Dashboard Design and Full-Spectrum BI

In a recent APOS webinar, SAP's Ian Mayor described SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 as a "full-spectrum" approach to business intelligence. While reporting remains the standard for attaining and maintaining operational excellence, the full spectrum approach to BI complements such reporting with mobility (dashboards and apps) and self-serve BI (agile visualization).

Mobility is one of the key themes in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4. Mobility is often cited by customers as a motivation to migrate. The increased emphasis on mobility and agile visualization are portents of the interactive, proactive and collaborative future of BI. This emphasis recognizes that the vast majority of enterprise employees are now knowledge workers who contribute to the enterprise through their interaction with and analysis of enterprise information.

Nowhere is the bright future of mobile BI more clear than in the increased emphasis on dashboards and Web apps. Mobile BI is no longer just for executives. As the role of the dashboard designer becomes more critical to the evolution of BI within the enterprise, SAP's Design Studio offering unites dashboard and Web app design in a single environment.

Using Design Studio, dashboard designers are building engaging experiences for a wide variety of enterprise users. The trend in dashboards is away from static presentations toward customized and interactive presentations, which not only deliver timely information in an easily digested format, but also allow information consumers to explore the data and find what they need quickly.

The transition to Design Studio is not without challenges, and we recently explored those challenges in an SAP Community Network blog post. You can manage some of those challenges with third-party solutions such as the APOS Dashboard Migrator, which will allow you to leverage your Xcelsius investment within Design Studio.

And, as always, there is help available in the APOS Migration Webinar series, particularly in the upcoming April 24 webinar on Design Studio with SAP's Ian Mayor.

SAP's Ian Treleaven: BI4 Sizing Guide Updated

Not long ago, SAP's Ian Treleaven was a guest presenter for two APOS migration-themed webinars on the subject of BI4 sizing:

• Platform Architecture and Sizing for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4
•  SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Sizing Cases & Demos

We had such a great response to these webinars that we thought we should pass along Ian's message to us that the BI4 Sizing Guide has very recently been updated.

The new guide has many additions to help you get the architecture and sizing of your new BI4 deployment right, including:

• New content to help sizing and performance integration with HANA
• Tips to help you make the CMS run better
• Updated suggested limits for Web Intelligence
• Suggestions for periodic re-sizing
• Pre-sizing and post-sizing checklists to help you prepare for your sizing exercise

Make sure you also visit the companion Website, www.sap.com/bisizing, which also has some updates and new content to help you get your BI4.1 deployment running faster and leaner.

SAP BI 4 Virtualization Best Practices Webinar Alert

When: Jan. 15, 2014, 10 am / 4 pm EST
Another in our series of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 migration-focused webinars

View the recorded webinar.

Guest presenter: Ashish C. Morzaria, Director, Solution Management,
Large Enterprise BI Group, SAP

Virtualization is key to the BI strategy of many organizations. However, the performance penalty for virtualization can be heavy, particularly if you neglect best practices. Some estimates have this virtualization performance hit as high as 40%.

But does virtualization necessarily mean a performance hit? A recent SAP study with VMware, SuperMicro, and SAP’s own Co-Innovation Lab (COIL) suggests the impact can actually be very close to zero — if you implement virtualization properly.

SAP's Ashish C. Morzaria aims to save you from the seemingly inevitable "virtualization tax." Join us as Ashish discusses specific requirements developed by SAP for virtualizing BI 4 and minimizing the impact of virtualization on BI 4 performance.

Today: SAP BI 4 Sizing Exercises - Hands-on Webinar

Today at 2 pm EST, Ian Treleaven follows up his earlier Platform Architecture and Sizing for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 webinar with a practical session in which he leads you through a detailed sizing exercise and demonstrates some specific techniques for achieving performance and reliability.

Register for today's webinar: SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Sizing Cases & Demos.

For a thorough grounding in SAP BI 4 platform architecture and sizing issues, view a recording of Ian's earlier webinar session.

SAP BI 4 Migration Webinar Series

2013 is winding up, but our SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 migration focused webinar series continues into 2014 with great topics and great subject matter experts. Coming in the new year:

• Ashish C. Morzaria joins us to discuss System Virtualization in SAP BusinessObjects - Jan. 15, 2014
• Ian Mayor joins us to discuss Dashboards and Design Studio in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 - Jan. 23, 2014
• Mark Richardson joins us to discuss Mastering Volume and Complexity for Better Service - Feb. 5, 6, 2014

Do you want to be notified of upcoming webinars. Sign up for webinar notifications?

All of the webinars in the series have been well attended and well received. If you missed any of the earlier sessions, you can view these recorded webinars at your leisure.

The earlier sessions included:

• The Semantic Layer and BI 4 Migration with Pierpaolo Vezzosi
• What's New in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 with Ty Miller
• The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 with Saskia Battersby and Deepa Sankar
• Planning Your SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Upgrade with JC Raveneau
• What's New in Web Intelligence in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 with Gregory Botticchio
• What's New in Crystal Reports for Enterprise in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 with Henry Kam
• Platform Architecture and Sizing for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 with Ian Treleaven
• Guide to the SAP BI 4 DCP with Thomas Kuruvilla

We're busy firming up dates, guest presenters and topics for further sessions. If there are any topics you'd like to see us tackle in this webinar series, please feel free to let us know in the comments below.

Webinar Alert: What's New in Crystal Reports for Enterprise in SAPBusinessObjects BI 4.1

When: Oct. 31, 2013, 10 am / 4 pm EDT - Tomorrow
Sixth in a series of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 migration-focused webinars

Guest presenter: Henry Kam, Solution Manager, Crystal Reports & BI Platform, SAP

Tomorrow's webinar is the sixth in our series of migration-focused webinars.

SAP Solution Manager Henry Kam joins us to discuss the features and benefits of Crystal Reports in SAP BusinessObjects 4.1. Find out what's new for the standard in pixel-perfect reporting.

The discussion will include topics such as:

• What’s new in SAP Crystal Reports for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0?
• SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise
• SAP Integration
• What’s new in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1?
• Upgrading

Join us.

View the recorded webinar.

View recorded webinars.

APOS Migrator for SAP Crystal Reports Released

APOS announced today the release of its Migrator for SAP Crystal Reports product. This product has been designed specifically to simplify and automate labor-intensive and time-intensive SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 migration tasks.

Using this product, you can scan your system for objects in SAP Crystal Reports 2011 and 2013, select them, specify new database connections in bulk, and convert them in bulk to objects in SAP Crystal Reports for enterprise. The Migrator also gives you the option to replace the existing report, rename the new reports, or move the new reports to a different folder.

The APOS Migrator for Crystal Reports is a new addition to the line of APOS Migration Accelerator products.

Read the APOS Migrator for Crystal Reports press release.

SAP TechEd Las Vegas 2013

If you're at SAP TechEd Las Vegas this week, drop by and see us at Booth #103.

We have a new line of Migration Accelerator products to help you take care of the time-intensive and labor-intensive tasks in your SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 migration plan, including:

• APOS Converter for BI 4 Universes
• APOS Migrator for BI 4 Web Intelligence
• APOS Migrator for Crystal Reports
• APOS Storage Center for Migration
• POS Publisher for DCP
• Free - APOS User Migrator

Talk to our technical experts at SAP TechEd Las Vegas to find out how these products can simplify many of your most resource-intensive migration tasks.

APOS Storage Center for Migration Released

APOS announced today the release of its Storage Center for Migration product. This product has been designed specifically to simplify and automate labor-intensive and time-intensive SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 migration tasks.

Using this product, users can back up and archive objects on the source system and restore them to the target system running SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 solutions while avoiding interruption to either system. It also lets users export instances to neutral formats such as PDF or XLS and restore that format to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 solutions instead of, or in addition to, the original format. This is useful for converting report instances from the source system before restoring them in a format that can be viewed by all users in SAP BusinessObjects 4.1 solutions.

The new product builds on the proven technology and success of the APOS Storage Center enterprise archive, backup, and selective restore solution for SAP BusinessObjects

Read the APOS Storage Center for Migration press release.

Webinar Alert: What's New in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 Web Intelligence

When: Oct. 10, 2013, 10 am / 4 pm EDT
Fifth in a series of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 migration-focused webinars
View other webinars in the series

Guest presenter: Gregory Botticchio, Solution Manager, SAP

Our migration focused webinar series continues tomorrow with a session on SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 Web Intelligence. We've been very pleased by how well received this series of webinars has been. To date, we have had webinars on the new semantic layer, on how to build the business case for BI 4, and on the planning aspects of migration.

All of these earlier webinars are available to view on demand.

Tomorrow, on Oct. 10, 2013, SAP Solution Manager Gregory Botticchio joins us to discuss the features and benefits of Web Intelligence in SAP BusinessObjects 4.1. The new Web Intelligence includes many new and incremental features to improve performance and productivity. We will discuss:

• Performance improvements
• New customization capabilities
• Enhanced core capabilities

During the course of this session, we will touch on:

• SAP NetWeaver BW data access improvements
• The new RESTful web services API
• User interface customization and extension points
• Color management
• The new hierarchical dimension merge feature
• Desktop Intelligence catch-up features
• Mobile support

Register for this informative webinar.

APOS Migrator for Web Intelligence

There will be many labor-intensive tasks during migration. Minimizing the resources you have to dedicate to such tasks will be key to developing a manageable migration plan. We have a number of products to help. See our BI 4 Upgrade Resources page.

Now available: APOS Migrator for Web Intelligence. Scan your system for Web Intelligence reports, select them, specify the new UNX universe to use, and repoint the reports in bulk. Optionally convert the existing UNV universe to a new UNX universe and repoint the Web Intelligence reports to the new UNX universe in a single operation. You also have the option to replace the existing reports, rename the new reports, or move the new reports to a different folder.

More about the APOS Migrator for BI 4 Web Intelligence…

APOS User Migrator Freeware

The APOS User Migrator for SAP BI 4 is a freeware application that lets administrators migrate named users to concurrent users, or concurrent users to named users, in bulk conversion operations. This freeware is especially useful if you are changing from a named user model to a concurrent user model during your migration to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.

Download the APOS User Migrator freeware…

APOS Storage Center for Migration

Your content management strategy will be key to your migration success. The APOS Storage Center enterprise BI archive, backup and selective restore solution is a dependable and time-tested solution for SAP BusinessObjects.

Now available: APOS Storage Center for Migration, a product designed specifically to help you migrate your content seamlessly to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1. APOS Storage Center for Migration lets you archive reports and instances, save instances to multiple formats (including neutral formats), and works in conjunction with the DCP to help you leverage your Desktop Intelligence investment in BI 4.1.

Learn more about APOS Storage Center for Migration...

Planning Your SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Upgrade Webinar Q&A

We had a number of interesting questions and answers during our webinar sessions on September 19. Here they are for your convenience:

Q: If we are migrating from 4.0 to 4.1, should we export and import the content or does simply running the Upgrade Package serve the purpose of upgrading the server?
J.C. Raveneau: You would apply 4.1 on top of your BI 4.0 server. No need to move content around.

Q: Will the documentation be available on SAP for this presentation?
APOS: APOS will send you a link to a recording of the webinar tomorrow.

Q: Is there a white paper that describes the differences in best practices between 3.x and 4.x?
J.C.: You should go to www.sapbusinessobjects.com and get a personalized report generated. This will give you many good details.

Q: We use Java JDK extensively to automate our reports based on prudential specific calendar dates. We also use Java JDK to streamline/automate our deployment of reports so our tech staff does not have to interact with designer tools and keep track of which folders, categories, reports and universes. This is automated through JDK in XI r3.1. Will we still have functionality through JDK in BI 4.1?
J.C.: All SDK functionalities are there in BI 4, but there may be changes in the model so code adjustments are probably needed. Check http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-40754.

Q: Does BI 4.1 support installations on virtual servers?
J.C.: Yes. Check http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-41308.

Q: What about Crystal reports using Business Views. Will they also get upgraded to CR 2011?
J.C.: Yes.

Q: Do you have any comments regarding why we would want to go to 4.0 vs. 4.1 (or vice versa)?
J.C.: 4.1 is the latest and greatest. We have good feedback on stability. I would choose 4.1.

Q: While migration from 3.1 to 4.0, does the Upgrade Management Tool automatically convert UNV to UNX formats? Is it recommended to migrate Web Intelligence universes as UNV and continue to use Designer? And maybe after ensuring system stability, convert them to UNX?
J.C.: UNVs remain fully functional in BI 4 and not converted. Conversion can happen in a second stage either manually, or with the tool offered by APOS. The recommendation is to keep UNV as is in your upgrade project. Then upgrade to UNX to benefit from the new capabilities.

Q: Do we have to manually change each Web Intelligence report to point to UNX format if we convert UNVs at a later point?
J.C.: Check here: http://www.apos.com/content/bi4-webi-repointer

Q: Does the Upgrade Management Tool form SAP carry the instances from 3.1 to 4.0 automatically?
J.C.: Yes, if you select to do so in the UMT.

Q: Without using APOS Web Intelligence Converter, I am assuming that if we need to point Web Intelligence reports to UNX format, it needs to be done manually, and that there is no tool available from SAP?
J.C.: Correct.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome.

Planning Your BI 4 Upgrade

With SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 in GA, there is no time like the present for upgrading. Are you planning your migration? Tune in to our migration-focused webinar series for an interactive experience with SAP experts.

Today: Planning Your SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Upgrade, featuring J. C. Raveneau, Senior Director, BI Solutions, SAP.

View recorded webinar
View other webinars in this series.

Webinar Q & A: What Migration Value Do APOS Solutions and ProductsOffer?

Migration remains this year's big story for the SAP BusinessObjects community. Here's one final question from our "The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4" webinar attendees:

Q: BI 4.0 comes with a migration tool, so what value do APOS solutions and Migration Accelerator productsbring to the table?

Fred Walther, APOS: When you use the BI 4 migration tool, you move the content from your XI 3.1 environment to your BI 4 environment, but you are moving it as is. Converting UNV universes to UNX universes is another task altogether, and APOS Migration Accelerator products can help you convert universes in bulk, and repoint Web Intelligence reports to the new universes. APOS well managed BI solutions also allow you to compare your old system with your new, and to bulk-manage security, objects, schedules and instances.

Okay, that was a bit of a softball, and right in Fred's wheelhouse, to continue the baseball analogy.

What have we learned so far in our migration webinar series?

• From Pierpaolo Vezzosi, we learned about innovations in the semantic layer.
• From Ty Miller, we learned about the many new features in BI 4.1.
• From Saskia Battersby and Deepa Sankar, we learned about the business value of BI 4.x.

We've really only just scratched the surface of the migration topic. Our webinar series continues on Sept. 19, 2013, when SAP's J. C. Raveneau joins us to discuss the finer points of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.x migration planning.

Webinar Q & A: Your Biggest Migration Challenge

Great question from one of our "The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4" webinar attendees:

Q: What is the biggest challenge in migrating from 3.1 to 4.x you've seen?

...and a great answer from our guest presenter, SAP's Saskia Battersby:

Saskia Battersby, SAP: In general, the biggest challenge is understanding the size and complexity of the migration project. BI 4 contains many changes which complicate the migration process, but which are necessary for the future of BI within your organization. It is important to come to terms with the scope of the migration project during the planning stage, to use all of the resources at your disposal, and to work with experienced partners to increase your prospects for an effective and efficient transition to BI 4.

...and also from APOS Systems' Fred Walther:

Fred Walther, APOS: One specific challenge is the migration of large amounts of content. Sometimes migration of a large number of instances is not practical, so it is important to have a strategy and solution in place to archive those instances, and to be able to retrieve them selectively as needed, whether for operational or compliance purposes.

For more help in planning, preparing and achieving an efficient migration, see our migration webinar series.

Webinar Q & A: The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4

A number of great questions were raised and answered at our recent webinar on formulating your business case for upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4:

Q: What BusinessObjects reporting is available on iPad? WebI? Xcelsius? To what extent is this supported?

A: SAP BusinessObjects Mobile 5 supports all of the content types. Explorer is now included, as well as Dashboards (Xcelsius), Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence, and Design Studio

Q: What are the new features of the UNX universe format?

A: The ability to handle multi-dimensional data sources and changes to the way data federation is done are some of the key new features. For more information, review our earlier webinar, "The SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Semantic Layer & Migration," in which SAP's Pierpaolo Vezzosi provides a detailed discussion.

Q: Are all components of Dashboards/Xcelsius supported on the iPad? In earlier versions of 4.0, several components were not supported (e.g.: spreadsheets).

A: More connectivity options (i.e., not just UNX) have closed the gap considerably between what is available via the Web and via Mobile.

Thanks to SAP's Saskia Battersby and Deepa Sankar for being our guest presenters in this webinar, and for providing some insightful answers to our webinar attendees' questions.

Migration is this year's big story for the SAP BusinessObjects community. For more help in planning, preparing and achieving your migration, see our migration webinar series.

Self-Service BI - The Business Case for Upgrading to SAPBusinessObjects BI 4

Traditional BI answers known questions. Self-Service BI answers unknown questions.

So say Saskia Battersby and Pierre Leroux in a presentation they delivered at the ASUG SAP BusinessObjects User Conference 2012 (Extending Self-Service Capabilities of SAP BusinessObjects BI (PDF)).

Saskia and her colleague Deepa Sankar will be joining us for a webinar on Thursday, July 11, 2013, to discuss The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4. Part of that business case is the new self-service capabilities of BI 4, and the growing importance of self-service BI for competitive advantage.

What are unknown questions? As Donald Rumsfeld once said:

There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know.

While Rumsfeld's statement was widely ridiculed, it is actually quite accurate and succinct. If you don't know how to formulate the questions that challenge your assumptions or fill the gaps in your knowledge, then that information will elude you.

Or, as Mark Twainsaid, "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

Standard reports answer a set of standard questions on a periodic basis. They provide information on the known knowns and known unknowns -- the information you use to manage your daily operations. But what about those unknown unknowns? How do you find answers when you can't yet formulate the questions? More and more, your competitive advantage depends on learning those unknowns through proactive analytics. Your performance will depend not just on how you react to markets, but also how you predict events and act to take advantage of them. You will be judged not just on what you know, but on what you should have known.

That's where the self-serve aspects of BI have their impact. That's why it's important to take advantage of the new capabilities in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4. Join us for this informative webinar to learn more.

View the recorded webinar.

Mobile BI - The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4

Business is conducted in real time, and on location, so your BI has to be available in the same manner. Mobile BI confers competitive advantage, and the mobile BI capabilities of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 are a large part of the business case for upgrading. No matter how decentralized your workforce and decision makers, they can have the information and analytic power they need when they need it, and where they need it. Every business should build mobility into its BI strategy.

SAP has placed great emphasis on mobile BI in BI 4. Yourmobile workforce can both access information remotely, and also analyze it using applications optimized for mobile devices. The acquisition of Sybase, the consolidation of interfaces, the development of mobile applications, and the strong mobile SDK for third-party application development have all been milestones in the push toward an advanced mobile BI strategy -- providing real-time engagement and collaboration, and instant access to business and location analytics

• See a mobile location intelligence demo.
• Check out the SCN SAP BusinessObjects Mobile Blog

Our upcoming webinar, The Business Case for Upgrading to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4, addresses mobile BI and many other BI 4 value propositions. SAP's Saskia Battersby and Deepa Sankar will discuss:

• The value SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 brings to your organization
• How it aligns with strategic business intelligence objectives
• How you can increase Return on Investment (ROI)
• How you can lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

View the recorded webinar.

This webinar is the third in a series on migration issues. View other webinars in the series.