Zombie Web Assistant in Fiori BI Launch Pad

Starting with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.2 SP5, SAP began shipping a new BI Launch Pad built using Fiori design principals. Currently, the new launch pad only provides document viewing capabilities. A new Fiori-fied Web Intelligence editor won’t make its debut until SAP BI 4.3 next year. But if you’re rolling out analytics to new users, especially casual users, it makes sense to make their first experience the Fiori experience.

However, at the moment, there’s one modest setback. The helpful Web Assistant that pops up is a zombie. Meaning that even if you turn it off, it will be there to greet you the next time you log in.

You can access the new Fiorified launch pad at http://[servername]:[port number]/BOE/BILaunchpad.

The Web Assistant pops up as a collection of green circles. Click on a circle and a pop-up box appears to explain the feature. There’s also a ribbon at the bottom of the screen that also provides help text. In the example below, I clicked the green circle over the Folders link.

Clicking directly on one of the ribbon’s description boxes will highlight where the feature is on the screen. In the example below, I clicked on the Recycle Bin description.

To turn off the Web Assistant, click its icon, which is located in the top right corner of the BI Launch Pad.

You can now navigate around the new BI Launch Pad. Experienced users will recognize familiar features such as the Inbox, their folders, and the Recycle Bin.

To exit the new BI Launch Pad, click on the “person” icon in the top left corner (will we be able to add our photo in future versions?).

Click the Log Out button to exit the BI Launch Pad and return to the Log On screen.

Depending on which patch level you are using, you may experience a zombie Web Assistant that returns each and every time that you log into the Fiorified BI Launch Pad. According to SAP Note 2723208, the issue has been corrected in SAP BI 4.2 SP5 Patch 800 and the forthcoming SAP BI 4.2 SP7 (currently planned for the week of February 25, 2019). However, the note does not indicate that the issue has been corrected in any of the four released patches for SAP BI 4.2 SP6.

Since I have multiple customers using various patch levels of SAP BI 4.2 SP6, I’ve marked this note as a favorite so I’ll be notified about any updates.

SAP Note 2723208 – ‘Web Assistant’ is by default enabled for all users in Fiorified BI Launchpad for each login