BO XI 3.1: To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?

As SAP announces the “ramp up” or controlled release for SAP BusinessObjects XI 4.0, some companies who are planning to upgrade to BO XI 3.1 are wondering if they should now wait.

The simple answer is “no” and there are many good reasons to upgrade to XI 3.1 as soon as possible.

Firstly, BusinessObjects XI 3.1 has been the general release for a couple of years now and has proven to be a stable and solid platform. It brings a new version of Web Intelligence with the Rich Client (offline) capability with access to external data providers like Excel. It also has other features, previously only available in Desktop Intelligence, like the fold/unfold feature and stored procedure support through the universe. It adds new functionality also like the ability to track data changes between versions, contextual hyperlinking and use of drop-down selection boxes for prompts.

At the same time, XI 3.1 fully supports Desktop Intelligence reports unchanged which is quite significant when you consider that there will be no support for Desktop Intelligence in XI 4. This means that XI 3.1 will be the last BusinessObjects release to support Desktop Intelligence or the old Full Client reports.

BusinessObjects XI 4.0 will be a major new release with a lot of new functionality some of which will be available in the first 4.0 release and some which will be released later in service pack updates. It will be a 64-bit software application. It will have a new semantic layer that will combine the capabilities of the old BusinessObjects universe and Crystal Business Views and with a slew of new functionality including support of OLAP (MDX) data sources like SAP BW and MS OLAP cubes. The old BusinessObjects Universe Designer will remain supported in XI 4 for compatibility and easier transition.

There are new functionalities and capabilities in Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, Crystal and other content providers including taking advantage of the new semantic layer and universe design tool. There are two versions of Crystal – Crystal Enterprise which is new and uses the new semantic layer and Crystal Reports 2011 which is a continuation of Crystal Reports 2008. There is a new OLAP analysis tool called Advanced Analysis which replaces Voyager and there are significant improvements to Data Services and the BOE infrastructure functionality.

There will also be a new utility to move the contents of your old BusinessObjects content to XI 4. The Import Wizard is effectively replaced by this new tool called the Upgrade Manager Tool. This works for upgrades from XI 3.1 and the plan is to also be able to upgrade from XI R2 with security model changes. There is no upgrade available from earlier releases meaning you would need to move to XI R2 or XI 3.1 before moving to XI 4.

The ramp up will probably last 3 to 6 months so the general availability of XI 4.0 is expected sometime between February 2011 and May 2011. It is unlikely that the first service pack will be available until late in the year and most existing BO customers will probably not look at moving to XI 4 until 2012 or 2013 (based on previous trends).

For these BO customers still using Desktop Intelligence, there will be the added consideration and work of converting or replacing their old reports with Web Intelligence which for some may be a considerable effort and cost.

According to information disseminated at the ASUG BO annual conference in October, in addition to Desktop Intelligence, the following other existing BO XI products will be end of  life :  Voyager, Encyclopedia/Discussions and Performance Manager.

Historically, the current and immediately prior software releases tend to be actively supported for all software issues which would suggest that at some point in 2011 only XI 4.0 and XI 3.1 will be considered the actively supported releases.

Taking all of this information into consideration, it does make sense to upgrade to BusinessObjects XI 3.1 in the coming months if you have not done so already.

Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology.

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Difference OpenDocument Crystal Reports and WebI

Posted on 14 April 2010 9:53 am.Femke

I experienced some frustations when trying to open 2 different reports (Crystal Reports and WebI), however both were built on same universe and used same objects, from the same URL button in Xcelsius.

The OpenDocument statement for the WebI report was quickly set up, however the Crystal Reports took some time. Even after consulting chapter 3 Crystal Reports in the PDF Viewing Reports and Documents using URLs (for BOXI 3.1) I could not get it to work.

Finally I figured it out by reading several forum topics, in the end the URL was built as follows:

../../../OpenDocument/opendoc/openDocument.jsp?

Identifies Crystal Reports reportH stands for HTML, unfortunately in 3.1 pdf is not supported anymoreforces reports to open in new windowKeeps Xcelsius dashboard “alive”CustomerCode is name of prompt, 0019 is customer code value, note “” to identify stringfoldername in Infoview, don’t forget []identification type, preferred in OTAP streetsforces reports to open in new windowKeeps Xcelsius dashboard “alive”CustomerCode is name of prompt, 0019 is customer code valueYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Possible Waterfall charts in Xcelsius

Posted on 1 October 2010 10:44 am.Femke

In Xcelsius a waterfall charts is not default available, however with a little imagination you can create one from a stacked bar chart. Below I have published 4 examples.

Waterfall Example 1A

Excel source

Use the columns for the series (= coloring) and the rows for the labels (= columns in chart) by setting the data range to “Data in Columns”. On the appearance tab set the Marker Gap to 0 and the Marker Overlay to 100. Apply the series coloring accordingly.
Note: remember how Xcelsius builts up the chart; from bottom up to top. If you want your bottom bar color to be white, you have to start your series with the white color data.

Waterfall Example 1B

Excel source

Same example as 1A only the less colors, thus less series used.

Waterfall Example 2A

Excel source

You want to show how your profit and loss accounts are related by showing each individual account and use the colors red and green for the contribution amount (cost = red, revenue = green).
Again use the columns for the series (= coloring) and the rows for the labels (= columns in chart) by setting the data range to “Data in Columns”. On the appearance tab set the Marker Gap to 0 and the Marker Overlay to 100. Apply the series coloring accordingly.
Note: Again the order of the data columns determines the coloring in the chart. The white amount is calculated on the basis of the total of the previous column only in case of a cost account, that cost amount is subtracted from the total.

Waterfall Example 2B

Excel source

This is based on the same principle as the previous chart only it gets more interesting as the total amount gets below zero, thus we have to deal with negative totals with a positive contribution. This can be achieved by creating extra series as the order of the negative positioned bar colors is different than when using positive bars.
Note: The coloring change in the y-axe can be changed by formating in Excel, see this post.

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Reset a selector like combo box or radio button

Posted on 7 July 2010 4:18 pm.Femke

1. Bind labels of the selector (eg. B2:B5)
2. Set Insertion type and destination (eg. C2)
3. Set the selected item type on Dynamic on the behaviour tab of the selector
4. Bind the item to a cell (eg F2)

5. Bind source cell of Push button (eg. E2)
6. Bind destination cell of Push button (eg. F2, same as selected item of combo!)
7. Add formula in source cell push =if(F2=”x”,B2,”x”)
8. Add “x” value in destion cell F2

Comes in handy when you want to reset only certain parts of the dashboard and not resetting it to its initial state (as you do with the reset button).

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Request post

Posted on 1 October 2010 4:53 pm.Femke

This post is meant as a request post. If you have a problem which need solving or a question which needs to be answered, just leave a reply and I’ll try to answer it.

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Selectors: 6 steps to Multiple Selection

Posted on 20 August 2010 10:50 am.Femke

As I get more and more request for the multiple select file I have written out below the steps to take (thus I will not send the file anymore, you can follow the steps yourself ). Also I updated the source file to use the push button instead of a second source button as this is easier to understand. I created this initially for a Web Intelligence prompt, but of course you can use it for any prompt.

6 Steps to create a multiple select:

1. create spreadsheet

place in cells A5 to A14 your labels (eg. label 1, label 2 etc)in range B5 to B14 you create the parameter labels as they need to be send through (eg. “label 1?, “label 2? etc)place in C5 to C14 a 0 (zero), these are the ‘old selection values’place in D5 to D14 an incremental number (10 labels = 1 to 10)place in D18 a reference to D2 “=D2? (one of the destination cells of the selector), using this formula reference a delay is created in the overall calculation. When instead the direct input cell is used in the cell range E5:E14 no more then 4 items can be selected before re-initialisation. Using this delay formula enables selection of all items.place in E19 the hard coded value 1 (one), this is a source value for the “new value”place in E5 the “new value” formula “=IF($D5=$D$18,$E$19,$C5)” and drag this formula through to E14place in G5 the formula “=IF($E5=1,B5,”")” and drag through to G14. This is the first part of building the WebI prompt with multiple values.place in H5 the formula “=IF($E5=1,C5,”")” and drag through to H14. This is used in the alert of the selector (enables you to see which labels are selected).Place in J5 the formula “=IF(G5=”",”",G5)” and in J6 the formula “=IF(G6=”",IF(J5=”",”",J5),IF(J5=”",G6,J5&”,”&G6))” drag this formula through to J14. This is the second part of building the webi prompt. Cell J14 is the actual prompt send to WebI.place in L5 to L14 a 0 (zero), these are used by the push button to re-initialise to the last selection.place in cell G2 the formula “=”Reset to only “&B2? (label for push button)

2. place a selector, eg.listbox with the following properties:

Labels: A5:A14Insertion type: rowSource data: B5:E14Destination: B2:E2Selected Item: Dynamicenable alertsalert values: H5:H14by valueselect “low values are good”deselect “enable auto colors”, remove 1 color and enter the value 0.5, the range minimum to 0.5 will be with a white background, range 0.5 to maximum will have a red background.

3. place a label which shows the concatenated prompt value

4. place a source data button with the following properties:

insertion type: columnsource data: E5:E14destination: C5:C14

5. place a push button with the following properties:

label: G2source data: L5:L14destination: C5:C14

6. preview your dashboard.

That’s it. Easy is it not?

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Drill in chart to different Tab

Posted on 5 October 2010 12:02 am.Femke

If you want to give your users the choice of clicking on a chart (e.g. clicking on the chart title) and then going to a specific tab where the KPI is displayed in more detail, you can use the property “Selected Item: Item (by position)” of the Tab-component and several toggle.

You can even return to the overview tab by using the same method (toggle button). However If you want your users to be able to navigate through BOTH the tab buttons and your toggle buttons, you need to set-up the “return” toggle buttons “with non existing tab positions” as source data. This as the Tab component does not have an insert selection option itself. And when clicking on a tab and then clicking in the chart (on toggle button), the position is not changed and thus it does not trigger the “Selected Item: Item (by position)” property.

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Open document statement opens only in html viewer Crystal Reports

Posted on 14 April 2010 8:54 am.Femke

In BOXI 3.1 the opendocument statement for Crystal Reports opens the reports only in the html-viewer.

The commands are thus:
&sType=rpt&sOutputFormat=H

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T-SQL: Previous and Next Modified Date

Normally queries like this are not really solved in T-SQL; rather a front end UI like WebI is capable of navigating through the records.

However if you intend doing it in T-SQL, then here’s how we can retrieve the Next and Previous Records of a given record:

/* Create Sample Table */
DECLARE @TT table
(
ProductID int,
ModifiedDate datetime,
CategoryGroupName varchar(10)
)

/* Create Sample Data */
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 101, ’2010-10-01', ‘AA’)
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 203, ’2010-10-01', ‘AA’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 305, ’2010-10-01', ‘AA’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 101, ’2010-10-02', ‘BB’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 203, ’2010-10-03', ‘BB’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 634, ’2010-10-03', ‘BB’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 101, ’2010-10-04', ‘CC’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 203, ’2010-10-04', ‘CC’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 305, ’2010-10-04', ‘CC’);
INSERT INTO @TT VALUES ( 634, ’2010-10-04', ‘CC’);

SELECT
Prod2.ProductID,
Prod2.ModifiedDate,
(SELECT MAX(ModifiedDate)
FROM @TT Prod1
WHERE     Prod1.ModifiedDate <  Prod2.ModifiedDate and Prod1.ProductID=Prod2.ProductID ) as PreviousModifiedDate,
(SELECT MIN(ModifiedDate)
FROM @TT Prod1
WHERE     Prod1.ModifiedDate >  Prod2.ModifiedDate and Prod1.ProductID=Prod2.ProductID) as NextModifiedDate
FROM @TT  Prod2
GROUP BY Prod2.ProductID, Prod2.ModifiedDate
ORDER BY 1,2

Result looks like:

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Add on manager is greyed out

Posted on 24 March 2010 1:33 pm.Femke

After installing Windows 7 the add on manager is greyed out in Xcelsius.

This is due to the default User Account Control settings. Change the setting to the lowest level (9) and then import the add ons. After restart of Xcelsius you can change the level back up again (or leave it).

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Open document link in new window while dashboard does not re-initialise

Posted on 9 April 2010 4:31 pm.Femke

When you connect an OpenDocument statement to a URL button in Xcelsius and you apply the option New Window in the button properties, a new window is opened to show your WebI report (or Crystal report for that matter). However the report is not actually opened in that window, it is opened in your dashboard window, thus after closing or going back it forces the dashboard to reload again.

Solution:
add the following commands to the opendocument url:
sWindow=New&isApplication=true

the first command forces the link to open in a new window, the second command keeps your dashboard in the state it is in.

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Christmas Lights with Xcelsius

This post shows how to create Christmas lights in Xcelsius by using just a couple components. The two components used in this example are the Push Button and Play Control component. Just five formulas were written in the spreadsheet to alternate the colors and create “blinking lights”. These formulas are all based on the Data cell in the Play Control component.

Adding Hex Codes

In this example, I used five colors for the alternating lights and listed the hex codes in the spreadsheet. These codes were entered and labeled in the spreadsheet. Be sure to add quotes around the hex codes when entering them.  See the screenshot below.

Setup the Play Control Component

The next step is to add and setup the Play Control component. Drag and drop the Play Control component onto the canvas then map the Data and Scale property values to values in the spreadsheet.

Setting up Properties

Set the Minimum Limit to 1 and since we’re using five colors, set the Maximum Limit to 5. I included both 1 and 5 in the spreadsheet then mapped to them. Next, set the Data property by selecting a cell in the spreadsheet.

Color Coding

A best-practice is to color-code input cells in the spreadsheet and also include a temporary value. The screenshot below shows the cells that the Play Control component are mapped to (from the General tab of the component).

Play Control Behavior

An important step in the Play Control component is to click the Behavior tab and set the Play Time to 1 second. Also be sure to check the following Play Options:

Auto PlayAuto RewindAuto Reply

These three settings work together to force the Play Control to continually run. The purpose of the Play Control component is to increase the value in the Data cell. The value placed in the cell will be between the minimum and maximum value previously set. The value will increment by 1 and will Auto Rewind and Auto Reply (because of the previous settings).

Changing Hex Codes with Formulas

With the settings we’ve setup so far, cell J1 will continually count from 1 to 5, restart after hitting 5. In the next step we’ll write a formula that changes the Hex color code when the value in J1 changes.

Here’s the syntax for the first formula: =IF(J1=1,A4,IF(J1=2,B4,IF(J1=3,C4,IF(J1=4,D4,IF(J1=5,E4)))))

This code says, if J1 equals 1, then return the first Hex color code. If J1 equals 2, then return the second Hex code. The formula continues on through J1 = 5. By writing this formula, the Hex code in the formula cell will continually change as J1 changes (thanks to the looping action in the Play Control component).

The next thing I did was create four new formulas with slightly different conditions to show five different hex codes at all times. Observe the pattern and differences in the five formulas listed below.

=IF(J1=1,A4,IF(J1=2,B4,IF(J1=3,C4,IF(J1=4,D4,IF(J1=5,E4)))))=IF(J1=1,B4,IF(J1=2,C4,IF(J1=3,D4,IF(J1=4,E4,IF(J1=5,A4)))))=IF(J1=1,C4,IF(J1=2,D4,IF(J1=3,E4,IF(J1=4,A4,IF(J1=5,B4)))))=IF(J1=1,D4,IF(J1=2,E4,IF(J1=3,A4,IF(J1=4,B4,IF(J1=5,C4)))))=IF(J1=1,E4,IF(J1=2,A4,IF(J1=3,B4,IF(J1=4,C4,IF(J1=5,D4)))))

The screenshot below shows how the five formula fields used to change the hex codes appear in the spreadsheet.

Note

After setting up the Play Control component, move it to the back layer behind all components so it will not be seen. An easy way of doing this is to select the component and hold down the minus symbol until it’s at the very bottom layer.

Adding Blinking Lights

The final step is to add the blinking lights. Each light is actually and individual Push Button component - mapped to one of the five formulas previously described.

Begin by adding a Push Button component to the canvasAdjust it to the shape you preferSelect the component then remove the word Push from the component’s Label valueNext, click the component’s Appearance tab followed by the Color tabChange the Default color and Pressed color (pictured below)

Select ‘Bind to a Color’ and select your first formula with a hex value (pictured below)

Copy and paste the component four timesBind each of the new components to the four remaining hex code formulas

All that’s left now is to copy and paste the 5 existing Push Button components many times and place them appropriately on the canvas. That’s it! Blinking Christimas lights with Xcelsius!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you!

Jim.Brogden@daugherty.com

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Report Bursting with SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008

(Post #3 of 3 for Reportapalooza – Focused on SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008).

The idea to write about Report Bursting in SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008 came to me on the shuttle bus on the way to the airport in Orlando after a very successful (and one shiny iPad later) ASUG SAP BusinessObjects User Conference. The idea came by way of friend and fellow Reportapalooza expert – Brian Durning.

We were having a conversation about the “Reporting Remix” challenge and I asked his opinion on topics to discuss when writing about SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008. Brian is a highly accomplished SAP Crystal solutions expert and his immediate recommendation was Report Bursting. After some investigation, I now know why he made this suggestion. Report Bursting is a really powerful, convenient, and efficient process that minimizes the need for excessive individual report scheduling.

As the previous paragraph suggests, the inclusion of Report Bursting is one of the most anticipated enhancements to SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008. If setup correctly, this elusive feature is an SAP Crystal and BOE administrator’s dream. But if setup incorrectly, it will quickly become a DBA’s nightmare.  That’s why Report Bursting should be carefully researched and tested before implementing in a production environment. Once you’re ready, scheduling reports will never be the same (in a GOOD way).

What is Report Bursting?

Report Bursting in SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008 allows multiple groups of reports (known as Publications) to be scheduled and distributed to personalized groups of recipients with each group receiving reports containing data filtered differently. This is accomplished when the SQL statement is submitted to the database by the individual SAP Crystal Reports multiple times with different filtered values fetching different data values for each group.

This process provides the most efficient way of scheduling and distributing reports to a large number of users who require the same or similar reports but filtered by different parameters.

The reason that Report Bursting should be entered into cautiously is because of the potential impact on system resources. If the option “One database fetch per recipient” is selected when creating a Publication, the SQL statement of each report will query the database one time for each recipient. This option will almost definitely catch the eye of the DBAs if the recipient list is of significant size. But one database fetch per “batch” of recipients might be much less expensive and fly well below the DBA’s radar.

Creating a New Publication for Report Scheduling

To create a new Publication, begin by selecting a folder from the file menu in InfoView. Once you’ve done this, click New in the default toolbar and select Publication. This is displayed in the screenshot below.

Once “Publication” is selected from the list of choices, you’ll have three options when the “New Publication” window opens.

SummaryGeneral PropertiesSource Documents

In the General Properties section, give your new Publication a name, description (optional), keywords (optional), and then select the Source Documents option. Next click Add to select the reports that will become a part of the Publication that will “Refresh at Runtime”. Multiple reports can be selected as part of a single Publication.

As soon as reports are added, six new options are made available. The “New Publication” now has the following property sections.

SummaryGeneral PropertiesSource DocumentsEnterprise RecipientsDynamic RecipientsPersonalizationFormatsDestinationsAdditional Options

The “Additional Options” section contains eight different options:

Print SettingsDelivery RulesMerged PDF OptionsDatabase LogonRecurrenceEventsScheduling Server GroupAdvanced

Select the Advanced category and you’ll see settings in three different groups:

Profile ResolutionPersonalizationReport Bursting Method

The Report Bursting Methods section provides three choices for bursting:

One database fetch for all recipients (recommended for minimizing the number of database queries)One database fetch for each batch of recipients (recommended for high-volume scenarios)One database fetch per recipient (recommended when using row level security within Universes or Business Views)

Report Bursting Methods Described

One database fetch for all recipients – This option will submit the SQL statement of each report to the database once per report then deliver the data in the specified format to each recipient.  This method uses the database logon credentials of the publisher.One database fetch for each batch of recipients – This is the default option when scheduling Crystal Reports. Batches can run concurrently on different servers to reduce the load on the system (keeping the DBAs happy). The size of the batches depends on the specified personalization. This method uses the database logon credentials of the publisher.One database fetch per recipient – This method uses the data source logon credentials of each recipient as the query is submitted to the database once per report for each recipient in the publication. This option provides the greatest level of security but also produces the greatest load on the system if the recipient list is large.

Publications

In addition to Report Bursting, Publications provide an extensive set of options. Among the options that you’ll want to pay special attention to are the: Print Settings, Delivery Rules, Database Logon Credentials, Recurrence, and Events. Settings such as: Personalization, Formats, and Destinations should also be configured completely before saving and implementing a Publication.

Be sure to view the Summary option and review your selections before finalizing your Publication. You should also test your Publication before making it live. Refer to official SAP documentation for a more in-depth discussion of Publications and information regarding the various other options to configure, save, schedule, and view publication results.

Summary

After finally experiencing SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008, I am surprised at the great deal of sophisticated methods of delivering reports to users across the enterprise. Whether through the convenience of the portal , the use of automated report scheduling, or the use of personalized Publications for Report Bursting, SAP Crystal Reports Server 2008 is an excellent product for sharing information with users.

Questions? Please contact me.
Jim.Brogden@daugherty.com

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Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 2 of 3

As usual, before getting started I want to provide a quick recap of where we are with the Reportapalooza competition. This is the last week of voting before the final winner is announced on Nov 22th!

Challenge #1 (Done) – Winner , Mico Yuk (Check out my Coffee Consumption Calculator)Challenge #2 (Done) – Winner, Mico Yuk (based on traffic sent to Report a Hero Page)Challenge #3 (Done) – Winner, Brian Durning (voted best Crystal Reports Video by Community)Challenge #4 (Done) – Winner, David Deitch (voted best Charity Dashboard by Community)Challenge #5 (In Progress) – What this series of blog post is about.Community Dashboard Challenge (In Progress) – Vote until Nov 12th, 2010 for your favorite community dashboard.

In Part 1 of this series I went over some Q&A on what it would take to embed your Xcelsius visualization (in this case a map) into your Crystal Report, as well as some pros and cons.   In Part 2 I am going to cover how to set up your map in Xcelsius so that it can be consumed by Crystal Reports.  For this example we will be using Google Maps (compliments of Centigon Solutions) as it much more robust than the out of box maps in Xcelsius.

1.       Install Google Maps Plug-in for Xcelsius (more details on how to do this here)

2.       Add the  GMaps Plugin to your Xcelsius dashboard

3. Configure your Excel spreadsheet to hold 2 columns of data for the Google Map: 1) Map Address 2) Map Labels

4.       Go to Data Connections in Xcelsius -> Add the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ Connection

5.       Configure the ‘Crystal Reports Data Consumer’ Connection so that the ‘Row Headers’ are bound to the  Excel cell area you created in Step #3

In Part 3 I will focus on the final step:  Bringing your Xcelsius Map into Crystal Reports.

One last thing, please don’t forget to cast your votes on the 3 dashboards that were submitted by the community to show your support.

Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page.

Tags: Business Objects, BusinessObjects, Centigon Solutions, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008, Xcelsius 2008 Tips

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Passing Data From a Parent to Child SWF (Flash Variables)

Due to performance limitations within Xcelsius, it can be difficult to build large scale dashboards that are easy to manage. Fortunately, Xcelsius comes equipped with components that makes it easier to create a single “Parent” SWF which can load multiple “Child” SWFs inside itself. Perhaps the biggest challenge with this design architecture is enabling the “Parent” SWF to communicate with the “Child” SWF.

Luckily, with the use of Flash Variables and the SWF loader component, we can easily overcome this challenge.

How to do it:

1. Create your child.xlf

2. Establish a cell where your parameter will be passed. I used cell E6 in my example

3. Access the data manager within the child.xlf and add a Flash Variables connection

4. Add a range and give it a name. In my example I named the range “salesman”

5. Select the range in which the data parameter will be passed. Cell E6 is the range in my example

6. Create your parent.xlf

7. Setup a sheet within your parent.xlf as follows:

a) Enter the URL where your will store your child.swf in cell B5

b) Enter the name of the range that you used in your child.swf in cell B7 “salesman”

c) Reserve cell B9 for the parameter that is going to be passed

d) Enter the following formula in cell B11: =B5&”?”&B7&”=”&B9

8. Add a component to input your parameter – I chose to use a list box for my example

9. Bind the output destination of your component to cell B9

10. Add a SWF Loader component to the dashboard

11. Bind the Source URL to cell B11

There you have it. Although my example is fairly simple, this should get you moving in the right direction to developing larger scale dashboard applications that are easier to manage.

As always, feel free to download the source files.

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Comparing Xcelsius 2008 Editions

Business Objects Started off Offering Crystal Xcelsius as a single edition. Later with 4.5 they came up with 2 editions, Designer and Workgroup. Starting 2008, they have significantly increased in terms of various flavors of the software. Now they have 4 editions, allowing the customers to choose whatever they want based on the Price and requirements. The 4 editions are below. Detailed Comparison here.

Xcelsius PresentXcelsius EngageXcelsius Engage ServerBusinessObjects Xcelsius EnterpriseBe the first to like this post.

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Integrating Xcelsius into Crystal Reports Series – 3 of 3

Thanks to everyone who attended the Reportapalooza “Behind the Reports” webinar yesterday!  Below is  a quick recap of where we are with the Reportapalooza competition.  The final winner will be announced on Nov 22th.

Challenge #1 (Done) – Winner , Mico Yuk (Check out my Coffee Consumption Calculator)Challenge #2 (Done) – Winner, Mico Yuk (based on traffic sent to Report a Hero Page)Challenge #3 (Done) – Winner, Brian Durning (voted best Crystal Reports Video by Community)Challenge #4 (Done) – Winner, David Deitch (voted best Charity Dashboard by Community) Challenge #5 (In Progress) – “Reporting Remix” (What this series of blog post is about).Community Dashboard Challenge (In Progress) – Voting end tomorrow Nov 12th for your favorite community dashboard.Experts Webinar- ”Behind the Reports” (Recording should be available soon) – You don’t want to miss the important tips and answered questions by the experts!

Now for a quick recap of the last 2 posts:

Part 1 – I went over some Q&A on what it would take on a high level to embed your Xcelsius charts and maps into a Crystal Report, as well as some pros and cons of both.Part 2 – I went over how to set up your map in Xcelsius so that it can be consumed by Crystal Reports.  I used Google Maps (compliments of Centigon Solutions) for this example as it much more robust than the out box maps in Xcelsius.Part 3 (the last one) – I am going to show you the  step-by-step process on how to embed your Xcelsius .swf file into your Crystal Reports.

6 Simple Steps to embed your Xcelsius .swf file into your Crystal Report!

1. Open Crystal Reports 2008 -> Click on blue icon to Embed Flash file

2. The Google Map should appear in your dashboard

3. Right click on the Google Map -> Click ‘Flash Data Expert’ to bind the Crystal Report Data

4. Drag the Label field, in this case ‘Sheet1_.Label’ into the 2nd row in the ‘Insert Row Labels’ section

5. Drag the Address field, in this case ‘Lat,Long’ into the 1st row in the ‘Insert Row Labels’ section -> Select ‘OK’. (Note: The map is now connected, so you can see the heat map data display in the preview.)

6. Voila! Your data and your map now appears in your Crystal Report.

As a BONUS, I attached the files that I used for the series.  Click here to download.

Again, just a quick reminder to cast your final votes by tomorrow (11/12) on the 3 dashboards that were submitted by the community to show your support.

Mico Yuk is a 2010 SAP Mentor and the founder of the Xcelsius Guru Network and the Everything Xcelsius blog. To learn more about her, please visit our About Us page

Tags: Business Objects, BusinessObjects, Centigon Solutions, Reportapalooza, SAP Crystal Dashboard Design, Xcelsius 2008

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Crystal Reports: Using the Highlighting Expert

Have you ever used the Highlighting Expert in Crystal Reports? Chances are your response is no, and you are wondering what it is. The Highlighting Expert is a button on the Experts Toolbar. The button looks like this: .

The Highlighting Expert is also on the shortcut menu of the right-click. Once you choose this Expert, this dialog box opens:

Click on the New button in bottom left corner.On the right, choose the Operator for the criteria and the amount you want to highlight.Now you can change the color of the Font, the Background, and/or the Border.You can Add as many Highlights as you wish with various values, with the New button.You are able to see how it will look in the Sample area.You are able to change the Priority by selecting and using the little arrows to reorder.To remove a highlight, simply select on the left and click Remove.

Try it out, the Highlighting Expert is fast and easy to use!! It gives the “wow” to your report.

Happy Reporting!

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3 Steps in Creating Your First Report

So, you’ve been told you need to start using Crystal Reports. It’s installed on your machine and you’ve opened it.  Now how do you get started?

The good news is that you don’t need to be a programmer or a database expert. However, you will need to be aware of the business requirements
for the report, how the report will be distributed, and be familiar with the data in the database.  Assuming you have this knowledge, you can jump right in:

To begin, within Crystal Reports, indicate to Crystal what kind of a database it is and where it is stored.  You will likely need to get this information from someone else in your organization.The second step is to choose the tables that store the required data and be sure the tables are joined correctly to provide the correct records that will meet the requirements for the report.Once that is accomplished, place the necessary fields on the report and manipulate those fields to design a professional,attractive and understandable report.

When you select Print Preview, Crystal Reports  will generate the report by retrieving the records from the  database and display the requested data on the report.  It then is the time to be sure that the newly designed report meets all the business requirements per the request.  Changes to the report, additions and deletions are simple to employ. If all is good, you can then export the report to several different Windows applications or to HTML.  There is even a free Crystal Reports Viewer for those who don’t have a copy of Crystal Reports.

We provide plenty of practice creating basic reports in our Introduction to Crystal Reports 2008 class.

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Dashboard Developers Donating Time to Help Charities

On Monday October 18th, Reportapalooza introduced the entries to it’s fourth installment of the “virtual” reality show style campaign in a challenge dubbed “Dash for Charity”. In this challenge, the experts were paired with a charity to design and develop a visual model using SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (Xcelsius). The goal of each dashboard was to help promote and spread awareness for each expert’s chosen charity.

For me, this has been the highlight of Reportapalooza. And I’ve been looking forward to this challenge since the beginning of the campaign. I love the idea of donating my time and energies on a project that could potentially make a difference in someone’s life. Hopefully all of our dashboards will be used to help the people that actually “help people” – long after the campaign is over.

As someone passionate about education, City Year Greater Philadelphia was an ideal selection for me because of their significant work with students in the Philadelphia area. City Year corps members are real life hero’s in the lives of thousands of students every year. With tutoring, mentoring, and positive “near peer” interaction, more students are graduating in Greater Philadelphia every year!

Please take a look at every dashboard entry then vote for your favorite. All are very worthy of your consideration. Use this link to access the showcase of entries. The winning dashboard wins $1,000 for their charity – so please choose wisely.

Below is the list of entries in no particular order:

City Year Greater Philadelphia - by Jim Brogden

NPower Pennsylvania – by Brian Durning

Career Wardrobe – developed by Jamie Oswald

Academy of Hope – developed by David Deitch

Ronald McDonald House BC – developed by Mico Yuk

Please feel free to email me with any questions.

Thank you!

Jim Brogden - jim.brogden@daugherty.com

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Missing Leo Apotheker

There was a lot of trepidation amongst the BusinessObjects community when SAP acquired Business Objects in January 2008. We had all seen how Oracle had consumed Hyperion (which had, in turn, consumed Brio) to the point of losing its identity as an independent BI solution. The question was would SAP do the same to BusinessObjects?

On the day of the acquisition, I was attending a joint sales and partner meeting for BusinessObjects in Las Vegas listening to a mix of top Business Objects and SAP Executives delivering presentations to motivate sales for the coming year. There was really very little of substance until this man named Leo Apotheker took to the stage. He was engaging and passionate as he explained that Business Objects would remain an autonomous division of SAP so that it could effectively continue to sell Business Intelligence to all. He then went on to explain who SAP was and the core values of the company and how those would benefit the BusinessObjects employees, partners and product suite.  He painted an exciting vision of both the direction for SAP and BusinessObjects. I believe he impressed and inspired a lot of people in the room that day.

The global financial crisis followed later that year and into 2009 and Apotheker had his work cut out for him to steer SAP through a difficult time but he continued to push Business Intelligence to the forefront of SAP as well as actively support the Sustainability solution initiative within SAP.

So at the beginning of 2010 as we emerged from that difficult period, I was both shocked and sad to see Leo Apotheker leave SAP.  Of course, what he put in place has borne remarkable results with now more than 50% of SAP’s license revenues coming from Business Intelligence (not bad when you consider SAP was eight times larger than Business Objects at the time of acquisition) and SAP a clear leader in the Sustainability solution arena.

Leo Apotheker is now the CEO of Hewlett-Packard ( a company eight times larger than SAP – HP Press release ) and I think they are very fortunate to have such a visionary leading them. Unfortunately, we will not see how much further he could have taken SAP but, from where I sit, he certainly set them on the right track.

In searching for a picture to post on this blog, I found the following blog post from Feb 7, 2010  http://www.enterpriseirregulars.com/12079/news-analysis-saps-ceo-leo-apotheker-resigns/ which has many links including one to the official SAP press release.

Paul Grill started his career in Information Technology in the U.K. in 1978, as an Executive Data Processing Trainee for Honeywell. More than thirty years later, he still has a voracious appetite for learning as Information Technology continues to advance at an ever accelerating pace. He was first introduced to the world of Business Intelligence in 1991, in France, when he saw a demonstration of an early version of BusinessObjects on Windows 2.1. He returned to the U.S. to rave about this phenomenal product, but it was many years before BusinessObjects made it into the mainstream. Paul founded InfoSol in 1997, and made Business Intelligence one of the key solutions offered by the company. Today, InfoSol is a leading SAP BusinessObjects solutions partner, known for its expert consulting, education and innovative add-on solutions. Paul is well known within the SAP BusinessObjects community for his extensive knowledge of Business Intelligence, and he has lectured and written many articles on the subject. Paul enjoys writing, running and coaching kids soccer, and is passionate about Ancient Egyptology.

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Sharing Reports in SAP Crystal Reports Server

In this post, the 2nd in a three part series for the Reportapalooza “Reporting Remix” challenge, I will describe my observations of SAP Crystal Reports Server after logging on with Internet Explorer into the Java Infoview portal.

I logged into SAP Crystal Reports Server as the Administrator and was given two categories of options: Navigate and Personalize. Beneath the Personalize category was a Preferences selection. I’ve never been the type of person to pass on the opportunity to tweak a couple settings, so I clicked Preferences. Below is a screenshot of the initial screen displayed after I logged into the system.

Preferences are available in four categories:

GeneralChange PasswordCrystal ReportsDashboard and Analytics

The General section was expanded by default and the first setting provides the option to change the InfoView Start Page. I modified this selection by clicking the option button beside Folder then browsing to the “Report Samples” folder. By making this selection, all of my subsequent logons to the SAP Crystal Reports Server will no longer display the Navigate and Personalize categories as previously described. Instead, I would be taken directly to the Report Sample folder. 
This option saves time and allows me to get right to the folder that contains the reports I’m most interested in analyzing.

Browsing BusinessObjects InfoView
The contents of the Java Infoview portal, (or BUSINESSOBJECTS INFOVIEW as it’s titled in the upper left corner of the page header), delivers Crystal Reports and other local document types to users in a similar format as Windows Explorer. Users have the ease of navigating through a folder structure on the left side of the page while viewing the contents of the selected folder on the right side of the page.
This basic style should be very familiar to anyone that has spent any time working with a PC. The simplicity in navigation seems like it would lead to a very productive user experience.

Adding Reports to the Portal
To begin sharing reports with other users, I will need to add them to the portal. Will this be difficult or easy? Should I right-click or look for something like “Add”? The answer is: either.
If you want to add a report to the portal, just click Add in the toolbar located across the top of the folder structure. After clicking Add, two choices will be available – Crystal Reports and Local Document. If Local Document is selected, you’ll have the opportunity to browse for a Microsoft Office document (Excel, Word, or PowerPoint), PDF, Text file, or other file type. If Crystal Reports is selected, you’ll be taken to a screen prompting you to select a Crystal Report. The screenshot below shows the Add button in action.

Another way of adding a report to the portal is by right-clicking on a folder and selecting Add. This option is available in the tree of folders on the left side of the screen. You can also right-click on a folders displayed on the right side of the screen to add a Crystal Report to the portal. Picture below is this example.

Sharing Reports with Folders and Categories
Reports can be shared or delivered to authorized users in either folders, categories, or both. Folders are the primary structure for storing published report objects while categories seem to work as custom views that may contain reports from different folders.

My Favorites and Inbox
The My Favorites folder in the Java Infoview portal allows users to save their own personal copies of reports. This is a great place for storing report variations or reports that are still in the development and verification phase.

The Inbox is an extremely useful feature for passing around instances of reports to other authorized users. Also, the Infoview Inbox is a common destination for sending the results of scheduled report instances. Any user with Schedule rights can send refreshed report instances to other users with a valid logon by selecting “Business Objects Inbox” as the scheduled destination while scheduling a report to refresh.

Enterprise Convenience
After spending a short amount of time with SAP Crystal Reports Server, it has become very obvious how powerful this product can be to an organization. A report developer in Mobile can create a report, publish it to the portal, and then have users in Portland, New York, and Atlanta all view it within seconds of publishing it. With this type of collaborative environment, someone in another city can see a report quicker than someone four cubicles away can walk to your desk. Now that is cool!

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Thank you!

Jim Brogden

jim.brogden@daugherty.com

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