My impression of Web Intelligence 4.0

I have been working with Web Intelligence 4.0 and here is some insight into webi 4.0

• The first thing you will notice in webi 4.0 is the look and feel. there are many tabs instead of menus and tool bars. I did not like as I have to remember about each tab contents. If I don't remember I have to search all the tabs, which is time consuming task.
• One of  the main feature that is discussed lot is connecting directly to BEx queries using BICS ( Business Intelligence Consumer Service). This helps us to directly connect to BEx query with out the need to create the Universe.
• We can build reports based on the Universes designed (.UNX ) on Information Designer Tool (IDT)
• We can also build reports based on analysis views exported from SAP Business Objects analysis Views.
• We can hide the columns in a block if we need. This becomes handy when we want to sort the table data based on a column that we don't want to see in the report.This feature is not available in the previous versions. Right click on the column in a block and click Hide.
• We can also dynamically show/hide the entire block based on a formula.You can hide the block when the formula is true, otherwise it will be shown.
• There are many new charts available in webi 4.0 which are very useful.
  • Pie chart with depth
  • Scatter Chart
  • Bubble Charts
  • Box plot Chart
  • Heat map
  • Tree map
• We can preview the data in the Query Design screen.
• We can now copy Queries, variables, tables and charts from on web intelligence document to another.
• We can now save the Webi document to the new .xlsx format. when we save in .xlsx format we can save the million records in a single worksheet, instead of multiple worksheets as in previous versions.

Creating Relational Connection in IDT to connect Infocube

In BO 4.0 BICS is used only to connect BEx queries with business objects.But if you want to connect Infcube you have to create a relational connection to the Infocube.

Here I will be showing how to create a relational connection in Information Desing Tool (IDT)

Open the session of the repository in the IDT. Right click on the any of the connection folder and click on the Insert Relational Connection as show below.
.
In the next window give the Relational connection name and description.
select the SAP Java Connector Driver from the list of drivers and select next
Enter the details of the SAP BI server. and click test connection. if the server is responding, click on the ellipse (circled Red) to select the info provider.
In the next window select the InfoProvider. You can use the filter to see only the infocubes as shown below.
  
 Now select the Infocube and click OK.                                                                                        .click the finish button. You will see a window as show bwlow. click Yes to create shortcut in your local project.



once you are done with creating the Relational connection, create multi source data federator and create universe on top it.

Converting .UNV Universe to .UNX Universe

In this blog I will show you how to convert .UNV file created in Universe Design Tool to .UNX file in the Information Design Tool.
Open the Information Design Tool. Go to file and select Convert .UNV Universe as shown below.
In  the next screen you will have the option to select the .UNV universe file from the local file system or from the Repository.
Click on the folder icon if your UNV file is in you local system.
If your UNV file is on reporsitory click on reporsitory icon. Once you click on the repository icon, a popup comeup. Enter th e username and password.
Click OK. In the next screen you will have a popup, where you need to select the .UNV  file for the conversion

In the next screen select the Destination Repository  Folder and Destination Local Project Folder.

To select the Destination Repository  Folder select the browser button to select the destination folder and Click OK



Now select the Destination Local Project Folder browse botton to select the local project .
click OK. Now select teh two check boxes.
click OK. In the next screen you will see the popup which says Universe published successfully.
Click close. Now you can see the converted UNX file in the local project you selected.
The converted project will have  Connection Layer, Data Federator Layer, and Business Layer.

Information Design Tool in BO 4.0

Information designer is a new tool in BO 4.0 that features the creation of universes (.unv, .unx) with multiple data sources, which is not available in previous versions of Business Objects.

IDT follows layered approach. The layers are

•       Connection Layer.

•       Data Foundation Layer

•       Business Layer

In the connection layer we create the connection string (.cnx) to the data sources. Each data source will have one connection string.

In the Data foundation layer we will create the data foundation file (.dfx) with one or multiple connections.  That means we will be able to bring the tables from multiple the data sources. This layer will contain the joins, contexts, derived tables, alias etc.

Eg: we will be able to access the tables from both SQL and Oracle in a single data foundation.

In the Business layer we will be able to create the file (.blx)  will contain the user layer, including objects used to access the data. We publish this business layer and use it as a Universe. So we will be able to create multiple universes on a single data foundation, which will save lot of time.

Here is the pictorial representation of IDT.

Here I am listing some of the pros and cons of IDT.

Pros:

• Building one data foundation with all data sources and build universes on top of it eliminates the creation of linked universes
• Can build views on top of Business layer, so that we can have security privileges easily.
• We can create Dimensional (OLAP) universes that support OLAP dimensions and hierarchies
• In earlier version (3.1) if we have a context then every join must be a member of one context. In 4.0, only the joins that are part of a loop need to be in contexts. All other joins will be equally accessible to all contexts.
• New search feature enables to search tables based on
• Table Name
• Column Name
• Family
• Context
• We can add tables too family and color code them. You can import and export those families.
• Ability to add calculated columns to the Tables in data foundation so it can be used in multiple business layers
• When creating the calculated column using the tables from to databases (SQL, Oracle) IDT provides Business objects SQL, so that it is common to both DB’s and will be translated to SQL during runtime.
• Developing  universes in IDT significantly lower TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for your universes
• In IDT we can fully test as we go, which helps to change joins, conditions etc.

Cons:

• No backward compatibility i.e Universes built in IDT cannot be opened or edited in Universe Design Tool.
• We have to format the objects individually which is cumbersome.
• If we define a custom format we cannot use the format for other objects. We have to define the format for every object
• No ability to change dimension to an attribute (detail) or vice versa. Once you define it has to be same you cannot change it. You need to create once again if you need to change it.
• When you convert a UNV to a UNX, all the features and definitions (tables, joins, object definitions, security, options, etc.) are converted. There are, however, a few limitations with the UNV to UNX conversion:

• IDT cannot convert OLAP universes created with prior releases. SAP recommends making a direct connection to the OLAP source to then take advantage of the dimensional modeling capabilities built in to IDT.
• IDT cannot convert universes based on stored procedures of JavaBeans.
• Linked universes. Although IDT can convert linked universes they are not supported in BI 4. When you convert a linked UNV, IDT copies the core universe into the converted universe. The core universe factorization is lost.