Dr. Bjarne Berg MyITgroup, a VIP consulting company

Dr. Bjarne Berg MyITgroup, a VIP consulting company
What Every SAP Customer Needs to Know About the Latest Reporting, Analysis, and Dashboard Tools Available with SAP NetWeaver BI Dr. Bjarne Berg MyITgroup, a VIP consulting company

In This Session ... This is a comprehensive guide to SAP NetWeaver® Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI) presentation tools We will take an overview tour of the Analysis Process Designer (APD), SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC), Web Application Designer (WAD), Report Designer, Web publishing, Java Server pages (JSP) and the new SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx Analyzer We will look at the strengths and limitations of each tool and see how they can be used independently or collectively in a SAP NetWeaver BI environment. You’ll leave this session with a good understanding of how to use SAP NetWeaver BI tools to make your system more flexible and adaptive to the needs of end users

The SAP NetWeaver BI Core Toolset
SAP NetWeaver BI is an enterprise-wide comprehensive decision support system (DSS) for the analytical needs of an enterprise. SAP NetWeaver BI can also support some degree of operational reporting Bjarne: As you know, we don’t allow single-slide sections. Can we move this slide to be in front of the first What We’ll Cover slide, as part of your introductory material? Also: Is this an SAP image? If so, we need to say “Source: SAP” BERG: Moved and referenced Source: SAP The SAP NetWeaver BI tool set has many presentation tools and options for companies to leverage.

What We’ll Cover … The SAP NetWeaver BI tool revolution
SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer and BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP) Administrative tools & The Business Objects Roadmap for front-end tools Using two or more tools together Empowering the users – a mind shift Wrap-up

The BEx Query Designer in SAP BW 3.5
The BEx query designer is a simple tool that you use to develop queries for users. While the Query Designer is sued to define the query, you have many options on how you deploy the queries You can deploy the queries through web templates, broadcasted s, portals, Excel, and more.

BEx Query Designer Gets a “Facelift” in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0
The new 7.0 Query designer was totally redeveloped in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET This new property pane makes it easier to format and control displays than in the past. The 3.5x BEx Query Designer BEx ad hoc Query Designer functionality is replaced by BEx Web Analyzer in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 The SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 BEx Query Designer Note:

BEx Analyzer (Excel Workbooks)
1. BEx Workbooks is Excel “on steroids.” 2. SAP BW queries can be opened in Excel 3. Queries can be refreshed and standard Excel functions can be used This is a great tool for financial analysts and power users To use this tool you need BEx installed

BEx Web Analyzer Integrates Excel
The Excel integration in the BEx Analyzer is far better tham older versions of SAP BW Unlike the old days of dynamic HTML, you can now use the BEx analyzer more as a real application without refreshing the whole page every time you click on something (this is due to the Java component in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0) Bjarne: What is the Excel integration in BEx Analyzer better than? BERG: Spelled out Source: SAP AG, 2008 Important: BEx browser goes away in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 (so does BEx Download Scheduler)

BEx Analyzer Design Mode
Application building in Excel (similar to Web Application Designer) New options for queries with two structures Excel formulas allow access to any cell of the result set Excel formatting options can be fully leveraged for BEx workbooks (e.g., blank lines, fonts, etc.) Combining Excel formulas and Excel formatting allows the design of complex formatted workbooks Integration of Business Planning is available To use this tool you need BEx installed Source: SAP, Zane Connally 2008

SAP BW Analysis Process Designer and Data Mining
SAP BW Analysis Process Designer (APD) is for knowledge discovery and exploration of large sets of data. APD has been available in SAP BW since version 3.0 and can be used to do complex analysis without having to restructure the data and create hundreds of specialized data marts. You can read from a variety of sources such as Flat files Database tables Data Store Objects (new name for ODS) Infocubes BW queries Since BW 3.5, APD has been integrated with the Data Mining Workbench. You can access it using transaction RSDMWB Image: SAP, UK

DW Version 2.0 In Data warehousing v2.0 (Bill Immon’s new terminology), we are using BI applications to create new data that needs to be fed to the data warehouse, and/or the transactional system Tools are now available to build association data sets that create updates based on BI findings (i.e. customer segmentation, risk, profitability flagging, etc). Images: Bhanu Gupta, ASUG 2005 Illinois chapter

SAP BW Analysis Process Designer and Data Mining
Complex scenarios can be built for structured analysis such as risk modeling, customer segmentation, market basket analysis, predictive modeling, and much more “New data” based on the findings can be loaded back into data targets and used by others for reporting — example: CRM analysis.

Visual Composer A Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data. It is a browser-based modeling and design tool for rapid application development & prototyping in a code-free development environment.

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer for Complex Cockpits
Modeling of BI applications using the BI kit of the SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer allows business users to create analytical content for SAP portal. It offers the integration with BI infoproviders, views, BEx web applications, PDF and more as access to other data sources (such as OLAP and relational data sources) via Java connectors via Web API Image source: Cubeserv

Details about SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Cockpits
Delivered as part of Enterprise Portal in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Usage Type (SPS8 and higher) Different options available for rendering SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer output Flash Web Dynpro (HTML) Flash provides high-end visualization of SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models Since a cockpit may have many different DataSources (queries), it can take quite some time to execute them if the memory cache is not used consistently

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Data Methods
Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model Different options available for data access include: SAP NetWeaver BI Extension Kit Remote Function Call (RFC) Web services SAP NetWeaver BI Extension Kit allows access to the following DataSources SAP NetWeaver 2004 BI (SAP BW 3.5 Support Package 14) SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 JDBC XMLA

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer DataProviders
You can use BI queries and views as DataProviders for SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models You also can use BI query functionalities for exceptions and variables along with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer allows access to BI history, favorites, and roles

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Is Easy for Power Users to Learn
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is a power user tool that is simple to learn for someone with a little bit of technical background (i.e. controllers, report writers, analysts). No coding required to create great-looking Web-based cockpits Source: MyITgroup Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages Source: SAP

Visual Composer Cockpit Demo
Bjarne: Can you insert here a slide title that briefly describes what it is you'll be demoing at this point? BERG: Done

The Future of SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer
Source: SAP, July 2008 Composition Environment including SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer continues to be the go-to product for creating composite applications

SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer and BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP) Administrative tools The Business Objects Roadmap for front-end tools Using two or more tools together Empowering the users – a mind shift Wrap-up

BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)
BEx Analyzer/ Query Designer BEx Web Application Designer Web Browser WAD is an intuitive tool to build powerful web applications and to interact with portals and custom templates. BW queries can be manipulated in WAD for better display Bjarne: Should this be “HTML” templates? BERG: Yes OLAP Processor Web Service Charting Engine HTLM Templates InfoProvider

Web Application Designer for Custom Applications
WAD can also incorporate other non-SAP web items into powerful cockpits and custom report centers. While WAD can be used by developers without extensive HTML and Java scripting knowledge, these skills will be useful on most projects.

Web Application Designer (WAD) Gets Better
The Web Application Designer is improved with new chart types (Heat Map, Gantt and Milestone Trend Analysis), as well as new layout elements such as “tab strips.” WAD also has new step-by-step wizards for maps, command editing to create Web API commands and charts, as well as a simplified wizard for layout elements such as radio buttons, action buttons etc. This reduces the amount of custom coding required with the help of Command Wizards, auto complete and support for HTML tags. WAD is a key tool for all SAP BI shops and in SAP NetWeaver 2004s the tool is simplified and more powerful. New: integration with SAP NetWeaver 2004s BEx Report Designer.

Some of SAP NetWeaver SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Web AD New Features
Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Support Package Stack 7) Drag and drop using Analysis item New chart types (heat map, Gantt, milestone trend analysis) Export SAP NetWeaver BI Web applications in PDF format Command Wizard for generating Web API commands Integration with SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 BEx Report Designer for formatted reports User can change the XHTML source code of any web template either directly, or using the ABAP program RS_TEMPLATE_MAINTAIN_70, or in any external XHTML editor.

SAP NetWeaver BI Web API Commands
You can use SAP NetWeaver BI Web API commands for carrying out certain actions in SAP NetWeaver BI Web Applications Export to Excel, PDF, etc. OLAP functions: Apply Filter values, remove drill downs Command Wizards guide you through the steps for creating a SAP NetWeaver BI Web API command Commands appear together for easy access Data Provider Web Items Web Templates Reduce the amount of custom coding required with the help of Command Wizards, auto complete, and support for HTML tags

Command Wizard and JavaScript
Use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript code for the Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications BEx Web Application Designer will not be enhanced further beyond Release 7.1 in 2008

SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer and BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP) Administrative tools The Business Objects Roadmap for front-end tools Using two or more tools together Empowering the users – a mind shift Wrap-up 30

BEx Report Designer Is Here!
This new tool was created to simplify the formatting of reports and fix many of the printing issues in previous versions of SAP BW Source: SAP AG We now get color control, header-footer control and many new features such as location control of cells and integration of pictures, charts, and fixed text

BEx Report Designer Is New in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0
Customizable font styles (i.e. bold, italic), colors, etc. Group-level changes with individual formatting Layout options, e.g.: Height of rows, width of columns Multi-line column headers Flexible field positioning Merging cells Support for hierarchies Rules for the presentation of special characteristic values Integration of text, pictures, and charts Header and footer for reports Bjarne: I have changed the designation of “Crystal Report in the text at bottom right – is it ok? BERG: OK BEx Report Designer 7.1, (last release in 2008) will be available under maximum maintenance until 2016 and will be replaced with the Crystal Report for SAP NetWeaver BI.

Crystal Reports® Is Available (Also in SAP BW 3.x)
With SAP’s BI offerings, you get access to Crystal Reports. In fact, many predeveloped reports are already available. Currently, you can modify, or develop and deploy, a few of those reports without additional licensing cost. Crystal Reports is a great tool for batch reporting of “pixel controlled” formatted reports. Bjarne: I have slightly rephrased the first bullet (mainly to satisfy some SAP branding/product naming requirements) – is it ok? BERG: OK

Web Cockpit in the Portal
You can integrate queries and Web applications into the portal through publishing, broadcasting, or Web calls The portal can either receive designed pages passively or actively create communities, Web pages, collaboration rooms, or cockpits Bjarne: I’ve removed the SAP logo … BERG: OK Publishing Broadcasting

Web Cockpit In SAP NetWeaver Portal (cont.)
The SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) Corporate Performance Monitor cockpits are already part of the portal, so you can access them there iViews can build custom portal cockpits with iViews from many data sources (SAP Web AD, SAP BW, SAP SEM, SAP R/3, the Web) and in many formats (graphs, pictures, figures, and tables) iViews can also be interactive

Web AD Cockpits in SAP Enterprise Portal 6.0
You can directly publish BI Web cockpits to Portal Content Catalog using the Publish option from Web AD Portal and BI system connection should be set up as per SAP Note

Broadcast Cockpit Views and Templates Using WAD
In SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0, use Information Broadcaster to broadcast BI Web applications (i.e., cockpit views) to SAP Enterprise Portal knowledge management (KM) folders and via in various formats (PDF, MHTML, HTML) Information Broadcaster/Reporting Agent (BI 3.x) can precalculate BI Web applications to enhance performance

Web Templates Using BSP (in SAP BW 3.5)
The most common way of deploying BW queries used to be through a standard, or customized web template with built-in navigational features. BW provided a global web template that could be enhanced with logos, colors, fonts and additional features at a low cost of development and ownership.

SAP NetWeaver BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0
SAP NetWeaver BI Java SDK can be used for custom applications based on SAP NetWeaver BI and non-SAP data SAP NetWeaver BI Java SDK provides access to relational and OLAP data sources using JDBC, XMLA, ODBO etc. Access to 200+ data sources using the JDBC drivers Java programmers will recognize the standard development kit's (SDK) main libraries such as the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) and the GUI-oriented Swing object library as well Source: SAP AG, 2005

SAP NetWeaver BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits (cont.)
SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio can develop BI Java SDK-based applications Can use along with SAP Java Web Dynpro Interested developers should familiarize themselves with SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio

More Administrative Tools for Management and Development
Enhanced Dataflow control (split delta) Administrator Cockpit (Web-based) SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator (for high BI performance) Enhanced InfoSets with InfoCubes Remodeling and repartitioning of InfoCubes New Data Transfer Process (DTP) Write-optimized DataStore objects New Admin Workbench Bjarne: This section of your agenda consists of one slide only, and we don’t allow single-slide sections. Can you delete the section and use this slide elsewhere? BERG: Done Bjarne: I took out the “BIA” reference because SAP branding requirements do not allow its use. BERG: OK SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 has many improved tools for developers and system administrators

SAP’s Premium Offerings
SAP Acquired Business Objects in 2007/2008 and is working on integrating its products into the core SAP NetWeaver BI offerings Bjarne: I slightly rewrote the first bullet – is it ok? BERG: OK

New Tools Roadmap Source SAP AG, June 2008

Business Objects capabilities – Dashboards and Reports
Dashboards can be built using Xcelsius. Xcelsius+ will be launched in 2009, and will be “the flagship product for data visualization & dashboards” BEx Web Application Designer will not be enhanced further beyond Release 7.1 of SAP NetWeaver in 2008. Bjarne: The animation on this slide calls for the Crystal Reports screenshot to automatically fade in after the slide is shown – is that what you intended? BERG: No (thanks) Also: I have rewritten the note at the bottom to reflect my understanding of what “Crystal Light” really will be – is it ok? BERG: OK Crystal Reports for pixel-formatted reports has been available with SAP NetWeaver BI/BW since This tool can be integrated into your tool portfolio using existing SAP NetWeaver BI queries (NOTE: Crystal Reports and Crystal Report for SAP NetWeaver BI (Crystal Light) will be the core tools for formatted reports starting 2010) Source SAP AG, June 2008

Business Objects Capabilities — Analysis, Ad-hoc, and Widgets
The Web Intelligence tool from Business Objects is a tool for ad hoc web based reporting, query and analysis. It is intended for end users and can leverage queries to both relational and OLAP sources. It will be the core offering for ad-hoc end user analysis starting 2009. With the current offering of Business Objects you can also use Desktop Widgets to place BI content direct onto a PC desktop and monitor reports and KPIs. Source SAP AG, June 2008

The Move towards Pioneer
Pioneer (code name for 2009 release) provides a superset of the capabilities in BEx Analyzer (Excel), BEx Analyzer (Web), and Business Objects Voyager. Voyager customers migrate to Pioneer. BEx Analyzer & BEx Web Analyzer customers migrate to Pioneer. (Note: BEx goes into regular maintenance) Web based Excel based Source SAP AG, June 2008

BEx Report Designer and WAD
You can also let your SAP NetWeaver BI users do basic navigation on the formatted reports by either integrating navigation, or adding this in the Web Application Designer (WAD)

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer and WAD
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer integrates with Web AD-based applications using Portal Eventing Framework For example, BW Web API can pass a filter value from a BEx Web application to SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer And vice versa

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.0 Portal Publishing
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Design time deploys SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models directly as iViews to Portal Content Catalog You can then use SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer iViews in portal pages, roles, etc.

SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer and BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP) Administrative tools The Business Objects Roadmap for front-end tools Using two or more tools together Empowering the users – a mind shift Wrap-up Bjarne: We appear to have skipped the section “Empowering the Users – a Mind Shift” Can you check the sequence of your slides and the organization of your agenda? BERG: Fixed

Who gets to do what? The major decision for a SAP NetWeaver BI driven enterprise is to determine who gets access to each tool. There is often a temptation for the IT community of wanting to keep the tools under their domain – That is a mistake The IT community should actively work with the power and casual users to improve human capabilities and thereby teach them to become more productive employees. Chinese Proverb

Tool Access – Who should do what…..
There are many options and decisions to be made on who should be able to access all the different tools. Power users Regular Authors Developers BW Admins Query Designer - - /  - /    Query tools - /  - /  Ad-hoc query designer    - - - Web Application Designer   Web Tools SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer - - /     Analysis Process Designer - - -   Broadcaster -wizard      Bex Broadcaster - Other tools - /  - /    Crystal Reports - - /    

Deciding Which Reporting Tool Is Right for You
Workbooks Web reports Fixed format Web Applications Models Vizuali- zation Distrib- ution Query Designer - - - - /  *   Query tools - - - - /  - /  Ad-hoc query designer  - - - - /  - Web Application Designer   Web Tools SAP NetWeaver Visual Comp. - - /  - -    - - - - - /  Analysis Process Designer   Broadcaster -wizard - - - - - -  Bex Broadcaster - - - - - - Other tools  Crystal Reports - - - - /  -   * Through embedded Bex Broadcaster

SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer and BEx Analyzer Analysis Process Designer (APD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC) Web Application Designer (WAD) Report Designer Web publishing Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP) Administrative tools The Business Objects Roadmap for front-end tools Using two or more tools together Empowering the users – a mind shift Wrap-up

Resources Bjarne: The third URL doesn’t appear to be valid – could you check it, please? BERG: Done (one period too many) SAP Documents - Interfaces for Enterprise Reporting, Query, and Analysis, May 2007 Dr. Bjarne Berg’s web site (85+ presentations) SAP NetWeaver BI - NetWeaver BI what is New? SDN presentation SAP Business Intelligence (BI) by Norbert Egger, Jean-Marie Fiechter, Sebastian Kramer, Ralf-Patrick Sawicki, and Stephan Weber. Galio Press - Hardcover, 653 pages, ISBN

7 Key Points to Take Home Pick the right tools based on what you want to accomplish “Everything in the world is a nail, when you only have a hammer …” 2. The BW tool set has evolved substantially over the last 2 years — have you? 3. Today’s presentation developer is much more than a query developer. More than one skill set is needed. 4. Work hard on empowering your end users. You are not doing your organization any favors by keeping BI in the IT organization 5. Consider integrating more than one tool for your analytical needs 6. You may want to consider splitting your back-end BI operations and creating a new reporting group focusing on the front end 7. Budget “real money” to get your organization proficient in the new tools. This is not done overnight, nor cheaply.

Your Turn! How to contact me: Bjarne Berg

Disclaimer SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, 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.

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