Best Practices and Real Life Experiences in Integrating SAP BW and

MIKE STOKO [ ASUG INSTALLATION MEMBER

MEMBER SINCE: 2003

BOB GAUTHIER [ ASUG ASSOCIATE MEMBER

MEMBER SINCE:1998

CHRISTINA CRONE [ ASUG INSTALLATION MEMBER

MEMBER SINCE: 1999

[

] Best Practices and Real Life

Experiences in Integrating SAP BW

and Business Objects Software

[

6/17/2010

Mustansir Saifuddin

Innovative Solution Partners

[

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Agenda

The new face of BI …. With BOBJ

Available Tools and Integration Points

Project Approach and Resource Requirements

BEX Queries and OLAP Universe

Deploying a Dashboard

Portal Integration and SSO

The Experience

2

[


SAP Landscape with Business Objects

ECC

Financials

Operations

Human Resources

Logistics

Corporate Services

CRM SCM

SRM PLM

SAP Business Suite

EPM GRC

Ente

rprise A

pplic

ations

3rd-Party Databases and Applications

SAP NetWeaver

Business

Warehouse

Open HUB Process

Integration

SAP NetWeaver

BW Accelerator

Master Data

Governance

Master Data

Management

SAP NetWeaver Portal

SAP Bex

Queries

Excel Analyzer

Web Analyzer

Life

cycle

Ma

na

ge

me

nt

SAP NetWeaver

Content

Extractors

SAP NetWeaver Portal Any Portal, Any

Destination

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise

SAP

BEx

Explorer Xcelsius Crystal

Reports

WEDI Live

Office Pioneer

Info

rma

tion

Acce

ss

Info

rmatio

n F

oundatio

n

Me

tad

ata

Ma

na

ge

me

nt, In

form

atio

n L

ifecycle

Ma

na

ge

ment

SAP NetWeaver

Business Warehouse

Data Profiling Data Services

ETL/DQ

Data

Federator

SAP NetWeaver

BW Accelerator Master Data Governance

Master Data

Management

3rd-Party Databases and Applications

ECC

Financials

Operations

Human Resources

Logistics

Corporate Services

CRM SCM

SRM PLM

SAP Business Suite

EPM GRC

Ente

rprise A

pplic

ations

SAP BusinessObjects POA

Data Quality

Management

For

SAP/CRM

Real-time

Validation

Duplication

Data

Quality

Data

Federator

3

[


Why Business Objects

Now part of the SAP Business Intelligence suite of tools

Tight integration with SAP BW and ECC

More Reporting Options

Better Presentation Layer

User Friendly Tools

Intuitive User Interface

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[


Serving Different User Base

Meets the needs of different user base within the

organization:

Executives and

Managers

Business Analysts

Information

Consumers

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[


Agenda







The Experience

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Tools and Usage

Tools

Web Intelligence

Crystal Reports

Xcelsius

Pioneer

Explorer

Usage

Adhoc Query, Reporting and Analysis

Enterprise Reporting

Dashboard/Visualization

Advanced Analytics

Discovery and Exploration

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[


Integration Points and Architecture Components

Xcelsius

Live Office Query as a WebService

Web Intelligence (Webi) Crystal Reports

OLAP Universe

SAP BW BEX Query

Multi

Provider Infocube

Direct Access

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[


More Streamlined Connectivity – BEX to Xcelsius

Xcelsius

Live Office Query as a WebService

Web Intelligence (Webi) Crystal Reports

OLAP Universe

SAP BW BEX Query

Multi

Provider Infocube

Direct Access

9

BI Consumer Services BICS Connectivity

Technical Requirements:

SAP NetWeaver BW 7.01 (SAP

enhancement package 01), Service Pack 05

SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius Enterprise

2008 Service Pack 02

SAP Frontend 7.x installed on the client

with BI Add-Ons

[


Building Blocks

BEX Queries (Source)

Universe (Semantic Layer)

Universe Connection to BW

Webi Reports (Presentation Layer)

Live Office Connections

Xcelsius (Dashboard)

Infoview (BOBJ Portal)

Enterprise Portal

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[


Agenda







The Experience

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Project Approach

Start with a Proof of Concept (POC)

Define Scope (both for POC and full implementation)

Number of KPI’s to be captured in POC

KPI’s required for the go live

Identify any Drill Down Reports

Use Production or Production Like Data

Identify your Audience

Senior Management

C level Executives

Others

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[


Resource Requirements

Team Requirement and Collaboration

BI/BOBJ Architect and Project Manager

Identify BW Resource

Pick the Business User/SME to guide the project Team

Basis Resource

Knowledge of Business Objects Environment

SAP Integration Kit

Enterprise Portal support

Business Objects Developer

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[


Agenda







The Experience

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Use of BEX Queries as a Source for BOBJ

BEX queries have a one to one relationship to a BOBJ

Universe

This is identified as an OLAP Universe

In order for the Universe to access the BEX query

Check the “Allow External Access” checkbox in query properties

Also check the settings in RSRT transaction called “Use selection

of Structure Members”. This allows Business Objects to read the

structures in BEX query

Try maintaining the reporting logic in BEX by utilizing exit

variables to determine time and other complex computations if

possible

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Use of BEX Queries as a Source for BOBJ

Be mindful of the changes made to the BEX query

A Universe refresh is required every time a change is made to

the BEX query

Use inclusion filters instead of exclusions when using certain

values or value ranges for a characteristics

Check your query output by using MDXTEST transaction in

BW that allows you to debug any issues

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BEX Query and OLAP Universe

A universe on top BEX query is an OLAP Universe

No table joins etc. are required in this type of Universe This is a major difference between relational database universe and OLAP

based

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The following screen shot shows the “Refresh Structure” setting

These settings allows the developer to sync up the Bex query to the Universe

[


SAP BW OLAP Universes - Terminologies

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BW Query Element OLAP Universe Element

Cube Dimension Class

Characteristic (incl. Time and Unit) A class with dimension and detail objects

(detail objects for key and description)

Key Figure Measure element in a class named Key figures

Navigational attribute

A class with dimension and detail objects

(detail objects for key and description)

Display attribute

Each display attribute becomes a detail object

underneath the related dimension object

SAP variables

Query filter as predefined object which can be

optional or mandatory

Custom structure

Dimension object

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BEX Query Designer

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Comparable OLAP Universe on Top of BEX Query

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Universe Settings for BEX Queries

Hide Level 00 in the Universe definition

Remove L01 suffix from the object names and update the text to

reflect user friendly names

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Use “Single Sign On When

refreshing reports at view time”

option as the authentication

mode

Don't

Forget

[


Agenda







The Experience

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Elements of Xcelsius

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Guidelines for deploying a Dashboard

Architectural Guidelines

Dashboard Load Times. Define a criteria < 10 Seconds?

Consistency in Results – design needs to minimize the

opportunity to duplicate calculations or arrive at different results

Flexibility in Dashboards and Queries/Reports

Identify the level of effort for any design changes

Examples: Aesthetic changes VS adding new KPI’s

“Simplicity” should rule the design in Xcelsius and reports

Keep ongoing maintenance in mind

Turn around time

Ease of Use for End users

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Xcelsius Dashboard Best Practices

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Define a standard look and feel for the corporate dashboard

Color schemes

Corporate logo

Pick the data connection that works for your situation

Query as a Web Services (QAAWS)

Live Office (LO) connection

Define KPI’s that provide a high level overview of the data

Allow drill down capabilities in to more detailed Webi reports

To answer any further questions prompted from dashboard

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Operational Budget Dashboard

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BOBJ Adhoc Capabilities

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Web Intelligence (Webi) tool is known for its Adhoc

capabilities

Leverage the same Universe used for creating the Dashboard for

creating on demand reports to do more detail analysis

Users can create their own Webi reports via Infoview (BOBJ Portal)

that can be integrated in to Enterprise Portal

Leverage the SSO capabilities that allows seamless integration

between Enterprise Portal, Infoview and backend BW system

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Agenda







The Experience

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Integrating BOBJ into Enterprise Portal

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Xcelsius Dashboards, Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports can

be integrated into Enterprise Portal

Allows users a consistent look and feel for their reports and

dashboards

Leverages SSO functionality thus enhancing user experience as a

whole

Couple of Integration options:

Knowledge Management (KM) content can be used to

integrate BOBJ content into Portal

OpenDoc URL Iviews can be configured in Portal to provide

direct link to Dashboard and reports

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Data Journey and Authentication Path

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Use Single Sign On (SSO) to connect

from Portal to BOBJ Infoview to BW

Leverage role level security in BW to secure Enterprise

level data

Configure Custom Access Levels in BOE

Ensure BOE, BW and Portal

are in the same Domain

In CMC, setup SAP Entitlement System in BOE using the SAP id

setup for SSO

Import BW roles into BOE

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BOBJ Transport AKA Life Cycle Management

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Life Cycle Management acts as the

transport system to move BOBJ

development objects between

environments

Examples Include:

Universe

Connections

Webi Reports

Xcelsius Dashboard

Custom Access Lists (CAL’s) –

BOBJ Authorization

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Agenda







The Experience

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Impact of Business Objects

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Adding Business Objects in your current landscape adds

complexity

Newer skill sets above and beyond BW are required

More Integration points (or more Pain Points introduced) in

the environment

Maintenance challenges with a new set of components and

upgrades to deal with

Warning

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Payback

An enhanced user experience

Business Objects covers a wide spectrum of user base in the

organization

Something for everybody

More business ownership less IT dependency

An opportunity to move away from Excel and Access based

custom solutions

Provide insights in to your data at the highest level in the

organization – Folks who are making critical business decisions

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[

Real Experience. Real Advantage. 35

] Thank you

Contact Info: [email protected]

Documents

Best Practices and Real Life Experiences in Integrating SAP BW and