When analysis is better using Web Intelligence than Excel

June 1, 2010 – 12:00 am

This article compares data analysis using Web Intelligence to the same workflow using Microsoft Excel and for the given scenario demonstrates why using Web Intelligence is quicker, easier and less error prone.

The objective here is not to show that in all cases Web Intelligence is better than Excel rather to highlight that there are some situations where it is preferable to use Web Intelligence. Equally there are some situations where Excel is better than Web Intelligence, for example, calculating the geometric mean is easier in Excel as we can use a built in formula whereas in Web Intelligence we have to calculate the geometric mean manually. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in How To, Statistical Analysis, Web Intelligence | 1 Comment »

SAP BOE Security Model Patterns

April 13, 2010 – 12:00 am

Security Modelling is concerned with two areas: authentication - establishing who the user is, essentially the logon process and authorisation - controlling user access to different areas of the system. This article discusses four different design patterns for authorisation security models that can be used in SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise.

In SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise (BOE) we use the Central management console (CMC) to define our security model and we can grant or deny access to a vast array of options and features throughout the system from controlling which documents can be viewed to what features within an application can be utilised – download to Excel in Web Intelligence, for example.

It is great that there is such a large degree of control however the downside is that it is then very easy to create a security model that becomes overly complex and difficult to manage. In particular we find that several settings can conflict with each other and say prevent a user from being able to view a document and in these situations it can then be very difficult to determine which setting needs to be changed.

It is therefore important to develop a security model that is well defined, documented and tested in order to avoid such issues as described above. This article looks at four different security model design patterns, describing the advantages and limitations of each.

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Posted in Business Intelligence, Delivery Methodology, SAP Business Objects | 1 Comment »

Developing BI Applications

April 7, 2010 – 12:00 am

This article looks at an approach to developing SAP BusinessObjects solutions where rather than just writing reports and universes we instead build a BI Application. The main benefit of this approach is a more efficient, streamlined and organised delivery process.

A BI Application is viewed as a complete project where the components of the BI application, the reports, universes, security model, user guides etc, all go through a typical systems development lifecycle of analysis and design, development, testing and release.

Initially this may not seem any different to any other approach but the key difference here is that it is a BI Application as a whole that is packaged and released through the different environments of development, testing, system testing and so on to production. By keeping all the related components together we greatly improve the efficiency and quality of delivery and at the same time reduce the risk of delivering a change in one area that adversely affects another existing BI implementation.

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise is then viewed as a platform on which we can deploy many different BI Applications. The users are granted access on an application by application basis, greatly reducing the complexity of security modelling.

This article begins by looking at a typical BI project requirement and then looks at how a BI application approach helps implement this project. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Delivery Methodology, SAP Business Objects | Comments Off

Date Maths – Oracle

March 24, 2010 – 12:00 am

This article continues the Date Maths series and here we are using Oracle. Please refer to the previous articles on SQL Server and DB2 for similar calculations for those database systems.

Please refer to the Oracle 11g SQL Reference for more information on the date functions used in this article.

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Posted in Oracle | 1 Comment »

SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI3 Deployment Patterns

March 19, 2010 – 11:42 am

When deploying an SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise system there are a lot of choices for where you can deploy all the services that make up the system. It is then necessary to make sure that you choose the right deployment in order to meet your requirements, for example, is it easily maintained, is it resilient, is it secure, will it support my user base and can it be easily expanded to accomodate additional users.

This article looks at different deployment patterns for an SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI3 system and reviews their advantages and limitations of each. It is the intention then that this can help you make an informed decision about the deployment configuration of your system.

The article focuses on the core SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise servers and does not include Data Services or Performance Management.
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Posted in Business Intelligence, Delivery Methodology, SAP Business Objects, SAP Business Objects Enterprise | 2 Comments »