Asug Ohio v3

The Complete Guide to Reporting Tools
in SAP NetWeaver & the BusinessObjects

Portfolio - with performance options
Bjarne Berg
Director SAP BI
Real Experience. Real Advantage.
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This is a comprehensive guide to SAP NetWeaver Business
Intelligence presentation tools
We will take an overview tour of the Analysis Process Designer
(APD), SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC), Web Application
Designer (WAD), Report Designer, Web publishing, Java Server
pages (JSP) and the new SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx
Analyzer.
We will look at the strengths and limitations of each tool and see how
they can be used independently or collectively in a SAP BI
environment.
Leave this session with a good understanding of how to use SAP
NetWeaver BI tools to make your system more flexible and adaptive
to the needs of end users.

Learning Points
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Agenda
The SAP BI Tool Revolution
SAP NetWeaver BI Query Designer & BEx Analyzer
Analysis Process Designer (APD),
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (VC)
Web Application Designer (WAD)
Report Designer
Web publishing
Java Server pages (JSP) and the old Business Server Pages (BSP)
The BOBJ Roadmap for front-end tools
Empowering the users a mind shift
Who Should get access
Wrap-up
Bonus material: All SAP BOBJ tools
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The SAP BI Core Toolset
SAP BI is an
enterprise-wide
comprehensive
decision support (DSS)
system for analytical
needs of an enterprise.

BI can also support
some degree of
operational reporting

The SAP BI tool set has many presentation
tools and options for companies to leverage.
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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BEx Query Designer gets a facelift in BI 7.x
The 3.5x BEx
Query Designer
The NWBI 7.0 BEx
Query Designer
The new 7.x Query designer was
totally re-developed in MS-Visual
Basic .NET

This new property pane makes it
easier to format and control displays
than in the past.
BEx Ad-Hoc Query
Designer functionality is
replaced by BEx Web
Analyzer in BI 7.0
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BEx Analyzer (Excel Workbooks)
1. BEx Workbooks is Excel 'on steroids'.

2. BW queries can be opened in Excel

3. Queries can be refreshed
and standard Excel functions can
be used

This is a great tool for financial
analysts and power users.
To use this tool you
need BEx installed
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BEx web Analyzer integrates Excel
The Excel integration in the
BEx analyzer is far better.

Unlike the old days of
dynamic HTML, you can
now use the BEx analyzer
more like a real application
without refreshing the whole
page every time you click on
something (this is due to the
Java component in BI 7.0)

Source: SAP AG, 2008
Important: BEx browser goes
away in SAP BI 7.0 (so does
BEx Download Scheduler)

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BEx Analyzer Design Mode
1. Application building in Excel (similar to WAD)
2. New options for queries with two structures
3. Excel formulas allow access to any cell of the result set
4. Excel formatting options can be fully leveraged for BEx
workbooks (e.g., blank lines, fonts, etc.)
5. Combining Excel formulas and Excel formatting allows the
design of complex formatted workbooks
6. Integration of Business Planning is available
To use this tool you
need BEx installed
Source: SAP, Zane Connally 2008
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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Creating new data inside SAP BI
In Data warehousing v2.0 (Bill Immons new terminology), we
are using BI applications to create new data that needs to be
fed to the data warehouse, and /or the transactional system

Tools are now available to build association data sets that
creates updates based on BI findings (i.e. customer
segmentation, risk, profitability flagging etc).

Images: Bhanu Gupta, ASUG 2005 Illinois chapter
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Complex scenarios can be
built for structured analysis
such as risk modeling,
customer segmentation,
market basket analysis,
predictive modeling and
much more
Image: SAP Image: SAP
APD Analysis Process Designer and data mining
New data based on the
findings can be loaded back into
data targets and used by others
for reporting i.e. CRM analysis.
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Agenda
Analysis Process Designer (APD)
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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Visual Composer
A Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data. It is a browser-based
modeling and design tool for rapid application development & prototyping
in a code-free development environment.
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Visual Composer for Complex cockpits
Modeling of BI applications using the BI kit of the Visual Composer
allows business users to create analytical content for SAP portal. It
offers the integration with BI infoproviders, views, BEx web
applications, PDF and more via WEB API as access to
other data
sources such
as OLAP and
relational data
sources) via
Java
connectors
Image source: Cubeserv
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Visual Composer Data Methods
Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including
SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model
Different options available for data access include:
BI Extension Kit
Remote Function Call (RFC)
Web services
BI Extension Kit allows access
to the following DataSources
SAP NetWeaver 2004 BI
(BW 3.5 Support Package 14)
SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0
JDBC
XMLA
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Visual Composer is Easy for Power Users to Learn
Visual Composer is a power user tool that is simple to learn
for someone with a little bit of technical background (i.e.
controllers, report writers, analysts).

Source: SAP
Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages
No coding required to
create great-looking
Web-based cockpits

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The future of Visual Composer
Composition Environment including Visual
Composer continues to be the go-to product for
creating composite applications (SAP, 2008)
Source: SAP, July 2008
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)
OLAP Processor
BEx Web Application Designer
BEx Analyzer/
Query Designer
Web Service
Charting Engine
Web Browser
HTLM Templates
InfoProvider
WAD is an intuitive tool
to build powerful web
applications and to
interact with portals and
custom templates.

BW queries can be
manipulated in WAD for
better display
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New Features of SAP NetWeaver SAP BI 7.0 Web AD
Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (in SAP BI 7.0 Support
Package Stack 7)
Drag and drop using Analysis item
New chart types (heat map, Gantt, milestone trend analysis)
Export BI Web applications in PDF format
Command Wizard for generating Web API commands
Integration with SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 BEx Report Designer
for formatted reports

NEW: User can change the XHTML
source code of any web template
either directly, or the ABAP program
RS_TEMPLATE_MAINTAIN_70, or
in any external XHTML editor.
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Command Wizard and JavaScript
You can use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript
code for the Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications

[
Source: SAP 20009
Product Directions for BI Solutions

And Much
More
Enterprise Data
Warehousing
& BI Platform
Advanced
Analysis
Enterprise
Reporting
Dashboards,
Visualization
Ad-hoc
Query &
Reporting
SAP BEx Analyzer
SAP BEx Analyzer
Voyager
Voyager
Web App Designer
Web App Designer
Predictive
Predictive
Report Designer
Report Designer
Web Intelligence
Web Intelligence
Crystal Reports
Crystal Reports
Xcelsius
Xcelsius
BI Widgets
BI Widgets
Web Services
Web Services
Polestar
Polestar
Mobile BI
Mobile BI
BusinessObjects Enterprise
BusinessObjects Enterprise SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA
SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA
[
Source: SAP 20009
Product Directions for BI Solutions

Enterprise Data
Warehousing
& BI Platform
Advanced
Analysis
Enterprise
Reporting
Dashboards,
Visualization
Ad-hoc
Query &
Reporting
SAP BEx Analyzer
SAP BEx Analyzer
Voyager
Voyager
Web App Designer
Web App Designer
Predictive
Predictive
Report Designer
Report Designer
Web Intelligence
Web Intelligence
Crystal Reports
Crystal Reports
Xcelsius
Xcelsius
BI Widgets
BI Widgets
Web Services
Web Services
And Much
More
Polestar
Polestar
Mobile BI
Mobile BI
BusinessObjects Enterprise
BusinessObjects Enterprise SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA
SAP NetWeaver BW and BWA
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BI Web Application Designer Roadmap
InfoView /SAP NetWeaver Portal
SAP BOE
Platform
SAP NW BW
BEx Web
Templates
Pioneer Web
Server
Workspace
PIO Web
Tab
BEx Web
Tab

BI Consumer Services
BEx Queries/
InfoProviders
Pioneer Web Client
BEx Web
App
Designer
SAP BOE
Platform
Pioneer Web Server
Workspace
PIO Web
Tab
BEx Web
Tab

BI Consumer Services
Pioneer Web Client
Pioneer Designer/ SDK
SAP NW BW
BEx Web
Templates
BEx Queries/
InfoProviders
BEx Web
App
Designer
Migration
options via
Pioneer SDK

InfoView /SAP NetWeaver Portal
planned 2010 future
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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The BEx Report Designer
This new tool was created
to simplify the formatting
of reports and fix many of
the printing issues in
previous versions of BW.

Source: SAP AG
We now get color control, header-footer control and many new features such
as location control of cells and integration of pictures, charts and fixed text.
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BEx Report Designer is new in BI 7.0
Customizable font styles
(i.e. bold, italic), colors, etc.
Group-level changes with
individual formatting
Layout options, e.g.: Height
of rows, width of columns
Multi-line column headers
Flexible field positioning
Merging cells
Support for hierarchies
Rules for the presentation of
special characteristic values
Integration of text, pictures,
and charts
Header & footer for reports
News: BEx Report Designer 7.1, (last release
in 2008) will be available under maximum
maintenance until 2016 and will be replaced
with the Crystal Base product.
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Crystal Report is still available (also in SAP BW 3.x)
With BW you get access to Crystal reports. In fact you have many pre-
developed reports that comes with SAP-BW. Currently, you can modify, or
develop and deploy a few Crystal reports without additional licensing cost.
Crystal is a great tool for batch reporting of "pixel controlled' formatted
reports.

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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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Web Cockpits in the Portal
You can integrate queries
and Web applications
into the portal through
publishing, broadcasting,
or Web calls

The portal can either
receive designed pages
passively or actively
create communities, Web
pages, collaboration
rooms, or cockpits
Broadcasting
Publishing
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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BI Java SDK-Based Applications in SAP BI 7.x
BI Java SDK can be used for custom applications based on
SAP BI and non-SAP data.
BI Java SDK provides access to relational and OLAP data
sources using JDBC, XMLA, ODBO etc.
Access to 200+ data sources using the JDBC drivers.
Source: SAP AG, 2008
Java programmers will
recognize the standard
development kit's (SDK)
main libraries such as
the abstract windowing
toolkit (AWT) and the
GUI-oriented Swing
object library as well
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BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits (cont.)
SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio can develop BI Java SDK-
based applications
Can use along with SAP Java Web Dynpro
Interested developers
should familiarize
themselves with SAP
NetWeaver
Developer Studio
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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SAPs Premium Offerings
SAP Acquired Business Objects in 2007/2008 and is working
on integrating BOBJ into the core SAP BI offerings.
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BOBJ capabilities Dashboards and Reports
Crystal Reports for pixel formatted reports
has been available with SAP BI/BW since
2002. This tool can be integrated into your
tool portfolio using existing SAP NetWeaver
BI queries

(NOTE: Crystal & Crystal Base will be the core tools for
formatted reports starting 2010)
Dashboards can be built using
Xcelsius.
Xcelsius+ will be launched in 2009,
and will be the flagship product for
data visualization & dashboards
Source SAP AG,
2009
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BOBJ capabilities Analysis, Ad-hoc & Widgets
The Web Intelligence tool from
BOBJ is a tool for ad-hoc web based
reporting, query & analysis.
It is intended for end users and can
leverage queries to both relational
and OLAP sources.
It will be the core offering for ad-hoc
end user analysis starting 2009.
With the current offering of BOBJ you
can also use Desktop Widgets to place
BI content direct onto a PC desktop
and monitor reports and KPIs.
Source SAP AG, June 2008
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New Tools Roadmap
Source SAP
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The Move towards Pioneer
Pioneer (for 1
st
Quarter 2010 release)
provides a superset of the capabilities in BEx
Analyzer (Excel), BEx Analyzer (Web), and
Business Objects Voyager.

Voyager customers migrate to Pioneer.

BEx Analyzer & BEx Web Analyzer
customers migrate to Pioneer. (Note: BEx is
planned to go into regular maintenance)
Web
based
Excel
based
Source SAP, April, 2009
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What can be Done in 2009- Implementations
Suggestion Tool Purpose
Visual Composer Visualization
Web Intelligence Ad-hoc
BI Widgets / BO Universe Desktop Intelligence
Crystal Report Formatted reports
BPC Consolidation & Planning
BI Accellerator In memory performance
Candidates for
Implementations in 2009
Visual
Composer
Widgets
BI Accelerator
Web Intelligence
(webi)
[
The two types of Universes
There are
currently 2 ways
to get at the SAP
BI data.

If you implement
this year, you
need to make
conscious
decisions about
which method
you select. There
are pros and cons
of each
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[
Overview: Options for Universe-Based Access to BW 7.0
BW

Data Federator
RDBMS
Analytic Engine
OLAP BAPI ODBO XMLA
Universes
QT
ODA
SQL Access MDX Access
WebI
Xcelsius
QaaWS
BIA
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Overview: Options for Universe-Based Access to BW 7.01
BW

DF Fascade
Data Federator
RDBMS
Analytic Engine
OLAP BAPI ODBO XMLA
Universes
QT
ODA
SQL Access MDX Access
WebI
Xcelsius
QaaWS
BWA
[
Comparison
BW Server Feature MDX SQL
BW Hierarchies

Restricted and Calculated Key Figures

Security

BW Variables

Currency and Unit Conversion

Exceptions, Conditions

SUM, MIN, MAX Aggregations

AVG, COUNT, COUNT DISTINCT, Aggregations

OLAP Cache

Navigational Attributes

Mass Data Enabled

Federation (e.g. BW RDBMS, BW BW)

= fully supported
= limited support / workaround
[
What can be Done in 2009- Take a Look at
Polestar is an interesting
technology that companies
may start a prototype with
and see how it can help
them access BI data from a
variety of sources (NW and
others)

Xcelsius
Polestar
Xcelcius Dashboards
Polestar Search engine
Pioneer BEx web & Excel
Worth a Prototype
Keep an Eye on, but wait
until the new release
[
What can be Done in 2009- Prototype
Consider
building a
Xcelsius
Prototype
to get used
to really
interactive
dashboards
and what-if
analysis.
Xcelsius
Image source: Adobe, 2009
Xcelcius Dashboards
Worth a Prototype
[
What can be Done in 2009- Keep doing
There are many classical SAP
NetWeaver tools that should still
be used by companies that are
planning go-lives in 2009.

Integrated planning is still supported.
Pioneer is still 12 months away
WAD will continue to be the development
environment for 2009.
Web Application Designer Web development
BEx Web Web reporting
BEx Excel Excel reporting
Analysis Process Designer Structured Analysis
Integrated Planning Planning
Keep doing for a while longer
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Stop As soon as possible
If you need Formatted Reports in 2009, you should
seriously consider Crystal Reports. The current
roadmap calls for moving Report Designer into regular
maintenance at the end of 2009, and stop further
development of this tool.

Looking forward to Xcelsius and Pioneer, it may be
advisable to limit further custom development in JSP
unless it is not intended to be migrated at a future date.
Report Designer Formatted reports
Custom JSP pages Custom applications
Stop when possible
[ Training SAP Business Objects for SAP NetWeaver BW
future
New 2 day course offering from SAP Education for training
on Business Objects integration with SAP NetWeaver BW
Two dates are currently scheduled in June for virtual
course delivery
June 1 2, 2009
June 25 26, 2009
See the following link to the Course Description for more
detailed information on the content covered
http://www.sap.com/usa/services/education/usacourse.
epx?context=%5b%5b|SAPBO||1|091|US|%5d%5d|
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing

Wrap-up
[
Why BI-A? Disk speed is growing slower than other HW
components
In-memory data
stores

Multi-channel
UI, high event
volume, cross
industry value
chains

Application-
aware and
intelligent data
management
Disk based data
storage

Simple
consumption of
apps (Fat client
UI, EDI)

General-
purpose,
application-
agnostic
database
1990 2009
Architectural Drivers
Improvement 2009 1990
2
16

Addressable
Memory
425x
8.51
MB/$
0.02
MB/$
Memory
166x
8.30
MIPS/$
0.05

MIPS/$
CPU
Technology Drivers
400
MBPS
5
MBPS
Disk
Data Transfer

80x
100 x
10
Gbps
100
Mbps
Network
Speed
2
64
2
48
x
Source: 1990 numbers SAP AG
2009 numbers Dr. Berg
Physical hard drive speeds only grew by 80 times since 1990.
All other hardware components grew faster.
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BI Accelerator Works by Indexing InfoCubes in Hardware memory
BI Accelerator has been
simple to install and operate
for established SAP BI
teams

You use process chains to
maintain the BI-A engine
after each data load
IBM, Sun, HP & Fujitsu have standard
solutions ranging from $32K to $300K+
that can be installed and tested in as
little as 2-4 weeks (+SAP license fees)
32 GB Blades are
certified by SAP
SAP
BW
Any
tool
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BI Analytical Engines Query executing priorities
Query Execution
Without BI Accelerator
Query Execution
With BI Accelerator
Information Broadcasting /
Precalculation
Query Cache
Aggregates
InfoProvider
Information Broadcasting /
Precalculation
Query Cache
SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator
Aggregates can be replaced with BI-A, while
the memory cache is still useful.
[
BIA Currently reads data from
InfoCubes. DSOs & InfoObjects
are still read from base/physical
tables (even when the InfoObject
is indexed as part of master data).
Performance is Near-Linear: Benchmarks

BIAs strength resides in its
near-linear scalability

Performance is measured in
terms of:
1. BI-A index creation time
2. Multi-user throughput per hour
3. Average report response time
4. Average number of records
touched by each report
[
Many companies, have spent 2-5 days in
BIA training (total for 1-2 administrators)
and a work through a single interface:
RSDDBIAMON (Checks available at: RSRV)
Most customers have found BIA Admin to be minimal
The training & admin to run
BI Accelerator has proven to
be minimal. Training is
included in the SAP courses:
BW310, BW360 and in the
online course BW361

In the past, SAP has also offered a 2 day workshop
called BI Upgrade & Accelerator (WNABIA)
[
Once you exceed a few hundred
critical users and/or 3-4 TB of data you
should seriously consider SAP BIA
BIA is becoming mainstream
BIA is no longer
something exotic.

Many of the large BI
systems have already
implemented BIA and
many more projects are
under way in Europe
and in the Americas.
Some of SAP reference clients
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Who gets to do what?
The major decision for a SAP BI driven enterprise is to
determine who gets access to each tool.
There is often a temptation for the IT community of wanting
to keep the tools under their domain That is a mistake
The IT community should actively work with the power and
casual users to improve human capabilities and thereby
teach them to become more productive employees.

Chinese Proverb
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Agenda
Report Designer
Web publishing
Wrap-up
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Resources
COMERIT (Presentations, guides and accelerators)
www.comeritinc.com

SAP Documents - Interfaces for Enterprise Reporting, Query,
and Analysis
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/docs/libr
ary/uuid/f52e9cc1-0d01-0010-d88b-d808b69391a4

SAP Business Intelligence (BI) by Norbert Egger, Jean-Marie
Fiechter, Sebastian Kramer, Ralf-Patrick Sawicki, and Stephan
Weber.
Galio Press - Hardcover, 653 pages, ISBN 978-1-59229-
082-6
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Key Learnings
Visual Composer Visualization
Web Intelligence Ad-hoc
BI Widgets / BO Universe Desktop Intelligence
Crystal Report Formatted reports
BPC Consolidation & Planning
BI Accellerator In memory performance
Xcelcius Dashboards
Web Application Designer Web development
BEx Web Web reporting
BEx Excel Excel reporting
Analysis Process Designer Structured Analysis
Integrated Planning Planning
Report Designer Formatted reports
Custom JSP pages Custom applications
Candidates for
Implementations in 2009
Worth a Prototype
Stop when possible
Keep doing for a while longer
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Questions and Answers
How to contact me:

Dr. Bjarne Berg
bberg@comerit.net
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Bonus Material The total BOBJ toolset
Source: SAP March, 2009
This Bonus Material Include
all SAP BOBJ tools, not just
tools for the SAP market
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Source: SAP
March, 2009
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The Complete Guide to Reporting Tools

in SAP NetWeaver & the BusinessObjects

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