Dr. Bjarne Berg Director BI, MyITgroup A VIP consulting company

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JUMPSTART: A complete guide to SAP’s new and improved reporting and front-end tools available in SAP NetWeaver BI

Dr. Bjarne BergDirector BI, MyITgroupA VIP consulting company

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In This Session ...

This is a comprehensive guide to SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence presentation tools

We will take an overview tour of the Analysis Process Designer (APD), SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC), Web Application Designer (WAD), Report Designer, Web publishing, Java Server pages (JSP) and the new SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx Analyzer.

We will look at the strengths and limitations of each tool and see how they can be used independently or collectively in a SAP BI environment.

Leave this session with a good understanding of how to use SAP NetWeaver BI tools to make your system more flexible and adaptive to the needs of end users.

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What We’ll Cover …

• The SAP BI Tool Revolution SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD), SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP) Administrative tools The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools

• Using more than one tool together

• Empowering the users – a mind shift

• Who Should get access

• Wrap-up

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The SAP BI Core Toolset

SAP BI is an enterprise-wide comprehensive decision support (DSS) system for analytical needs of an enterprise.

BI can also support some degree of operational reporting

The SAP BI tool set has many presentation tools and options for companies to leverage.

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• Wrap-up

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The BEx Query Designer in BW 3.5

The BEx query designer is a simple tool that you use to develop queries for users.

While the Query Designer defined the query, you have many options on how you deploy the queries

You can deploy the queries through web templates, broadcasted emails, portals, Excel and more.

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BEx Query Designer gets a needed ‘facelift’ in BI 7.0

The 3.5x BEx Query Designer

Note:

The NWBI 7.0 BEx Query Designer

The new 7.0 Query designer was totally re-developed in MS-Visual Basic .NET

This new property pane makes it easier to format and control displays than in

the past.

BEx Ad-Hoc Query Designer functionality is replaced by BEx Web Analyzer in BI 7.0

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BEx – Analyzer (Excel Workbooks)

1. BEx Workbooks is Excel 'on steroids'.

2. BW queries can be opened in Excel

3. Queries can be refreshed and standard Excel functions can be used

This is a great tool for financial analysts and power users.

To use this tool you need BEx installed

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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 in BI 7.0)Source: SAP AG, 2008

Important: BEx browser goes away in SAP BI 7.0 (so does BEx Download Scheduler)

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BEx – Analyzer Design Mode

1. Application building in Excel (similar to Web Application Designer)

2. New options for queries with two structures

3. Excel formulas allow access to any cell of the result set

4. Excel formatting options can be fully leveraged for BEx workbooks

(e.g., blank lines, fonts, etc.)

5. Combining Excel formulas and Excel formatting allows the design of

complex formatted workbooks

6. Integration of Business Planning is available

To use this tool you need BEx installed

Source: SAP, Zane Connally 2008

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• Wrap-up

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APD – Analysis Process Designer and data mining• SAP BW Analysis Process Designer (APD) is for Knowledge discovery

and exploration of large sets of data.

• APD has been available in BW since version 3.0 and can be used to do complex analysis without having to restructure the data and create hundreds of specialized data marts.

• You can read from a variety of sources such as Flat files Database tables Data Store Objects (new name for ODS) Infocubes BW queries

Image: SAP, UK

Since BW 3.5, APD has been integrated with the

Data Mining Workbench. You can access it though

the transaction code “RSDMWB”

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DW version 2.0

• In Data warehousing v2.0 (Bill Immon’s new terminology), we are using BI applications to create new data that needs to be fed to the data warehouse, and /or the transactional system

• Tools are now available to build association data sets that creates updates based on BI findings (i.e. customer segmentation, risk, profitability flagging etc).

Images: Bhanu Gupta, ASUG 2005 Illinois chapter

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Complex scenarios can be built for structured analysis such as risk modeling, customer segmentation, market basket analysis, predictive modeling and much more

Image: SAPImage: SAP

APD – Analysis Process Designer and data mining

“New data” based on the findings can be loaded back into data targets and used by others for reporting i.e. CRM analysis.

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• Wrap-up

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Visual Composer

A Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data. It is a browser-based modeling and design tool for rapid application development & prototyping in a code-free development environment.

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Visual Composer for Complex cockpits

Modeling of BI applications using the BI kit of the Visual Composer allows business users to create analytical content for SAP portal. It offers the integration with BI infoproviders, views, BEx web applications, PDF and more via WEB API as access to other data sources such as OLAP and relational data sources) via Java connectors

Image source: Cubeserv

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Details about Visual Composer Cockpits

•Delivered as part of Enterprise Portal in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Usage Type (SPS8 and higher)•Different options available for rendering Visual Composer output

FlashWeb Dynpro (HTML)

•Flash provides high-end visualization of Visual Composer models

Since a cockpit may have many different DataSources (queries), it can take quite some time to execute them if the memory cache is not

used consistently

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Visual Composer Data Methods

• Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model

• Different options available for data access include: BI Extension Kit Remote Function Call (RFC) Web services

• BI Extension Kit allows access to the following DataSources SAP NetWeaver 2004 BI

(BW 3.5 Support Package 14) SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 JDBC XMLA

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Visual Composer DataProviders

• You can use BI queries and views as DataProviders for Visual Composer models

• You also can use BI query functionalities for exceptions and variables along with Visual Composer models

• Visual Composer allows access to BI history, favorites, and roles

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Visual Composer is Easy for Power Users to Learn

Visual Composer is a power user tool that is simple to learn for someone with a little bit of technical background (i.e. controllers, report writers, analysts).

Source: SAP

Source: MyITgroup

Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages

No coding required to create great-looking Web-based cockpits

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The future of Visual Composer

Composition Environment including Visual Composer continues to be the go-to product for creating composite applications.

Source: SAP, July 2008

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• Wrap-up

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BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)

OLAP ProcessorOLAP Processor

BEx Web Application DesignerBEx Analyzer/Query Designer

Web ServiceWeb Service

Charting EngineCharting Engine

Web Browser

HTLM Templates InfoProvider

WAD is an intuitive tool to build powerful web applications and to interact with portals and custom templates.

BW queries can be manipulated in WAD for better display

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Web Application Designer for custom applications

WAD can also incorporate other non-SAP web items into powerful cockpits and custom report centers.

While WAD can be used by developers without extensive HTML and Java

scripting knowledge, these skills will be useful on most projects.

OLAP ProcessorOLAP Processor

BEx Web Application DesignerBEx Analyzer/Query Designer

Web ServiceWeb Service

Charting EngineCharting Engine HTLM Templates InfoProviderSource: SAP AG

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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 Commands and charts, as well as a simplified wizard for layout elements such as radio buttons, action buttons etc.

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

WAD is a key tool for all SAP BI shops and in NWBI 7.0 the tool is simplified & more powerful.

New: integration with NW BI 7.0 BEx Report Designer.

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Some of SAP NetWeaver SAP BI 7.0 Web AD New Features

Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Support Package Stack 7)

Drag and drop using Analysis item New chart types (heat map, Gantt, milestone trend analysis) Export BI Web applications in PDF format Command Wizard for generating Web API commands Integration with SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 BEx Report Designer

for formatted reports

User can change the XHTML source code of any web template

either directly, or the ABAP program RS_TEMPLATE_MAINTAIN_70, or in

any external XHTML editor.

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BI Web API Commands

• You can use BI Web API commands for carrying out certain actions in BI Web Applications. Export to Excel, PDF etc. OLAP functions: Apply Filter values, remove drill downs

• Command Wizards guide you through the steps for creating a BI Web API command

• Commands appear together for easy access Data Provider Web Items Web Templates

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

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Command Wizard and JavaScript

• Use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript code for the Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications

BEx Web Application Designer will not be enhanced further beyond Release NW 7.1 in

2008.

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• Wrap-up

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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.

Source: SAP AG

We now get color control, header-footer control and many new features such as location control of cells and integration of pictures, charts and fixed text.

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BEx Report Designer is new in BI 7.0• Customizable font styles (i.e. bold,

italic), colors, etc.

• Group-level changes with individual formatting

• Layout options, e.g.: Height of rows, width of columns

• Multi-line column headers

• Flexible field positioning

• Merging cells

• Support for hierarchies

• Rules for the presentation of special characteristic values

• Integration of text, pictures, and charts

• Header & footer for reports

BEx Report Designer 7.1, (last release in 2008) will be available under maximum

maintenance until 2016 and will be

replaced with the Crystal Light product.

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Crystal Report is available (also in 3.x)

• With BW you get access to Crystal reports. In fact you have many pre-developed reports that comes with SAP-BW. Currently, you can modify, or develop and deploy a few Crystal reports without additional licensing cost.

• Crystal is a great tool for batch reporting of "pixel controlled' formatted reports.

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• Wrap-up

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Web Cockpit in the Portal

You can integrate queries and Web applications into the portal through publishing, broadcasting, or Web calls

The portal can either receive designed pages passively or actively create communities, Web pages, collaboration rooms, or cockpits

Broadcasting

Publishing

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Web Cockpit in the Portal (cont.)

• The SEM-CPM cockpits are already part of the portal, so you can access them there

• iViews can build custom portal cockpits with iViews from many data sources (Web AD, BW, SEM, R/3, Web) and in many formats (graphs, pictures, figures, tables)

• iViews can also be interactive

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Web AD Cockpits in SAP Enterprise Portal 6.0

You can directly publish BI Web cockpits to Portal Content Catalog using the Publish option from Web AD

Portal and BI system connection should be set up as per OSS note 917950

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Broadcast Cockpit Views and Templates Using WAD

• In SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0, use Information Broadcaster to broadcast BI Web applications (i.e., cockpit views) to Enterprise Portal KM folders and via email in various formats (PDF, MHTML, HTML)

• Information Broadcaster/Reporting Agent (BI 3.x) can precalculate BI Web applications to enhance performance

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• Wrap-up

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Web Templates Using BSP (in BW 3.5)• The most common way of deploying BW queries used to be through a standard,

or customized web template with built-in navigational features.• BW provided a global web template that could be enhanced with logos, colors,

fonts and additional features at a low cost of development and ownership.

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BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits in SAP BI 7.0

• BI Java SDK can be used for custom applications based on SAP BI and non-SAP data.

• BI Java SDK provides access to relational and OLAP data sources using JDBC, XMLA, ODBO etc.

• Access to 200+ data sources using the JDBC drivers.

Source: SAP AG, 2005

Java programmers will recognize the

standard development kit's (SDK) main

libraries such as the abstract windowing

toolkit (AWT) and the GUI-oriented Swing object library as well

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BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits (cont.)• SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio can develop BI Java SDK-based

applications• Can use along with SAP Java Web Dynpro

Interested developers should

familiarize themselves with SAP NetWeaver

Developer Studio

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• Wrap-up

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More Administrative tools for management & development

• Enhanced Dataflow control (split delta)• Administrator Cockpit (Web-based)• BI Accelerator (high performance BIA)• Enhanced InfoSets with InfoCubes• Re-modeling and repartitioning of InfoCubes• New Data Transfer Process (DTP)• Write-optimized DataStore objects• New Admin Workbench

SAP BI 7.0 have many improved tools for the developers and system administrators

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• Wrap-up

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SAP’s Premium Offerings

SAP Acquired Business Objects in 2007/2008 and is working on integrating BOBJ into the core SAP BI offerings.

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New Tools Roadmap

Source SAP AG, June 2008

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BOBJ capabilities – Dashboards and Reports

Crystal Reports for pixel formatted reports has been available with SAP BI/BW since 2002. This tool can be integrated into your tool portfolio using existing SAP NetWeaver BI queries

(NOTE: Crystal & Crystal Light will be the core tools for formatted reports starting 2010)

•Dashboards can be built using Xcelsius.

•Xcelsius+ will be launched in 2009, and will be “the flagship product for data visualization & dashboards”

•BEx Web Application Designer will not be enhanced further beyond Release NW 7.1 in 2008.


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BOBJ capabilities – Analysis, Ad-hoc & Widgets

The Web Intelligence tool from BOBJ is a tool for ad-hoc web based reporting, query & analysis.

It is intended for end users and can leverage queries to both relational and OLAP sources.

It will be the core offering for ad-hoc end user analysis starting 2009.

With the current offering of BOBJ you can also use Desktop Widgets to place BI content direct onto a PC desktop and monitor reports and KPIs.


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The Move towards Pioneer

•Pioneer (code name for 2009 release) provides a superset of the capabilities in BEx Analyzer (Excel), BEx Analyzer (Web), and Business Objects Voyager.

•Voyager customers migrate to Pioneer.

•BEx Analyzer & BEx Web Analyzer customers migrate to Pioneer. (Note: BEx goes into regular maintenance)

Web

based

Excel

based


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• Wrap-up

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BEx Report Designer and WAD

You can also let your SAP BI users do basic navigation on the formatted reports by either integrating navigation, or adding this in the Web Application Designer

(WAD)

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Visual Composer and WAD

• Visual Composer integrates with Web AD-based applications using Portal Eventing Framework

• For example, BW Web API can pass a filter value from a BEx Web application to Visual Composer and vice versa

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Visual Composer 7.0 Portal Publishing

• Visual Composer Design time deploys Visual Composer models directly as iViews to Portal Content Catalog

• You can then use Visual Composer iViews in portal pages, roles, etc.

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• Wrap-up

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Bex Broadcaster

Deciding which reporting tool is right for you

Web reportsWorkbooks Fixed

formatWeb

Applications Models

Ad-hoc query designer

Query Designer

Analysis ProcessDesigner

Crystal Reports

Broadcaster -wizard

Visual Composer

Web ApplicationDesigner

Oth

er to

ols

Web

Too

lsQ

uery

tool

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Vizuali-zation

Distrib-ution

- /

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- - -

- - -

- -

- -

- / - / -

--

--

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-* Through embedded Bex Broadcaster

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Who gets to do what?

The major decision for a SAP BI driven enterprise is to determine who gets access to each tool.

There is often a temptation for the IT community of wanting to keep the tools under their domain – That is a mistake

The IT community should actively work with the power and casual users to improve human capabilities and thereby teach them to become more productive employees.

Chinese Proverb

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Bex Broadcaster

Tool Access – Who should do what…..

Powerusers

Regular users Authors Developers BW

Admins

Ad-hoc query designer

Query Designer

Analysis ProcessDesigner

Crystal Reports

Broadcaster -wizard

Visual Composer

Web ApplicationDesigner

Oth

er to

ols

Web

Too

lsQ

uery

tool

s

- /

- /

-

-

- - -

- - /

There are many options and decisions to be made on who should be able to access all the different tools.

- / - /

- - -

- - /

- /

- /

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• The SAP BI Tool Revolution SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD), SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP)

Administrative tools The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools




• Wrap-up

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Resources

• SAP Documents - Interfaces for Enterprise Reporting, Query, and Analysis, May 2007, https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/

f52e9cc1-0d01-0010-d88b-d808b69391a4

• Dr. Bjarne Berg’s web site (70+ presentations) http://csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/swp/Berg/BB_index_main.htm

• SAP BI - NetWeaver BI 7.0 - what is New? SDN presentation http://csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/swp/Berg/articles/NWBI 7.0_what_is_new.ppt

• SAP Business Intelligence (BI) by Norbert Egger, Jean-Marie Fiechter, Sebastian Kramer, Ralf-Patrick Sawicki, and Stephan Weber. Galio Press - Hardcover, 653 pages, ISBN 978-1-59229-082-6

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7 points to take home

1. Pick the right tools based on what you want to accomplish. “everything in the world is a nail, when you only have a hammer”…

2. The BW tool set has evolved substantially over the last 2 years –have you?

3. Today’s presentation developer is much more than a query developer. More than one skill set is needed.

4. Work hard on empowering your end users. You are not doing your organization any ‘favors’ by keeping BI in the IT organization

5. Consider integrating more than one tool for you analytical needs

6. You may want to consider to split your backend BI operations and create a new reporting group focusing on the front-end.

7. Budget ‘real money’ to get your organization proficient in the new tools. This is not done overnight, nor cheaply.

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Your Turn!

How to contact me:Bjarne Berg

[email protected]