Step-by-Step Guide on Xcelsius Integration with Web Intelligence using a Live Office Connection Applies to: SAP BusinessObjects 3.1 SP3, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius 2008, SAP Live Office Summary This white paper is meant for SAP BusinessObjects developers who are working on Xcelsius Dashboard integration with Web Intelligence Reports using Live office as a data connection and Web Intelligence Report as a data source.the necessity of implementing this integration is required because Xcelsius supports Excel data. This white paper will cover all the basic steps which are required to integrate Xcelsius with Web Intelligence using Live Office connection. Authors: Sumit Dubey & Rajnesh Sharma Company: Deloitte Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. Created on: 2 April 2011 Author Bio Sumit Dubey works as a Business Technology Analyst in Deloitte Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. He has more than three years of experience in BusinessObjects. Rajnesh Sharma works as a Consultant in Deloitte Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. He has more than four years of experience in different tools of BusinessObjects. 2011 SAP AG 1
Table of Contents Introduction... 3 System Requirements... 3 Architecture... 3 Steps to load data into Xcelsius from Web Intelligence Report using Live Office Connection... 4 Advantages of integrating Xcelsius with a Web Intelligence report... 13 Limitations... 13 Related Content... 14 Disclaimer and Liability Notice... 15 2011 SAP AG 2
Introduction This white paper is meant for SAP BusinessObjects developers who are working on Xcelsius Dashboard integration with Web Intelligence Reports using Live Office as a data connection and Web Intelligence Report as a data source. The necessity of implementing this integration is required because Xcelsius supports Excel data. This white paper will cover all the basic steps which are required to integrate Xcelsius with Web Intelligence using Live Office connection. System Requirements Windows XP/ Vista/7 Minimum 2 GB RAM BusinessObjects XI 3.1 Client Tools for Windows BusinessObjects Xcelsius Enterprise 2008 SP3 for Windows BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Live Office Microsoft Excel 2003/2007 Architecture Database BO Universe k Web intelligence Reports Live Office Connection Xcelsius Dashboard The integration of the SAP Xcelsius dashboard with a Web Intelligence report using Live Office is required because Xcelsius uses the Excel worksheet as the only data source for developing the dashboard. But in order to connect it with live data that can be refreshed or updated, connect it to either the Web Intelligence report or a Crystal report. The following discussion integrates it with a Web Intelligence report. The entire architecture of the integration process starts with a database that can be Oracle, MS SQL Server, Teradata, etc. This database is used to design the SAP BO Universe which will provide the Classes and Objects used for reporting. The Web Intelligence report developed should contain all the objects required to develop the Xcelsius dashboard. Once the report is created, it is linked with Xcelsius using an interface called Live Office. The connection created using Live Office will load all the data from Web Intelligence report to Xcelsius Excel sheet. This data, in turn, will be used by the dashboard components to display the data in dashboard format. 2011 SAP AG 3
Steps to load data into Xcelsius from Web Intelligence Report using Live Office Connection 1. Open Xcelsius 2008. In this, there is an Excel sheet opened by default. This Excel sheet is used to upload and mapping components with the dashboard data. Click the Live Office tab in this sheet. 2. Click the Live Office Tab. Go to Application Options. 2011 SAP AG 4
3. In Options, there are three tabs: General, View and Enterprise respectively. Click the Enterprise tab. 4. Check Use specified logon criteria. Fill the required logon details along with Web Services URL and System Name. The highlighted WEBSERVER in Web Services URL is name of the Web Server required to create the connection. The information about this server is usually given by the administrator. As the Web Intelligence report is the source for Xcelsius dashboard, so all the fields needed to display in the dashboard should already be added in the Web Intelligence report. For example: efashion Sales Report is the Web Intelligence Report and this is the source for the Xcelsius dashboard. In the Live Office tab, on the left hand side, there are three icons: Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence and Universe Query. 2011 SAP AG 5
. 5. Click the Web Intelligence tab. 2011 SAP AG 6
After the Live Office connection is created with the Web Intelligence server, all the Web Intelligence reports can now be accessed. These are available in InfoView folders to load data into the Xcelsius Excel sheet. In the snapshot above, a Web Intelligence report has already been created. This is the source for the Xcelsius dashboard. By selecting this report, the entire data of the Web Intelligence report needed to insert in the dashboard can be accessed. Please refer to snapshot below. 6. After selecting the Web Intelligence report, click Next. 7. Click Finish to load the Web Intelligence Report data into Xcelsius dashboard Excel sheet. 2011 SAP AG 7
After the data is loaded, it will be displayed as shown below. 2011 SAP AG 8
8. Go to Data > Connections. In Connections, there are two tabs, Definition and Usage. 9. Click the Definition tab. a) Name: The name of the connection is given. b) Session URL: The path of the Web Intelligence server is given which is used to connect to the Web Intelligence report. 2011 SAP AG 9
10. Click the Usage tab. a) Refresh Before Components are Loaded: Select this option to refresh the data each time the model loads and to use that data as the initial data for the model (using a Reset Button component, it will reset the data to the values from the last time the model was loaded). b) Refresh Every: For QaaWS, Web Services, and XML Data connections only. There is no need to use this option here. c) Refresh on Trigger: In the Trigger Cell box, type or select the cells that will trigger a refresh. Then select one of the following options: When Value Changes When Value Becomes and enter the value that will trigger the refresh. Load Status Options Description Loading Message This is used to type/select a message to display while the model is loading. Idle Message This is used to type/select a message to display while the model is idle. Insert In This is used to type/use the Cell Selector icon to select the cells in the embedded spreadsheet where the loading and idle messages will be inserted. Enable Load Cursor This option is used to display the cursor while the model is loading. Disable Mouse Input on This option is used to prevent users from entering mouse input while Load the model is loading. Click Close to exit this tab. 2011 SAP AG 10
11. Click the Object Properties tab. 2011 SAP AG 11
There are two tabs in Object Properties, General and Refresh. a) Click the General tab to view information about the object or objects and modify properties such as report location and object name. b) Click the Refresh tab to view and modify refresh options for the selected object or objects.. 2011 SAP AG 12
12. Click OK. 13. Design the Xcelsius dashboard as per the data retrieved from the Web Intelligence report. For reference, the dashboard designed by the data in the Web Intelligence report is given below. Advantages of integrating Xcelsius with a Web Intelligence report Limitations Xcelsius supports only Excel sheet data for dashboard development. In order to connect it with any other data source, integrating the dashboard with a Web Intelligence or Crystal report using Live Office is the best option. These two categories of reports support all kinds of databases for their design. Xcelsius dashboard supports a large variety of dashboard features and has the capability to integrate it with SAP BW data source. Xcelsius supports only Excel worksheets as the data source. Dashboard needs a large variety of aggregate functions. These calculations can t be made directly using dashboard features. There is no direct drill down in Xcelsius. It is necessary to create separate summary tables for each combination of drilled values and make these objects visible for selected combination. 2011 SAP AG 13
Related Content Forum Topics/Live Office Page Forum Topics/Web Intelligence page 2011 SAP AG 14
Disclaimer and Liability Notice This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is not supported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade. SAP will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or methods suggested in this document, and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk. SAP offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the content of this technical article or code sample, including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this document and the materials and services offered by SAP. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, SAP responsible or liable with respect to the content of this document. 2011 SAP AG 15