Tips and Tricks for Deploying BI Web Services Within Your Web Intelligence Environment67.222.27.119/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BOBJ2012_… · · 2012-10-25Services Within Your

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Tips and Tricks for Deploying BI Web Services Within Your Web Intelligence Environment

Chris Greer EV Technologies

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In This Session …

•  Demonstrate creating Web Services with Business Objects s  BI Web Service

�  How to create �  Advanced techniques

•  Introduction to SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 s  Navigation s  Scheduling basics

•  SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (formerly Xcelsius®) s  Using Web Services as connections s  Relative URLs

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What We’ll Cover …

•  What is a Web Service? •  Introduction to SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 •  BI Web Service Introduction •  BI Web Service Advanced Techniques •  BI Web Service Scheduling •  SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards and BI Web Service •  BI Web Service — Building a Relative URL •  Wrap-up

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Defining Web Service

•  Wikipedia definition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_service) s  The W3C defines a “Web service” as “a software system designed to

support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network.” It has an interface described in a machine-processable format (specifically Web Services Description Language, known by the acronym WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards.

My Web Service Definition

•  Web Services allow companies to leverage XML and other industry standards to share data s  Allows you to leverage vendor products (i.e., Business Objects)

for creating and consuming Web Services s  Industry standard interface for transmitting data between

systems internally or to external business partners s  Not for every situation

�  Security concerns �  Performance (XML tags)

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Log On

Notice the new URL with SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Launch Pad

The New Default Home Page

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Documents

Change to the Documents tab

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Applications

Use the Application dropdown to create a new Web Intelligence document instead of the New dropdown

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — Web Intelligence (WebI)

Now that you have the Web Intelligence application open you can create a new document

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — WebI Data Source

Any data source should work but we will use a universe

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — WebI Universe Selection

Select a Universe

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — Web Intelligence Query Panel

Build the results and filters using universe objects

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — Web Intelligence Report

Now we can review the resulting report

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Demo

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 Summary

•  The same but different from XI 3.1 InfoView s  New landing page when you first log in s  Introduces Applications separate from the navigation

�  This makes creating a new Web Intelligence document different than the way it was in XI 3.x InfoView

s  Web Intelligence now uses Ribbons to organize features �  More intuitive for new users �  For XI 3.1 users, all the functionality is still there, but some

of it is hard to find at first s  Better access to SAP data sources

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Business Objects Web Service History

•  BI Web Service s  Introduce in XI 3.1 SP2

�  Now you build a Web Service against any block inside a Web Intelligence report

�  Only available with the Web Intelligence Rich Client s  SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0

�  Still available in Rich Client, but no longer required

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Publish the BI Web Server

Right-click the edge of the report block

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BI Web Service Error?

Error caused by not saving the report before trying to publish the Web Service

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — Save the Web Intelligence Report

Save the Web Intelligence report, remember that the dashboard user will need to have access to the location were the BI Web Service-based Web Intelligence report is saved

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BI Web Service Wizard

Now that the report is saved, this time when we select publish as a Web Service the wizard opens

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BI Web Service Duplicate Check

The wizard will perform a duplicate content check

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BI Web Service Publish Content

From here we can set the filters and manage the host

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BI Web Service Default Filters

By default all objects that are included in the report block will be included as filters

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BI Web Service Select Filters

We will need to update the selection to only include the filters we want

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BI Web Service Hosts

You can set up a host name in case you want to use something besides the default. You might want to do this if you have a URL alias.

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BI Web Service (BIWS) Folders

Web Services have their own folder structure, which is shared between BIWS and QaaWS

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BI Web Service Naming

Now we need to name our BI Web Service

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BI Web Service Is Successfully Created

Once we get the successfully created message we are done

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SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — Web Intelligence Web Services

Now we can see our Web Service in the Web Service Publisher

Notice the WSDL URL, you will need this later

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BIWS Basics Demo

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BI Web Services Basics Summary

•  SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 — Web Intelligence BI Web Services s  No longer required to use the Rich Client like you had to with

Web Intelligence XI 3.1 s  Web Services are tied to a report block not the whole tab

or document s  You have to save the document before you can create a BI Web

Service against it s  You can manage your Web Service through the Web Service

Publisher within Web intelligence �  This is also a place where you can get the WSDL URL

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Adding Columns

Unlike QaaWS you can add columns that are not defined in the universe to your Web Intelligence report block

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Creating Formulas

You can also add formulas and variables to your report blocks

All Web Intelligence functions are supported

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User — Full Name

Here we can see a simple formula added to a new column in the report block

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Vertical Table

Here we have a vertical table block that would be better represented in a cross tab

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Turn Into Wizard

We can use the Turn Into wizard to convert the vertical table into a cross table

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Cross-Tab Table

The updated report cross table report block is much easier to interpret and formatted in the way we need for display in the dashboard we are going to build

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Calculated Headers

In a different report block, we add an extra row to the header so we can include some calculations

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BIWS Advanced Demo

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BI Web Services Advanced Summary

•  You can add extra columns to a report block •  You can build complex formulas and variables for use in your

report block •  You can convert your published block to a cross tab •  You can leverage the header and footer of your report block in

your BIWS s  There is a bug with footers in SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 s  Footers work fine with XI 3.1

BI Web Services Advanced Summary (cont.)

•  You can leverage existing reports to build BI Web Services, but I recommend creating a separate report for each Web Service you create s  Prevents BIWS changes from impacting your existing report s  Prevents changes to the report from impacting your BIWS s  Makes it easier to organize and maintain your BIWS s  Purge data from the report to make it smaller

•  Consider creating a separate universe to support your BIWS s  A smaller universe can improve performance s  Prevents other report changes from inadvertently impacting

your BIWS

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Schedule Report

We schedule a Web Intelligence report with BIWS the same way we would any other report

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Schedule Recurrence

This will be determined by the frequency with which the source data is updated — daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

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Schedule Instances

We can see when the scheduled report last successfully ran and the number of instances

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BIWS Scheduling Demo

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Scheduling Summary

•  You should purge the results in the base reports s  It is more efficient s  Helps avoid people mistakenly looking at stale data

•  You schedule your reports with BIWS the same way you would any other Web Intelligence report s  Consider leveraging event triggers; they can be set up to trigger

the report to run based on data being loaded in the database

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Import the WSDL URL

The Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) URL can be found in the Web Intelligence Web Service Publisher or in the Query as a Web Service Designer tool

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Input Values

Once imported, the rest of the screen will be populated

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Input Filter Values

Prompt Filter Operators EQUAL (default)¦ GREATER ¦

GREATER_OR_EQUAL ¦ LESS ¦ LESS_OR_EQUAL ¦

NOT_EQUAL ¦ INLIST ¦ NOT_INLIST

Map the filter input value to a cell

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Output Values

Set the input value for getFromLatestDocumentInstance to 1 to make sure we pull the last successful scheduled instances data

Map the output values cell to get the data from the report block

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Output Headers and Footers

You can also map the output headers and footers

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Other Output

Map the output value for lastrefreshdate, which will provide us the timestamp for when the Web Intelligence report was last scheduled successfully

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Connection Usage

The connection’s Usage tab controls when the Web Service runs. In this case we will use a trigger value change.

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Cross Table

Cross Table Data from the BIWS

Last time the scheduled Web Intelligence ran successfully

Cross Table Header from the BIWS

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Triggered Updates

Selecting a row from the scorecard on top passes its system ID and triggers the BIWS associated with the second scorecard

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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards with BIWS Demo

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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards with BIWS Summary

•  Both QaaWS and BIWS use the Web Service Query (Query as a Web Service) connection type

•  Running against a scheduled instance of a report can greatly improve your dashboard performance

•  Filters can also improve performance and let you restrict a large amount of data from a scheduled instance

•  Leverage the BIWS headers and footers in your dashboards •  There are several useful items in the output values besides the

report block itself

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Web Service URL

Start with the Web Service URL from an existing connection

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Creating a Base URL

•  Now we create the Base URL, which we will use for testing and previewing

•  Take that Web Service URL and call it our Original URL s  http://kweb9vm:8080/dswsbobje/qaawsservices/queryasaservice?

&cuid=AdKPB7nFBsROus9MVFIL_hw&authType=Enterprise&locale=en_US&timeout=60&ConvertAnyType=true

•  Move the &cuid=AdKPB7nFBsROus9MVFIL_hw to the end s  http://kweb9vm:8080/dswsbobje/qaawsservices/queryasaservice?

&authType=Enterprise&locale=en_US&timeout=60&ConvertAnyType=true&cuid=AdKPB7nFBsROus9MVFIL_hw

•  Then we drop the cuid value s  http://kweb9vm:8080/dswsbobje/qaawsservices/queryasaservice?

&authType=Enterprise&locale=en_US&timeout=60&ConvertAnyType=true&cuid=

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URL Table

Build a table that lets you append the Connection CUID to the Base URL

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Web Service URL Mapping

Map the Connection Web Service URL to the new URL you built

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Creating a Relative URL

•  Now we create the relative URL, which we will use when we deploy our dashboard to the enterprise

•  Take the base URL we created s  http://kweb9vm:8080/dswsbobje/qaawsservices/queryasaservice?


•  Remove the http and the server name to create the relative URL s  /dswsbobje/qaawsservices/queryasaservice?


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Relative URL Table

Add the relative URL to our table and then add a formula to make it easy to switch between relative and base

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Preview Relative URL Table

The relative URL will fail if you try to preview the dashboard

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Deploying Relative URL Dashboard

Save the dashboard to your Business Objects environment

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Finding Your Relative URL Dashboard

Navigate to where the dashboard was deployed and then select View

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Testing Your Relative URL Dashboard

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Relative URL Demo

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Relative URL Summary

•  Relative URLs allow you to migrate your dashboards between development, test, and production without changing your dashboard source XLF file

•  The CUID (Cluster Unique Identifier) stays the same when components are migrated to different environments

•  Relative URL will not work in preview mode, so keep the base URL around for when you are developing

•  Test your relative URL dashboard by deploying it

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Additional Resources

•  SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence User’s Guide – Chapter 27 “Sharing content with other web applications” s  http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/

xi4_ia_en.pdf •  Dashboard Design and Presentation Design User’s Guide

s  http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_dashD_user_en.pdf

•  Using Functions, Formulas and Calculations in Web Intelligence s  http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir3/en/

xi3_web_intelligence_formulas_functions_calculations_en.pdf •  Ryan Goodman’s Blog (Xcelsius)

s  http://ryangoodman.net/blog/index.php/ •  EV Technologies Blog

s  http://evtechnologies.com/home/blog

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7 Key Points to Take Home

•  BI Web Services allow you a simple way to build powerful Web Services •  SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 has an improved look and feel that will take

time to adjust to •  SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 allows you to create BIWS from Web

Intelligence without using the Rich Client •  BIWS allows you to use cross-tabs and report specific formula that are

more flexible than traditional QaaWS •  BIWS allows you to apply filters that can be used to get around the SAP

BusinessObjects Dashboards recommended 500 row limit •  BIWS created from Web Intelligence allows you to run against

scheduled instances of a report •  Relative URLs allow you to migrate BIWS between environments without

having to make code changes in your dashboards

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Your Turn!

How to contact me: Chris Greer

[email protected]

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