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Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:001
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition forMicrosoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysisfor MS Office
Posted by Taygan Rifat Apr 19, 2014
Summary• BEx Analyzer widely used as the MS Office integration tool to analyse multidimensional data from
SAP BW.• SAP have clearly positioned Analysis, edition for Office (AfO) as the "premium alternative" and
eventual replacement to BEx Analyzer.
Purpose• Understand if there are any gaps in functionality.• Understand what benefits could be gained by adopting now.
Note: At point of comparison, the following versions of the tools were evaluated.• Analysis, edition for Office 1.4 SP6 (14.6.2960)• BEx Analyzer 7.30 SP3 Revision 1906
Findings
Intuitive UI (larger buttons, contextual information, visual cues).
Current feature set is comprehensive and provides good coverage for typical BEx Analyzer users.
There are some features from BEx that are still lacking from Analysis. Those identified are planned for
future releases (e.g. variable personalisation, variable history).
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:002
In addition to the improved UI, there are many features that are only available in Analysis that could enable
faster and smarter ways of working.
Comparison: Select a Data Source
Recently used queries are immediately visible.
Ability to leverage OLAP connections defined in SAP BO (e.g. HANA)
Interoperability across BI platform via Analysis Views.
Support for multiple data sources.
Comparison: Prompts
Toggle display of all optional prompts at once via [Display] button.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:003
Toggle display of specific optional prompts via pins.
Variable Personalization.
Variable History.
Comparison: BEx Text Elements (Information)
Not constrained where/how information displayed.
Drag and drop dynamic text elements directly into worksheet.
Info Field can be used for quick access to common elements.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
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Comparison: Filters
Improved UI enables users to identify filters at a glance.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
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Comparison: Navigational State
Improved UI facilitates faster workflows (no need to right click and access "query properties").
Quick access to attributes by expanding [+] sign.
Analysis pane visible by default and can be toggled via a single click.
Intuitive Columns, Rows & Background consistent with Analysis, edition for OLAP.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:006
Comparison: Undo/Redo
Multi-step undo/redo.
No longer need to undo one navigation step at a time, able to jump to a particular state.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:007
Other Benefits
Toggle automatic refresh.
Schedule (broadcast) via BI platform.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
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PowerPoint publishing.
Conditional Formatting.
Save workbooks to BI platform.
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:009
Unified "Design Mode" - no need to switch between consumption and design.
Support for multiple data source (e.g. multiple BEx queries in a single worksheet, combination of BW &
HANA, etc)
Interoperability with Design Studio (e.g. prototype a web application).
Conclusion• Existing users who are familiar with BEx Analyzer will find the transition to Analysis relatively smooth.
With a familiar MS Office UI, comprehensive feature set and overall improved design, unlocking valueout of your enterprise DWH should be made even easier.
• Analysis specific features such as interoperability with Analysis Views, interactions with the BI
platform and access to more data sources will further support our ability to leverage existinginvestments (BW, HANA, BO) and promote cross collaboration across the wider BI community.
• The intuitive design will attract new users who may have required BEx in the past but were
intimidated by the non friendly UI, ultimately driving broader adoption.
• Analysis is inline with SAP’s strategic focus and will be the target for future innovations.
The tool appears to be sufficiently mature (1.4 SP6) to start being used today as thereplacement for BEx Analyzer.
10500 Views Tags: bi, bi4, business_intelligence_(businessobjects), bw, analysis, business_intelligence,businessobjects_analysis_office, office, analysis_office, ao, analysis_office_14, analysis_edition_for_microsoft,sap_businessobjects_analysis_edition_for_microsoft_office
Aby AbyMar 16, 2015 9:32 AM
Good comparison,
thanks for that...
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:0010
Now i am working with both Analyser and Analysis.
We are planing to replace analyser with analysis,but i found some limitations which blocks us from this
replacement.
1.I cannot drill down a report,which contains more than 65000 rows.Is there any solution for this?
2.I cannot find a star(*) option in the variable selection.
Your suggestions will be valuable...
rgds,
aby
Torsten Wirth in response to Alan Berkey on page 10Sep 17, 2014 8:17 AM
Hi Alan,
I don't think that any changes are planned in the next time for the old Query Designer. The Idea is to use AO
agains the queries. There are some rumors about a new version of Query Designer in Eclipse (which makes
sense in combination with HANA). But I have seen nothing official concerning this topic.
Blog concerning this topic:
http://scn.sap.com/community/business-explorer/blog/2013/09/27/future-of-bex-query-designer
You will find the eclipse version mentioned in the roadmap for Q3/2014
Regards,
Torsten
Alan BerkeySep 16, 2014 6:44 PM
Good comparison, thanks.
We also have BW 7.3 and are using BO on a limited basis. Users are starting to adopt Analysis for Office for
the exact reasons stated. We have many legacy BEx queries in use.
Do you know the roadmap for the Query Designer now that an Analyzer successor has been addressed?
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:0011
Thank you,
Alan
Torsten Wirth in response to Harish Allachervu on page 11Sep 12, 2014 2:39 PM
Yes, you can. But you have to talk to SAP in this topic.
Regards,
Torsten
Harish AllachervuSep 11, 2014 8:29 AM
handy info
at present in our project we are using BEx analyzer as major reporting tool.
you are correct as BI consultant i am seeing so many bottlenecks in the analyzer when i randomly searching in
SCN i come across this forum and even your blog as well.
so after reading some docs & blogs i thought to propose this tool for our client as replacement for analyzer
before that i need few inputs.
we have BW 7.3 system and all our reports are designed in Bex query designer and please note we don't have
BOBJ in our landscape.
so can we get licence only for AO tool without having BI/BOBJ systems...?
anticipating positive inputs!!!
Thanks & Regards,
Harish
Taygan Rifat in response to Miguel Varela on page 12Apr 26, 2014 4:45 AM
Hi Miguel,
Analysis Views is one of the key mechanisms in which Analysis for Office can work along side other tools
within the BI suite.
Analysis Views (which are simply a saved navigation state of an analysis) can be exported from Analysis for
Office (as well as Analysis for OLAP) and saved within the BI platform. Once exported, tools such as Crystal
SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office: BEx Analyzer vs. Analysis for MS Office
Generated by Jive on 2015-06-13+02:0012
Reports for Enterprise and Web Intelligence can consume Analysis Views as a data source. See interactive
tutorials below for more details.
Web Intelligence: Connect to an Analysis View
Crystal Reports for Enterprise: Connect to an Analysis View
Miguel VarelaApr 25, 2014 4:30 PM
Great comparison and info for those coming from BW/BEx.
Do you have more examples or "use cases" of connecting Analysis for Office with other BI Tools?.
This "Interoperability with Design Studio (e.g. prototype a web application)." is especially interesting.
Best regards.