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Reporting
Reporting
- Quick Tip: Constant Selection Option Helps You Meet Unique Reporting Needs
by Prakash Holalkere, SAP NetWeaver BW Consultant, Accenture (March 2009)
Find out about a hidden front-end option, Constant Selection, that allows you to easily add ratio-based calculations to your reports.
- 20 Uses for ABAP on BW Projects
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
BW reduces the need for ABAP for most reporting tasks, but most BW projects could benefit from having an experienced ABAPer available. This is particularly true for data preparation and preprocessing functions. The author shows how an ABAP programmer would be useful in 20 different areas.
- 5 Best Ways to Import Non-SAP Data into BW
by Mike Curl, Principal Consultant, Bluefin Solutions
Weigh the benefits and drawbacks of the five most popular ways of importing non-SAP data into your BW system.
- 5 Easy Tips to Manipulate BEx Queries Using Variables
by July Hartono, Alpha Net Consulting LLC
The author provides her favorite methods for getting good results with BEx queries, including specifying a variable offset and using a customer exit as a variable.
- 5 Steps to Create
More Interactive
Dashboards in Web AD
7.0
by Nikhil Sharma,
Senior Technology
Consultant,
BearingPoint, Inc.,
and Satwik Das,
Consultant, Infosys
Technologies, Ltd.
(December 2008)
To develop nimble dashboards that adapt to the requirements of multiple users, you need complex script commands. Find out how you can combine the new standard script commands in Web Application Designer 7.0 to create these adaptable dashboards more easily.
- 5 Tips for a Successful Global Data Warehouse Project
by Gary Nolan, Independent BI Strategic Architect
Establishing a global enterprise data warehouse (EDW) can involve many unique challenges. Recognizing and negotiating these challenges can yield a global EDW with benefits to the entire organization.
- 6 Steps to Enhance a CRM DataSource Using a BDoc BAdI
by Liang Ma, Senior Specialist, Deloitte Consulting (April 2009)
Learn about a new method you and your BW team can use to report on information obtained when you add new partner functions to SAP CRM — the Business Document Business Add-In. This six-step process allows you to collect data in real time and enables you to load the data into SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence to use for reporting. You can also use this process to add other customized fields to SAP CRM.
- 6 Ways to Optimize SAP BW in Business Objects
by Sergei Peleshuk, BI Consultant, ABSS Europe
Learn about the advantages of and tips for using Business Objects on top of SAP BW. Specifically, see what issues developers should be aware of when building structures in Business Objects.
- A Simpler, Cleaner Approach to Trend Reporting in BW Using Variables
by Rob Oliver, Manager, Integrated Enterprise Systems, Deloitte Consulting
When building reports that show past and projected results, query designers might start by creating a large column structure. This approach might prove cumbersome. The author shows a more flexible method using structures and a little user input via simple variables.
- Accelerate the
Creation of Powerful
Dashboards in
Xcelsius
by Anurag Barua,
Senior Manager
(November 2008)
Get to know Xcelsius, a BusinessObjects tool that you can use with SAP NetWeaver BI to create dashboards quickly. See how to set up a simple dashboard, from preparing the Excel file to customizing the dashboard design.
- Accurately View Price Reports with Multiple Vendors and Multiple Materials
by Andrey Bondarev, BW/SEM Consultant, Bluefin Solutions Ltd.
The sum of prices per product often is not an accurate measure of performance when comparing multiple vendors, materials, and prices. The weighted average method, however, adjusts the sums proportionately so that you can make an accurate judgment of vendor performance. While BW has no standard weighted average method of aggregation, you can model it in BEx Query Designer using calculated key figures.
- Achieve More Flexible Reports Using Time Distribution in Update Rules
by Gary Nolan, Platinum BW Consultant, SAP America, Inc.
Discover how you can use time distribution in update rules to combine data with differing levels of granularity. Step through the configuration for time distribution and familiarize yourself with the concept via examples.
- Add Workbooks to Users' Favorites for Improved Communication
by David Eady, Reporting Team Lead, SI Corporation
Normally, BW reporting users open a workbook from a BW role and then save the workbook to their favorites. In certain situations, it is helpful if the development team could automatically add a workbook to a user's favorites. Learn a shortcut using a function module that adds a workbook to a user's favorites without the user's intervention. You can also add a power user's workbook to your own favorites.
- An Insider's Guide to SAP BusinessObjects and SAP NetWeaver BW: What Tools Should You Use Going Forward?
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP, and Antonio Soto, Platinum Education Consultant, SAP (May 2009)
Delve into the reporting and analysis tools available with SAP BusinessObjects and SAP NetWeaver BW. Find out when to use which tool, where to find it, and who should be the one using it. Learn which BEx tools SAP will continue to develop and which SAP BusinessObjects tools you should consider for your long-term reporting and analytics needs.
- Another Way to Create an ETL Daily Run Report
by Karen Olsen, Business Intelligence Analyst/Developer for W. W. Grainger
With so many reports that must be run daily, it can be difficult to determine the best way to track jobs in BW. The author shares her success with creating a custom table to track InfoPackages being transported to production. The table provides users with access to vital and accurate information about the status of their jobs.
- Automate Sales Analytics in BW as a Predecessor to a Full CRM/BW Landscape
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Use BW's Reporting Agent and standard Business Content to automatically generate operational sales-analytics reports, and pave the way for a full-blown mySAP CRM implementation later.
- Automate Your Updates Even When Deltas Won't Work
by Iliya Ruvinsky, SAP BW Consultant, NESS A.T.
Keeping the data in your InfoProviders current is critical if you want to give end users reports with any real value. Automation is the key to efficiently performing updates that keeps the data fresh. Here’s a way to automate even the toughest updates using process chains and a little custom code.
- Avoid Split Records in MultiProviders
by Martin Ringvold, Independent SAP NetWeaver BI Consultant
When you report on MultiProviders, you can run into split records. In this situation, the report contains redundant and incorrectly categorized data. Find out how you can use restricted key figures to avoid this problem.
- Avoid These Common Pitfalls in Using Reporting Authorizations With and Without Hierarchies
by Robert Williams, Business Intelligence Project Manager
Avoid unexpected report results when you use hierarchy authorizations by taking these simple steps.
- Best Practices for Allowing Power Users to Develop Queries in BW
by Catherine Roze, Senior BW Consultant, IBM Business Consulting Services
More and more businesses now authorize power users to develop queries in the BW production environment. Often the benefits of relying more on power user to create queries outweighs the risks and can even reduce the workload for your BW team. The author examines some of the key issues, policies, and best practices that you should follow to allow power users to effectively develop BW queries.
- BEx Information Broadcasting in SAP BW 3.5 Puts Users Front and Center
by Glen Leslie, BI Product Manager, SAP Labs
SAP has expanded the feature set in the latest iteration of SAP BW. Included in the new functionality is BEx Information Broadcasting, which provides a variety of ways for users to disseminate information. This introduction to BEx Information Broadcasting and its front-end tool, the BEx Broadcaster, will give you a head start on putting it to use.
- BI Content 3.2 Add-On Deliver Balance Sheet, P&L Analyses More Easily
by Lori Vanourek, BI Specialist, BI Product Management, SAP Labs
New functionality in the BI Content 3.2 Add-On release allows you to use contra accounts - accounts that can appear as assets or liabilities depending on their status at financial statement runtime - without custom workarounds. See how this functionality can help you produce better balance sheet and P&L analysis reports with less effort.
- BW for Beginners: Teach Users InfoCube Basics with Excel and Better Reports Are Sure to Follow
by Kurt Goldsmith, IT Implementation Consultant, ICM America
This simple exercise is a friendly introduction to the confusing terminology of InfoCube, InfoObject, Dimension, and Attribute. Experienced BW professionals will find this article useful because it shows them a non-technical way they can teach the process to others in their company.
- Change Queries in a Worksheet Without Affecting References
by Rob Oliver, BW Team Manager, Barclays Capital
The results for multiple queries are often placed in one Excel worksheet, which is then referenced to other sheets in the workbook. This practice, which is embraced by many, can cause problems, however, if a query changes the cell, column, or row structure in the sheet containing the results areas. The author demonstrates a easy way to change a sheet's structure so it can accommodate new data in one area without altering the rest of the worksheet, allowing you to preserve the cell references used throughout a workbook.
- Create a Web Interface for the BEx Map
by Lori Vanourek, BI Specialist, BI Product Management, SAP Labs
Learn how to use the Web Application Designer to create templates for interactive maps. By using only two settings, you can provide three levels of interactivity.
- Create an Interactive BW Report Catalog
by Yu (James) Hong, Senior Consultant, BearingPoint Inc.
Discover how to make a report catalog using a BW virtual InfoCube and ABAP table interface technology.
- Create Engaging, Error-Free Xcelsius Dashboards with SAP NetWeaver BW Queries
by Tony Harper, BI Capability Manager, Bluefin Solutions (June 2009)
By using a remote function module and the Web service wizard, you can enable Xcelsius to display data from SAP NetWeaver BW. Walk through each part of the process step by step. Annotated code for the remote function module is included as a download to help you get started more quickly.
- Create New BW Web Printing Controls Your Users Will Love
by David Fox, Platinum Solution Consultant, SAP America
In the Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) application, the Web browser controls such print settings as page setup, paper size, and page orientation. These settings are not accessible to scripting function, which is problematic for BW teams because they limit end users' printing options. The author shows how to provide more printing controls to BW 3.x users with the code provided.
- Create Offline Reporting 'Cockpits' with Reporting Agent
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Sometimes the people who need reports from BW aren't connected to a BW system. BW 3.x's Reporting Agent provides a means to get reports to your offline users. We show you how to use this advanced feature with screenprints and step-by-step instructions.
- Custom Program Grants Users Easy Access to Both BEx Analyzer 3.x and SAP NetWeaver 2004s
by Bryan Koetting, BI Consultant, Teklink International
When migrating to SAP NetWeaver 2004s, your users may want to access both the new and legacy versions of BEx Analyzer until they get used to the new program. However, users accessing BEx Analyzer via single-sign on with transaction RRMX cannot choose which version of BEx Analyzer to launch. Use ABAP code to add a selection screen so users can choose their version of BEx Analyzer.
- Customize the Standard Web Template to Save Time and Effort
by Mukunda Krishnaswamy, Principal Architect, Enterprise Systems, American Standard Companies, Inc.
Great-looking reports don’t just happen. They can take a lot of your precious time and gobble up development resources. BW ships with a Web template that allows you to rapidly deploy customized reports that are sure to be a hit with your end users and reduce your development efforts.
- Data Mining with the Analysis Process Designer in SAP BW 3.5
by Glen Leslie, BI Product Manager, SAP Labs
The Analysis Process Designer (APD) workbench, introduced in BW 3.1 Content (BW 3.0B SP6), allows users to combine numerous transformations into a single data flow. It offers a less technical approach to enhancing subject-oriented, non-volatile data that has already been integrated, cleansed, and transformed in the data warehouse. The author examines current APD features and outlines future plans for integrating it with other data mining functionality in the upcoming BW 3.5 release set for later this year.
- Deploy Web Templates in Multiple Languages
by Adrian Gawdiak, Manager, Global Data Warehousing, American Standard; and Mukunda Krishnaswamy, Principal Architect,
Enterprise Systems, American Standard
Translating the text that end users will see for custom applications is a manual chore. The authors recently went through the process at their company, and this article presents best practices and tips that they learned.
- Develop Dynamic Dashboards with BEx
by Rajeev Kapur, BI Executive, BSI, and Alexander Thomas, Application Developer (February 2009)
SAP BW has all the tools necessary to deploy a dynamic dashboard that shows custom content for each user. Discover some of the concepts inherent to making a dashboard successful and how you can use SAP BW to deliver them.
- Display Text Longer Than 60 Characters in Web Queries
by Nitin Kulkarni and Vikas Babbar, Patni Computer Systems
All InfoObjects have a length limit of 60 characters. However, users often want access to longer text. Discover a workaround to display text of more than 60 characters in Web queries.
- Distribute Pre-calculated Web Reports More Quickly Using Value Sets
by Satish Chalasani, Independent BW/SEM Consultant
Some reports require two queries where the second query needs the results of the first. In situations where such a report must be run repeatedly for distribution to many people, this can result in slow performance due to a large number of database accesses. By using a pre-calculated value set rather than a pre-query variable, you reduce the number of database hits and improve performance.
- Effectively Gather BW Functional Requirements
by Gary Nolan, Independent BI Strategic Architect
Preview Gary Nolan’s upcoming SAP PRESS book Efficient SAP NetWeaver BI Implementation and Project Management to help understand and avoid some of the most common implementation concerns. The book, released in May 2007, provides implementation strategies, templates, and advice for effective BW scope management, configuration, and the overall BW implementation process.
- Empower Your End Users with Accurate BW Reports
by Philip Botterill, SAP NetWeaver Application Consultant
Use standard BW functionality to show end users the accurate last load date and time for each report. This saves time for end users, who can see at a glance whether or not they need the report information.
- End Language Compatibility Problems with Unicode
by Matt Kangas, SAP NetWeaver Product Manager, SAP; and Anthony Andreacchio, SAP NetWeaver Product Manager, SAP
To be a globally competitive company, you need rapid access to critical data in a wide variety of formats and languages. Learn how Unicode makes this possible in your SAP ERP system, and gain an understanding of its technical requirements and restrictions.
- Enhance Report-Report Interface: Create Custom Report Type as Receiver
by Stan Pacyna, Senior
BI Consultant,
Data-IQ Consulting,
Inc. (November 2008)
With the proliferation of front-end reporting tools comes the challenge of achieving a seamless navigation within applications composed of multiple report types. It also results in a greater need to pass complex sets of parameters from one report to another. When standard methods offered by Report-Report Interface fail to support such requirements, users often must manually execute related reports and copy and paste the necessary parameters. Find out how you can achieve seamless integration by defining custom report types.
- Everything You Need to Know About Formatting Part I: BEx Analyzer and BEx Query Designer
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 has increased formatting options over SAP BW 3.5. Learn how to create custom workbooks in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0. Also, find out about other enhancements, including creating company default workbooks for logos and corporate formatting.
- Extract R/3 Hierarchies Directly into BW
by Christian Harrington, Business Intelligence Consultant, Harrington Informatique
Business Content extractors do not support all hierarchies in the R/3 source system, such as Treasury Cash Management, so there is no standard DataSource to link these hierarchies to BW. Learn a workaround to this problem by creating an empty DataSource to extract an existing hierarchy from R/3 and load it directly into BW.
- Fill the Void Between BW InfoObjects and the R/3 Classification System
by Frank Bulacher, BI Practice Manager, Enowa Consulting
While the classification system in R/3 can supply your BW InfoObjects with attributes, limitations in BW can make using all of them impossible. Even if you could provide access to all the characteristics in the classification system via a lone InfoObject, your end users would be sure to grumble as they struggled to work with lists of attributes that could number in the thousands. Dynamic attributes offer a solution to both problems.
- Find Reporting and Performance Problems Before Your Users Do
by Joerg Boeke, Director, Business Intelligence, syskoplan AG
Problems with the reports or routines you build are not always obvious until they are in live use. In some cases, performance might be slower than it should be, or in other cases incorrect data finds its way into important reports. The author shows you how to create an audit workbook, which bundles all your test queries, so that you can automate your testing process. You will also learn how to audit BW metadata and query performance.
- Follow These Data-Cleansing Best Practices to Ensure Accurate Data in BW
by Lori Vanourek, BI Specialist, BI Product Management, SAP Labs
Inaccurate data can enter BW from a source system or become corrupted once extracted. The author explains how data can become corrupted and describes the means available in BW to identify, avoid, and repair bad data.
- Formula Variables Offer a Low-Cost Alternative to Cell Definition in Financial Reports
by Soumya Mishra, Sr. Consultant, Deloitte Consulting LLP (April 2009)
Find out how you can use formula variables with hierarchies to define individual cells in a report. This six-step process offers a low-maintenance alternative to developing custom query structures in BEx Query Designer, a pre-requisite for the cell definition feature.
- Four Ways to Publish SAP BW Content to SAP Enterprise Portal
by Glen Leslie, BI Product Manager, SAP Labs
BW 3.x offers greater integration with Enterprise Portal (EP) to provide centralized, Web-based access to analytical data. You have four ways to publish BW content to SAP EP, each with a different level of technical skill required. The author walks you through the publishing process for each method and explains for which circumstance each method is best suited.
- Help Your Queries Run More Quickly Using the OLAP Cache
by Gary Nolan, Platinum BW Consultant, SAP America, Inc.
Your users can benefit from one another when they run similar queries thanks to the online analytical processing (OLAP) cache. It is designed to store the results set used by certain queries to improve system performance. The system quickly reads from past query results stored in the cache rather than from the InfoCube or aggregate. It must be maintained properly along with the queries that use it for the OLAP cache to reach its fullest potential. Here's how.
- Hidden Tool Provides Query Information on a Single Screen
by Gary Nolan, BI Strategic Architect, TekLink International (May 2010)
SAP NetWeaver BW has a little-known transaction called the query definition tool that provides a comprehensive view of any query. Discover where to find this tool and how to use it to your advantage.
- Home Page Framework Integrates Your Dashboards for Easy User Access
by Brian Hether, Manager of Data Warehousing, The Washington Post
A home page framework links your dashboards and BW tools such as BEx Browser and BEx Analyzer. This framework offers some portal benefits to those who have not yet implemented SAP NetWeaver Portal. Find out how to create the home page framework and set up your dashboards so your users can quickly switch from the dashboards to the BW tools.
- How to Report What Hasn't Been Selling
by Rob Oliver, BW Team, Barclays Capital
BW reports are great for situations when things are in flux, but what happens when conditions are static? You can deliver sales figures, for example, for products that are selling but it's more difficult to report on products that are not moving. Because you can use a MultiProvider that employs InfoObjects as InfoProviders, BW 3.x provides the technology. Here's what you need to do to set up the objects in the Administrator Workbench and create the queries in the BEx Query Designer to generate these types of reports.
- How to Select the Best Tool for Developing Management Scorecards from SAP NetWeaver BW
by Derek L. Johnson, Program Manager — Analytics and Reporting, Delivery Operations, SAP America, Inc. (March 2009)
When you don’t need a comprehensive management scorecard application, consider options beyond SAP BusinessObjects Strategy Management or Strategic Enterprise Management-Corporate Performance Monitor Balanced Scorecard. Depending on your requirements, BEx Web Application Designer, SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer, or Xcelsius can also address your company’s management scorecard requirements. Find out when to use each option and how to create optimized scorecards for your management teams, with particular emphasis on using Xcelsius.
- Improve the Usability of BW Web Reports with HTML and JavaScript: Part 1
by Jason Kraft, Business Warehouse Team Lead, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development
See some relatively simple changes you can make to SAP-delivered functionality to make it more accessible to casual users. These changes only require SAP’s Web Application Designer and a little knowledge of HTML and JavaScript.
- Increase Your BI Efficiency by Using Design-Centric Development Methodology
by Anton Karnaukhov, Business Process Technologies Manager, Pacific Coast Companies, Inc.
Adapting your BI data warehouse environment to use a business intelligence design-centric development process allows you to incorporate best practices as a standard part of data modeling and query design. Learn about the four phases in a design-centric development implementation that you can apply to your SAP NetWeaver BI system and the steps required for each phase.
- Jet Power Your Decision Making with Visual What-If Scenarios Using Xcelsius
by Nikhil Sharma, Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Mclean, VA (July 2010)
Using an interactive Xcelsius report to conduct what-if scenarios allows users to quickly see the effects of business decisions in an engaging manner. Find out how to create your own what-if analysis report. A sample data file and a working what-if analysis report are provided as download files to help you get started.
- Make BW's Bookmark Functionality a One-Step Process
by Mukunda Krishnaswamy, Principal Architect, Enterprise Systems, American Standard Companies; and Adrian Gawdiak, Manager,
Global Data Warehousing, American Standard Companies
BW has a bookmarking feature that saves the navigational state of Web queries in the form of a URL. It is similar to the Favorites feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer, but does not work in the same way. Use the instructions and code in this article to make BW's bookmarking function as easy to use as Internet Explorer's.
- Make Users Smile with Better Running F4 Searches
by Shreekant Shiralkar and Bharat Patel, BW System Managers, Bharat Petroleum, India
F4 search is a popular tool to find characteristics for filtering. It generates a list of values that can be used for limiting query results so that users can find just what they're looking for. While popular, F4 can add to your system overhead and cause end-user dissatisfaction if proper maintenance is not observed.
- Maximize Your Query Optimization Options in BW
by Gary Nolan, Independent BI Strategic Architect
Get expert advice for when, how, and why you should optimize your BW queries. Also, determine whether to optimize them automatically or manually.
- MDX: The Basis for SAP NetWeaver BI Third-Party Interfaces
by Larry Sackett, President, E.J. Barry Company
SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 offers the option of using SAP Multidimensional Expressions (MDX) query and calculation language to develop queries. The use of MDX-based third-party application programming interfaces and SAP NetWeaver BI tools expands the reporting and analysis capabilities of SAP NetWeaver BI.
- Meet the Three Challenges of Extracting Financial Data: High Volume, Content Modifications, and Satisfying User Needs
by Gilles Jaegy, Project Manager, HP Finance and Administration IT, Hewlett-Packard
We show you how to optimize three key processes to help meet the demands of extracting line-item financial data from R/3: loading financial data, enhancing the extraction process to modify content, and defining delta management to deal with high volume.
- Modify Web Reports with the BW Table Interface
by Joerg Boeke, Director Business Intelligence, syskoplan AG, Germany
Many tools are available for creating Web templates, but they offer little help when it comes to modifying data in a report or formatting cells. The author introduces you to a little-known interface that allows you to create object-oriented classes to enhance and modify your Web reports. He offers some ABAP and HTML code to modify a report so it will display special graphics in individual cells along with data.
- Monitor the Health of Your System with BW Reports
by David Hill, SAP Basis Administrator, and Kumar Srinivasan, BW Consultant
The latest addition to the Computing Center Management System gives you the ability to extract Central Performance History data to your BW system where you can then analyze and correlate it graphically. You need a central monitoring system on Web Application Server 6.40 and BW Release 3.5. This new functionality can help you prevent unexpected outages of systems and applications as well as see trends and report on service-level agreements.
- Monitor Your Queries and Workbooks
by Iliya Ruvinsky, SAP BW Consultant, NESS A. T.
It’s a challenge to identify when a workbook or query was changed if many consultants are working on a project. You need that information when you are deciding which workbooks to transport. Learn about a method to monitor workbook changes.
- Monitor Your Queries and Workbooks: Part 2
by Iliya Ruvinsky, SAP BW Consultant, NESS A. T.
The relationship report part of the MONitoring Application (MONA) allows you to quickly display relationships among InfoCubes, queries, and workbooks. Learn how to create your own time-saving relationship report.
- Navigate the Complexities of Currency Conversion for More Accurate Management Reporting
by Jens Koerner, SAP NetWeaver BI Solution Architect, Inforte, a Business & Decision Company (February 2009)
Since dealing with multiple currencies has become commonplace in a global economy, it’s no surprise that currency conversion is needed everywhere in global organizations that implement and run SAP software solutions. While currency conversion was mainly the purview of the ERP system in the past, ERP systems no longer carry that burden alone. Today’s managers want reports on aggregated data in various currencies. Uncover the hidden complexities of currency conversion in management reporting, and discover easy-to-understand examples that help you communicate these complexities to project stakeholders to ensure that your solution will meet all multi-currency reporting requirements.
- OLAP Cache: Does It Have to Be Configured?
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
One of the differences between the BW 2.0 system and versions 3.0B and above is the way that OLAP queries are cached. The author explains the added features and global cache of newer versions of BW. He describes the cache configuration settings of BW version 3.x and their impact on system performance.
- One Web Table Interface Class Fits All
by Jin Freda, BW Developer, Becton Dickinson
Implement a flexible custom table interface class for enhancing BW Web reports to meet new and changing business requirements.
- Optimize FI-GL Processing with Intelligent Lookup Tables and Pseudo Delta Loads
by Sergei Peleshuk, Business Intelligence Consultant, ABSS Europe
SAP BW 3.x does not allow you to run two delta loads back to back. Learn a workaround involving DataStore objects and a pseudo delta load that allows you to do this. You can use this functionality to improve system performance in processing high data volumes when implementing complex business logic.
- Personalize Your BW Web Reports with a Report Selection Screen
by Jay Dixit, Senior IT Analyst, Halliburton; and Sathish Janardhanan, Senior IT Analyst, Halliburton
You can enhance the bookmark functionality of your BW Web reports to obtain your preferred report layout without the need for additional drill-down or filtering. By adding JavaScript code to the bookmark properties, you can create a pop-up selection screen where you can choose the variables to display in your bookmarked BW Web report
- Prepare Your Data for Better Reporting with Start or Expert Routines in SAP NetWeaver 7.0
by Rajiv Kalra, Independent SAP Consultant
Learn how to use data normalization in SAP NetWeaver 7.0 to reduce, if not eliminate, reporting problems with data.
- Provide Easy-to-Use BW Web Print Controls in a Drop-Down Menu
by Prakash Darji, BW/SEM Consultant, SAP America
Because some Web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) are designed to minimize the security risks, offering enhanced Web print controls is often a challenge for BW teams. Here’s a way to offer your end users a handy drop-down menu to set page orientation and margins for better-looking output.
- Quick Tip
Leverage BEx Analyzer Formatting and Presentation Capabilities in SAP BI 7.0
by Penny Silvia, Director of Business Intelligence, MyITgroup
Find out about some of the new design options you have in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0.
- Quick Tip How to Find Available Queries Fast!
by Joerg Boeke, Director of Business Intelligence, syskoplan AG, Germany
Learn how to use a report that gives you an overview of available BW queries.
- Quick Tip: 4 Hints to Make BEx Analyzer Run Smoothly
by Anurag Barua, Manager, SAP Application Support, The Washington Post
Query results in BEx Analyzer often display only a subset of an InfoObject's master data. Explore how to make your query display all of your master data. Also find out what to do when BEx Analyzer fails to display actual data, and learn how to insert a page break into query results. Several issues could prevent your BEx Analyzer data queries from successfully returning applicable data. Learn how to solve all of these problems.
- Quick Tip: Add Pop-Up Messages to BEx Queries for Simple Validation and Feedback
by Deepak Iyer and Ritesh Jogani, Patni Computer Systems, India
Use pop-up messages to provide validation feedback about a query directly within the query.
- Quick Tip: Automate a Personalized Title in an SAP BW Web Report
by Vitaliy Rudnytskiy, SAP/BI Developer, Hewlett-Packard Global Delivery-Application Services
Discover how to change the default title setting for new reports in Web Application Designer.
- Quick Tip: Decide When to Use Before or After Aggregation in Key Figures
by Gary Nolan, Independent BI Strategic Architect
The Before Aggregation setting calculates key figures differently than the After Aggregation setting in BEx Analyzer. Find out how they operate and where to find them in the system.
- Quick Tip: Filter on Multiple Selections of Multiple Characteristics and Key Figures
by Rob Oliver, BW Team, Barclays Capital
Users who frequently work with large, drilled-down workbooks may want to focus on smaller areas to analyze. Rather than having to repeat individual filtering steps, they can achieve the same result with this tip.
- Quick Tip: Hierarchy Variables Save Time and Frustration When Creating Reports
by Frank Bulacher, BI Practice Manager and Partner, Enowa Consulting (April 2009)
A hierarchy variable enables users to simply select the desired hierarchy when running reports. Find out how to create one in both SAP BW 3.5 and SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 using BEx Query Designer.
- Quick Tip: Improve System Performance by Deleting Obsolete and Incorrect Hierarchy Variables
by Frank Bulacher, BI Practice Manager and Partner, Enowa Consulting (April 2009)
Find out tips for using transaction RSZDELETE with hierarchy variables in both SAP BW 3.x and SAP NetWeaver BW 7.x.
- Quick Tip: Retain Excel Formatting in Reports
by Sushrut Shrotri, Manager Specialist, BI Practice, Deloitte Consulting
Here's a simple way to maintain font, color, and other Excel formatting in your BW reports.
- Quick Tip: Simplify Result Reporting with the Leaf Operator
by Deepak Iyer and Ritesh Jogani, Patni Computer Systems, India
Use the leaf operator in a BEx query formula to show individual and result rows separately in a query.
- Quick Tip: Take the Guesswork Out of 0CALWEEK Selection
by Jeevan Ravindran, Independent Software Solution Architect
With a little tweak in 0CALWEEK, and by using a program provided with the article, you can make the 0CALWEEK selection more intuitive to use.
- Quick Tip: Turn Off Attributes in BW F4 Help
by Joerg Boeke, Director of Business Intelligence, syskoplan AG
Have you been looking for a way to simplify or restrict access to BW F4 searches? Use this tip to choose which attributes to display in BW F4 help.
- Quick Tip: Use Transitive Attributes to Clear Reporting Hurdles
by Frank Bulacher, BI Practice Manager, Enowa Consulting
You can report on navigational attributes by linking corresponding values of these characteristics with master data. Transitive attributes provide you with the linkage.
- Quick Tips: 22 Ways to Boost BEx Query Performance
by Catherine Roze, Consultant, IBM Business Consulting Services
You don't necessarily have to leave the responsibility for query performance to your technical team. These tips could save you a great deal of trouble and make you a hero with your end users.
- R/3 Can Be Your One-Stop Shop for BEx Web Reports
by Dr. Yasan Gooding, Information Systems Specialist, Valero Energy Corporation
Power users or developers with the appropriate authorization can connect end users to their BEx Web reports within R/3. This allows end users to perform detailed reporting and analysis from their current SAP session.
- Reconcile Data Discrepancies Using Delta Load Levels
by Brian Hether, Manager of Data Warehousing, The Washington Post,
and Opesh Gupta, Sr. BW Developer, The Washington Post
If the revenue from the total billed orders plus the total unbilled orders in your source system doesn’t equal the total amount of order revenue you have in BW, a balance control report can help you reconcile the two. Learn how to create and use one using delta load levels.
- Refine BW Querying with Real-Time Data
by Leon Berman, SAP BW Expert, SAPSoft Consulting Ltd.
Users often expect BW to provide up-to-the-minute information, forgetting that BW is accurate only according to the time of the most recent upload. Find out how to address this limitation by refining BW queries with real-time data.
- SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and Voyager: When Should You Use Each?
by Praveen Misra, BI Architect and Advisor in CSCI and Co-Founder of Bizsolmarketplace.com (July 2009)
SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence and SAP BusinessObjects Voyager offer different ways to approach reporting. Find out how these two front-end options compare and who the target user is for each one.
- SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence Plus SAP NetWeaver BW Equal Empowered Users
by Ingo Hilgefort, Group Product Manager focusing on Embedded Analytics at SAP (April 2009)
Find out how you can use SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence with your SAP NetWeaver BW system and learn how you can use the “Track data changes” feature to identify time-dependent changes in your data.
- SAP BW Open Access Interfaces and Certified Front-end Tools: What IT and Query Designers Need to Know
by Claudia Weller, Strategic Product Management for BI, SAP AG;
Carsten Bange, Managing Director, BARC;
and Jörg Narr, Business Intelligence Analyst, BARC
SAP has implemented several standards to create open access interfaces to third-party tools from BW. The information in this article will help IT teams plan a strategy for integrating those tools with BW, and it will help query designers understand their interface options in regard to data access.
- SAP NetWeaver 2004s Simplifies Architecture for Transitive Attribute Reporting
by Sarah-Jane O’Connell, Senior Developer, The Washington Post
Reporting based on transitive attributes can be both useful and tricky. In BW 3.5, The Washington Post developed architecture to perform transitive attribute reporting. Upgrading to SAP NetWeaver 2004s considerably simplified the architecture.
- SAP NetWeaver 2004s: What's New in the BI Front End: Part 2
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Find out about changes to BEx Suite tools in SAP NetWeaver 2004s. They include improvements to Web-based printing, document management, Information Broadcasting, BEx Analyzer, BEx Query Designer, Web Analyzer, and Web Application Designer.
- SAP NetWeaver 2004s: What’s New in the BI Front End: Part 1
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Learn about the new BEx Report Designer and BI Integrated Planning included in SAP NetWeaver 2004s and see how they fit into the SAP NetWeaver BI data output landscape.
- SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0
Discover New BEx Themes and Excel Formatting Options
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Find out how to apply themes to your BEx Analyzer workbooks. In addition, see how you can use advanced Microsoft Excel options to further format your workbooks.
- SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0
Unlock a World of Formatting with Themes in BEx Web
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Find out the eight steps to design a query using BEx Web in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0. Along with explaining how SAP NetWeaver Portal is now part of the process, these steps introduce new concepts, such as themes, portal desktops, and BEx Reports.
- Simplify Reporting by Creating a Top N Analysis Report
by Yu (James) Hong, Information Management Lead, Major Manufacturing Company, and Balaji Bitra, BW Lead, Major
Manufacturing Company
See how to develop a BW Web report that shows the top N product analysis with the subtotal key figures of top N products and the subtotal of the remaining products in one report. Walk through an example of how to set up a top 20 products analysis based on the user selection of the subsidiary and time period.
- Six Steps to Creating Great-Looking PDF Reports in BW
by Heena Sood, Senior Business Systems Analyst, Information Services, Adobe Systems Inc.
Distributing your company's static reports to end users using the Portable Document Format (PDF) allows you to tap into the flexibility and document management benefits PDF files provide. The author shows you how to create PDF reports using standard BW functionality, which reduces the strain on your system. She also explains how to configure the BW Reporting Agent and install Adobe Acrobat Distiller software.
- Split One Record into Multiple Records for Reports Using Return Tables
by July Hartono, Alpha Net Consulting
When a report requires that one record be split into multiple records, the method often used is to modify the data in the source system. You can avoid this tedious process by using a hard-to-find BW option called the return table. It allows you to insert ABAP code within an update rule to split the record automatically.
- The BEx User Exit: 22 Functions to Automate and Enhance Your BW Reports in Excel
by Joerg Boeke, Director, Business Intelligence, syskoplan AG Germany
The BEx user exit allows you to perform many valuable tasks and functions in Excel, which can be a great platform for displaying your SAP data when used to its full potential. The author provides 22 ways that the BEx user exit can optimize your Excel reports, with downloadable documents available at the end of the article.
- The BEx Web Analyzer
Template: Your
Access to BEx Web
Reporting
by Yasan Gooding, PhD,
and Cory Fite, MCAD,
MCP, of Valero
Energy Corporation
(November 2008)
Find out a shortcut to access the BEx Web Analyzer Web template without opening BEx Analyzer to execute it.
- The Sarbanes-Oxley Act: How Will It Affect You?
by Michael Nadeau, Editor, BW Expert
SAP BW and SEM teams will play a key role in bringing their companies into compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a U.S. law enacted to set higher financial accounting standards for publicly held businesses. We outline the key areas that you need to be thinking about and what your first steps in these areas might be.
- Transform an InfoPackage into a Smart Extraction Tool
by Christian Savelli, Partner, MethodSys Consulting Group
What do you do when your InfoPackage selection parameters change over time, are dependent on third-party statuses, or are required for delta management? You have standard and non-standard data selection functionalities to deal with these scenarios. We walk you through the process for using them.
- Two Advanced Filtering Techniques Improve Performance
by Gary Nolan, Platinum Consultant, SAP America, Inc.
Filtering data allows you to execute queries against smaller datasets and boost performance. The author describes two techniques for doing so that are not commonly used: filtering records coming out of R/3 and filtering in update or transfer rules. Both require ABAP code, but offer the ability to use more complex selection criteria.
- UI Patterns Make Complex Templates Easier to Configure
by Glenn Leslie
User Interface (UI) Patterns are SAP BI Web templates that are based on popular patterns in layout designs and elements used in Web pages. They allow developers to push decision details regarding Web template content down to end users without sacrificing quality or control. Learn more about these patterns and how to create and edit them.
- Understand What Role MDX Plays in Third-Party Reporting Tools
by Scott Lawrence, Director, Product Marketing, Cognos
Third-party reporting tools generally use Multidimensional Expression (MDX) to generate reports and query multidimensional data sources in BW. The author explains the features and functions of the technology, the differences between shallow and deep MDX, and how it affects your BW resources.
- Use Boolean Functions to Add Analytical Capability to Your BW Reports
by Christian Savelli, Partner, ITXPERTS Corp.
Boolean operators like AND, NOT, and OR give a calculated key figure the ability to perform different calculations depending on other results or values. The author explains how Boolean functions works and shows how you might use them to enhance reports.
- Use Excel Workbooks for Attractive, Easily Maintained Reporting Front Ends
by Simon Ferres, BW Team, Barclays Capital
Sometimes, the standard BW options for supplying your business with reporting tools just aren't enough. Additional reporting power is available from Excel worksheets, which when used in conjunction with BW queries result in graphically impressive reporting front ends that are simple to maintain.
- Use the Report-Report Interface to Enhance Filtering in Your Reports
by Iliya Ruvinsky, BW Consultant, NESS, A.T.
The report-report interface supports drill-through functionality to jump from one report to another. The author explains how more robust filtering can be added via the interface as users drill through two reports.
- Use This SAP NetWeaver BW Data Model for Easy Fill Rate and Cycle Time Reporting
by Anuj N. Babel, Deloitte Consulting LLP (June 2010)
Discover an SAP NetWeaver BW data model that you can use to generate fill rate and cycle time reporting using standard data sources from sales and distribution. This generic data model uses ABAP transformations, which you can modify to align with your specific business process flow.
- Use Virtual Time Hierarchies for Flexible Reporting with Time Characteristics
by Lorne Kellaway, Senior Business Systems Analyst, Alcatel-Lucent Canada Inc.
Activating virtual time hierarchies provides a flexible and convenient option for reporting on time characteristics. Not only is it simple to implement, it can immediately increase the functionality available to query designers and users. It can deliver reports with summary time groupings on existing time characteristics (based on 0DATE, 0CALMONTH, 0CALMONTH2, and 0FISCPER) with no changes required to the data targets.
- Virtual Characteristics and Key Figures Make Queries More Dynamic
by Jens Nissen, SAP BW/SEM Manager, NNIT A/S, Denmark
Though immensely useful, time-dependent attributes have limitations that can lead to inaccurate reports. The author explains the benefits of virtual characteristics and key figures, which use programmable BW user exits. He then walks you through five steps that will allow you to make the most of virtual characteristics and key figures.
- Visual Composer 7.0’s BI Extension Kit Offers New Data Modeling Capabilities
by Franklin Herbas, SAP NetWeaver Product Management, and Shan Jiang, SAP NetWeaver Development
Understand what’s new in Visual Composer 7.0. The BI Extension Kit, part of Visual Composer, includes many new design-time and run-time features that allow functional consultants to create analytical applications without coding.
- Web Application Designer: Create Multiple Reports from One Report with a Drop-Down Box Function
by Yasan Gooding, Ph.D.
Often, there is a need to recreate the same queries and Web reports to change a small feature such as a different unit of measure. The author shows you how to avoid this by creating one flexible report, containing many similar reports in one report, with the drop-down box functionality of Web Application Designer (3.0 or higher).
- What's All the Excitement Over XML in BW?
by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America
Does your head spin when you encounter terms like HTML, XML, and XML/A? This XML overview will get you through the alphabet soup and provide a solid foundation for future learning on this increasingly popular markup language. It also highlights how XML facilitates various features and functions in BW.
- What's Coming in 2004: SAP BW 3.5 to Offer Business Reporting Enhancements and More
by Kathleen Beavers, Product Manager, SAP BI, SAP America
SAP BW 3.5 will be a part of the SAP NetWeaver 2004 Ramp-Up in the end of March and unrestricted shipments begin in late 2004. The author explains the features of the updated program, such as an improved business intelligence platform, support for enterprise data warehousing, and new and easier ways to distribute enterprise-wide business intelligence. She also suggests how to upgrade to SAP BW 3.5.
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