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Align your BI Strategy to your Business Strategy – use BI as an enabler to change.

Design your BI Strategy around ‘logical’ business models, not constrained by your existing systems. This

will better meet your strategic drivers and enable source systems to be changed with less impact on

Management Information. (Plug & Play Operational systems).

Perform top down, ‘blue sky’, business analysis alongside bottom up data analysis – where the two

easily map, will provide quick wins. Gaps will indicate future system enhancements or new data capture

requirements.

Define KPI’s that are affected by operational activities. This will allow operational staff to get direct

feedback, allowing low level activities to align with the high level strategy. (Drill down from top to bottom).

Correlate ‘lead’ indicators with ‘lag’ indicators to predict and manage future performance. Big Data now

gives us more customer insight and more accurate predictive capability.

Establish an organisational structure that can deploy BI into the business, use it for change management

and then measure the impact. (BI Culture via a BI Competency Centre (BICC)).

Use the BI initiative to form a cross organisational ‘committee’ to better integrate different areas of the

business and provide cross functional insight into your organisation’s performance. This group should also

oversee Master Data Management, Data Governance and Meta Data Management (BICC).

Define the long term BI Roadmap but accept that short term tactical solutions may be necessary. Ensure

any short term deployments are managed within the longer term strategy (bigger picture).

Implement and manage BI as a continual programme and not a single project.

Use multi skilled, self-organising SWAT teams, working together to deliver the solution.

Adopt an Agile development methodology to provide iterative solutions on a continual basis. This will pro-

actively engage IT and the Business together, enabling them to cope with change and provide quicker

results. Avoid the ‘waterfall’ development methodology for BI, which requires the final solution to be

defined in detail before development – BI projects always evolve during development – cater for this

evolution.

Use BI to validate your data and then implement Data Quality initiatives to resolve any issues. Make this

a business led function, not an IT exercise – stop the dirty data at source, don’t continually clean it!

Do not compromise on quality, if necessary manage the scope instead.

If this is of interest you should join us for our next Business Intelligence Centre of Excellence Event, click here

for more information: www.it-performs.com/events

429 View s 0 Comments

Tags: business, intelligence, businessobjects, bi, sap, bi4, business_intelligence_(businessobjects), bi4.0, data, quality, event,

bobj, business_intelligence, bi_platform, centre, bicc, bi4.1, sap_businessobjects_business_intelligence_platform_4.0,

business_intelligence_centre_of_excellence, agile_development_methodology, bi_competency_centre, bi_culture

Your quick guide to creating a business intelligenceculture within your organisation:

Posted by Clare Bryan Apr 17, 2014

From time to time it is possible to find something exceptional. It's just something you don’t find every day. And one of

these findings is

BI4 Platform Implementation - a must have training

Posted by Jakub Holasek Apr 13, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 2/35

Open SAP course BI4 platform Implementation.

So why do I consider it being so great?

It's completely free even for non SAP customers.

Contains a lot of useful information from people who are pure professionals

Contains not only videos but exercises and practical examples as well. Full of how-to images. Detailed and

helpful.

OK, for whom is that?

Primary focus is on administrators

Tips before upgrading to BI4 - What sizing tools use and how

Very Detailed guide how to perform installation, configuration and upgrade

What are the best practices for deployment between individual environments.

How to set up and configure BOBJ environment for small or large distributed landscape

Best practices for promotion management to be quicker and more stable

Troubleshooting best practices-What tools should be used for issues tracing and problems resolving -

focused on network, database and even client layer. SAP BW included. Root cause analysis included.

How VMware should be configured for optimal performance in case of virtual environments

How to setup and use monitoring app

How to setup authorization, authentification and SSO

How to perform performance tests with jMeter

...

For BOBJ coordinators & application managers

What is New in BI4 platform

How to setup and optimize change management (deploying from dev to prod)

When new Service pack or fix will be released?

What is the best patching strategy?

What can be done for monitoring platform and its components for being able to predict possible

performance issues

What can be done for resolving possible user issues

Where is information about limitations for your release

What are supported prerequisites for individual tools

What is SAP strategy for dashboards

...

A few demo images:

933 View s 0 Comments Tags: bi4, configuration, installation, administration, installation_client_tools

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 3/35

See also my previous blog: Installing SAP BI 4.1 SP01 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x Step-by-step

The Heartbleed Bug has generated a lot of discussion.

In this Blog, I will go over what I know about Heartbleed based on my personal

experience.

Be advised that this blog is for informational use only and SAP BI Support has

authored a KBA (pertaining to the BI Platform) will be continually updated with all of

the knowledge we have around this topic.

Resources: Official Heartbleed site Heartbleed Bug

CVE-2014-0160 CVE -CVE-2014-0160

OpenSSL Advisory https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140407.txt

Apache Tomcat Bugzilla BugID:56363 Bug 56363 OpenSSL security advisory - Heartbleed bug

Tomcat SSL how to Apache Tomcat 6.0 (6.0.39) - SSL Configuration HOW-TO

SAP BI Platform KBA http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/2003582

Summary of the Heartbleed Bug:

The Heartbleed Bug is a serious vulnerability in certain versions of the OpenSSL cryptographic software library. The

Heartbleed bug allows anyone on the Internet to read the memory of the systems protected by vulnerable versions of

OpenSSL. An attacker could then obtain encryption keys which will allow decryption of past and future traffic to

protected sites.

Affected OpenSSL versions:

Bug was introduced to OpenSSL in December 2011 and has been out in the wild since OpenSSL release 1.0.1

on 14th of March 2012. OpenSSL 1.0.1g released on 7th of April 2014 fixes the bug.

Status of different versions:

OpenSSL 1.0.1 through 1.0.1f (inclusive) are vulnerable

OpenSSL 1.0.1g is NOT vulnerable

OpenSSL 1.0.0 branch is NOT vulnerable

OpenSSL 0.9.8 branch is NOT vulnerable

SAP BI Platform SSL:

Here is a breakdown of where SSL is leveraged in the BI platform:

Streamwork integration:

XI3.1 and BI4.x includes redistributes OpenSSL 0.9.8 which is unaffected by heartbleed. in addition, this

library is used only in situations where outbound connections with SAP Streamwork is leveraged.

Server to Server SSL (Corba)

In situations were Corba SSL is enabled, the platform is utilizing an RSA implementation which is

unaffected by heartbleed to provide secure SSL functions. This configuration is documented in the admin

guide http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/sbo41/en/sbo41sp3_bip_admin_en.pdf

Tomcat SSL

The default build of Tomcat does not have APR/SSL enabled

Tomcat can use two different implementations of SSL:

The JSSE implementation provided as part of the Java runtime (since 1.4)

The APR implementation, which uses the OpenSSL engine by default.

According to Apache.org (via bugzillaID:56363):

"The b inary builds of Tomcat Native 1.1.24 - 1.1.29 have been compiled with an OpenSSL version

vulnerable to Heartb leed, and are thus probably vulnerable."

Heartbleed OpenSSL: SAP BI Platform and Tomcattesting

Posted by Brian Thomas Apr 11, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 4/35

SAP provides a Tomcat binary release which integrates an OpenSSL library directly into Tomcat

(APR/Native). This is disabled by default

How can I tell if my Tomcat version is affected?

Since Tomcat can use these 2 SSL methods mentioned above (JSSE and APR), only the APR implementation may

include this affected version of OpenSSL. For BI Platform, the out-of-the Box method to setup SSL on Tomcat

leverages JSSE (JSSE is unaffected by heartbleed). While it is possible to enable APR and exploit the bundled

tomcat, it is quite a few extra steps to enable APR and configure SSL.

Q: Where can I find this affected APR Binary?:

A: Check the Tomcat Native version (windows only). Cross reference this with:

Bug 56363 OpenSSL security advisory - Heartbleed bug:

*Note: for *nix systems, run ->"openssl version" and upgrade openssl as necessary.

Although you may have an affected binary, it doesn't yet indicate that you're using it.

Read on....

Q: So how do I know if my Tomcat SSL uses JSSE or APR?

A: Check your Tomcat logs and also SSL connector configuration:

Chances are that if you're using the Out-of the box tomcat provided by SAP BI, you're probably using JSSE.

Check your logs/stderr.log and determine which ProtocolHandler is running your SSL port.

Example:

INFO: Initializing ProtocolHandler ["http-bio-8443"]

From Apache.org reference: Apache Tomcat 7 Configuration Reference (7.0.53) - The HTTP Connector:

"The BIO and NIO connectors use the JSSE SSL whereas the APR/native connector uses OpenSSL. Therefore,

in addition to using different attributes to configure SSL, the APR/native connector also requires keys and

certificates to be provided in a different format."

Also its important to note that if the following message is found in stderr.log, Tomcat is not configured to load

the native APR by default:

INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in

production environments was not found on the java.library.path:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\;C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects

Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64\

How do I just test my Java Application server to be sure? There are a few ways to do this. Most of the utilities are developed or derived by: https://github.com/FiloSottile

*Note: I express no warranties about the reliability of these 3rd parties.

*Note: Only do this on a TEST system.

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 5/35

1) Compile and run Heartbleed checker tool

This method is a a bit more complicated.

Prerequisites:

Install go 1.2 Downloads - go - The Go Programming Language - Google Project Hosting

Install git Git - Downloading Package

Configure your GOPATH variable http://golang.org/doc/code.html#GOPATH

Optional - Configure git for proxy servers git config --global http.proxy http://<login_internet>:

<password_internet>@aproxy:aport

Install

Documented here: FiloSottile/Heartbleed · GitHub

go get github.com/FiloSottile/Heartbleed

go install github.com/FiloSottile/Heartbleed

If that all worked properly, you should now have a Heartbleed.exe in your /go/bin folder.

Run

so far, so good....

How do I purposely exploit Tomcat so I know this tool is working?

You're basically asking: How do I enable the affected APR and configure SSL with OpenSSL?

Here is what you would have to do:

1. Enable Tomcat APR.

Ensure that Tomcat is actually loading the affected APR binary. Locate the tcnative-1.dll (this should be in

/tomcat/bin) and add this location is in your java.library.path

2. Configure SSL using the APR implementation:

Edit the server.xml

<Connector port="8443" protocol="org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11AprProtocol"

SSLEnabled="true" maxThreads="150" scheme="https" secure="true"

SSLCertificateFile="C:/SSL/servercert.pem" SSLCertificateKeyFile="C:/SSL/privkey.pem"

SSLPassword="password" clientAuth="false" sslProtocol="TLS" />

*Notice you have to provide additional parameters (SSLCertificateFile, SSLCertificateKeyFile, SSLPassword)

that were not required with JSSE (JSSE requires keystore and keystorepass).

3. Start Tomcat, check your logs:

You should now see:

INFO: Loaded APR based Apache Tomcat Native library 1.1.24 using APR version 1.4.6.

INFO: OpenSSL successfully initialized (OpenSSL 1.0.1c 10 May 2012)

4. Retest Tomcat using Heartbleed

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 6/35

What to do if <insert application server here> is Vulnerable?

Keep up to date with the information on Heartbleed Bug

For Tomcat, stay tuned to this bugzilla track: Bug 56363 OpenSSL security advisory - Heartbleed bug. For APR

users, a link to v1.130 APR is provided. Just copy+paste and restart tomcat. For Linux users, simply 'yum

update openssl'.

Alternatively just use the default JSSE.

For other App servers, contact your specific Application Server vendor

I enjoyed testing and hope you find it informative.

8353 View s 18 Comments Tags: bi4, bi4.0, bi4.1

Hello everyone, maybe you are already aware of the critical security issue within the Open Source

implementation of SSL called OpenSSL.

There is a critical Vulnerability that grants an attacker access to the Stream of Data between

the Client and the Server even if the attacker has recorded the whole Data stream of the last

two years (It has gone public that this critical issue is in the OpenSSL implementation for two

years now). This is possible via 64 kb small "Ping" signal that travels between the Client and

the Server to check if the connection still active. This "Ping" can be compromised to read the

Private Key out of the Server Memory. For more Information please check the following Web Site: Heartbleed Bug

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.x is not affected from this Bug as it is using the older

OpenSSL Libraries in the Version 0.9.8. SAP Business Intelligence Platform 4.x is not affected from this Bug at is is using the RSA

implementation of SSL.

OpenSSL Libraries in the Version 1.0.1 and 1.0.1f are effected.

SAP created the following Note for more information: http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/2003582

Regards

-Seb.

SAP Business Intelligence and the OpenSSL"Heartbleed" vulnerability

Posted by Sebastian Wiefett Apr 11, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 7/35

1063 View s 2 Comments

SummaryThis post summarizes noticeable features of BusinessObjects BI4, BI4.1 release from our perspective since XI 3.1.

Many people ask "Why should I upgrade? Where is the value added for end user?". If you are one of them then this

article is especially for you. Primary target of this article is to focus on real features for customer end user groups.

Secondary objective is to provide at least basic information about features influencing development and development

time plus features.

We don’t use all BusinessObjects platform tools, we use only what our customers need. What tools are used and

which not will be specified later. At first it is important to introduce end user groups view:

User groupsAdministrators

Developers

End users

End user groups

Viewers (consumers)

Explorers (interactive viewers)

Analysts (data analysts)

There are different requirements for different end user groups:

Requirement Viewers Explorers Analysts

Report response time

★★★

They need to see information in

report as fast as possible

★★★

Usually possible to have

higher response time than

view ers

★★★

Usually possible to have

higher response time than

view ers and explorers

Report design and

accessibility

★★★

Clear and effective design is

desired as w ell as easy use of

basic functions

★★★

Clear and effective design is

desired as w ell as easy use

of basic functions

★★★

Mostly not as important as

for the other groups.

Modification report

features

★★★

None to minimal. Usually they

don’t have rights for report

customization. They need to use

filters and some of them need

basic f iltering capabilities also

★★★

Moderate - usually they need

to create ow n filters/input

controls, scope of analysis

and select dimensions or

attributes not presented in

report to create ow n version

★★★

Very important. Filters/input

controls, ow n calculated

metrics, ow n queries and

scopes of analysis, ow n

optional prompts and queries

Advanced searching

features

★★★

Minimal.They are mostly

satisf ied w ith basic prompts.

★★★

Moderate – basic,

hierarchical or nested

prompts are on daily use

★★★

Optional prompts and f ilters

are essential as w ell as

drilling capability. Mostly

over huge amount of data

w ith multiple conditions.

Analytical features of

application

★★★

None.

★★★

Important – Creating graphs

and pivot tables

★★★

Essential - Creating graphs

and pivot tables, data

tracking, creating ow n

metrics w ith different

mathematical and statistical

functions, using contexts

Possibility of report

sharing

★★★

None, they don’t create ow n

content.

★★★

They need special folder

w here they can share their

customization w ith

colleagues

★★★

They need special folder

w here they can share their

customization w ith

colleagues

★★★ ★★★ ★★★

BusinessObjects Features since XI3.1 vs BI4,BI41 fordifferent user groups

Posted by Jakub Holasek Apr 6, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 8/35

Technical skills

demands and training

difficulty

Very little technical skills, easy

to train

Medium technical skills High technical skills and long

time for training

Report types

★★★

Preformatted WebIntelligence

& Crystal reports

Dashboards

PDF

Mobile

Excel for export mostly

forbidden

★★★

WebIntelligence reports

Excel

Explorer & Lumira stories

★★★

WebIntelligence reports

Excel

Analysis

What tools we dont use and why

Crystal reports

Since XI 4 many features have been added to WebIntelligence and we dont need to use Crystals at all.

This saved a lot of time, developing crystal reports is neither easy nor fast

Comparison between Crystal reports and Web Intelligence features:

Feature Crystal reports Web Intelligence

Data source

connectivity

★★★

Universe access or DB direct access

(ODBC,JDBC,BICS). Impossible to use

contexts on universes.

★★★

Since XI 4 it is possible to connect directly to

SAP BW via BICS . Possible to use universe

contexts. Still impossible to use direct DB except

for BICS.

Prompts ★★★

Possible of using optional prompts and List

of Values can be defined in report.

★★★

In XI 3.1 it is possible to define optional prompt on

report, but you cannot define List of Values on

report.

Since BI4.0 it is possible to define ow n values in

LOV.

Layout customization ★★★

Best of BOBJ platform. Formulas can be

used for determining f ields position or

suppression of row s.

★★★

Since XI 4 you can hide columns and most of

formatting requirements can be done by Alerters

function. It has forms objects also w hich is w hy

are Crystals misused.

Development time ★★★

High. Also it takes a lot of time to train

developer for using this application, it has

never been intuitive much.

★★★

It varies. Basically it is almost alw ays faster than

developing similar report in crystals.

SAP CrystalReports

JavaScript API

★★★

The JavaScript API lets you customize the

report view er, and add interactivity to your

Crystal reports content.

★★★

Since BI 4 (in BI 4.1 SP2 greatly improved) you

may use SAP BusinessObjects Web

Intelligence RESTful Web Service SDK. You may

also use jQuery or similar library to do some

necessary changes in html mode,it is very useful.

End user groups ★★★

View ers

★★★

View ers, explorers, analysts.

Email notifications ★★★

Possible directly send notif ication about

metrics change. Furthermore notif ications

may be view ed in notif ications tab in

LaunchPad.

★★★

It is possible even since XI 3.1,w ith a little

w orkaround. You may schedule or create

publication based on document w hich contains

one more report w ith custom sql w hich throw s an

error w hen certain condition is fulf illed (then email

w ont be sent) - i.e. for multiple conditions custom

sql formula could look like this:

...

case

w hen [measure1]>x then 1/0

w hen [measure n]=z then 1/0

end

This kind of notif ication cannot be view w ed in

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

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notif ications tab in LaunchPad,but it is still usable.

Export file type options ★★★

PDF,XLS,CSV,RTF,HTML,XML

★★★

PDF,CSV,XLS

Since BI4.0 XLSX

Linking to Document ★★★

You can open report or report part via

OpenDocument link. Fully supported and

documented.

★★★

In XI 3.1 it is possible to open document.

Since BI4.0 it is possible even open document

part. This is not off icial feature but it unlikely w ill

be ever removed because this functionality is

essential for Workspaces.

Publishing ★★★

Suitable for large landscapes (thousands of

reports) and customizable – you can

partition reports according to specif ic

parameter. It is a little better than WebI

though, since BI4.1 SP3 you may easily

deploy to other languages.

★★★

Very similar possibilities of publishing. Since BI4.0

it is possible to have custom user defined

parameter for partitioning reports w hen

publishing.

Considering these features we have decided not to use Crystal reports in the future. Still, it may not be your case

and you have to use it. I recommend to look at news for CR BI4.0 FP3, CR news for BI4.0 SP5 and news CR for

BI4.1.

Keep in mind that most of news for CR are for developers and not end user groups (there are some thought like

new graph types)

Dashboard designer (Xcelsius)

Since XI 4 it is possible to create query not only via QAAWS but via semantic layer (universe - unx) as well. Be

prepared - it may take some time before you can use this connectivity option. It’s likely you will need

additional server configuration.

Altough this is really great feature, you may spend another enormous amount of time when recreating

individual QAAWS into universe queries. Since this queries cannot be duplicated, this may be the right

activity delegated to summer workers. There are cases when QAAWS are still better option.

Furthermore, there is a tip for you - if you use dashboards in WebI, you may use relative URL in QAAWS

and as a result you will not have to change it after migration to BI4 or even when deploying between DEV

and PROD environment. You have to promote qaaws with the same id of course.

It is also possible to create dashboard without using Excel

New user interface

Sadly said the most important limitations are still present and development in this tool is still limited:

You cannot create bigger tables because in resulted flash file it is everything but smooth. Furthermore

there is still excel limit, you cannot save more than a few thousands of rows in DD’s dashboard.

Dashboards still cannot be scheduled - which means database layer must be prepared for very quick

response. This is achievable, but at what cost .

Some elements available in XI 3.1 have been removed

Mobile support is very limited, at least incompatible objects are specified which is good for development

as well as HTML5 mobile preview

Flash is evil and HTML5 export has many limitations

As a result we have decided to use Dashboard designer as a deprecated tool which means we will not develop

Dashboards with this tool anymore. Dashboards from xi 3.1 will be available, however. We also decided to get

rid of QAAWS and replace it with new unx universe.

Dashboarding now and in the future?

Since XI 4 graphs have been significantly improved in Web Intelligence we use this feature in combination with

Workspaces. It is possible to create very good looking dashboard. If you enhance Webi report with some jQuery

functionality you may get some clickable buttons and animations as well. And because there is native possibility

of scheduling Webi reports, you don’t have to spend too much time with another database super aggregation

layer.

Design studio

At first this tool seemed in BI4.0 as a replacement for Dashboards for SAP BW. But since version 2 it is possible

to use this tool with universe connection and it looks promising. HTML5 output and mobile features support is at

least level above Dashboard designer. You don’t have to use Excel which is plus.

Sadly said, control elements and graph types are in HTML5 quite limited (more than in Dashboard designer). If

we are ever about to go back to pure dashboard tool again, it would be probably this tool. I suppose we may

expect merging Design studio and Dashboard designer in one tool in the future.

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

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Its development cycle and adding new features seems to be faster in comparison to Dashboard Designer, you

should check what’s new in Design studio from time to time, the amount of available elements is getting

higher

If you for some reason want to develop dashboards in Dashboards or Design studio now, you should still do it

in the older one since this is still very new tool unless you are primary focused on developing your own highly

customized mobile dashboards (customized = JS programming etc).

Analysis (edition for OLAP)

Support for Oracle XMLa and Teradata OLAP (BIO) looked very promising (Available since BI4.1 SP2). But long

development time, additional license and maintenance cost for Teradata OLAP and maintaining and developing

OLAP cubes could not justify functionality of this application which usability is far from Office (Excel) version. If you

don’t have SAP BW and looking for tool which enables users quick analyzing of bigger amount of data (2M+) this tool

is not for you. Sadly said, it is not Web Intelligence either. I recommend to look here for information about

application which may provide missing functionality in the future.

Development and administrationAlthough this post is not primary focused on development and administration features, it’s good to know at least the

most important ones.

Development

Focused on semantic layer and deployment. For news in client applications you may consider following the analysts

group which is closest to developers in the last table in this post.

There is a new tool for universe creation, Information Design Tool (IDT)

Old Universe designer has been renamed to Universe design tool and still exists.

Using Universe design tool for BI4.0 is more justifiable than for BI4.1 because in BI4.0 it has many

bugs (limitations…"features"). Most of them have been removed in BI4.1.

Universe in IDT consists of three parts: Data foundation, business layer and connection.

1. It is possible to create data foundation with more connections (multisource universe)

When multisource universe is used, BOBJ federation engine is in use. In this case you

may use another new tool - Data federation administration tool which is excellent for

monitoring queries (SQL) which are created for querying. You can see SQL even with

OLAP data source. It is also possible to optimize federation for specific connections via

many available parameters and this offers and it is more flexible than "simple" joining

from different sources at report level like in xi 3.1. Since BI4.1 you may also create data

federation dataflow.

Multisource engine may be used even for single sources, but it is recommended only

when it is required (i.e. for SAP BW relational connection)

2. Queries on business layer for or previewing data - it is very useful feature since universe

changes can be fully seen on report only when you log off and log in again. In XI 3.1 reopening

document was enough. Not in XI 4 platform.

3. It is also possible quickly analyze previewed data - count of unique values, sorting, filtering and

even graph creating- much improved against XI 3.1

4. Views on data foundation and families (slide 11)- if you have big universe which means tens or

hundreds of tables, this is something what can lower the time for understanding relations and

maintenance, it is also quicker for viewing and you may also consider simplifying contexts.

5. Comments are now customizable. You can also use HTML Tags to color code the descriptions

of objects (s l ide 12). Since BI4.1.

6. You may consider creating more business layers on one data foundation. Unfortunately this

feature is not as good as it could be - when you export more business layers to your CMS and

then retrieve it, you may notice that these data foundations are separate and you will have to do

the changes twice.

7. Parameters and List of Values - you can reuse list of values for parameters with prompts, you

can define hard coded (static) LOVs with multiple columns. Since BI4.1 it is possible to create

index awareness prompts, but you should know that it may be difficult to set up it to working

without issues and effective

8. New functions like @Execute enables you to use advanced database functions with width

clause - recursion, trends and it may be useful when time is important and you cannot easily do

views or new tables on database layer

9. You can share your universe with other developers - you can publish universe or its parts to the

server (not CMS)

10.

Since BI4.0 many JAVA SDK classes have been removed. It means your Java programs developed in XI 3.1 may

not work.

Since BI4.1 SP2 most of essential JAVA API is usable again. Certain amount of functionality needs to be

rewritten, however.

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

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Limitations you should know about

1. In BI4.0 you cannot change format for more objects at once in IDT. Solved since BI4.1

2. In BI4.0 you cannot use database specific SQL in derived tables in multisource universe. Also solved in

BI4.1

3. You cannot create custom SQL in LOV based on @DerivedTable function

4. Universe parameters (like END_SQL, ANSI92, JOIN_BY_SQL etc) may be reason for strange behavior or

errors. Always check SAP OSS notes

5. @Execute function has been introduced in BI4.0SP4, but it is usable since BI4.1SP2 FP3

6. There is a new tool for promoting to next environment -* Lifecycle management tool

Its performance is not great, for many objects (i.e. for 1000 reports you should consider using

command line which is significantly faster or UMT tool in special mode, look at next paragraph )

You cannot use Import wizard tool because since XI 4 it does not exist. There is very similar tool

named Upgrade management tool but it is focused only on getting content from XI 3.1 to XI 4. There

are some parameters for administrator for being able to send biar from XI 4 system to another XI 4

system, but it is not for normal use. It is important to optimize change management process as much

as possible.

Versioning system (VMS)

It is possible to version content with Version management which is accessible through CMS.

1. For DEV environment it is great tool and developers should use it on daily basis. Not only for documents,

but universes as well as for LCM jobs.

2. Sadly said, it is not as feature rich as it should be. This means certain limitations:

cannot schedule automatic backup of your selected documents

it is also impossible to quickly add file to Version management in LaunchPad. You have to log in

CMS, go to version management, navigate through folder structure and select the right object

versioning through Promotion management is somehow buggy (BI41SP2), you may need to do it

directly in VMS

Comparing differences

I recommend to use visual difference application. It features of comparing LCM jobs or LCM biars. It may be

capable of comparing WebI documents and universes in the future. But not now. Still, it is good addition to

versioning and promotion management.

JAVA SDK

You should know about Restful raylight web services because it may significantly reduce time for doing common

tasks when doing small change in many reports or working with publications. It also replaces some of missing

functionality in JAVA SDK.

IS Development faster in XI 4 comparing to XI 3 platform?

For BI4.0 I cannot say that, I would say it’s even worse. This applies especially for Web Intelligence. The whole

BI4.0 platform features many bugs (although many of them have been fixed) and no wonder there is already

SP9.

For BI4.1 where many bugs and limitations have been removed, it is definitely much better. Comparable to

stability of 3.1.

Keep in mind that you have more options and you can do certain things in a better way. This does not mean it is

always faster.

AdministrationServer side is 64bit platform - you cannot install on 32bit OS. And it is good thing because on 64bit OS you can use

more RAM. This is something you will need more than before. Check out the sizing guide for getting more

information.

Noticable applications

Monitoring - great tool for monitoring server health. But it may take a while to set the correct metrics and alerts -

depends on your system. You should check this guide.

SAP BI Platform Support Tool - This tool allows landscape, content and licence analysis without additional

licence cost. It can be downloaded and runned very quickly by any user with administrator rights. It is easy to use

and is suitable especially for large landscapes where comparing certain technical KPIs may be essential for

predicting possible issues. Can be run since XI 4.

System configuration wizard - this tool makes sence since BI4.1 and can be used with positive impact on

performance. I recommend to use it as a starting point and then do other customizations manually.

Since BI4.1 SP3 it is possible to kill user sessions via CMC. This feature is extremely useful for those who have

concurrent session licence model.

Other platform thoughts

Session management upgrade - Since BI4.1 SP3 you can kill users sessions. Finally you don’t have to restart

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 12/35

servers or develop custom script to do that - it is native functionality. It is not all featured – it cannot be scheduled

nor parameterized by user sessions count yet. Still, good start. Something what BOBJ admins have been

waiting for many years.

Security framework - it may take a long time before you set the appropriate access rights to access levels for you

user groups. There are plenty of new application and system rights. And new features sometimes need

special organization of application groups

Visualization and explorationBI4 platform is a huge step in visual analysis. There are new tools such as Lumira and Predictive

analysis and older Explorer was updated as well.

There are some thoughts you should know about:

Explorer is very limited in the matter of customization as it always has been, no significant

improvement, advanced users may not be satisfied with predefined chart types or tabular exploration

- pivot table is not available . In comparison to XI 3.1 you can connect it to universe (both types since

BI4.1)

Since BI4.1 Explorer is not a part of default server installation. Apparently for some good

reason, before installing make sure you make full backup of your server. In some cases it may

ruin your installation so badly you will have to reinstall the whole server including FRS.

Lumira (formerly Visual Intelligence) offers some customization options including data preparation

and it may be used as forecasting tool as well. Chart types and possibility of stories creation are

impressive as well as dataset rows limit (15M on 32bit Os,32M on 64bit OS). The greatest issues

lies somewhere else. You cannot export your story to CMS as a flash, HTML5 or something similar

where casual users could benefit from your created visualizations.

There is a possibility of exporting to Explorer, but dataset only.

Simple said-sharing is very limited and for being able to provide your visualizations to others,

they have to use Lumira as well. And since it is desktop application, it is limitation for easy

content sharing. Even if your users have the Lumira, you need additional Lumira server for

sharing possibility in your company. This does not fully apply for companies or individuals who

may use SAP cloud for sharing.

If you are individual or your company does not have common security procedures and

regulations you may be interested in publishing Lumira stories to public cloud and then it is

possible to include published page into workspaces

Features comparison since XI 3.1Most important chapter of this post. In following table you can find new features since XI 3.1 for specified end user

groups. At first look at rating table:

Rating Legend- comparing to XI 3.1

Worse Better Desc

▼▼▼

▼▼▼

▼▼▼

-

★★★

★★★

★★★

-

A little

Quite

Far

No change /

hardly noticeable

Application/Feature Comment Feature rating

Launch Pad

Customizable home

tab

Tabbed interface

Since BI4.0

Customizable HOME tab may contain recently opened documents,

new inbox objects, available applications

It is possible to pin frequently used documents into tabs

It saves a lot of time for users and it is fairly faster navigation than in

InfoView

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Launch Pad

Enhanced

publishing and

scheduling features

Since BI4.0

It is possible to partition publications w ith specif ic user defined

variable.

Also publishing engine has been greatly improved in matter of

performance and publishing is now much faster than in XI 3.1.

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Launch Pad

Viewing

document/instance

of the document

Since BI4.0

If document has an instance, it is displayed. If it has not, document

itself is opened. This is better than behavior in XI 3.1 w here it cannot

be achieved (you may have set for all documents to open last

instance but if it had no instance on double click user w as not able to

open document)

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Launch Pad

View/design HTML

mode for WebI

Since BI4.0

Launch Pad Webi HTML design (edit) mode is more usable than

interactive mode in xi 3.1, it is similar to java mode more than

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers -

Explorers ★★★

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 13/35

interactive mode to edit mode in xi 3.1. Look at link for comparison

of individual edit modes.

For view ers there is no additional added value, they cannot edit

document

Analysts ★★★

Workspaces

Content linking

between modules

(sub)tabbed

interface

multiple document

viewers in one

workspace

ability to select

specific instance to

be opened

3 viewing types for

displaying specific

document

Since BI4.0

Workspaces are now fully customizable even by end users. You can

add multiple report types (WebI, Crystals, Flash) and html pages.

Great alternative for creating dashboards w ithout Dashboards/Design

studio restrictions. Content linking betw een modules may be useful

w hen you need navigate from one report (i.e. w ith graph) to another

report (w ith table). This can be done by GUI tool, follow this

example.

Since BI4.1 you can specify default prompt value for a Workspace

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

DesktopIntelligence

Discontinued

For BI4.0 there is neither compatibility mode nor webi

features which may replace DeskI functions.

Since BI4.1 WebI is more powerful and in many cases

replaces missing functionality. Furthermore there is

compatibility pack which enables running DeskI.

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers -

Explorers ▼▼▼

Analysts ▼▼▼

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers -

Explorers -

Analysts -

Web Intelligence

New user interface

Customizable web

application interface

Since BI4.0. New ribbon interface is huge step. Question is forw ard

or backw ard?

For view ers the change is not so big and is mostly accepted w ell.

Explorers and analysts may edit document and at beginning they may

not accept the UI change w ell. It is similar change as it w as betw een

Office 2003 and Office 2007. For those w ho are familiar w ith ribbon it

is easier to get used to. Still, navigation in edit mode is considered to

be a little clearer in XI 3.1.

Since BI4.1 it is possible not only to assign certain functionality via

access levels w ith specif ic rights for specif ic application, but it is also

possible to assign specif ic functionality (buttons) for specif ic user

groups. This is especially useful for view ers w ho need to see input

controls, but they should not be able to see save button nor design

toolbar. Furthermore it is possible add single dimension to already

created merged dimensions w ithout recreating (similar behavior like in

XI 3.1, in BI4.0 it w as very inconvenient you had to unmerge all of

them first)

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers -

Explorers ▼▼▼

Analysts ▼▼▼

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers -

Analysts -

Web Intelligence

Notification before

expiring session and

ability to refresh it by

simple click

Since BI4.0

This is one of the small things w hich make huge effect for all end

users. "Your session has been expired" w ithout notif ication w as one

of the most evil things in XI 3.1 especially on PROD environment

w here you could not have long time before timing out

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Data refresh

Data preview

For BI4.0 it is possible to refresh only the w hole document. This may

be problematic if you have many document queries and one report is

linked to one query. Data refresh response may be signif icantly

higher.

Since BI4.0 It is possible to preview data even for one query. The

disadvantage of data refresh is partially reduced by this feature, but

only for explorers and analysts.

Since BI4.1 it is the same as in XI 3.1 - you may refresh selected

queries in document

Group BI4.0

View ers ▼▼▼

Explorers ▼▼▼

Analysts ▼▼▼

Group BI4.1

View ers -

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Prompts

Hierarchical

prompts may

be used in filter

at any level of

hierarchy

Better

dependent

(nested)

prompts

Since BI4.0

Firstly, if hierarchy prompt in UNX universe is created user w ill be able

to f ilter by any level of hierarchy on the report w hich means great

simplif ication and interactivity. This is achievable only by using

Information design tool and unx universe.

Secondly, nested prompts behavior is improved- if you selected

prompt w ithout f illing the previous one (on w hich is specif ic prompt

dependent), there is link to it. Furthermore prompts in List of values do

not require additional prompt w ith the same name like in certain

situations in XI 3.1. This w orks on prompts created both in Universe

designer and Information Design tool.

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 14/35

Web Intelligence

Charts features

new graph

types

design

improved

enhanced

options

Since BI4.0 there are new graph types such as s Scatter Bubble,

Polar Bubble, Dual Axes Charts, Heat Maps, Box Plots, Series Pie

Charts and Tag Cloud.

Graph design has been completely recreated as w ell. Now you can

create professional looking graphs and this is one of the reasons you

don’t have to use Dashboards anymore. You may assign shadow s

and lightning effects, gradient - it is similar change as it w as betw een

excel 2003 graphs and excel 2007 graphs.

For possibilities of customizing chart look it is good to know that you

can f inally assign different axis values (for specif ic chart types),

choose from predefined color palettes preferred style or set color

transparency.

Sadly said, in BI4.0 there are some things w hich reduce usability and

x-times prolong development time:

w hen you assign/change/remove dimensions or attribute from

graph, most of graph settings are reset and you need to do

many clicks again and again

you may have only one custom color palette (furthermore you

have to define its colors into xml f ile and save it to specif ic

location on server- not exactly user friendly)

Since BI4.1 there is not only new Waterfall chart type, but mentioned

limitations have been f ixed - you don’t lose your chart settings and

you can +create more custom color graph palettes +directly in WebI.

Since BI4.1SP3 you may also defined line w idth. As a result, WebI

charts are in BI4.1 fairly better and more importantly, report charts

customization/recreation is faster.

Group BI4.0

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Group BI4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Calculation engine

enhancements

Since BI4.0

Mostly used only by analysts and some explorers. For explorers they

don’t use most of functions so there is very little impact. For analysts

(and developers) it’s a bit w orse. They are mostly not pleased w ith

the new behavior. Furthermore, they are disappointed w ith changing

behavior w hich depends on specif ic Support Pack not only on major

release and they are confused.

For BI4.1 check the changes since xi 3.1.

Since BI4.SP3 it is possible to use Formula Rew rite Tool for

facilitating converting formulas to new version

Group BI4.0

View ers -

Explorers ▼▼▼

Analysts ▼▼▼

Group BI4.1

View ers -

Explorers -

Analysts -

Web Intelligence

Additional export

options

Since BI4.0

For someone unimportant for someone one of most important features

is full support of excel exporting. It means the row s limit is increased

from 65k to about 1M row s. Furthermore, images are exported to

XLSX as w ell.

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Improved copying:

cell format copy

object copy

between

documents

Since BI4.0

This functionality is applicable to explorers and analysts.

Cell format copy facilitates setting the right format for selected objects

in the f irst case. Explorers, w ho are often more interested in good

looking style, benefit from it quite w ell.

In the second case it is great enhancement w hen w orking w ith

multiple documents or reports. It has many limitations though - users

are unable to copy sections, queries are copied as w ell in most

cases and Java mode/rich client is required. You get an error quite

often w hen copying.

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers -

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Input controls

improved

Since BI4.0 FP3

You may use hierarchy objects in input controls and it is show n as a

tree. That is stunning. Sadly said, this is possible only on BICS SAP

BW source. It simple means it cannot be achieved w ith any other

source or relational connectivity)

Since BI4.0 it is possible to define custom list of values directly on

report.

Since BI4.1 SP3 it is possible not to show “all values” option in any

element. Furthermore w hen duplicating document tab (report) all input

control elements are preserved. It saves a lot of time.

Group BI4.0

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Group BI4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Folding/unfolding

Since BI4.1

Excel “drilling” alias folding/unfolding for tables is available even in

HTML mode. This is particularly useful for view ers w ho don’t use java

environment.

Group BI4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Ability to freeze

rows and columns in

a table

Since BI4.1 SP2

Freezing headers or columns is something what excel

fanatics (and not only them) voted for years. Finally it is here.

And it works great.

Group BI4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 15/35

Web Intelligence

Hiding abilities

Since BI4.0

Another good feature w hich mostly explorers and analysts benefit

from:

1) It is possible to hide column very simply. Works only on dimensions.

2) It is possible to use hide when condition not only on section

(XI3.1) but on a table as w ell. And because tables are copy-able

elements to other documents, users may benefit from it even more.

Group BI4.0,4.1

View ers -

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Object value selector

Since BI4.1

Usable for those w ho w rite many formulas w hich are mostly analysts

Group BI4.1

View ers -

Explorers -

Analysts ★★★

Web Intelligence

Group by Variab les

Since BI4.1 SP2

This is something w hat use to be in Desktop Intelligence. Since it is

discontinued in BI4.0 it is w elcome feature for explorers and analysts

w ho need to create their ow n lookup quickly w ithout redesigning

universe or data layer. This great feature is available since BI4.1 SP2.

Group BI4.1

View ers -

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Multiple applications

Mobile support

enhancements

It w ouldnt be fair not to mention some mobile enhancements

especially because in many companies managers may use company

smartphones or tablets and mobile devices are more and more

important. Currently supported mobile OS: BlackBerry,IOS and

Android.

Since BI4.0 there is a new Mobile Home page w hich display only

mobile reports. When properly configured, you may add more mobile

reports by assigning the right mobile category w hich is really quick

w ay for releasing new reports.

Futhermore,Dashboards reports may be deployed to mobile devices.

Support for current applications have been improved, i.e. it is possible

to add some input controls elements.

Since BI4.1 it is possible to export analysis documents to VisualStudio

and from there you can export this kind of reports to mobile devices

as w ell so analysts may benefit from it.

It is also possible to open another document over hyperlink to another

mobile document (OpenDoc).

Group BI4.0

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Group BI4.1

View ers ★★★

Explorers ★★★

Analysts ★★★

Should you upgrade or not?

I believe it is simple. It is not question if you should or not. The question is when. If you are not sure which XI4 version

is better, I can say from my experience that BI4.1 release is a big step forward comparing to BI4.0. Just like XI 3.1

against XI 3.0 was. It does not mean the BOBJ platform is errorless now. It does not mean it features all required

functionality either. It means, that improvements mentioned are real and represent significant added value for end

users. And not only for them.

4450 View s 23 Comments Tags: bi4, upgrade, dashboards, w ebi, comparison, deski, rating;, features;, bi41;

I've been asked a number of times if there is a good architectural diagram of the processes within BI4 and how they

all interact together. In version 3.1 there was a standard slide that SAP released and was well know by everyone, but

since version 4 came out, this has been something that has been lacking and most people just put together their own

materials displaying the most important parts.

However, I just came across this diagram which is great and shows it quite clearly how it all connects. Have a look

and I'm sure you will be the star when presenting this to your clients.

http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/sbo41/en/sbo41_bip_architecture_en.pdf

There's also this flash version with good information about each server.

BI 4.0 FP3 Platform: View components

Cheers,

Josh

946 View s 2 Comments Tags: architecture, bi41, bi4_architecture

BI4.1 architecture diagram

Posted by Josh Song Apr 3, 2014

Using JVMTOP and JVMMON to analyze Tomcat CPU

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 16/35

Troubleshooting CPU bottlenecks on the Apache Tomcat application server can be challenging. Since Apache

Tomcat is running as a Java Virtual Machine, understanding which JVM threads are consuming the overall Tomcat

CPU can be a bit of a black box since this information is not easily accessible in regular monitoring tools. Recently, I

have discovered a brilliant new tool called JVMTOP which provides direct insight into the performance of threads

running on a Java Virtual Machine. Additionally, JVMTOP also shows in real-time which threads are blocked and also

the id of the thread it is currently waiting on. In this article, I will provide a demonstration on how this tool works and

what information you need to collect once you have identified the problematic Java thread(s) so that SAP can perform

a deeper root cause analysis.

Identify the CPU bound thread using JVMTOP

I have made a slight modification to the JVMTOP application (updated the exectuable jar manifest for ease of

use) and created a new batch file to launch the application. Download the version linked from this article when

following this tutorial. Note, this tutorial was tested only against Apache Tomcat running SAPJVM

1. Download jvmtop.zip

2. Extract the files from jvmtop.zip to <INSTALL_DIR>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

4.0\win64_x64\sapjvm\bin on your Apache Tomcat node

3. Open a command prompt and browse to <INSTALL_DIR>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

4.0\win64_x64\sapjvm\bin

4. Open task manager, click view --> select columns, select PID (Process Identifier) and determine the

process id of tomcat.exe

5. In the command prompt, execute the command: runJVMTOP.bat <PID>. For example:

bottlenecks

Posted by Toby Johnston Apr 2, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 17/35

6. JVMTOP will connect to the SAPJVM and list the top 10 Java threads which are consuming the most

CPU. Notice, it will continue to stay connected and the values are refreshed automatically in real-time

similar to the Unix version of top

COLUMN DESCRIPTION

TID JVM thread ID

NAME Name of JVM thread

STATE The state that the thread is currently in

CPU Current CPU utilization (in ratio to available cpu time on all processors)

TOTALCPU CPU utilization (in ratio to process cpu consumption) since the thread is alive

BLOCKEDBY If this thread is blocked, this column shows the thread id which is blocking this thread

7. In the above example, we can easily identify that the thread creating the CPU bottleneck is http-8080-5

with thread id 48

Create thread dumps using JVMMONNow that we have identified the offending thread, we need to generate a thread dump so that we can analyze

the call stack of the code currently being executed by this thread. SAPJVM includes a utility called JVMMON

which makes creating thread dumps very easy to do without a lot of additional configuration.

1. Open a command prompt and browse to <INSTALL_DIR>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

4.0\win64_x64\sapjvm\bin

2. Execute the file jvmmon.exe and it will print out a list of running JVM processes and their corresponding

process id (PID)

3. Enter the process id of the Apache Tomcat Server JVM and press enter

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 18/35

4. Enter the command “print to file” and when prompted for “file=” enter a path and file name for the first

thread dump. NOTE: You must first create the folder structure where you intend to save the file.

5. Next, enter the command "print stacktrace" and at the same time, take a screenshot of the current

JVMTOP output.

The threads shown in JVMTOP will match the thread details shown in the thread dump and then deeper

root cause analysis can be performed by SAP

6. Repeat the thread dump / JVMTOP screenshot collection while the CPU is bottlenecked (at an interval of

five minutes between each collection). The more iterations of this information that is collected, the easier

it will be to diagnose the bottleneck

7. Exit JVMTOP by typing CTRL-C and choose (Y) to end the batch job. Use the command exit to exit

from JVMMON

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 19/35

For more information about JVMTOP, you can visit the homepage at:

Documentation - jvmtop - Java monitoring for the command-line - Google Project Hosting

1041 View s 3 Comments

Tags: performance, 4.0, monitoring, root_cause_analysis, rca, jvm, tomcat, bi4.1,

sap_businessobjects_business_intelligence_platform_4.0, application_servers

As some may have seen in the " what's new in SP3" document, there is a small handy little feature delivered in 4.1

SP3 to provide a link directly to a folder.

This is just like you can already have a direct link to a document (OpenDocument).

Simply right click on a folder and click on the Folder Link.

Copy & paste the link contained:

Share the link.

A person clicking on the link will be taken directly to the folder.

This extends the preferences settings you can already set on users and groups to take users directly to a folder on

logon

461 View s 3 Comments

Direct Links to Folders (4.1 SP3)

Posted by Greg Wcislo Mar 31, 2014

Enabling Input controls for VIEWERS since BusinessObjects XI 4

Posted by Jakub Holasek Mar 29, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 20/35

SummaryThis post describes how to set up configuration on Business Objects platform to enable end users VIEWERS

(consumers) to use feature of Input controls. It is focused on release XI 4 and XI 4.1 specifically.

BasicsInput controls is great feature since Business Objects XI 3.1 SP2. It enables powerful filtering options for all user

groups. This post is focused on viewers which means the user group cannot modify (edit) report. This is very

important not only from business view (they cannot change defined version of the truth), but it is important from

application view as well (viewers have mostly cheaper license). Since XI 4.0 its functionality has been improved so it’s

even more useful than in XI 3.1.

Problem definitionRights are the issue. For enabling Input controls in XI 4, the user group requires following Web intelligence

application rights:

create and edit input controls

create and edit report filters and consume input controls

enable formatting

The last one is the troublemaker. Why? Because when this right is assigned, users have available design

button and its features:

Problem solution

XI3.1

Situation is similar, you have to assign following application rights:

Interactive:Formatting - Enable toolbar and menus

Interactive:Reporting - Create and edit report filter

But since basic viewers can’t modify their preferences to interactive viewing, the rights here won't influence other

functionality which means they cannot modify report. And because in xi3.1 is no design button everything is set=>no

problem in XI 3.1.

XI4.0Your only option is to remove project (folder) rights for write. It may be enough for justifying your license, but it is hardly

justifiable for end users - "Why do I have design option when I cannot save my changes?"

XI4.1Since XI 4.1 there is a new feature which enables administrators to customize the user interface based on user

group. Which means you can simply hide certain features like design button. But as you may expect, this feature

may have some glitches. And it does. The trouble is that if you have more WebI application roles (which is

usually requirement) you will have another issue. Here is an example:

EAP_WebIntelligence

EAP_WebIntelligenceBasic - LEVEL 1

EAP_WebIntelligenceInteractive - LEVEL 2

EAP_WebIntelligenceFullControl - LEVEL 3

This model works on access rights inheritance. Which means at level 1 users have less rights

than at level 2 or at level 3.

If we disable certain feature at level 1, it is inherited to level 2 and level 3 and even if there

this feature is present, it does not work. Maybe bug maybe feature. The important thing is you

will need a workaround. The only option how to set it is following:

EAP_WebIntelligence

EAP_WebIntelligenceBasic - LEVEL 1

EAP_WebIntelligenceInteractive - LEVEL 2

EAP_WebIntelligenceFullControl - LEVEL 3

EAP_WebIntelligenceBasicAlternative - this application role have design button feature disabled

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 21/35

It means you will have two Basic EAP_WebIBasic groups. It may require customization of your security

framework but it works as expected: end users viewers may use Input controls and no design button is

present:

Quick summarizationIn XI 4.0 there is no good way how to solve problem to restrict viewers design options

In XI 4.1 is good way how to do that, but it may require additional optimizations

906 View s 0 Comments Tags: bi4, configuration, input_controls, bi41;

Since the release of BI 4.0 (and going back as far as XI 3.x and XI R2), we've had various issues related to

stale user sessions. I'm referring to a user session initiated from the BI Launchpad, CMC or other SDK

application that should have expired and been deleted by the CMS hours or days ago, but is somehow still

listed in the CMC > Sessions page. These open sessions not only consume a license but also take a small

bit of CMS resources as long as they're kept open. BI4.1 SP3 has a nice new feature that brings us one step

closer by offering a way to manually drop a session. But this still leaves it up to the Administrator to manually

do this periodically. See screenshot below from prereleased copy of SP3:

As you can see above, here's a session that has been active for almost a week. The new SP3 feature will now allow

you to select one or more sessions and click 'end session'. This is no doubt a step in the right direction. Prior to

BI4.1 SP3, you really had two options: 1.) Recycle the CMS or 2.) run an sdk script to do the delete. I think we can do

better than this.

I’d love to be able to solve the real issue(s)... which would be for the BI product to always close the session when it

expires (or possibly even sooner, for instance when the user is finished with it). But unless we knew the exact

workflow a user followed that led to a stale session, we can't prevent and fix these types of problems in a patch or

code correction. If you find a specific workflow that can cause a session to linger for hours or days after it should

have expired, please raise an incident with SAP in the BIP-BI-SRV component and we'll do our best to resolve it.

Also, be sure to read kbase# 1862925 – "Session handling and tuning”. Until the workflows are each identified, I’m

offering you more of a reactive approach to this problem.

I've seen a few scripts on the SCN offering a way to delete user sessions. But I couldn't find one that offered a

way to automate the task, delete it safely and most of all delete a user session based on its age. The script I

How to Delete Stale BI4 User Sessions withbiUserSessionKillScript

Posted by Joshua Kuhn Mar 26, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 22/35

created can be uploaded to your BI 4.x environment as a Program File and automated via a recurring schedule

or it can be run on from a command line manually on or off the BI server. I've tested it under various locale and

regional settings and it works well on both Windows and Linux installations. As any program, there are

probably flaws so please use at your own risk and let me know if you run into problems.

Due to file format restrictions on the SCN, the ‘biUserSessionKillScript’ (both .biar and .jar) can be downloaded from:

kbase#: 996692 - How to Automate the Cleanup of Stale BI4 User Sessions

Uploading as a Program File: There's two ways to insert the Program File into your BI4 environment. You can either add it via CMC as a Program

File or import it via Promotion Management via an .lcmbiar file.

CMC insert method:

1. Login to the CMC, Navigate to a folder, click on the ‘Manage’ menu and select: ‘Add’ > ‘Program File’

2. Browse to the biUserSessionKillScript.jar file and change the 'Program Type' radio button to ‘Java’.

3. Select OK

Promotion Management method:

1. Log into the CMC and open the Promotion Management page.

2. Choose 'Import' > 'Import File' and select the attached .lcmbiar file.

3. After clicking OK, select the destination dropdown and login to your CMS. Click 'Create'.

4. In the next screen, click 'Promote'.

Scheduling the Program File: Scheduling a Program File is very similar to scheduling a report. The only difference is you’ll need to specify a

few arguments to tell BI how to run the program.

1. Right click on the Program File and click ‘schedule’

2. Select the ‘Program Parameters’ option on the left

3. The only argument the script needs when run within BI is the Age of a Session in Minutes

4. Specify this value in the Arguments textbox. For safety reasons, the value must be >= 60. Anything less

and you risk deleting an active user session.

5. In the 'Class to run" textbox, type: biUserSessionKillScript

6. From here, you can specify any of the other scheduling settings you need like recurrence, notification,

etc. and then click ‘Schedule’ to run the job.

7. Regardless if the script succeeds, there will be a text file saved to the Output FRS with the results. Click

on the instance title to view the output.

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 23/35

Running the jsp outside of BI Run manually on the server console via cmd line:

1. Copy the ‘biUserSessionKillScript.jar’ into the equivilant folder in your BI4 installation directory:

C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\java\lib

2. If your path is different than above, then you'll need to also edit the 'biUserSessionKillScript.bat' file so the

correct path is referenced.

3. Execute the .bat file directly.

4. To prevent the cmd window from disappearing at the end of the program, open a cmd window first, drag the .bat

file into the window and click enter.

5. Or you can copy the syntax within the .bat file and paste directly into a cmd window.

Run manually on a non-BI server via cmd line:

The biUserSessionKillScript.jar was compiled without including the BI4 dependency jars. This helps keep the file

small and allows for a quick and easy download. Also, when the .jar is scheduled, BI already knows where to find the

corresponding dependencies so there is no need to package them. However, if you want to run the script on a pc

manually where neither BI4.x nor the client tools are installed, then you will need these depencies inserted into the

jar. In this case, follow the steps below.

1. On the BI4 Server, open the ‘biUserSessionKillScript.jar’ file with WinRar.

2. Navigate to the path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

4.0\java\lib' and insert all of the files below into the .jar.

aspectjrt.jar

bcm.jar

biarengine.jar

ceaspect.jar

cecore.jar

celib.jar

ceplugins_core.jar

certjFIPS.jar

cesession.jar

corbaidl.jar

cryptojFIPS.jar

ebus405.jar

logging.jar

TraceLog.jar

3. Prior to adding the jar files into biUserSessionKillScript.jar, it will look like:

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 24/35

4. After adding the files, it should look like:

5. To Execute the file, open a command prompt and run:

<path to java.exe> -jar <path to biUserSessionKillScript.jar> <username> <password> <CMS

servername> <Auth Type> <session age in minutes>

2216 View s 19 Comments

Tags: bi, bi4, 4.0, bi4.0, bi_platform, bi4.1, sap_businessobjects_business_intelligence_platform_4.0

There are a number of good reasons to upgrade to BI4.1 SP3.

However based on discussions with many customers, this one will make many BI admins happy. It has been one of

Kill Session in BI4.1 SP3

Posted by Greg Wcislo Mar 24, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 25/35

the more requested little features for some time.

Kill session is finally here!

The CMC Sessions page has been modified to list out individual sessions for each user, with the ability to force end

any one or all of a user's sessions.

You will also notice that we list the client type that affects the session, for example Information Design Tool

You can select multiple sessions for a user and end them all at the same time. Note that we cannot get finer

granularity than "BI Launhcpad", since a user could be using CR, Web Intelligence and other tools in that sessions.

Also notice the session ID listed. This ugly looking string can be used by the administrator to reference the audits

and logs to further trace down to what the user is doing, and help you isolate problematic sessions to keep those

from occurring in the future.

Having said that, session management has been greatly cleaned up with BI4.1 SP2, and the feedback I have heard

from customers in this regard has been very positive, so I very much hope that you will not need to spend much time

in this screen.

The columns can also be sorted to help you quickly find old sessions, where you can list oldest sessions first.

One thing to be aware of is that ending a session does not end jobs that were initiated by that session. If a user has

sent a big request to the database in a report refresh, ending the user's BI session does not cancel the database

request. It only frees the user's BI session.

1699 View s 9 Comments Tags: bi4.1, killsession, biplatform41

As you well know there is no appropriate BusinessObjects family tool for quick navigation and analysis through big

amount of data (3M+) . As it stands now, you may consider following native BusinessObjects applications:

Advanced analysis.

PROS

there is a possibility of drilling down and creating link at specific drill level to other cube with where

condition based on selected objects-it may consists of more conditions

CONS

you need multiple cubes with different granularity

you need OLAP source - too much time for developing and maintaining cubes not to mention for some

database systems it may require additional cost for olap layer (Teradata)

Missing BusinessObjects tool for quick analysisthrough big amount of data Part 1

Posted by Jakub Holasek Mar 14, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 26/35

Interactive analysis (WebIntelligence)

PROS

you can drill down

you can use input controls (and multiple or combined conditions at once) for restricting data

you can use optional prompts for expanding DB query condition

you dont need olap, you can use relational database

CONS

you cannot drill down and querying DB with two or more conditions at once

when drilling, parent is replaced by children which is a little confusing

using input controls is nice, but it does not limit database resultset, all data have to be retrieved before

applying =>cannot be used when millions rows are to be analysed

you need prompt for each dimension and all hierarchy levels and user may need only a few (of course

you do not know which ones because different users have different requirements).

Lumira

Sorry,this is for quick visualization. Altough its limits are impressive (15 millions rows for 32bit, 32 millions

rows for 64bit version) , you cannot create customizable cross (pivot) tabe like in WebIntelligence and of

course retrieving the whole dataset is not desirable not to mention you cannot publish the content in

LaunchPad.

If you need quick tool for analysing data just with selecting desired dimensions and measures and drilling down

using multiple database query conditions at once on each drill you are out of luck. Yes, you can create another query

manually, but this approach is far from three click principle. For now.

In the near future I will inform you about new BusinessObjects tool based on XI 4.1 rest SDK which is focused exactly

on quick multiple drildown and analysis on relational data sources on huge amount of data.

In next article I will describe more details about features of this application

754 View s 0 Comments Tags: bi4, analysis, w ebi, drill-able, bi41;, w ebintellgence

Part 1 of my notes on today's ASUG webcast is here BI4 Patching Strategies & Best Patches - ASUG Webcast Part

1

Part 2 covers SAP's plans to Improve the BI Support Process.

SAP wants to provide a "better customer experience through streamlining our support process". The timeline is the

second half of this year.

SAP's Lawell Kiing said they want to provide a better customer experience especially for BI side

Figure 1: Source: SAP

BI4 Patching & Best Practices: Improving BI SupportProcess - Part 2 ASUG Webcast Q&A

Posted by Tammy Powlas Mar 6, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 27/35

Figure 1 covers the current support process and the proposed.

Currently the customer finds an issue, and if it is not answerable by product support & requires a fix, product support

will open an ADAPT and provide to the customer. They will hand over to development on ADAPT

Development works on correction, it is logged into a fixed issues PDF file in release notes

Fixes is includes in SP or patch

Customer searches for issue or if it has been fixed – go to fixed issues list, CTRL F and search for the patch or SP

Planned process to streamline – customer provides issue to SAP, product support will try to resolve it. If not resolved,

it is given to development, the developer knows correction and will document in SAP note and then it goes in delivery

of SP and patch.

They can search incident or note or SMP

Question & Answer ( a subset)Q: When do you upgrade the client machines - when the non-Prod systems are upgraded or when the Production

systems are upgraded?

A: I recommended they have one to two client PC dedicated to testing which we would upgrade those machines. This

way, you avoid any disruption to their production environment until testing is complete.

________________________________________________________________

Q: Where should Crystal Reports be patched in the recommended order, before or after the BI Client tools?

A: after

________________________________________________________________

Q: Can you please advise us we can run inplace upgrade vs create a new installation

A: Up to discussion and would rather see in place - depends on how you want to go live‑

Also see SCN; if on 3.1 and go to 4.1 - new installation, promotion; if on 4.0 SP8 and go to 4.1 - prefer in-place

upgrade‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: Is it always neccessary to update latest TOMCAT as well along with upgrading BI4.x ?

A: If you have your own version of TomCat, please update it to the latest that PAM supports; if it is one from the default

installer let the installer do it.‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: Do you only have one CMS running or multiple when you start the install?

A: If you are updating using Parallel Patching, One CMS first and if any other CMS starts you will keep that until the end

of the process.‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: Is it a best practise to install the Client tools in the CMS server? why?

A: No it is not, because of the issue I just mentioned about overlapping components and complications of updating

the system, however it is a supported scenario.‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: In case CMS is split in 2 (intelligence tier and Processing tier) how would you go about it?

A: Same rules apply. One CMS and FRS need to be up and running during the update and the rest stopped.‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: We have custom bi properties and we include them in the custom folder, but they seem to get overwritten everytime

anyway. What is the point of that folder then?

A: Recommend look at the BI Admin guide - there are 2 custom folders‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: Has there been improvements to the uninstall procedures if a repair is needed?

A: Repair - reinstalls everything; yes getting better with each release‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: What is the best way to avoid that with an upgrade or patch NEW issues show up, e.i: a report issue is fixed with

the upgrade but another comes up

A: You can avoid that with a test environment - fair question‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: If we are on BI4.0 SP4 and would move to BI 4.0 SP7. so would it be a full install or an upgrade ?

A: Since your major release is the same 4.x, and you are just upgrading from SP4 to SP7, I would personally perform

an upgrade without the full install which is not necessary.‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: You are recommending upgrading server and then client tools, but if that desktop with client tools can be

connected to test (4.1) and prod servers (4.0), is that OK?

A: According to Foroohar, if both client and server are not version compliant (same version), then SAP support cannot

assist if there are issues. I would recommend having a dedicated client PC for your testing, to avoid touching the

production env.‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: Is BI4.1 SP2 supports in place upgrade on top of BI4.0 SP6??

A: Yes you can but first go to BI4.1 base first then SP2‑

________________________________________________________________

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 28/35

Q: For ADAPT are fixed then SAP release the solution via notes, any option to get the fixed issue alert(SAP notes) once

released from SAP via email instead of go and search for each issue?

A: There is a way to set up support notifications for this‑

The link where you can configure you support notificaitons is...

http://service.sap.com/sbop-updates

________________________________________________________________

Q: When you are going from 4.0 SP5 to 4.1 SPx, do you go to 4.1 SP1 first and then up to SPx, or do you go straight to

4.1 SPx in step?

A: You go to base release first bi4.1 then the SP‑

_______________________________________________________________

Q: Is there any link which shows all the adapts and their associated SP/patch info?

A: It is all accumulated in release notes..not one documet‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: When you are going from 4.0 SP5 to 4.1 SPx, do you go to 4.1 SP1 first and then up to SPx, or do you go straight to

4.1 SPx in step?

A: You go to base release first bi4.1 then the SP‑

________________________________________________________________

Q: If I'm on SP5 Patch 7 and I want to upgrade to SP8, do I need to uninstall either Patch 7 or SP5 from the server?

A: No

________________________________________________________________

Q: Why Forward Fit Plans are not released right after the release of patches ? FF Plan helps us to understand what is

included and what it forward fits to

A: FF = when the new release is planned they need time to be included

More: Questions Answered After the Webcast

1.) What is the Patch & Upgrade impact of the Two (2) new stand-alone “Add-On” server components (Design Studio &

Analysis Office) for the Platform…?

Design Studio: You must patch both Client and the Server.

Analysis for Office: Is a pure client installation (however, there’s an add-on to BOE for scheduling), however patching

is independent in this case. If there should be any dependencies, it will be documented upon release.

2.) Do these stand-alone “Add-On” servers need to be patched in a stand-alone fashion, or are they detected and

patched by a regular SP deployment on the Platform…?

They need to be patched in a stand-alone fashion. Nothing is detected.

Design Studio: You can go to “Add or Remove Programs” on Windows or “modifyOrRemoveProducts.sh” on *NIX to

find out which versions are installed.

Analysis for Office: The Add-on installer (for scheduling) requires a BOE node on Windows (.NET is required for pre-

calculation). So, only check will be via “Add or Remove Programs” on Windows for both the Client and the Server.

3.) At some point, will the Two (2) new stand-alone “Add-On” server components (Design Studio & Analysis Office) just

become a BASE-LINE part of the Platform install & upgrade (eg. 4.2, etc)…?

Design Studio: Not planned at this point.

Analysis for Office: Not planned, however product is availab le on other platforms (Netweaver, HANA).

4.) In large organizations, is there any “pop-up” messaging availab le on the various desktop clients to alert them that

they are “out of synch” with the version/patch on the server…?

Design Studio: These checks and user messages are implemented.

Analysis for Office: No such implementation

5.) What is the “SAP runs SAP” internal-process to manage the detection/enforcement that all your BOE Servers and

(*assumed) thousands of Desktop clients on the same Server/Patch level..?

I haven’t been able to contact the right group yet to give you their version of how they are managing all the Servers

and Clients. It might take a while. Please stay tuned until I’ll get the right response.

Related:Join ASUG June 2nd for ASUG Annual Conference BI4.1 pre-conference session: Jump Start ASUG Annual

Conference SAPPHIRE with a Pre-Conference Session - Back and Better than Ever

Related Upcoming ASUG Webcasts:

April 9: Learning Rooms: New Learning Hub Options

April 16: Backup and Recovery of the BI Platform

April 21: BI Security Model and Best Practices

1179 View s 3 Comments Tags: sapmentors, sapmentor, asug, business_intelligence, bi_platform

BI4 Patching Strategies & Best Patches - ASUGWebcast Part 1

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 29/35

Foroohar Rafiei gave this webcast today. Based on end user feedback BI platform was a top topic area

Announcing ASUG BI 2013 Community Survey Results

This was the agenda:

Current BI Maintenance Practices

Patching Best Practices

Parallelized Patching

Outlook on Planned Maintenance Improvements

Foroohar explained that the risks are time consuming. The risk is your update wipes out a previous fix or overwrites a

previous fix

Time could be a factor; people might want to avoid updating if not have to.

You can update system successfully and more successful than before.

With this webcast, Foroohar reviewed the necessary steps to building a patching strategy and also updating your BI 4

system successfully.

And at the end of the webcast Lawell Kiing, SAP explained the outlook on planned Maintenance Improvements

Figure 1: Source: SAP

Naming conventions take a “One SAP” approach

Service pack is now a minor release (e.g. BI4.1)

Fix pack is now SP

LA fix is now Patch

Posted by Tammy Powlas Mar 6, 2014

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 30/35

Figure 2: Source: SAP

SAP wants to reduce the number of fixes in patches to ensure better quality

Patches have a short time release; testing time could be short

Support packs have a longer time to test

Patches should be just critical

Figure 2 shows the "One SAP" approach for common naming conventions across products

Figure 3: Source: SAP

Figure 3 shows "lots of notes".

It is a snapshot of note at the bottom – SAP notes that tells you when open ticket – severity will determine if fix goes in

a patch or a SP

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 31/35

Figure 4: Source: SAP

Dates might change; you can plan for calendar week

BI4.1 in middle, patch 1.7 will be March week 10

SP3 will be calendar week 13, end of March

Figure 5: Source: SAP

Figure 5 shows how to access the maintenance schedule. I don't have many notes on this part but I forget myself

where these things are located.

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 32/35

Figure 6: Source: SAP

Figure 6 shows a change to the maintenance strategy

As an example, at beginning patch 2.21 in BI4 – when fix is found, fix goes in 2.21 and goes in next latest SP

Patch to Patch Forward Fitting means that "all fixes from patches of older SPs are added to the latest patch of the

highest already delivered SP".

From SAP slide:

You can find Release Notes below:

1. https://service.sap.com/support > Software Downloads > Support Packages and Patches > A-Z Index > B >

SBOP BI Platform (former SBOP Enterprise) > SBOP BI Platform (Enterprise) > SBOP BI Platform 4.1 > SBOP BI

Platform Servers 4.1 > (Server OS) > Patch or SP > Info

This "requires login credentials to the SAP Service Marketplace"

"Release Notes for Patches and Support Packs contain a cumulative list of all the ADAPT fixed in a given release". As

an example the Release Notes for Patch 4.9 will contain a list of all the fixes in Patches 4.1-4.9.

Release notes are important “the source of truth” and tells you what has been fixed according to Foroohar

Figure 7: Source: SAP

When you build a strategy make sure you track ADAPT problem reports that track your deployment instead of installing

every patch

Foroohar said there is no need to install every patch. Every 6 months evaluate a maintenance release in a test

environment, and make sure you have a test environment

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 33/35

"Make sure all BI Servers and Clients are at the same patch level."

Best Practice before Patching - Backups:Windows: Do a full server backup as because "the registry gets altered and the file system is extensively touched"

Unix: There is no registry, the user’s home folder and the product install location are all that are needed.

Common to both unix and Windows : back up FRS, the entire whole data folder, not just input and output; CMS/Audit

databases need to be backed up.

More than once Foroohar said to read “Backing Up and Restoring Your System” in the Business

Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide.

Other tips:

When upgrading from SPx to SPx+n, run the UPDATE INSTALLER and not the full installer (seen this issue on SCN).

SPx Full build is for fresh installs, and it should not be used to update an existing installation.

Common question – “You can go from any SP level to any higher SP level without uninstalling or installing the

intermediate SPs or patches.” I

Foroohar advises going "over the latest support & feature pack release notes available at SAP Help Portal or SMP"

He said turn off all servers, except the most essential servers such as CMS, File repository servers (FRS) and CMS

Database

Figure 8: Source: SAP

You shut down at non-essential processes by running process explorer or task manager

Figure 8 shows command line column section in task manager – look at the command line to make sure which

process to “kill”.

If you still see any BI4 platform related process or sub processes besides CMS, Input FRS and Output FRS, terminate

them. This doesn’t include Tomcat and the CMS database processes with BI Platform.

Downtime can be expensive, and error-prone

Symptoms of failure – when a patch fails, several files are left in the packagestemp folder. The install log will show

“install failure”

What’s NewSAP has listened to customers about distributed system patching.

The deployment order has changed for distributed systems with a concept called Parallel Patching. This technology

is in BI 4.0 SP5 and after and can even be applied to a mix of platforms.

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 34/35

Figure 9: Source: SAP

Figure 9 shows you update the CMS and then update the rest.

Figure 10: Source: SAP

Foroohar said to wait for all machines updating in parallel to finish before proceeding to the next step.

During the process, at least one CMS machine should be running.

He said you should not be running any additional installation, maintenance processes.

Then once all the updates have finished, restart the servers.

Then repeat the process for every product that is installed on the machines in the cluster such as BusinessObjects

Explorer and the client tools.

References provided by SAP:

Patch Installation: http://service.sap.com/patches

SAP BusinessObjects BI suite 4.1 Patch Update Guide:

http://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001131172013E/sbo41sp2_patch_update_en.pdf

Official Product Tutorials – SAP BI Suite

Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide:

http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/sbo41/en/sbo41sp2_bip_admin_en.pdf

Product Availability Matrix (PAM): http://service.sap.com/pam

Part 2 will cover planned improvements and question & answer - see BI4 Patching & Best Practices: Improving BI

Support Process - Part 2 ASUG Webcast Q&A

Related:Join ASUG June 2nd for ASUG Annual Conference BI4.1 pre-conference session: Jump Start ASUG Annual

Conference SAPPHIRE with a Pre-Conference Session - Back and Better than Ever

6/3/2014 BI Platform | SCN

http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog?start=15 35/35

Follow SCNSite Index Contact Us SAP Help Portal

Privacy Terms of Use Legal Disclosure Copyright

BI 2014 has sessions too covering this topic.

Upcoming ASUG BI Webinars - February 26, 2014

1209 View s 0 Comments

Tags: sapmentors, sapmentor, asug, business_intelligence, bi_platform, sapphirenow _2012_madrid, asug2014

As a reminder, we've been keeping track of any Daylight Savings Time-related knowledge under this blog post

from Joshua Kuhn. Please visit that blog for a thorough review of DST as it pertains to SAP BI products.

I'd like to highlight one addendum to that post, one potential issue that could affect users of both Enterprise XI 3.1 and

Business Intelligence Platform 4.0 / 4.1. Full details are available under Knowledge Base Article 1986781, but here is

a quick summary:

When recurring instances have a run time within the 1 hour period that is skipped over in Daylight Savings Time -- for

example, between {2-2:59am on March 9 in the US} or {1-1:59am on March 30 in the UK} -- their run times are moved

up by one hour, by design. Their run times should then be reset to the original value in subsequent runs, but this

does not appear to always be the case.

For example, in the US:

- A daily instance runs at 2:30am

- On March 9, that instance will be run at 3:30am

- On March 10, that instance should run at 2:30am again, but in some cases it may not

- The same can be seen in weekly, monthly, and hourly instances (where they run every 2 or more hours apart)

Affected instances can simply be re-scheduled, and this can be done en masse with an application where needed.

Full details are available in Knowledge Base Article 1986781.

This behavior has been seen in:

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1, Fix Pack 6.3

SAP Business Intelligence Platform 4.0, Support Package 08

SAP Business Intelligence Platform 4.1, Support Package 02

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Daylight Savings Time 2014

Posted by Michael Richards Mar 4, 2014

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