A Complete Guide To Bi7.0 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.
[ 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
Advantage.
[ 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.
Advantage.
[ Agenda

Report Designer
Web publishing
Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP)

Wrap-up

Advantage.
BEx Query Designer gets a facelift in BI 7.x

The 3.5x BEx
Query
Designer
BEx Ad-Hoc Query

Designer
functionality is
replaced by BEx Web
Analyzer in BI 7.0
Advantage.
The new 7.x Query designer

was totally re-developed in MSVisual Basic .NET
This new property pane makes
it easier to format and control
displays than in the past.
The NWBI 7.0 BEx

Query Designer
6
[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
Advantage.
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)
Advantage.
[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

Advantage.
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
10
[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).

Advantage.
11
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
New data based on the

findings can be loaded back into
data targets and used by others
for reporting i.e. CRM analysis.
Advantage.
12
[ Agenda
Analysis Process Designer (APD)
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
13
[ Visual
AComposer
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.

Advantage.
14
[ 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

Advantage.
15
[ 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

Advantage.
16
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

Advantage.
17
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)

Advantage.
18
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up

Advantage.
19
[ 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
Advantage.
HTLM Templates
InfoProvider
BW queries can be
manipulated in WAD for
better display
20
[New Features of SAP NetWeaver SAP BI 7.0

Web AD
Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item
(in SAP 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
NEW: User can change the
XHTML
source code of any web
template
either directly, or the ABAP
program
RS_TEMPLATE_MAINTAIN_70, or
Advantage.
21
[ Command Wizard and
JavaScript
You can use Command Wizard for generating
JavaScript code for the Script Item to use in custom
cockpit applications

Advantage.
22
[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

Dashboards,
Visualization
And Much
More
Enterprise
Reporting
Ad-hoc
Query &
Reporting
Advanced
Analysis
Enterprise Data
Warehousing
& BI Platform
Source: SAP 20009

Advantage.
[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

Dashboards,
Visualization
Enterprise
Reporting
Ad-hoc
Query &
Reporting
Advanced
Analysis
Enterprise Data
Warehousing
& BI Platform
Source: SAP 20009

Advantage.
BI Web Application Designer Roadmap

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

Portal
Pioneer Web Client

Workspace
Workspace
PIO
Web
Tab
BEx Web
Tab
PIO
Web
Tab
BEx Web
Tab
SAP BOE
Platform
SAP BOE
Platform
Pioneer Designer/ SDK
Pioneer Web
Server
Pioneer Web Server

BI Consumer Services
BI Consumer Services
BEx Web
BEx
Template
Queries/
s
InfoProvider
SAP
NW
BW
s

Advantage.
BEx Web
App
Designer
Migration
BEx Web
BEx Web
BEx Web
BEx
App
options via
Templates
Queries/
Designer
Pioneer SDK
InfoProvider
SAP
s NW BW
25
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
26
[ 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.
Advantage.
27
[ 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

Advantage.
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.
28
[ Crystal Report is still available (also in SAP

BW 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.

Advantage.
29
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
30
[ Web Cockpits in the Portal

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

receive designed pages
passively or actively
create communities, Web
pages, collaboration
rooms, or cockpits
Broadcasting
Advantage.
31
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
32
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 GUIoriented Swing object
library
as well
Advantage.
Source: SAP AG, 2008
33
[ 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

Advantage.
34
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
35
SAPs Premium Offerings

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

Advantage.
36
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

Advantage.
37
[ 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

Advantage.
38
[ New Tools Roadmap
Source SAP

Advantage.
39
[ The Move towards Pioneer
Pioneer (for 1st Quarter 2010 release)

Web provides a superset of the capabilities
based
in BEx 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

Advantage.
40
[ What can be Done in 2009- Implementations

Advantage.
[ 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

Advantage.
42
[ Overview: Options for Universe-Based Access to

BW 7.0
Xcelsius
WebI
QT
QaaWS
Universes
SQL Access
MDX Access
Data Federator
RDBMS

Advantage.
ODA
XMLA
BW
BIA
OLAP BAPI
Analytic Engine
ODBO
[ Overview: Options for Universe-Based Access to

BW 7.01
Xcelsius
WebI
QT
QaaWS
Universes
SQL Access
MDX Access
Data Federator
RDBMS
BW

Advantage.
ODA
XMLA
DF Fascade
OLAP BAPI
ODBO
Analytic Engine
BWA
44
[ Comparison
BW Server Feature
MDX
SQL
BW Hierarchies
Restricted and Calculated Key Figures
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)

Advantage.
= 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)

Advantage.
Polestar
[ What can be Done in 2009- Prototype

Consider
building a
Xcelsius
Prototype
to get used
to really
interactive
dashboards
and what-if
analysis.
Xcelsius
Image source: Adobe, 2009

Advantage.
[ 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.

Advantage.
[ 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.

Advantage.
[ 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/usac
ourse.epx?context=%5b%5b|SAPBO||1|091|US|
%5d%5d|
Advantage.
[ Agenda

Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
51
Why BI-A? Disk speed is growing slower than other

HW components
Architectural Drivers
Technology Drivers
1990
2009
CPU
0.05
8.30
MIPS/$
MIPS/$
Memory
0.02
8.51
MB/$
MB/$
Addressable
Memory
Network
Speed
Disk
Data Transfer
216
264
100
10
Mbps
Gbps
400
MBPS
MBPS
Improvement
166x
425x
248x
100 x
1990
Disk based data
storage
In-memory data
stores
Simple
consumption of
apps (Fat client
UI, EDI)
Multi-channel
UI, high event
volume, cross
industry value
chains
Generalpurpose,
applicationagnostic
database
80x
Physical hard drive speeds only grew by 80 times since 1990.

All Real
other hardware components grew faster.
Real Experience.
Advantage.
2009
Applicationaware and
intelligent data
management
Source: 1990 numbers SAP AG
2009 numbers Dr. Berg
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
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)
Advantage.
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.
Advantage.
[ 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).
Advantage.
[ 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)
Advantage.
[ 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
Advantage.
[ 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
Advantage.
58
[ Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
(BSP)

Wrap-up
Advantage.
59
[ 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/prtroo
t/docs/library/uuid/f52e9cc1-0d01-0010-d88bd808b69391a4
SAP Business Intelligence (BI) by Norbert Egger, JeanMarie Fiechter, Sebastian Kramer, Ralf-Patrick Sawicki,
and Stephan Weber.
Galio Press - Hardcover, 653 pages, ISBN 9781-59229-082-6
Advantage.
60
Key Learnings

Advantage.
61
[ Questions and Answers
How to contact me:
Dr. Bjarne Berg

bberg@comerit.net

Advantage.
62
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

Advantage.
63

toolset
This Bonus Material

the SAP market

Advantage.
64

toolset
This Bonus Material

the SAP market

Advantage.
65

toolset
This Bonus Material

the SAP market
Source: SAP
March, 2009
Advantage.
66

toolset
This Bonus Material

the SAP market

Advantage.
67

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The Complete Guide to Reporting Tools

in SAP NetWeaver & the BusinessObjects

Real Experience. Real

Empowering the users a mind shift

[ The SAP BI Core Toolset

SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx Analyzer

Empowering the users a mind shift

Real Experience. Real

BEx Query Designer gets a facelift in BI 7.x

BEx Ad-Hoc Query

The new 7.x Query designer

The NWBI 7.0 BEx

[BEx Analyzer (Excel Workbooks)

To use this tool you

BEx web Analyzer integrates Excel

Source: SAP AG, 2008

Unlike the old days of

Important: BEx browser

[BEx Analyzer Design Mode

Real Experience. Real

Empowering the users a mind shift

[Creating new data inside

In Data warehousing v2.0 (Bill Immons new terminology), we

Tools are now available to build association data sets that

Real Experience. Real

Images: Bhanu Gupta, ASUG 2005 Illinois chapter

[APD Analysis Process Designer and data

Complex scenarios can be

New data based on the

Empowering the users a mind shift

Real Experience. Real

[ Visual Composer for Complex cockpits

Real Experience. Real

[ Visual Composer Data Methods

BI Extension Kit allows access

Real Experience. Real

Visual Composer is Easy for Power Users to

Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages

The future of Visual Composer

Source: SAP, July 2008

Composition Environment including Visual

Real Experience. Real

Empowering the users a mind shift

Real Experience. Real

[ BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)

BEx Web Application Designer

WAD is an intuitive tool

[New Features of SAP NetWeaver SAP BI 7.0

(in SAP BI 7.0

Support Package Stack 7)

Drag and drop using Analysis item

[ Command Wizard and

Real Experience. Real

[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

Real Experience. Real

[ Product Directions for BI Solutions

Real Experience. Real

BI Web Application Designer Roadmap

Pioneer Web Client

InfoView /SAP NetWeaver

Pioneer Web Client

Pioneer Designer/ SDK

Pioneer Web Server