Solution Spotlight - APOS Migrator for Web Intelligence

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 is very flexible in how it lets you adopt the new semantic layer and UNX universe, but it is in your organization's best interest to adopt the UNX universe sooner rather than later. Essentially, you have three options:

• Stay fully on UNVThis option does not require any immediate action, but simply maintaining your UNV universes means you will slowly fall behind the technology curve as the SAP BI convergence strategy continues its inexorable course.
• Move fully to UNXThis option allows you to take full advantage of new SAP BI capabilities, but it requires great efforts to update skill sets, convert universes, and repoint reports.
• Retain some UNV, while performing all new development in UNXThis option allows you to transition at your own speed to UNX, taking advantage of new capabilities where they provide the most value, while preserving UNV universes that perform well. In the short term, you will have more maintenance, testing, and documentation as downsides to this approach, but it provides the most flexibility for a considered migration effort.

When you are ready to adopt the UNX universe, APOS has a solution to help you achieve your objectives as painlessly as possible.

APOS Migrator for Web Intelligence

The migration to UNX universes is a daunting project for many organizations. While the conversion of individual universes may be manageable, the repointing of all the associated Web Intelligence reports is a vastly bigger initiative. The APOS Migrator for Web Intelligence allows you to address the size and scope of such initiatives, providing strong process execution, effective and safe management of BI assets, and efficient methods for containing IT resource costs.

A fully supported solution, APOS Migrator for Web Intelligence delivers:

• Bulk conversion of universes from UNV to UNX format
• Bulk repointing of Web Intelligence reports to new UNX universe
• Automated, high volume testing of reports to validate accuracy
• Tightly controlled, project-based methodology

Learn more about the APOS WebI Migrator

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.

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.

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…

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.

SBOUC Booth #201: Visit the APOS BI Pit Crew

Our theme for this year's SAP BusinessObjects User Conference is the BI Pit Crew. Visit us at Booth #201. We promise it will be a magical experience. Ask us about:

·         APOS Migration Accelerators

·         The APOS BI Mobile App for iPad and iPhone

Why the BI Pit Crew?

In auto racing, the unsung heroes are the members of the Pit Crew who maintain and manage the race car in real time. They respond quickly and efficiently to all challenges ‑ both expected and unexpected.

The "Pit Crew" of your BI deployment includes the skilled technologists and team leaders who maintain and manage the BI platform. Like their auto racing counterparts, the BI Pit Crew responds with speed and efficiency to manage many challenges. They keep the business intelligence platform running effectively to serve the information needs of the organization, making it the driving force behind innovation, operational efficiency, and return on investment. They, too, are often unsung heroes.

Well Managed Migration, Well Managed BI

Well managed migration starts with well managed BI. The first priorities in planning your migration should be to gain a deep understanding of your current system, and to rationalize the structure, security, and content of that system before migrating to the new system.

APOS Well Managed BI solutions and Migration Accelerator products give your BI Pit Crew the specialized tools they need to automate and simplify the many labor-intensive, time-intensive, and potentially error prone tasks they face daily.

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.

Upcoming Webinar: The Business Case for Upgrading to SAPBusinessObjects BI 4

When: July 11, 2013, 10am & 4pm EDT
Third in a series of migration-focused webinars hosted by APOS
View other webinars in this series

Guest presenters:
Saskia Battersby, General Manager, Solution Management, Agnostic BI Market Segment, SAP
Deepa Sankar, Director, BI Product Marketing, SAP

View the recorded webinar.

In this webinar series, we've given you many technical reasons for adopting SAP BusinessObjects BI 4. Now SAP's Saskia Battersby and Deepa Sankar bring us a more business-oriented perspective on migration. They join us to discuss the business case for upgrading to BI 4.

We 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)

Please join us for this informative webinar.

View the recorded webinar.

Webinar: The Semantic Layer & SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 Migration

Migration is shaping up to be the topic of the year for the SAP BusinessObjects community. In recognition of this fact, APOS is scheduling a series of webinars on migration. The first of these webinars features guest presenter Pierpaolo Vezzosi.

When: May 30, 2013, 10 am / 4 pm EDT
First in a series of SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 migration-focused webinars
Guest presenter: Pierpaolo Vezzosi — SAP — Director, Solution Management

View the recorded webinar.

Pierpaolo Vezzosiis Director, Solution Management, at SAP, and has been product manager for the semantic layer since 2007. He will join us for this webinar to discuss the design principles, features and benefits of the new SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 semantic layer, and the UNX universe format in particular.
Innovations in the semantic layer of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 create immense value, and migrating to BI 4.0 creates an opportunity to embrace the future of business intelligence within your organization.

The benefits are real, but the prospect of migrating may seem daunting to many. This webinar lays out migration lessons learned, and discusses migration challenges. The webinar also introduces new migration products from APOS that apply these lessons and simplify and automate many of the more labor-intensive, time-intensive, and potentially error prone tasks in your migration project.

BI 4.0 Bulk Conversion Tools

APOS has just released a BI 4.0 UNV to UNX bulk conversion tool. The UNV to UNX Bulk Converter allows you to scan your system for existing UNV universes, select them, and convert in bulk to UNX universes.

For more BI 4.0 upgrade resources visit the APOS BI 4.0 Upgrade Resources page.

BusinessObjects Migration Challenges & Best Practices

APOS solution consultants have been working with BI 4.0, SAP BusinessObjects XI, and their many precursors for over 15 years. They've been through many migrations and upgrades. In fact, many of our solutions began their lives as migration support applications.

Some of those solution consultants delivered a standing-room-only presentation on BI 4.0 migration challenges at the 2012 ASUG BusinessObjects User Conference in September, and partially reprised their presentation in an October webinar. (Download or view the recorded webinar on SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 migration challenges.)

We've collected some of their planning and preparation best practices for your convenience on our website.