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)
Hi we are having to go on Service Pack 6 for SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1. The reasons are complex, but essentially this is the latest version our vendor allows on our agreement. My question is regarding to IE11. I am trying to get a sense of the level of incompatability of IE11 to this version of BOEXI. For example does it work in the main but with the odd thing not compatible (particuarly for the user link as opposed to the admin one).
Any help clarifying the above would be greatly be appeciated.
Paul,
Thanks for writing. I’m not aware of specific incompatibility issues between IE 11 and XI 3.1 SP6, but if you ever run into a support situation SAP will gently inform you that you’re unsupported. Historically, there will be a few things in the Web Intelligence Report Panel that won’t work properly without the patch. At least for me, as Web Intelligence is the primary tool in the suite that I use. In the ideal world that I wished we could all live in, your vendor would adopt SP7. With mainstream support of XI 3.1 ending on December 31, 2015, it’s certainly within the realm of possibility that SP7 is the last full service pack of XI 3.1 and that SAP will continue to patch it as needed throughout 2015.
The biggest question to resolve is who is going to be your primary means of support, the OEM vendor or SAP. If you absolutely must reconcile the two, I would suggest installing XI 3.1 SP6 on a non-production environment first then putting it through some routine tests with IE 11 whose results you can share with your OEM vendor.
I’m curious how the situation will unfold. Feel free to share any compatibility issues you encounter here.
Good luck!
Dallas
Hi Dallas,
When we open dashboards in enterprise mode which is the standard setting for users the Dashboards open in ¼ of the screen.
We recently upgraded to BO 4.1 and design studio 1.4 sp5.
Please suggest us how to proceed on this. We have IE11.
regards,
Jagadishbabu
Jagadishbabu,
Thanks for writing. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ready answer for this one and recommend that you open a support incident with SAP.
Regards,
Dallas