SAP BusinessObjects Reporting. Kelly Limberg, Engineering Services Architect

Transcription

1 SAP BusinessObjects Reporting Kelly Limberg, Engineering Services Architect

2 Terms of This Presentation This presentation was based on current information and resource allocations as of October 2009 and is subject to change or withdrawal by CA at any time without notice. Notwithstanding anything in this presentation to the contrary, this presentation shall not serve to (i) affect the rights and/or obligations of CA or its licensees under any existing or future written license agreement or services agreement relating to any CA software product; or (ii) amend any product documentation or specifications for any CA software product. The development, release and timing of any features or functionality described in this presentation remain at CA s sole discretion. Notwithstanding anything in this presentation to the contrary, upon the general availability of any future CA product release referenced in this presentation, CA will make such release available (i) for sale to new licensees of such product; and (ii) to existing licensees of such product on a when and if-available basis as part of CA maintenance and support, and in the form of a regularly scheduled major product release. Such releases may be made available to current licensees of such product who are current subscribers to CA maintenance and support on a when and if-available basis. In the event of a conflict between the terms of this paragraph and any other information contained in this presentation, the terms of this paragraph shall govern. 2 August 12, 2009 SAP BusinessObjects Reporting Copyright 2009 CA

3 For Informational Purposes Only Certain information in this presentation may outline CA s general product direction. All information in this presentation is for your informational purposes only and may not be incorporated into any contract. CA assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information. To the extent permitted by applicable law, CA provides this document as is without warranty of any kind, including without limitation, any implied warranties or merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. In no event will CA be liable for any loss or damage, direct or indirect, from the use of this document, including, without limitation, lost profits, lost investment, business interruption, goodwill, or lost data, even if CA is expressly advised of the possibility of such damages. 3 August 12, 2009 SAP BusinessObjects Reporting Copyright 2009 CA

4 Session Abstract Do you want to learn how to go from Actuate to Business Objects? Join this session to learn Business Object installation tips, and how to use or expand our universe or how to create your own. In addition we will discuss WEBI what is it and how to use it.

5 Agenda > SAP BusinessObjects Overview > Installation Tips / Best Practices > SAP BusinessObjects Components > Converting from Actuate > Universe Design > WEBI Reports / WEBI User Interface > Crystal Reports > Importing/Exporting content > Performance Hints > Summary

6 SAP BusinessObjects Overview > SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise (BOE XI) Market-leading reporting platform Wholly-owned subsidiary of SAP Creates and markets business intelligence applications Customers have asked for it for a long time Known for its ease of use Long learning curve with Actuate

7 SAP BusinessObjects and Clarity > SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise (BOE XI) Enhances reporting capabilities for Clarity: Crystal Reports WEBI templates Ad-hoc reporting CA has standardized on SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI as its reporting solution for all products Support for BOE XI comes in Clarity

8 SAP BusinessObjects Overview > CA Business Intelligence (CA BI) A CA-developed specially licensed OEM version of BOE XI that installs at a very specific patch-level CA BI Supported On... BOE XI Release CA BI 2.0 Clarity 8.1.x / 12.0 BOE XI R2 SP3 + FP3_3 CA BI 2.1 Clarity / BOE XI R2 SP4 CA BI 3.0 TBD BOE XI R3 SP1 + FP1_5 > Which version are you supported on? > CA BI 2.1 Latest and greatest supported release Fixes many defects +introduces support for 64-bit Windows Note: BOE XI files are compiled as 32-bit native binary. Must use 32-bit data source middleware connectivity. Use C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe for DSN

9 SAP BusinessObjects Overview > Key Components for CA Clarity PPM Crystal Reports Similar to the Actuate ereports of old Stock reports with Clarity / PMO pack Parameterise reports from Clarity UI Web Intelligence (WEBI) Reports Drag-and-drop reporting in your browser Once saved, can be launched from InfoView or Clarity Universe Designer Used for managing/administering the universe (Crystal Reports Designer) Not included in CA BI - purchase directly from SAP - only required for custom Crystal report design

10 SAP BusinessObjects Overview

11 SAP BusinessObjects Overview > Most-used Components Central Management Server (CMS) Maintains info on security, objects and servers in BOE XI DB Web Application Server (WAS) Cache Server Looks for cached copies of the report; if nothing found then forwards a request to Page Server Page Server Generates the report and connects to the Clarity DB and a new copy of the report is cached to Cache Server

12 SAP BusinessObjects Overview > User Authentication and BOE Clarity is the system of record for user When the Clarity user runs any report it will: Check the BOE report server to see if that user exists in BOE If the user does not exist it will create the user in BOE The BOE user will have the same user name as the Clarity user with an encrypted password Does not become a licensing issue as we have an unlimited user license (see next slide!)

13 SAP BusinessObjects Overview > CA BI Licensing The CA BI OEM version of BOE ships with a 10 CPU tier license: No restriction on number of users Max number of concurrent users supported dependent on hardware deployed to run SAP BOE The OEM license can only be used with the CA products named in the OEM contract Data access is limited to data created or used by CA products named in the OEM contract This license cannot be used with a data mart or data warehouse beyond CA products named in the OEM contract

14 Installation Tips / Best Practices > Can pre-existing BOE deployments be used? Only if: Your existing license allows enough users for every user in Clarity that will run reports Each Clarity user will have a BOE user that can only be used by Clarity Discuss your licensing/env setup directly with SAP Be aware that Clarity will create/update users in the BOE Repository If there are users who already use BOE and their Clarity username is the same, their password WILL be reset each time they run a Clarity report to an encrypted form! BOE must be configured to use Enterprise Authentication

15 Installation Tips / Best Practices > Can pre-existing BOE deployments be used? Only if: User specified in NSA must have full admin privileges You have the same BOE patch level as the CA BI release The BOE Web Services module must be installed Import Wizard can be used to load the BIAR file, but reports must be restored to the appropriate folder (check Reports admin screen in application for path) CA Clarity Support offers restricted levels of support to non-ca BI installations > We highly recommend you deploy the CA BI software

16 Installation Tips / Best Practices > Go OEM with CA BI: Be 100% supported by CA Clarity Support Stay with Tomcat No real performance benefit over WebSphere/WebLogic Minimal configuration effort required on Tomcat From , WebLogic/WebSphere supported for upgrade customers only MySQL OK for < 100 concurrent reports users and small non-production environments

17 Installation Tips / Best Practices > Stock Reports Installed from the NSA or Command Line Any existing CA Clarity universe and Clarity Stock Reports will be overwritten Custom universes will not be overwritten Custom reports and modified stock reports in custom folders will not be overwritten

18 Post Installation Setup > NSA Configures Both Actuate and BOE Can only have one configured to run at a time Can switch later if needed > One BOE server per Clarity Instance Last one to install wins

19 Post Installation Setup Where you define if you are using BOE or Actuate BOE Points to the web service URL, CMS (BOE specific) and base URL to reporting server Define the Actuate Volume Name Actuate The Database ID for the reports to run against These fields must be fully completed before you install reports from the NSA or command line.

20 SAP BusinessObjects Components > Reports and universe packaged in a BIAR file Business Intelligence Archive Resource (BIAR) Clarity BIAR files ca_clarity.biar (Stock reports and Universe) ca_clarity_csk.biar (PMO Accelerator reports) Installed from NSA or nikuadmin reports command Imports the file using Java Ensure CMS service is contactable by Clarity before doing this (check NSA configuration!) nikuadmin reports verbose can be used to try and elicit more detailed error messages if you are having problems

21 SAP BusinessObjects Components > InfoView A portal that allows users access to view and manage published reports View history of report instances previously run > URL to InfoView

22 SAP BusinessObjects Components > Central Management Console (CMC) Web application where you define users, groups, security, and other administrative tasks Tune the configuration settings for BOE services > URL for CMC

23 SAP BusinessObjects Components > The "Universe" A set of metadata that describes what s in the CA Clarity PPM database and/or data mart Structured using the concept of classes, objects, and measures. Semantic layer between a user and a database Have meaningful names and are user-oriented Can be used for the creation of WEBI (ad hoc) and Crystal Reports

24 SAP BusinessObjects Components > The "Universe" Each universe is organized into logical functional areas, such as Project, Time and Resource. Universes can be used for Crystal reporting, WEBI templates or simply ad hoc reporting in WEBI.

25 SAP BusinessObjects Components > Without a Universe Need to understand Clarity data model Need to understand the Joins between tables Have to spend time writing complex SQL > With a Universe Simply drag and drop the required fields > Power of a Universe

26 SAP BusinessObjects Components > OOTB Universes CA_Clarity Handles security and supports the out-of-the-box Crystal reports and PMO reports Not (really) designed for ad hoc reporting CA_Clarity_EVM Comes with the Earned Value add-on Not (really) designed for ad hoc reporting > For ad-hoc reporting Create custom universe based on reporting requirements Alternatively, consider purchasing a pre-built universe (see next slide!)

27 SAP BusinessObjects Components > CA BI Universe Accelerators from GSE Smaller, manageable universes that are built for ease of use and ad hoc reporting Projects - Resources Timesheets - Project Financials Earned Value Encapsulate years of experience of reporting against the Clarity data model Accelerates report development Knows all the tricks so you don t have to 5 universes so far more to come Extensible through building and linking custom universes Contact your AD for more information

28 Universe Design > Descriptive & User Friendly Class and Object Naming conventions come from Users Order Objects for effective user interaction Users not having to click from Subclass to Subclass to find Objects >Only add what is needed Objects are not overwhelming in number or depth Users not looking at 100 s of Classes, 1000 s of Objects

29 Universe Design

30 Converting from Actuate > Actuate will be end-of-service with Clarity after 12.x > Decide which reports you want to keep Not all reports may be adding value remove/redesign? Work with the stakeholders and get their buy-in and views > For the reports that remain: Convert to Webi or Convert to Crystal? For pure data feeds maybe look at producing a CSV extract > CA (GSE) offers a chargeable Reports Conversion service Please contact your AD for more details

31 Converting from Actuate > Remember: Crystal Reports Designer is not supplied OEM Possible to reuse stored procedures (if you use them) Invest up front in a well designed Universe Link your custom universe to the Clarity OOTB/GSE universes Make universe changes in your custom universe to preserve changes See TEC485863, TEC on support.ca.com for guidance on how to do this TEC shows how to install Universe Designer on a client PC

32 WEBI Reports > Launched from InfoView > Web based Java Applet > Build reports based off the universes or custom SQL > Drag and drop formatting > Drag and drop queries based on Universe

33 WEBI User Interface

34 WEBI User Interface > Can be deployed as a Report / Job in Clarity or run from InfoView > WEBI Reports can be modified in Clarity

35 WEBI User Interface > Modifiable on the fly Add Totals Charts New columns from the universe Can not modify Ad Hoc SQL > Security Concern Users can add any available field from the universe Build a custom Universe without sensitive information if you wish to roll WEBI out to a wider user base

36 Crystal Reports > Design Considerations End user access to reports / jobs, same as Actuate 3 different ways to handle Row level security: 1. Use Manage Security option from Universe Designer 2. Join Security Views/Tables to the Tables in the Universe to filter what users see 3. Add Security Query to the Report Query in the Report Designer like Crystal Designer Examples are provided in the OOTB Universe for stock reports, such as the 'Key Task and Milestone Report'. Please refer to TEC on support.ca.com for the full low-down on applying row-level security

37 Crystal Reports > Reports can be built off a number of data sources Universes Stored Procedures Crystal Reports Database Expert Query Builder

38 Crystal Reports

39 Importing/Exporting Content > Crystal Reports can be distributed as native.rpt files > Import Wizard Installed with Business Objects client tools for Windows Used to import / export content in BIAR file format from central management server Folders, WEBI report, Crystal Reports, Universes, etc

40 Performance Hints > Tuning Parameters in the CMC Crystal Cache Server Maximum Cache Size Allowed: (default=256000) Minutes before an Idle Connection is Closed: 10 (default=20) Page Server Minutes before an Idle Connection is Closed: 10 (default=20) Minutes before an Idle Report Job is Closed: 20 (default=60) Report Application Server (RAS) Number of database records to read when previewing or refreshing a report: Unlimited (default=20000) Number of records per batch:1000 (default=100)

41 Exclusive Offer for CA Customers Only > Get 20% off the normal price of Crystal Reports Designer!

42 Questions?