BusinessObjects and SAP - Installation and Configuration Part 1 of 4

[IngoH]

So I am back from the SAP TechED in Vegas and a lot of people asked us how they could create such a great Xcelsius visualization like Donald MacCormick did during the keynote of John Schwarz.

So here I will now - day-by-day -  explain what you would have to install and configure and how you then can leverage the software to create such a great dashboard in a very simple way on top of your SAP system.

First of all we need the software and for our purposes we will use the following components:

• BusinessObjects Edge Series XI Release 3.0
• Crystal Reports 2008
• Xcelsius Enterprise 2008
• Live Office XI Release 3.0
• Integration Kit for SAP Solutions XI Release 3.0
• SAP GUI
• SAP Java Connector
• SAP Transports (part of the Integration Kit for SAP Solutions)

You should be able to download the software either via SDN (Download area) or you might already have access to the software via service marketplace (Software Distribution Center > Installations  and Upgrades > BusinessObjects packages and products).

In this blog I will focus on the installation part of the software and in the next blog I will explain the configuration of the components. I will use a blank VMWare with Windows 2003 Server to create a system which will have the client components on the server components on a single VMWare.

BusinessObjects Edge Series

I start with the installation of BusinessObjects Edge. After calling the setup I am asked to select the language of the installation routine (not the language for the installed software).

   

I am selecting English and continue.

In the next step I accept the license agreement...

...And will then provide the license key for the software.

 In the next step I can now select the Language Packs for BusinessObjects Edge allowing me to deploy multiple languages of the software in a single step.

After selecting English as Language Pack, I can provide the folder for the software and I can select which database server I want to select to host the system database (a detailed list of supported databases is available in the platform matrix).

 

Then I can select the port for the Central Management Server and provide a password that will be set for the administrative account as part of the installation process.

 

... and I can then configure the port for the Server Intelligence Agent...

 

... and in the next step configure the password for - in my case - the MySQL database that will be deployed.

 

Now I select the Application Server and for my purposes I am selecting Tomcat as application Server (a list of supported Application Server can be found in the platform matrix).

After this the software will get installed as selected and depending on the hardware you will get the following screen after a couple of minutes.

 

I am restarting my system and continue the installation afterwards. The installation will continue in Part 2 of this blog series.