how to integrate mii with businessobjects dashboards

MII 14.0 and BusinessObjects Dashboards Integration Guide

How to Integrate MII with BusinessObjects Dashboards

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 3

PRE-REQUISITES ............................................................................................................................................ 3

DOWNLOAD AND SETUP CONNECTOR ....................................................................................................... 3

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF DIFFERENT TABS AND FUNCTIONALITIES .................................................... 5 Definition Tab: .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Catalog Tab: ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Advanced Tab: ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Usage Tab: ....................................................................................................................................................... 7

CONFIGURATION TO EXECUTE A QUERY TEMPLATE: ............................................................................. 8

CONFIGURATION TO EXECUTE A CATALOG OBJECT: ........................................................................... 10

PASSING PARAMETERS AT RUNTIME: ...................................................................................................... 13

VISUALIZING THE DATA:.............................................................................................................................. 14

EXPORTING THE DASHBOARD AND IMPORTING IT IN MII: .................................................................... 16

SOME TIPS WHILE CREATING DASHBOARDS: ........................................................................................ 16

APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 Icon Library .................................................................................................................................................... 17

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ............................................................................................................ 18

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................ 19

How to Integrate MII with BusinessObjects Dashboardss Dashboards

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INTRODUCTION

This document will lead you through all steps necessary for the integration of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 (Dashboards) with SAP MII. It will guide you through the steps for configuring the MII-Dashboards Connector in Dashboards 4.0 application and will help you set up a connection, create dashboards using MII query templates or Plant Information Catalog and embed the same in a MIIs HTML/JSP page. MII Dashboards Connector is an Add-On data connection that can be installed in BusinessObjects Dashboards. The connector allows you to connect to any MII instance easily and get data from it. You could browse through the projects and select the query template from which you want to create dashboards. Alternatively, you could also browse the Plant Information Catalog to select the tags and groups and hence make dashboard out of it. With this connector, the creation of dashboards becomes easy and intuitive as you do not have to remember the WSDL URL, file path, etc. Dashboards is a part of SBOP 4.0 Feature Pack 3. Dashboards is data visualization software that allows you to create and export interactive dashboards from Excel spreadsheets or other external data sources. These dashboards contain various components, such as charts, gauges, and dials that are bound to data sources. The components display the data in a compact and visual manner. Dashboards also allows you to connect to external data sources. Hence, this feature is utilized by the MII-Dashboard connector to get the data from any MII instance with which dashboards can be built. PRE-REQUISITES

In order to use the MII-Dashboards connector, the following has to be present

1. SBOP 4.0 Feature Pack 3 Dashboards

2. MS-Excel

3. Flash player 10.3x or higher

DOWNLOAD AND SETUP CONNECTOR

Step 1. Download the MII-Dashboards connector from MIIs Admin Portal. Content Development Tools and Archives page

Step 2. Download the connector to your file system and extract the zip archive.


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Step 3. Open the Dashboards application and navigate to FileManage Add-Ons.. Click install Add-On, choose the connector XelsiusConnector.xlf that was downloaded and extracted. Click close.

Step 4. The installed Add-On would be present in DataConnections

The connector is now set up and is ready for use.


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GENERAL OVERVIEW OF DIFFERENT TABS AND FUNCTIONALITIES

Definition Tab:

The definition tab is where the connection set and the initial load parameters of the connector are defined.

Once the connection parameters are entered, you can verify it by clicking on Test Connection button. The connector operates in two modes of execution.

1. Execute query template:- Choose a query template that was created in the MII Workbench

2. Execute Catalog Object: - Browse and select Plant Information Catalog Objects and use them to build your dashboard.

Bind the output to the spreadsheet using the cell selector. Catalog Tab: In this tab, you would select the Plant Information Catalog Objects you would want to work and create a dashboard with. To add one or more objects, you would use > button and to remove you would use


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By default, the catalog objects would get the current value. You could change the mode of query execution by passing the Mode in the Advanced tab. Advanced Tab:

Here you would be able to configure your query according to the business scenario. For example, you could pass the start and end dates of a query, change the mode of execution and also pass the tag names at runtime (In case of tag, PCo and Catalog query).


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The left list box would list down all the input parameters that the query templates could possibly take in. These set of parameters differ from one query template to another.

You could either manually enter the value in the input field or use the cell selector ( ) and assign a spreadsheet cell to pass the value at run time.

Usage Tab: This tab is used to configure the load parameters for the connector. Parameters like refresh option, trigger

options and idle and load messages can be set up here.


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CONFIGURATION TO EXECUTE A QUERY TEMPLATE:

The below procedure would take you through the steps to use a query template to create a dashboard. Step 1: Once the connector is opened, in the definition tab input the connection parameters. Make sure you enter choose the correct protocol and enter valid Netweaver credentials that you use to log in to MII.

Verify the connection by clicking on Test Connection button. Step 2: Select Execute Query template radio button. Step 3: Click browse to select a query template. Once the pop-up is opened, browse through the folders on the left pane. Select a folder to display files on the right pane. Select a file and click OK.


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Step 4: Preview the output by clicking Preview XML to get an idea on how many rows and columns to bind. Each column in the output corresponds to a column in spreadsheet and each Row to a row. For example, if you are using a Tag Query with 5 tags in current mode, then you would choose 6 columns (1 column for DateTime) and 1 row in the spreadsheet.

Step 5: Bind the output to the spreadsheet. Do this by expanding the output parameters tree , select rows.

Now click on the cell selector ( ).


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Choose range of cells.

You have now successfully configured the connector. CONFIGURATION TO EXECUTE A CATALOG OBJECT:

The below procedure would take you through the steps to browse the Plant Information Catalog, select the objects you want to work with and get data for the selected objects. Step 1: Once the connector is opened, in the definition tab input the connection parameters. Make sure you enter choose the correct protocol and enter valid MII credentials that you use to log in to MII.

Verify the connection by clicking on Test Connection button. Step 2: Select Execute Catalog Object radio button.


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Step 3: Navigate to the Catalog Tab. Once catalog object is loaded, you would see a Root node. Expand the node, to see the groups and tags below it. Similarly browse through the catalog and select the objects you want to work with. To add one or more objects, you would use > button and to remove you would use


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Step 5: Bind the output to the spreadsheet. Do this by expanding the output parameters tree , select rows.

Now click on the cell selector ( ).

Choose range of cells. Make sure you bind enough rows and columns in the spreadheet to avoid truncation of the values.

You have now successfully configured the connector.


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PASSING PARAMETERS AT RUNTIME:

If you want to pass the parameters at runtime, you can do it by using the cell selector button. Almost all the

input fields have a cell selector ( ) button beside it. This means that the input is bindable and that the value can be passed at run time. A typical use of that would be to change the query template mode at runtime. For example, you have a tag query that executes in current mode. Now, you want to change the mode on a click of a button. This can be easily achieved by binding the Mode input parameter to the spreadsheet and then triggering the connector to load the selected mode.

Similarly many other parameters can be passed at run time. In Catalog tab, you would have to pass the object (tag or group) namespace in case you want to pass the objects at runtime.


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VISUALIZING THE DATA:

Once the connector has been configured, the next step is to visualize the data in the dashboard application. To do this

1. Follow the steps to configure the connector for a query template or for catalog object. (Section 5 & 6).

2. Click on the connectors Usage tab.

a. Select refresh on load :- This would enable the connector to load the data before the components are loaded.

b. Close the connector and choose a component to display the data.

Here for the tutorial, a line chart is chosen.


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c. In the right side properties panel of the component, select By Range under data. Click the cell selector and choose the area of the spreadsheet which you had selected while configuring the connector.

d. Give a name, description, X-axis and Y-axis details according to your requirements.

e. Preview the dashboard by clicking on the Preview button which is present n the standard tool bar.

Preview the dashboard


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EXPORTING THE DASHBOARD AND IMPORTING IT IN MII:

Once the dashboard is previewed, it can then be exported so that it can later be imported to MIIs workbench. To export, go to FileExport in the dashboards application. Choose HTML.

Give a name to the file and save it in the file system. To import the dashboard in MII, open MIIs workbench. Select the project in to which the dashboard has to be imported, Go to Web tab and right click on the folder/project and choose import. Select both SWF and HTML file. The files would be imported. Run the HTML page to check whether the dashboard is working. The SWF dashboard object can be embedded in MIIs HTML, JSP or IRPT pages. These pages can then be run directly in MIIs Admin portal by creating navigation links.

SOME TIPS WHILE CREATING DASHBOARDS:

1. The MII-Dashboards connector supports both HTTP and HTTPs . However when using HTTPs make sure that the proper server certificate and SSO is installed in Internet Explorer. These are required because; flash player requires the certificates in order to establish a secure connection. To check and install certificates in IE refer the link to view and manage your certificates.

2. When binding the data to the spreadsheet, its always better to color code the columns. This helps preventing confusions and makes the final bindings to UI components easier.

3. In case you want to pass the connection parameters at run time, then the Preview XML would not work. Hence, in this case you would have to judge the number of columns and rows to be mapped.

4. If you intend to change the mode of execution at runtime or change the query template, make sure you have chosen a large number of columns and rows (cells) to accommodate the data that is coming in.


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For example, you are primarily using a tag query in current mode which has 5 tags in it. So you bind 6 columns and 1 row in the spreadsheet. At runtime you change the mode to history. Since the query now would return more data now, all the data would be missed because you have only mapped one row in the spreadsheet. Its better to bind a considerable number of rows just to make sure that the incoming data is not missed.

5. While exporting the final dashboard to the file system, choose to export HTML. This would export both a HTML file and an SWF file. The advantage of this being that the code to embed the flash object is already written.

6. Similarly, if you are importing an HTML and an SWF in MIIs workbench, make sure that you import it in the same folder. This would avoid path conflicts. In case you wish to import the file in different folders, then you would need to change the src property of the embedded SWF file.

APPENDIX

Icon Library

- Cell Selector: This icon would be present beside every input field in the connector. This is used to bind the input and output parameters to the spreadsheet. All the properties except the output property should only be bounded with a single cell in the spreadsheet.


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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. While configuring connector it asks for credentials. Which credentials should I use? You should provide the username and password that you use to login in to MII.

2. Is it possible to give multiple server names while configuring the connection? No, the connector can connect to only one server at any point of time. However, it is possible to use multiple data connection while creating a dashboard each in-turn connecting to a MII instance.

3. I have configured the connector, however when trying to test the connection it says Unable to establish connection to remote server. Check connection parameters. What am I doing wrong? I am using https protocol. If you are using HTTPS protocol, then make sure that you have imported/installed all the server certificates to IE. This is mandatory according to the security measures taken by the flash player.

4. I have a query template that has two rowset. But in the connector I see the option to bind only one. How do I bind both the rowset to the spreadsheet? The connector doesnt support multiple rowset binding. In case you have a query that returns multiple rowset, then you could:

1. Use BLS to combine the rowset and consume the result as an Xacute query in the connector. 2. If you do not wish to combine it yourself, the connector will internally merge the data of all the rowset into one.

Please note that this merge will not remove duplicates. For Example for a Catalog Query, the original response would be :


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The merged Response would be:

REFERENCES

For information on Dashboards, please go to http://help.sap.com/boxcel and review the SAP Documentation. For information on creating and configuring the query templates in SAP MII, please go to http://help.sap.com/mii and review the SAP Documentation.

Also check out the SAP Community Network - https://www.scn.sap.com for articles, Wikis, and Forums.

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how to integrate mii with businessobjects dashboards

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miidashboards connector

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mii query templates

catalog tab

definition tab

advanced tab

usage tab

catalog object