developing a winning bi strategy in sap bw...

E-Book

Developing a winning BI strategy

in SAP BW shops

With support for BEx running out in a few years, many SAP shops are

reevaluating their SAP BI strategies. Among the top considerations is

what to do with, and how to optimize, SAP BW for new BI software.

Should organizations stick with BW? What’s coming down the road for

enhancements? And is there any advantage in keeping BEx running in

the organization? In this eBook, learn how to develop a solid data

warehousing and SAP BI strategy in SAP shops, including tips on

better leveraging BW and factors to consider when moving off BEx.

Readers will learn:

Whether companies should review BI strategies in wake of SAP

BusinessObjects 4.0

When to upgrade to SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 and when to stay

with BEx

Factors to consider when moving off SAP BEx

Tips for using SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and Xcelsius

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Delivering a winning BI strategy in SAP BW shops

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E-Book

Delivering a winning BI strategy in

SAP BW shops

Table of Contents

SAP shops reviewing BI strategies in wake of BusinessObjects 4.0

Is upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 right for you?

Factors to consider when deciding to move off SAP BEx

Get the most out of SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, Xcelsius

Resources from itelligence



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SAP shops reviewing BI strategies in wake of BusinessObjects 4.0

By Ian Cheng, Contributor

Many companies opt to use SAP BusinessObjects front-end tools when they require

reporting across a variety of analytical data sources with SAP NetWeaver Business

Warehouse (BW) as part of the system landscape. However, the choice between using SAP

BusinessObjects or SAP BEx tools becomes less clear-cut when reporting on BW data alone

and is causing customers to assess their SAP business intelligence (BI) strategies.

Here is a look at typical reporting scenarios and a comparison of the available SAP BEx and

SAP BusinessObjects reporting tools available for each of them.

To universe or not to universe

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.x front-end tools can consume BEx queries directly. This means

that universes are not necessary for the BusinessObjects tools to access BW data.

From a data access perspective, BEx Query Designer remains the tool to create and

maintain queries on BW InfoProviders. BEx queries are preferred because:

They are flexible and can extend the data modeling environment, requiring less

effort to change than InfoProviders.

Constructs -- such as calculated key figures, restricted key figures, structures and

SAP variables -- can be readily developed in BEx queries to meet end-user

requirements. These constructs are not available when accessing InfoProviders

directly.

The right tools for the right scenario

The table below outlines common reporting scenarios and the relevant BEx and

BusinessObjects tools that companies can use to provide the functionality required.



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Reporting scenario Usage types BEx tool SAP

BusinessObjects

tool

Formatted

reporting

Prebuilt highly

formatted

reports from

static to

parameterized

layouts

BEx Report

Designer

Crystal Reports

Dashboards and

visualization

Intuitive data

visualizations

Interactive

dashboarding

BEx Web

Application

Designer

Dashboards

Ad hoc query,

reporting and

Analysis

Online and offline

reporting

capabilities

Ad hoc reporting

capabilities

Limited analytical

functionality

None Web Intelligence

Advanced online

analytical

processing (OLAP)

analysis

Advanced

analytical

functionality

BEx Analyzer

BEx Web

Analyzer

Analysis, edition

for Microsoft

Office

Analysis, edition

for OLAP

Data exploration Search and

explore data

Limited analytical

functionality

None SAP

BusinessObjects

Explorer

Formatted reporting

Formatted reporting scenarios typically encompass the need to present or structure SAP

NetWeaver BW data in a particular layout to meet requirements such as printing or external

publication. From a BW perspective, this can be met through either BEx Report Designer or

Crystal Reports.

BEx Report Designer is a standalone desktop application that works similarly to

BusinessObjects tools in that it is built upon an underlying BEx query definition. It can use



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the constructs defined within the underlying query such as formulas, and calculated and

restricted key figures. However, report interactivity -- such a variable drop-down menus --

needs to be incorporated by building a Web template that includes the relevant Web items

for both the drop-down menu and the BEx report.

From a functionality perspective, Crystal Reports offers a more feature-rich experience than

Report Designer. If both options are available within an organization’s technology stack,

Crystal Reports is the optimal tool for delivering formatted reporting.

Dashboards and visualization

Dashboarding scenarios involve visually modeling the status of metrics and key performance

indicators (KPIs) within an organization. Dashboards offer user interactivity with

functionality such as what-if analysis with sliders and other controls. They also allow users

to drill down into more detailed data sitting underneath the metrics being reported.

BEx Web Application Designer can be used to develop a dashboard on BW data with a fair

degree of interactivity. However, SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (formerly known as

Xcelsius) requires less effort to deploy dashboarding functionality, such as what-if analysis.

Also, Dashboards allow report creators to show a prototype, based on static data, to key

stakeholders as part of the development cycle.

Ad hoc query, reporting and analysis

Ad hoc reporting in BEx provides self-service functionality to create reports not available

through existing reports from central IT. Apart from the ability to bookmark navigation

states within the BEx tools, there is not much self-service functionality beyond this for

reporting users.

Web Intelligence delivers full self-service functionality, which eliminates the need for users

to request reports against the data contained within the available BW reporting layer

InfoProviders.



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Advanced OLAP analysis

Certain groups of users -- such as data and business analysts -- require additional analytical

functionality within their reporting beyond adjusting report layouts or basic interactivity.

Both the BEx and BusinessObjects tools offer OLAP analysis functionality. The functionality

is available as a local client-installed application embedded within Microsoft tools (BEx

Analyzer, Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office) or browser based (BEx Web Analyzer,

Analysis, edition for OLAP).

Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, is an add-on that allows multidimensional ad hoc

analysis of OLAP sources in Microsoft Excel. It also offers Excel workbook application design

and the creation of BI presentations with Microsoft PowerPoint. Furthermore, it contains a

dedicated set of functions in Excel to access data and metadata in connected BW systems.

BEx Web Analyzer deploys BEx Analyzer functionality via a browser, requiring no installation

of client tools on a user’s PC. As a result, the functionality of browser-based reporting is not

necessarily like for like when compared to a client-side tool such as BEx Analyzer. Similarly,

Analysis, edition for OLAP, is the browser-based equivalent and has a reduced set of

functionality when compared with its rich client equivalent.

Data Exploration

None of the BEx tools offers data exploration. BusinessObjects Explorer fulfills this need.

The Accelerated version is able to consume SAP and non-SAP data held in BW Accelerator

indexes directly, without the need for an additional semantic layer of the BusinessObjects

universes.

A high-level comparison of product functionality

Here is a high-level comparison of the functionality between the SAP BEx and SAP

BusinessObjects tools. Organizations can adapt this chart to their own requirements when

deciding which tools to use.



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BEx SAP BusinessObjects

Functionality BEx R

eport

Desig

ner

BEx W

eb

Application

Desig

ner

BEx A

naly

zer

BEx W

eb

Analy

zer

Cry

sta

l Report

s

Dashboard

s

Web I

nte

llig

ence

Analy

sis

, editio

n

for

Mic

rosoft

Offic

e

Analy

sis

, editio

n

for

OLAP

Busin

essO

bje

cts

Explo

rer

Report output:

Print-friendly formatting X X X X

Export to PDF X X X X X X

Export to Microsoft Excel X X P X X X X

Interactivity:

Slice-and-dice analysis X X X X X X X

Self-service report creation X X

On-the-fly report enhancement X

Highly interactive data visualization X

BEx Query support:

Support for hierarchies X X X X X P1 X X X

Support for conditions X X X X X X X X

Support for exceptions X X X X X X X X X

Support for structures X X X X X X X X

Integration:

Support for BW Integrated Planning X X X X

Embed information into Microsoft

Office

X X X

Report linking via Report-to-Report

Interface

X X X

Deployment Options:

Web enabled X X X X X



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Mobile application X

Uses BW authentication X X X X X X X X X X

Email distribution X X X

itelligence, Inc. - Cincinnati Office (US Headquarters)7870 East Kemper Road, Suite 300 Cincinnati, OH 45249 1-866-483-5543 [email protected]

Every company experiences familiar information access pains, but quickly retrieving and analyzing accurate enterprise data is essential to successful business operations. Gaining a deep level of access to your corporate data should be easy and available company-wide instead of being selectively limited. Your Business Intelligence (BI) solution should address other top problems, including:� Slow or difficult access to timely information� Long lead times to Report creation requests� Multiple “versions of the truth” from different reports and analysts� Cumbersome, resource intensive Management reporting and preparation� Data “islands” that provide little insight across divisions or departments

Now is the time to empower your BI. itelligence’s unique approach aligns core business decision making processes with tailored processes, enabling you to use BI the right way—as a true, value-added solution to solving problems, not just a data aggregating tool. We help you pass strategic thought leadership from executives down through the organizational chain to address both tactical and organizational initiatives.

As the global leader in integrated BI solutions for all major ERP systems, itelligence possesses the only truly mature product suite with complete insight into the end-to-end integration—from source systems to data transformation to end-user consumption. Our product depth includes dashboards, exploration, ad-hoc reports, OLAP analysis, and standard operational reporting, from multiple data sources such as ERP, RDBMS, flat files, legacy systems, cloud, and social networking applications.

Are you looking for everything you should be in your partner? For more information about itelligence’s Business Intelligence services, please visit www.itelligencegroup.com.

www.itelligencegroup.com

Business Intelligence - EMPOWERED



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Is upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 right for you? By George Campbell-Kelly, Contributor

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 is the culmination of more than one million man-hours of

development by SAP. It was released as part of the SAP Ramp-Up program in November

2010 and is expected to be available for general release in June 2011.

When compared with the previous version, 3.1 (released in 2008), there are a number of

significant improvements:

The user interface (UI) is totally revised and improved, with Microsoft Office 2007-

style toolbars.

The limitations in 3.1 when reporting on SAP NetWeaver BW data have now been

lifted. For example, SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 can report on hierarchies.

However, the most significant change in SAP BusinessObjects has been behind the scenes.

In BusinessObjects 3.1, different technologies accessed the data for each of the tools

(Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence and Xcelsius). Now all the tools use the same BI

Consumer Service (BICS) interface to directly connect to SAP NetWeaver BW through high-

performance APIs. This results in simpler architecture, reduced development requirements

and much better performance.

The release of SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 has led to some common questions in the

community. Here are some of the main questions and their answers.

What about BusinessObjects 4.1?

As yet, no date has been announced for the release of BusinessObjects 4.1, which will

contain smaller improvements and bug fixes. This will likely be within the next two years.



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What is happening to SAP Business Explorer (BEx)?

BEx is SAP's traditional reporting tool for the SAP NetWeaver BW system. It provides

interfaces within Web browsers and Microsoft Excel, in addition to tools for producing

dashboards and print-ready reports. It has a large user-base and is a satisfactory reporting

tool.

Since SAP bought BusinessObjects in 2007, the company has reduced its investment in SAP

BEx. The BEx suite is not receiving any major functional improvements, though it did get

some minor enhancements in the SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3 release.

Contrary to the popular myth, BEx is not being retired and has no current end of life.

According to SAP: “BEx 7.x continues to be delivered with the next SAP NetWeaver BW

releases. Currently, there is no planned end of life. The maintenance period is renewed with

every major BW release.”

What are the advantages of BusinessObjects over BEx?

BusinessObjects is a huge improvement on BEx, although BEx can be a useful low-cost

option. The benefits:

Significantly more reporting options, such as offline reporting. Some reporting

options are available in BEx, but only with further customization.

A modern interface, which is intuitive and easier to use.

Improvements to the interface so users are responsible for their reporting, rather

than being reliant on IT to build and deliver reports.

However, associated considerations are then

Access to expertise in BusinessObjects is needed

There are potential additional licensing costs

More hardware is required

Another layer added to the reporting architecture, which must then be developed

and supported, is necessary



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Typical Scenarios

Here are three typical scenarios for organizations and what the release of BusinessObjects

4.0 would mean to them:

Organizations currently using BusinessObjects 3.0 or 3.1 and SAP NetWeaver BW

Any organization that has already made such a commitment to SAP BusinessObjects should

plan for an upgrade to 4.0. This requires a technical upgrade and migration of objects to

take advantage of the new functionality.

Organizations currently using BEx

Organizations using BEx should consider moving to SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 and reviewing

their BI ownership and strategy. This should not be considered a like-for-like

implementation, as the way that reports are owned, built and used will be different.

It is notoriously difficult to change the way a business considers and uses its reports, so

they may wish to consider a pilot SAP BusinessObjects implementation in an area of the

business that doesn’t use BEx reporting. This gives companies a fresh area in which to

define and implement a new BI strategy.

Because of the fundamental changes between BusinessObjects 3.1 and 4.0, I strongly

recommend that an organization not now implement 3.1. Doing so would commit to an

expensive upgrade and migration project when it eventually chooses to move to 4.0 or 4.1.

Organizations currently with no BusinessObjects/BEx installations

SAP BW and BusinessObjects 4.0 is the best combination of systems available, especially

when the core ERP is SAP ECC, and will position an organization for many years of

reporting.



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This comes at a greater licensing expense when compared with implementing SAP

NetWeaver BW and BEx, and an organization must decide whether that expense is justified

for its purposes.

Third-party tools

The SAP NetWeaver BW InfoProvider interfaces are industry standard. Therefore, companies

can use other reporting tools to directly access the data held within SAP NetWeaver BW

(Oracle OBIEE, for example). However, limitations in reporting functionality, performance

and increased development costs may make this impractical and increase the potential for

complex licensing issues.

Very few organizations have taken this route, and an absence of reference sites and case

studies could make this a risky choice.



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Factors to consider when deciding to move off SAP BEx

By David Fox, Contributor

Aside from the end of life for a release, deciding whether to move off SAP BEx comes down

to an evaluation of feature/function, user adoption and integration. Unfortunately, the last

item -- integration -- is often overlooked because of the sizzle factor of some of the tools on

the market.

SAP BEx continues to shine in areas such as multi-currency support, multi-language

support, and use of flexible hierarchy relationships, and as a robust calculation engine and

dynamic OLAP engine. While extremely powerful, these capabilities are overshadowed by

the instantly impressive Web 2.0 flash-based tools available.

That notion is changing, however, and changing quickly. SAP BusinessObjects Analysis

offers a consistent user interface across the desktop client and Web versions. This will have

a tremendous positive impact on end-user satisfaction and user adoption rates.

With an increase in end-user adoption rates, the velocity of information delivery will

increase, which will be accompanied by an increase in ROI. Furthermore, this increase in

consumption will result in additional needs for increased access to external data. The

increased adoption and use of the front-end tools will drive the need to expand the

underlying data warehouse, as well as increase self-service functions and automation

initiatives.

Customers will find the information value chains becoming more efficient as the tool

integration matures. Taking a view from the BI Maturity Model developed by Wayne

Eckerson of The Data Warehousing Institute, the integration will have a significant impact

on helping customers transition from a state of actionable information to decision

automation.

When you think of benefits, it comes down to removing the barriers to user adoption and

increasing ROI. Getting to BW 7.2, which SAP has now rolled into the NetWeaver BW 7.3



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release, and Pioneer will eliminate the last remaining barrier to attaining full user adoption.

As users become attuned to the robust and consistent user interface, the focus will shift to

additional information needs and a continued increase in the velocity of the information

value chain -- driving automation.

David Fox is the principal BI architect for Claricent Inc., an SAP consulting firm that

specializes in SAP NetWeaver BW, and SAP NetWeaver BW and BusinessObjects integration.

Fox has more than 10 years of experience in NetWeaver BW.



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Get the most out of SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, Xcelsius

By Jim Brogden, Contributor

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence enables data consumers at every level in an

organization to solve business problems. The Report Panel allows Web Intelligence business

users to quickly transform several thousand records into meaningful information by applying

breaks, filters, sorts and alerts on charts and tables.

Known on the surface as an ad hoc query tool because of its simplicity in creating queries,

Web Intelligence’s main strength is displaying and interacting with data. Users can display

information in a crosstab (pivot), horizontal or vertical table, or in any of 33 different chart

types.

Each report element can contain a unique set of constraints, or users can apply filtering to

every element on a report page. For further customization, users can apply input controls

for detailed filtering or use the Report Filters toolbar for simple filtering.

To securely share reports with other users in an organization, report writers can save the

Web Intelligence documents to the SAP BusinessObjects repository with just a couple of

clicks. By utilizing the InfoView portal (called the BI Launch Pad in version 4.0) users can

publish, schedule and distribute print-ready reports to a qualified recipient list.

Writing queries in SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence

Users are shielded from the complexities of database naming conventions because field

names ("objects") are based on the organization's business terms in the SAP

BusinessObjects universe (known in version 4.0 as the Information Design Tool).

Furthermore, users don’t need to know SQL to create queries. Using drag-and-drop

functionality, users graphically set up SQL queries through the intuitive Query Panel

interface.



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Users can also create sophisticated queries by taking advantage of the features available in

the Query Filters pane. This includes the capability to create sub-queries and to nest

multiple filters into layered groups separated by <tt> AND</tt> or <tt>OR</tt>. Users

also have the freedom of mixing predefined filters (set up in the universe) with user-defined

filters configured from up to 16 different operators, such as Equal to, In List, Greater than

and Between.

For on-demand information, reports can be set to refresh when they are open and prompt

users for input to pass to filters. These filters can also be set to optional, removing the

requirement of entering or selecting a value before the report is refreshed.

One of the most useful features in the Web Intelligence Query Panel is the ability to add

queries from multiple data sources. By adding queries sourced from two or more universes,

users can increase the value of information in reports by integrating data from separate

systems. When accessed correctly, analysis on data from disparate systems often sheds

new light on issues occurring within an organization. Benchmarking and comparative

analysis can be used to present compound measurements where the numerator and

denominator exist in separate systems.

Higher quality reports

For the most analytical reports, be sure to take full advantage of the built-in reporting

functions and operators available in the Report Panel. Users can create variables and

formulas with the aid of more than 140 functions and more than 40 operators. These

functions allow users to develop reports that provide more in-depth analysis than just

displaying data retrieved by queries. For example, users can create formulas that calculate

a running average, return part of a string, calculate the number of days between two dates

or perform if-then-else logic to generate artificial groups.

Users can create formulas and variables in the Formula Toolbar on the fly. Alternatively,

they can use the Formula Editor for a complete interface with on-screen access to data

fields, functions, operators and a single-click tool that validates the accuracy of the

formula's syntax.



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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (formerly known as Xcelsius) offers a different set of

capabilities for solving business problems. Whereas organizations primarily use Web

Intelligence to perform analysis on several thousands of detailed records, companies

typically use SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards to deliver interactive results on a single

screen with summarized data and next-generation graphics. Skilled dashboard designers

can deliver elegant and engaging solutions that transform business data into presentations

that tell stories visually and through guided analysis.

Coupling dashboard design with a deep understanding of the underlying data is a

combination for success to any business executive. By using a dashboard, executives can

interact with components to easily spot organizational trends, geographic patterns and

significant outliers. These findings commonly lead to a better understanding of the data and

more informed decisions.

Using selectors and drill downs

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards provides a complete set of components that allow users to

navigate through hierarchies and display chart objects relating to selected combinations.

Developers can add these selector components without writing a single line of code. List

boxes, label-based menus, checkboxes and combo boxes are just a few of the selector

components that can be included in any custom design to meet business requirements.

Additionally, bar, line and pie charts provide an option to enable drilling and deliver the

capability of communicating additional details on the selected object. Developers define the

type of information passed when drilling is enabled. These options include the position of

the selected item, the value of the selected item or the selected item's label.

Dynamic visibility

Every component includes a Dynamic Visibility property, which allows layers of

visualizations to be displayed when certain conditions are met. Single dashboards can

become full applications with this feature. When used with the Canvas Container and Tab



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Set components, designers can deliver many content layers in a single dashboard to

maximize content and impact.

Jim Brogden is a senior consultant at Daugherty Business Solutions, an IT consulting

company with a 25-year history of providing technology solutions to large and mid-sized

corporations. Daugherty Business Solutions concentrates on four core lines of service:

business intelligence, custom applications, mobile and ERP.



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Resources from itelligence

Use Business Intelligence to Gain a Competitive Advantage

Business Intelligence: A Guide for Midsize Companies

30-day free trial of SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI 3.1 now!

About itelligence

itelligence is the global leader in integrated Business Intelligence solutions for all major ERP

systems within the marketplace. We possess the only truly mature product suite with

complete insight into the end-to-end integration from source systems to data

transformation to end-user consumption. The depth of products include dashboards,

exploration, ad-hoc reports, OLAP analysis, and standard operational reporting, from

multiple data sources such as ERP, RDBMS, flat files, legacy systems, cloud, and social

networking applications.

http://www.itelligencegroup.com/SAPBusinessObjects.php



http://www.itelligencegroup.com

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