Xcelsius Gurus: SAP Webinar Part 1 - When to Utilize SAP BOBJ Enterprise for your Dashboard?

Xcelsius Gurus: Data Connectivity Series Part 1
When to Utilize SAP Business Objects Enterprise for
your Dashboard?

Presented by: Mico Yuk & Ryan Goodman
Date: May 13th, 2009

@ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Who are We?
 Mico Yuk
 Founder – EverythingXcelsius.com (popular weblog)
 Founder - Xcelsius Guru Network
 Xcelsius Trainer / Developer / Architect / Blogger

 Ryan Goodman
 Founder – CentigonSolutions.com (SAP Software Solution Partner)
 Xcelsius Evangelist / Blogger (ryangoodman.net/blog)
 SAP BOBJ Alumni


Xcelsius Data Manager

Data Manger
Houses Xcelsius 12 live data connectivity options. Users
with Engage and Enterprise licenses are allowed to mix
connection types in a single dashboard!

Slide 3 @ Everything Xcelsius.com 2009

Xcelsius 12 Connectivity Options
BOE vs. Non BO Enterprise
BO Enterprise Non-BO Enterprise
 Query as a Web Service  Web Service Connection
 Live Office  XML Data
 Crystal Report Data  Portal Data
Consumer  LCDS Connection (Adobe)
 Flash Variables  External Interface
 FS Commands Connections
 Excel XML Maps
 Add on Google Spreadsheet
Connector


Live Office vs. QaaWS
 Architecture

 Developer Caveats

Sometimes I wish that QaaWs could connect to Reports…
- Mico Yuk, Found of Xcelsius Gurus


Live Office vs. QaaWS – Design Time
Data Source BOE Client Development Published

BOE Web Services
Crystal
Reports
Live Office

WebI

Xcelsius SWF
Universe

QaaWS QaaWS
Service Client


Live Office vs. QaaWS - Runtime
Data Source BOE Published

BOE Web Services
Crystal
Reports

WebI

SWF
Universe

QaaWS
Service


Live Office vs. QaaWS - Caveats
Developer Caveats
 Use Fiddler for trouble shooting queries
 During Preview Mode: Live Office requires login/pw each time
| QaaWS you can hard code
 Relative paths work the same
 Cannot view SQL in QaaWS
 Cannot use Universe Objects as operands in QaaWS


Ryan discusses Live Office …
 Example Connecting to Webi Report

 Benefits

 DO’s / DONT’s (Scenarios)



Live Office Example - Webi
 RG
 Screenshot of Webi Report w/ CrossTab
 Multiple Slides


Live Office Benefits
8 Reasons to use Live Office
1. Intuitive what you see is what you get interface with Excel
2. Shows up as simple Excel toolbar (familiarity)
3. Scheduled reports (faster performance, does not hit data base)
4. Utilization of cross tabs (gain control over data formatting and layout)
5. Use sub/combined queries and multi-cubes in Universe
6. Fetch data from multiple reports and Universe within single dashboard
7. Crystal Reports can be utilized when there is no Universe
8. Crystal Reports can connect directly to SAP R3


Live Office DO’s
9 Scenarios
1. DO think through queries before building to avoid redoing
the connection in Xcelsius
2. DO use separate tabs for each data source
3. DO use query prompts to break up large data sets and
return only what is needed
4. DO use the latest version (as of 5/14 its 12.1.5.1096)
5. DO build reports specifically for Xcelsius
6. DO disable Add-ons when using Live Office
7. DO send multiple input values to prompts using a “,”
8. DO use Excel 2007 vs.. 2003
9. DO bind relative paths to make migration easy

Live Office DON’Ts
7 Scenarios
X DO NOT fetch all report data at once
X DO NOT trigger all queries to “Refresh on Load”
X DO NOT use reports as a data source when the report
structure constantly changes
X DO NOT connect to queries that take a long time to refresh
X DO NOT bind Live Office parameters to cells with formulas
X DO NOT leave Live Office enabled in Xcelsius when using Bex
Queries
X DO NOT never Run Excel when running Xcelsius


Mico discusses QaaWS …
 Example – Connecting to eFashion Universe

 Benefits

 DO’s / DONT’s (Scenarios)



Query as a Web Service Benefits
5 Reasons to use Query as a Web Service …
1. Connect to multiple Universe(s)
2. Universe contains ALL Logic
3. Document & manage queries
4. Filter data to display ONLY what is needed
5. Better for Universe developers vs. Business Analyst


Query as a Web Service DO’s
9 Scenarios …
1. DO place all Logic in Universe
2. DO write out queries before building
3. DO use well named folders & queries
4. DO document queries in QaaWS client
5. DO refresh queries after updating the Universe(s)
6. DO implement sorting for individual queries
7. DO use separate Excel tabs for each data source
8. DO filters data to break up large data sets
9. DO utilize relative paths for seamless environment migrations


Query as a Web Service DON’Ts
7 Scenarios …
1. DO NOT use Universe SubQueries or Combined Queries
2. DO NOT use Universe Multicubes
3. DO NOT create an excessive amount of queries
4. DO NOT trigger all queries to “Refresh on Load”
5. DO NOT place formulas in data output cells
6. DO NOT return more than 1,000 rows of data at a time


SAP BO Enterprise Integration
 SAP BO Enterprise Integration

 Antivia XWIS



Important Integration Points
Additional Features to take advantage of…
1. SSO - Row Level Security Remains the same
2. Use of Infoview / Dashboard Builder (SSO) and home
3. Link to reports from Xcelsius (OpenDoc)
4. SAP Integration kit allows use of SAP security for Login
5. Storing global variables- Flash Variables
6. Dashboard Manager Integration
1. Xcelsius-WebI portlet communication- FS Command “queryparams”
2. Xcelsius-Xcelsius portal communication- portal connectors

Dashboard (SWF) OpenDoc.jsp WebI/ Crystal /SWF


Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite

What is it?
 Interactive components build with Xcelisus 2008 SDK
 Access information from your extensive Web Intelligence
library
 Deliver drill capabilities from your Universe layer directly
to your dashboard
 Data Connections direct to your reports

Xcelsius 2008
antivia.com

Antivia Xcelsius Web Intelligence Integration Suite

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence



antivia.com


Benefits
 XWIS predominantly works against cached Webi data
with no limitations to data volume
 Point and click integration
 No building Xcelsius specific reports
 Full support for report instances and prompts and
also handles refresh on demand and drill off the
cube

antivia.com

Stay connected…
For more Guru tips, tricks, news, videos, etc.
Visit: http://EverythingXcelsius.com

Mico Yuk
 Email: mico@everythingxcelsius.com
 Company: Everything Xcelsius

Ryan Goodman
 Email: ryan@centigonsolutions.com
 Company: Centigon Solutions
 http://www.centigonsolutions.com

Join our popular Xcelsius Guru social communities…
http://www.twitter.com/XcelsiusGurus http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=18
47619&trk=hb_side_g

http://www.youtube.com/XcelsiusGurus


Xcelsius Gurus: SAP Webinar Part 1 - When to Utilize SAP BOBJ Enterprise for your Dashboard?

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Editor's Notes