Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW

Recently I conducted a SDN Mentor Webinar about Web Intelligence and the connectivity towards your SAP NetWeaver BW system.

We did leverage Web Intelligence XI 3.1 Service Pack 2 and I demoed new features such as the Fold / Unfold features and the new Input Controls during the webinar.

You can watch the recording and you can download the slide deck used during the webinar from the SAP community site SDN.

In addition we had a lively discussion on several topics around best practices and performance considerations and therefore I am including some links to material that is avaialble on SDN as well:

Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW - Best Practices - Part 1

Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BW - Best Practices - Part 2

Custom objects in OLAP Universes

Using Xcelsius in combination with Crystal Reports

In the following two articles you will learn how you can build a Xcelsius dashboard showing the data from a SAP NetWeaver BW query and you will be able to select a time range for the calendar year and each time you select a different range the data will be updated. In addition you can select a item from the bar chart and then call a detailed oriented Crystal Reports object which retrieves the data from a DSO / ODS layer.

Both articles are available on BI Expert

Article 1: Give Managers Detailed, Visual Dashboards for Improved Decision Making


Article 2: Combine SAP NetWeaver BW, Xcelsius, and Crystal Reports for Personalized Reporting

New Xcelsius connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW

A lot of you are using Xcelisus in combination with SAP NetWeaver BW and are looking forward to the upcoming new connectivity.

You can find a recording of a webinar I did some days ago here and here you can find the corresponding slide deck

SAP TechEd and Community day material

The following represent a collection of articles and materials that has been used on recent SAP Community events and SAP TechEds.

End to End Solutions with Xcelsius 2008

Best Practices with Web Intelligence on top of SAP NetWeaver BW

BusinessObjects Enterprise and BusinessObjects Integration for SAP Solutions - Installation and Configuration

Crystal Reports 2008 and SAP Netweaver

Web Intelligence XI 3.1 and SAP NetWeaver

Xcelsius 2008 and SAP Netweaver

Custom objects in OLAP Universes

Using a Web Intelligence report with time dependencies

In this blog we we will take a look how you can leverage a new feature called "Track changes" in Web Intelligence XI 3.1 in combination with a time dependent hierarchy derived from SAP NetWeaver BW.

Before we going to create a new Web Intelligence report we need to create a new Universe based on a SAP BW query.

You can find details on how to create a new Universe on top of a SAP BW query here:

Web Intelligence and SAP NetWeaver BI

When you create a Universe on top of a BW query with a keydate in the query you will not recognize any difference during the creation process. The Universe Designer will create the maximum number of hierarchy levels that is available at that point of time when you create the Universe.

The downside of that is that a hierarchy that might have had more levels in the past is not being reflected in your Universe.

After creating the OLAP Universe we can now leverage Web Intelligence to build a new report.

1. Logon to InfoView leveraging your SAP Credentials.

2. Click Document List.

3. Click New.

4. Select Web Intelligence

5. Select the universe from the list of available universe.

Based on the situation that the underlying BI query contains a keydate variable the Web Intelligence query panel will show a calendar control that allows you to set the properties for the keydate.

6. Include the levels of your hierarchy. In my case the following objects:

o Customer Level 00

o Customer Level 01

o Customer Level 02

o Customer Level 03

o Net Sales

7. Click the Keydate control and select the day from today (this might have to be a date in the past depending on your hierarchy configuration).

8. Refresh the report.

9. Refresh the report.

10. Click the “Activate Data Tracking” option.

11. Select the option “Use the current data as reference data"

12. Select “Refresh Now”

13. Click OK

14. Select a date where you are sure the hierarchical structure has changed.

Based on the changes caused by the time dependency you will see changes in the Web Intelligence report.

By Clicking on the “Data Tracking Options” you can configure the way how changes are being shown in the report.

16. Select the option “Data Tracking Options”

The following screen allows you to change the options: