Differences Between Desktop Intelligence and Web Intelligence

APRIL 19, 2012 56 COMMENTS

What are all the differences between Desktop Intelligence (Deski) and Web Intelligence (Webi)? The question has been asked so many times, including from clients, that I decided to attempt to put together a comprehensive list of the differences. Why is such a list important? Well, with the release of SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 in September 2011, Desktop Intelligence is no longer available, and is now completely replaced by Web Intelligence. So, for organizations that use Desktop Intelligence, it’s important to know what those differences are, as they transition from Deski to Webi.

The differences can be divided into two categories:

• Deski features that are missing from Webi
• Webi features that never existed in Deski

Fortunately, that first category is getting shorter with each new release of Webi. However, since that category is most important to those migrating from Deski to Webi, we’ll cover that category first.

Deski Features that are Missing from Webi

• Display a table in multiple Columns: In Deski, you can set a table so that, when it reaches the bottom of a page, it “wraps” to the next column on the same page, similar to a how a newspaper column continues on the same page.

• Grouping button: Deski has the ability to create grouped variables with the click of a button. In Webi, we have to write the If – Then – Else logic manually to create such functionality. This can be quite tedious. I have submitted an idea to SAP to have this functionality added to Webi. You can vote for this idea here.

• Freehand SQL queries: I’ve never been a big fan of this, as it defeats the whole purpose of having universes, and also creates maintenance nightmares. But there is some value for it in a test environment. This idea has been submitted to SAP here, and it is currently under review.

• Save as RTF, TXT, HTML: Currently, Webi can save as Excel, PDF, or Webi only.

• Edit List of values: In Deski, users could edit a List of Values for a universe object, so that it would only display the values that are valuable to them.

• List of values in formula editor: In Deski, when creating a formula, you can select values for a particular object, from a list, provided in the formula editor. This idea has been accepted by SAP, and should appear in a future version of Webi.

• Center on page: Deski has a Page Layout option to center a block, or cell, on the page, between the margins.

• VBA Macros: Deski support Visual Basic macros. I don’t know if Webi ever will support this, but I suspect it will support some kind of programming language in the future.

• Delete multiple tabs simultaneously: This seems like such a simple thing, but Webi still doesn’t have this capability.

• Export multiple documents simultaneously: That’s right. In Webi, we can only export documents to the repository one at a time.

• Create a variable in it’s current context: In Deski, we could create a variable from a formula, and lock in the current context of the formula, even if it was not explicitly included in the formula.

• Support for all installed fonts: Webi uses it’s own font library, not the Windows fonts. So, unlike Deski, we can’t add additional fonts to Webi. An idea has been submitted to this here.

• Schedule to a printer: I realize that printing is becoming more and more obsolete, but it isn’t there yet. Deski reports could be scheduled to print automatically. Webi reports cannot.

• Automatic custom sort for month names and weekday names: Deski has built in custom sorts for Months and Weekdays.

So there you have it. As far as I know, that’s a complete list of features that Webi is still missing from Deski. If you know of more, please mention them in the comments below.

Webi Features that never existed in Deski

• Track Data Changes: Allows you to see the difference between two different refreshes of a document, and compare the results.

• Hyperlinking Wizard: You can create an OpenDocument link in about 5 minutes, as opposed to the days or weeks spent doing this in Deski.

• Most built in formulas: Webi has more built-in formulas than Deski. These formulas come in the way of standalone cells that you can simply drag onto your report.

• Save as Excel with 65K+ rows: You can save a Webi document to the Excel 2007 format, which allows for over 1 million rows in a single worksheet.

• Add temporary values to custom sort: When creating a custom sort, you can add values that are missing, to the sort, so that, when they eventually show up on the report, they will sort in the correct order.

• Box chart: A new chart in Webi that allows you to see a measure at five different data points across a dimension.

• Tag cloud chart: A new chart in Webi that allows you to easily compare two measures against a single dimension.

• Heat map chart: A new chart in Webi. It’s the equivalent of a crosstab table, but in chart format.

• Bubble chart: A new chart in Webi that compares two measures against a single dimension, in an easy to read format.

• Optional Prompts: Prompts created in the query can be marked as optional, allowing users to ignore the prompts, if they wish.

• Display query summary on report: Webi has a QuerySummary function that allows you to easily display information about the query on the report.

• Inner join between queries: Webi’s Merge Dimension feature allows you to choose how the data is displayed on the report. It doesn’t have to be a full outer join, like in Deski,

• Query Drill: Allows you to keep your data set small, while drilling through large amounts of data.

• Drill in InfoView: Webi document, of course, can enter drill mode in InfoView (BI Launchpad). Deski documents cannot.

• Edit in InfoView: Webi documents can be easily edited in InfoView (BI Launchpad), by anyone who has permission.

• Alternate row shading: We used to have to do some slight-of-hand with variables to get this to work in Deski. But Webi has it built in.

• Input Controls: This allows for user interaction in the reports, making What-if analysis quite simple. It also make it easy to build powerful dashboards in Webi.

• Advanced formatting rules: That’s the new name for Alerters. Webi’s Formatting Rules editor allows for more powerful options, including using formulas in the rule.

• Publish as a BI Service: Individual blocks in Webi can be published as a Web Service that can be consumed by other BI applications.

• Compatible with Live Office: Report parts form Webi documents can be consumed by Live Office, allowing integration with MS Office.

• Compatible with BI Widgets: Webi report parts can be consumed by BI Widgets, allowing them to be dropped onto the desktop as standalone objects.

• BEx queries: Webi can run queries directly against BEx queries.

• Query stripping: Allows for the automatic removal of objects from a query against an OLAP cube, that do not directly contribute to the report(s).

• Synchronize drill on report blocks: When drilling on one report block, other blocks on the same report can drill at the same time, staying in sync.

As far as I know, that’s everything that Webi offers over and above what Deski had. If you know of any others, feel free to mention them in the comments, below.

Example for what tool

Although there are good reasons why SAP should consolidate their BI client tool portfolio I’d like to point out where I see the root cause of the problem: Definitely the number of different tools is not the real issue. I often use the comparison with the automotive industry. Just have a look how many models certain car manufacturer have in their portfolio:

Source: http://www.audiusa.com

Different cars for different purposes. Different tools for different purposes. But what’s different between the shown car portfolio and SAP’s BI client portfolio? All the cars share some basic functionality like four wheels, a steering wheel, head lights etc. For the BI client portfolio we still lack some basic functionality to be included in every tool more or less in the same way: One main issue is the missing homogenity in terms of data access. For relational data the Universe might be seen as a common base. But not even 10 years after Crystal Reports was bought by BusinessObjects, and not even in the new Crystal Reports for Enterprise version which was built from scratch we see equality of how you can connect to datasource compared to e.g. Web Intelligence. The same with BW connectivity. When I was at the sapInsider conference BI2014 two weeks ago at Nice / France, I had to learn once again from Ingo Hilgefort that Web Intelligence lacks some basic functionality like Zero Suppression even now having BICS based direct connectivity to BW. The same with HANA connectivity where Crystal supports HANA connectivity using an OLAP connection but Webi doesn’t. The same with Web Services connectivity and I cut continue the list for a while. From an architectural perspective I just ask: Why?

Another commonly cited issue is the charting library. Still there is nothing like common charting capabilities, the different tools still differ quite heavily in terms of what they provide as chart types and options, not to talk about the missing option to plugin a custom charting extension to all BI tools but only specific ones.

To sum up this first part: SAP’s job isn’t done by simply reducing the number of tools. They need to make sure that the remaining tools share some commonly expected features. Don’t let data connectivity or charting options be the differentiator between the different client tools.

I already wrote certain blog posts about BOBJ tool selection. Whereas the later posts were tool agnostic, the first one was very concrete. In this article I outlined some major differences (especially short comings) between the tools. On this background let me formulate my personal wish list for the future BOBJ tool consolidation:

• Merge Crystal Reports into Web Intelligence: I know, according to Steven’s statement above this won’t gonna happen as Crystal is considered a core technology. Still, give this thought a chance. There isn’t that much missing between Crystal Reports and Web Intelligence from a feature perspective. Conditional formatting, interactive alerts, some more export formats, hierarchical grouping for relational data and a more powerful formula language. Being a Crystal Reports consultant for more than 12 years I’m not really happy with this thought in a first instance as I really like the tool. But if imagine how I could leverage certain Crystal Reports features with the powerful capabilities of Webi, it sounds very promising to me.
• Merge BO Dashboards / Xcelsius “visuals” and input controls into Web Intelligence, Design Studio and Lumira: Stop the thinking that “a dashboard” is a matter of the tool. From a business perspective a dashboard has more important elements than just to be fancy and highly interactive. Depending on the business requirements you can build a dashboard in many tools including Design Studio (more app style dashboards), Lumira (more the ad-hoc kind of dashboard) and Webi (if you want to have more sophisticated data  capabilities and the fully fletched platform support like scheduling / publishing, control user actions with rights etc.) So please share the visual components we find in BO Dashboards today to various tools like Webi, Design Studio and Lumira.
• Merge Explorer and Lumira – and think about the “feature preservation”. Don’t forget to add the “Export to Webi” somehow to Lumira.
• Merge LiveOffice into BO Analysis, Edition for Office. LiveOffice is still very powerful, but I think we don’t need two separate add-ons.
• Merge Analysis OLAP into – I’m not sure, as I’m not very used to this tool. Regarding the BW connectivity issues I’d like to see the Analysis OLAP capabilities in Webi. And / or you can add an OLAP grid / control to Design Studio.
• Merge the predictive tools like Infinite Insight and Predictive Analysis into one joint tool.

How do you rate my wishlist? How does your wish list looks like? I’m looking forward to reading your comments soon!

[Update June 12th 2014] The guys from EVTechnology wrote an excellent blog regarding their findings from SAPPHIRENOW. There you can find the following screenshot:

Not too far away from my wishlist though ;-)

In addition Tammy Powlas documented an interesting webcast regarding Crystal Reports for HANA. I just hope that at least the HANA direct connectivity will be added the same way to Web Intelligence…

The Rule of Thumb for BOBJ Tool Selection

What is the right SAP BusinessObjects frontend for a given situation? A question I’m asked nearly every day. When I was confronted first with this topic  a few years ago the taken approach was a highly sophisticated Excel spreadsheet in order to assess all available BOBJ tools based on a feature list. The only problem was: At the bottom line there was never a clear winner. Next approach were the famous decision trees like the following:

Not bad as a first guess. And in an ideal world where the basic functionality would be the same for all BOBJ tools such a tree could work indeed. But given the situation that even today – nearly ten year after the aquisition of Crystal by BO – support for universes is still not exactly the same in Webi, Crystal Reports and Xcelsius (aka Dashboards) and especilly the maturity of a tool or a sub component of it is vastly different, there is no clever way to tell you which tool to use for which purpose.

Although you can’t give a distinct answer to the question “which tool to use for what”, I’m convinced that the following rule of thumb will be valid in most situations and for a majority of organisations – the only assumption is that there is no limitation out of licensing. That means I assume you have a license for all or at least the most important frontend tools. The idea behind this rule is that a priority rating is more helpful than a feature or use case driven decision tree.

Here is my rule of thumb:

1. Try it with Web Intelligence
2. If Webi didn’t work, try it with Crystal Reports
3. If Crystal Reports didn’t work, try it with one of the “niche” tools

Let me share some thoughts about this priority list:

Why should we start with Web Intelligence? There are various reasons for this:

• From a features perspective Web Intelligence provides the most widest range in the BOBJ tool suite. You can use Webi for creating classical standard reports, you can use it for dashboard like applications (think about Input Controls and the ease of use regarding drilling – e.g. compared to Xcelsius…), you can use it for self-service reporting, you can use it as a data pump using XLSX export or interface to other applications using BI Web Services etc.
• From a maturity perspective it is one of the most stable and mature applications in the BOBJ world. I tell you this as an native “Crystal guy”. But whereas Crystal Reports 2011 runs stable the same way as it did for the last decade, the new Crystal Reports for Enterprise is just crap compared to both, the legacy CR and Webi.
• From a data source perspective: Webi is the only tool which fully supports all kind of Universe stuff. I’ve never heard of any limitation that Webi would not support something what you can do in a Universe (by design). But let me compare this to Crystal Reports: On one hand you can use only UNX universes in CR4Ent, on the other not all type of queries are supported. Crystal still has the limitation that if a universe query results in multiple SQL statements it fails to handle it as there is no local “micro cube” as with Webi. Of course this whole argument implies that we value a “common semantic layer” to be of high “added value” to an organization and therefore should be supported in its full scope. But there is even more to add: Webi handles not only multiple SQL result sets per query, it can also leverage multiple queries and easily join them. Although I’m not a friend of “merged dimensions”, there are many situations where this capability is the only work around to get the job done at the end of the day (and not three monthes later when the data finally arrived in the DWH…). No clever way to do this in Crystal Reports or Xcelsius directly.
• From an SAP BW perspective: Two or three years ago we had to decide for Crystal Reports often because of its better connectivity to SAP BW and all around it with hierarchy handling etc. These days are “passé”. My most recent experience with Webi using the BICS interface are very promising. Totally in contrast with CR4Ent which crashes regularly, even with the latest patch level.
• From a usability perspective: Although SAP currently tries to position Webi to be the tool where business users develop the reports, I think its usability is equivalently valubale for IT folks too. Report development is quick and straight forward – once you’ve got used to the ribbon style menues ;-)
• From an installation footprint perspective: Given the situation that SAP releases new patches nearly every third or four week, patching client installations is an nightmare. The more valuable are fully web based deployment scenarios. Therefore once again, Webi is the favorite.

Still, Web Intelligence has some short comings. That’s why you should evaluate Crystal Reports in a second instance:

• One of the major differentiators between Crystal Reports and all the other frontend tools is Conditional Formatting. As you may know Crystal Reports has a powerful formula language integrated. This formula language can be used to control neary every property you can set in Crystal Reports. This way you can implement what I call “guided interactivity” at its best: Let the end user choose some parameter values and use these values to control both, the data in the report but especially the layout too. The typical use here is: A customer wants to build 10 similar reports. They are not exactly same regarding the layout, but similar. For example, in Webi there is no straight forward way to show conditionally show or hide some parts of the report. In Crystal Reports such a thing is a no-brainer.
• Interactive / proactive Alerts: As of today, only Crystal Reports based alerts can be used to send an email notification if they are triggered.
• Export formats: Crystal Reports has a multitude of available export formats, including Word or XML, which aren’t available in any of the other tools.
• Hierarchical Grouping for relational data sources: Crystal Reports can dynamically resolve a Child-Id-to-Parent-Id relationship and apply calculations over such a hierarchy.

But before you choose Crystal Reports remember there are two versions of Crystal Reports: The legacy Crystal Reports 2011 and Crystal Reports for Enterprise. The first one is mature and stable, but does not contain new features introduced only to CR4Ent. On the other hand, CR4Ent is a de facto “1.x” product regarding its code maturity. For now I simply cannot recommend to use it as your major reporting tool without intensive testing of your own use cases in your environment. On the other hand – depending on your situation – the legacy Crystal Reports does not support UNX universes at all nor does it support UNV universes as you’d expect it coming from Webi.

What about all the other tools? I call them “niche tools”. This is due to the fact that all of them have quite a narrow scope of application compared to the “generalists” Webi and Crystal, let me name a few:

• SAP Visual Intelligence: This is a great tool for ad-hoc-analysis. But that’s it. No way (yet) to publish documents online (except over Explorer), schedule them or create more sophisticated standard reports.
• Explorer: Not the most mature product, especilly in the context of SAP BW and BWA as a datasouce… In general, Explorer is nice for “standard” visualizations. But have you ever tried to customize even basic elements of these charts? Or have you tried to add a simple table into an Exploration View? Or export an Exploration View as a whole? As of today these basic things seem to be impossible…
• Analysis, Edition for OLAP: Limited to OLAP data sources, no clever integration into scheduling, publishing etc.
• Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office: Only BW support…
• Dashboards / Xcelsius: Limited capabilities in terms of data volume that can be processed, no straight forward way to realize drill downs, no common export formats, no full Universe support, no scheduling capabilities…
• Design Studio: Not usable for productive environements in the current version 1.0, and even for subsequent versions I’m very sceptical… In addition the scope of the tool is focused on BI App development which as such is clearly a niche.

This doesn’t mean that these tools are not valuable in the context of specific requirements. But assuming that there is a value in reducing the number of used and supported tools to a minimum, these tools should be chosen only after having evaluated Webi and Crystal beforehand. According to my experience chances are quite high that your requirements can be covered by one of these two tools.

What is your experience with tool selection? Would you agree with my rule of thumb? Anything I missed? Looking forward to reading your comments!

Books

Admin guide
http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4sp4_exp_admin_en.pdf

SAP BO MOBILE

SAP BusinessObjects Mobile

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• Android
• Blackberry
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• MOBI BI 4.0 Product Suite fixes
• MOBI BI 4.1 Product Suite fixes
• Mobile Deployment and Architecture
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Product Documentation for BI 4.0 These product documents cover a wide range of topicsfrom Installation and Security to Administration and Release notes for SAP BusinessObjects Mobile

Product Documentation for BI 4.1 These product documents cover a wide range of topics from Installation and Security to Administration and Release notes for SAP BusinessObjects Mobile

Search SAP BI KBA Articles Find answers to technical support issues for the BI Platform.  Here you can find information provided by SAP support to assist you with your deployment.

SCN Blogs SCN : Blog List - SAP BusinessObjects Mobile (Latest Blog Posts in SAP BusinessObjects Mobile) Creating SSO connections in SAP Mobile BI Request for feedback: SAP BusinessObjects Mobile and iOS version Journey to Mobile BI - Meet ASUG SAP d-code Speaker Peter Chen What is New in BusinessObjects Mobile BI 6 - ASUG Webcast What is new in BusinessObjects Mobile 6.0.3 (a subset of features) SSO on SAP BI Mobile Server - Custom with Trusted Authentication SAP Mobile BI - Import connection for Form/Basic Auth How to trace SAP BI Mobile using Fiddler? Rights for the ipad user and its categories explained SAP Mobile BI - Import connection for X509 Certificate

SCN Documents SCN : Document List - SAP BusinessObjects Mobile (Latest Documents in SAP BusinessObjects Mobile) SAP BusinessObjects Mobile - Supported Platforms (PAM) Exploring Lumira Infographics on Mobile Experiencing Lumira Cloud 1.17 InfoGraphics Stories & More in Mobile BI 6 Official Product Tutorials – SAP BusinessObjects Mobile Getting Familiar with Mobile BI 6.0.3 Configuration SAP Business Objects Mobile 4.0 Support Package 4 How to Create Personal Views on your Mobile device? SAP BusinessObjects Mobile XI - Supported Platforms BusinessObjects Mobile 5.1 > Collaboration with QR Codes on the iPhone Continuing Getting Familiar with BusinessObjects Mobile 5.1

SCN Discussions SCN : Discussion List - SAP BusinessObjects Mobile (Latest Forum Threads in SAP BusinessObjects Mobile) SAP BI Mobile on a Microsoft Mobile Device? Open Mobile App via URL or Link SAP Mobile BI app update to 6.0.6 session expired error Blank page from Webi on iPad 6.0.6 Tomcat HTTP status 403 error when using SAP BI Mobile App via SUP Link in Crystal report to view on Mobile or Ipad Crystal Report Parameter not showing in IPAD Dashboard design supports maps on mobility SAP BI Mobile iOS SDK - Technical Reference Mobile Application for Visualizations Deployed on Native HANA

Indexing BW Data for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

Use

Using the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, you can achieve high performance representation for the data of an SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator Index (abbreviation: BWA index). If you want to use this to analyze data from BW InfoProviders, you first need to create a version of a BWA index supplemented with special data and metadata in the BWA system (transaction code RSDDTPS).

If a BWA index already exists for the BW InfoProvider in question, it is replaced by the supplemented version.

The graphic below provides an overview of the architecture:

Prerequisites

To be able to use the enhances interface for activating BW objects, check that you have installed SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator 7.2. Then start program RSDDTREX_ADMIN_MAINTAIN In ABAP Editor (transaction SE38) with OBJECT = 'POLESTAR_SYSTEM' and VALUE = '2'.

In the maintenance screen for aggregates and BWA indexes (transaction RSDDV), the system displays the function key Explorer for the screen for activating BW objects.

Features

If you have created a BWA index for a sequence of BW InfoProviders, using the BWA Index Maintenance screen (transaction RSDDB), you can enhance this index to enable you to display the data of the BW InfoProvider in the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer (see Indexing BW Data in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator). The system activates the Explorer enhancements without the need to delete and rebuild the standard BW index.

If no standard BWA index exists for the required BW InfoProvider, the system automatically creates an index when releasing the BW objects to be displayed in the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer (transaction RSDDTPS).

You can enhance the individual BWA indexes of the following BW InfoProviders for the purpose of displaying data in the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer:

• InfoCube
  If an InfoCube is activated for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, the system adds texts and characteristic values to the InfoCube's data (in the standard BWA index) in its external format.
  In the case of an InfoCube with data persistency in BWA, it is not necessary to create a BWA index, because the InfoCube data is only located in BWA. The system adds the master data and creates the logical Explorer index.
• HybridProvider
  From the point of view of an SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user, the enhanced BWA index of a HybridProvider behaves in the same way as the index of a simple InfoCube. The system adds the master data indexes to the standard BWA index of the InfoCube data. However, the corresponding logical Explorer index is given the name of the HybridProvider.
• Semantically partitioned object (consists of InfoCubes with the same structure)
  When enhancing a standard BWA index of an SPO, the following rules apply:
  • The InfoCubes contained in the semantically partitioned object have the Explorer property, but with STEALTH = X. In other words, they are not visible in the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.
  • The master data indexes are added.
  The system creates a logical index that handles the semantically partitioned object as a MultiProvider-PartProvider index. A MultiProvider-PartProvider index is a BWA index for a MultiProvider, on the level of the InfoCubes contained in the index.
  From the point of view of an SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user, the enhanced BWA index behaves in the same way as the index of a simple InfoCube.
• VirtualProvider
  From the point of view of an SAP BusinessObjects Explorer user, the enhanced BWA index of a VirtualProvider behaves in the same way as the index of a simple InfoCube.

In addition, you can also use transaction RSDDTPS to create enhanced BWA indexes for MultiProvider and queries that can be displayed in the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

• Enhanced BWA Index for a MultiProvider
  Scenario: You want to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to analyze data for a MultiProvider that is scattered throughout multiple BW InfoProviders.
  You have the following options:
  • You can index all InfoProviders in the MultiProvider individually.
  • You can index all MultiProvider data as a snapshot.
  MultiProvider at the level of the InfoProviders (abbreviation: PartProviders)
  This option is only available for certain MultiProviders. A check routine in the BW system checks whether the BWA Engine allows this option for the MultiProvider in question. At present, this option can be used by all MultiProviders that only contain InfoCubes (including a MultiProviders containing a semantically partitioned InfoCube object) and for which the problem known as the CMP problem does not occur. This problem occurs when a compounded characteristic is taken account of in the MultiProvider that is not actually supplied with data from one of the InfoProviders contained in it.
  Note

  For more information about the CMP problem see SAP Notes 1009987 and 1045683.
  If you select the PartProvider option, all InfoProviders are indexed as a standard BWA index if indexes have not already been created. The system also creates a logical index (a metadata construct in the BWA) that contains the mapping information for a MultiProvider. The queries from SAP BusinessObjects Explorer are performed against this logical MultiProvider index. For Explorer users, the logical MultiProvider index looks like an InfoCube. It does allow Explorer users to display some of the metadata though.
  The system only indexes the InfoCubes contained in the MultiProvider in conjunction with the MultiProvider that you want to make available (not as independent InfoProviders therefore). For Explorer users, the InfoCubes contained here are not visible. This means that they cannot create any Information Space for an InfoCube as part of a MultiProvider. If you want to do this, you have to index and activate the InfoCube yourself.
  Snapshot of MultiProvider
  This is option is available for almost all MultiProviders, including MultiProviders that contain a semantically partitioned DataStore object or a HybridProvider.
  A MultiProvider snapshot provides a "snapshot" of the data in the MultiProviders during indexing scheduled for background processing. If you select the Snapshot option, the system reads all data in the InfoProviders from the database (or external source) during indexing and collates it in accordance with how the MultiProvider has been modeled. This data is written to a fact index on the BWA server. The fact index is "flat"; meaning that it does not contain any dimensions. All characteristics appear as line items. All master data indexes are created too and filled with data, provided that indexes do not already exist for the InfoProviders contained in the MultiProvider. The system also creates a logical index (a metadata construct in the BWA) that combines all of this data. The queries from SAP BusinessObjects Explorer are performed against this logical MultiProvider snapshot index. For Explorer users, the logical MultiProvider snapshot looks like an InfoCube.
  Note

  If the data in the InfoProviders contained in the MultiProvider changes, note that the system does not update the MultiProvider snapshot index.

  To find out more about the functions and restrictions of this application, see SAP Note 1332392.
• Enhanced BWA Index for a Query
  Scenario: You want to use SAP BusinessObjects Explorer to analyze InfoProvider data, which first requires complex processing. This means that the required functionality will not be available in the BWA Engine.
  To do this, you can index the snapshot of a query result in the BWA and make it available for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.
  Example

  An example of this type of functionality that requires a full OLAP Engine is complex key figure conversions, for example of bottles and cans into liters.
  Restrictions With regard to the indexing of a query result for analysis by SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, the same restrictions apply as when indexing a query result in BWA (see Indexing BW Data in SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator).
  Note

  To be able to index the snapshot of a query result in the BWA, you first need to activate the query. You can call this either in the BWA Index Maintenance transaction (RSDDB) or by choosing Activate Query as InfoProvider or by setting the property Query is used as InfoProvider in Query Monitor (transaction RSDB). See Query Properties.

  The system checks the query for the relevant restrictions.. If none of these conditions apply, the system sets the query property Activated for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer. The query is then visible in the tree of BW objects for making indexing settings (transaction RSDDTPS). The query result is given the read mode Query to Read All Data at Once (A) (see Read Mode), which means that the free characteristics are also used in GROUP BY.
  During indexing, the system executes the query and stores the result in a flat table. This flat table is indexed in the BWA. The master data tables are also indexed, provided that they do not exist yet. The system creates one logical index only, in order to collate all of this information. The queries from SAP BusinessObjects Explorer are performed against this logical query snapshot index. For Explorer users, the logical query snapshot looks like an InfoCube (or a MultiProvider snapshot index).

More Information

To find out more about the procedure and the settings that you need to make to index BW objects for display in SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, see Activating BW Objects for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

Integration in Process Chain Maintenance

Scenario: Metadata for BW objects, which are relevant for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, have been changed. This makes it necessary to update the corresponding BWA index for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.

To update the Explorer settings in a process chain (see Process Chain and Process Chain Maintenance), there is a special process chain type:  Other BW Processes  Update Explorer Properties of BW Objects .

Once you have created a process of this type, you have the following options:

1. Select an InfoProvider (object name: InfoProvider name or query name). You can use input help for this.
2. Define which properties to update:
   • Conversion indexes: Updates conversion routines
   • Hierarchies indexes: update hierarchies
   • Authorization indexes: Updates authorizations
   • Restricted/calculated key figures: update restricted/calculated key figures

Texts are not updated automatically. To re-index texts in a process chain, you can use program RSDDTPS_TEXT_RELOAD with input parameter = InfoObject name in the process chains. Since time-dependent texts are only created during initial indexing, this also provides you with the opportunity to update time-dependent texts.

Integration into BW Analysis Authorizations

The authorization index supports complex selections for a profile for each user and InfoProvider. If more than one profile is assigned to a user for an InfoProvider (multidimensional authorization), the BWA authorization index aggregates this as a cartesian product. More information: Analysis Authorizations and Assigning Authorizations to Users.