, Configuration,

and Administration Guide (help.sap.com/boall_en)

Linux system required

Installation creates a user account used to run the service

CR for HANA Reporting Service contains:

Lean Java Server (LJS)

SAP JVM

CR engine

Start the service (go.sh/daemon.sh)

while logged in with createdusername

CR for HANA Reporting ServiceConfiguration Tip

TIP: Deploy the CR for HANA Reporting Service as a daemon service

With /go.sh, the service stops when the remote terminal or connection is closed

Running as a daemon keeps the service running always

Running as a daemon

./daemon.sh displays a help message when run without arguments. Available

options include

Console runs the Java program in console mode

Start starts the Java program as a Linux service

Stop stops the Java program service

Restart stops and restarts the service

Status displays the service status

Install installs the service in the OS

Uninstall uninstalls the service in the OS

Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance

Microsoft Windows

Desktop

SAP HANA

Appliance

SUSE 11 SP1

Server


&

HANA Studio

CR for HANA

Connector

Delivery Unit

CR for HANA

Reporting Service

Report requests

sent to Reporting

Service

Processed report

pages sent back to

XS application

Report viewer and

page(s) sent to

client to view in

web browser

Configuring the SAP HANA ApplianceOverview

Four main parts:

1. Importing the Connector Delivery Unit into

SAP HANA

2. Configuring SAP HANA to work with

Crystal Reports

3. Configuring SAP HANA for SSO

4. Creating users and roles

Refer to Chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the CR for

HANA Components Installation,

Configuration, and Administration Guide

Pre-requites … from Service Market Place:

SAP CR for HANA Connector DU

SAP Cryptographic library

The CR for HANA delivery unit is available from Service Marketplace as a ZIP file.

Extract the CRHANADU00_0.SAR file

Use SAP HANA Studio and SAP HANA Lifecycle Management to upload the SAR file to

HANA and deploy the unit

Configuring the SAP HANA AppliancePart 1 – Importing the CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit

The CR for HANA delivery will run through validation checks, and ask for a confirmation

on the system instance to deploy to.

Once ready, click Run to deploy the components.


Verify the import is successful in the folder view of the repository / system

Alternatively, in HANA Lifecycle Management, go to “View Installed Products and

Software Components”


NOTE! HANA may warn that this operation has been deprecated. It is fine to remain

using these deployment steps for now.

Use the SAP HANA Admin portal to connect

the SAP HANA appliance to the CR for

HANA Reporting Service

https://<server>:<port>/sap/hana/xs/admin

Edit CRVRemoteServletProxy.xshttpdest

Configuring the SAP HANA AppliancePart 2 – Enable SAP HANA to use the CR Reporting Service

Note: alternative configuration methods

available, eg using SAP HANA XS IDE tool

On the SAP HANA system, deploy the SAP Crytographic Libraries to generate SSL

certificates to establish a secured trust relationship between the SAP HANA Appliance

and the CR Reporting Service

Configuring the SAP HANA AppliancePart 3 – Configure HANA for SSO using SAPLogon

Import the certificates using SAP HANA Studio (Administration Console perspective)

Create the keys where needed, if they do not exist

Configuring the SAP HANA AppliancePart 3 – Configure HANA for SSO using SAPLogon

SAP HANA should be restarted to accept changes

Configuring the SAP HANA AppliancePart 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA

IMPORTANT! All users for CR for HANA must be configured to authenticate using

SAP Assertion Tickets

For authoring using the Crystal Reports for Enterprise designer, ensure access is

granted to activated content and metadata:

Ie grant Select rights to _SYS_BI, _SYS_BIC

Additionally, ensure Execute rights are given for REPOSITORY_REST, for CR to browse

for content when opening and/or saving reports.


Additional References on

http://help.sap.com:

Documentation on

the SAP HANA

security model

http://help.sap.com/

For viewing Crystal Reports in SAP Lumira Launchpad, ensure access is granted to

activated content and metadata:

Ie grant Select rights to _SYS_BI, _SYS_BIC

Grant SAP Lumira roles for consumption (eg. sap.bi.common::BI_DATA_CONSUMER)


Additional References on

http://help.sap.com:

Documentation for

SAP Lumira user

configuration

http://help.sap.com/

SAP Lumira requires report content to be promoted before they are visible in the

Lumira Launchpad

A promotion script / tool is provided for report promotion – the user or administrator

running this tool is configured inside the HANA SQL Connection Configuration

(SQLCC) app


The promotion user account needs to

be granted the

sap.bi.common::BI_TECH_USER role.


Add this user account to the sap.bi.activationplugin.logic.lib::ActivationRepoConnection

configuration setting within the SQLCC

TIP: Some users may have different access rights defined via Analytic and Package

privileges. Advisable to set these rights by directly granting them in the specific user

account versus in the CR consumer/designer roles.

Alternatively, define separate roles for access to sets of packages and grant those roles

to specific users.


Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise

MS Windows

Desktop

SAP HANA

Appliance

SUSE 11 SP1

Server


&

HANA Studio

CR for HANA

Connector

Delivery Unit

CR for HANA

Reporting Service

Report requests

sent to Reporting

Service

Processed report

pages sent back to

XS application

Report viewer and

page(s) sent to

client to view in

web browser

Crystal Reports for Enterprise is used for report creation / design

Same version as BI4.1 SP04

Connections can be created to connect to SAP HANA as a repository

Report designer role should include permissions to read, edit, and activate objects

inside packages.

Expose packages as needed for report design. Analytic privileges should also be defined

per user to restrict privileges where desired.

Using Crystal Reports for EnterpriseSetting up Connections

Start a new report by connecting to an SAP HANA platform to find a view. Logon to

SAP HANA will be required at this point if not already done

A browser window will allow the designer to choose the view to use

Using Crystal Reports for EnterpriseConnecting to Analytic Views

Report queries can be constructed using the familiar query panel interface

Chosen result objects become items in the Crystal Reports Data Explorer for drag and

drop report design

Using Crystal Reports for EnterpriseDesign Report Query with Query Panel

Reports can be saved to SAP HANA but only without data. When reports are saved,

they are automatically activated in the SAP HANA repository

Using Crystal Reports for EnterpriseSaving reports to the SAP HANA repository

The designer Open, Save, and Save-As dialogues are modified for SAP HANA – folder

structure represents the package structure, and relevant metadata about reports is

shown (document name, date modified, and user)

Using Crystal Reports for EnterpriseSave Workflows

Although reports are activated when saved, SAP Lumira needs to additionally promote

the report metadata to a BI Analytics area for consumption.

A script is provided for a report designer or system administrator

Without this step, reports will not show up in the SAP Lumira Launchpad

Note: this is a tool specific to CR for HANA v1 – to be replaced with activation

plugin in a future release of SAP HANA

Log onto http://<hana host name>:<XS engine port>/sap/bi/activationplugin/activate

Report Consumption in SAP LumiraReport promotion to SAP Lumira analytic area

Tool will report “Activation Successful” if there are reports to promote. Otherwise it

will say “No objects to activate”

Script is intentionally simple

Report Consumption in SAP LumiraReport promotion to SAP Lumira analytic area

Logon to SAP Lumira Launchpad to see the content for viewing

Report Consumption in SAP Lumira

Click on Crystal Reports artifact to load the familiar viewer interface

Report refreshes on demand

Report Consumption in SAP Lumira

Leverage SAP HANA Lifecycle Management to migrate report content

Report Migration in SAP HANALeveraging SAP HANA Lifecycle Management

Source System

• Configure delivery unit for content to be migrated

Leverage SAP HANA Lifecycle Management to migrate report content

Report Migration in SAP HANALeveraging SAP HANA Lifecycle Management

Target System

• Register source system in SAP Lifecycle Management

• Define the route of transport (source system and deliver unit)

Known Limitations

• No integration with BI Platform – BI Platform features are not supported

• OpenDoc, Alerts, Scheduling, Publishing, etc

• Only supports Crystal Reports for Enterprise reports. Not Crystal Reports 2013.

• Some charts are not supported (tag cloud, tree map, box plot) in SAP Lumira

Launchpad

• Refer to the following SAP note for limitations in access HANA Analytic and Calculated

views using MDX: http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1723925

• Input parameters on calculated attributes/measures are not supported

• SAP assertion tickets have a hard limit of 2 min to process queries. To be improved in a

future SAP HANA release

• In designer, the dialog for browsing views is not filtered by user credentials. To be

improved in a future SAP HANA and Crystal Reports for Enterprise release

http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1723925

• For deployment, install SAP Lumira before CR for HANA

• For reporting service scalability, use H/W load balancers

• For report design,

• Leverage SAP HANA modelling tools to build calculation logic into the views.

Eg. Hierarchies, variables, input parameters, etc

• Push down processing to SAP HANA as much as possible – return a lean

dataset to maximize speed; then use CR for Enterprise to filter/format data

• Subqueries can be expensive – connections from each query are not shared.

Best Practices

• Next generation Crystal Reports designer is used to build content against SAP

HANA, without the need for a separate BI Platform

• Overview of the deployment steps for this solution and a glance at its capabilities

• With roadmap, goal is to empower HANA application developers with the toolset to

easily integrate Crystal Reports into custom business applications

• HTML5, XS applications, on-premise HANA and HANA Enterprise Cloud

• Integrated lifecycle management for data, content, and application

• Mobile BI support

Key Learnings

Questions?

Kenneth Li ([email protected])Senior Product Manager – SAP Canada

Ashok Kumar KN ([email protected])SAP BI Product Manager - SAP Labs India

mailto:[email protected]

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Data & Analytics

SAP Crystal Reports & SAP HANA - Integration and Roadmap