SAP Crystal Reports & SAP HANA: Integration & Roadmap Kenneth Li SAP SESSION CODE: 0401
LEARNING POINTS Learn about Crystal Reports for HANA Glance at the road map for the product Overview of deploying & configuring CR for HANA Quick view of existing limitations & restrictions
SAP Crystal Reports Proven world standard for pixel-perfect reports For Internal Operational Reports and Customer Facing Easy to consume, highly formatted documents with guided interactivity Personalized, information rich documents communicate value quickly
Reporting for HANA with simplified landscape Pixel perfect formatted reports in Lumira Server Large Scale Connect to HANA models directly Business Applications Multiple delivery options Use HANA s repository and toolset to secure and manage Crystal Reports content No additional need for BI Platform Built-in life cycle management for native & unified HANA application deployment HANA
CR for HANA Roadmap Overview Reflects the current planning state & may be changed by SAP at any time Current Planned Future Direction Reporting in Lumira Server Authored content using Crystal Reports for Enterprise Dimensional access to Analytic and Calculated views Content management through on-premise Lumira Launchpad Crystal Reports engine packaged with Lumira server for HANA appliance Using HANA LCM to manage CR content Embedded Reporting Packaging Restful service for reporting UI embedding SDK Unified interface shell and HTML prompting Improved integration with HANA toolset to manage Crystal Reports service Crystal Reports for HEC/HCP cloud Freehand SQL access to HANA Mobile support through Mobile BI Publications and Bursting Charting enhancements Crystal Reports for Lumira cloud
SAP Crystal Reports for HANA 1.0 Overview There are 3 main components that are required to deploy and use CR for HANA. CR for Enterprise Designer Used to author report content Used to save to, and open from, HANA repository Installed on a MS Windows client Crystal Reports Delivery Unit Provides browser viewing capabilities (CR DHTML viewer) Provides connectivity to CR Reporting Service Installed/imported into HANA system Provides integration with Lumira Server Crystal Reports Reporting Service Crystal Reports processing service Handles report requests Processes report data Generates report pages Installed as a standalone Linux service
SAP Crystal Reports for HANA 1.0 Architecture MS Windows SAP HANA SUSE 11 SP1 Desktop Appliance Server Report viewer and page(s) sent to client to view in web browser Report requests sent to Reporting Service Processed report pages sent back to XS application Crystal Reports for Enterprise & HANA Studio CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit CR for HANA Reporting Service
Deployment / Product Requirement Recommendations based on SAP BusinessObjects BI4.1 PAM Each component of Crystal Reports for HANA has specific requirements CR for Enterprise Designer Crystal Reports Delivery Unit Crystal Reports Reporting Service Designer version: 4.1 SP4 OS: Windows Desktop (7-8.1) Minimum Hardware Requirements: Memory: 2 GB RAM CPU: Dual Core CPU Disk space: 3.5 GB SAP HANA SP08 Lumira Server 1.17 CR Reporting Service OS: Linux SUSE 11 SP1 Minimum Hardware Requirement: Memory: 12 GB RAM CPU performance >= 8000 SAPS (Quad Core approx) Disk Space: 11 GB
CR for HANA Reporting Service Configuration MS Windows Desktop Report viewer and page(s) sent to client to view in web browser SAP HANA Appliance Report requests sent to Reporting Service Processed report pages sent back to XS application SUSE 11 SP1 Server Crystal Reports for Enterprise & HANA Studio CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit CR for HANA Reporting Service
CR for HANA Reporting Service Installation Refer to Chapter 4 in the CR for HANA Components Installation, Configuration, and Administration Guide (help.sap.com/boall_en) Linux system required Installation creates a user account used to run the service CR for HANA Reporting Service contains: Lean Java Server (LJS) SAP JVM CR engine Start the service (go.sh/daemon.sh) while logged in with created username
CR for HANA Reporting Service Configuration Tip TIP: Deploy the CR for HANA Reporting Service as a daemon service With /go.sh, the service stops when the remote terminal or connection is closed Running as a daemon keeps the service running always Running as a daemon./daemon.sh displays a help message when run without arguments. Available options include Console runs the Java program in console mode Start starts the Java program as a Linux service Stop stops the Java program service Restart stops and restarts the service Status displays the service status Install installs the service in the OS Uninstall uninstalls the service in the OS
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Microsoft Windows Desktop Report viewer and page(s) sent to client to view in web browser SAP HANA Appliance Report requests sent to Reporting Service Processed report pages sent back to XS application SUSE 11 SP1 Server Crystal Reports for Enterprise & HANA Studio CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit CR for HANA Reporting Service
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Overview Four main parts: 1. Importing the Connector Delivery Unit into SAP HANA 2. Configuring SAP HANA to work with Crystal Reports 3. Configuring SAP HANA for SSO 4. Creating users and roles Refer to Chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the CR for HANA Components Installation, Configuration, and Administration Guide Pre-requites from Service Market Place: SAP CR for HANA Connector DU SAP Cryptographic library
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 1 Importing the CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit The CR for HANA delivery unit is available from Service Marketplace as a ZIP file. Extract the CRHANADU00_0.SAR file Use SAP HANA Studio and SAP HANA Lifecycle Management to upload the SAR file to HANA and deploy the unit
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 1 Importing the CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit The CR for HANA delivery will run through validation checks, and ask for a confirmation on the system instance to deploy to. Once ready, click Run to deploy the components.
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 1 Importing the CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit Verify the import is successful in the folder view of the repository / system Alternatively, in HANA Lifecycle Management, go to View Installed Products and Software Components NOTE! HANA may warn that this operation has been deprecated. It is fine to remain using these deployment steps for now.
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 2 Enable SAP HANA to use the CR Reporting Service Use the SAP HANA Admin portal to connect the SAP HANA appliance to the CR for HANA Reporting Service https://<server>:<port>/sap/hana/xs/admin Edit CRVRemoteServletProxy.xshttpdest Note: alternative configuration methods available, eg using SAP HANA XS IDE tool
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 3 Configure HANA for SSO using SAPLogon On the SAP HANA system, deploy the SAP Crytographic Libraries to generate SSL certificates to establish a secured trust relationship between the SAP HANA Appliance and the CR Reporting Service
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 3 Configure HANA for SSO using SAPLogon Import the certificates using SAP HANA Studio (Administration Console perspective) Create the keys where needed, if they do not exist SAP HANA should be restarted to accept changes
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA IMPORTANT! All users for CR for HANA must be configured to authenticate using SAP Assertion Tickets
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA For authoring using the Crystal Reports for Enterprise designer, ensure access is granted to activated content and metadata: Ie grant Select rights to _SYS_BI, _SYS_BIC Additionally, ensure Execute rights are given for REPOSITORY_REST, for CR to browse for content when opening and/or saving reports. Additional References on http://help.sap.com: Documentation on the SAP HANA security model
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA For viewing Crystal Reports in SAP Lumira Launchpad, ensure access is granted to activated content and metadata: Ie grant Select rights to _SYS_BI, _SYS_BIC Grant SAP Lumira roles for consumption (eg. sap.bi.common::bi_data_consumer) Additional References on http://help.sap.com: Documentation for SAP Lumira user configuration
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA SAP Lumira requires report content to be promoted before they are visible in the Lumira Launchpad A promotion script / tool is provided for report promotion the user or administrator running this tool is configured inside the HANA SQL Connection Configuration (SQLCC) app The promotion user account needs to be granted the sap.bi.common::bi_tech_user role.
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA Add this user account to the sap.bi.activationplugin.logic.lib::activationrepoconnection configuration setting within the SQLCC
Configuring the SAP HANA Appliance Part 4 - Creating the users & roles in SAP HANA TIP: Some users may have different access rights defined via Analytic and Package privileges. Advisable to set these rights by directly granting them in the specific user account versus in the CR consumer/designer roles. Alternatively, define separate roles for access to sets of packages and grant those roles to specific users.
Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise MS Windows Desktop Report viewer and page(s) sent to client to view in web browser SAP HANA Appliance Report requests sent to Reporting Service Processed report pages sent back to XS application SUSE 11 SP1 Server Crystal Reports for Enterprise & HANA Studio CR for HANA Connector Delivery Unit CR for HANA Reporting Service
Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise Setting up Connections Crystal Reports for Enterprise is used for report creation / design Same version as BI4.1 SP04 Connections can be created to connect to SAP HANA as a repository Report designer role should include permissions to read, edit, and activate objects inside packages. Expose packages as needed for report design. Analytic privileges should also be defined per user to restrict privileges where desired.
Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise Connecting to Analytic Views Start a new report by connecting to an SAP HANA platform to find a view. Logon to SAP HANA will be required at this point if not already done A browser window will allow the designer to choose the view to use
Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise Design Report Query with Query Panel Report queries can be constructed using the familiar query panel interface Chosen result objects become items in the Crystal Reports Data Explorer for drag and drop report design
Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise Saving reports to the SAP HANA repository Reports can be saved to SAP HANA but only without data. When reports are saved, they are automatically activated in the SAP HANA repository
Using Crystal Reports for Enterprise Save Workflows The designer Open, Save, and Save-As dialogues are modified for SAP HANA folder structure represents the package structure, and relevant metadata about reports is shown (document name, date modified, and user)
Report Consumption in SAP Lumira Report promotion to SAP Lumira analytic area Although reports are activated when saved, SAP Lumira needs to additionally promote the report metadata to a BI Analytics area for consumption. A script is provided for a report designer or system administrator Without this step, reports will not show up in the SAP Lumira Launchpad Note: this is a tool specific to CR for HANA v1 to be replaced with activation plugin in a future release of SAP HANA Log onto http://<hana host name>:<xs engine port>/sap/bi/activationplugin/activate
Report Consumption in SAP Lumira Report promotion to SAP Lumira analytic area Tool will report Activation Successful if there are reports to promote. Otherwise it will say No objects to activate Script is intentionally simple
Report Consumption in SAP Lumira Logon to SAP Lumira Launchpad to see the content for viewing
Report Consumption in SAP Lumira Click on Crystal Reports artifact to load the familiar viewer interface Report refreshes on demand
Report Migration in SAP HANA Leveraging SAP HANA Lifecycle Management Leverage SAP HANA Lifecycle Management to migrate report content Source System Configure delivery unit for content to be migrated
Report Migration in SAP HANA Leveraging SAP HANA Lifecycle Management Leverage SAP HANA Lifecycle Management to migrate report content Target System Register source system in SAP Lifecycle Management Define the route of transport (source system and deliver unit)
Known Limitations No integration with BI Platform BI Platform features are not supported OpenDoc, Alerts, Scheduling, Publishing, etc Only supports Crystal Reports for Enterprise reports. Not Crystal Reports 2013. Some charts are not supported (tag cloud, tree map, box plot) in SAP Lumira Launchpad Refer to the following SAP note for limitations in access HANA Analytic and Calculated views using MDX: http://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1723925 Input parameters on calculated attributes/measures are not supported SAP assertion tickets have a hard limit of 2 min to process queries. To be improved in a future SAP HANA release In designer, the dialog for browsing views is not filtered by user credentials. To be improved in a future SAP HANA and Crystal Reports for Enterprise release
Best Practices For deployment, install SAP Lumira before CR for HANA For reporting service scalability, use H/W load balancers For report design, Leverage SAP HANA modelling tools to build calculation logic into the views. Eg. Hierarchies, variables, input Parameters, etc Push down processing to SAP HANA as much as possible return a lean dataset to maximize speed; then use CR for Enterprise to filter/format data Subqueries can be expensive connections from each query are not shared.
Key Learnings Next generation Crystal Reports designer is used to build content against SAP HANA, without the need for a separate BI Platform Overview of the deployment steps for this solution and a glance at its capabilities With roadmap, goal is to empower HANA application developers with the toolset to easily integrate Crystal reports into custom business applications HTML5, XS applications, on-premise HANA and HANA Enterprise Cloud Integrated lifecycle management for data, content, and application Mobile BI support
Questions? Kenneth Li (kenneth.li@sap.com) Senior Product Manager
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