Saving Variants on SAP Business Object BI Platform

[Former Member]

Hi All,

We are using the SAP Business Objects BI Platform to save all our Analysis office workbooks. The reports are being saved on the BI Launchpad, and the users are accessing the reports from here. We are on SAP BI 4.1 SP5, and the AO version is 1.4 SP10.

Issue: In the prompts screen, I am trying to save a variant to the report input, but the variant save area is grayed out. I am getting a message that I need to save  the workbook to Netweaver Server before I can save variants. Does anybody know why this is the case, and how I can save variants when my Workbooks have been saved on the BI Platform ? We are entering Integration testing, and the question has become of huge importance to us, so all answers are appreciated.

Thanks,

Amit

[TammyPowlas · Accepted solution]

Amit - could you upgrade to SP11 1.4 and try again?  This question was asked on a recent ASUG webcast and this was SAP's response; some issues were fixed in SP11 with prompts/scheduling

Or you could also try using Analysis 2.0 SP2 which is now GA

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Amit,

The variants are saved on your BW system. I have checked our system as we
also use OLAP connections in BOBJ and save our reports there. The option is
active and works fine we are on AO 1.4 SP 7

I have a feeling you are missing a BW note or sp what version is your BW environment?

[reyemsaibot]

Hi,

as far as I know you can only save variants on a NetWeaver platform and not on a BI platform. You also have to authorize the object S_RS_PARAM.

Either the admin or the user guide say anything about variants on a BI platform.

BR,

Tobias

[alexander_peter]

Hi guys,

we're planning to support (workbook) variants on BIP very soon. We're currently implementing it ...

Query-related variants should already work.

Best,

Alex

[brian_marier]

Alex, will saving HANA prompt values (for HANA VDMs with prompts) be supported in the BIP variants functionality you referenced above, or only for BW-based data sources? 

[alexander_peter]

Hey Brian,

yes, you will be able to store BIP variants for BW and HANA sources.

Best,

Alex

[Former Member]

Hi Alexander,

When is it expected to be available?

[alexander_peter]

Hi Sowjanya,

we currently plan for Analysis Office 2.4 (planned for Q4 2016) and BI 4.2 SP4 (planned for Q1 2017).

Best,

Alex

[Former Member]

Oh..Thank you.

[Former Member]

Hi Amit,

we have the same issue .

we are using SAP Business Object Platform to save all the Analysis for Office Workbook.

During the execution, in the prompt selection, the variant button is grey. We can't save any variant.

We have SAP BI 4.1 SP 5 Patch 5 and AO 1.4.14.

We are working HANA stand alone, no BW system.

Did you upgrade to some additional release to solve the issue?

Thanks,

Veronica

[ksehjpal]

HI Veronica

There are two option :-  prompt for workbook and prompt for data source. so select the option of Data source then you can able to change the variant which you have created.

you will be able to do so.

> Data source mode

> Document mode

For more information regarding these modes, please refer to chapter 4.2.2 ("Using Variants", page 104) of the User Guide that you can find by visiting the link http://help.sap.com/boao14

Since the workbooks are stored in BI platform, currently you can only save/use variants in Data Source Mode. Which means that the "Merge Variables" option should be unchecked according to the pre-requisites below for using this mode (described on the User Guide):

• Authorization object S_RS_PARAM must be maintained for the user in the SAP NetWeaver server so that the user can create a variant.
• You open the prompting dialog with the context menu on the crosstab. The context menu for prompts is only available if workbook property Merge Variables is not selected.
• Workbook property Merge Variables is not selected when a new query is inserted.

When using the "Merge Variable" option, Analysis for Office will be using the variants in "Document Mode", which is only possible when saving the workbook on BW server. This is why the option is disabled for you in this case

Regards

karan