In This Session … Get strategic advice for leveraging data warehousing and analytical engines from SAP to increase the speed and efficiency of data processing.

Comprehensive Guidelines to Speed Data Analysis Using the Analytical Engines from SAP
Dr. Bjarne Berg COMERIT

In This Session … Get strategic advice for leveraging data warehousing and analytical engines from SAP to increase the speed and efficiency of data processing and analysis including: SAP NetWeaver® BW Accelerator SAP BusinessObjects Explorer SAP HANA SAP BusinessObjects Analysis Explore ways to deploy OLAP tools within SAP BusinessObjects Analysis — via Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, or the Web interface — and get criteria to map each approach to your analytical requirements Demo the key differences between the Microsoft and OLAP editions of SAP BusinessObjects Analysis You will come away with a deep understanding of what these solutions can do and when to use them

What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Overview
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Overview SAP HANA Capabilities and Impact to Organizations SAP BusinessObjects Analysis Capabilities Other Performance Considerations A Roadmap for getting to Next Generation BI Wrap-up

Why In-Memory Processing?
Technology Focus 1990 2012 Improvement 0.05 MIPS/$ 304.17 MIPS/$ 6083x CPU 0.02 MB/$ 52.27 MB/$ 2614x Memory 216 264 248x Addressable Memory 100 Mbps 100 Gbps 1000 x Network Speed 5 MBPS 620 MBPS 124x Disk Data Transfer Source: 1990 numbers SAP AG, 2012 numbers, Dr. Berg Source: BI Survey of 534 BI professionals, InformationWeek, 2010 Disk speed is growing slower than all other hardware components, while the need for speed is increasing.

In Memory Processing — General Highlights — BWA
BWA = SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator

It Is All About Performance, Performance, Performance
It is hard to build a fast dashboard with many queries and panels without SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator This provides in-memory processing of queries that is faster What we simply do is place the data in-memory and retrieve it much faster There is also some limited OLAP functionality that can be built into SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.3, but most data processing still occurs in the BI Analytical engine You can also place non-SAP data in-memory, using SAP BusinessObjects Data Services

How Does SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Work in Reality?
SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.0 performs aggregation and data selection for the query, all other processing is done by the BI analytical engine (i.e., as the “OLAP processor”) Therefore, not all query processing will be dramatically faster In SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.2 you can handle more of the analytics processing, such as “top-5 products sales,” which was previously done in the BI analytical engine SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator is accessed by queries and also by any jobs that use the application programming interface (SAPRSDRI_INFOPROV_READ) or the data read transaction (LISTCUBE), when aggregate flag is selected or any of the OLAP interfaces to third-party tools

Compression and TREX The TREX engine is NOT the same as the traditional implementation of the search engine BWA comes with its own TREX engine that collects the data During the index build, the data is also compressed using advanced mathematical methods The result is therefore a much smaller sized index than the original InfoCube Berg: I moved this note from slide 13 to here, since this is the first slide that shows the older term SAP BI Accelerator. BERG: OK SAP BI Accelerator (BIA) was renamed to SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator in 2009 8

3 Steps of InfoCube Index Creation
First master data is processed (Y, S, and X) tables. Second, the fact tables are grouped and indexed. This occurs by merging the E and F tables into one F table prior to indexing it. This is done automatically and does not change the basic cube. Third, the dimension tables are indexed. This include all D tables (potentially 16). The process starts with a database lock on each table. The next step is a data transfer to a temporary BWA file and transferring the data to BWA. The final step is to write the indexes to memory and activate it for queries.

The Rule of 50% and Impacts
Buying hardware is not as easy as you may think … First you need to make space for temporary index files. The recommended size is about 50%. Second you need to have one fail-over blade in case of hardware issues. Example-1: Your sizing program says you need 48Gb of memory You need 48GB + 48Gb for temp indexes and 48Gb failover = 144Gb (66.66% overhead) Example-2: Your sizing program says you need 192 Gb of memory You need 192GB + 192Gb for temp indexes and 48 Gb failover = 432Gb (44% overhead)

Performance is Near-Linear: Benchmarks
SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator’s strength resides in its near-linear scalability Performance is measured in terms of: BW Accelerator index creation time Multi-user throughput per hour Average report response time Average number of records touched by each report SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator reads data from InfoCubes. DSOs and InfoObjects are still read from base/physical tables (even when the InfoObject is indexed as part of master data).

BI Analytical Engine’s Query Executing Priorities
Query Execution Without SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Query Execution With SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Information Broadcasting / Precalculation Information Broadcasting / Precalculation Query Cache Query Cache Aggregates SAP BW Accelerator InfoProvider Aggregates can be replaced with SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, while the memory cache is still useful.

Query Performance Improvements — Real Example of 70 Queries
The slowest queries that spent most of their time on the database side benefitted the most Overall 36 of 70 queries were at least twice as fast. Before BWA, the average query execution took 58.8 seconds; after BWA the average query took 17.9 seconds (295% faster overall). 13

Query Performance Improvements OVERALL
The major improvement is to make query execution more predictable and overall faster Number of Queries Seconds HINT: BWA will not be used if a query has a key figure set to NO1, NO2, or NOP (no aggregation) Number of Queries Seconds 14

Workbook Performance Improvements with BWA
Workbooks require embedding of JavaScripts; can contain multiple queries; and may have macros, lookups, and internal logic It is therefore hard to estimate the real performance benefits of implementing SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator In this real example of 20 slow workbooks, the average performance improvement for workbooks was 363% faster 15

Performance Information — BWA Indexes Build Times
Creating new indexes (refreshes) can be time consuming. The build time depends on: a) The size of the records (length) b) The number of records c) The number of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator processors d) The network transfer speed In this example, 23 InfoCubes with over 232 million records were indexed in minutes On average, 2.56 million records per minute were indexed! 16

Most Customers Have Found BWA Admin to Be Minimal
The Admin work is done through a single interface The admin interface is available under the transaction code RSDDBWAMON/ RSDDBIAMON Health checks for SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator are available under the transaction code RSRV Most companies plan for a maximum of 2-5 days of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator training. You need a maximum of 1-2 administrators (1 for backup).

RSDDBIAMON — BWA Administrator Tools
Restart BIA server: Restarts all the BWA servers and services Restart BIA Index Server: Restarts the index server Reorganize BIA Landscape: If the BWA server landscape is unevenly distributed, redistributes the loaded indexes on BWA servers Rebuild BIA Indexes: If a check discovers inconsistencies in the indexes, delete and rebuild the BWA indexes.

Selective Usage of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator
You can turn off the SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator usage for certain roles. This reduces the stress on the hardware for non-essential users. You can also turn off the BWA uses for individual users in transaction code SU01 You can see if anyone is using the BWA indexes in the table “RSDDSTATBIAUSE” and some details are also available in ‘RSRT’ after patch 16.

RSDDBIAMON — BWA Administrator Tools and Control
Connectivity checks Checks if BW is still connected physically to the BW system System Check Checks if the blades and file system is operating normally Load Monitoring Keeps track of performance of the load process (read, writes, compression, and time spent) You can turn off the BWA index query availability for InfoCubes through the transaction “RSDDBIAMON2.”

Health-Checks and Reconciliation
The BWA interface allows you to compare the data in SAP NetWeaver BW vs. the indexes. This means that you can easily check if they are outdated (service pack 12 required) Other tools include the ability to run queries to see if the numbers in the two databases match. You can check your installation using the function module “TREX_CHECK_BIA_INSTALLATION” or using the transaction code RSDDBIAMON.

Proposals and Estimations
The Analysis and Repair options include proposals and time estimation tools that you may use The interface can propose delta- indexes for periodic updates You can estimate the runtime of indexing the fact table of an InfoCube before you place it into a process chain or a manual job You can estimate the memory needed before adding new records into memory You can use the ABAP program ‘’ZZ_SET_QUERY_NOHPA_FLAG to turn off BWA access for single queries in the RSRREPDIR table (SAP Note: for BWA 7.0)

The SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator “Reset Button”
The simple way to fix most issues is to delete all indexes and rebuild them during a weekend Think of this as the ultimate “reset” button. You can also rebuild master data indexes In TREXADMIN you can see the number of records in the BWA indexed Infocube. Select the RFC Server, Execute. Click on tab “Index Admin.” For each InfoCube select BIA as the Index ID. The records are equal to the # of documents. Estimations of this, based on statistics, are also available in: RSDDV - BIA Indexes SE16 - RSDDTREXDIR

Increasing Index Creation Performance
To increase index creation performance, you can change the global parameters in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Pay particular attention to the number of parallel processes available (max 10 per available physical processors) Make sure the memory buffers are set large enough to accommodate large InfoCubes Review consistency check recommendations in SAP Notes and You can check global parameters in RSRV and you can change global parameters in RSBATCH and RSDDBIAMON.

Planning a 6-Week BWA Implementation
An SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator project can be completed in six weeks However, due to hardware lead-times (normally 4-6 weeks), most projects should plan a 12-week duration The time waiting on hardware should be used on performance tuning of existing queries and dashboards We will now look at the major tasks of implementing an SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator solution

Sizing Is Critical, but Good Tools Are Available
SAP has integrated key sizing parameters for SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator in the new Quick Sizer. You can give it a try at: (requires login credentials for the SAP Service Marketplace) Customers with existing BI systems and data loaded can get good sizing and compression estimates by running the SAP program available in SAP Note

Training for SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator
SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator training is included in the SAP courses: BW-310, BW-360, and in the online course BW361 In the past, SAP has also offered a two-day workshop called “BI Upgrade & Accelerator” (WNASAP BW Accelerator)

Testing Make sure you identify real benefits and benchmark with pre- and post-performance after SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator is implemented This requires that all critical performance data is captured before SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator is installed You should document the post performance and build times as early as possible so that you know what the performance of complex dashboards will be and how the indexing will fit into existing process chains You can see what InfoCubes are indexed by going to RSDDV and clicking the button “BIA Indexes.”

The New SAP NetWeaver BW 7.2 Features — Modeling in BWA
In BWA 7.2 you can complete many of the joins and aggregation that was previously conducted in the BI analytic engine, and was therefore hard to performance tune It also reduces the data being transferred to the app server and therefore is much faster as well Image source: SAP AG, 2011, SDN 29

The New SAP NetWeaver BW 7.2 Features — Faster Performance
Image source: SAP AG, 2011, SDN The major benefit of BWA 7.2 is that you can move more of the calculation over to the accelerator and materialize the result in-memory. This improves the reads, and calculations in the OLAP/ BI analytic engine on the BW side are substantially reduced. The following calculations are now included: SUM MIN MAX CNT (count all detailed values) CN0 (Count all values not zero or null) AVG (average) AV0 (Average for all values not zero or null) 30

Prerequisites for SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.2
For SAP BusinessObjects Explorer BWA needs to be upgraded to BWA 7.20 BW should be upgraded to minimum SAP NetWeaver BW EHP 1; SPS 5 (Source SAP AG BWA 7.2 Installation guide, and SAP Notes and ) SAP Technology RIG Recommendations If the system is on SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 or 7.0 EHP1, then use SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.0 If the system is on SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 EHP1 SPS 5 or higher AND you are using SAP BusinessObjects Explorer (accelerated version), then use BWA 7.20 If the system is on SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3, then use BWA 7.20 (Source Marc Bernard, SAP AG, 2011)

The SAP NetWeaver BW 7.2 Limitations and Query Settings
There are still some limitations. For example you cannot use the exception aggregation for single key figures in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator if it uses: Virtual key figures Conversion before aggregation Formula calculation before aggregation Non-cumulative key figures Key figures with elimination of internal business volume You also get more detailed control on each query as to how it reads the BWA. Think of it as similar to Query read modes (more details at SDN: 32

The New SAP NetWeaver BW 7.2 Performance Example
Queries with large OLAP processes, such as average and counts, benefit the most from the new BWA 7.2 system SAP has published the following performance example: Source: Sapphire, SAP AG, 2011, 90-95% FASTER!! 33

Why the Rapid Adaptation of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer?
One of the driving forces for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer has been the rapid implementation of blade solutions running on-top of SAP NetWeaver BW. To date, according to SAP, over 1,000 of these systems has been installed.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Overview
You can connect in several ways to data sets External data may be indexed by the SAP BusinessObjects Data Services and stored on dedicated SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator blades SAP NetWeaver BW data may be indexed on SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator blades for fast in- memory processing (also through SAP HANA) External data may also be accessed as “non-accelerated” via SQL/MSU universes Excel spreadsheets may also be accessed Source: SAP, Aug, 2011 SAP BusinessObjects Explorer does not require SAP NetWeaver® BW. You can accelerate all data sources.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer — Big Picture
BWA = SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator

Creating Indexes from External Data
Using the Accelerator Index Designer in SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, you can also index data from external data files and databases It is important to note that the SAP BusinessObjects indexes are on dedicated blades For SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator you should always have one “spare” blade for failover If a blade fails, the system can reload the indexes from the SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator file system (i.e., GPFS) For the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer blade, you can use only one blade

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Overview
Accelerated (BWA) or non-accelerated solutions

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Non-BW Data
Using the SAP BusinessObjects Data Services tool, you can access non-SAP data and model it in the BWA Cube Designer tool Version 4.0 Version 3.2 and 4.0

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Improved Features
Many customers looked at earlier releases of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and noted several limitations Many of these limitations are now remedied. These include: The possibility to import your own Excel files Create your own calculations at the user level You can group related dimensions for simplicity of analysis Security in improved and row-level data security can be implemented You can personalize the view by filtering information Users may navigate hierarchies instead of “flat” data PS! Currently the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer solution is licensed based on number of blades and the number of named users.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Indexing from Queries
You can use BEx queries to create complex indexes that are stored simply as a flat table in the index (de-normalized). First you must enable the query for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer indexing using the program: RSR_QPROV_CHECK. This checks if the query can be used for indexing Query limitations for Explorer indexing Technical name cannot be over 20 characters Query cannot have two structures Query cannot use local aggregation or calculations before aggregation Integrated planning queries and queries with input variables cannot be used Queries with temporal hierarchy joins cannot be used Query display settings are not supported and deltas are not available. PS! The read mode for the query is executed as “read everything.”

The Many SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Access Methods
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is normally accessed through a browser However, you can always download the results from a search into Excel and perform analysis from there You can save the result set as an image and load it on portal sites, handhelds, or send as Finally, you can access the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer directly from a handheld device that supports basic Web browser functions Source: Dan Kearnan, SAP AG (2010)

Ad Hoc Search The core idea of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is that users can search the BI data like they would using Google, Yahoo, Bing, or other search engines Users should not have to know how the data is structured, what query to execute, or how to display the data SAP BusinessObjects Explorer takes a “first stab” at presenting the data in a usable format From there, users may navigate and change the display The users may save their settings and the display at any time

Ad Hoc Search Example 1. First we searched on “sales” and found three possible choices 2. We selected “sales Information” and searched after the term "Texas” This shows the sales amount by state as a table, the gross margin as a graph and as a table Any display can be exported to Excel, saved as an image, ed, or bookmarked

A Step-by-Step Demo: Searching
Step 1. We load the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Web interface into a browser Step 2. We Search for “sales” Step 3. We get the search results and a list of “information spaces” The search result list is sorted based on an internal “relevancy” score.

A Step-by-Step Demo: The Initial View
Step 4. The system looks at the data and formats it based on implied hierarchies (i.e., time, geography, customer) as well as measures. Users may navigate and change measures, graphs, and tables.

A Step-by-Step Demo: Searching in a Result Set and Measures
Step 5. Again, we are interested in sales around Texas, and can search the initial result set Step 6. By changing the Measure from “margin” to “sales revenue” all graphs and tables change

A Step-by-Step Demo: Changing Charts and Drill Down
Step 7. We can change the chart by selecting from the left menu options Step 8. While the first display was based on the “best guess,” we can now drill down to the different product lines The best graphing options, based on our data, is highlighted by a star:

A Step-by-Step Demo: More Graphing Options
Step 9. There are many graphing options and some are more useful than others “Proportional” view is best when you are looking for size relations. i.e., what are the largest contributors to sales? Most of the time, the reccomended graphs works best for the data set, but not always Try several graphing options before deciding on “your” view.

A Step-by-Step Demo: Explore More — Filtering
Step 10. By clicking on “Explore more” you are promted to filter on the characteristic you selected Since we clicked “Explore more” in the state box, we can now select only the states we are interested in Filtering data makes the images more meaningful. It is harder to analyze 50 states and scroll through the data.

Ad Hoc Search Example 1. First we searched on “sales” and found three possible choices 2. We selected “sales Information” and searched after the term "Texas” This shows the sales amount by state as a table, the gross margin as a graph and as a table Any display can be exported to Excel, saved as an image, ed, or bookmarked

A Step-by-Step Demo: Searching
Step 1. We load the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Web interface into a browser Step 2. We Search for “sales” Step 3. We get the search results and a list of “information spaces” The search result list is sorted based on an internal “relevancy” score.

A Step-by-Step Demo: The Initial View
Step 4. The system looks at the data and formats it based on implied hierarchies (i.e., time, geography, customer) as well as measures. Users may navigate and change measures, graphs, and tables

A Step-by-Step Demo: Searching in a Result Set and Measures
Step 5. Again, we are interested in sales around Texas, and can search the initial result set Step 6. By changing the Measure from “margin” to “sales revenue” all graphs and tables change

A Step-by-Step Demo: Changing Charts and Drill Down
Step 7. We can change the chart by selecting from the left menu options Step 8. While the first display was based on the “best guess,” we can now drill down to the different product lines The best graphing options, based on our data, is highlighted by a star:

A Step-by-Step Demo: Explore More — Filtering
Step 10. By clicking on “Explore more” you are promted to filter on the characteristic you selected Since we clicked “Explore more” in the state box, we can now select only the states we are interested in Filtering data makes the images more meaningful. It is harder to analyze 50 states and scroll through the data.

A Step-by-Step Demo: Filter Results
We now see the (product) lines are sold in only three states Filter values are displayed here: Always see if any items have been removed in a filter before you look at the data, i.e., 15,061,789 is not the sales revenue for the firm, only the revenue for three states.

A Step-by-Step Demo: The Visualization Panel
Step 11. You can also zoom in on the data by only showing the visualization panel In the Visualization Panel, you can view all the fields and measures as a complete table Notice: The table only contains data from the three states we filtered on

A Step-by-Step Demo: Top 10 Analysis
Step 12. In the visualization panel, we can perform top 10 analysis by a single click. All other values are summarized in an “other” category and graphed The ability to quickly group and summarize data is a great feature. This is normally done in the BI analytical engine of SAP NetWeaver® BW, and can be very slow.

A Step-by-Step Demo: Other Display Options
Step 13. You can view the data in relative size by using a comparison graph Line graphs are usually preferred if you have 3-20 data points Areas on the graphs can be highlighted by clicking on one or more data points

A Step-by-Step Demo: Sorting and New Calculations
Step 14. Any data panel can be sorted in many ways Step 15. We can also add our own measures In our example we are adding the measure “Margin Per Unit” as total margin divided by “quantity sold” Measures used on any graph can be calculated “on-the-fly.”

A Step-by-Step Demo: Mini-OLAP Example
Step 16. In this mini-OLAP example we are: Looking at some key cities in a few states (filter) Only looking at data for 2003 and only for “Sweats and T-Shirts” (filters) Examining the profit margin per unit sold (customized calculation) SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is not an OLAP tool, but can support basic drill-down features, and thereby complex unstructured analysis.

A Step-by-Step Demo: Downloading a Data Set
Step 17. Any result set displayed in SAP BusinessObjects Explorer may be saved to a PC as a comma-delimited file You can select to save the data set filtered by the navigations or only the data from the visualization panel Data saved this way can be opened in Excel or imported directly into Access and other databases.

A Step-by-Step Demo: Configuring Measures
Step 18. Measures in the data set can also be configured to be “filter columns” for user navigation Other options include Max Min Sum Average This is how you determine how data will be accessed and how measures will be displayed.

HINT: Connectivity, Network, and Non-Logical Calculations
You sometimes can get the following message from the system: This normally means that the connectively to the system is either too slow, or broken. This is an issue that is more common for very slow connections such as older Wi-Fi networks You can also get this error message if the result set you requested is not available (i.e., non-logical calculations)

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.2 Features
In earlier releases of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator you could not index DSOs; with version 7.2 this is now available Also, prior to SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.2, the solution was only used for rapid in-memory data fetches BI analytical engine processes such as data sorts, calculated key figures (CKF), restrictive key figures (RKF), top-5 conditioning, etc., were still costly overheads to the query execution We now have a new “calculation engine” and a new “aggregation engine” inside This means that the benefits of in-memory processing is no longer confined to data fetches and queries can be made to run even faster You can now performance tune some BI analytic engine functions with SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, not only data reads. PS! SAP HANA can also support SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Source: SAP AG, Nov. 2011

Budgeting for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer with BWA
You have to plan for: SAP BusinessObjects Explorer licenses (per blade as well as per number of users) Hardware costs (approx. $14K-$22K per chassis + $5-10K per blade and a rack, if you do not have a spare place for the chassis. Add in two network cards and a file system.) Good planning numbers for production environment (only): Small HW costs ~ $40K to $60K Medium HW costs ~ $60K to $250K Large HW costs ~ $250K to $500K+ Add consulting fees for 2-3 people for 7-10 weeks. The actual time needed depends on how much of the infrastructure you already have in-place and how you plan on rolling out the solution) Remember to plan for three years of vendor support costs.

Required and Optional Components
Installing SAP BusinessObjects Explorer can be confusing. Some components are required, while others are optional. SAP BusinessObjects Data Services if you use external data Index designer plug-in if you use external accelerated data SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator 7.20 if you use accelerated data – revision 5 You can find detailed requirements at: Accelerated version: Non-accelerated version: SAP-Certified blade vendors: IBM, SUN, Dell, Cisco, Teradata, Fujitsu, HP SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 3.2 can run only on SUSE Linux 64-bit OS for blade servers (requirements (PAM) for 4.0 should be taken from service.sap.com) Source: SAP AG , Nov. 2011

Some Limitations — Authorizations and MultiProviders
When you create the index, the conversions, hierarchies, texts, and authorization indexes are made. However, if the Analysis Authorizations are on the MultiProviders, they cannot be used in the index You can fix this by placing the Analysis Authorizations on the basic cubes instead When you create an index on a MultiProvider, a part provider can be used. This creates a single index for BWA and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, but part providers can only be consumed by SAP BusinessObjects Explorer (not BW) [SAP Note: ] SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Index snapshots can be taken of a MultiProviders (MPSI), however, this can take a long time to create if the data volume is large. Delta capabilities can be done in a different rollup step (RSDDTPS_INDEX_MPRO) When creating snapshots, you can only filter on a single characteristic and MPSI is not available for BW “reporting” (see other limitations in SAP Note: )

Some Ideas — Authorizations
If you use Authorization based on hierarchy nodes (0TCTAUTHH) , it is not used by SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. Also, if you have based your authorization on custom user exit coding, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer cannot leverage this either. To setup the security in RSDDTPS_AUTH, try the following: Hint: Create an active directory group and add all users to this group. Since SAP BusinessObjects Explorer does not use SAP security, you can use the AD group for single-sign-on. Source logic from: M. Umarwadia and M. Walsh, SAP TechEd 2011

Some Features of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0
You can also use universes created by the Information Design Tool (IDT) and access these in SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Spreadsheets can be added in the Information Spaces and you can use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to access this (in a non-accelerated manner)/

Other Features of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 — Templates
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 now provides templates for customers to personalize their own displays This feature assists users in having their own visualization and preferences stored in templates that can bypass any “default” displays/views by the system.

Other Features of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 4.0 — Servers and CMC
You can manage all servers in one location within the Central Management Console (CMC) Your BI applications and tools, including SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, can now be accessed through the BI Launchpad.

An Implementation Milestone Plan Example
Since some vendors build the hardware as made-to-order, it is important to get the purchase order placed as soon as possible.

Register and Take a Free Test Drive with SAP HANA
You can register for a free test drive at: You can also upload your own data and try the tool to see if it is something for your organization. There is even quick guides, videos, and wizards to get you started.

SAP HANA — In Memory Options
SAP HANA is sold as an in-memory appliance. This means that both Software and Hardware are included from the vendors Currently you can buy SAP HANA solutions from Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard SAP HANA currently indexes the data from a variety of sources, including ERP and BW and store the result on a dedicated server The future of SAP HANA is to replace the databases of ERP and BW and run these on the in-memory platform Source SAP AG,2011 SAP HANA has the potential to radically change the way databases operate and make systems dramatically faster.

Tools and Access Methods
You can connect to SAP HANA with a direct access method, or you can use universe- based access For example, SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for MS, OLAP edition, and SAP BusinessObjects Explorer can all establish a direct link to SAP HANA Other BI client products can leverage the universe-based approach You need special licenses to use SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 on top of SAP HANA and JDBC configuration may be required Administrators use: SAP HANA studio, Information designer, data service designer, DB clients, and Excel 2010. End users methods: SAP HANA database clients, BI clients, and Excel 2010.

SAP HANA — Sources and Target Interfaces
SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 Semantic Layer Dashboards Crystal WebIntelligence HANA Appliance SQL (JDBC / ODBC) Crystal ERP BICS Real-time Sybase Replication Server In Memory Computing Engine Analysis - Office Database DBSQL Explorer Others Sybase Unwired 3rd Party Applications SQL (JDBC / ODBC) Custom Web Development 3rd Party Applications MDX (ODBO) BusinessObjects Data Services MS-Excel (certified) SAP BW 3rd Party A great benefit is the real-time loading of SAP HANA from ERP. This can provide real-time analytics to end-users.

SAP HANA Product Strategy
While we can index SAP NetWeaver BW data today via SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, the next generation of SAP HANA is intended to make it possible to run SAP NetWeaver BW on top of HANA Source: Uddhav Gupta- SAP Solution Management, DataWarehousingPlatform, TechEd, 2011 A big decision for companies in the future will be to decide how much real time, operational reporting from ERP should stay in SAP HANA/ERP and what sort of analytical data should be stored in a SAP HANA-enabled BW systems.

SAP HANA — Loading the Application and Performance
You can load the application based on the logs in the source system, ETL-based (Extract Transform and Load) loads, and SAP trigger-based replication Tool Purpose BusinessObjects Data Services – ETL-based replication Sybase replication server & Load Controller – Log-based replication SAP Landscape Transformation (LT) – Trigger-based replication Log based replication is possible on IBM DB 2 LUW/UDB and planned for MSFT SQL Server Enterprise Edition, Oracle Enterprise Edition, and Sybase ASE (as of Dec. 2011) .

Looking Inside SAP HANA — In-Memory Computing Engine (IMCE)
AAAA Metadata Manager Authorization Manager Transaction Manager Persistence Layer Disk Storage Relational Engine -Row Store -Column Store SQL Script SQL Parser Data Volumes Page Mgmt. Session Manager Calculation Engine MDX Logger Log Volumes Load Controller Replication Server BusinessObjects Data Services Inside the Computing Engine of SAP HANA we have many different components that manage the access and storage of the data. This include MDX and SQL access, as well as Load Controller (LC) and the Replication Server.

SAP HANA — Virtual Marts and Applications
Virtual data marts and new applications were built that run on SAP NetWeaver BW, which is again enabled by SAP HANA in-memory processing Enterprise Data Warehouse – SAP BW Applications developed by SAP “near-term” Profitability analysis Dynamic cash management Strategic workforce planning Smart meter analytics (power companies) Applications developed by SAP “mid-term” Planning & consolidation Customer revenue performance mgmt Predictive segmentation & targeting Trade promotion management Merchandise & assortment planning Sales & operations planning (SOP) Demand signal repository HANA (in-the works) BI Solutions ERP Virtual Data Marts Virtual Data Marts Database Applications Virtual Data Marts Virtual Data Marts Databases Files This provides much tighter integration with the source system (less data latency) and much faster query response time for high-volume analysis

SAP HANA Information Composer
In the Web-based Information Composer users can upload their data into the SAP HANA database and create their own Information Views In the Information Views, users can combine objects inside SAP HANA, create their own calculations, and access their results in SAP BusinessObjects tools The three types of Information Views: Attribute View – Details Analytic View – Analysis Calculation View – Query built on attribute views, DB tables, and analytic views The SAP HANA Information Composer is intended for power users and authors, while the SAP HANA Information Modeler tool is intended for the technical IT person.

SAP HANA Studio — Information Modeler
Information Modeler is easy to work in. However, it requires some data modeling skills SQL skills are also important when creating models and packages Once Packages are developed, they can be accessed by the end user interfaces.

SAP HANA Studio Information Modeler — Displaying Data
The Information Modeling tool in SAP HANA also allows the developer to access the information and provide some basic graphing, pre-delivered templates, and navigation options There is even a “distinct value” tab, that provides a data profile of the various columns Image source: SAP AG, 2011, SDN Thanks to: Naresh Ganatra, Nov. 2011 This is not intented as an end-user interface (use SAP BusinessObjects BI tools instead), but it can add significant value to the designers and developers.

Row- vs. Column-Based Indexing
An index based on rows would require a substantial amount of data to be read. This is good when we are looking for “complete records” and want all this data It is not a very efficient way of accessing BI data when we are looking for only a few of the attributes, or key figures, in the records Source: SAP AG, Dec. 2011 While SAP HANA supports row-based indexing and you can leverage this for certain occasions, most indexes for SAP BI and analysis would probably be better served by column-based indexes

Row- vs. Column-Based Indexing (cont.)
As we can see, there are only 7 unique states and 3 unique customer classes in the data. This allows SAP HANA to compress this data set significantly By including the Row ID in the column-based index in SAP HANA, the “ownership” of the values in the index can still be mapped back to the record Column-based indexes on fields with repeated values often leads to better compression ratios and thereby lower size of the indexes (as we can see, there are few values repeated in the rows).

SAP HANA — Vendors and Appliance Options
The vendors that provide SAP HANA solutions include Cisco, Dell, IBM, Intel, HP, and Fujitsu as of Jan 2012 SAP HANA generally consists of: The database and database clients HANA studio (P2 repository) Load controller and Sybase replication server The host agent and LM structure files Op. Sys. configuration, SAPCAR & SAP JVM The update manager for SAP HANA IBM System x3950 X5 Fujitsu HP DL 580 G7 Dell R910 Cisco UCS C460 M2

SAP HANA — Sizing the Application
While sizing should be done for each customer individually to get accurate numbers, SAP has provided a t-shirt sizing model for customers who want to get some high-level sizing guidelines Source: Christiane Stagge, SAP AG, Dec. 2011 To do accurate sizing you should contact your service partner and the hardware vendor you are working with and plan to spend some time getting the numbers right. In general, it is preferable to oversize the system and thereby save time on potential future add-ons.

SAP HANA — Test Drive You can see demos and do a test drive at: This site contains a lot of great information and you can also try the Information Composer and see recorded demos.

SAP HANA — Training and Certification Available
As of Jan 2012, SAP has three e-learning courses and two instructor led courses available. You can also take the certification for SAP HANA certified application associate. This has 80 exam questions. Source SAP AG, Jan 2012

The SAP BusinessObjects Analysis OLAP Tools (Web and MS Office)
We are now looking specifically at the OLAP tool previously known as ‘Voyager’ and ‘Pioneer’ The tool is now called simply “Analysis” Source SAP AG,2011 *Voyager is now SAP BusinessObjects Analysis.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis — Excel Interface
The SAP BusinessObjects Analysis tool exists in an MS Office edition and a Web edition The MS Office edition supports both Excel and PowerPoint Source SAP AG,2011

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis — PowerPoint Interface
The tool has a query panel and can embed “live” BI analysis in the Microsoft Office applications Excel and PowerPoint.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis — Some Office Requirements
The panel allows for filtering, slice and dice, and navigation BEx query views and queries can be used (both BW 3.5 and 7.0), but your BW system has to be on version 7.x You need Microsoft Office 2003 or higher to be able to use SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, MS Office edition (min) You need 2007 version (minimum) to use the PowerPoint functionality, but no GUI is required

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis — Web Version
The OLAP (Web edition) is great for analysts that wants to interact with the data and also add their own calculations, formatting, charts, and filtering The output from this analysis can be shared with others within a department or logical grouping of employees who need to see the information This is not a basic reporting tool, but an analysis tool.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis OLAP — Navigating the Basics
You can have up to four analysis items open on the same page You can use the task toolbar to toggle between Data Properties Outline You can have many analysis sheets open at the same time (3 is default) This is not a basic reporting tool, but an analysis tool with a very high degree of flexibility to create your own analysis workspace.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis — Navigation
The tool bars are consistently used in the whole Web application Through tabs and simple selection screens the users can easily access, select, and navigate the data Users can also add their own formulas and calculations in the Web interface and store the definitions Most power users will find this intuitive and easy to learn…

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis

Lean vs. Complete Deployment
Typically SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, MS Office edition is installed in the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise BI 4 environment By doing so, users do not need a SAP GUI and can share workbooks, PowerPoints, and connection Smaller lean installations can skip the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise environment and access SAP NetWeaver BW directly, but every users must have a SAP GUI installed on each machine and connections must be made for each client machine No Java is required on SAP NetWeaver BW.

The Components of BI 4.x Platform
The complete components of the BI landscape consist of a variety of software: Source systems BI 4.x system Portal system Client software - Microsoft Office - Web Browser - Other

Access to SAP BW Data — The BEx Query Designer
The BEx Query Designer is the starting point for almost all reporting in the SAP landscape. This concept assures that data is the same in different reporting environments and that objects are reusable. The core idea is to: “write once and publish many ways.” While you can access InfoProviders directly (no query), this bypasses the BI analytic engine and most of the support from this component such as RKF, CKF, hierarchies, etc.

The BEx Query Designer — Getting up to Speed
Learning to use the BEx Query Designer is simple Most developers should take the BW 305 course at SAP before starting their BI project BEx queries are a fundamental access method for BI and SAP BusinessObjects. Understanding the query designer is a critical skillset.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis vs. Other SAP Tools
All SAP tools have strength and weaknesses. This is a subjective summary of each of the major tools

Resources SAP HANA Test-run https://www.experiencesaphana.com/welcome
SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Product Web site SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Collaboration Workspace SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator main page on SAP SDN

7 Key Points to Take Home In-memory processing is the future and it is already at your doorstep You should have this on your long-time budget SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is a great tool for unstructured, ad hoc analysis SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is a specialized tool, it does not replace the other SAP BusinessObjects tools There is a place for OLAP, ad hoc, and formatted reports SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator is still here for SAP NetWeaver BW data (primarily) Installing and operating these platforms are not difficult, but require specialized skills Accelerated dashboards and BI analytics is a must-have for the next months!

Your Turn! How to contact me: Dr. Berg

Disclaimer SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, SAP NetWeaver®, Duet™®, PartnerEdge, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by SAP.

In This Session … Get strategic advice for leveraging data warehousing and analytical engines from SAP to increase the speed and efficiency of data processing.

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In This Session … Get strategic advice for leveraging data warehousing and analytical engines from SAP to increase the speed and efficiency of data processing.

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