Helpful Hints for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer XI 3.2

Customers using the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 platform may be slightly annoyed that SAP chose to label the Explorer software that goes with it as Explorer XI 3.2. Yeah, that’s not confusing at all. Thankfully, the folks in SAP Support have cleaned up the version mess with the following notes in the SAP Service Marketplace (SMP).

Further complicating matters is that the Explorer installation program does not check the version of the underlying BI platform, making it possible to install a version of Explorer that is not compatible with the version of the BI platform (this situation persists with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 and Explorer 4.0). The following SAP Knowledge Base articles were helpful to me in resolving version issues with customers.  I hope you’ll find them helpful as well.

SAP KB 1287906 – How to determine the version number of a BusinessObjects XI 3.x in Windows

Helpful if you’re not sure which version number of SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 corresponds to the service pack and fix pack you are using.

SAP KB 1443681 – Version Listing of SAP Business Objects Explorer XI 3.2

This KB article explains that, for example, version 12.2.0.518 corresponds to Explorer XI 3.2 Release-to-Customer (RTC), but 12.2.4.1409 corresponds to SAP BusinessObjects Explorer XI 3.2 SP4.

SAP Note 1726438 – SAP BusinessObjects Explorer XI 3.2 SP4 Release Information

This is the central note for SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 3.2 SP4, the final release of Explorer for the XI 3.1 platform.

SAP KB  1526927 – Which versions of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer are compatible with which version of SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise?

This KB article explains that, for example, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 3.2 SP4 is intended for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 SP5 and higher (XI 3.1 SP7 was released in March 2014).

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer 3.2 SP4 is the final release of Explorer for the XI 3.1 platform, as SAP has shifted development resources to Explorer 4.0 and SAP Visual Intelligence, recently rebranded as SAP Lumira (see related article, Goodbye SAP Visual Intelligence, Hello SAP Lumira).

SAP KB 1738007 – Which versions of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Mobile are compatible with which version of SAP Business Intelligence?

I’ve written about this KB article before (see related article, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer Mobile Compatibility Chart). I haven’t received official confirmation from SAP, but I believe the days of the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer for iOS app are numbered (see related article, Exploring your SAP Mobile BI License). SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI 5.0 will be released in the near future (see related article, SAP BusinessObjects Mobile BI 5.0), providing a single mobile app for all SAP business intelligence tools.

SAP KB 1533226 – How to upgrade Explorer 3.2 Information Spaces to Explorer 4.0?

“Unfortunately, the Information Space needs to be re-created as there is no automatic upgrade.” Yup. Fortunately, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.1, currently in ramp-up and expected in late 2013, adds classic UNV support to Explorer 4.1. Classic UNV support was also quietly reintroduced in BI4 SP6 (see SAP KB 1858836, How to enable .UNV support for Explorer in BI4.0 SP06). But I do not know if the Upgrade Management Tool in either 4.0 SP6 or 4.1 has been modified from its current behavior of ignoring XI 3.1 Information Spaces, which would be required to make upgrading existing information spaces possible.

April 12, 2014 – Added SAP Note 1726438 and updated description of SAP KB 1526927.