Customer Success – Santa Clara County SSA

The County of Santa Clara's Social Services Agency (SSA) services 15 incorporated cities in the most populous county of the San Francisco Bay area, which is home to California's Silicon Valley. The SSA uses SAP BusinessObjects as its reporting engine, and relies on it to meet regulatory requirements for it documents of record.

Santa Clara County SSA’s Challenge

In preparation for an impending migration, the SSA needed an inventory and deep knowledge of their SAP BI system, how their reports were being used, and how those reports would be impacted. While taking steps to streamline their content migration, the SSA also had concerns about maintaining their documents of record and audit readiness.

Santa Clara County SSA implemented APOS Insight and APOS Storage Center

• Impact AnalysisThe SSA implemented APOS Insight to achieve awareness of reports, object usage and security profiles, and to understand the downstream impact of data modelling changes on reports.
• Migration ReadinessThe SSA used APOS Insight to inventory and analyze their SAP BI system content and usage. APOS Storage Center automation enabled system right-sizing and migration streamlining.
• Content RegulationThe SSA used APOS Storage Center to implement a content storage strategy that met their stringent regulatory requirements, safeguarded their content, and maintained audit readiness.

Feedback

Thinh Hong, Information System Manager at SSA Santa Clara County:

APOS Insight's impact analysis capabilities allow us to see what effect changes to our data model will have downstream. It has allowed us to analyze SAP BusinessObjects metadata effectively. APOS Storage Center provides us with an efficient, rules-based means of cleaning up our BI environment, and the ease with which it allows us to back up and selectively restore objects has been very useful.

Solution Spotlight - APOS Live Data Gateway

Unlock live data with the APOS Live Data Gateway.

The APOS Live Data Gateway is a data connection and data transformation solution that enables live data connectivity for SAP BI solutions and expanded data source options

HANA is the model for SAP BI data connectivity. You know that SAP Lumira, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP Analysis for Office connect live to HANA data. If it's a good idea to connect live to HANA, it's probably a good idea for these SAP BI solutions to connect live to other enterprise data sources.

Using the APOS Live Data Gateway for extended, live data connectivity lets you:

• Simplify user experience and data discovery
• Select data with greater flexibility
• Maintain current data in your SAP BI projects, without including the data in your project files, for stronger information governance and security

Find out how the APOS Live Data Gateway unlocks live data for:

• SAP Analytics Cloud
• SAP Lumira
• SAP Analysis for Office

Webinar - More SAP BI Distribution Options

In SAP BI 4.2, SP4, you can experience a broad range of distribution options from within the BI Launchpad interface. There is no need to go outside of the BI Launchpad interface for new destination types, enhanced print controls, greater encryption options, and a wider variety of format types, because they are all available right there, at your fingertips, inside the BI Launchpad interface.

Why do you need enhanced distribution? Let's consider destination types as an example.

Firstly, you need enhanced destination types to be sure that you can push, pull, print or place information to the appropriate destinations in your workflows. Appropriate destinations are the ones that ensure the information is where it is needed, and where it will do the most good.

Secondly, enhanced destination types improve your ability to govern the flow of information, ensuring that your business intelligence does not go where it shouldn't. Using enhanced destination types improves information governance, and contributes to the development of a culture of compliance.

Typically, your distribution options will consist of BI Inbox, Email, FTP Server, File System, or SFTP Server, but with the APOS Distribution Server / BI Launchpad integration, you will see a much greater variety of destination types:

SAP takes great care to promote the SAP Partner Ecosphere, because they know they will be much more agile if they do not try to be all things to all organizations. Instead, they focus on vision (the SAP BI Convergence strategy, for example), and on the core capabilities that enable that vision. If you want to use SAP BusinessObjects in a novel or unique way, well, that's what the SAP Partner Ecosphere is for.

The APOS Distribution Server / BI Launchpad integration is an outstanding example of SAP's commitment to their customers through the SAP Partner Ecosphere, and an outstanding example of the SAP Partner Ecosphere in action.

If you want to see enhanced distribution in action, please tune in for our webinar:

Register for this webinar
When: Wednesday, November 15, 2 pm EST
Enhanced Distribution & Integration
of BI Content into Business Workflows…

In this webinar, Jason Young of Computer Services Inc. (CSI) joins us to describe how CSI used enhanced distribution techniques to integrate SAP BusinessObjects into their core bank processing solution.

SAP's David Stocker Gives Us the Lowdown on SAP Lumira 2.0 / 2.1

In a recent APOS webinar, SAP's David Stocker updated us on the current state of Lumira Discovery and Lumira Designer (formerly Design Studio), including what's new in Lumira 2.0, and on the roadmap for 2.0 and 2.1.

The key to Lumira's success, now and for the future, is the integration of discovery and design within a single solution, and the interoperability of that solution with other components of the SAP BI landscape.

Here's the road map David laid out for us during the webinar:

Note that this road map is subject to the usual SAP disclaimer on forward-looking technology statements.

If you want to see and hear more about the present and future of SAP Lumira:

View the Lumira 2.0 / 2.1 Lumira Update webinar on demand

SAP Lumira is designed to deliver live connectivity to SAP BW, SAP HANA, and the SAP S4HANA Analytic Engine, and connects to universes (UNX) and other third-party relational data sources to allow you to acquire data for discovery and design.

APOS Live Data Gateway - Extended Live Data Connectivity for SAP Lumira

If you would prefer to connect to live data in third-party data sources, such as:

• Microsoft SQL Server
• Oracle
• DB2
• Sybase IQ
• Sybase SQL Anywhere
• Teradata
• IBM Netezza Data Warehouse Appliances

…then you should have a look at the APOS Live Data Gateway solution. If you want to familiarize yourself with this solution,

Solution Spotlight - APOS Publisher

APOS Publisher is a complete publishing solution for SAP BusinessObjects. It provides:

• An advanced bursting engine
• Automated document production
• Enhanced distribution, encryption & integration
• Integration with BI Launchpad (BI 4.2, SP4)
• Workflow monitoring, alerts and auditing\
• Interactive process control
• Assured delivery, auto recovery, & partial burst reruns

Learn More About APOS Publisher…

Download the whitepaper:
APOS Publisher: Progressive Enterprise Publishing Solutions for SAP BusinessObjects

Advanced Information Distribution Governance

With the frequency of high-profile data breaches over the past few years, risk is on everyone's mind. If there is value in information, there is necessarily also risk, which is why APOS Publisher is designed to deliver tightly controlled document production, publishing, and distribution.

Data governance requires you to establish control over the flow and exposure of information. Information distribution governance is how you establish and maintain that control.

The Distribution Server module of APOS Publisher Server is a post-processing engine that delivers a great variety of options that simplify and clarify user processes for greater empowerment and convenience, enhance information security through numerous encryption and password-protection methods, and fortify governance requirements by enforcing formats and destinations.

Push, pull, print, or place -- these are the essential information distribution options. Distribution Server delivers on all of these options, but it is with the "place" option that Distribution Server really shines.

When we place information, we are putting it where it is needed, when it is needed, with the right security, in order to inform workflows and decisions. Distribution Server's great variety of destination types, format types and security options make it possible to put information where it will be most timely and useful.

With the release of SAP BI 4.2 SP4, APOS Publisher's Distribution Server module is integrated with BI Launchpad, so SAP BI customers who also have a Distribution Server license can now access its advanced distribution, encryption and integration capabilities directly within the BI Launchpad interface.

Download the whitepaper:
Advanced Information Distribution Governance: APOS Publisher / BI Launchpad Integration

APOS Publisher Case Studies

Read case studies on how individual companies have used APOS Publisher for superior document production, delivery and distribution, and to achieve their information distribution governance needs:

• Harvey Norman - Multinational Retail
• Redevco B.V. - Real Estate
• The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids, Toronto) - Healthcare
• Outsourcing Solutions Inc. - Business Services
• CrescentStonco, Genlyte Group - Energy

Solution Spotlight - APOS Insight

For BI practitioners, deep system knowledge is the start of the incredibly rewarding journey to well managed BI. APOS Insight illuminates that path through enhanced metadata management, comprehensive audit, proactive system monitoring and alerts, and full impact analysis.

You need these capabilities to form an accurate understanding of your BI system's performance, and to plan for its future. APOS Insight will help you:

• Improve system governanceOptimize BI system performance; meet and exceed service agreements.
• Meet compliance and audit objectivesEnable your BI team to meet corporate governance, audit and regulatory requirements.
• Prepare for migration & upgradesCatalog your content; extract pre-migration benchmark information; map IDs between systems; compare security structures between environments; plan your migration.
• Audit and harden system securityAudit security and perform remedial fixes before the underlying problems hurt you.
• Protect sensitive informationKnow who has accessed what information through off-line historical analysis of audit data. The APOS Insight Website Auditor also provides granular user session data for the web application server and SAP BusinessObjects.
• Enhance change management processesSee what has changed, and who made the changes, so that your change management processes are audit-ready.

Use APOS Insight to optimize your SAP BI environment and infrastructure, establish complete confidence in your content, enable industry-specific regulatory compliance, and to deliver well managed BI to your organization.

Learn more about APOS Insight and Deep System Knowledge

BI + Analytics 2017, Nashville

APOS will be in Booth #4 at this year's BI +Analytics show in Nashville, which takes place from August 7 to 9 at the Music City Center.

The show features two great presentations you won't want to miss by APOS customers:

CSI - Enhanced Distribution & Integration of BI Content into Business Workflows

Jason Young demonstrates how Computer Services Inc. integrated SAP BusinessObjects into their core bank processing solution with the help of APOS Distribution Server. APOS solution consultant Alan Golding will also be on hand to discuss the enhanced distribution options provided by the integration of APOS Distribution Server with BI Launchpad in BI 4.2 SP4. (When: Wednesday, Aug. 9, 1:30 PM)

Beaumont Health System - Healthcare BI Management & Related EHR Upgrades

While this presentation relates specifically to healthcare BI, its lessons are universal. Jeffery Morrison demonstrates how Beaumont Health reduces technical debt at every opportunity by thinking outside the SAP BusinessObjects box, taking full advantage of system metadata, and developing integrated resource, content, upgrade and migration strategies. (When: Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2:25 PM)

Both of these presentations are very strong on substance that you can apply to your own BI environment, and we would love to see you there.

Read more about these APOS customer presentations…

SAP App Center Q&A with SAP's Raghuraman Ramakrishnan

APOS COO Allan Pym recently participated in a Q&A with SAP's Raghuraman Ramakrishnan. The focus of the Q&A was the SAP App Center, on which you can find numerous APOS solutions.

The SAP App Center is SAP's new online store bringing together the entire SAP partner ecosphere.

Allan described what he liked about the new SAP App Center:

I like two things in particular. First, that SAP is demonstrating its commitment to the SAP partner ecosphere. Second, that the new SAP App Center gives us more opportunity to describe our solutions and what they can do for organizations wanting to get the most out of SAP business intelligence (BI) solutions.

Read Raghuraman's blog post on the Q&A here.

SAP Convergence Strategy - Data Connectivity

The April 20, 2017, SAPinsider Q&A on the SAP BI Convergence Strategy has provided a nearly endless supply of blogging material, but this will be my last post on the subject. If you want to read the full transcript, go to the APOS On-Demand Webinars page:

View the complete SAPinsider Q&A Transcript

So far, I've focused on the place of individual SAP products within the SAP convergence strategy (the merger of Lumira and Design Studio, what's new in SAP Web Intelligence, BOC), on the newest platform developments (what's new in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP4), and on the convergence strategy itself.

Now let's look at a topic that was a little less defined, but ever-present nonetheless: data connectivity.

As convergence reduces the SAP BI toolset, the need for greater connectivity grows, and the pressure is on to supply that connectivity. One of the registrants for the Q&A commented:

Will there be more emphasis on adding new features in the BI reporting/analysis toolset to support non-SAP databases? We see lots of new features and capabilities to better report off of SAP HANA and BW data, but not much related to Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, etc.

Another guest asked about row and cell limitations in Design Studio:

Design Studio has a row and cell limitation. We were hoping this limitation was removed with the convergence of DS and Lumira.

SAP's David Stocker replied:

In BEx and SAP HANA datasources, you can define what the limits are in the backend. For universes, we still have the same hard limit as in 1.6. We've not changed anything in that corner for 2.0. We do plan to revisit this in the future, now that we have the new velocity infrastructure.

Another guest asked about OLAP connectivity:

Hi Team, When would SSAS OLAP based universes or direct non-SAP OLAP connections be supported?

Merlijn Ekkel replied:

We already support various non-SAP OLAP datasources. Please check our Product Availability Matrix 

Another guest asked about BOC connectivity:

Our company is planning to move more to cloud rather than using on-premise, so my detail question is, how is SAP BusinessObjects BI Cloud able to access data on our company (within firewall)? Example, I have Crystal Report access Oracle database in my company, if I want to move that Crystal Report to SAP BusinessObjects BI Cloud, is it possible?

Henry Kam noted:

SAP BusinessObjects Cloud is able to access data within the firewall by utilizing the BOC Cloud Agent to import data into BOC… It is not currently possible to move Crystal Reports to SAP BusinessObjects Cloud.

Another guest:

When will Lumira support SSAS?

Merlijn:

Today we have no direct road map plans to support SSAS (or other OLAP datasources). Today the best option would be the APOS Data Gateway that solves the gap.

We thank Merlijn for his acknowledgement of how the APOS Data Gateway is leading the way with enhanced data connectivity for SAP BusinessObjects. Check out the available connectivity options:

• APOS Data Gateway, Lumira Edition
• APOS Data Gateway, Design Studio Edition
• APOS Data Gateway for SAP BusinessObjects Cloud

What's on your data connectivity wish list?

SAP Convergence Strategy - BOC

The April 20, 2017, SAPinsider Q&A focused on the SAP BI Convergence Strategy.

So far, I've published posts on the convergence strategy itself, and on what's new in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP4, and the merger of Lumira and Design Studio.and SAP Web Intelligence. The SAP BusinessObjects Cloud was also a subject of discussion.

SAP's Henry Kam took the lead in the discussion:

Organizations recognize that SAP BusinessObjects Cloud offers a unique value proposition in the market today by combining analytics, planning, and predictive capabilities. These 3 capabilities are not just available under a shared application user interface, but the key is that these functionalities are actually integrated seamlessly together in user workflows. Also resonating with customers is the SAP Digital Boardroom, which is a capability of SAP BusinessObjects Cloud. It provides users with a 360-degree view of their company’s performance in real time, using BOC which is a Cloud SaaS product, with the ability to securely access on-premise data, and displaying analytics on multiple large TV screens that are touch enabled.

Henry went on to discuss how organizations with on-premise deployments should be viewing the move to the Cloud:

We believe in taking a hybrid BI approach. Hybrid BI provides a seamless experience across both on-premise and cloud. When you access content or blend data from on-premise or cloud systems, you are doing hybrid BI. A seamless experience means that business users do not have to think about where data or content is residing; on-premise and cloud clients and assets work together. Sharing resources between on-premise and cloud deployments such as tools, data connectivity, visualizations, security, distribution, budget, organization, program management, training, licensing, and internal evangelization, does not require understanding whether the resources are on-premise or cloud. The journey many times starts with on-premise deployments, which must be extended and expanded into complementary cloud strategies with minimal disruption. One way we are realizing this vision is our planned innovation of providing a new experience which will consolidate access to analytics content from multiple hybrid (on-premise or cloud) systems into a unified experience. Keep an eye out for the analytics announcements at SAPPHIRE as we’ll be unveiling this new solution.

APOS realizes that data connectivity will be one of the most pressing matters for organizations wishing to take advantage of SAP BusinessObjects Cloud, which is why we develop the APOS Data Gateway for SAP BusinessObjects. Allan Pym described this APOS offering during the Q&A:

The APOS Data Gateway for BOC will allow for live data access to on premise UNV and UNX universes, as well as SAP BW (v 7.3 and higher), MSAS, Essbase (Q3) and relational datasources (mid Q2). APOS also has a connector that will enable acquiring data from UNV universes.

Note: The APOS Data Gateway connector for relational data sources has now been released.

You can find more about the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud roadmap in the Q&A transcript, which you can access from the APOS On-Demand Webinars page:

View the complete SAPinsider Q&A Transcript

A future post will look at what's new in Analysis for Office.

SAP Convergence Strategy - Web Intelligence

The April 20, 2017, SAPinsider Q&A focused on the SAP BI Convergence Strategy.

So far, I've published posts on the convergence strategy itself, and on what's new in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP4, and the merger of Lumira and Design Studio. Let's turn our attention to SAP Web Intelligence.

During this year's Q&A, Gregory Botticchio told us that the Web Intelligence team had delivered approximately "50 innovations and cumulative enhancements." The top 6 most popular, according to Gregory:

• Parallel refresh of WebI data providers, for all datasources
• Commentary: add a comment in a report and in a table cell
• Shared Element: share and reuse blocks (table, carts) between users
• New SAP HANA access mode (direct access and OnLine)
• dHTML catchup vs the Java applet
• Dynamic, or Cascading, Input Controls

Coming in SP4 are improvements to the Web Intelligence dHTML client, new chart types and cumulative enhancements, but the biggest news in SP4 is a new Web Intelligence interface:

…we will mainly deliver a new, modern and elegant, SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence experience. It will be an interface build in HTML5, using some SAP Fiori UI5 elements. And it will be mostly an interactive viewer that you will have the choice to use in parallel of the existing one.

Gregory also gave us some details on the road ahead for Web Intelligence:

In the mid/long-term: We are planning a new simplified and modernized WebI Designer, to complete the story. Also we are thinking of changing the way to create reports by proposing Suggestions and Recommendations. Interactive Analysis for the end-users will also be key in this future release.

You can find more about the Web Intelligence roadmap in the Q&A transcript, which you can access from the APOS On-Demand Webinars page:

View the complete SAPinsider Q&A Transcript

Future posts will look at what's new in Analysis for Office and SAP BusinessObjects Cloud.

SAP Convergence Strategy - Merging Lumira & Design Studio

The April 20, 2017, SAPinsider Q&A focused on the SAP BI Convergence Strategy, and nowhere is that convergence more apparent than in the merger of SAP Lumira and SAP Design Studio.

So far, I've published posts on the convergence strategy itself, and on what's new in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP4.

The coming release of Lumira 2.0 will unite the Lumira and Design Studio code base in recognition of the fact, as David Stocker put it during the Q&A, that " the use cases of an agile viz tool and a custom app actually overlap in the wild." The merger of these two solutions is meant to simplify the workflow from business users to designers.

The backend convergence will facilitate such workflows, while the maintenance of separate client applications will preserve and improve usability for the business user and the designer. Blair Wheadon described the SAP vision:

Lumira 2.0 has major improvements in usability, data access, and is converged with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio to enable the creation of sophisticated analytic applications… Data access: Key new features include online access to BW from Lumira Discovery 2.0 (the successor to Lumira Desktop) and improved access to Universe data in Lumira Designer 2.0 (the successor to Design Studio desktop 1.x) which removes the row limit for Universe access. This will ensure direct access to governed data and remove the need to create data extracts and ungoverned data silos. In addition to data access, the usability of Lumira Discovery is much improved with a single canvas UX, improved filtering and input controls, new chart features like smoothed lines and improved formatting control. Finally the ability to open a Lumira Discovery visualization with Lumira Designer and turn it into a full blown analytic application is very powerful. This means that any dashboard from the simplest visualization up to full-blown planning applications can be handled by the same tool. As requirements change, you don't need to switch tools.

The combination of Lumira Discovery 2.0 (formerly Lumira Desktop) and Lumira Designer (formerly Design Studio Desktop) will enable seamless collaboration between business users and designers to create custom dashboards and analytic applications from business user visualizations.

You can make this collaboration even more effective by expanding your data connectivity options. The APOS Data Gateway solution is designed to help you do just that. The APOS Data Gateway is a data connection and data transformation solution which provides extended data source and data volume options for SAP Lumira and SAP Design Studio. It also enables enhanced interoperability with BI components across the SAP landscape.

You can find more about the Lumira / Design Studio convergence in the Q&A transcript, which you can access from the APOS On-Demand Webinars page:

View the complete SAPinsider Q&A Transcript

Future posts will look at what's new in Web Intelligence, Analysis for Office, and SAP BusinessObjects Cloud.

SAP Convergence Strategy - Highlights from the April 20, 2017, SAPinsider Q&A

As usual, this year's SAP Convergence Update event, brought to you by SAPinsider and APOS, covered a wide range of topics. While nominally about convergence, the conversation naturally turned to many of the individual SAP BI solutions, and how they are affected by the SAP Convergence Strategy.

The discussion concerning the SAP Convergence Strategy itself can be found here:

SAPinsider Q&A Highlights - SAP BI Convergence Update

For your convenience, I'll break down some of the more salient topics discussed at the event here on the Well Managed BI blog. Today, I'll focus on the discussion on Service Pack 4 for SAP BusinessObjects.

During the Q&A event, SAP's Merlijn Ekkel told us:

Within SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP04, we release the initial version of our fully revamped BI Launchpad and Web Intelligence Viewer, where end users will gain the ability to leverage the new and fresh UI for BI with great experience. Besides these, many smaller enhancements have been added.

He also announced that the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.2 SP04 What's New presentation deck had been published only a couple of hours earlier.

You can view the presentation deck here.

More good news: According to Merlijn, SP4 marks the beginning of a major overhaul of the BI Launchpad, including "a revamp of the scheduling and publications process."

You can access the complete transcript from the APOS On-Demand Webinars page.

SAP Web Intelligence Update Webinar Summary

Groundhog Day 2017 was not particularly informative concerning the length of our Winter here in Canada. A recent study determined that the rodents have been right only 37% of the time over the past several decades, which isn't even randomly inaccurate.

However, Groundhog Day did bring us a wealth of information from Gregory Botticchio in the form of a webinar that highlighted advances in SAP Web Intelligence and the road ahead.

Gregory told us about WebI themes if BI 4.2:

• Building a Trusted Foundation - removing upgrade barriers with Linked Universes, and client improvements with Parallel Queries
• Enabling the Business - collaboration through Commentary and Shared Elements, client improvements through GeoMaps and Big Numbers, and unleashing the ecosystem through Visualization Extensions
• Leveraging the SAP Backend - SAP BW improvements with BEx-Authored Universes, and SAP HANA Enhancements with HANA Direct Access and HANA Online

These features were delivered in SP2, and enhanced in SP3 with:

• dHTML Catchup - striving to achieve parity with the Web Intelligence Java Applet (an ongoing project)
• Dynamic Input Controls - more than just cascading controls
• Sets - authoring sets in the Infromation Design Tool, using them to query data, and consuming them through universes
• Referenced Cells - using variables that return the value of a specified cell, maintaining the context of that cell, and listing referenced cells as Available Objects
• Commentary - improved usability and lifecycle; performance optimization
• Parallel Data Provider - parallel query support on BEx queries

When SP4 arrives later this year, it will launch a whole new set of Web Intelligence features that will improve Web Intelligence functionality and render the user experience more consistent with other SAP BusinessObjects solutions. 

SP 4 is scheduled to include:

• A New Viewer
• More dHTML Catchup
• New Chart Technology
• An SDK & Extensions

Click the link below to view the webinar on demand and listen to Gregory Botticchio, BI Product Manager, SAP, give us the lowdown on what's up next for SAP Web Intelligence

View this Webinar On Demand...

Update: SAP Web Intelligence

Happy Groundhog Day!

Has it really been a year since APOS last hosted an SAP Web Intelligence Update webinar?

Yes it has.

Between then and now, SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP3 was released, bringing many of the features promised in that webinar to life, including:

• Java/DHTML Clients Parity
• Cascading Input Control
• Shared Elements
• Comments
• Parallel Queries

When SP4 arrives later this year, it will launch a whole new set of Web Intelligence features that will improve Web Intelligence functionality and render the user experience more consistent with other SAP BusinessObjects solutions.

History, as Mark Twain famously said, does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme, and we will soon have SAP's Gregory Botticchio, BI Product Manager, SAP, rhyming off what's new with WebI, as APOS hosts a new SAP Web Intelligence Update webinar. Sign up and listen to Gregory on Thursday, February 2 (Groundhog Day in the US and Canada), as he gives us the lowdown on what's up next for SAP Web Intelligence.

Register for this webinar...

Webinar: SAP's Alexander Peter on Analysis for Office

What: What’s New in SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office Webinar
When: Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 – 11:00 am EDT
Guest Presenter: Alexander Peter, Product Manager, SAP

SAP’s Alexander Peter joins us to discuss what’s new and what’s ahead for SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office (Analysis for Office).

If you were able to attend our SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Office - Scheduling, Distributing, Managing webinar back in June, you may remember that we promised to host a session to focus on what features are coming in the near future, and what the long term plans for Analysis for Office are. This is that session, and Alexander will be here to answer your questions on all aspects of the current version of Analysis for Office, as well as on the roadmap.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Office is the BI information analysis and delivery tool of choice for many users, both because of its capabilities and its ease of use. If your organization is looking for ways to increase both of these features of Analysis for Office, then you should definitely attend this webinar.

Many of APOS' well managed BI solutions can help you perform many Analysis for Office asks more efficiently and effectively.

• Scheduling - APOS Administrator and APOS Publisher can help you to schedule reports for personal, team and recurring reports, for large and diverse groups (including external stakeholders) to a variety of format and destination types.
• Management and Administration - APOS Administrator, APOS Storage Center and APOS Insight can help you with bulk instance management, document archive/backup/selective restore, and impact analysis.
• Using Analysis for Office as a Data Source - The APOS Data Gateway solution lets you use Analysis for Office documents as a data source for your other BI projects in, for example, SAP Design Studio or SAP Lumira. The reason this a desirable capability is that it allows you to leverage the discovery and analytical work done in Analysis for Office, and to avoid repeating the same work in other analytical and visualization applications.

You can find out more about how APOS well managed BI solutions can help get the most out of Analysis for office here, and please join Alexander and our APOS team as we explore continuous improvement of the SAP Analysis for Office offering in this informative webinar.

Register for this webinar…

Webinar - Containing the Chaos - Overcoming SAP BI Administrative Challenges

Developing and implementing an agile content storage strategy for your SAP BI deployment is critical to the health of the system and to your ability to respond effectively to administrative challenges and compliance requirements.

The content in your BI deployment is an important asset, but it can also become a liability if there isn’t a strategy in place to control its growth, but often there is a significant volume of unnecessary content in the system, resulting in ‘content chaos’. This chaos only deepens as BI deployments grow and become more oriented toward ad-hoc, self-service reporting.

This potential for content chaos requires development of an agile approach to system storage, retention, and purging, including assessment of storage requirements, distillation of those requirements into rules, and organization and application of those rules within an agile system storage strategy.

In this webinar, we will look at the various challenges and costs of content chaos within the BI environment, how to develop a system storage strategy for overcoming that chaos, and how to make effective use of technologies which target the reduction and containment of chaotic content growth.

Register for the webinar.

Press Release - APOS Data Gateway for Lumira

APOS today announced the release of its APOS Data Gateway product for SAP Lumira. The APOS Data Gateway is currently available in two editions:

• APOS Data Gateway, Lumira Desktop Edition for Web Intelligence
• APOS Data Gateway, Lumira Desktop Edition for Microsoft Access

Using these editions of the APOS Data Gateway, Lumira users can connect Lumira to alternative data sources, including SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence reports and Microsoft Access databases. These initial editions of the Data Gateway allow organizations to leverage the reach and business logic of Web Intelligence reports and instances, as well as the tables and queries in Microsoft Access.

Read the press release...

New Case Study - Redevco B.V.

Established in 1999 to manage the real estate investment activities of the venerable Dutch C&A fashion retail chain, Redevco B.V.'s portfolio includes 450 properties at top locations in major cities across Europe, with tenants including many major national and multinational retail companies.
Redevco implemented the APOS Publisher solution to handle invoice publishing after they started creating the invoices in Web Intelligence instead of Desktop Intelligence.

Check out the new APOS case study on Redevco to find out how they re-engineered their invoicing workflow with APOS Publisher.

APOS Announces Dashboard Auditor Product

APOS Systems Inc. today at the 2014 SAP Analytics & BusinessObjects Conference (SABOUC) announced the release of its new APOS Dashboard Auditor for SAP BusinessObjects.

Using the Dashboard Auditor, you can:

• Audit Xcelsius and Design Studio dashboards, as well as Xcelsius components streamed into Design Studio using APOS Dashboard Migrator.
• Implement usage auditing - know who is using your dashboards, and where and when.
• Implement functional auditing - know how your dashboards are being used.
• Verify that your investment in dashboards is paying off - that the dashboards are being used by your target audiences, and as you intended.
• Analyze your current Dashboards environment in preparation for migration to Design Studio.

Dashboards are an increasingly important means of delivering business intelligence. Companies are investing substantial sums in dashboard development and want to know how effective they are in delivering that information, and how dashboards can be improved to meet user requirements and expectations.
Visit the APOS team at SABOUC, Booth #105, to learn firsthand how the APOS Dashboard Auditor can help you optimize the dashboard experience of your information consumers.

Read the press release.