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SAP BusinessObjects Support for Windows 8

Windows 8 Compatible Logo

Curious about Microsoft Windows 8 support for SAP BusinessObjects? SAP has released updates to SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 and SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 that provide support. And you can expect SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.1 to support Windows 8 when it is released later this year.

After spending some time with Windows 8 (see related article First Impressions of Microsoft Windows 8), I doubt that many organizations are looking to adopt it. They still have their hands full replacing aging Windows XP desktops with Windows 7. Windows 7 was a breath of fresh air after Windows Vista failed to capture the hearts and minds of CIOs (see related article SAP BusinessObjects Support for Windows 7).

My hunch is that SAP BusinessObjects administrators will be asked to support Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 (IE10)- already on Windows 8 and recently released for Windows 7- before they are asked to support Windows 8 desktops. Or perhaps Microsoft Office 2013, which started shipping today. SAP BusinessObjects customers waited a long time for Internet Explorer 9 support (see ASUG News article Waiting on SAP, User Communities Fix SAP BusinessObjects Browser Woes). So I hope to see SAP add Microsoft IE 10, Office 2013 and Windows 8 to the supported platforms for BI 4.1.

I’ll be curious to learn how Windows 8 support is defined by SAP.  Will support only cover existing desktop applications like Crystal Reports and Web Intelligence Rich Client? Will legacy applications like Universe Design Tool and Business View Manager not get the Windows 8 investment? Will SAP introduce a touch-enabled Mobile BI app for Windows 8 that complements its iOS and Android offerings? And what are SAP’s plans for Windows RT?

Tomorrow, ASUG kicks off a series of BI 4.1 webcasts where SAP’s Ty Miller will peel back the curtain on the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.1 roadmap. I’m registered and hope that you are too.

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1

Released on February 14, 2013, SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.1 Service Pack 6 has support for:

  • Microsoft Windows 8 for 32-bit desktop tools
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 (although compatibility view display mode is required to render some pages accurately)
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft Windows 2012 for server platform
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (as both data source and CMS/Audit DB, but not for Voyager)
  • Microsoft Active Directory 2012
  • Apache Tomcat 7, which is now the default web application server

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0

Microsoft Windows 8 support has been added to Support Pack 6, which was released on April 30, 2013.  Read more in an article I wrote for the EVtechnologies blog, SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.0 SP6). Support for Microsoft technologies includes:

  • Microsoft Windows 8 for 32-bit desktop tools
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 (for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2008)
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (as both data source and CMS/Audit DB)

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.1

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 RTC went into ramp-up on May 10, 2013 and is expected to be generally available (GA) in Q3 2013. Support for Microsoft technologies includes:

  • Microsoft Windows 8 for 32-bit desktop tools
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and Active Directory 2012
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 (for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2008)
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (as both data source and CMS/Audit DB)

Download the Product Availability Matrix (PAM)

Update History
  • September 4, 2014 – Added link to Microsoft Windows lifecycle fact sheet
  • June 4, 2013 – Added information about BI 4.1 RTC, which was released into ramp-up on May 10, 2013
  • May 2, 2013 – Added information about BI 4.0 SP6, which was released on April 30, 2013
  • February 26, 2013 –  Added information about XI 3.1 SP6, which was released on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2013

What are your organization’s plans for Microsoft Windows 8 and SAP BusinessObjects?

Dallas Marks

Dallas Marks

I am an analytics and cloud architect, author, and trainer. An AWS certified blogger, SAP Mentor Alumni and co-author of the SAP Press book SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence: The Comprehensive Guide, I prefer piano keyboards over computer keyboards when not blogging or tweeting.

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12 thoughts on “SAP BusinessObjects Support for Windows 8”

    1. Mike,

      Great question. Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 is not listed on the Product Availability Matrix for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Support Pack 5. Take a look at my review of Support Pack 6 on the EV Technologies blog. In addition to platform support, SP6 has a large number of bug fixes that will never be incorporated into SP5.

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  3. This is funny that I’ve found myself back to this same article (love your site, BTW) by Googling for IE11 compatibility gotchas with BI 4.0 (SP6 or SP7). I still don’t see any PAM Support Pack Stack documentation on SAP’s site for anything after SP5 (ugh).

    We are looking as a company from going from IE8 to IE10 or IE11 Q42013/Q41204ish.

    If you’ve had any experience, I’d love to hear what you’ve run across!

    1. Mike,

      Thanks for writing.

      The supported platforms doc for SP5 is now “SP5+” meaning it also annotates where new support has been added in SP6 or SP7 (SP8 is coming in October). The latest support packs for both BI 4.0 and BI 4.1 support Internet Explorer 10, even on Windows 8. Internet Explorer 11 just went RTM as part of Windows 8.1, which will ship in October. But there’s no official timetable for SAP to add support. And no official timetable from Microsoft when IE11 will arrive for Windows 7. If I were in your shoes, I would lean towards IE 10 even though I still support customers that won’t let me connect to their VPN with it, requiring me to have a VM just for IE9 compatibility.

      Best of luck,
      Dallas

  4. I’m using windows 8 on my local notebook. Have installed BI4.0 both server and client applications. Everything works fine. Want to upgrade to BI 4.1 but it fails because of the checklist of the setup. It needs windows 7 SP1 or higher. Any suggestions?

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  7. is there any version of bo which supports windows phone or any later release that will support it.

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