SAP BusinessObjects 4.3 and BI 2025 (aka BI2025 or 4.4) use a new Fiorified BI Launch Pad, so the manner in which properties can be customized varies slightly from earlier versions of SAP BusinessObjects.
SAP BusinessObjects 4.3 became generally available in December 2020. The Fiorified interface changed from SP0 to SP1 (GA) and gained some much-needed usability enhancements when Support Pack 2 was introduced in December 2022. It was also the first support pack of 4.3 that I implemented for a customer. Support Pack 3 introduced some additional UI enhancements, such as the new document and Save As buttons on the Web Intelligence toolbar. Support Pack 4 focused on refining a new Data mode that had been introduced the year before in Support Pack 5.
Before you begin, be sure to remove the DO NOT MODIFY THIS FILE reminder from any custom property files that you copy over from the default folder, as the whole point of the custom folder is to permit modification. The BI Launch Pad is customized from the BIFiori.properties file, not the BILogon.properties file.
BI Launch Pad CMS Cluster Name and Authentication Type
The CMS cluster name and authentication type are frequently the first thing that BusinessObjects administrators wish to customize. For most production environments, you can set the CMS cluster name to its default value then hide it- to reduce confusion users may have about the System field on the logon screen. SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP5 introduced the Logon Authentication VisibleList parameter, so if your organization only uses Enterprise (don’t forget about the Administrator) and Active Directory authentication, you can easily omit the unused authentication types from the drop-down list. This parameter should also influence the sorting order of the authentication types.
# You can specify the default Authentication types here. secEnterprise, secLDAP, secWinAD, secSAPR3
authentication.default=secEnterprise
# Choose whether to let the user change the authentication type. If it isn't shown the default authentication type from above will be used
authentication.visible=false
# You can specify the authentications that are supported in this field.
# By default all the authentications listed below will appear. You can add or remove values from the field, based on the authentications which are supported.
# Authentications List --- secEnterprise,secLDAP,secWinAD,secSAPR3,secOraApps,secPSE1,secpsenterprise,secSiebel7
#logon.authentication.visibleList=secEnterprise,secLDAP,secWinAD,secSAPR3,secOraApps,secPSE1,secpsenterprise,secSiebel7
logon.authentication.visibleList=secEnterprise
# You can specify the default CMS machine name here
cms.default=@ClusterName
# Choose whether to let the user change the CMS name
#cms.visible=true
cms.visible=false
BI Launch Pad App Name
The Fiori BI Launch Pad uses the standard app name properties in a slightly different manner than previous version of BusinessObjects.
# app.name is used in most locations in the application. Optional
app.name=App Name
# app.name.short is used on the logon page. Optional
app.name.short=App Name Short
# Optional greeting not used in default application code
app.name.greeting=App Name Greeting
# app.custom.product.name is used on the logon page to display the Product Name (defaults to SAP BusinessObjects). Optional
app.custom.product.name=Custom Product Name
#You can specify the default administration email_ids in semicolon separated format here.
#The specified Email ids will be used when user will click on Contact Administrator on BILP Login screen
admin.user.email=analytics@yourcompany.com
App Name Short (above) is displayed on the browser tab for both the login and BI Launch Pad screens. Earlier versions of BI 4.3 used both App Name Short (login) and App Name (BI Launch Pad). Give these properties userful names that users can identify from a sea of dozens of open browser tabs.
App Custom Banner Message is available in BI 4.3 SP3 and higher, and is a great way to update your user community with short messages.
App Custom.Product Name is unused in the BI 4.3 and BI 2025 Fiori BI Launch Pad.
Limitations
Keep in mind that Apache Tomcat must be restarted to change the message (or any parameter), so you might change the message during business hours but cycle Apache Tomcat either manually or automatically during the next maintenance window.
Please consider voting for Idea 365896, Relocate simple customization parameters from FioriBI.properties to CMC, on the SAP Customer Influence portal.
Backup Your Properties Files
Once satisfied with the results, copy any customized properties files to [INSTALL DIRECTORY]\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\warfiles\webapps\BOE\WEB-INF\config\custom. This will ensure that the custom properties files are properly redeployed by wdeploy during future patches or upgrades.
The Fiori BI Launch Pad also introduced an optional webapp in the Collaterals folder called ThemeDesigner. It’s described in the SAP BusinessObjects BI Customization Guide, which is available on the SAP Help Portal. I hope to write about the ThemeDesigner in a future article.
Customizing earlier versions of SAP BusinessObjects
See my earlier articles about customizing previous versions of SAP BusinessObjects:
- Customizing SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 (includes XI R2 and XI 3.0)
- Customizing SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0
- Customizing SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 and BI 4.2
- Customizing the new portals in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP4 and higher
- New BI Launch Pad Customization in SAP BI 4.2 SP5
Do you have any BusinessObjects customization tips? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
