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.

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.

SAPinsider Q&A Highlights - SAP BI Convergence Update

APOS was proud once again, for the third consecutive year, to provide an opportunity to interact with some of SAP’s leading BI lights on the subject of SAP BI convergence. We don’t yet have an official transcript of yesterday’s SAPinsider Q&A - SAP BI Product Convergence Update: What’s Happening Today, What Is Coming Next, and What Does It Mean for You?, but here are some highlights.

By the way, when the transcript for the Q&A becomes available, we will post a link on our APOS On-Demand Webinars page, where you can also view a large number of past webinars on topics you may be interested in, such as:

• Automated Report Testing
• UNX Universe Adoption Testing
• Semantic Layer Update with SAP’s Pierpaolo Vezzosi
• SAP BusinessObjects Advanced Monitoring

...and much more.

This Q&A session was billed as a chance to:

…interact directly with Jayne Landry, Merlijn Ekkel, Blair Wheadon, Ty Miller, and several other key product leaders from BI product groups at SAP, including SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, SAP BusinessObjects Lumira, SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio, and SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Office. Here's your chance to take a look at the road ahead for SAP’s BI products, assess your opportunities, and seek clarifications to questions

It lived up to this billing quite nicely.

APOS COO Allan Pym started the session off asking Jayne Landry (Global Vice President & General Manager, Business Intelligence, SAP) about the progress of the SAP BI convergence initiative. Jayne responded:

We have made tremendous progress on the convergence front. When we started this journey 3 years ago we had 14 different client tools running on the BI platform! We’ve now got that down to 5, with Crystal, Webi, Analysis Office, Design Studio and Lumira... And we’ve adhered to the convergence principles we laid out from the start – all existing content is safe and all existing BI 4.x clients continue to be supported so that customers can move to the “go to” tools at their own pace.

Jayne continued with a description of upcoming convergence advancements:

The next big advancement is the convergence of Lumira and Design Studio into a single code line with the release of Lumira 2.0, currently in beta and planned for GA late Q2/early Q3. This will enable end-to-end workflows from rapid prototyping by business users through to deployment of production dashboards at scale by developers.

You’ll have to wait for the official transcript for more, but I can tell you that it will contain substantial content on a number of subjects of interest, including:

• The Design Studio / Lumira convergence
• SAP BusinessObjects Cloud
• New Analytics announcements to be made at SAPPHIRE
• Web Intelligence improvements
• New features in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP 4

Bookmark the APOS On-Demand Webinars page and check back over the coming days for a link to the official transcript.