Business Intelligence with SAP Business Objects 4.3

If you need to change the hostname of BOE XI 3.1 server machine follow these steps 1.     Disable all job servers so schedules are protected until you are confident your changes have been executed correctly. 2.     Change the machine name. Restart the server and 3.0 backend is solid and working. 3.     Reconfigure the application servers. Stand alone or not, these may need to be reconfigured: a. Java based (Tomcat, Jboss, etc): - Make a copy and then edit the WEB.XML files which in Tomcat are under the following directories: 1. /webapps/CmcApp/WEB-INF 2. /webapps/InfoViewApp/WEB-INF - Edit each of the Web.xml files with a text editor Navigate to the context-param key. Edit to read as follows: CMS NEWHOSTNAME b. .NET based (IIS) - Create a copy and then edit the WEB.CONFIG files which are in the following directories: 1. \BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\WebContent\InfoViewApp\CmcApp\ 2. \BusinessObjects Enterprise 12.0\WebContent\InfoViewApp\InfoViewApp\ Navigate to

CCM  Error : Visual C++ Runtime library Environment  BI 4 SP 8 Windows Server 2008 R2 sp1 On opening the CCM tool from the BO server it crashed more times. In our case we just restared the Server and this solved the problem.

Visual Difference SAP BusinessObjects  Business Intelligence 4.0  - Version 4.0 SP2 Fixpack 5 Features - Visual Difference framework allows easy identification of changes - Comparison plug ins and viewers for each BI content type. (Eventually…) - LCMBIAR viewer answers: “How is this version of the BI application different from a previous version?” - Future service packs will provide comparison viewers for universes and other content types - For example, will answer: “What is different between these two versions of a universe? Can I easily merge changes?” - Impact Analysis - Understanding which objects in a universe have changed allows tester to focus only on reports which use changed objects. See Also Visual Difference Overview

Lifecycle management console features SAP BusinessObjects  Business Intelligence 4.0  - Version 4.0 SP2 Fixpack 5 Lifecycle management console is now included in SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence servers install package. New Visual Difference capabilities allow easy identification of changes. Scriptable promotions supported via a command line interface. • Central Management Console– Visual Difference, Promotion and Version Mgmt. Lifecycle management is now in CMC: New Objects supported Categories based promotion is now supported. Server group promotion is supported however the servers are not promoted. LCM is now localized. • Job is copied • Job is migrated Update Source system of job when Overrides no longer job specific  Supports new improved BI platform Audit infrastructure There are 2 new features specifically for integrated deployments with BW: • SAP Authentication is now supported. • Integration with the SAP standar

LCMBIAR Overview - LCM Command Line Tool SAP BusinessObjects  Business Intelligence 4.0 Version 4.0 SP2 Fixpack 5 Allows to: Promote content between Development, Test, and Production SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 environments. Allows you to use scripting to automate the import of objects. Terms BIAR and LCMBIAR:   BIAR :(BI Archive) is a collection of any binaries associated with a BI object and its associated metadata, all materialized in a zip file. An LCMBIAR file is the same idea, but each object is stored in an individual BIAR. Considerations:  Lifecycle management tool is to promote objects from BI platform 4.x to BI platform 4.X version only.  Upgrades from a previous BO version to BI 4.0 must be done using the Upgrade management tool. To rollback a job you need to use the UI, not command line  LCM Command Line tool is not used when CTS+ is available. What can you do with LCM Cmd line tool?  Report developer creates LCM Job with cont

SAP NOTE 1634962 - BI4 - How to import or export a LifeCycle Manager BIAR file using command line utility If you need to export or import a Life Cycle Manager (LCM) BIAR in BI 4 using command line utility. Environment l SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform (BI) 4.0 l SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform (BI) 4.1 Follow these steps: 1. Create a Properties file: Start by creating a properties file (Example c:\lcm1.properties) as below. Note that the names of properties and lcmbiar files are not specific and can be anything. While the below examples are provided with Windows syntax, they are applicable to unix environments as well with minor changes to file path locations. Here is an example of a properties file to EXPORT to an lcmbiar file: exportLocation=C:/lcm1.lcmbiar action=export LCM_CMS=localhost:6400 LCM_userName=Administrator LCM_password=password LCM_authentication=secEnterprise Source_CMS=localhost:6400

Error ERR_WIS_30285 -The Web Intelligent server is running out of memory, your document has been closed. If the problem persists, contact your BusinessObjects administrator. (Error ERR_WIS_30285)  while refreshing a large Webi report. Envirnonement BO XI R3.1 SP 4 This error was erased while scheduling or refreshing  a large Webi report. The cause is connections  timed out. Resolution File Repository Servers:- Input Server: Maximum Idle Time : 60 Minutes (CMC-->servers-->Input File Repository Server)                                                 Output Server: Maximum Idle Time : 60 Minutes (CMC-->servers-->Output File Repository Server) Universe - Timeout parameter limit in the Universe - set this in Designer Open the designer > import the universe. Click File > Parameters, select the controls tab, increase the Limit execution time to 60 minutes. WebIntelligenceProcessingServer Connection Timeout - This is set in the CMC > Servers > WebInte

Error: Server not found or server may be down (FWM 01003) null Environment SAP BI 4.0 SP 5 First of all you can check if  your CMS is up an running from CMC. If the SIA is running, but not the CMS this usually means there is a problem with the connection to the CMS database. Reconfigure DSN for a normal connection, with username/password and retest. Read also related  SAP Notes:  1387464 - Error while logging to Central Management Console or Infoview "Error: Server domain:6410 not found or server may be down (FWM 01003) null" https://websmp230.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/sno/ui_entry/entry.htm?param=69765F6D6F64653D3030312669765F7361706E6F7465735F6E756D6265723D3133383734363426  1338496 - Error: Server xxx:6400 not found or server may be down (FWM 01003) null while login to Infoview or Central Management Console https://websmp230.sap-ag.de/sap(bD1lbiZjPTAwMQ==)/bc/bsp/sno/ui_entry/entry.htm?param=69765F6D6F64653D3030312669765F7361706E6F

CMC  BI 4.0 - Not able to Delete User  Environment  BI 4.0 SP5 After migrating from XI R3.1 SP 4 to BI 4.0 SP5  logging on CMC as Administrator and  right clickeing on user there is no Delete on the menu .  The remove user or group from user group icon is greyed out. The Workaround for this issue (same for deleting groups) You need to go on the property of the user (as you can see from the image below there are no rights related to this user)  so in order to delete it you must give 'full control' to the Administrator  After this operation it was possible to delete it. You can do this operation to 'user groups' in order to obtain a widespread result.

 CMS system database is overloaded, please try again. If the problem persists, please contact the system administrator  Environment BO XI R 3.1 SP4 Please follow these steps 1. Check the database connectivity  2. Check the Logfile(s)   If everything is right, restart the SIA agent. This issue usually indicates problem with CMS database and this might also occur if CMS table entry is corrupted.

SAP Mobile BI Server and the new  BI 4.1 New features CMC & Launchpad Integration: Allows Configuring Secury Policies via CMC ( Before you needed a config file in the application server now settings are in CMC) You can enable mobile documents through Launchpad properties; right click on the document to get mobile properties dialog, including “time to live”. Allows Configuring Categories for Content Management via CMC Ability to Mobile Enable and Management Document Properties via Launchpad Support for Auditing user actions from Mobile devices Enhancement to Logging Framework and Perfomance Improvements SAP BO MOBILE Connectivity Options Read aslo: http://businessobjectsbi4.blogspot.it/2013/03/sap-bi-mobile-security-concepts.html http://businessobjectsbi4.blogspot.it/2013/03/dashboards-on-businessobjects-mobile-bi.html http://businessobjectsbi4.blogspot.it/2012/09/sap-bi-mobile-guida-pratica.html

 HTTP 404 errors in Business Objects XI R 3.1 The HTTP 404 error may happen for one of the following reasons: 1. The requested page was deleted in error. Check the deployment folder of the web application to make sure that the requested page exists. 2. The web application is not properly configured. Try to access other pages in this web application. If there are other pages in this web application that are not accessible, then there is a problem with the web application configuration. Consult the web application deployment instructions to check that the configuration files are valid, or redeploy the web application. 3. A system setting is incorrect. For example, the memory limit was reached or an ODBC DSN was not correctly configured. As a result, an exception was thrown and the expected page was not generated. Check the web server log or the web application log for error or exception records. 4. An environment variable is not properly set. This environment variable can

Error Message: Your Web Intelligence session has reached timeout. Log out and log in again to Infoview (Error : WIS 30553)  EnvironmenT BO XI R 3.1 SP4 After getting this error message we have been not able to use the same session to create the reports successfully. Solutions The timeout parameter in web.xml is for Infoview web application. Can you try changing Web Intelligence Server Timeout properties from CMC. CMC->WebIntelligence Server ->Properties. More complex solution for JSP increase the application session-timeouts for the web.xmls for the three application locations as follows: Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps/WEB-INF/web.xml Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps\InfoViewApp/WEB-INF/web.xml Business Objects XI 31\Tomcat55\webapps\CmcAppActions/WEB-INF/web.xml 2. Increase the attribute value under to perhaps 60 in this example:    20 3. To modify the default session timeout value in the CMC, search for web.config in the folder: C

There are three options to recover a deleted folder depending  on what kind of backup you have done: 1. backup of the CMS database and File Store. 2. You created recently a BIAR file. 3. You have a Development/Test environment where you have this folder. Let's see the  Solution in case you have a back up of the CMS database. Follow the steps to recover deleted folder and sub-folders: 1. Copy the CMS database from the backup to your database server and point the CMS ODBC system DSN to it. 2. Copy the backed up file store to a Temp directory. 3. Change the path of input and output file repository servers in the CMC, for each server, to the Temp file store directory. 4. You will now be able to find the reports. Copy those reports to the BusinessObjects server's local disk, or create a BIAR file using the Import Wizard. 5. Point the ODBC system DSN back to the original database, and also change the paths on input file repository and output file repository se

Security rights  removed or missing rights in BI  4.0 Modes are enabled, all tools and panels are visible, but their use depends on the actual user’s rights. Removed from all clients: Queries: Enable Drill Mode and Extend scope of analysis -These rights are no longer managed. Interface: Ability to hide / show toolbars -The toolbar is replaced by toolboxes which are always visible. Interface: Enable toolbox and menu items - Entire toolboxes cannot be deactivated. All menu items are always visible.Menus are controlled by security right linked to the actions offered. Menu items are grayed when the user does not have sufficient priviledges to use those items. Interface: Left pane - Enable available objects, tables and charts -  The left pane items are always available  Interface: Left pane - Enable data summary - The data summary is always available Removed right in 4.0 Web Intelligence Web interface Enable HTML Report panel - This viewer and related security rights ha

It' is possible to duplicate a Business Objects Server from Central Management Console, when the server machine has enough RAM memory in order to support more servers then the standard number in order to improve Business Objects Suite performances. One of the server wich is useful to duplicate is the WebIntelligenceProcessingServer: log on CMC go in the servers page select the WebIntelligenceProcessingServer right click on this server and select 'Duplicate Server' After having create the second WebIntelligenceProcessingServer you need to Enable it and Start it To do so select the new server, right click and select 'Enable Server' the repeat the procedure in order to Start Server with the command 'Start Server' Please Note that you can repeat this procedure in order to duplicate every kind of server. Read also  this CMC in BI 4

In order to start and stop a service via command line within a windows environment, write the command line as follows: Starting : net start bobjcentralms Unlike stopping via command line: net stop bobjcentralms

Business Objects administrators' job In ordet to improve system performance, Business Objects administrators can  run load tests and also observe live/organic system performance over time. Infact the b etter way to know for certain the impact of any tuning change is to compare the system’s performance before and after the change. This fact present problems on live production systems because the use of the system constantly varies in load volume and the kind of work being done. Good     CMS  Parameters  Some Central Management Server (CMS) settings which given adequate hardware and database configurations, will almost always benefit all Business Objects XI systems. The first one: CMS Cache The cache is the first place you should focus. No CMS running on average server hardware will be harmed by pushing the memory cache parameter to the maximum and most systems will benefit. The only advise here is that if your system has limited memory (you will know by watching RAM u

In order to understand Business Objects XI R3.x session management is necessary to  introduce the key objects that the system uses.  There are 4 key objects to note when referring to Infoview and CMC session management: Logon Token – created by the application ( both InfoView and CMC) when the users first log into the system. The expiry for this token is eight hours. Configuring the token duration is not supported.  Configuring whether to use this token is optional (enabled by default (true)).            - When this token is used the user will be silently logged back on to the system for the lifetime of                    the token. Web Session (Http Session) – lifetime of the web session is defined in the web.xml of each web-app (InfoViewApp.war, InfoViewAppActions.war, PlatformServices.war, AR.war and so on). - The default time-out value for each web-app is 20 minutes. - It is strongly recommended that when updating the time-out value for 1 web-app that all other web-a

In the latest version Business Objects BI 4, CMC console isn't changed so much, but there are very interesting  new features: The first  useful  new feature is AUDITING, which is now available and usable directly from BI 4 Central Management Console. The plus is that all can be managed from one point, unlike in the previous Business Objects version, you had to manage auditing parameters on each Server. Youcan see  the new  Auditing page in the following images: Another interesting new feature is MONITORING,  you can see the following related pages: One more feature is Visual Difference: Last new feature is WEB SERVICE QUERY page: See Also: Sap BO dashboards 4.0 New features