Desktop Intelligence to Web Intelligence

Rajesh Ponnurangam, Infosol

AGENDA

Planning the Conversion

1

Report Conversion Process

2

Audit & Remediation

3

Deski Migration - Case Study

4

Deski Parity in WebI

5

4

SAP has announced the end of life for Desktop Intelligence1

BO XI 3.1 Priority one Support ended in December 20182

3

4

Windows 2008 Support ends in 2020

SQL 2008 & Oracle 10/11 supports ends in 2020

[ Why should I Convert my Deski’s?

[ Why should I Convert my Deski’s?

Windows Server 2008 R2

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Oracle 10.2

Oracle 11.1

Oracle 11.2

BusinessObjects

Jan 2015

July 2014

July 2010

Aug 2012

Jan 2020

July 2019

July 2013

Aug 2015

Software Mainstream Support

Extended Support

XI 3.1

BI 4.0

Jan 2015 Dec 2020

Dec 2015

Dec 2015

Dec 2018 (extended)

Dec 2017

Planning Audit Implementation,QA & UAT

Cutover Go Live

• Assessment / Audit of current report use

• Gathering requirements

• Time and deadlines• Training & Education• Backup

• Auditing current Deski Utilization

• Using the Audit Universe & Reports

• Creating Custom Audit Reports

• Utilizing Report Conversion Tool

• Utilizing Upgrade Management Tool

• Parts that might require rework

• Training the users to use BI Launch Pad

• Training report developers in WebI

• Recreating Deskireports in WebI

[ Deski to WebI - An Overview on Report Conversion

[ Tools

[ Differences in Calculation Engine

Deski – XI 3.1 WebI – BI 4.2

Web Intelligence Calculation Changes - https://bit.ly/2RGacwtRefer this article

1. Review the current BusinessObjects environmentReview appropriate migration path(s) for the conversion

(BusinessObjects 5.x, 6.x, XIR2, XI3.x etc)- Newer systems have a direct upgrade path (XIR2 & XI3.x)- Older systems may require extra steps (BO5.x & 6.x)

[ Checklist for Report Conversion

2. Identify the impact on users- Identify frequently-used and important reports- Identify pain points- Validate if Web Intelligence can address these

3. FeaturesGather information on the commonly used features in Desktop Intelligence (Free Hand SQL, grouping, VBA etc)

4. Content Inventory and Clean-upIt is strongly recommended to do some clean up of the reports before upgrading and converting them to Web Intelligence

[ Audit Deski Usage

[ Report Conversion in XI 3.X or BI 4.2?

12

Report Conversion in XI 3.XUse the Report Conversion Tool from XI3.x and upgrade the XI3.x Web Intelligence reports into BI4.0

Report Conversion in BI 4.2

BI4.x path has the highest success rate and a potentially

lower amount of manual rework

Deski to WebI Comparison - https://bit.ly/2DdnOu5

[ Upgrade Management Tool

The Upgrade Manager Tool will ensure that the universes used by the Desktop Intelligence reports are upgraded to BI4.x. Running the Report Conversion Tool of BI4.x with an un-upgraded universe will result in a failed conversion.

© Copyright 2018 InfoSol Inc.

Update Cosmetic Changes – filters, breaks, sorts, charts, titles etc

Partially Converted

Compare Converted WebI Report with Deski Report. Formula errors and Syntax errors are expected

Fully Converted Fix the connection issue or recreate the report from scratch

Not Converted

Deski – XI 3.1Report

Conversion Tool

[ Deski to WebI – Report Conversion

[ Report Conversion 1/4

[ Report Conversion 2/4

[ Report Conversion 3/4

[ Report Conversion 4/4

[ Audit Reports

[ High Level Overview

19

Total Number of Deski Reports 514 %

Number of “Fully Converted” Webi Reports 340 66%

Number of “Partially Converted” Webi Reports 111 22%

Number of “Not Converted” Deski Reports 63 12%

[ Key Observations

20

• The “Fully & Partially Converted” reports still need to be tested for refresh/connection errors

• Formula errors and design issues can be fixed utilizing Webi report development skills

• The “Partially Converted” reports can be modified/re-designed with workaround solutions to make it “Fully Converted”

• Approximately,30 reports(5%) of the 514 reports were using the BusinessObjectsuniverse as a data source and the remaining were free hand SQL reports

• The 63 “Not Converted” reports are Deski free hand SQL reports

[ Additional Steps for Converted

Reports

21

“Refresh Document When Opening” in Deski

Total Number of Reports executed through RCT 514

Fully Converted Partially Converted

Report Count by RCT Categories 340 111

Deski reports that required "Refresh" setting Change 80 26

Reports with Connection error 148 58

• This setting had to be disabled manually for every single report. • Failure to convert a report with this setting enabled is a limitation within SAP’s Report Conversion Tool

22

[ Additional Steps for Converted Reports

Connection error after report conversion

Infosol’s recommendationThe connections can be updated in bulk by selecting a group of reports that belong to a folder by utilizing 360 View.

• Issue with SAP’s Report Conversion tool and Oracle 11 connections. • The incident has been reported to SAP support and they are yet to provide a fix

for this issue.

[ Report Fixing

23

Task Time Taken

Fixing Fully Converted Report Issues 30 mins per WebI Report

Fixing Partially Converted Report Issues 30 mins per WebI Report

Out of the 170 reports that were tested, 26 reports (15% of the reports) failed testing.

24

[ 4 Scenarios Considered

A Deski report fully converted to a WebI report without any issues

A Deski report fully converted to a WebI report with connection issues

A Deski report fully converted to a WebI report with connection issues and formula errors

A Deski report partially converted to a WebI report with connection issues and formula errors

Scenario 1

Scenario 2

Scenario 3

Scenario 4

25

[ Scenario 1A Deski report fully converted to a WebI report without any issues

Task Time Taken

Disable “Refresh on Open” setting and republish Deski report 5 mins per Deski Report

Executing the RCT Process in Batches & Documenting the results 3 mins per Deski Report

Initial testing/Setting up a Bind in 360 5 mins

Total Time 13 mins per report

26

[ Scenario 2A Deski report fully converted to a WebI report with connection issues

Task Time Taken

Disable “Refresh on Open” setting and republish Deski report 5 mins per Deski Report

Executing the RCT Process in Batches & Documenting the results 3 mins per Deski Report

Initial testing/Setting up a Bind in 360 5 mins per report

Update/Remediate Connections Errors 3 mins per WebI report

Total Time 16 mins per report

27

[ Scenario 3A Deski report fully converted to a WebI report with connection issues and formula errors

Task Time Taken

Disable “Refresh on Open” setting and republish Deski report 5 mins per Deski Report

Executing the RCT Process in Batches & Documenting the results 3 mins per Deski Report

Initial testing/Setting up a Bind in 360 5 mins per report

Update/Remediate Connections Errors 3 mins per WebI report

Fixing Fully Converted Report Issues 30

Total Time 46 mins per report

28

[ Scenario 4A Deski report partially converted to a WebI report with connection issues and formula errors

Task Time Taken

Disable “Refresh on Open” setting and republish Deski report 5 mins per Deski Report

Executing the RCT Process in Batches & Documenting the results 3 mins per Deski Report

Initial testing/Setting up a Bind in 360 5 mins per report

Update/Remediate Connections Errors 3 mins per WebI report

Fixing Partially Converted Report Issues 30

Total Time 46 mins per report

29

[ Estimate for a Sample of 100

reports% of Reports

Scenarios Number ofReports

Time taken per report(in Minutes)

Total Time(in Minutes)

Total Time(in Hours)

% of Time spent

50% Scenario 1 - Conversion without any issues 50 13 650 10.83 27.08%

25% Scenario 2 - Conversion with Connection Issue 25 16 400 6.67 16.67%

25% Scenario 3 or 4 - Conversion with Report Fixes 25 46 1150 19.17 47.92%

Miscellaneous Issues 2 200 3.33 8.33%

Total time taken 2400 40.00 100.00%

Total Number of Hours for Converting 100 Reports 40 - hours

Total time per report 24 minutes per report

27.08%

16.67%47.92%

8.33%

% of Time Spent

Scenario 1 - Conversion without anyissues

Scenario 2 - Conversion withConnection Issue

Scenario 3 & 4 - Conversion withReport Fixes

Miscellaneous Issues

30

[ Not Converted Reports

Task Time Taken

Disable “Refresh on Open” setting and republish Deski report 5 mins per Deski Report

Executing the RCT Process in Batches & Documenting the results 3 mins per Deski Report

Total Time 8 mins per report

Infosol’s recommendation

• It is advisable to fix the connection issue rather than creating a new Web Intelligence report from scratch.

• The time taken to create a new Webi report, using the Deski report as a reference, takes an average of 4-6 hours which will vary based on the complexity of the report

© Copyright 2018 InfoSol Inc.

Create & Analyze Custom Audit Reports

Address Connection issues using 360 View

Remediate Fully Converted Reports

Remediate Partially Converted Reports

UAT, QA using Third party tools

Schedule & Publish WebI Reports

Mapping the right connections

Compare Deski forumlas with WebI

Analyze different work around solutions

Check for errors, enrich

Deliver Reports to Users

[ Deski to WebI – Converted Report Analysis

• Create a Dictionary for Report errors and resolution steps

Infosol’s Documentation

Modify/Remediate issues in new Webi

Reports

01Move/Update Working WebIReports to UAT

Folder

02

360 Test Passed –Move reports to Final Destination

04

Compare & Validate Remediated Report

using 360 Bind

03360 Test Failed –

Repeat Remediation

Process

05UAT

360 Bind

[ WebI - Report Remediation & UAT Iterative Process

[ WebI – Deski Parity

Web Intelligence enhanced with - Same Level Breaks- Value Based Breaks

[ WebI – Deski Parity

Web Intelligence enhanced with - Query level feature equivalent to a RightTrim([Object])

[ WebI – Deski Parity

Web Intelligence enhanced with - Export to Excel with Class Name

[ Things to Consider

Factors that determine the timeline for conversion

• The amount of rework required

• The total number of Desktop Intelligence documents

• Which version of BI 4.2 should I upgrade?

• The use of VBA macros within the existing Desktop Intelligence documents.

• Having insight in the usage of Desktop Intelligence documents.

References

• Deski to WebI Conversion - https://bit.ly/2DdnOu5

• DCP - https://archive.sap.com/documents/docs/DOC-31798

• WebI Calculation Engine Changes - https://bit.ly/2RGacwt

• What’s new with BI 4.2 SP07 - https://bit.ly/2DV9fN8

References

• SP 05 What’s new with semantic Layer - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/10/23/sap-bi-4.2-sp5-whats-new-in-web-intelligence-and-semantic-layer/

• WebI Parallel Queries - https://blogs.sap.com/2016/01/22/new-webi-feature-in-bi42-parallel-queries/

• What’s new with BI 4.2 - https://blogs.sap.com/2014/11/24/sap-businessobjects-whats-new-collection/#jive_content_id_SAP_BusinessObjects_BI42_Whats_New_Slides

• What’s New in FIRO LaunchPad - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/11/06/sap-bi-4.2-sp05-whats-new-in-fiori-bi-launchpad/

• What’s new in WebI and Sematic Layer - https://blogs.sap.com/2017/10/23/sap-bi-4.2-sp5-whats-new-in-web-intelligence-and-semantic-layer/

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