Tips and tricks using SAP BusinessObjects Web ... - ASUG.com

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Tips and tricks using SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence 4.0 on top of SAP Netweaver Business Warehouse data. (#512) Gregory Botticchio / Patrice Le Bihan

[ Agenda Selecting the Right SAP BusinessObjects BI Client

Why SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence ?

Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[

Selecting the Right SAP BusinessObjects BI Client

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Selecting the Right SAP BusinessObjects BI Client SAP BusinessObjects BI Client Portfolio



SAP BusinessObjects BI solutions provide business users with access to unified information through a broad suite of BI tools for confident decision making and alignment across people and teams on a single, scalable BI platform

Reporting How do I access and transform corporate data into highly formatted reports for greater insight?

Crystal Reports

Dashboards and Visualization How do I visualize data for better decision making?

Dashboards

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Interactive Reporting

Analysis

Data Exploration

BI Application Design

How do I answer ad hoc questions and interact with information?

How do I determine trends from complex historical data and possibly make better forecasts?

How do I find immediate answers to business questions?

How can IT create centrally from simple to complex BI applications for a larger audience ?

Web Intelligence

Analysis, Edition for Office & OLAP

Explorer

Analysis, Edition for Application Design

[ Selecting the Right SAP BusinessObjects BI Client Different Needs Require Different Experience

Middle Management

Placeholder Executive text

Placeholder text

Information

Business Analyst

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Placeholder text

Individual Contributor

[ Selecting the Right SAP BusinessObjects BI Client Different Needs Require Different Experience SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

Executive

Middle Management Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office

Analysis, edition for OLAP

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards

Crystal Reports Analysis, edition for OLAP

Individual Contributor

Business Analyst Web Intelligence Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office

Web Intelligence

Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office

[ Selecting the Right SAP BusinessObjects BI Client Different Needs Require Different Experience

Your consumer is driving the business requirements  We will focus on the consumer of reports and analytics in this presentation  IT will always play a role as part of your BI deployment to build the foundation

• Setting up BEx Queries • Setting up connections

Web Intelligence

Crystal Reports

• Report Design

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Analysis

IT

• Setting up BEx Queries • Creating pre-defined workbooks • Building BI & Planning Applications

Dashboards

• Dashboard Design

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Why SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence ?

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ The Solution: Business Intelligence (BI) Interact with formatted reports to explore and answer new questions Other users access/personalize to their contexts inside/outside their work environment, Push and pull information

Format, layout add context

Placeholder Access text

Ask questions on existing analytic content or based on corporate and personal data sources

Business User Information usage Life Cycle Communicate content to a small or broad audience.

Share, distribute

Analyze

Understand aggregates, details and relationships & interdependencies with other content

Users can start at any point in the cycle, interacting even with highly formatted content created & shared by others Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ? Report Design Report Consumption Share and re-use

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Self-Service Access to Data

Empowers End Users to Do Their Own Reports and Analyses

User-defined Queries

Business Metadata

Access heterogeneous data sources

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Streamlined access to all corporate data sources Unique options for bringing BW and 3rd-party data together

  

Best access method for each specific data source: SAP, RDBMS, OLAP Multi-source universes with built-in data federation for SAP and RDBMS Dimensional universes for 3rd-party OLAP data sources

Reporting, dashboards, ad-hoc, data exploration Multi-Source Universes (Unx)

Universes (Unv) MDX

SQL

BAPI

Analysis

BICS

MDX

SQL

BEx Query 3rd-party OLAP Server

3rd-party Data Warehouse

InfoProviders SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

3rd-party OLAP Server

[ Access to heterogeneous data sources Combine multiple data sources within a report

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Synchronize different BEx queries with a common dimension.

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Merge BEx queries with other data provider such other RDBMS or Excel file

Merged dimensions for data synchronization Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Common User Experience Across All Data Sources 

Unified experience across all data sources with new semantic layer



For OLAP sources:  Query Stripping: Improved performance by automatically removing unused objects  Integration of hierarchical concepts into query panel user experience

Selection in value-based hierarchies Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Analysis Your Way

Interactive Analysis Combined with Free-Form Reporting

Analysis Your Way

Organized tool bar

Interactive Analysis Combined with Free-form Reporting Analyze with few clicks

Rich feature set

Drag and drop

Context related right click menu

Analyze with few clicks Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Adaptability, Stunning Visualization New look

Heat maps, tree maps

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Tag Clouds

Bubble charts

[ Navigate and Report Hierarchical Data Navigate directly into the report hierarchies to find root causes

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Dimensional concepts integrated into rich reporting model

Dimensional charting

[ Why Web Intelligence ? Report Design Report Consumption Share and re-use

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ?

Gain Business Insight with Interactive Reports and Analysis

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web intelligence ?

Online and Offline Analysis from New or Existing Reports

Mobilize Web Intelligence Content  Make informed decisions with instant access to personalized information 

Leverage existing BI investments & skills to quickly reach mobile users

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Ensure secure access to information across a range of devices

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Receive alerts on critical events

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Investigate problems and opportunities



Take immediate action

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ? Report Design Report Consumption Share and re-use

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ?

Share and Re-Use Web Intelligence reports across the suite

Export (PDF, XLS) via Scheduling or Report Bursting

Analysis, Edition for OLAP

BI Workspaces Web Intelligence

BI Mobile Analysis, Edition for Office

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ? Report Design Report Consumption Share and re-use

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ?

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW / Direct Access via BICS

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Direct dimensional access to your BEx Queries  No need to create a Universe  Support of hierarchies and dimensional metadata Hierarchical query panel  Member selector  Hierarchical navigation  Member functions Hierarchical report output  Hierarchical columns  Fold unfold  Level totals  Hierarchical graphics  Multi-data provider synchronization  Hierarchical formulas on report

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Why Web Intelligence ?

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW / Multi-Source Universe (Relational)

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Authored with the information design tool  Create a data foundation and a business layer based on multiple SQL connections  Create multi source joins and derived tables  Source independence through SQL 92 and Data Federator functions, while keeping the ability to use native SQL when necessary Benefits  Federate different databases: OLTP and DWH, SAP BW, SAS, flat files  Lower TCO for integration projects (no complex ETL to put in place)  May in some cases, remove the need for a consolidated DWH

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Orange tables are from Microsoft SQL server Blue tables are from SAP BW

[ Why Web Intelligence ?

Web Intelligence 4.0 and SAP NetWeaver BW / What it is not

The Direct BEx Access does not derail Web Intelligence from its original value proposition.  Web Intelligence is not an OLAP analysis tool.  Prefer using Analysis, Editions for Office or OLAP for pure OLAP capabilities

BEx query + Web Intelligence = Interactive Analysis off BW  

Interactive Analysis is focused on low-end analysis capabilities for the non-specialist on all data sources Ability to combine and merge BW and non BW data in the same report

BEx query + Analysis = OLAP Analysis off BW   

Both editions of SBO Analysis are the OLAP analysis offerings in BI 4.0 Focused on high-end analysis workflow for OLAP sources as opposed to interactive analysis Comparable to BEx Analyzer in the BEx Suite for BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

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Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query Design Consumption of BEx Queries Restrictions and Additional Information

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Design

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Overall recommendation  BEx Queries are recommended as data sources for all the SAP BusinessObjects BI products  BEx Queries offer significant functionality to create customized data sources that meet end-user requirements, such as Calculated Key figures, Restricted Key figures and SAP Variables.

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You do NOT want one BEx Query per report (…. and not one BEx Query for all reports either)  Focus the implementation strategy on limiting the number of BEx Queries by sharing common elements  The BI Client tool and report definition is the primary influence factor on how much data is being retrieved from SAP NetWeaver BW  Ensure the right audience has access to the right level of details; ad hoc reporting on very open BEx queries may lead to poor performance

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Design

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“Allow External Access” option has to be set in the properties of the BEx query

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Placement of Characteristics / Key Figures have no direct impact on BI tools

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For large sets of key figures, use the option - “Use Selection of Structure Members” in transaction RSRT (Query Monitor) as part of the Query Properties

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Leverage the capabilities of the Restricted Key and Calculated Key Figures

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Leverage SAP Variables as part of the BEx Query  Can be shared across queries, minimizing development downstream  List of Values are being generated automatically  Limits the amount of cells a user will retrieve at one time

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Design

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Time based structures / calculations  Leverage EXIT Variables as part of the BEx query

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Data Level Security & SAP NetWeaver BW  Use BI authorizations for data level security

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Remember… there is no Universe on top of your BEx Query  All changes to descriptions need to be part of your BEx Query  All variables / prompts need to be part of your BEx Query  Report based filters can not be shared across

 All necessary calculations should become part of your BEx Query  Performance Consideration  Allows sharing across multiple BEx Queries and reports

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Design

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OLAP Connections in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0  You can define an OLAP Connection that points to … your SAP NetWeaver BW system … your InfoProvider … your BEx Query

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Consider how you are securing your BEx Queries today  If already using BI Authorizations to restrict access BEx Queries and InfoProviders, a single connection to SAP NetWeaver BW is an option



… also consider your report designers  A single connection will mean to navigate the InfoArea > InfoProvider levels for each report design

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query Design Consumption of BEx Queries Restrictions and Additional Information

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Consumption

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A number of restrictions can prevent the reusability of some BEx query features

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It is recommended to properly assess the BEx queries to be reused with Web Intelligence.

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Be ready to build queries optimized for Web Intelligence

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Those which fit Analysis may not fit Web Intelligence.

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Consumption Hierarchical Reporting Support for hierarchical member selection

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Support for hierarchical parameters

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Support for hierarchies in charts and crosstab

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Support for “delegated measures”

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Support for hierarchical report design

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Switching between hierarchies on the fly

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Level based member selection

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Showing Leaves only / Lowest Level of the hierarchy

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“Expand to Level” as a configuration option

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Skipping Levels of a hierarchy

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Ranking data along hierarchies

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Support of hierarchical chart

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Consumption Variables Single Value Variable

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Multi Single Value Variable

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Internal Variable

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Selection Option Variable

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Hierarchy Version Variable

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Text Variable

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Exit Variable

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Single Key Date Variable

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Multiple Key Date Variable

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Formula Variable

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Mandatory Values for Variables

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Default Values for Variables

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Variable Dependency

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Hierarchy Variable

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Hierarchy Node Variable

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Best Practices on BEx Query Consumption Member selector Member Selection

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Multi Member Selection

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Prompts on member selection

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Level based member selection

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Showing Leaves only / Lowest Level of the hierarchy

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“Expand to Level” as a configuration option

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Skipping Levels of a hierarchy

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query Design Consumption of BEx Queries Restrictions and Additional Information

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Restrictions you need to know

Features

Description

Recommendation

Saved Variant

Some organizations have popularized the use of saved variant. The consequence is that queries are highly parametized (lots of variables)

Build specific queries and make reports highly interactive to reduce the need for saved variant.

Query Condition

Top N/Bottom N, KeyFigures > #, etc …

Removed the condition from the query. Result is different. Alternative is to put the condition in the WebI query if possible.

Local Calculation

Result Row/Column & Sub-Total are computed differently in Web Intelligence

No need to rebuild the BEx query. Webi will ignore the calculation. Alternative is to calculate locally in WebI.

%GT, %RT, %CT, SUMGT, SUMRT, SUMCT, LEAF

Calculation will be different in webi. Can lead to mis-interpretation of the data

Avoid such function, do not publish a query when such function is found. Alternative is to calculate in WebI.



Refer to the Web Intelligence documentation for all the details: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_ia_en.pdf (section “Building reports on Bex queries”)

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Restrictions you need to know when using hierarchies in blocks

Features

Description

Sorting & hierarchy

Sorting a hierarchy is based on the order of the member in the underlying system. Sorting on a measure does not preserve the order of member within a hierarchy in the same table. For this reason the system is showing the hierarchy flattened in a table where the sort is applied on a measure.

Filter on Hierarchy

A report/table filter where there is a hierarchy may remove rows without respecting the hierarchy structure. For this reason, a filter can remove a parent node currently expanded and keep leaves or nodes collapsed. To avoid returning an empty table in this case the system automatically expands the hierarchy in the block to shows the resulting members.

Ranking & hierarchy

A ranking on a table where there is hierarchy is not taking in account the hierarchy structure of the data. For this reason, any hierarchy in a table where the user defines a ranking becomes flat.

Break on measures or details

A break is always associated with sort on the object where it is applied. For this reason in that case, any hierarchy in the table the break applies the hierarchy becomes flat. The user can remove the break on the underlying object to restore the hierarchy.

#TOREFRESH for the measure

Delegated measure returns #TOREFRESH when the required agregation is not available in the query. User has to refresh to get the new level of agregation.

#UNAVAILABLE for the measure

Delegated measure returns #UNAVAILABLE if it is asked in a context of formula on a dimension, not in the context of the agregation of the measure. It is recommanded to create a variable on top of this formula, as a detail of the original dimensionand include (but hidden) the original dimension in the block.

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ Implementation Best Practices for Web Intelligence on SAP NetWeaver BW Additional BW Integration

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Bex scalling factor support “Merge dimension” by details Delegated measures which aggregates with sum function, will aggregate locally in sum in WebI Zero suppression (not specific to BEx queries) Disable member selection when Hierarchy Node variable exists to prevent data inconsistency Prefix Key and Name attributes with parent name Hierarchy variable exists: remove hierarchies from query panel other than default hierarchy

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Enhance change source from a OLAP BW universe (UNV) to BICS  Enable free mapping between source universe (UNV) objects and target BEx objects  Some mapping constraints are maintained: filters from source can only map to filters in the target source

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

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 Thank you for participating. Please remember to complete and return your evaluation form following this session. For ongoing education on this area of focus, visit the Year-Round Community page at www.asug.com/yrc

SESSION CODE: 512

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

Gregory Botticchio [email protected] Patrice Le Bihan: [email protected] @PatriceAtSAP

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[ Appendix 

For additional information :  Session #4412: “Strategies for Selecting the Right BI Client Product Based on Your Own Requirements”  SAP BusinessObjects BI Solution Architecture :  www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/bi-solution-architecture

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

43

[ SAP BusinessObjects 4.x Connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW Meta-Data Support for BEx Queries

BEx Query Element

Web Intelligence (BICS)

Analysis, edition for MS Office & OLAP

Universe (Relational)

InfoProvider Dimension

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Characteristic

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Hierarchies

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

Custom Structures

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Navigational Attribute

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Key Figure

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Unit / Currency

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Calculated Key Figure

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Restricted Key Figure

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Compounded Characteristics

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Defaults in the BEx Query

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Constant Selection

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Display Attribute

Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ SAP BusinessObjects 4.x Connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW Meta-Data Support for BEx Queries

BEx Query Element

Web Intelligence (BICS)

Analysis, edition for MS Office & OLAP

Universe (Relational)

Single Value Variable

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Multi Single Value Variable

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Interval Variable

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Selection Option Variable

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Hierarchy Variable

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Hierarchy Node Variable

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Hierarchy Version Variable

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Text Variable

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EXIT Variable

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Single Key Date Variable

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Multiple Key Data Variable

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Formula Variable

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Default Values for Variables

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ SAP BusinessObjects 4.x Connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW Meta-Data Support for BEx Queries

BEx Query Element

Web Intelligence (BICS)

Analysis, edition for MS Office & OLAP

Universe (Relational)

Scaling Factor

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Number of Decimals

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Display Result Rows (top / bottom)

-

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Suppress Result Rows

-

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Calculate Result as… (local calculation)

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Display as hierarchy

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Sorting

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Hide / Unhide

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Reverse +/- signage

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ SAP BusinessObjects 4.x Connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW Meta-Data Support for BEx Queries

BEx Query Element

Web Intelligence (BICS)

Analysis, edition for MS Office & OLAP

Conditions in rows

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Conditions in columns

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Conditions on selected characteristic

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Exceptions

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Empty / non empty

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Real Experience. Real Advantage.

[ SAP BusinessObjects 4.x Connectivity for SAP NetWeaver BW Multi-Source Universe - Possible workarounds

BEx Query Elements

Relational Universe

Calculated / Restricted Keyfigures

Define calculated measures as part of the Universe

Variables

Define prompts as part of the Universes or Web Intelligence Query Panel. Not possible for EXIT variables or variables filled through authorizations

Currency and Unit Conversion

Possible with manual modeling of tables with conversion rates in the SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer and joins in Data Federator.

Display Attributes

Possible with joins from InfoProvider to the master data tables in the Universe.

External BW Hierarchies

No Workaround

Conditions

Use filters on measures.

Real Experience. Real Advantage.