SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand

DISYS REV - SAP BI Accelerator tool

disys india — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:43:48 GMT

DISYS Announces Launch of SAP Business Intelligence Accelerator Tool, REV

DISYS releases a SAP BI Accelerator tool providing faster analysis and organization of data

Mclean, VA – April 23th – Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC (DISYS), a leading global IT solutions firm, has announced the launch of REV, their newly developed BI Accelerator tool made for SAP. REV joins DISYS’ recently released cloud enablement tool, Sirro, as the latest innovation from DISYS’ research and development arm, DISYS Labs.

REV efficiently analyzes the inventory of data to detect redundant and obsolete objects in the SAP Business Intelligence landscape. By leveraging this accelerator tool, a higher degree of quality and data integrity can be achieved when upgrading and consolidating objects. REV provides DISYS client’s faster access to relevant information, increasing the overall SAP BI system performance and enabling clients to make informed strategic decisions. DISYS BI consultants will utilize this accelerator tool to better harmonize data across multiple platforms, streamlining processes for the customer.

Ahmar Abbas, DISYS’ Vice President of Global Services, commented on REV “As we continue to innovate our services and expand DISYS Labs, REV provides our clients with a unique offering as it is a customized program built to maintain SAP BI applications that can automate processes required to manage the BI landscape. Our clients will benefit from optimized knowledge transition during BI support take over and identify new insight for future projects.”

Shanthi Mani, DISYS SAP Practice Manager stated, “REV allows the BI Application Support team to significantly save time on manual analysis. DISYS will be able to administer this tool for our SAP BI customers who have implemented SAP BI systems over the years and achieve the benefits of accelerated technical analysis.”

DISYS REV has been made available to DISYS clients and the public as of its release on April 23th. For more information, visit www.disys.com/about-us/rev/ or contact your DISYS Sales Representatives.

View the latest REV demo.

About Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC (DISYS)

DISYS is an ISO 9001:2008-certified IT solutions company serving Fortune 500 and other global-scale enterprises worldwide. DISYS delivers strategic value by understanding and responding to a client’s environment, problems, and challenges. Incorporated in 1994 as a certified Minority Business Enterprise, DISYS has nearly doubled in revenues over the past three years, and currently ranks as the second-fastest growing company in the staffing industry among companies with revenues exceeding $100 million. DISYS is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, with offices and delivery locations worldwide. To learn more about DISYS, visit www.disys.com.

Creating a quick mobile BI demonstration

Nicholas Williams — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:15:08 GMT

For many companies mobile BI has so many options that they don't know where to start (and so they don't start).

In this blog I will show you how you can quickly (in a few hours) create a good looking mobile solution that can be used to show executives the sort of solutions that can be provided with mobile BI.

What you will need (The ingredients).

SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand http://bi.ondemand.com/http://bi.ondemand.com/

SAP Interactive Analysis https://www.sap.com/campaign/2010_curr_sap_crystal_interactive_analysis/

SAP BusinessObjects Mobile (from the iTunes store. Has both an iPad and iPhone version. Also available on Android)

Some relevant business data in an excel spreadsheet.

Note: This demo will be using the iTunes version of the software.

The steps.

Start by creating a BuisnessObjects BI OnDemand account (if you don't already have one).

Next download SAP Interactive Analysis (A 30 day free trial is available).

Install SAP BusinessObjects Mobile on your chosen device.

Select your data and load it into an excel spreadsheet. The data you choose should be relevant to your target audience, especially if you are trying to sell the concept to the decision makers in your organization. Keep the data reasonably simple as smart phones have only a small area for displaying your data and you don't want the screen to look busy.

Now save your spreadsheet as a CSV (Sap Interactive Analysis won't work with .xlsx files).

For this demo I have chosen monthly closing stock price values for two Australian mining companies. My spreadsheet therefore has 3 columns (Date/BHP share price/Rio Tinto share price). For your demo you might like to include Date/Budget/Actual

Run the Interactive analysis program. You will now see a blank canvas with 10 options in the menu bar.Select file, new and you will now see a "New Document" window. Select Other data source then press "Next>>".

From the "Select a data source" window you will need to use the "Browse" button to find and select your file.

From here just press next unless you specifically need to change something (such as the data separator or First row contains column names).

Next you will see a "Create Query" Window. Here you can change the field names, and define the fields as either Dimensions , Details or Measures. Make sure your field names reflect the data in each column. You will also want to keep the names as short as possible so that they fit on the mobile device. When you have finished press "RunQuery" at the top right of the window.

You Should now see the main report design screen. Somewhere around the middle you will see your data presented in columns along with a report title. Because the final destination for this report is a mobile device I select the report title and delete it.

Note: The next step can be skipped if you don't want to create new variables. Simply browse down to the section "Creating a Graph".

For ease of use on the final report (in this example) I will show how to create new calculated columns. I am doing this to reduce the date to CCYY/MM instead of the full date stamp shown above.

Select the "Data" menu option at the top of the screen then select "Variables". You should now see the "Variable Editor" window.

I then use the following formulas to create my required CCYY/MM variable. The square brackets [ ] indicate a variable name.

YearNum	=Year([Date])
MonthNum	=MonthNumberOfYear([Date])
YYYYMM	=([YearNum]*100) + [MonthNum]

After you define each variable press OK. This will take you back to the main report editor. To add the second and third variables repeat the above steps.

Now select the first column of your report. Right click it and select remove column. You should now have a 2 column, 1row report.

To insert the new YYYY/MM date right click the first column and select "Insert column to the left.

You will now have an empty column. From the "Data" tab on the left drag the YYYYMM field and drop it on the blue column heading of your report. You will now have a screen similar to the one below.

To format the date simply right click the first date and select "Format Number". Select "Number" then use the entries from the screen below.

You will now have a nicely formated date and we can now create our graph.

Creating a Graph

Right click in the middle of your table and select "Turn To". You will now have a choice of various styles of Tables and graphs. For this example I will select a simple line graph. Once you select your required style press "OK".

I now have what looks like a pretty ordinary chart. Ignore the temptation to resize or modify the report as I have found from experience that this can result in data that will not display on your mobile device! Once it reaches your device the data will be re rendered and will be much more presentable.

You now need to save your report. From the "File" menu select "Save as". Choose "Web Intelligence Document (.WID)". In this case I will call the report "SCNBlog.wid" and I will save it to my desktop. If you plan to create a lot of these reports then youu will probably want to collect them all in a specific folder.

You can now close the SAP Interactive Analysis program.

SAP Business Objects BI OnDemand

Start your web browser and head over to SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand http://bi.ondemand.com/http://bi.ondemand.com/

Under your "My Stuff" folder select the "Reports Folder". If your a new user this will be empty.

Select the green "Add New" button at the top right and choose "Upload Report".

On the left choose "Web Intelligence Reports" then on the right you will need to brose to your .wid file and enter a name for your report. Now press the "Add Report" button.

All you need to do now is right click the report (in your "Reports" folder), and select "Enable Mobile Access". Your report is now ready to be viewed on your mobile device.

Access from your mobile device.

From your device start the SAP BI mobile app.

Select settings then in the "Choose a Connection" section select "BI OnDemand".

The Connection Details will already be loaded so move down to the "Authentication Details" section.

Enter your User Name for your BI OnDemand account and if desired you can also enter and save your password (handy if you don't want to time out during a presentation).

Now press done (Top right).

When asked "Do you want to connect to BI OnDemand Connection?" press "Yes"

Once you have logged in select the "Server button" on the top left of your screen. This will load up a list of all the reports available for you to select. Select your report and it will download to your device.

You now have your first mobile BI report ready to demonstrate and all within a couple of hours.

The report below was emailed from BI on demand using my iphone.

If you have any questions about this blog feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

I would like to thank all of those who have encouraged me on this my first blog.

I would especially like to thank Tony de Thomasis for running a great class (BCO6181 - ERP Applications) at Vic Uni.

定時監控資訊，並建立異常提醒機制

Ellie Tsai — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:47:06 GMT

　　如果你是品管部的主管，產品品質的好壞會是主管甚至是高層主管重視的支項。要如何及時掌握現下的品質狀況呢?我們可以對有關產品良率的報表設定排程，定期地看報表的數字。但是!假使工廠很大，每小時可產出上萬個零件，如果要能及時掌握零件品質，我們可以對報表設定每一小時做一次排程，這樣我們便能即時掌握現下零件的品質了!這時候是否有人會想…那我每天接收那些報表，我光看報表就都不用做其他事啦?! 難道不能設一個門檻，當良率低於門檻的時候再收到通知嗎?當然是可以的!此篇文章會教大家如何去去建立一張當問題發生時會通知的報表。

今天要做的是一張具警示效果的Crystal Report，Crystal Report提供很多種資料來源供我們使用。

其中，我們會把一些常用常看的欄位，經整理並且編譯到語意層當中，因此語意層中的每個物件皆具有其商業意義。每個類別都會擺放著屬於該類別相關的物件，所以在製作報表時我們可以比較直覺的選擇我們要看的欄位，因此今天我們以語意層作為我們的資料來源。

在選擇完我們要看的物件，並且設好條件後我們就可以開始製作我們要看的資料囉。

我們要做的是跟產品良率有關的報表，假設良率低於99%的時候，我希望可以收到mail通知，那該怎麼做呢? 其實Crystal Report有個警示的功能設定，我們只需要設定一個警示條件，當產品良率低於99%的時候就會觸發這個警示，如下圖。啟用這個警示知後，我們便可將報表發佈到CMS上。

當報表發佈到CMS上後我們便可對報表設定排程，在此我們需先進到中央管理主控台中，找到該張報表並對此設定排程，設好遞迴後我們到警示通知的選項，啟用警示通知。當警示通知啟用後，當良率低於99%時，報表中的警訊會觸發，而警訊被觸發後，會因為我們勾選的啟用警示通知而收到Mail。

這樣的報表設定是否簡單又容易呢?不但能省去無時無刻看報表的時間，且當有突發狀況時，又能在第一時間內收到消息，即時掌握資訊。

Quick, Simple Experience with BI OnDemand

Tammy Powlas — Sun, 27 May 2012 12:48:47 GMT

This great blog by Jelvie Grech reminded me that while I have tried BI OnDemand, I haven't shared my experiences with it. I have talked about it in presentations at ASUG and BI 2012. Here is something you might consider trying:

Step 1: Set up an account in BI OnDemand at https://bi.ondemand.com/session/new

Alternatively, you can use your StreamWorks ID

Step 2: Upload a Crystal Report (that already has data saved with it)

Step 3: Add Report

Step 4: View report

So what is the benefit as you could otherwise view in this in a free Crystal viewer? Well, you can also see the Crystal Report on the iPad or iPhone as well.

Step 5: Download BusinessObjects Explorer to iPad or iPhone

Step 6: View report on your iPad or iPhone

If you wanted someone else to view the report on their iPad or iPhone, then you could "Share" the report with them on BI On Demand.

In February, at BI2012, I was amazed that a couple of attendees did this during my session. I am sure there are other ways of accomplishing the same thing, but this is one way I have used.

Tammy

Create a Graph and Update Dataset in BI OnDemand

Jelvie Grech — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:12:02 GMT

I work as a Business Analyst in the Safety and Workers Compensation department of a global logistics company. One of my duties is to prepare regular reports for different parts of the business to show how they are performing against their safety targets and provide data to help prevent against the re-occurrence of incidents. Every day at work, I would get the same request for information. People from all parts of the business would require graphs showing injury data, comparisons of motor vehicle accident data in the last few years and data specifically for a particular business unit. I would spend my time uploading data and creating queries in Microsoft Access for every request. Most of these queries use the same data that is updated every month. I’d have to create a graph for each query as a report in Microsoft Access or copy and paste the graphs in an Excel or PowerPoint document, then email it to those requesting them. Sometimes, the same people from different business units request the same information and I would do a routine email out to them every month.

There must be a better way.

I had heard of BI OnDemand very briefly in a lecture for the subject BCO6603 - ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS at Victoria University, but never had a chance to explore it further. The lecturer, Paul Hawking (SAP Mentor), demonstrated just how easy it was to display graphs on his phone. He said all you need to do is upload your data and select the display options and the type of chart you want and it will create it for you. I thought, that would be a great idea to use for work but left it at that.

One of my subjects this semester is BCO6181 – ERP Applications, where the lecturer, Tony De Thomasis (SAP Mentor) told us about Cloud offerings. He asked what we were interested in and I told him that I worked with data and created reports and dashboards for the company I work for. He told me to bring a sample of data and he would show me how to upload them into BI OnDemand and create graphs. The next lesson, I brought a spreadsheet with data and had a look at what BI OnDemand could do with it. I was impressed. When we were asked to prepare a 6-minute hands-on presentation about something we learnt in the subject, I decided it would be a great opportunity to do a demonstration on how to create graphs, add them to the dashboard and update data in BI OnDemand. I found it so easy to use and can see the potential to have it as a tool at work. I can use

it to create graphs for specific business units and the sharing function will allow me to invite authorised members of those business units to either view or edit the dataset, visualisations and dashboard.

Here is a video I created based on the presentation I did in class:

It will be very exciting to develop a system where those who request graphs from me can log in to BI OnDemand and serve themselves to what they need. As seen in the video, it is very quick and easy to use. This is something that I have never seen at work before and I am very excited to be one of the first to test it. I hope those who I will be sharing it with, will embrace it as much as I have and find it as
useful. It was great to take something from the classroom and be able to apply it straight away in the workplace.

如何利用BO工具達成動態分組(Custom Grouping)

Ellie Tsai — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:33:02 GMT

導論

當您擁有非常豐富的客戶資訊，要如何將這些資訊分類轉化成商業助益呢?而分類方式眾多且繁雜，有沒有一種分類手法能最完善且有效率的幫助我們進行分類呢？　　公司為了讓顧客持續回流，提供禮卷給消費總額達消費總體前20%的顧客，而前10%的顧客除了提供禮卷外，本公司將對這些顧客視為VIP潛客，並為這些顧客提供一個餐會以便能更進一步了解他們潛在的需求。　　公司規模逐漸擴大，為了針對每種不同的客群提供不同的服務，公司將對這些顧客進行分類，然而分類細項達數百種，這又要怎麼分類呢？　　老闆說，現在顧客類型以表定完成，除了行銷部門可對這些顧客做分析之外，業務部也該對這些顧客有一定的了解，那這樣的顧客分類應該要在哪裡就開始進行呢？　　談到Custom Grouping，相信大家都有分類的經驗。但是！運用什麼樣的分類手法是最快又合適的呢？

應用手法

分類的手法其實有很多種，我們可以在資料庫的某一張表格新增一個欄位來記錄我們所需要的分類，也可以利用BO工具─Designer來設計一個物件存放我們需要的分類，甚至我們也能利用BO工具─InfoView直接新增一個變數來達到我們的需求。方法很多種，但並不是每一種需求都適用於同一種方法，因此我們應該隨著需求的不同改變我們的應用手法。以下我將透過幾個範例來闡述不同的情境其合適的應用的手法。

行銷部為了維繫客勤，為了為不同等級的客戶採取合適的維繫方式，因此將對客戶進行分級，訂單總額大於50000000顧客為A級會員、小於10000000的顧客為C級會員，其餘為B級會員，請問用什麼樣的分類手法會較為適合呢？

上述範例中，此種分類是給行銷部門的成員進行分析統計用，短期內可能又會因為其餘需求而對分類進行調整，因此這種較偏變動型態的分類方式適合利用BO工具─InfoView來達成我們的需求。分類手法其實就是以新增變數的方式結合if…then函數來達成我們的分類需求。

某連鎖唱片行為了分析顧客聽音樂的類型，故為這些顧客進行分類，然而音樂的曲風有數十種，這時又該採用什麼樣的分類手法會比較合適呢？

在第一個範例中，要分類的項目較少且單純，所以在InfoView直接已新增變數的方式結合If函數便能輕鬆達到我們的需求。而範例二中音樂的曲風達數十種，雖然可以利用If函數來輔助分類，但是數十種的分類方式若利用If函數，勢必要花費不少手工時間，難道就沒有較有效率的方法嗎？不用擔心，有的！當遇到大量的Grouping時我們可利用編碼原則來幫助我們更有效率的達成分類，以截取第一字母做為分類的編碼原則，便能讓我們能更快速的分門別類。

某間中小型企業，為對不同的客戶群體做不同的推廣，預計分出五大類的客群，而這五大分類是可讓公司某幾個特定部門的同仁拿來進行分析、統計或使用，在此種需求下哪種分類手法較為合適呢？

第三個範例中，分類完後的使用對象不只有一個部門，倘若直接在報表

以結合If函數的方式新增變數，雖然可行，但若是未來五大分類變更為六大的時候，因為使用的對象不只有一個部門，那在需求變動的時候，就必須對當時有新增變數的報表同時異動，而且報表數量又多的情形下，要達到同步的效用勢必要花費依些時間。為了省去這樣異動的工時，可以利用Designer工具，對語意層新增物件，由於重複使用這個物件的機率較高，因此直接對語意層做修改達到我們分類的需求，不但較有效率，也能減少同步異動可能發生的錯誤。

結論

在不同的需求情境下採用不同的分類手法，可以大大提升效率及易用度，然而沒有一種分類手法是世界上最好的。每種分類的手法都有它的長處及短處，因此最好的手法就是依照不同需求情境，找出特點並根據此特點給予最佳解，以達到我們的需求並獲得最大的效率。