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.

SAPinsider SAP BI Convergence Q&A Transcript

The APOS-sponsored SAPinsider Q&A - SAP BI Product Convergence Update transcript is now available for you to view at:

APOS On-Demand Webinars

This SAPinsider Q&A featured many SAP BI luminaries, including Jayne Landry, Merlijn Ekkel, Blair Wheadon and Ty Miller offering insights on the future path of the SAP BI ecosphere.

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...

What's Happening with SAP's BI Products, and What Does It Mean for You? WIS SAPinsider Q & A

When: May 4, 2015 - 11:30 am ET
Register for this event…

APOS is pleased to present this online live Q & A session in conjunction with SAP and SAPinsider. During this session, SAP product experts will explore how SAP BI 4.2 can enrich the experiences of both users and information consumers.

During planning for this session, the session title went through a few iterations, including:

• Will SAP's BI Tool Convergence and Interoperability Strategy Make Your BI Team Better?
• Platform Progress, Tool Convergence, and Quadrant Qualms….Where are we now??

These titles, and the title we finally settled on, all describe the session accurately, but the last, which was deemed a bit controversial, describes a particular quandary that developed when Gartner published its most recent BI Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms.

Back in February - on Super Bowl Sunday, to be precise -- Mark Richardson published a critique of Gartner's change in direction. His post was called 'Moving the Goalposts': Why #DataViz Often Fails to Reflect Reality. In his post, Mark noted:

GARTNER has moved their focus for this document away from “the long-standing BI requirement for centrally provisioned, highly governed and scalable system-of-record reporting” – and toward “analytical agility and business user autonomy”. That’s their call – but I think it is the wrong one.

There is a danger in reliance on ad hoc reporting and data visualizations to the exclusion of the underlying data, which is why a “system-of-record” reporting engine is so important.

It’s easy to be deceptive with visualizations, even to deceive yourself, but the real problem in such cases is generally inaccurate data, especially when taken cumulatively, in which case simple, seemingly inconsequential variances can distort the picture and lead to poor decision-making.

What is required above all, as Mark Richardson points out, is stability, accuracy, and governance. Can these qualities be said to be characteristics of a platform?

It has been nearly 2 years since Jayne Landry published Run Simple: Convergence of the SAP BI Product Portfolio. Now, with the release of SAP BI 4.2, it's time to review the progress SAP has made on the platform, and check the convergence and interoperability of the BI tool portfolio.

From the conceptual to the technical, this session will let you explore the boundaries and synergies of the SAP BI 4.2 BI tool set, and discover the potential for Lumira, Design Studio, Web Intelligence, Analysis for Office and HANA within your deployment of the SAP BI platform.

Panelists will include:

• Jayne Landry - Global VP & GM, Business Intelligence, SAP
• Ty Miller - Senior Director of Solution Management for Enterprise Business Intelligence, SAP
• Olivier Duvelleroy - Senior Director, Solution Management, Business Intelligence, SAP
• Alexander Peter - Product Manager, SAP
• David Stocker - Senior Product Manager, SAP
• Gregory Botticchio - Product Manager, Web Intelligence, SAP
• Adrian Westmoreland - Product Manager, SAP

Register for this event…

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence Update Webinar with Frank Prabel & Gregory Botticchio

When: January 28, 2016, 10 am & 1 pm ET

APOS Systems will host this upcoming webinar featuring SAP Web Intelligence subject matter experts Frank Prabel and Gregory Botticchio. Web Intelligence is an integral part of the BI platform, which forms a trusted foundation for decision making across the enterprise. Join Frank and Gregory as they discuss new Web Intelligence features and the road ahead.

Features under discussion include:

•  Backend integration - direct access to SAP HANA, SAP HANA online mode
• Shared Elements - the ability to save report elements in the CMS repository for re-use
• Commentary - the ability to add, view, remove comments on Web Intelligence document
• Visualization Extensions - the ability to implement third-party visualizations

Please join us for this informative webinar.

Register for this webinar…

The webinar brings us full circle from last year's WIS Q & A event in which numerous SAP luminaries answered real-time questions about Web Intelligence, Lumira and the SAP Convergence Stratetgy.

Over the past year, we have expanded on many of the questions and answers delivered at the Q & A event in a series of blog posts on SCN, and recently we published the first of two summary posts on sap.com.

Will Your Web Intelligence Journey Lead You into Lumira?

When: April 22, 2015 - 11:30 am EDT

APOS is pleased to present this online Q & A session in conjunction with SAP and SAPinsider. During this session, SAP Product experts will explore the latest capabilities, future roadmap, and product synergies of SAP Web Intelligence and SAP Lumira. The SAP expert panel will include:

• Ty Miller - Vice President, Lumira Product Management, SAP
• Frank Prabel - Senior Director of Product Management, SAP
• Gregory Botticchio - BI Product Manager, SAP
• Sylvain Riboud - SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and Semantic Layer Area Delivery Manager, SAP
• Ian Booth - Director Product Management, SAP

Understanding product roadmaps and capabilities is key to successful SAP BI tool selection and usage. What criteria will differentiate the application and uses of SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and SAP Lumira, now and in the future?

This online interactive Q & A session will give you the opportunity to pose your questions directly to these SAP experts, learn about recent and upcoming Web Intelligence and Lumira enhancements, and explore opportunities to harmonize the use of these tools for better user engagement.

Register for this session.

Migration Webinar Today - Web Intelligence Update

When: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 10 am / 4 pm EDT
Guest Presenter: Gregory Botticchio, Solution Manager, SAP

Our migration webinar series continues as SAP's Gregory Botticchio joins us to to provide an update on the latest news for Web Intelligence in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1. Gregory will discuss new and incremental features, and provide glimpse into coming capabilities. Join us to learn about:

• Performance improvements
• New customization capabilities
• Enhanced core capabilities

Register for this webinar...
Learn about other webinars in this series...

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.