Business Intelligence with SAP Business Objects 4.3

HANA Modeling Target: Minimize Data Transfers  The main goal  during modeling is to minimized Data transfers.  This is possible true both  internally, between the SAP HANA database views, and also between SAP  HANA and the end user application. So for example, the end-user will never  need to see 1 million rows of data.  They would never be able to understand  so much information or consume it in some meaningful way.  So d ata should be aggregated and filtered to a manageable  size before it leaves the data layer. When deciding upon the records that should be reported,  the best  practice approach is to think at a “set level” not a “record level” .  A set of  data can be aggregated by a region, a date, or some other group in order to minimize the amount of data passed between views. Read related post: SAP HANA Tables, Models and View Processing

The universe does not allow using a complex expression in a GROUP BY statement. You cannot run this query. See your Business Objects administrator. (Error: WIS 00010) Cause A query contains a GROUP BY clause that uses formulas or aliases. The universe does not allow these expressions in GROUP BY clauses. The behavior is determined by the parameter Y in the PRM file for the target RDBMS. Action You have two solutions: • Modify the query so that objects using formulas or aliases are not included in the query. • A universe designer can open the PRM file for the target RDBMS and change the value for the parameter GROUPBY_EXCLUDE_COMPLEX to N. This change should be made only if you are sure that your RDBMS supports complex GROUP BY expressions. Please note: The parameter GROUPBY_EXCLUDE_COMPLEX by default is 'N' . Check your .prm file in your environment and change accordingly.  See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

SAP HANA Database Concepts: Tables, Models and View Processing  SAP HANA database is a very capable database system but it requires some understanding, and to be used correctly, to obtain good performance. Let's see the key concepts of the SAP HANA database. We will explain how  approach modeling in order to to achieve best results. The SAP HANA database allows you to model your data as tables and views. Tables are tabular data structures, each row identifying a particular entity, and each column having a unique name. The data fields of one row are called the attributes of the entity. The word “attribute” is used with different meanings. It may refers to a table column, a particular data field of a table row, or the contents of such a data field. The respective meaning will be clear from the context. Views are combinations and selections of data from tables modeled to serve a particular purpose. Views always appear like readable tables, i. e. database operations which

Let see how to change the data source in a existing  Webi  report. Open the Webi report  select the 'Data Access' tab Select the 'Tools' menu under Data Access tab Select the Change Source Menu  Select  the Query to which you need to change the data source Select the Specify a New Data source  Flag  Select the wanted Universe Check that all the new query objects match to the old ( as in this image) Then Click on Finish. See also: Bex Query with WebI 4 http://businessobjectsbi4.blogspot.it/2013/11/how-to-publish-unx-from-information.html

 Unable to connect to service from server via CMS (FWM 01006) Environment SAP BI 4  DB  SqlServer2008 Cause Unable to connect to the service through the CMS. Action Log on to the CMC and ensure that the service is running on the appropriate server. Solution In our case we have disabled, stopped and then enabled and started the WebiProcessing Server. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Using SAP Visual Intelligence - Step by Step Let's see how to create a chart with Visual Intelligence. 1. Connect to your data source If your data source is: - RDBMS: Enter your credentials, connect to the database server, browse and select a data source.   If you are connecting to SAP HANA, you select a view and cube to build your chart. - Flat file: Choose the columns to be acquired, trimmed, or shown and hidden. - Universe: Enter your universe credentials, connect to the Central Management Server repository, and select a universe to build your chart. 2. View and organize the columns and attributes. The data acquired can be viewed as columns or as facets. You can organize the data display to make chart building easier by doing the following: - Create filters and hide unneeded columns. - Create measures, time and geography hierarchies. - Clean and organize the data in columns using a range of manipulation tools. - Create columns with formulas using a wide sel

Improving SAP BO Dashboard performances Decalogue 1. Avoid Excel formulas if is possible so Try to reduce using formulas as much you can 2. Un-nest Excel formula if you can 3. Avoid linking cells 4. Avoid array Excel functions like sumif, sumproduct 5. Limit dashboards components number 6. Reduce or avoid container components 7. Try to make a simple dashboard model in order to make also simple and easy it's maintenance and it's evolution 8. Prefer QaaWS to LiveOffice when connecting to many universes otherwise it’s better using Webi Reports because you can load heavy data by scheduling Webi reports, besides in Webi it’s easier  to do calculations and values  formatting . 9. In order to improve dashboard performances schedule Webi reports, better if not at the same time. 10. If possible you can use triggers on the cells in order to update data from Webi reports. Sap BO Dashboards 4.0 - Xcelsius 2008

Database error occur. The error message is : (CS) "DBDriver failed to load : Installdir\win32_x86\dataAccess\connectionServer\dbd_oci.dll  (the module cannot be found)". (WIS 10901) Environment: Business Objects XI R 3.1 DB Oracle 11g When opening a Webi report on infoview, the above error is generated,while Webi rich client  works fine. Cause The problem can be explained because the WebI Rich Client uses your local connection settings while infoview uses those on the Business Objects server. So you need to check  that the server has same DB access of your local machine. Besides  you need to  keep in mind that the permissions depends  by the service account, so if your service runs under local account then you need to check the security policy on this account. Solution You need to check the following points: 1. If you have not an Oracle client on your client You need to install it 2. Set the ORACLE_HOME 3. Check whether TNS.ORA is set up properly an

Let's see how create a  simple Sales Dashboard  which has as main component the Accordion menu which allows to have a multiple level hierarchical filtering. This means that you can first select the top level hierarchy dimension in our case the 'Country' and then you can choose one of the ' Products' sold in the selected country: The columns chart shows the sales for that kind of bike in the months of the year. In the following image you will see how data changed when you select an other kind of product Below  you can see how create the Excel file in order to create this dashboard. In the yellow are will be drilled the months sale data after selecting the two hierarchical dimensions. Under this line there are different tables for each Country that can be selected which contains sales data per product for each months. Below is detailed how to set the Accordion Menu You can find the related files on SAP COMMUNITY NETWORK, in the

Max character file size limit exceeded. The document is too large to be processed by the server. Contact your BusinessObjects administrator. (WIS 30272) Cause: When you view a Web Intelligence document in HTML format, the Web  Intelligence server generates character based output, which is then interpreted by your web browser. This errors occurs, if the size of the  character output is greater than the maximum size specified by your administrator for the Web Intelligence server. Solution The administrator can change the parameters set for Maximum character output on the Administration Console.  Please note that however, increasing the maximum  binary output can affect performance. Log  on  CMC -> servers -> Web Intelligence Report Server -> Properties  Maximum Binary File Size:  Maximum Character File Size: The Binary file size shold be  for PDF; the character size is for webi reports.  You have to increase you current limits unt

Account Information Not Recognized: The CMS system database is not available. This error cannot be rectified by the end user. Report this error to your system administrator or database administrator. (FWM 02088)  Environment XI R3.1 Cause The CMS database is unavailable. Solution Check if all the servers including CMS are running and enabled in CCM on BOBJ server. If yes,  r estart the SIA, it always works! See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Universe data connection could not be found. Either the connection has been deleted or you do not have the rights to use it. The universe data connection is not available, either because it has been deleted or because you do not have the right to access it. Solution: The Business Objects Administrator must  give to a specific users group (user)   the right to access to the universe and its related connection. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

In order to learn how to create  a Transportation dashboard   you can  study this  dashboard example.  Here you can choose  between 'Company Total' page  and 'Top 5 What if analysis' pages. Let's see the first page   'Company Total' : On the right you can select six labels which corresponds to  different analysis: ABC  2006 Acme 2006 XYX  2006 Total  2006 Total  2005 Same week 2005. All the tabs acts have the same functions. Besides selecting one of the Top ten customer  you will see the drill of related data in the bottom bar charts for each analysis type, follows the image about selecting the 7th customer: The second page is about 'Top 5 What if analysis'  On the left panel, you can see the What if analysis that is you will see all the values and gauges changing on moving the indicator  on the upper graduated bar. Follows the Excel sheet images that provide  data to the dashboard: TOP 200 sheet (Company

 HTTP 404 errors in Business Objects XI R 3.1 The HTTP 404 error may happen for one of the following reasons: 1. The requested page was deleted in error. Check the deployment folder of the web application to make sure that the requested page exists. 2. The web application is not properly configured. Try to access other pages in this web application. If there are other pages in this web application that are not accessible, then there is a problem with the web application configuration. Consult the web application deployment instructions to check that the configuration files are valid, or redeploy the web application. 3. A system setting is incorrect. For example, the memory limit was reached or an ODBC DSN was not correctly configured. As a result, an exception was thrown and the expected page was not generated. Check the web server log or the web application log for error or exception records. 4. An environment variable is not properly set. This environment variable can

The last SAP Dashboards SP05 for Mobile (Ipad -Iphone) The last SP05 SAP Dashboards  allows going on mobile (IPAD)  through HTML5  With this last SP you can verify old dashboards you developed in order to use them on Ipad. In this version you cano select  the right size for an iPad screen (1024x768) Beside you have to check the components/parameters in order to verify that are supported for HTML5, this check  is easy to do through a new functionality  for analayze dashboards components compatibility panel. A plus is the chance to choose iOS compatible fonts (Arial, etc. – otherwise, the embedded browser will try to use the best font). Before exporting the reviewed dashboard you can preview it using the mobile viewer option to see how its layout on an iPad: you can choose between: - Fit to screen - Original size Finally you can export  to the server the dashboard and you can  open it  using the SAP BusinessObjects mobile application on the iPad. Mobile co

You can also create an BO Analysis OLAP connection with SAP HANA as provider. With this HANA OLAP connection, you can use Analysis directly on top of a SAP HANA database. Configuration for SAP HANA If you use the SAP HANA appliance software, you can analyze SAP HANA data sources with Analysis. If you use SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse, powered by SAP HANA, you can analyze BW queries, query views and InfoProvider with Analysis. You can connect and use a BW system, powered by SAP HANA, like other BW systems with Analysis. You have the following options to connect to SAP HANA:  - You can use an OLAP connection to connect via SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform. This connection can be created directly in the CMC of the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform like BW system connections to the platform. The SAP HANA OLAP connections are currently not SSO compatible. - You can use a JDBC connection to connect via SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform .

You can use Analysis with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence XI 4.0 or SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1   as the central content management system for Analysis workbooks  and presentations and as platform for managing data source connections. Before users can begin working with business data in Analysis, you have to create connections to BW systems so they can add data sources to their Analysis workbooks. You create new connection objects and manage existing connection objects in the module OLAP Connections in the Central Management Console (CMC) of the business intelligence platform. To create a connection to a BW system, you define a connection to any object of the BW system. You also have to make sure that the client PCs can communicate with the connected BW systems. If the BW system uses a message server the client PCs must specify the service name of the message server in the system services file at :\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\services.  Config

Cannot retrieve the document with the passed obsolete token. (RWI 00323) Cause An error occurred during document state deserialization. This might be caused by a storage token that identifies a document state, which is no longer available in the storage tokens stack. Action In the webi.properties file, increase the value of storage tokens stack size. Also, ensure that the storage token is valid before using it. In BO XI R3.1 environment this problem could be also fixed installing the latest fixpack/service pack. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Connection failed. The server has reached the maximum number of simultaneous connections. (RWI 00239) Cause The maximum number of server connections allowed has been reached. Action Either raise the value of the maximum connections server parameter, or add another server instance. To modify the maximum connections value: 1. Log on to BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Management Console. 2. Click on Servers. 3. Expand Server Categories, and click on Web Intelligence. 4. Under Server name, double-click on WebIntelligenceProcessingServer. The Properties window appears. 5. In Properties window, under Web Intelligence Processing Service, enter a greater value for Maximum Connections. In our customer case environment BO XI R3.1 on windows server 2008 R2, with 4 cpu, 16 GB Ram and more then 300 BO users   we inserted a 100 connections value  and this value fixed the problem. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

Xcelsius provides an authentication mechanism that enables you to avoid logging into InfoView twice with the same session ID. Take note of following rules if you customize authentication: - An existing session ID is used only if the user name and password are blank (if they are not hard coded or not passed as input values captured by a dialog). This occurs when Query as a Web Service is running in InfoView or Dashboard Manager. - If the user name and password are not blank, then use these values to authenticate the user. No session is created. This is the most scalable scenario and is the preferred option for large-scale usage. - If there is no pre-existing session (and username and password are blank), Xcelsius displays the standard security dialog, in which a session is created. This occurs when Xcelsius designers do not build their own security dialog. See also: Consuming a query as a web service in Xcelsius How to start Query as a Web Service

To consume a query as a web service inside Xcelsius, use the Web Service Connector The Web Service Connector component allows a Flash document created in Xcelsius to communicate with Query as a Web Service through SOAP, using point and click. The Xcelsius Flash document is self-contained and communicates with the web service to display data visually. The only prerequisite is that there be a SOAP-based web service available to the Flash document. The Web Service Connector component, when activated, creates a SOAP-based message (basically an XML document) and sends it to the web service. The web service responds with a SOAP-based message of its own. The Web Service Connector component then sends this data to all the other components, resulting in a live visual representation of your data. There are many public web services available, and many different toolkits and packages for SOAP-based web services. To use public web services and packages that already have a web service on t

This kind of query  is useful because can be used it to consume data into Xcelsius Dashboards in alternative to connecting through Live Office. See: Sap BO Dashboards 4.0 - Xcelsius 2008 Query as a Web Service is used with a Central Management System (CMS) The CMS contains the server component that stores the Query as a Web Service catalog and hosts the published Web Services. When you start Query as a Web Service for the first time, you must define the host server before starting. Each successive time you start Query as a Web Service you select an available host server, then log into the CMS. Once you are logged in, the Query as a Web Service startup Query Catalog page appears.  From this page you can start the query creation and publication wizard to publish a new query and edit existing published queries. How To define a query in Publish as a Web Service Wizard The "Query" page of the "Publish as a Web Service Wizard" allows you to use a quer

Tutorial  In order to activate auditing in BO XI R3.1 ( procedure it's similiar on BI 4 CMC ) you must follow these steps: Logon  into CMC Go to servers page Chose the BO server on which you want to activate auditing, for example let's open Web Intelligence server, and select WebIntelligenceProcessingServer click the right button in order to select: Audit Events here you will choose the events you want to audit The procedure is similar also on all the other Business Objects Servers you want to audit. For detail  about the new CMC BI 4 auditing page: CMC in Business Objects BI 4 - New features

SAP HANA Data Management You use the SAP HANA modeler , which is accessible as a perspective of the SAP HANA studio , for modeling and managing SAP HANA data . It allows technical users to create new or modify existing models of data. In addition, the initial configuration of the data replication is done in the SAP HANA modeler. Let see how to configure data replication to provide the necessary metadata and data to the SAP HANA box.  You need to perform the following steps: 1. Load table metadata from the data provider systems (source systems) into the SAP HANA database (target system) for all tables of the source system or for a subset of tables 2. Load data (initial load) from the data provider systems (source systems) into the SAP HANA database (target system) for a selection of tables 3. Start continuous replication of data changes from the data provider systems (source systems) into the SAP HANA database (target system) for a selected subset of tables Once t

SAP Visual Intelligence  can Acquire data from different data sources SAP Visual Intelligence 1.0.6 You can acquire data from the following data sources: - C.S.V file - SAP HANA cube - MS Excel - Freehand SQL - SAP BusinessObjects Universe Each data source can be adapted before acquisition to include or remove columns. For certain data sources you have other options, for example data formatting, column naming and trimming, and specifying column name prefixes. The acquisition options are described for each individual data source. Note: For data that is acquired to manipulate locally the maximum number of cells that can be acquired is 15 million. Spreadsheets with more than this maximum are cut off at this point. Read also: Using SAP Visual Intelligence SAP Visual Intelligence SAP VISUAL INTELLIGENCE FEATURES SAP HANA Introduction

Environment: BO XI R3.1 SP 4 on WindowsServer 2008 R2 An error occurred during document utilization. This might be due to insufficient memory or an I/O error. Action Ensure that there is sufficient memory available. Also check for any webi.properties customization. That is: look for  ..: \Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps\dswsbobje\WEB-INF\classes #WID_FAILOVER_SIZE=10 #WID_STORAGE_TOKEN_STACK_SIZE=10 #REP_FAILOVER_SIZE=10 – DeskI documents #REP_STORAGE_TOKEN_STACK_SIZE=10 >> Change all the values to 0 (no limit) >>Remove the # symbol - uncomment  More Intrusive solution  Add a request Timeout in the WebI and WebJob Servers (36000 for example)  Modify the CCM settings for Webi Server:  Add -port ServerIP  Add : -requesttimeout 36000  Modify -ns ServerIP After that restart Tomcat and all servers. See also: BUSINESS OBJECTS ERRORS LIST

In order to migrate  a universe from a prior CMS release (XI R3.1 and XI r2)  to a BI 4 CMS, you must use the Upgrade management tool  (UMT)  that is provided with BI 4. SAP Business Objects 4.0 BI 4 includes two universe development tools: - The universe design too l, which is an upgraded release of the Universe Designer tool you are familiar with if you are an existing Business Objects customer wich creates a UNV file . - and the new Information design tool (IDT) , which is the new universe authoring tool provided with BI 4 that produces a UNX file . A UNX universe file is published on the CMS  is the result of a merge of three components that are designed in the information design tool.: -  CNX files for connections -  DFX files for data foundations -  BLX files for business layers A UNX is the result of CNX + DFX + BLX where: the data foundation    (DFX )  contains a schema  of tables and joins from one or more relational databases ,  through connections (CNX), th

One problem you often have after Installing Xcelsius 2008 is that you can not open any more Excel file by double clicking on the Excel file, but you need before Excel application and from there you have to select and open the needed file. The solution to avoid this annoying  problem in MS EXCEL 2007 is going in OPTION -> Advanced -> removing the flag: 'Ignore other applications tha use Dynamic Data Exchange' as you can see in the following image The same solution is applicable also in MS Excel 2003 and we guess in all the other versions!

BusinessObjects Auditor  provides  a way to monitor and record key facts about your BusinessObjects Enterprise system.  The information provided by the auditor answers the following questions: - Who is using your Business Objects Enterprise system?  - Which objects they are accessing?  - Which groups within the company use our BusinessObjects system the most ?  - How many concurrent user licenses are we using at any given time?  Auditor also allows you to better administer individual user accounts and reports by giving you more insight into what actions users are taking and which reports they are accessing.  The Audit database contains  the following main  tables: Audit_Event  Audit_Detail  Server_Process  Detail_Type table  Event_Type  Application_Type  Follows the Activity universe graphic structure: Let's see what these tables contain: Audit_Event:   The Audit_Event table stores one record per action that is audited

SAP HANA - Additional Components In addition to the SAP HANA database , the following components are part of the SAP HANA landscape: • SAP HANA information composer • Lifecycle Management Tools • Unified Installer • SAP HANA UI toolkit for INA SAP HANA Information Composer The SAP HANA information composer is a Web application that allows you to upload and manipulate data on the SAP HANA database. The SAP HANA information composer uses a Java server which interacts with the SAP HANA database. The Java server communicates with the SAP HANA information composer client via HTTP or HTTPS. The following ports are used by default: • HTTP port 8080 • HTTPS port 8443 If HTTPS is used, the SSL certification must be configured by the administrator. Note: The SAP HANA information composer can be configured to use antivirus software. The SAP HANA information composer client is accessible to users who are assigned the IC_MODELER role. This role allows users to upload new

Export Failed  - [Deski XI]  Environment BO XI  R3.1  After having Imported Webi reports, folders,universe,connection and repository objects into a BIAR file the BIAR was created successfully, but connection import failed so we Deleted all my objects, folders, universe and connections from the BO server ,Exported successfully the BIAR file back into the BO server After  the Webi reports cannot be used since the universe connection is not available We redefined the universe connection and re-exported the universe  to the BO server so Webi reports work But we cannot export Deski reports to the server anymore - We get DX0034 error Problem solution on Deski open tools-> universes-> Refresh Perform the following sequence: Re-point the problematic reports.                                           - Go to Data menu à View data.                                                                               - Go to Definition tab in the Data manager window.          

Error Message: Your Web Intelligence session has reached timeout. Log out and log in again to Infoview (Error : WIS 30553)  EnvironmenT BO XI R 3.1 SP4 After getting this error message we have been not able to use the same session to create the reports successfully. Solutions The timeout parameter in web.xml is for Infoview web application. Can you try changing Web Intelligence Server Timeout properties from CMC. CMC->WebIntelligence Server ->Properties. More complex solution for JSP increase the application session-timeouts for the web.xmls for the three application locations as follows: Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps/WEB-INF/web.xml Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps\InfoViewApp/WEB-INF/web.xml Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps\CmcAppActions/WEB-INF/web.xml 2. Increase the attribute value under to perhaps 60 in this example:    20 3. To modify the default session timeout value in the CMC, search for web.config in the folder: C