A Complete Guide To BI 7.0 Reporting Tools

The Complete Guide to Reporting Tools in SAP NetWeaver & the BusinessObjects Portfolio - with performance options Bjarne
Berg Director SAP BI
[ Learning Points
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.
Real Experience. Real Advantage.
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[ Agenda
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) The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools
Empowering the users a mind shift Who Should get access Wrap-up Bonus material: All SAP BOBJ tools
[ 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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[ Agenda
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) The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools
BEx Query Designer gets a facelift in BI 7.x

The 3.5x BEx Query Designer
The new 7.x 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
The NWBI 7.0 BEx Query Designer

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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.
Source: SAP AG, 2008
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)
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 WAD) 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
[ Agenda
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[Creating new data inside SAP BI

In Data warehousing v2.0 (Bill Immons 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).
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Images: Bhanu Gupta, ASUG 2005 Illinois chapter
[APD Analysis Process Designer and data mining

Complex scenarios can be built for structured analysis such as risk modeling, customer segmentation, market basket analysis, predictive modeling and much more
Image: SAP
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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[ Agenda
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) The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools
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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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[ 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 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).
No coding required to create great-looking Web-based cockpits
Source: SAP
Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages

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The future of Visual Composer
Source: SAP, July 2008
Composition Environment including Visual Composer continues to be the go-to product for creating composite applications (SAP, 2008)
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[ Agenda
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[ BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)

BEx Analyzer/ Query Designer
BEx Web Application Designer
Web Browser
WAD is an intuitive tool to build powerful web applications and to interact with portals and custom templates.
OLAP Processor Web Service Charting Engine
HTLM Templates
InfoProvider
BW queries can be manipulated in WAD for better display

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[New Features of SAP NetWeaver SAP BI 7.0

Package Stack 7)
Web AD
Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (in SAP BI 7.0 Support
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
NEW: 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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[ Command Wizard and JavaScript

You can use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript code for the Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications
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[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

Dashboards, Visualization
Web App Designer Xcelsius Polestar
And Much More
Enterprise Reporting
Report Designer Crystal Reports
Ad-hoc Query & Reporting

Web Intelligence
BI Widgets
Advanced Analysis
SAP BEx Analyzer Voyager Predictive
Mobile BI
Enterprise Data Warehousing & BI Platform

Web Services
SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA
BusinessObjects Enterprise
Source: SAP 20009
[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

And Much More
Dashboards, Visualization
Web App Designer Xcelsius Polestar
Enterprise Reporting
Report Designer Crystal Reports BI Widgets
Ad-hoc Query & Reporting
Web Intelligence Mobile BI SAP BEx Analyzer Voyager
Advanced Analysis
Predictive
Enterprise Data Warehousing & BI Platform
Web Services
SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA
BusinessObjects Enterprise
Source: SAP 20009
BI Web Application Designer Roadmap

planned 2010
InfoView /SAP NetWeaver Portal
future
InfoView /SAP NetWeaver Portal
Pioneer Web Client

Workspace
PIO Web Tab BEx Web Tab
Pioneer Web Client

Workspace
PIO Web Tab BEx Web Tab
SAP BOE Platform

Pioneer Web Server
SAP BOE Platform Pioneer Designer/ SDK
Pioneer Web Server BI Consumer Services BI Consumer Services
BEx Queries/ InfoProviders
BEx Web Templates
BEx Web App Designer
BEx Queries/ InfoProviders
BEx Web BEx Web App options via Templates Designer
Migration
SAP NW BW
SAP NW BW
Pioneer SDK
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[ Agenda
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[ The BEx Report Designer

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
News: BEx Report Designer 7.1, (last release in 2008) will be available under maximum maintenance until 2016 and will be replaced with the Crystal Base product.
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[ Crystal Report is still available (also in SAP BW 3.x)

With BW you get access to Crystal reports. In fact you have many predeveloped 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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[ Agenda
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[ Web Cockpits 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
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Publishing
[ Agenda
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BI Java SDK-Based Applications in SAP BI 7.x
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.
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
Source: SAP AG, 2008
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[ BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits (cont.)

SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio can develop BI Java SDKbased applications Can use along with SAP Java Web Dynpro
Interested developers should familiarize themselves with SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio
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[ Agenda
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SAPs 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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BOBJ capabilities Dashboards and Reports
Dashboards can be built using Xcelsius. Xcelsius+ will be launched in 2009, and will be the flagship product for data visualization & dashboards
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 Base will be the core tools for formatted reports starting 2010)
Source SAP AG, 2009
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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.
Source SAP AG, June 2008
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[ New Tools Roadmap
Source SAP
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[ The Move towards Pioneer
Pioneer (for 1st Quarter 2010 release) provides a superset of the capabilities in BEx Web based Analyzer (Excel), BEx Analyzer (Web), and Business Objects Voyager. Voyager customers migrate to Pioneer.
Excel based
BEx Analyzer & BEx Web Analyzer customers migrate to Pioneer. (Note: BEx is planned to go into regular maintenance)
Source SAP, April, 2009
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[ What can be Done in 2009- Implementations

Suggestion Candidates for Implementations in 2009 Tool Visual Composer Web Intelligence BI Widgets / BO Universe Crystal Report BPC BI Accellerator Purpose Visualization Ad-hoc Desktop Intelligence Formatted reports Consolidation & Planning In memory performance
Visual Composer BI Accelerator
Web Intelligence (webi)

Widgets
[ The two types of Universes

There are currently 2 ways to get at the SAP BI data. If you implement this year, you need to make conscious decisions about which method you select. There are pros and cons of each
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[ Overview: Options for Universe-Based Access to BW 7.0

WebI Xcelsius
QaaWS
QT
Universes
ODA
SQL Access
MDX Access
Data Federator
XMLA
OLAP BAPI
ODBO
RDBMS
BW
BIA
Analytic Engine
[ Overview: Options for Universe-Based Access to BW 7.01

WebI Xcelsius
QaaWS
QT
Universes
ODA
SQL Access
MDX Access
Data Federator
XMLA
OLAP BAPI
ODBO
RDBMS
BW
DF Fascade BWA
Analytic Engine
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[ Comparison
BW Server Feature BW Hierarchies Restricted and Calculated Key Figures MDX SQL
Security BW Variables
Currency and Unit Conversion Exceptions, Conditions SUM, MIN, MAX Aggregations AVG, COUNT, COUNT DISTINCT, Aggregations
OLAP Cache
Navigational Attributes Mass Data Enabled Federation (e.g. BW RDBMS, BW BW)
= fully supported
= limited support / workaround
[ What can be Done in 2009- Take a Look at

Xcelsius
Polestar is an interesting technology that companies may start a prototype with and see how it can help them access BI data from a variety of sources (NW and others)
Suggestion Worth a Prototype Keep an Eye on, but wait until the new release
Polestar
Tool Xcelcius Polestar Pioneer
Purpose Dashboards Search engine BEx web & Excel
[ What can be Done in 2009- Prototype

Consider building a Xcelsius Prototype to get used to really interactive dashboards and what-if analysis.
Suggestion Worth a Prototype Keep an Eye on, but wait until the new release Xcelcius Polestar Pioneer Tool
Xcelsius
Purpose Dashboards Search engine BEx web & Excel

Image source: Adobe, 2009
[ What can be Done in 2009- Keep doing

There are many classical SAP NetWeaver tools that should still be used by companies that are planning go-lives in 2009.
Integrated planning is still supported. Pioneer is still 12 months away WAD will continue to be the development environment for 2009.
Tool Web Application Designer BEx Web Keep doing for a while longer BEx Excel Analysis Process Designer Integrated Planning
Suggestion
Purpose Web development Web reporting Excel reporting Structured Analysis Planning
[ Stop As soon as possible

If you need Formatted Reports in 2009, you should seriously consider Crystal Reports. The current roadmap calls for moving Report Designer into regular maintenance at the end of 2009, and stop further development of this tool. Looking forward to Xcelsius and Pioneer, it may be advisable to limit further custom development in JSP unless it is not intended to be migrated at a future date.
Suggestion Stop when possible Tool Report Designer Custom JSP pages Purpose Formatted reports Custom applications
[ Training SAP Business Objects for SAP NetWeaver BW

future
New 2 day course offering from SAP Education for training on Business Objects integration with SAP NetWeaver BW Two dates are currently scheduled in June for virtual course delivery June 1 2, 2009 June 25 26, 2009
See the following link to the Course Description for more detailed information on the content covered
http://www.sap.com/usa/services/education/usacourse. epx?context=%5b%5b|SAPBO||1|091|US|%5d%5d|
[ Agenda
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)
The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools Empowering the users a mind shift Who Should get access Wrap-up Bonus material: All SAP BOBJ tools
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Why BI-A? Disk speed is growing slower than other HW components
Technology Drivers
1990 CPU 2009 Improvement
Architectural Drivers
1990
Disk based data storage Simple consumption of apps (Fat client UI, EDI) Generalpurpose, applicationagnostic database 2009 In-memory data stores Multi-channel UI, high event volume, cross industry value chains Applicationaware and intelligent data management
Source: 1990 numbers SAP AG 2009 numbers Dr. Berg
0.05
MIPS/$
8.30
MIPS/$
166x 425x
Memory
0.02
MB/$
8.51
MB/$
Addressable Memory
216
100
Mbps
264
10
Gbps
248x
100 x
Network Speed
Disk Data Transfer
5
MBPS
400
MBPS
80x
Physical hard drive speeds only grew by 80 times since 1990. All other hardware components grew faster. Real Experience. Real Advantage.
[BI Accelerator Works by Indexing InfoCubes in Hardware memory

BI Accelerator has been simple to install and operate for established SAP BI teams You use process chains to maintain the BI-A engine after each data load
SAP BW Any tool
IBM, Sun, HP & Fujitsu have standard solutions ranging from $32K to $300K+ that can be installed and tested in as little as 2-4 weeks (+ SAP license fees)
32 GB Blades are certified by SAP
[ BI Analytical Engines Query executing priorities

Information Broadcasting / Precalculation Information Broadcasting / Precalculation
Query Cache
Query Cache
Aggregates
SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator
InfoProvider
Query Execution Without BI Accelerator
Query Execution With BI Accelerator
Aggregates can be replaced with BI-A, while the memory cache is still useful.
[ Performance is Near-Linear: Benchmarks

BIAs strength resides in its near-linear scalability Performance is measured in terms of:
1. BI-A index creation time 2. Multi-user throughput per hour 3. Average report response time 4. Average number of records touched by each report
BIA Currently reads data from InfoCubes. DSOs & InfoObjects are still read from base/physical tables (even when the InfoObject is indexed as part of master data).
[ Most customers have found BIA Admin to be minimal

The training & admin to run BI Accelerator has proven to be minimal. Training is included in the SAP courses: BW310, BW360 and in the online course BW361
Many companies, have spent 2-5 days in BIA training (total for 1-2 administrators) and a work through a single interface:
RSDDBIAMON (Checks available at: RSRV)
In the past, SAP has also offered a 2 day workshop called BI Upgrade & Accelerator (WNABIA)
[ BIA is becoming mainstream

Some of SAP reference clients
BIA is no longer something exotic.

Many of the large BI systems have already implemented BIA and many more projects are under way in Europe and in the Americas.
Once you exceed a few hundred critical users and/or 3-4 TB of data you should seriously consider SAP BIA
[ 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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[ Agenda
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[ Resources
COMERIT (Presentations, guides and accelerators) www.comeritinc.com
SAP Documents - Interfaces for Enterprise Reporting, Query, and Analysis

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/libr ary/uuid/f52e9cc1-0d01-0010-d88b-d808b69391a4
SAP Business Intelligence (BI) by Norbert Egger, Jean-Marie Fiechter, Sebastian Kramer, Ralf-Patrick Sawicki, and Stephan Weber. Galio Press - Hardcover, 653 pages, ISBN 978-1-59229082-6
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Key Learnings
Suggestion Tool Visual Composer Web Intelligence BI Widgets / BO Universe Crystal Report BPC BI Accellerator Xcelcius Polestar Pioneer Purpose Visualization Ad-hoc Desktop Intelligence Formatted reports Consolidation & Planning In memory performance Dashboards Search engine BEx web & Excel Web development Web reporting Excel reporting Structured Analysis Planning Formatted reports Custom applications
Candidates for Implementations in 2009
Worth a Prototype Keep an Eye on, but wait until the new release
Web Application Designer BEx Web Keep doing for a while longer BEx Excel Analysis Process Designer Integrated Planning Report Designer Stop when possible Custom JSP pages
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[ Questions and Answers
How to contact me:
Dr. Bjarne Berg

bberg@comerit.net
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Bonus Material The total BOBJ toolset
This Bonus Material Include all SAP BOBJ tools, not just tools for the SAP market
Source: SAP March, 2009
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A Complete Guide To BI 7.0 Reporting Tools

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The Complete Guide to Reporting Tools in SAP NetWeaver & the BusinessObjects Portfolio - with performance options Bjarne

Berg Director SAP BI

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ The SAP BI Core Toolset

BI can also support some degree of operational reporting

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

BEx Query Designer gets a facelift in BI 7.x

The NWBI 7.0 BEx Query Designer

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[BEx Analyzer (Excel Workbooks)

To use this tool you need BEx installed

Source: SAP AG, 2008

[BEx Analyzer Design Mode

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

To use this tool you need BEx installed

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[Creating new data inside SAP BI

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[APD Analysis Process Designer and data mining

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Visual Composer for Complex cockpits

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Visual Composer Data Methods

BI Extension Kit allows access to the following DataSources

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Visual Composer is Easy for Power Users to Learn

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

Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages

The future of Visual Composer

Source: SAP, July 2008

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)

BEx Web Application Designer

BW queries can be manipulated in WAD for better display

[New Features of SAP NetWeaver SAP BI 7.0

[ Command Wizard and JavaScript

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

And Much More

Ad-hoc Query & Reporting

Enterprise Data Warehousing & BI Platform

SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA

[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

Ad-hoc Query & Reporting

Web Intelligence Mobile BI SAP BEx Analyzer Voyager

Enterprise Data Warehousing & BI Platform

SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

BI Web Application Designer Roadmap

Pioneer Web Client

Pioneer Web Client

SAP BOE Platform

SAP BOE Platform Pioneer Designer/ SDK

Pioneer Web Server BI Consumer Services BI Consumer Services

BEx Queries/ InfoProviders

BEx Web Templates

BEx Web App Designer

BEx Queries/ InfoProviders

BEx Web BEx Web App options via Templates Designer