BusinessObjects Explorer

Transcription

1 Ingo Hilgefort Inside SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Bonn Boston

2 Contents at a Glance 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle SAP Business Objects Explorer Installation and Deployment Using SAP Business Objects Explorer Implementation Relevant Topics SAP Business Objects Explorer Usage Scenarios Advanced Topics SAP Business Objects Explorer Outlook

3 Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Preface SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle A Short History of SAP Business Objects Explorer The First Start to More Insight Intelligent Question Intelligent Search First Release of Polestar Polestar Becomes SAP Business Objects Explorer SAP Business Objects Explorer Continues to Evolve Introduction to SAP Business Objects Explorer Introduction to the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Portfolio Comparison of Tools and Requirements Summary SAP Business Objects Explorer Installation and Deployment Deployment Options for SAP Business Objects Explorer Deployment Options Without SAP NetWeaver BWA Deployment Options in Combination with SAP NetWeaver BWA SAP Business Objects Explorer Software Components and Installation Steps SAP Business Objects Explorer SAP Business Objects Explorer Accelerated Version SAP Business Objects Open Accelerator Installation Material, Software Download, and Important SAP Notes

4 Contents 2.3 Data Connectivity Options Data Connectivity Options Without SAP NetWeaver BWA Data Connectivity Options for SAP Business Objects Explorer Accelerated Version SAP NetWeaver BWA Configuration Steps SAP NetWeaver BusinessWarehouse (BW) Configuration Steps Enabling SAP Business Objects Explorer Accelerated Version Configuring Global Settings in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Index Wizard Business Objects Enterprise Configuration Steps Configuring SAP Authentication for SAP Business Objects Explorer Configuration of SAP Authentication for SAP Business Objects Explorer Configuring TREX Parameters for SAP Business Objects Explorer Configuring Business Objects Enterprise Security Profiles Information Space Security SAP Business Objects Explorer Accelerated Version Known Limitations Summary Using SAP Business Objects Explorer SAP Business Objects Explorer Quick Basics SAP Business Objects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BWA Quick Basics Using SAP Business Objects Explorer with Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets Summary Implementation Relevant Topics Support for MultiProvider Support for SAP NetWeaver BW Queries

5 Contents 4.3 Restricted and Calculated Key Figures Calculated Measures Facet Groups Leveraging SAP NetWeaver BW Hierarchies Data-Level Security and Filtering Information Spaces Using BI Authorizations Using Data Filtering in SAP Business Objects Explorer Known Limitations and Possible Workarounds Summary SAP Business Objects Explorer Usage Scenarios SAP Business Objects Explorer and Health Care SAP Business Objects Explorer and Retail SAP Business Objects Explorer and Insurance SAP Business Objects Explorer and Finance SAP Business Objects Explorer and Procurement SAP Business Objects Explorer and Customer Service SAP Business Objects Explorer and Sales Summary Advanced Topics SAP Business Objects Explorer in the Cloud SAP Business Objects Explorer Excel Plug-In SAP Business Objects Explorer on the iphone Using Index Designer for Open Accelerator Summary SAP Business Objects Explorer Outlook The Author Index

6 With SAP Business Objects Explorer, you can give your users the data with the speed they need to get the information required to make informed business decisions. 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle In this chapter, we will provide you with an overview of SAP Business Objects Explorer and share the high-level functionality of the tool itself and explain the typical user audience. In the second part of the chapter, we will show how SAP Business Objects Explorer complements the other tools in the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence (BI) tools portfolio and where you should consider using SAP Business Objects Explorer and where other tools may be better suited. 1.1 A Short History of SAP Business Objects Explorer SAP Business Objects Explorer provides users with a unique but simple and easyto-learn user experience. This tremendous ease of use for example, any function can be used with a left mouse click (no right mouse click) resulted in a successful product launch and has positioned it for adoption in a large user base. With SAP Business Objects Explorer, users have a solution that delivers the speed and ease of use that both companies SAP and Business Objects were trying to deliver for a long time. Before going into more details on SAP Business Objects Explorer, however, let s go back several years and see how the tools have evolved over time to understand the overall goal and strategy behind SAP Business Objects Explorer. 19

7 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle The First Start to More Insight Intelligent Question In 2005, Business Objects and Crystal Decisions (purchased by Business Objects in 2003) had offered a combined Business Intelligence portfolio for almost two years. At this point, business intelligence software had a fundamental problem to solve: how to reach more users and provide them with the right information. As a customer, you could argue that this was simply a problem that the company wanted to solve so it could sell more software licenses, which is certainly partly true. But in addition, customer surveys at that time showed that customers made business decisions without having all of the information, and that, therefore, a majority of important decisions were made based on a gut feel. So, based on this information, a new project was started with the goal of providing casual users with the right information and the right tools to get it. Early in the project, the idea to use our natural language and common words and terms to deliver the right data to the user was born, and the idea of a question centric business intelligence tool was produced, which resulted in the Intelligent Question product. The main goal of this product was to provide the user with a simple and easy-to-use user interface (UI) that allowed them to ask questions using commonly used terms (see Figure 1.1). Figure 1.1 Intelligent Question 20

8 A Short History of SAP Business Objects Explorer 1.1 Intelligent Question focused on the user experience and allowed a user to ask questions using common business terms and then provide the corresponding data for further analysis. However, the shortcomings of Intelligent Question were twofold. First, all the possible definitions had to be defined by an administrator using the semantic layer from Business Objects (see Figure 1.2). Show me my top Complainers Customers Based on Number of Calls, Length of Call, or Resolution Time? Products Show me my top Call Agents Stores Universe = Call-Center.unv Context = Complaints Employees Figure 1.2 Universes for Intelligent Question Second, the product had performance problems with large amounts of data. However, it was only the first attempt to reach out to a larger audience with a business intelligence that focused on questions being asked on top of a pool of data, rather than the classic tools that customers were used to. 21

9 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle Intelligent Search In parallel to Intelligent Question, a second product evolved, Intelligent Search. Here, the focus leveraged the existing content of the Business Intelligence landscape and provided insight into reports, analytics, and the content of those reports. Compared to Intelligent Question, the major difference in Intelligent Search was the option for the user to use any words to search for the data (see Figure 1.3). Figure 1.3 Intelligence Search Intelligent Search was the first attempt to combine a freeform natural search term with Business Intelligence, and to provide a user with the information that is available in his BI landscape. Not only did Intelligent Search provide the results based on the existing reports and analytics, it also made suggestions for new reports based on the searched terms and the metadata in the form of Universes available in the BI system (see Figure 1.4). These new options became available after Business Objects acquired the necessary technology to analyze unstructured data from the company Inxight in

10 A Short History of SAP Business Objects Explorer 1.1 Figure 1.4 Intelligent Search Suggested Queries First Release of Polestar In parallel to the search products, the first project became known as Polestar and kicked off at the end of Polestar combined the typical search workflows with typical business intelligence technologies, such as data visualization. Market data and customer feedback showed that there was still a huge untapped user base that was either just consuming BI without really leveraging or using the information, or was not using any BI tools at all. With the first release of Polestar on the Business Objects XI Release 2 platform at the end of 2007, the combination of a typical search workflow with business intelligence technology was achieved and the product was successful. Polestar combined a simple and easy-to-use UI (see Figure 1.5) with the capability to use search technology on top of available data sources and in that way it could provide a totally new user experience to a much broader audience of information consumers. The shortcomings of the initial release were mainly around a tight integration with the actual Business Objects Enterprise platform and the amount of data that the product was able to handle. Customers had to install Polestar 23

11 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle separately from the Business Objects Enterprise platform and the amount of data was limited. Figure 1.5 Polestar UI Polestar Becomes SAP Business Objects Explorer With the official acquisition of Business Objects by SAP in early 2008, the next release of Polestar became clearly focused on SAP NetWeaver BW as one of the main data sources for data exploration. With this release, the functionality of Polestar evolved around the support of SAP specific metadata, but most important, Polestar was combined with the technology of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, which opened Polestar up to a much larger data volume than ever before. The combination of Polestar with SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator (BWA) provided the simplicity and performance customers were looking for. 24

12 A Short History of SAP Business Objects Explorer 1.1 In addition to the combination of Polestar with BWA, the combined teams improved the integration between these two technologies to leverage topics like BI authorizations, unit conversions, and support for MultiProviders as part of the overall deployments. Polestar was renamed to SAP Business Objects Explorer and became part of Business Objects XI 3.1 at the end of SAP Business Objects Explorer Continues to Evolve By the beginning of 2009, the teams had delivered a great integration of BWA with SAP Business Objects Explorer. Not only did the teams continuously improve the product, but they also created a version of SAP Business Objects Explorer offered via cloud computing. SAP Business Objects Explorer as an on-demand offering made it possible for customers to upload their own data, leverage the functionality of SAP Business Objects Explorer, and explore their own data in just a few seconds. The second great innovation, which was also the Demo Jam Winner at SAP TechED 2009 in Vienna, Austria, is an SAP Business Objects Explorer version for the iphone, where a user can use the simplicity of the iphone combined with the great user experience of SAP Business Objects Explorer to receive valuable information via a mobile device. At the end of 2009 and early 2010, the combination of BWA with SAP Business- Objects Explorer became even more interesting because the toolset of SAP Business Objects Data Service was added to the architecture. This will allow customers to upload any data into BWA and leverage the compelling user experience of SAP Business Objects Explorer not only in combination with SAP NetWeaver BW based data, but they can also load any data via SAP Business Objects Data Service into BWA and explore the data using SAP Business Objects Explorer. This brief history of the product development and evolution has provided useful background information about the goals and the ideas behind SAP Business- Objects Explorer and how it became what it is today. Now let s continue with a short overview and some key features. 25

13 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle 1.2 Introduction to SAP Business Objects Explorer In this section, we will look at some of the basics of SAP Business Objects Explorer and learn how it can add value to your overall Business Intelligence landscape. The research in the BI area conducted by BusinessWeek in the year 2007 indicated that many business decisions were made without all of the necessary information (see Figure 1.6). Information is Not Reaching Business Users Information available for important business decisions Instinct-Feel Decisions Usually too little 41% 22% Always just the right amount All of the time 75% of the time 50% of the time 3% 16% 42% 38% Usually too much 25% of the time Never 3% 36% Aware of bad decisions made due to insufficient information Yes 77% 33% No 2007 BusinessWeek Research Services Base: 675 US and European business executives and managers. Economist, Enterprise Knowledge Workers Study; November, 2007 SAP 2009 / Page Figure 1.6 BusinessWeek Research Results This is a typical shortcoming of classic Business Intelligence tools. Classic Business Intelligence tools report the status quo of a certain situation and are not created to report a relationship inside the data, nor are they designed to uncover a root cause for a typical situation. Not only do these results show that users are missing information, but they also show that people are knowingly making decisions without all the necessary details. 26

14 Introduction to SAP Business Objects Explorer 1.2 This is exactly the situation that SAP Business Objects Explorer tries to address. SAP Business Objects Explorer provides the consumer with a large set of data in a simple-designed UI. The tool combines for the first time the needed speed and performance with the amount of data that is required to make informed decisions. SAP Business Objects Explorer provides the user with the simplicity of search (see Figure 1.7) that allows them to analyze data and relationships in the data in totally new ways that would not be possible in classic business intelligence tools. Figure 1.7 Information Space Search The overall simplicity of SAP Business Objects Explorer is in giving the user the functionality to see the actual data along with the ability to use data visualization technology to identify much faster trends, outliers, or contributions so that they can analyze the data better and faster than ever before (see Figure 1.8). SAP Business Objects Explorer is leveraged by a large portion of the typical information consumer audience. This is one of the main goals of SAP Business Objects Explorer: to provide every person with the needed information to perform his everyday tasks and make required decisions, which was another shortfall of classic business intelligence tools. In the past, only 20%-25% of the users in a company were able to use business intelligence and receive the necessary information. This small percentage wasn t necessarily based on customers not investing in the required software; it was based on the complexity of the tools, particularly the classic business intelligence tools, which are too complex for many consumers. 27

15 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle Figure 1.8 SAP Business Objects Explorer UI SAP Business Objects Explorer is created for the casual user who requires the information to reach decisions, especially decisions that cannot wait until the IT department has reviewed the report specifications and created the actual report and analysis. In those situations SAP Business Objects Explorer provides a viable alternative to fill the gap of self-service reporting and analysis driven by a typical information consumer (see Figure 1.9). SAP Business Objects Explorer is a tool designed for the Information Consumer and for the management and leadership team; it is not a tool for the typical power user and Business Analyst. The tool does not offer features that a Business Analyst would look for, such as a typical slice and dice navigation and the capability to navigate between different hierarchies; instead, the tool is designed as the most simple tool to use. For example, the user can perform any function in SAP Business Objects Explorer with a simple click; the tool does not have any context menus or right mouse click navigation. 28

16 Introduction to SAP Business Objects Explorer 1.2 Mapping The Right Tool to The Right Scenario Supporting an Enterprise BI Strategy Professionally Informed EXPLORATION OLAP ANALYSIS AD-HOC QRA DASHBOARDS PRODUCTION REPORTING Executives, Managers Explorer Xcelsius Crystal Reports Information Consumers Web Intelligence Business Analysts Voyager BEx Analyzer (Pioneer) Technically Capable Full Interactive Experience, Responsiveness Limited SAP AG All rights reserved. / Page 3 Figure 1.9 The Right Tool for the Right Job With the combination of SAP Business Objects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator and the new option to also accelerate non-sap data sources by using SAP Business Objects Data Services, the number of opportunities where SAP Business Objects Explorer can help you provide your users with the right information at the right time are now even larger than before. Value Add Summary Overall, the added values of SAP Business Objects Explorer combined with SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator are: Easy access to the required information that users need to make decisions Access to a large amount of data and not just a small snapshot Reduced need for IT involvement for creating reports and analytics Faster turnaround on critical information Empowers users by providing access to information on the fly and allowing them to analyze data and find root causes 29

17 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle In this section, you learned about the value that SAP Business Objects Explorer and SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator can deliver as part of your overall business intelligence strategy. (In Chapter 3, we will learn how to use SAP Business Objects Explorer and how to uncover relationships in your data.) In the next section, we will look at the overall business intelligence portfolio offered by SAP Business- Objects and see which role SAP Business Objects Explorer plays as part of a BI suite offering. 1.3 Introduction to the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Portfolio We just learned about the value you can gain from using SAP Business Objects Explorer and how SAP Business Objects Explorer can provide more users with needed information. Now, we will look at the overall SAP Business Objects BI portfolio and see which types of scenarios SAP Business Objects Explorer is designed for as part of the overall BI solution offering. In Figure 1.10, SAP Business Objects Explorer is only one element of your overall BI solution. In addition to SAP Business Objects Explorer, you have the choice of Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, and in the near future, Pioneer which is the successor for BusinessExplorer Analzyer. Each of these tools is designed with specific user types and usage scenarios in mind none of these tools will fulfill all of your requirements by themselves, however. This is an important fact to recognize, because your BI landscape will need to contain more than a single tool, and the combination of requirements and user audience types will help you decide which tool you should use to fulfill the need. Figure 1.11 shows the BI tools parallel to the growing skill set of your audiences. SAP Business Objects Explorer, on the far left, requires the least amount of skills and Pioneer, the most sophisticated tool, requires the highest degree of skills from the user. In Figure 1.12, you can see an overview of the BI tools along a set of functional capabilities. 30

18 Introduction to the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Portfolio 1.3 SAP NetWeaver Portal Any Portal, Any Destination Information Access SAP BEx Explorer Crystal Reports Web Intelligence Xcelsius SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Data Foundation SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Data Integrator SAP NetWeaver MDM Data Quality Data Quality ERP Financials Operations Human Resources Corporate Services CRM SCM SAP BusinessObjects Data Services SRM PLM 3rd-Party Databases and Applications SAP Business Suite Figure 1.10 SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Crystal Reports Xcelsius Web Intelligence Pioneer Search and explore data Common Google style user experience Limited analysis functionality Pre-built report from static to parameterized layouts Operational reporting Easy to use data visualizations Compelling interactive dashboarding type of analytics Online and offline reporting capabilities Powerful adhoc reporting capabilities Limited advanced analysis capabilities Advanced analysis capabilities Full hierarchy awareness User Skill Set Information Consumer Executive/Management Business Analyst Figure 1.11 SAP Business Objects BI Portfolio by User Skills 31

19 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle Crystal Reports Web Intelligence Xcelsius Business- Objects Explorer Pioneer Highly Formatted Layout (print focused) Parameterized/ Dynamic Layout Self Service/ Free Form Layout Hierarchical Awareness Dashboarding & Visualization Interoperability Guided Navigation Figure 1.12 SAP Business Objects BI Portfolio Capability Matrix Following this capability matrix you can evaluate which tool is best suited for certain types of requirements. For example, the requirement to deliver an external income statement for your company would be fulfilled best by using Crystal Reports according to the category of highly formatted layout. A requirement to provide the sales force with weekly and monthly sales revenue numbers based on a set of dimensions could be fulfilled by several tools. For example, Web Intelligence could be a good fit based on the high degree of self-service reporting, Xcelsius could be a good fit based on the dashboarding and visualization capabilities, and SAP Business Objects Explorer could be a good choice based on good ranking in both of those categories. In such a situation, to determine which tool to use, you would consider who your audience is and what type of requirement they are trying to fulfill. In Figure 1.13, the BI tools are grouped by their main user audiences. 32

20 Introduction to the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Portfolio 1.3 Enterprise Reporting Ad-Hoc Query & Analysis Advanced Analysis Dashboarding & Data Visualization Discovery & Exploration Information Consumers Executive & Managers Crystal Reports Web Intelligence Xcelsius SAP Business Objects Explorer Business Analysts Pioneer Figure 1.13 SAP Business Objects BI Portfolio by Target Group When speaking of the main user audience, the tool is designed with these user types in mind. There is not a single tool that covers the complete bandwidth of user audiences. This matrix is not only relevant for your selection of the right tool, but it also provides you with guidance on the future direction of the tools. For example, Pioneer is designed as a tool for a Business Analyst and will provide typical OLAP client features and functions like a slice and dice navigation, exchanging of hierarchies, and currency conversion, whereas, SAP Business Objects Explorer is designed for the Information Consumer who doesn t require such features and functions. The most important message from Figure 1.13, however, is that no single tool today provides a complete solution, and no single tool in the near future will provide a complete solution for all your user types. Figure 1.14 illustrates a decision tree that provides guidance on how to use the BI tool selection by simply asking a set of simple questions and, based on the answers, following the path to the best possible recommendation for your BI 33

21 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle tool selection. Of course, such a simplistic decision tree can never replace real experiences with the tools or real-world experience in delivering a complete BI landscape, so always consider reaching out to BI consultants from SAP or from SAP partners. YES Is the user answering a regular repeatable and structured business problem or question? NO YES Do you require a highly formatted or legally predefined layout? Do you know all needed elements to answer the question? YES Crystal Reports NO NO YES Is your audience a Business Analyst/Power User type? NO Do you require hierarchical navigation? NO Do you require dashboarding functionality or strong data visualization? BusinessObjects Explorer NO Do you require hierarchical navigation? NO YES Is your audience a Business Analyst/Power User type? YES NO Does the user require full flexibility in changing the report? Does the user require full flexibility in changing the report? Web Intelligence Pioneer/BEx Analyzer Web Intelligence YES NO YES YES NO YES Pioneer/ BEx Analyzer Crystal Reports Web Intelligence Xcelsius Crystal Reports Web Intelligence Figure 1.14 SAP Business Objects BI portfolio Decision Tree After reviewing Figures 1.11 to 1.14, you should have a better understanding of where SAP Business Objects Explorer fits into the overall BI landscape and where other tools might be a better fit. SAP Business Objects Explorer provides self-service reporting and data visualization capabilities to a large audience of information consumers. It is especially able to deliver simple search functionality on top of your corporate data. In this way, it provides a complete new user experience, by allowing you to start the reporting and analysis workflow with a simple question. 34

22 Introduction to the SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence Portfolio Comparison of Tools and Requirements To conclude our overview, let s review the distinctions between the tools by looking at some concrete requirements and defining which tool is the best fit for each. The following is a list of requirements grouped by business area in a typical company. Financial Reporting and Analysis Requirements For specific content (like an income statement or a balance sheet) that is being created, the design needs to be layout focused and the actual printing of the report is a very high priority. The consumer of the reports should be able to call the content with real time and historical data. Sales Reporting and Analysis Requirements Users need the capability to change the view of the actual content. Example: Changing a weekly sales statistics broken down by country into a weekly sales statistics broken down by sales region and quarter. Users should be able to perform scenario-based analysis, where the user is able to see the data but also can influence certain factors and see the impact on the overall numbers. Example: What-if-analysis in a sales planning workflow. Human Resource Reporting and Analysis Requirements The content needs to be presented in a highly textual manner with a strong focus on the layout. The content needs to leverage data from several different sources (SAP and non-sap) and present it in a single report. Executive Leadership and Management Reporting and Analysis Requirements The reports and analytics need to allow for further navigation to either more detailed-oriented reports or for further analysis of the summarized data. The consumption of the reports and analytics needs to be very simple and easy to use, and critical information needs to be identifiable right away. 35

23 1 SAP Business Objects Explorer One Piece of Your Business Intelligence Puzzle These are typical requirements in a business intelligence project. Now let s take a look at which of these requirements are best suited for SAP Business Objects Explorer and which other tools may fit the requirements better. Fulfilled Requirements by SAP Business Objects Explorer Financial Reporting and Analysis Requirements The consumer of the reports should be able to call the content with real time and historical data. Sales Reporting and Analysis Requirements Users need the capability to change the view of the actual content. Example: changing a weekly sales statistics broken down by country into a weekly sales statistics broken down by sales region and quarter. Human Resource Reporting and Analysis Requirements The content needs to leverage data from several different sources (SAP and non-sap) and present it in a single report. Executive Leadership and Management Reporting and Analysis Requirements The consumption of the reports and analytics needs to be very simple and easy to use and critical information needs to be identifiable right away. Unfulfilled Requirements by SAP Business Objects Explorer Financial Reporting and Analysis Requirements For specific content (like an income statement or a balance sheet) that is being created, the design needs to be layout focused and the actual printing of the report is a very high priority. This requirement is best fulfilled by using Crystal Reports. Sales Reporting and Analysis Requirements Users should be able to perform scenario-based analysis in which the user is able to see the data and influence certain factors and see the impact on the overall numbers. Example: What-if-analysis in a sales planning workflow. This requirement is best fulfilled by using Xcelsius because SAP Business Objects Explorer is not able to provide What-if scenario capabilities, but Xcelsius allows you to create such capabilities as part of your dashboard. 36

24 Summary 1.4 Human Resource Reporting and Analysis Requirements The content needs to be presented in a highly textual manner with a strong focus on the layout. This requirement is best fulfilled by using Crystal Reports because Crystal Reports offers complete control over the layout and design of your report, and you can create print-focused reports. SAP Business Objects Explorer does not provide such functionality because it is focused on exploring and searching inside the data. Executive Leadership and Management Reporting and Analysis Requirements The reports and analytics need to allow for further navigation to either more detailedoriented reports or for further analysis of the summarized data. SAP Business Objects Explorer offers the option to use the data from SAP Business- Objects Explorer in Web Intelligence but does not allow for an actual contextual navigation at this point in time. This requirement can be fulfilled by Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, or Pioneer. As you can see, based on the requirements that can be fulfilled with SAP Business- Objects Explorer and those that are better suited for other tools such as Crystal Reports, Xcelsius, Web Intelligence, or Pioneer, you can use SAP Business Objects Explorer to provide analytics content to a large audience of information consumers. It is well suited for cases in which users are trying to find the root cause for a given situation, or where no classic BI tool is sufficient. Reporting and Analytics with SAP Business Objects A more detailed distinction based on requirements and user audiences of all tools from the SAP Business Objects BI portfolio is part of the book Reporting and Analytics with SAP BusinessObjects, available from SAP PRESS. 1.4 Summary In this chapter, we reviewed how SAP Business Objects Explorer fits into the overall BI portfolio and which use cases are a good fit for SAP Business Objects Explorer and which requirements may be better served by other tools. In the next chapter, we will learn about the typical deployment and configuration scenarios of SAP Business Objects Explorer in combination with your SAP landscape. 37

25 Index 0BI_ALL, 108, 130 A Access Levels, 80 Activate, 109, 135, 156, 175 Add Calculation, 159 Add New Filter, 184 Add Principals, 75, 78, 79 Advanced configuration, 73 Applications, 72, 74, 78, 79, 81 Application Server, 66 Authentication, 64, 65, 71 Authentication Mode, 170 Authorization, 130 Authorization group, 107, 130, 131, 180 Authorizations, 107, 141, 147, 179 Automatically Import Users, 69 B BIA Index Parameter, 63 BI Authorization, 25, 82, 107, 130, 147, 179, 180, 187 Bookmark, 95, 204 Business Analyst, 28, 33 Business decisions, 20 BusinessObjects, 20 BusinessObjects Enterprise, 64, 65, 74, 80, 85, 107, 120, 123 BusinessObjects Explorer, 19, 196 Business terms, 21 Business Warehouse Accelerator, 86, 110, 137, 141, 148, 157, 292 BW, 62 BWA, 24, 25, 59, 63, 105, 113, 126, 132, 136, 139, 147, 148, 156, 162, 163, 172, 174, 177, 179, 187, 270, 277, 295 BW queries, 57, 143 BW query, 57, 132, 143, 144, 146, 150, 168 C Calculated Keyfigure, 108, 151, 153, 156, 157, 159 Calculated Measure, 159, 161, 162 Calculated Measures, 159 Calculation, 159, 236, 241 Calculations, 162 Capability Matrix, 32 Characteristic, 83, 88, 130 Characteristics, 129, 138, 143, 158, 167, 172, 187 Cloud, 247, 249, 251 Cloud computing, 25 Comparison, 98, 116, 202, 208, 228 Compounded characteristics, 90 Configuration, 59, 62, 64 Configure, 253 Configure Excel File, 120, 182 Connection, 169 Connectivity, 54 Contribution, 260 Contributions, 27 Conversion, 132, 155 Conversions, 82, 108, 131 Correlation, 202, 224, 225, 243 Crystal Decisions, 20 Crystal Reports, 32, 36, 37 Currency, 82, 108 Customer Service,

26 Index D Dashboarding, 32 Data Connectivity, 54 Data Filtering, 181 Data Services Designer, 277, 278, 288 Data Services Repository, 273 Data visualization, 34, 96 Decision Tree, 34 Deployment, 39, 40, 41, 43, 46 Descriptions, 187 Designer, 273 Dimension, 88, 100, 116, 162, 200, 209 Dimensions, 190, 220 Display Attributes, 82, 187 Drill down, 214, 215, 222, 228, 231, 236, 264 DSO, 57 E , 95, 103, 204, 218, 227, 241 Entitlement System, 67 Excel Spreadsheets, 86 Exception aggregation, 82, 187 Exclude, 133 Exclude PartProvider, 132 Explorer, 72, 75, 81 Export, 95, 103, 196, 204, 218, 227, 250, 253 F Facet, 88, 97, 100, 111, 159, 161, 168, 173, 177, 179, 192, 198, 200, 202, 206, 209, 230, 249, 262 Facet group, 172 Facet Group, 90, 95, 96, 165, 166, 168, 173 Facet Groups, 90, 162, 168, 173 Facet navigation, 105 Facets, 94, 95, 138, 142, 149, 158, 241, 260, 266 Filter, 96, 97, 99, 101, 133, 134, 147, 173, 181, 193, 195, 206, 208, 215, 239, 243, 249, 266, 268 Filter Data, 147 Filtered value, 97 Filtering, 179 Filters, 95, 133, 141, 209, 230, 241, 264 Filter Selection, 97 Finance, 211 Find, 205, 206, 230, 241 G Global settings, 62 H Healthcare, 189, 197 Heatmap, 116, 209, 237 Hide, 108, 121 Hiearchical view, 178 Hierarchies, 109, 132, 173, 174, 176, 179, 187 Hierarchy, 168, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178 Hierarchy Exploration, 178 Hierarchy node authorizations, 187 I Image, 104 Implementation, 125 Import, 280 Index Designer, 270, 288 Index Now, 94, 113, 121, 139, 150, 294 InfoArea, 146,

27 Index InfoCube, 110, 126, 132 InfoCubes, 57 InfoObject, 133, 174 InfoProvider, 106, 107, 109, 126, 141, 146 InfoProviders, 133, 142 Information consumer, 27, 28, 33 Information Space, 27, 56, 80, 81, 83, 86, 87, 92, 93, 94, 96, 103, 105, 110, 113, 120, 121, 126, 137, 139, 142, 148, 150, 158, 159, 162, 166, 172, 173, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 191, 193, 198, 205, 211, 218, 221, 227, 234, 247, 249, 253, 256, 270, 294 Information Spaces, 85, 86, 181, 190, 256 InfoSets, 57 InfoView, 79 Installation, 39, 45, 46, 48, 270 Insurance, 205 Intelligent Question, 20, 21, 22 Intelligent Search, 22 iphone, 25, 254, 270 ipod, 254 M Manage Spaces, 86, 110, 120, 137, 141, 148, 157, 163, 170, 182, 183 Measure, 202, 208, 209, 214, 216, 218, 224, 225, 235 Measures, 88, 111, 138, 149, 158, 159, 161, 164, 175, 183, 190, 200, 228, 231 Message server, 66 Microsoft Excel, 40, 56, 119, 120, 123, 247, 252 Mobile, 254 MultiProvider, 57, 125, 126, 129, 130, 132, 133, 136, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 147, 154, 155, 163 MultiProviders, 25, 125 N Navigational attributes, 147 Navigational Attributes, 174 Navigation status, 103 New Dimension, 286 K Keydate, 187 Key figure, 130, 143 Key Figures, 108, 129, 131, 132, 149, 155, 158 L Label, 121 Language, 64, 187 Limitations, 82, 186 Logon group, 66 O Objects, 87, 88, 110, 138, 142, 148, 157, 164, 175, 183, 294 OLAP Universe, 162 On-demand, 25 Options, 68 Other Values, 115 Outliers, 27 P PartProvider, 126, 128, 139, 141, 142,

28 Index Percentage, 99, 103, 116, 117, 209, 243, 260 Performance, 56, 134 Personalization, 92, 179, 181, 184, 186, 295 Pie chart, 117 Pioneer, 33, 37 Polestar, 23, 247 POLESTAR_SYSTEM, 63 Process Variables, 156 Procurement, 221 Properties, 72, 81, 87, 110, 120 Q Queries, 143 Query, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148, 170 Query Snapshot, 187 Question, 206, 241 R Reference Information Space, 184 Reliability, 56 Repository, 273 Requirements, 35, 36, 37 Restricted Key Figures, 108, 151, 152, 156, 157, 159 Retail, 198 Roadmap, 299 Role Import, 69 RSDDTPS, 63, 105, 126, 139, 146, 154, 174, 180 RSDDTREX_ADMIN_MAINTAIN, 62 RSECADMIN, 130 RSR_QPROV_CHECK, 144 S Sales, 234 SAP Authentication, 65, 68, 70, 81, 107, 130, 136, 141, 148, 156 Options, 68 SAP BusinessObjects Accelerator, 44 SAP BusinessObjects Accelerator Index Designer, 44, 48, 82, 270, 274, 277 SAP BusinessObjects Data Service, 25 SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, 29, 44, 48, 270, 273, 277, 292, 295, 298 SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47 SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, 19, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 55, 56, 70, 82, 85, 92, 95, 103, 105, 107, 119, 120, 123, 125, 131, 136, 139, 141, 143, 146, 147, 148, 156, 170, 179, 181, 187, 189, 190, 197, 198, 205, 211, 218, 220, 221, 224, 227, 228, 230, 234, 235, 236, 241, 245, 247, 248, 251, 252, 253, 254, 270, 298 SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Accelerated Version, 56, 57, 62, 63, 64, 70, 80, 82, 292 SAP BusinessObjects Explorer ñ Accelerated Version, 39, 41, 47, 53 SAP BusinessObjects Integration for SAP, 43 SAP BusinessObjects Integration for SAP Solutions, 41, 46, 47, 65 SAP BusinessObjects Open Accelerator, 44, 48 SAP Client ID, 71 SAP ERP, 44 SAP NetWeaver BusinessWarehouse, 44, 47,

29 Index SAP NetWeaver BW, 24, 66, 81, 90, 119, 174, 179 SAP NetWeaver BWA, 85, 119 SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, 24, 29, 39, 41, 44, 47, 48, 54, 56, 57, 85, 92, 123, 125, 151, 270, 295, 298 SAP System ID, 71 Scheduling, 92, 112 SE38, 62, 144 Search, 256 Security, 179 Security profiles, 64, 74 Self-service reporting, 32, 34 Semantic layer, 21 Single-Sign-On, 169 Snapshot, 125, 128, 136, 139, 141, 142, 146, 147, 150, 155 Software components, 45 Software Download, 48 Sorting, 90, 264 Sort order, 112 Spreadsheet, 119, 120, 123, 247 Spreadsheets, 39, 40, 55, 56, 119, 123 Status, 94, 113, 121, 294 Structure, 143, 149, 150, 187 Summary, 121 System number, 66 T Tag Cloud, 116, 239 Time-dependent hierarchy, 187 Time-dependent structure, 187 Top 10, 114 Transient Provider, 56, 57 Trend, 115, 192, 195, 216 Trends, 27, 220, 236 TREXADMIN, 59 TREX extension, 59 Trex_host, 73 TREX hosts, 72 TREX parameters, 64 Trex_port, 73 U Unit, 108 Unit Conversions, 132 Universe, 56, 80, 83, 85, 87, 90, 92, 162, 168, 170, 181, 183, 247, 277 Universe Designer, 168 Universes, 22, 39, 40, 55, 86, 123, 181 Unstructured, 22 Update Target in Repository, 287 Upload a spreadsheet to explore, 122 User audience, 33 User Security, 75 User types, 33 V Variable, 152 Variables, 143, 156, 187 Version dependent, 187 W Web Intelligence, 32, 37, 79, 80, 104 What-if-analysis, 35, 36 X Xcelsius, 32, 36,