Sap Bi Bo Integration - Best Practices and Overcoming Challenges

SAP BI BO Integration Best practices and overcoming challenges

Applies to

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise. For more information, visit the Business Objects homepage.

Summary

This whitepaper focuses on various aspects that need to be followed in the BO/BW integration projects. It covers best practices, challenges faced and solutions derived in integrating BI with BO (WebI and Crystal Reports).

Author(s): Sudhakar Arunachalam

Ravi Sankar Reddy Narala

Reviewer(s): Venkatesh Moti, Anil Kumar Lingam

Company: Deloitte

Created on: February 14, 2012

Author bio

The authors have worked on several SAP Business Objects projects.

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc

Table of contents

1. Introduction 1

2. SAP BI BO Integration — Best practices 22.1 BW queries.................................................................................................................. 2

2.2 OLAP Universe............................................................................................................4

2.3 Information................................................................................................................... 5

2.4 Crystal reports.............................................................................................................6

2.5 WebI reports................................................................................................................9

3. SAP BI BO Integration — Challenges and solutions 103.1 Universe........................................................................................................................... 10

3.2 WebI reports..............................................................................................................11

3.3 Crystal reports...........................................................................................................12

4. SAP BI BO Integration — Observations 144.1 WebI reports.............................................................................................................14

4.2 OLAP Universes........................................................................................................14

4.3 BW queries................................................................................................................14

4.4 Crystal Reports..........................................................................................................14

4.5 InfoView viewers for Crystal.......................................................................................15

Related content 16

Copyright 17


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1. Introduction

SAP acquired Business Objects in 2008 to provide customers with a full suite of business intelligence and information management solutions on a single platform with deep integration to SAP Business Suite and NetWeaver. The intent was to offer SAP customers with a market leading suite of reporting, analytics and dashboard capabilities.

This whitepaper focuses on various aspects that need to be followed in the BO/BI integration projects. It covers some of the common challenges faced, and solutions derived in integrating BI with BO (WebI and Crystal Reports). Also, this paper presents a perspective into the recommendations and best practices for BusinessObjects reports development with SAP BW. Goal of this document is to accelerate the deployment of BusinessObjects reports and avoid common mistakes by developers trying their hands for first time with SAP BW based data connections. The scope of this whitepaper is limited to the experiences that we have come across in this project.

The Environment is:

SAP BI 7.1

Crystal Reports 2008 SP3

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 SP3

SAP BI BO Integration kit SP3


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2. SAP BI BO Integration — Best practices

2.1 BW queries

1. Need to check “Allow external access to the Query” property in advanced properties of BEx to make queries accessible from external applications like Crystal Reports and Universe Designer.

2. For large sets of key figures, “Use Selection of Structure Members” option in transaction RSRT for the query to ensure structure elements are sent to the database for processing.

3. “Selection option” in variable creation is not recommended in BEx Queries. Alternatively, interval for dates and multi-/single-value select variable for Characteristics are suggested.


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4. All the characteristics used in characteristic restriction should be part of rows/columns.

5. Create all prompts in Characteristic restrictions part of BEx. Prompts created at rows/column level of BEx are not carried to Universe.

6. Authorization variables should be part of characteristic restrictions instead of on default values.

7. Implement the filters and restrictions in the BEx query in order to minimize the volume of data returned to Crystal Reports or Web Intelligence reports.

Parameters kept at Crystal Report would not filter data coming from BEx. Instead, need to suppress data Crystal Report level. Prompts kept at WebI level will filter data coming from BEx.

8. Use hierarchy type InfoObject to restrict hierarchy node variable restriction. Using normal InfoObject for hierarchy node restriction may give errors at Universe/report level.

9. A large number of navigation attributes defined in the BEx query negatively impacts the performance of the query in Web Intelligence. Only required characteristic objects should be marked as Navigational attributes.

10.BEx should be designed keeping Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports in mind and not BEx, as Crystal, WebI, and BW Queries are three different reporting tools.

11.Row-level security authorizations need to be handled at BW query using authorization variables, as security and restrictions are not supported by Designer for OLAP Universes or Crystal Reports.

12. InfoObject, Variable descriptions in the BEx query have to be aligned with prompt text requirements of the reports.

13.Suggested to apply restrictions at BEX level on some InfoObjects which should show only limited list of values. (e.g.: Fiscal Year Variant: can be restricted to SY instead of allowing all LOV).

14. It is not required to pull InfoObject attributes to BEx query to facilitate Crystal/WebI Reports as all attributes would be available here by default.

15.Key and Text both should be selected for characteristics wherever applicable, instead of selecting only key or text.

16.Design your BEx query appropriately with limited number of Key Figures and Characteristics.


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2.2 OLAP Universe

1. Set one-time setting at Tools/Options/OLAP. Uncheck “Set measure aggregation to delegated”, Generate L00.

2. While creating Universe connection, SSO option needs to be used instead of specifying user name and password. When SAP credentials were updated, no additional maintenance is required for connections.

Give Universe connection name same as BEx query technical name. (ZZQMSELM02_Q002).

Give Universe name as Process area — Report name. (QM — Notification Causes)

3. Universe controls need to be left unchecked to fetch complete result set.

4. Promote detailed key objects as dimensions for important InfoObject. (Material key, Document key, etc.)

5. Change the date definition of pre-defined condition at universe level to provide the calendar option in the report prompts.

6. Prefix numbers to prompt display strings to achieve required sequence in WebI Reports.

7. L00 objects can be filtered in Universe. But for Universes with hierarchies, this option is not suggested, as hierarchy objects would start from L00.

8. Create custom objects at universe and use them in Web Intelligence reports to avoid universe refresh issues.

9. Duplicate Condition objects to manage universe refreshes.

10.Use “Delegate Search” option in universe designer.

No values will be loaded automatically. User is “forced” to leverage search to receive members. Search is being delegated to the SAP BI system)


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11.For large sets of key figures, “Use Selection of Structure Members” option.

(In transaction RSRT for the query to ensure structure elements are sent to the database for processing.)

12.No need to set Connection parameters like Array fetch size, Array bind size, and Login timeout.

(These are of no use for BI OLAP universes.)

13.BI Queries are recommended as data sources for generating universes.

(BI Queries offer significant functionality such as Calculated and Restricted Key figures, structures and SAP authorization Variables.)

14.Ensure the reference objects are indexed to avoid unnecessary steps to resolve the value to the member unique name.

15.Set Index Awareness for suitable columns.

16.Date filters when flown to Universe; lose the ability to provide calendar facility. Update the prompt logic at universe to provide calendar to users.

17.Set measure qualification to sum, average, and database-delegate etc., appropriately.

18.While creating universes for Adhoc-Reporting, create custom objects and hide default classes and objects (L00/L01).

19.All the naming conventions of Characteristics and objects need to be taken care at BEx level.

20.When Universe is based on multiple subject areas, it is suggested to prefix process area for Key figures names.

21.Characteristic in BEx would map to subclass/dimension object in Universe and all the attributes would come as detailed objects in Universe. This is the default behavior of universe.

22.Recommended to have few BW Queries — for every InfoCube or MultiCube that is in scope for ad-hoc query and reporting. Then, build a universe on top of each of these BW Queries.

2.3 Information

1. Universes connect to SAP NetWeaver BI via OLAP BAPI

2. Universe can directly connect to Multiproviders and InfoCubes.

3. Universe can connect to Multiproviders, InfoCubes, ODS, Infoset through BEx Query.

4. Need to use BEx queries to leverage CKFs, RKFs, Structures, Variables, Navigational attributes.

5. Characteristics, Hierarchies, Basic key figures, Display attributes would be available at InfoCube/BEx query level as well.

6. Meta data mapping

Dimension: Class

Characteristics: subclass with dimension and detail objects

Characteristic with hierarchy: Subclass containing dimension and detail objects for each hierarchy level in the currently defined hierarchy

Structure based on Characteristics: Class with single dimension object for the structure

Navigational attribute: Subclass with dimension and detail objects (identical to characteristic)

Display Attribute: Detail object for the dimension


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Key Figure: Measure object in the class for the Key Figure structure with dimension objects for units/currency, numeric value, and formatted value (based on User preferences)

Calculated Key Figure (BEx Queries only): Measure and dimension objects (same as Key Figure)

Restricted Key Figure (BEx Queries only): Measure and dimension objects (same as Key Figure)

Variables (BEx Queries only): Pre-defined Filter in the Universe

In the class for the dimension to which the variable applies, two dimension objects supporting the list of values, one for caption, one for description.

Key date variable (BEx Queries only): Universe parameters defining key date variable in the universe

2.4 Crystal reports

1. Use MDX driver. If you select the SAP>Settings menu, you will see the option “Use MDX driver with support for Multiple structures.” This option is what determines whether, when using SAP Toolbar to create a report, Crystal Reports will use the BW Query driver or the BW MDX driver. If this option is not selected when you use the SAP toolbar to create a new report, it will use the SAP BW Query driver, which is the driver that you should not use for creating reports off BEx Queries, as this is an old driver that has limited functionality.

Before you start creating reports, make sure you check the option to “Use MDX driver with support for Multiple structures” so you use the recommended BW MDX driver.

2. Publish to BOE via BW using BW publisher.


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When you save your Crystal Reports, you can choose to save it to BOE or you can save it to BW and publish to BOE. It is not mandatory to save to BW and then publish to BOE, but if you don’t do so, you miss some functionality, such as:

a. Online list of values for prompts

b. Hierarchical display for hierarchical node prompts

c. SAP variable personalization

d. Life cycle management of Crystal Reports (from DEV to QA to PROD) with the SAP transports

3. Not recommended to use Page N of M.

4. Show both name and description for Characteristics.

5. Set page size letter/legal/ledger for U.S. projects.


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6. Uncheck “Save Data with Report” to get latest data every time. This will make the report to refresh whenever it is viewed.

7. Check No printer option.

8. Keep one time tool level settings for font, size, wrap, and paragraph. It is advisable to prepare a template with all desired fonts, sizes, layout etc, and apply the same template for related reports. This reduces the manual labor in Development.

9. Publish to BOE via BW using BW publisher to provide dynamic LOVs.


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2.5 WebI reports

1. Enabling Query stripping would improve the report performance (SP3).

2. Use Query Drill option in the Web Intelligence Document Properties dialog box significantly improves drill down performance.

3. Leverage Hyperlink wizard to minimize the effort of Hyperlink creation.

4. Use input controls for interactive analysis for report data.

5. At least one key figure has to be included in BEx in order to get result set in Web Intelligence.


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3. SAP BI BO Integration — Challenges and solutions

3.1 Universe

1. Refresh structure does not reflect the BEx changes to Universe in some cases.

Closing and reopening the Designer session would solve the problem.

2. Web Intelligence reports would be impacted when some characteristics were deleted from BEx/Universe that was used in report.

Creation of custom objects at universe and using them in reports would solve the problem.

3. Web Intelligence reports throw errors regarding password expiry in the universe connections.

Use Single Sign-on Option while creating universe connections to handle password expiry issues.

4. Updating the universe to reflect latest changes in BEx would erase customization of predefined condition objects of the Universe.

Duplicating predefined condition objects and applying customization on them would retain customization irrespective of universe updates.

5. An OLAP Universe sourced out of SAP BI can point to only one InfoProvider or query. This limits the creation of generic universes which can serve cross-functional requirements.

Creation of multiprovider on cross functional info cubes and creating a generic BEx and generating OLAP universe on top of such generic BEx can serve cross-functional requirements.

6. Concatenating dimension or detail objects is not possible in BI OLAP universe.

Concatenation can be handled at InfoProvider level and concatenated InfoObject can be passed on to the universe.

7. Default projection aggregate for all measures in BI OLAP universe would be set to Database Delegated. This would create data roll up issues for adhoc reports.

Use alternate projection aggregate (sum) wherever possible except for non-additive measures which would be calculated correctly only if associated with database delegated.

8. Characteristic variables on date characteristics would be converted as pre-defined conditions at universe level, losing the Calendar ability for prompts.

Change the definition of pre-defined condition at universe level to provide the calendar option in the report prompts.

9. Selection option variable of BEx gets carried over to the universe as predefined condition of type Range. This pre-defined condition would overwrite the actual functionality of selection option variables.

Avoid using Selection Option variables in the BEx that would source Web Intelligence reports.

3.2 WebI reports


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1. Need to fix the report layout for report based on structure at BEx. Report does not show structure elements where there is no data at backend.

Create a dummy formula at structure and provide a value of 1 for it. This ensures a value is supplied to all structure elements.

2. Web Intelligence report may not return any data if the query is built without any measures provided corresponding BEx has no key figures in the query.

Use Dummy Key Figure in the BEx which has constant value in it to return data to the Web Intelligence reports sourced out of this BEx

3. No data to retrieve error when pulling dimensions alone into the query panel of Web Intelligence.

At least one measure has to be included in Web Intelligence query in order to get result set.

4. Range prompt created for dimension objects with descriptions (Material, Plant) at WebI Report would not filter data as expected

Use key objects (Material key, Plant key) in range prompt. However, this would not display descriptions at prompt run time, but displays only key values.

5. Report to report links created using wizard provided in interactive mode does not function properly for all reporting cases.

Use Key Objects to pass values to child report prompts and use report-level prompts in child reports to resolve issues.

6. Web Intelligence report refreshes list of values for mandatory prompts each time the report is run. This increases the report consumption time of the end user.

Use Delegated search option for LOV objects at universe level to avoid refreshing of LOV and provide end user with search facility

7. Web Intelligence report with query stripping enabled does not fetch data though underlying BEx has data in few scenarios.

In such cases, disable the report-level filtering before enabling the query stripping.

Query Stripping enables refreshing of fields/formulae that are displayed on the report, so disable any formulae which restrict data before enabling query stripping for the reports or Use query stripping to Web Intelligence reports where there are no data restricting formulae in display output.

8. Programmable prompt default values (i.e., default values associated using Customer Exit Variables) would not be carried out to Web Intelligence

Avoid using these at BEx if the Web Intelligence or Crystal Reports are sourced on top of BEx.

9. Web Intelligence reports can access only SAP BI InfoProviders and cannot access SAP ECC or transactional data directly for reporting.

Virtual info providers can be created to access SAP ECC data without storing it in BI. Web Intelligence reports can be created on top of virtual info providers.


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3.3 Crystal reports

1. Crystal Report name gets truncated off when the report is published to BW and BOE using BW publisher

Name the reports without exceeding 50 character limit to avoid truncation.

2. Crystal Reports does not reflect list of values correctly when the report is run from InfoView.

Publish Crystal Reports using BW publisher to get around this problem.

3. Crystal Reports showing up flat list of values for the parameters created on hierarchy nodes.

Publish Crystal Reports using BW publisher to associate hierarchical list of values for parameters

4. Crystal Reports cannot retain personalized values in the prompts while running the report from InfoView.

Associate personalization at BI level and publish Crystal report using BW publisher to retain personalized values in prompts

5. Optional Parameter created at report level behaves as mandatory while running crystal report from InfoView.

Avoid creating parameters at report level unless you are forced to do so.

6. Parameters created at the report level with associated default values would not retain default values when the report is run from InfoView.

Avoid creating parameters at report level unless you are forced to do so.

7. Date variables used in BEx will carry over as parameter of Character type with associated list of values losing Calendar ability.

Only workaround is to use report level parameters, and but this is advisable only in reports where there are lower volumes of data.

8. BEx Variables with associated default values would not function as expected, as only one default value gets carried over successfully.

Avoid associating default values to the variables instead personalization of variables. Can be used to retain personalized values provided reports are published using BW publisher.

9. Programmable prompt default values (i.e., default values associated using Customer Exit Variables) would not be carried out to crystal Reports or Web Intelligence

Avoid using these at BEx if the Web Intelligence or Crystal Reports are sourced on top of BEx.

10.Crystal Parameter cannot display all the selected values on the prompt page of the report. Instead, it shows only the selected values for which the data is present in InfoProvider or BEx.

No solution except bearing with it and educating client users.

11.Crystal report can be viewed in multiple viewers in InfoView and each viewer has its behavior challenges.

Select a viewer based on the functionality required and based on behavioral challenges they generate.

12.Parameters in crystal show key values by default when parameters are displayed on prompt page.

Use Medium name fields and write formula logic to replace key values with descriptive values.


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13.Customization to Crystal parameter prompt text cannot be retained when the crystal is updated for BEx changes.

BEx variable descriptions have to be given per the prompt text requirement of the end report users.

14.Crystal parameters unable to populate list of values when the report is viewed via client tool, if the variables are modified at BEx level, or even if new data is loaded in the info cube, after the creation of crystal report.

a. Publish the report to BW and import back to see the LOV.

b. Copy the list of values from newly created Crystal.

c. Append list of values from data base.

15.Compounded characteristics from BI are showing up with compounding even though compounding is removed from BEx display.

Alternative is to remove compounding from Crystal/WebI Report.


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4. SAP BI BO Integration — Observations

4.1 WebI reports

1. Report with hierarchy object as prompt may give error if there are no LOVs for that object.

2. In the case of reports with structures, pull all the objects used in report to BEx query output (instead of leaving them in free characteristics) to match results.

4.2 OLAP Universes

1. Custom changes done on universe condition objects would not be retained when universe is refreshed to accommodate BEx updates/changes.

2. Class/dimension/detail object custom changes can be retained.

3. String functions are currently not supported in SAP BW universes.

4. Prompt default values (provided at BEx) will be carried to Universe reports. May give parse error at Designer but will work fine at WebI Report level.

<CONSTANT TECH_NAME=“@Prompt(‘Plan Version’, ‘A’, ‘Cost Center\LovPlan VersionBase’,mono,primary_key,,{‘0’: ‘ [0VERSION].[000]’})”/>

4.3 BW queries

1. Programmable prompt default values (system date, fiscal year) would not be carried out to Crystal Reports or Universe.

However, normal prompt default values would be carried to Crystal Reports and Universe.

2. Conditions and exceptions of BEx are not carried crystal/WebI Reports.

3. Selection option defined at BW query becomes range prompt in Universe, becomes range and multi-select prompt in Crystal.

4. Mandatory prompt with default values works fine at crystal after publishing to BW. But only first default value is getting carried by neglecting rest of the values.

4.4 Crystal Reports

1. Date prompt at BEx would turn to date LOV in Crystal instead of Calendar.

2. Prompt created at Crystal would not filter any data at MDX level, but would be used in report- level suppression.

3. Custom optional prompt created at Crystal would behave as mandatory in InfoView after publishing to BW.

4. Custom prompts created at Crystal level won’t retain default values in InfoView after publishing to BW.


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5. All values entered at prompt can’t be displayed in prompt page of Crystal report. Only values available at underlying cube would be displayed.

6. Need to provide key values instead of description values to the parameters in Crystal Reports.

7. In Crystal report, when existing BEx query is repointed to new BEx query, technical name would not be reflected correctly. Need to go to table properties to find the correct name.

8. Optional prompt with default values would not work as expected. Even after checking set to null the report would run for prompt default values. Need to select new value to overwrite the default behavior.

9. Prompt text for Crystal parameters would be overwritten with BEx variable descriptions after updating the Crystal report data source to reflect BEx changes. So, cannot provide custom prompt text at Crystal report level. All the naming conventions for parameters should be taken care at BEx level.

10.Crystal prompt values are sorted on key even though BEx can sort them on key or description.

11.For variables that are modified at BEx after the initial creation of report, the respective parameters do not load LOVs in Crystal client tool.

12.Crystal Reports LOVs would display description by default in Web Viewer of InfoView even though it is defined as key in BEx.

13.BEx default values (system date) would take precedence over set to NULL

4.5 InfoView viewers for Crystal

Web viewer

1. All prompts will be displayed in a single page.

2. Not able to select multiple values for prompts at a time.

3. Personalization is available.

4. Wild card search facility is available for LOVs.

5. Calendar option is available for date prompts, provided prompt is created at Crystal report level.

Web Java viewer

1. Able to select multiple values for prompts.

2. Personalization is not available.

3. Calendar option is not available for dates, even though prompt is created at Crystal level.

4. Wild card search facility is not available here.

5. Web Java viewer retains last selected values but in key form rather than description form.

6. Web Java viewer LOV would not be refreshed or shown always.

7. One prompt per page.

Web viewer — Crystal native

1. Able to select multiple values for prompts.

2. No personalization.


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Related content

For more information, visit BusinessObjects homepage


http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc

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Sap Bi Bo Integration - Best Practices and Overcoming Challenges