Business Intelligence with SAP Business Objects 4.3

Working with SAP BI MOBILE Reports  Each document contains one or more reports. When you open a document, you can view the default report set by your report designer. If you want to view a specific report, perform the following steps: 1. Tap the document to open it. The Report screen opens. 2. Tap the Reports dropdown icon on the top left corner of the screen. 3. Select the required report from the dropdown list. This application provides you with a paging option to display multiple report parts that cannot be displayed on a single screen. The number at the bottom of the report indicates the number of pages contained in the report. You can browse and open a report part in full screen mode by performing the following steps: 1. Tap the page number at the bottom of the screen. The slider bar appears with a pointer. 2. Drag the pointer on the slider bar to navigate between pages. As you slide, the number changes to display which page you have navigated t

Defining  Web Intelligence Layout for Ipad Documents You must consider the following guidelines when designing the layout for Web intelligence documents to ensure they can be viewed on your iPad device. • Ensure a maximum of two horizontal report parts only. • Ensure proper spacing between report parts. • Consider the edges of the widest report parts as a boundary within which all other report parts must be aligned. Note: If you increase the length of report parts vertically in Web intelligence documents, the layout will not be reflected accordingly on the iPad device. The pages on the iPad device are rendered as described in the following image on the left: • If the document has only one report part or has one report part left on the last page, it appears as a full screen view irrespective of the formatting in the Web intelligence document If the document has two report parts or has two report parts left on the last page, the page is divided into two equal part

Error WIS 00003 - Some pre-defined filters are no longer available in the universe. See your Business Objects administrator. One or more predefined filters are no longer available in the universe. Predefined filters are condition objects that are predefined WHERE clauses. You use these to restrict the data returned in a query. Solution  Remove the predefined filters from the query, and manually create the same condition in the query by using the appropriate operators and operands. Exception case: In order to correct this problem the designer has renamed one  object in the universe   and has replaced it with the previous original name. This action has not solved the problem: The correct fix is to delete the new object in the last universe version, copy the filter  object from the old universe containing the original filter and  paste it into the current version of the universe. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Error WIS 00001 - Some objects are no longer available in the universe. See your Business Objects administrator One or more objects in a universe are no longer available to a document, because they have been deleted in the Universe. Solutions: If you have the old Universe backup ( containing the deleted objects nedeed)  you can publish it again otherwise delete the objects from the query that seem to be missing.  The available objects are listed on the Data tab. Rebuild the query without the obsolete objects. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Universe Syntax Error This error message appears when special characters are used in object names, including: [ ] = & @ × $ % , ; ! ß £ ~ § μ + ' ( ) { } - There is no solution just: do not use special characters in object names. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Transaction Log Based Data Replication Using Sybase Replication. This replication method is only recommended for customers that have been invited to use this technology during the RTC of the SAP HANA 1.0 product delivery. If you are not part of this RTC group, SAP recommends using Trigger-Based Data Replication Using SAP Landscape Transformation (SLT) Replicator because of the rich feature set this replication technology offers. The main components of this replication method are the Sybase Replication Agent which is part of the source system, SAP ERP, and the Sybase Replication Server which is to be implemented in SAP HANA. Replication Process in Detail The following image  details the data replication process and introduces the additional components of this replication method. Initial Load and Simultaneous Delta Replication The initial load of business data needs to be executed only one time to replicate the entire existing dataset from the source system t

The Extraction-Transformation-Load (ETL) based data replication uses SAP BusinessObjects Data Services (hereafter referred to as Data Services) to load the relevant business data from the source system, SAP ERP, and replicate it to the target, SAP In-Memory Database (IMDB). This method allows you to read the required business data on the level of the application layer. You deploy this method by defining data flows in Data Services and scheduling the replication jobs. Since this method uses batch processing, it allows also for data checks, transformations, synchronizing with additional data providers, and the merging of data streams. The data replication is operated by Data Services. Its main components are the Data Services Designer, where you model the data flow, and the Data Services Job Server for the execution of the replication jobs. An additional repository is used to store the meta data and the job definitions. Data Flow As for any replication scenario you have to def

The Trigger-Based Replication method uses the SAP Landscape Transformation (SLT) component to  pass data from the source system to the SAP In-Memory Database (IMDB) target system. Initial Load and Simultaneous Delta Replication The initial load of business data is initiated using the SAP In-Memory Computing Studio. The initial load message is sent from the SAP HANA system to the SLT system (based on SAP NetWeaver 7.02 with kernel 7.20) which in turn passes the initialization message to the ERP system. The ERP system begins by setting up database transaction log tables for each table to be replicated. After the transaction tables are completed, the SLT system begins a multi-threaded replication of data to the target system which allows high speed of data transfer to be achieved. The initial load of data can be executed whilst the source system is active. The system load that this process causes can be controlled by adjusting the number of worker threads performing the initial

LO 01003 - An error occurred when refreshing. Cause This error might be caused by the following reasons: 1. The report is corrupted. 2. Drawing Live Office object on unsupported areas, like Word Header or Footer, or Office 2007 PowerPoint Slide Master. 3. The server is not accessible. If not in the list, check the detail error. Action For cause: 1. Check from InfoView to make sure the document is valid. If yes, log-off and log-on BOE on Live Office Option dialog then try again, or re-start the Office application, then try again. 2. Do not drawing Live Office object on unsupported areas. 3. Fix the network connectivity or start up the server. If not in previous causes, use the error code in the detail to find the solution,or just follow the guide in the detail See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Translation Manager Exporting documents to the CMS After you translate the document, you need to select it for publishing and export it to the CMS.  You can publish it into as many languages as are ready . A built in document analyzer provides statistics on the percentage of the document that has translations so you can decide if you are ready to complete the publish step before exporting to the CMS. Universes can only be exported to the same file location. Web Intelligence documents can change locations. 1. Go to the Language Management view. 2. Click the value in the Ready to export to CMS column for the language or languages that you want to export to Yes. 3. Select Export to CMS from the File menu. A message appears to prompt you to save the document before exporting to the CMS. 4. Click Yes. The Export Universe/Webi Document dialog box appears. 5. Click Export to export the document and save it in the local file that is shown at the top of the dialog box. Click the

Installing and Using the SAP HANA ODBO Client for MS EXCEL Everyone  who intend to use Microsoft (MS) EXCEL as an end-user client for SAP HANA need to install the SAP HANA client on a host where MS EXCEL has been installed and is running. Prerequisites: You have downloaded the SAP HANA client software from SAP Service Marketplace . Procedure Install the SAP HANA ODBO driver on the host where MS EXCEL has been installed and is running. 1. Open a command prompt and call the SAP HANA client installation program by entering the following command: hdbinst -a client [ ] 2. Follow the instructions displayed by the installation tool. 3. Set the PATH environment variable to the installation path. For information on setting environment variables, see the documentation for your operating system. 4. Create a connection to the SAP HANA database: a. Create a connection to an external data source: Data connection Wizard Select t

There are three options to recover a deleted folder depending  on what kind of backup you have done: 1. backup of the CMS database and File Store. 2. You created recently a BIAR file. 3. You have a Development/Test environment where you have this folder. Let's see the  Solution in case you have a back up of the CMS database. Follow the steps to recover deleted folder and sub-folders: 1. Copy the CMS database from the backup to your database server and point the CMS ODBC system DSN to it. 2. Copy the backed up file store to a Temp directory. 3. Change the path of input and output file repository servers in the CMC, for each server, to the Temp file store directory. 4. You will now be able to find the reports. Copy those reports to the BusinessObjects server's local disk, or create a BIAR file using the Import Wizard. 5. Point the ODBC system DSN back to the original database, and also change the paths on input file repository and output file repository se

SAP HANA Persistence: In-Memory Data Is Regularly Saved to Disk  Data:  - SQL data and undo log information  - Additional HANA information, such as modeling data  - Kept in-memory to ensure maximum performance  - Write process is asynchronously Log:  - Information about data changes (redo log)  - Directly saved to persistent storage when transaction is committed  - Cyclical overwrite (only after backup) Savepoint:  - Changed data and undo log is written from memory to persistent storage  - Automatic  - At least every 5 minutes (customizable) For detail: SAP HANA - Data persistence

Using SAP BusinessObjects BI Clients for SAP HANA Creating the JDBC connection to the SAP In-Memory Database To set up the JDBC connection to the IMDB: 1. Copy the ngdbc.jar in the appropriate folder under …/dataAccess/ConnectionServer/jd bc/drivers/newdb If this directory structure does not exist, you need to create this directory structure under ../dataAc cess/connectionSrever/jdbc and then drop the jdbc jar file under this directory. 2. Launch the SAP BusinessObjects information design tool. 3. Create a new local project. 4. In this project, create a new Relational Connection. 5. Name it. 6. Select JDBC Drives as the data source. 7. Enter DB credentials and test. 8. Choose Finish. Note: for Explorer, you can also create a native connection from the IMDB to the Explorer application, by configuring the Explorer application settings in the SAP BusinessObjects Central Management Console (CMC). When this type of native connection is used for Explorer, a UNX file

After installing SAP HANA, you have to connect the components of your SAP HANA landscape so they can work together. You have to establish connectivity between the following components: 1. SAP HANA box to SAP ERP system 2. SAP HANA box to SAP HANA studio 3. SAP HANA box to end-user clients. If you are using the SAP BusinessObjects servers, which are not in the scope of SAP HANA, you also have to connect the following SAP BusinessObjects systems: 1. SAP HANA box to SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise (to use the SAP BusinessObjects BI clients) 2. SAP ERP system to SAP BusinessObjects Data Services (to use Data Services for data replication) See also: Create a Data Foundation (UNX) on a SAP HANA Universe on SAP HANA

Creating SAP BI URLs For Opening specific BI Documents or Reports SAP BusinessObjects Mobile for iOS 4.2.0 Pre-requisite Recipients of the SAP BI URLs (created using the format explained in this topic) have: - Access to the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform server/ SAP BusinessObjects Mobile server specified in the URL. - The SAP Mobile for iOS app installed on their iPhone or iPad device. 1. Creating an SAP BI URL for opening a simple BI document (default view: first report, first page) in the app To give users access to a simple BI document on their iPad or iPhone devices, create an SAP BI URL with the following format: s apbi://OpenDoc/?ConnectionType=BOEConnection&connection_name=123&serv er_url=10.10.10.10:8080&cms=10.10.10.10&Type=webi&iDocID=AXtcyDP4u09Jn1_P9BSR9H0&reportPartKey=&reportPageNumber=0&reportIndex=&isInstance=N&prompt= • ConnectionType , connection_name, server_url and cms are the regular SAP BI URL paramete

Analytical view with parameter example We will use a simple analytical view as an example which will guide us for the rest of the document. The analytical view has been built from tables coming from a DWH sample schema. The screenshots of the view and of the variable and parameters management have been realized with the HANA Studio release 1.0.25 The Customers attribute view contains information about customers of the company. The view also contains the last name, the customer country, city and education as attributes available at query time. The Customer_id is used as the key attribute for the join with the fact table. This view is defined on top of the Customer table. The Products attribute view contains information about products. Will be presented only the product name and brand as attributes. Product_ID is the key attribute. The fact table used here is the Sales_2006 table. There is the join between the Product_Id and the Customer_id with the attribute views and we e

Let's see SAP HANA basic information on variables and parameters which for could be  relevant for BI designers. In SAP HANA it is possible to define the results of a query on an information model at runtime by passing values to the model. There are two kinds of input values which can be passed to a model: variables and parameters. Both variables and parameters will appear as prompts for the user running the query (or will be automatically filled in by the application calling the HANA information model). HANA variables HANA variables are used to filter the content of an information model. They don ‟ t impact the execution workflow of the information model and are applied to a query to filter out some values. Variables can be used to filter attributes. As an example, a variable can be used to filter a result to a specific country or a specific customer. In SQL, variables are applied in the WHERE clause of the query. HANA parameters Parameters are used to

Choosing between creating HANA information models and universes Client tool Requires a Universe Access HANA data via: SBO Analysis Office             No                       an information model SBO Explorer (*) Microsoft Excel (PivotTable) SBO Web Intelligence Yes                       a universe built on tables or information models SBO Dashboards SBO Crystal Reports for Enterprise (*) Explorer could also be connected to universes When you have to begin a new business intelligence project on HANA, the first question to ask yourself is whether you want to (or need to) create information models or universes. At the moment  your choice mainly depends on the client tool that you want to use to access HANA. When you create information models you benefit from: -Availability to Analysis, Explorer, Excel, reusability in Universes -SQL Script, L, R languages for programmatic calculation view -Modeling in HANA Studio When

Could not save document to the repository  (WIS 30567) Environment : BusinessObjects XI3.1 SP3; Windows Server 2003 SP2 Errors erased when trying to save Web Intelligence documents "Could not save the document to the repository for the following reason: [repo_proxy 30] InfoStore::ObjectExport::commit - (Helpers::InfoStore::ObjectExport::commit) File Repository Server error: Could not save the file .wid to the File Repository Server. File already exists. (hr=#0x80042a4a)(Error #-2147210678 (WIS 30567)" This error tells that when report was being saved into Input FRS, another report with the same ID was found there and the product couldn't overwrite it. So possible reasons are: you have no rights to overwrite docs in the BOE there are OS issues with restrictios on IFRS Drive space issues Beside, make sure the following servers are up and running and also check your rights on saving the object in BOE: Web Intelligence Report Server Input Report

SAP In-Memory reporting and analyzing of business data requires the replication of the data from a source system to SAP In-Memory Database (IMDB). Let see an overview of the possible replication methods that are available for SAP In-Memory Appliance (SAP HANA 1.0) and its the application fields and the main components required for each method. There are three methods available for performing the data replication.  The main components involved in all replication scenarios are: • SAP HANA, consisting of the IMDB and SAP In-Memory Computing Studio, which is used to administer the appliance. User interfaces, such as SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards or Web Intelligence or Visual  Intelligence. • Source system, such as SAP ERP • Software components supporting the data replication The software components that support different methods of data replication are described in the following  three replication scenarios. There are three alternative methods for data repli

Hello Everybody, would you help to collect more frequent BO Errors,  better if indicating BO version? If you want you can also write down your personal fix or standard solution. This could by useful for somebody. Thanks in advance for co-operating! Best regards Giuseppe SAP BI 4 - Scheduling reports error - source file error. [Invalid argument]: [CrystalEnterprise.DiskUnmanaged] wij-20002 error webi rich client Internal error Error RFC 00101 - No server was available to process the request FWM 00001 Transport error: Communication failure. Error WIS 30272 - Max character file size limit exceeded Error WIS 00509 - Universe data connection could not be found Error RWI 00323 - Cannot retrieve the document with the passed obsolete token Error RWI 00239 - Connection failed. The server has reached the maximum number of simultaneous connections Error RWI 00239 - The maximum number of server connections allowed has been reached Error RWI 00322 - An error occurred whi

Strategy Builder in Performance Manager Environment: Business Objects XI R 3.1 SP3 Strategy Builder is useful because: • It allows companies to set and manage strategies for using enterprise information. • It ties information usage to business roles and objectives. • It optimizes information usage around the extended enterprise. A key element of Strategy Builder is its awareness of the corporate organization structure.  It takes into account the roles that are in the company, and ensures that the appropriate people are getting the appropriate information. The Strategy Builder has four tabs: • Home • Strategy • Catalog • Organization When you open Strategy Builder, the Strategy Builder schema appears on the main panel. Click objects in the map to see the different areas of Strategy Builder. The "Strategy" tab in Performance Manager Strategy Builder offers an overall perspective on the strategy hierarchy tree defined within Performance Manager. Navigate dir

VISUAL INTELLIGENCE FEATURES AND EVOLUTION A new BI general need  about a fast data visualization that enables  interactive data visualization and self consumption is now covered by SAP with SAP VISUAL INTELLIGENCE. Through  Visual Intelligence SAP aims to answer the growing demand for self-service data visualization in order to realize an analytic dashboard tool. SAP Visual Intelligence was originally released during the May 2012 SAPPHIRE NOW event, and a new version, was released as Feature Pack 3 for BI BusinessObjects 4 . Concerning  power and complexity, SAP Visual Intelligence is positionated between the dashboards such as SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (a.k.a Xcelsius) and SAP Zen, and the self-service web and mobile tools of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. SAP Visual Intelligence is part of the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer family, but while BusinessObjects Explorer allows for data exploration and visualization via a web service or through a mobile app, SAP Visual Intelli

At designing your dashboard time in BO Dashborards or Xcelsius follow the best practices concerning  Microsoft Excel. Is suggest to avoid: - Array calculations as they can dramatically affect performance: 1. SUM 2. COUNT 3. SUMIF 4. COUNTIF 5. INDEX 6. MATCH 7. HLOOKUP 8. VLOOKUP 9. and similar - Repeating logic:     This example will run the SUM twice : IF(SUM(A1:A10),   , SUM(A1:A10))  Any calculations: They add overhead when loading or interacting with the dashboard They increase the time it takes to generate the flash file when you export or preview Is better to:  - Hard code values wherever possible instead of using formulas - Define calculations on the server side where possible - Use server side sorting to order your data and make the results easier to compare - Use server side ranking to limit the number or rows returned - Link to a report for detailed drill down - Use a selector with filtered rows instead of Excel lookups - Us

Variables that impact on Dashboard  Load Time In order of importance: 1. Queries or connections that are set to Refresh Before Components Are Loaded.           This is the default setting for a query.            If you have any queries or connections set to refresh before components are              loaded the             Initializing message phase stays up until they have all completed. 2. Excel cells 3. Excel calculations 4. Components 5. Bindings from components to Excel (also size of ranges) 6. Dashboard file size Please Note: Default  maximum number or rows you can refer to in a formula or in a binding is  512  rows. You can  change this in  File  >  Preferences  >  Excel Options  (max recommended is  2000  rows) but this may affect the performance of your dashboard. See Also: SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 - Spreadsheets

Benefits from using Microsoft Excel in designing SAP BO Dashboards 4.0 Should you continue to use Microsoft Excel also in BO Dashoboard 4.0? Apart from Microsoft Excel having a wide reach among business users and being easy to use, there are three main benefits that Microsoft Excel provides when embedded inside the Dashboards designer: A Data Model. You can enter highly aggregated data directly into the spreadsheet and visualize it, so there is no need for a database. You can also pull in highly aggregated data from external sources, including SAP Business Warehouse (BW), SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) universes, XML and simple Web services. A Calculation Engine. In addition to Microsoft Excel having a very familiar and flexible formula language, it also provides a calculation engine. An Eventing Model. When a cell changes, we get a “data change” event. This is a very simple model, but we leverage it for more than just calculations. You can either start wi

The new Visual BI Interface Tap into your data - big and small - and discover answers with SAP Visual Intelligence software.  Fast data manipulation and engaging visualizations allow you to combine and analyze data from a variety of enterprise and personal sources and quickly discover unique insight – no scripts, predefined queries or reports required. With SAP Visual Intelligence, you can: Deliver faster time to insight in a repeatable, self-service way Maximize business knowledge with a combination of big picture insights and granular details Accelerate decision making with immediate, fact-based answers to complex business questions Increase self-service data usage without adding to your IT department's workload Visualize any amount of data in real time – with SAP HANA For detailed information visit the official SAP site: SAP Visual Intelligence See Also: Using SAP Visual Intelligence Connect SAP Visual Intelligence to data sources

Err DMA0005 - Export failed! Environment: BO XI R 3.1 Cause This error message appears as the result of a failure after you have selected one of the following file export options: • Export to local file format - In the case of an attempted export to a dBase or Excel file, there has been a general export failure that was possibly caused by unavailable target files, a Microsoft DAO internal error (such as an absent ISAM driver), or not enough disk space. In the case of an attempted export to a text file, there has been a general export failure that was possibly caused by unavailable target files or not enough free disk space. Copy to DDE - In the case of an attempted export to DDE (the Windows Clipboard), there has been a general export failure that was most likely caused by insufficient memory. • Export to RDBMS - In the case of an attempted export through a BusinessObjects connection, there has been a general export failure possibly caused by an improper middleware confi

The substitution mechanism (also known as the fallback) provides the metadata information about the strings translated status. You can define: • The languages in the document definition. The languages must first be set to "YES" for the "Ready to Export to CMS" attribute. • The substitution language for the document. A document has one substitution language identified as fallback language . You define or edit one substitution language in the Translation Manager. This doesn't impact any workflow changes on the consumption side (InfoView or Web Intelligence Rich Client). As an example , a document is translated in English, French and Italian. The substitution language is English. If you want to view its Spanish version even though it is not translated you will view its substitution language, i.e. English. See Also: How to use Translation Manager Translation Manager Translation Manager Exporting documents

Translation Manager BO XI R 3.1 Let see how to use this translation tool: First of all you need to logon on BO  CMS Then you have to import the Universe (in our example) to translate At this point you must select the chosen universe by selecting it and  clicking on the button "ADD" , in this way the Universe will be saved on the local machine The following image shows  how will appear a translated universe form Italian to English language, you can see in the f irst two columns  the original language name of the objects and from the third column on (if you need to translate the universe in more than one idiom) the language you want to translate to. Beside for each object, you will have three rows: one for the name one for the description and one for the format (date, currency, number and so on). You can also translate prompts name and hierarchies name as you can see in the bottom of the following image. See Also: Translation