SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, R.I.P.

Is this the end of the line for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer?

BusinessObjects tool selection, circa 2004.

Desktop Intelligence is like smoking. If you’re not presently using Desktop Intelligence, don’t start.

SAP BusinessObjects tool selection, circa October 2012

If you’re not presently using SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius, don’t start using it.

Yours truly in Between an Xcelsius Rock and Dashboard Hard Place

SAP BusinessObjects tool selection, circa September 2014

If you’re not presently using SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, don’t start using it.

As part of the simplification of its analytics portfolio, SAP has decided to fold Explorer functionality into Lumira.

Lumira Server uses the SAP HANA platform, so it’s not going to be immediately attractive to every customer- especially one that doesn’t use the SAP Business Suite. For customers that won’t adopt Lumira Server and SAP HANA, SAP plans to support Explorer “as-is”.

In these situations, like with SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, we won’t make you move your existing content. We’ll respect that existing investment, allow you to continue with what you have today, and at the same time start to bring ‘Explorer-like’ capabilities into the converged BI experience (in this case, SAP Lumira).

Jayne Landry, Run Simple: Convergence of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Product Portfolio

After the recent #askSAP webcast, I still had my doubts, which I voiced on Twitter.

@DallasMarks it’s YES.

— Jayne Landry (@jaynelandry) September 9, 2014

Explorer as-is for customers on the XI 3.1 platform is a product that SAP stopped developing in 2012 for a platform that won’t officially be retired until the end of 2015. Customers currently patching XI 3.1 to the latest SP6 or SP7 have to cross their fingers and pray that SAP BusinessObjects Explorer XI 3.2 SP4 will still work properly.

Explorer as-is for customers using the BI 4 platform is a product that hasn’t seen a significant update since the addition of exploration views in BI 4.0 Feature Pack 3. Explorer has some clearly unique and attractive features in the larger SAP BI portfolio but is in need of modernization and refinement (see my wish list in related article, Family Planning or listen to the Diversified Semantic Layer podcast, Explorer Gets No Love).

SAP recently announced a HANA-free edition of Lumira Server, to be named Lumira, Edge Edition (see SAP Community Network Article, SAP Lumira, Edge edition: What Is It?). But it remains unclear if Lumira, Edge Edition will provide a HANA-free migration path for existing Explorer customers or merely a server back-end to support SAP Lumira Desktop. Perhaps we’ll learn more about Explorer’s future during tomorrow’s #askSAP community call, How SAP Lumira stacks up against the competition.

Customers already meeting business challenges with Explorer should continue to do so. But I’m still unsure that adopting Explorer is wise for customers who haven’t yet begun to use it, without a clear migration path that doesn’t require SAP HANA. Perhaps “don’t start using it” is too strong advice. But like smoking or using Desktop Intelligence, SAP analytics customers should carefully weigh the risks before starting what could turn into a nasty habit.

What are your thoughts on the roadmap for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer? Would you still recommend it’s first-time use in 2014?

Don’t Fluster the Cluster, part 2

Don’t let your BI platform become a cluster chuck!

I spied this fantastic new collection of Woodchuck Cider on an end cap at my local grocery store and just had to snap a photo. It’s a variety pack cleverly named the Cluster ‘Chuck Variety Pack.

The Woodchuck Cluster ‘Chuck Variety Pack is our new cider sampler. Following suit with the rest of our ciders, the pack has a brand new look to go with our brand new Cidery. Our top notch in-house creative team set out to create a design that fit the spirit of our ciders, our local orchard partners, and our home state of Vermont.

From the Woodchuck Cider blog

I had so much fun talking about SAP BusinessObjects CMS clustering and Ben and Jerry’s Clusterfluff ice cream (see related article, Don’t Fluster the Cluster). A bit of humor can really help bring a dry technical topic to life. The 2014 conference season is now over for me, but I thought somebody out there would see this and be inspired to use it in their own slide decks about CMS clustering. We wouldn’t want any SAP BusinessObjects installations to turn into a cluster chuck, would we?

Raising my glass to SAP BusinessObjects administrators everywhere. Skol!

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Turns 3!

After the candles are blown out, here are some things to work on during the next year.

Happy Third Birthday, SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0! You came into the world on September 16, 2011, after a lengthy gestation. We’ve made a lot of memories together, from your birth to taking your first steps. Potty training took a bit longer than expected, but we eventually got there with your BI 4.1 release. And I’ve mostly gotten over that time you pooped in the bathtub. As the parent of three children, I’m familiar with children moving from “baby” to “toddler” to “preschooler”. Software doesn’t mature in the same way as human children. But just like with humans, some things that were expected, manageable or even “cute” in earlier years become wearisome after three years. So I’d like to mention ten things that I hope you’ll work on before your fourth birthday.

10. Group Hierarchy tree control with “too many objects”

We’re thankful that after three years, the “too many objects” error is largely solved in the BI Launch Pad (see related article, Too Many Objects in Your BI Launch Pad). I realize that BI Launch Pad users outnumber Central Management Console users. But any administrator with a large BI installation knows how tedious it is to live without a decent tree control.

9. User search feature in CMC

There are a lot of user attributes beyond just title and description. And I’d like to search any of them, thank you. Isn’t this just a few extra lines of code?

8. Server search feature in CMC

Although most servers are appropriately named, sometimes they just aren’t. Please make it easier to find a server by type (Adaptive Processing Server, Crystal Reports Cache Server) regardless of what somebody else decided to name it.

7. SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio server installation

If Design Studio is the future of SAP dashboards, then please take the time to integrate the required server features directly into the BI platform. The separate (and frequently changing) server components are a huge barrier to adoption (see related articles, Please Integrate the Integrated BI Platform and Over Designing BI Architecture for Design Studio).

6. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer administration

We’ve suffered through poor SAP BusinessObjects Explorer administration since Explorer debuted as Polestar on the XI R2 platform. As you fold Explorer functionality into Lumira, please fold its administrative tasks into the Central Management Console (see related article, Family Planning).

5. Web Intelligence panel preference

Thankfully you provide a script, setGroupPreferences (see SAP KB 1659566 or SAP KB 1816617), but even simpler would be the ability to set the default Web Intelligence report panel via the CMC. But even better would be retiring the Java report panel in favor of a single kick-a__ HTML 5 panel. Which leads us to number 4.

4. Web Intelligence Java Report Panel

Who can forget WebiJavaGeddon (see related article, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste)? I’ve logged hundreds of hours in the Web Intelligence Java Report Panel. But with security and performance concerns, it’s time to move on to a plug-in free future (see related article, Is it Time for Caffeine-Free Web Intelligence).

3. Monitoring

Monitoring was a big marquee feature of the BI 4.0 launch. It’s a great first step, but it’s time to show us a more mature second generation of this important feature. Oh, and the Adobe Flash interface needs to go (see related article, Adobe Flash- Dying but not Dead Just Yet).

2. Promotion Management/Lifecycle Management

Everyone thought the Import Wizard was evil. Until it went away. Like monitoring, this was a marquee feature of the BI 4.0 and rightly so. Also like monitoring, it re-appeared in BI 4.1 largely unchanged.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this #SAP #BI41 Promotion Management! http://t.co/2d28KM5PyB

— Dallas Marks (@DallasMarks) September 19, 2014

While we’re appreciative of the many stability improvements made post-BI 4.1, it’s time for you to show us the next generation of promotion management (see related article, Do I Feel Lucky? Musings on Promotion Management). We’d also be grateful if the user interface was more consistent with the rest of the CMC and eliminated the tiny bit of Adobe Flash that it contains (see related article, Adobe Flash- Dying but not Dead Just Yet).

1. Platform Search

There are over 80 articles in the SAP knowledge base about platform search. Most of them highlight a design flaw or document a workaround, which isn’t terribly flattering. Given that platform search is often the first feature a new user will try, it’s time to put away the duct tape and introduce the next generation of platform search to the SAP BI platform.

Make a wish, blow out the candles, and enjoy some well-deserved cake. But I hope you’ll take these things to heart over the next year.

What are your thoughts after three years of the SAP BI4 platform?

For SAP to win, does Tableau have to lose?

George Peck demonstrates how to integrate the SAP BI platform with Tableau Server.

For SAP to win, does Tableau have to lose? George Peck, founder of The Ablaze Group and author of books like Crystal Reports 2008: The Complete Reference and Tableau 8: The Official Guide, doesn’t seem to think so. Check out this video demonstrating bi-directional integration between SAP Crystal Reports Server/SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence and Tableau Server.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlkHqvi1j1E]

Does your organization actively use both products?

Follow George Peck on Twitter
Purchase Tableau 8: The Official Guide (paperback edition) on Amazon.com
Purchase Crystal Reports 2008: The Complete Reference (paperback edition) on Amazon.com

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Adobe Flash- Dying but not Dead Just Yet

Declaring Adobe Flash “dead” sadly does not make it so.

At this year’s SAP SAPPHIRE conference Ty Miller, SAP VP of Solution Management, declared that “Flash is dead!”. He was referring, of course, to SAP’s dashboard roadmap and the transition from Adobe Flash-based Xcelsius/Dashboards to HTML5-based Design Studio (see related article, The Future of SAP Dashboards). While that high-profile transition is well underway, Adobe Flash is still lurking in other dark corners of the SAP BI platform.

Adobe Flash in the Central Management Console

Monitoring

The Monitoring dashboard introduced with the BI 4.0 Central Management Console is built with Adobe Flash. Two years ago, Mirko Langhorst posted the following on the SAP Idea Place:

We would like to totally get rid of Flash, the component in the CMC using Flash is the new Monitoring application. It would be great to change this HTML5, so the CMC would become Flash-free

Sadly, SAP buried this idea in the SAP Idea Graveyard, tagging it as “Not Planned by SAP”. Which is unfortunate, because the monitoring dashboard isn’t the only source of Adobe Flash frustration in the BI platform. Or just frustration in general (see related article, Less Flash, More Substance for SAP Business Intelligence Monitoring).

Visual Difference

The Visual Difference feature introduced with the BI 4.0 Central Management Console is built with Adobe Flash.

Promotion Management

Adobe Flash is used by the Override Settings in Promotion Management. And as an aside, all but the latest support packs of the BI platform use the much maligned Apache Derby for overrides (see SAP Mentor Greg Myers’ epic article, Derby Maybe).

Adobe Flash in the BI Launch Pad

Content Linking with BI Workspaces

Not content to limit use of Adobe Flash to the Central Management Console, SAP uses Adobe Flash in its implementation of BI Workspace content linking in the BI Launch Pad.

Crystal Reports for Enterprise Prompts

Crystal Reports for Enterprise uses Adobe Flash for scheduled prompts.

Crystal Reports 2013 does not use Adobe Flash.

Crystal Reports 2013 Prompts without Adobe Flash

Explorer

I haven’t mentioned SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, but SAP’s recent plans to fold it into SAP Lumira (and therefore SAP HANA) have effectively marooned it on an Adobe Flash island (see SAP executive Jayne Landry’s related article, Run Simple: Convergence of the SAP BusinessObjects BI Product Portfolio). It’s likely that any Explorer replacement will be built on HTML5, not Adobe Flash. But it’s unclear when SAP intends to deliver Explorer-like functionality by Lumira or any other tool in the BI platform.

Dashboards and Xcelsius

Of course, we can’t forget that SAP Dashboards require Adobe Flash at runtime.

Time to Retire Adobe Flash in SAP BI Platform

A decade ago, Adobe Flash had its place providing rich visuals for web applications. In today’s mobile and cloud-centric world, Adobe Flash is a relic. Instead of visual excitement, it generates support and security anxiety. For example, Apple last week took the drastic step of disabling all versions of Adobe Flash except the latest 14.0.0.145 (see related Apple bulletin). But this is two versions ahead of SAP, which has only recently added official support for version 12 in its latest patch levels of the BI platform.

The time is right for SAP to articulate a clear timeline for a plug-in free version of the SAP BI platform (see related article, Thoughts on BI 5.0). Until then, please show your support for Mirko Langhorst’s great idea.

Update (September 17, 2015): SAP has indicated that Promotion Management in BI 4.2 has been rewritten to no longer require Adobe Flash. However, SAP has not published a roadmap to address these other Adobe Flash dependencies.

Update (November 30, 2018): As of July 17, 2018 with the release of SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.2 SP6, ALL of the Adobe Flash dependencies mentioned in this article have been replaced with HTML5 equivalents, making it a worthy upgrade from whatever patch level your organization is currently using.

Please integrate the integrated enterprise BI platform

New BI functionality adds complexity to patch cycles.

Earlier this week, SAP hosted one of their ongoing SAP Analytics Innovation Community calls for Self-Service BI and SAP Lumira, hosted by my fellow Diversified Semantic Layer contributors Jamie Oswald and Josh Fletcher with presentations by SAP’s Jayne Landry, Olivier Duvelleroy, and Aaron Graber (see Nic Smith’s official wrap-up article). The SAP Lumira roadmap is a combination of here now, coming soon, and coming sometime (I think the rumored SAP Lumira Desktop for Mac OS X falls in the latter category). But the big news (from my perspective) was the announcement that Lumira Server, currently in ramp-up and soon to be generally available, will be included in the BI Suite license. Lumira Server is built on SAP’s HANA platform and will offer us a glimpse into what I believe is SAP’s future-state BI platform (see related article, Thoughts on BI 5.0).

Allowing early adopters to get a preview of the future is smart marketing on SAP’s part. But I, like many SAP BI practitioners, must live in the present with the current platform. Let’s consider the upgrade from BI 4.0 to BI 4.1, which consists of- at a minimum- two components. A base installation or upgrade of the BI 4.1 platform, for example BI 4.1 SP2 and possibly a patch, such as the now-available BI 4.1 Patch 2.2. A similar patching strategy is required on the desktop, where you might have the BI 4.1 platform client tools (Web Intelligence, Information Design Tool, etc.), Dashboards, Crystal Reports 2013, and Crystal Reports for Enterprise.

But what if you are using Explorer? Now there are four moving parts: the BI 4.1 platform, the separate Explorer 4.1 installation, and a patch for each.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer has been a separate installation since its debut as Polestar on the XI R2 platform. But I had hoped that BI 4.0 would integrate its installation with the rest of the platform. Because Explorer retains its Adobe Flash foundation, no doubt SAP has decided to defer tight integration with the BI platform until an HTML5-based successor is available, which unfortunately wasn’t the case when BI 4.1 shipped last year.

Using Design Studio? SAP Design Studio is the current successor to BEx Web Application Designer and eventual successor for Xcelsius/Dashboards. You’ll need to install the Design Studio server components, which are also an add-on to the BI platform. To make things more interesting, Design Studio has its own product life cycle with unique versioning, product availability matrix, and documentation because it is capable of generating stand-alone applications that aren’t strictly tied to the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform. So today you’ll have the Design Studio 1.2 server components and possibly a service pack, as Design Studio tends to be patched to maintain compatibility with SAP HANA’s latest patch levels. So far, my experience is that the Design Studio server components installer is particularly lethargic. And don’t forget to patch the Design Studio client application.

Based on what I heard this week, the diagram below is my approximation of what is involved to run SAP Lumira Server as part of your environment (sidenote – Microsoft Visio does a terrible job with color selection when exporting JPG and PNG files).

There will be a separate plug-in for the BI 4.1 environment (and eventually a patch, I presume) and the platform software and a patch for the SAP Lumira server. As with Design Studio, I would expect software availability on both sides to not be based on the BI 4.1 patching schedule. With new releases of SAP Lumira Desktop approximately every 6 weeks, the odds of needing to patch your environment to take advantage of new features (similar for what we already do with SAP Mobile BI and SAP HANA) are high. UPDATE: SAP is revising their BI4 + Lumira Integration Strategy (see related SAP Community Network article, Planned Native Integration of Lumira into BI Platform Details).

SAP’s recent work to support parallel node patching is helpful. You’ll want to download Foroohar Rafiei’s Patching Strategies and Best Practices + Parallel Patching guide from the SAP Community Network (SCN).

But can I gently suggest that there are simply too many moving parts here?

SAP Lumira is part of SAP’s response to desktop data discovery competitors like Tableau and Qlik. But another part of SAP’s response is the message that “those vendors do not have a true Enterprise BI solution”. I’m speculating that we’ll eventually get an HTML 5 version of Explorer + Lumira in a blender that will eliminate some of the current pieces. But it is extremely inconvenient that SAP has placed platform integration on customer shoulders instead of integrating the pieces in-house. Until they do, line-of-business users are going to continue to perceive IT’s lack of agility in platform support as further reasons to head to the cloud, with or without SAP as the vendor of choice. Even if SAP can quickly port existing BI apps like Crystal Reports and Web Intelligence to the HANA-based Lumira Server platform (heck- if they’re even planning to- we simply don’t know right now), I believe many customers will remain with the current BI 4.x platform, as they did with Desktop Intelligence, for many years to come.

@MicoYuk: As a #PlatformMonkey, Base #BI41 + Server Add-Ons + SP/FPs + Desktop Clients = SYNCH-Nightmare.! #BI2014 @rosejason @jamesafisher

— Mark J. Richardson (@mjrichardson_to) March 24, 2014

For now, BI administrators should carefully estimate their BI 4.1 upgrade estimates based on the number of nodes and number of software components.

Follow Olivier Duvelleroy, Senior Director for SAP Lumira, on Twitter
Follow Josh Fletcher on Twitter
Follow Aaron Graber, Senior Director, SAP Global Center of Excellence, on Twitter
Follow Jayne Landry, Global VP and GM for SAP Business Intelligence, on Twitter
Follow Jamie Oswald on Twitter
An SAP Lumira Wish List by Eric Vallo on the EV Technologies blog
Analytics Innovation Community Call Notes: Self-Service BI and SAP by Tammy Powlas on SAP Community Network (SCN)
Analytics Community Call Wrap Up: Self-Service BI and SAP Lumira by Nic Smith (added 02/26/2014)
LIMA – the SAP BusinessObjects BI, add-on for SAP Lumira, frequently asked questions by Adrian Westmoreland (added 02/09/2015)
Planned Native Integration of Lumira into BI Platform Details by Greg Wcislo (added 02/09/2015)

This article barely scratches the surface of this week’s Self Service BI and SAP Lumira webcast. What are your impressions?

Universe Design with SAP BusinessObjects BI: The Comprehensive Guide

SAP authors Christian Ah-Soon, Didier Mazoue and Pierpaolo Vezzosi have created a well-crafted guide to the Information Design Tool.

With the introduction of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0, SAP introduced a new semantic layer format (UNX) and a new design tool, the Information Design Tool. Now SAP Press has released a comprehensive 724-page guide, Universe Design with SAP BusinessObjects BI (SAP Press, ISBN 978-1592299010), written by three of some of the best minds at SAP to help organizations get the most from the Information Design Tool. Unlike its predecessor, the Universe Design Tool, which had a monolithic file format (UNV), the Information Design Tool breaks a universe into three distinct components: the connection, the data foundation and the business layer. As you might expect, this guide devotes entire chapters to each of these components. Additional chapters bring clarity to new features unfamiliar to users of the classic Universe Design Tool such as team project features and multi-source data foundations. Organizations that use SAP applications to run their business will appreciate a chapter devoted to connecting to SAP ERP, SAP Netweaver BW, and SAP HANA, with detailed explanations of when to create universes versus using direct connectivity with Business Intelligence Consumer Services, or BICS.

Experienced universe designers will find the final chapter, Comparing the Universe Design Tool and Information Design Tool, extremely helpful in understanding the differences and similarities between the two tools. I remember feeling very inadequate the first time I opened the Information Design Tool. The user interface is a radical departure from the legacy Universe Design Tool. However, both tools create universes. Once I realized that designers must still cope with contexts, fan traps, and chasm traps, it didn’t seem quite so daunting.

The book is well-illustrated, which alone makes the book worth the purchase price, as the free product documentation on the SAP Help Portal is nearly devoid of any illustrations or screen shots. And although I really appreciate blog readers who click on my Amazon affiliate links, you’ll probably want to purchase the book directly from SAP Press and take advantage of the DRM-free electronic formats. With Adobe PDF, ePub and Mobi, you’ll be able to read this book (and many other SAP Press titles) just about anywhere on just about any device.

The UNX universe and the Information Design Tool are the future of SAP’s business intelligence platform. BI teams should start using it for new projects as well as considering when and how to convert older classic universes. BI managers would do well to equip their teams with this book and universe designers should ask for permission to expense it.

Purchase Universe Design with SAP BusinessObjects BI: The Comprehensive Guide (hardcover edition only) from Amazon.com
Purchase Universe Design with SAP BusinessObjects BI: The Comprehensive Guide from SAP Press (choose this link if you want the ebook editions)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The Price of Early Adoption

There’s always a price to be paid for early adoption of technology.

Earlier this week, MG Siegler wrote an article entitled I Got Bugs, critical of the quality of Apple iOS 7.

I remain convinced that in just about every way, iOS 7 is a huge upgrade over the previous iterations. Except one. And it’s a big one. The software is so inexplicably and inexcusably buggy.

I experience some minor issues with iOS 7 on both my iPhone 5 and iPad 2. But the experience has been largely positive. Besides, like everyone else I really wanted to be an early adopter to start using new features, assuming Apple would fix anything “critical”. They have – we’re on 7.0.4. We haven’t seen iOS 7.1 yet (although it’s now in beta) because it’s a more substantial release. And like most companies, Apple slows down for the US holidays in November and December. We don’t hear as much about Android bugs because so few Android devices are running the latest Android 4.4 OS (aka KitKat). And there’s not enough users of Microsoft Windows Phone, Microsoft Windows RT tablets, or Blackberry 10 devices to bother writing about.

Apple iOS 7 Adoption Is Unprecedented

But we hear about Apple iOS 7 not only because of the volume of users but also because of the velocity of their adoption of the new OS.

Apple’s own statistics, posted on the Apple developers web site, show that iOS 7 adoption is at 78% as of the end of December 2013. That’s very impressive for an operating system that was only released in mid-September. Although there is criticism of iOS 7 and the new versions of iWork applications, Apple is to be commended for how much hardware, software, and iCloud services were shipped last September. Due to their tight integration, everything from iOS 7 to OS X Mavericks‎ to Safari to iTunes and iWork apps had to be released simultaneously. I’m sure there are many in Cupertino grateful that no “antennagate” (see related Daring Fireball article, Antennagate Bottom Line) or iOS 6 Maps fiasco (see related Daring Fireball article, Pogue on iOS 6 Maps) has emerged from this year’s updates (I’m not sure iWork frustration counts as a fiasco). Although adoption is very high, it’s still not 100%, with 18% of users still on iOS 6 and 4% on an even earlier version (the latter most likely due to device incompatibility, such as the original iPad).

Count my mom among the iPad users still using iOS 6. Although I updated her MacBook Air to Mavericks 10.9.1 over the Christmas holiday, I’m keeping her iPad 2 on iOS 6 until iOS 7.1 is released. My mom will appreciate the automatic app update feature, but I’m waiting for a more stable version before having to explain to her the nuances of the revised multitasking, notification center, and command center features.

Consumer Adoption vs. Enterprise Adoption

There are no parallels for the rate of user adoption seen with iOS. Consumers largely remained on Windows XP, avoiding Vista in favor of Windows 7. But many users are staying on the 12-year-old OS even though it will be officially retired in April. Enterprise adoption tends to be even more conservative than consumer adoption. “Dot-zero” releases are routinely shunned until not only the “dot-one” release appears, but enough early adopters have taken the plunge and given their blessing. (Although most Microsoft users are sticking with Windows 7 even though Windows 8 recently received a “dot-one” 8.1 update).

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 Adoption

Consider SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0, the first major release of the platform since SAP’s 2008 acquisition of BusinessObjects. The product went through a lengthier than usual ramp-up period during 2011 before becoming generally available on September 16, 2011. The product received a lot of new features with the introduction of Feature Pack 3 on June 15, 2012. Originally intended to be called BI 4.1, I’m still unsure if the release was renamed “Feature Pack 3” to increase adoption or to suppress it until the more stable BI 4.1 was released on August 29, 2013.

As a consultant, I’ve been grateful to work on several BI 4.0 projects instead of being stuck on XI R2 or XI 3.1. But there have been adoption hurdles. And although any customer is frustrated when a project is delayed due to software bugs, most adopters of BI 4.0 understood the risk and perceived enough benefits from upgrading to take that risk.

But the “dot-one” release isn’t always a panacea for user adoption. Although BI 4.1 has both more stability and features than it’s now two-year-old predecessor, it isn’t without issues. After releasing a glowing endorsement of the new Support Pack 2 on Monday (see related article on the EV Technologies blog, State of the SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Upgrade, January 2014), I discovered on Tuesday that even the most basic of publications using the sample eFashion universe won’t work properly, let alone mission-critical publications (see related article on the SAP Community Network, Publications Fail). And no scheduled documents, publications or otherwise, can be sent to the Mobile BI Inbox (see related SAP KB 1967424- Reports scheduled to BI inbox not visible in SAP BI app for iOS in BI 4.1). Ouch!

Apparently nobody in #SAP #BI41 ramp-up used publications??? Grrrr! http://t.co/uRrCpLnWCO via @SAPCommNet

— Dallas Marks (@DallasMarks) January 6, 2014

Should customers kicking off BI 4.1 migration projects apply the brakes? Absolutely not. There’s a lot of work to be done regressing testing existing content on a BI 4.1 development platform, which will most likely be patched between project kickoff and go-live anyway. And administrators, developers, and power users need at least a BI 4.1 sandbox to start exploring the new platform’s features. But unfortunately, BI 4.1 is starting to show more in common with Windows 8.1 instead of iOS 7.1.

The introduction of iOS 7 brings an extra adoption wrinkle for both SAP and the organizations that deploy SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI (see related article, SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI 5.1 for iOS). Because iOS 7 can automatically update a user’s apps, mobile app quality has to be guaranteed on day one of its release. And the product documentation should be ready, too.

There’s Always a Price for Early Adoption

Bottom line, there’s always a price to be paid for early adoption. In many cases, it’s a price worth paying. But always be prepared for the risks, seen and unseen.

Read MG Siegler’s article, I Got Bugs
Follow MG Siegler on Twitter
State of the SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Upgrade, January 2014 on EV Technologies Blog
Publications Fail on SAP Community Network
SAP KB 1967424- Reports scheduled to BI inbox not visible in SAP BI app for iOS in BI 4.1

Are you an Apple user on the iOS 7 bandwagon? Or a SAP BusinessObjects user on the BI 4.0 or BI 4.1 bandwagon? Would love to hear your comments, as always.

A Plethora of SAP BI Patches

Is too much of a good thing not a good thing?

Last week, SAP delivered SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.1 SP2 on-time and on-schedule. Earlier in the month, SAP delivered SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 SP8, also on-time and on-schedule. But as you can see from the maintenance schedule, SAP will continue to deliver patches for 4.0 SP5, 4.0 SP6, 4.0 SP7 and 4.1 SP1 for the remainder of 2013.

And all of those support packs will continue to be patched throughout Q1 of 2014. Even while work on BI 4.0 SP9 and BI 4.1 SP3 is already in progress.

What does this mean? It means that regardless of the support pack that you choose for your BI 4 upgrade, it will be missing patches from not one, but several previous support packs.

Having recently taken a customer from BI 4.0 SP6 to BI 4.1 SP1, I’m no longer interested in further patches to BI 4.0. I’d prefer to take my customer to BI 4.1 SP2, but sadly, I’m waiting for a bug in Analysis to be corrected in BI 4.1 SP1 Patch 5, which will be released in late December. And if I were starting a migration project from XI 3.1 today, I would be strongly inclined to pick the latest release of BI 4.1 rather than choose amongst four different patch levels of BI 4.0.

I’m sure SAP has reasons for continuing to patch four different support pack levels on BI 4.0 and two on BI 4.1. But I’m honestly stumped. If SAP’s software development process was a chip architecture, I’d call it an “inefficient pipeline”. It seems like SAP is spreading already-thin resources instead of putting their full weight behind BI 4.0 SP8 and BI 4.1 SP2, the latest patch levels of each release. After patching my customer to BI 4.1 SP 1.5, I can only hope that BI 4.1 SP3 will include patch 1.5 without making me wait until SP3 patch 13 for the Analysis fix to be “forward fit”.

What are your thoughts? Are you eagerly waiting for next year’s BI 4.0 SP6 Patch 12? Or are you wishing- like me- that SAP would make it easier for you to either make the leap to BI 4.1? Or feel better about the leap already taken?

Resources

Official SAP BusinessObjects Maintenance Schedule and Forward Fit plan
Official SAP Maintenance Strategy
SAP BusinessObjects BI4 Maintenance Demystified! by Christopher Vozella, Director of SAP AGS Primary Support
Getting an Update on BI4 Maintenance Strategy – ASUG Webcast transcription on SAP Community Network

SAP BusinessObjects Support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 11

Microsoft IE11 may be “fast and fluid” but first be sure your BI platform patch level provides support.

Today, November 12, 2013, Microsoft Windows Update tried to lure me into accepting the “Important Update” of Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11) for Windows 7.

Most organizations carefully release browser updates to the masses after internal testing. So you most likely haven’t been tempted by the PC you use at the office. But like me, you may be tempted at home. Although as of this writing IE 11 isn’t on the support list (see the SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 Supported Platforms/PAM), support should be forthcoming (UPDATE: see updated notes at bottom of this article).

Web Intelligence users will want to read the fine print on the BI 4.1 PAM. As of February 2013 Oracle has stopped releasing updates for Java 6. SAP will accordingly drop support for Java 6 with the release of BI 4.1 SP2, expected later this month (see the official SAP Analytics Maintenance Schedule).

I don’t have any confirmation from SAP, but I would expect BI 4.1 SP2- the final support pack of 2013- to include support for Windows 8.1 as a client operating system and ~~Microsoft IE 11 as a supported browser~~ for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. But for now, stick with Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 or (depending on your patch level) Internet Explorer 10 on Windows 7.

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1
(updated April 3, 2014)

Released on February 14, 2013, SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Service Pack 6 has support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 (although compatibility view display mode is required to render some pages accurately). Service Pack 6 supports Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012.

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Service Pack 7 was released on March 28, 2014 and its updated Product Availability Matrix indicates that both IE 10 and IE 11 are supported, although “compatibility view display mode is required to render some pages accurately”. SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Service Pack 7 also adds support for Microsoft Windows 8.1 and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2.

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0
(updated April 3, 2014)

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 is supported in SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 Support Pack 9 and higher on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012 R2. Note that Support Pack 9 is the first to support Microsoft Windows 8.1 (see related article, SAP BusinessObjects Support for Windows 8.1) and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2. A footnote indicates that “IE 11 is not supported with Analysis, edition for OLAP”. SAP HANA users should note that SAP BI 4.1 SP2 is required for SAP HANA SPS07.

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.1
(updated April 3, 2014)

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 is partially supported in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 Support Pack 2 and fully supported in Support Pack 3 and higher. Both support packs provide support for Microsoft Windows 8.1 (see related article, SAP BusinessObjects Support for Windows 8.1) and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2. But because IE11 is not yet supported by Support Pack 2, users of these operating systems are encouraged to use a supported version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. SAP HANA users should also note that SAP BI 4.1 SP2 or higher is required for SAP HANA SPS07.

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.2
(updated March 1, 2017)

Microsoft Internet Explorer 11 is supported by all versions of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2.

Conclusion

SAP has come a long way from 2011 when getting support for the then-current Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 was a challenge (see Courtney Bjorlin‘s ASUG News article, Waiting on SAP, User Communities Fix SAP BusinessObjects Browser Woes). My hunch is that most customers are still using IE 9 as their standard, but it’s great to see that SAP is prepared for their customers who want to use the latest browser technology.

Download the Product Availability Matrix (PAM)

Product Availability Matrix for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 SP7
Product Availability Matrix for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 SP5+ (includes SP9)
Product Availability Matrix for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1
Product Availability Matrix for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2

Additional Resources

SAP Note 2043598 – “View in PDF Format, please wait” dialog box appears in IE 11 and never closes (fixed in XI 3.1 SP6, XI 3.1 SP7, BI 4.0 and BI 4.1, but check the note for required patch level)