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Ingo HilgefortInside SAP Business ObjectsAdvanced Analysis Bonn Boston5784 Book LOOSE.indb 39/2/10 2:17:18 PM

Contents at a Glance1 SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Edition forMicrosoft Office – Your New Business Explorer (BEx)Analyzer . .192 Installation, Deployment and Configuration ofAdvanced Analysis Office .493 Advanced Analysis Office — Data Connectivity andMetadata Reuse .874Advanced Analysis Office — Basic Functions .995Advanced Analysis Office — Advanced Functions .1876Advanced Analysis Office and BEx Analyzer — a Comparison .2557 Advanced Analysis Office Integrated withSAP Business Objects Enterprise .2658Advanced Analysis Office — Usage Scenarios .2859Advanced Analysis — Product Outlook .3235784 Book LOOSE.indb 59/2/10 2:17:18 PM

ContentsForeword .Acknowledgments .Preface .1SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Edition forMicrosoft Office – Your New Business Explorer (BEx)Analyzer .1.119SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Edition forMicrosoft Office – a Short Introduction . .1.1.1A Brief Introduction to Voyager . .1.1.2A Brief Introduction to SAP BEx .1.1.3Pioneer — Combining Voyager and SAP BEx .Introduction to the Complete SAP Business Objects BIClient Portfolio .1.2.1Enterprise Reporting .1.2.2 Ad Hoc Query and Reporting .1.2.3 Advanced Analysis .1.2.4 Dashboarding and Data Visualization .1.2.5 Search, Discovery, and Exploration .SAP Advanced Analysis — One Part of the Overall BI Puzzle .User Requirements for Advanced Analysis Office .Summary .252729313334364048Installation, Deployment and Configuration of AdvancedAnalysis Office .491.21.31.41.521113152.12.2Installation of SAP Advanced Analysis Office . .2.1.1Technical Prerequisites .Deployment Options for SAP Advanced Analysis Office .2.2.1 Advanced Analysis Office Architecture .2.2.2 Deploying Advanced Analysis withoutSAP Business Objects Enterprise . .2.2.3 Deploying Advanced Analysis Combined withSAP Business Objects Enterprise . .1920212349495354555775784 Book LOOSE.indb 79/2/10 2:17:18 PM

Contents2.2.42.2.5Summary and Conclusions . .Setting Up Connections in SAP Business ObjectsEnterprise .2.2.6 Configuring Microsoft Excel and MicrosoftPowerPoint Settings .2.2.7 Configuring Connections to SAP Business ObjectsEnterprise .2.2.8 Enabling or Disabling Advanced Analysis OfficePlug-In .2.2.9 Multi-Lingual Behavior of Advanced Analysis Office .2.2.10 Setting Up User Authorizations and Rights .2.2.11 User Authentication .Summary .7375768384Advanced Analysis Office — Data Connectivity andMetadata Reuse .872.333.13.2626668Data Connectivity Options . .Leveraging SAP NetWeaver BW Metadata .3.2.1 BEx Query versus InfoProvider .Summary .85879597Advanced Analysis Office — Basic Functions .993.34584.14.2Advanced Analysis Office — Microsoft Excel . .4.1.1Establishing Data Connectivity .4.1.2Open and Saving Workbooks .4.1.3Insert Your First Crosstab .4.1.4Navigation Options .4.1.5Formatting Data . .4.1.6Sorting and Filtering . .4.1.7Charting .4.1.8Conditional Formatting .4.1.9Ranking, Conditions, and Filter by Measures .4.1.10 Totals and Subtotals .4.1.11 Prompting and Variables .4.1.12 Displaying Information about the Data . .Advanced Analysis Office — Microsoft PowerPoint .10110211011111412112614014215216116416717085784 Book LOOSE.indb 89/2/10 2:17:18 PM

Contents4.2.14.355.25.3174186Advanced Functionality in Advanced Analysis Office forMicrosoft Excel .5.1.1Using Hierarchies .5.1.2Displaying Characteristics as Hierarchy .5.1.3Creating Calculations . .5.1.4Using Data as a “Formula” . .5.1.5Adding a Filter Panel .5.1.6Creating a Microsoft PowerPoint Slide . .5.1.7Using Additional Information and Settings .5.1.8Working with Styles .Advanced Functionality in Advanced Analysis Office forMicrosoft PowerPoint .Summary .187187203206211228230234242247253Advanced Analysis Office and BEx Analyzer — a Comparison . . 2556.16.26.37173Advanced Analysis Office — Advanced Functions . 1875.16Advanced Analysis Office — Microsoft Excel versusMicrosoft PowerPoint .4.2.2 Advanced Analysis Office for MicrosoftPowerPoint — Basic Steps .Summary .Supported Functionality . .Missing Functionality .Summary and Conclusion . .255257259Advanced Analysis Office Integrated with SAPBusiness Objects Enterprise . 2657.17.27.3Lifecycle Management .Object-Level and Data-Level Security .7.2.1Data-Level Security .7.2.2 Object-Level Security .Sharing of Common Objects .7.3.1Sharing Connections .7.3.2 Sharing Workbooks and Presentations . .26126927027027127127695784 Book LOOSE.indb 99/2/10 2:17:18 PM

Contents7.47.57.68278280283Advanced Analysis Office — Usage Scenarios . 2858.18.28.38.48.59User Authentication and SSO . .Integration with InfoView .Summary .Advanced Analysis Office and Customer Support .Advanced Analysis Office and Product Profitability .Advanced Analysis Office and Sales Planning .Advanced Analysis Office and Procurement .Summary .285296307315321Advanced Analysis — Product Outlook . 3239.19.29.39.49.5Advanced Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office .Advanced Analysis, Web Edition .Integration with SAP Business Objects XI 4.0 . .Beyond SAP Business Objects XI 4.0 .Summary .323325330332334The Author . 335Index .  337105784 Book LOOSE.indb 109/2/10 2:17:18 PM

With SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office,you now have a complete Business Intelligence (BI) portfolio for an SAPNetWeaver and SAP Business Objects integrated landscape.1SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis,Edition for Microsoft Office – Your NewBusiness Explorer (BEx) AnalyzerIn this chapter, we will start with a short introduction to SAP Business ObjectsAdvanced Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, and look at how you can integrateit into your BI offerings for your users.1.1SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Edition forMicrosoft Office – a Short IntroductionWhen SAP acquired Business Objects both companies were competing against eachother for an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)–style client tool for their customers. In SAP-based deployments, customer were (and still are) using SAP BExas either a plug-in for Microsoft Office (known as SAP BEx Analyzer) or as a Webreporting tool. With Business Objects, Voyager was created to compete with BExand offer customers an alternative BI client tool for their SAP NetWeaver BusinessInformation Warehouse (BW)–based reporting, but to also offer customers usingMicrosoft Analysis Services a great analysis tool. History changed the roadmap ofthese tools in early 2008 and they are now combined to provide you — the customer — with the best possible BI client tool for advanced analysis with combinedfunctionality from SAP BEx and Voyager. Before we continue with the details ofSAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office, let’s take aquick look at Voyager and SAP BEx.195784 Book LOOSE.indb 199/2/10 2:17:19 PM

1SAP BusinessObjects Advanced Analysis, Edition for Microsoft OfficeSAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Edition for Microsoft OfficePurely for simplicity, we will refer to SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Editionfor Microsoft Office, as Advanced Analysis Office and to SAP Business Objects AdvancedAnalysis, Web Edition, as Advanced Analysis Web. Please note that only Advanced Analysis Office is being released on the SAP Business Objects XI 3.1 platform. Both versionsfor Advanced Analysis are scheduled for release with the XI 4.0 platform.1.1.1A Brief Introduction to VoyagerBusiness Objects has a long history of creating a BI client tool for the typical poweruser with OLAP-style workflows. Business Objects acquired Crystal Decisions, andwith that acquisition also obtained a product called Crystal Analysis, which thenlater became OLAP Intelligence. OLAP Intelligence was the predecessor of Voyager. When the planning of Voyager started the focus was twofold — to competewith BEx and to focus on an easy-to-use, purely web-based solution that gave agreat user experience.As Figure 1.1 shows, Voyager was created with a focus on SAP NetWeaver BW,Microsoft Analysis Service, and Hyperion Essbase as underlying OLAP data sourcesand had the ability to use multiple data sources in a single Voyager workspace.BusinessObjects VoyagerVoyager is a web-based OLAP client with and advanced & highlyintuitive user interface based on WEB 2.0 (Ajax) technologyWhere can Voyager add value? Multiple connections to multiple OLAP Servers (NetWeaver BI/BW, MSAS, Essbase) Multiple pages in a workspace Advanced charting engine with new chart capabilities especially designed for OLAP analysis Capable of standard OLAP navigation Business calculations: % diff, % cont, variance Time based calculations: Prior Period, YTD, QTD, MA Filter, sort, ranking – top / bottom, by value by %Customer requirements Tool designed for business analysts analyzing OLAP data & end users reviewing OLAP data Open data Access Access and analyze multiple OLAP sources in the one workspace Multiple views of the same OLAP cube in the one workspace Tight integration into MS PowerPoint & WordFigure 1.1 Business Objects Voyager205784 Book LOOSE.indb 209/2/10 2:17:19 PM

SAP Business Objects Advanced Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office – a Short Introduction1.1Voyager also had an excellent user interface (UI) and user experience, and advancedcharting (see Figure 1.2).Voyager User Interface ExamplesVoyagers Ajax UIMultiple OLAPconnections, chartsliders.Multiple pages, dataanalysis.SAP ConnectivityDirect Access to SAP NetWeaverBI Queries & InfoCubes via XMLAFigure 1.2 Business Objects Voyager UI ExamplesOverall, Voyager was the counterpart to BEx Web Reporting from Business Objects.1.1.2A Brief Introduction to SAP BExOver the years, SAP developed two distinct flavors of their BEx reporting tool. BExis a suite of tools, including the Web Application Designer (WAD), but the twomain tools are the BEx Analyzer and the BEx Web Analyzer.BEx Analyzer is a plug-in for Microsoft Excel that lets customers analyze their SAPNetWeaver BW data in a common and well-known environment (see Figure 1.3).BEx Analyzer offers customers typical OLAP-type workflows and functionalities ina common environment by working as a plug-in inside Microsoft Excel, however,one of the shortcomings of BEx Analyzer is that it is not able to report on any otherdatasource than SAP NetWeaver BW.215784 Book LOOSE.indb 219/2/10 2:17:20 PM

1SAP BusinessObjects Advanced Analysis, Edition for Microsoft OfficeBEx Analyzer: Excel-based OLAP for SAP NetWeaver BIThe BEx Analyzer is an add-in within MS Excel thatintegrates SAP OLAP capabilities with native MS ExcelfunctionsWhere can BEx Analyzer add value? Offers OLAP capabilities for the Excel expert without the need forspecialized training apart from MS Excel Design Mode to build Excel based dashboards based on OLAP data Advanced OLAP capabilitiesCustomer requirements Seamless integration of native Excel formatting and formulas Excel formatting options can be fully leveraged Combining Excel formulas and Excel formatting allows the design ofhigh-end formatted solution workbooks Seamless Support of all SAP OLAP capabilitiesFigure 1.3 BusinessExplorer AnalyzerBEx Web Analyzer (see Figure 1.4) is the BEx Analyzer counterpart in a web environment and provides similar functionality for a browser-based deployment.BEx Web Analyzer: Web-based OLAP for SAP NetWeaver BIThe BEx Web Analyzer is an advanced web based OLAPAnalysis client on top of SAP NetWeaver BI dataWhere can BEx Web Analyzer add value? Designed to perform OLAP analyses on top of SAP NetWeaver BI data Runtime personalization for the business analyst Seamless integration into SAP NetWeaver technology Advanced OLAP capabilitiesCustomer requirements Deep integration into SAP NetWeaver platform that leverages KM,Collaboration, Documents Management, Broadcasting, Printing & AlertingFramework Supports SAP NetWeaver BI specific OLAP capabilitiesFigure 1.4 BusinessExplorer Web Reporting225784 Book LOOSE.indb 229/2/10 2:17:21 PM