Transcript Session Title

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Crystal Dashboard Builder, Web
application designer, or SAP
NetWeaver Visual Composer
Dr. Berg
Comerit Inc.
© 2010 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.
In This Session …
You will see 3 demos of different dashboarding tools
Learn how to build Crystal Dashboard Builder, Web
Application Designer and SAP NetWeaver Visual
Composer dashboards in less then 10 minutes (three
demos).
Learn when to pick one dash boarding tool over
another.
Find out the limitations of each tool and what skill sets
are needed to be successful.
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What We’ll Cover …
•
Introduction
•
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview

•
SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview

•
Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes
SAP Web Application Designer Overview

Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
•
Lessons Learned and Limitations
•
Wrap-up
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The SAP NetWeaver Legacy Toolset
SAP BI Legacy BEx
tool include the web
template development
environment know as
Web Application
Designer (WAD).
This tool has been
used extensively by the
SAP BI community for
the last 10 years.
Visual Composer is part of the Composite Environment
(CE) and is not affected by the new BOBJ tool set..
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The Big-Picture…
With the merger between SAP and Business Objects, we
got access to new 'best-of-breed' tools.
Since there are varying
experience level in the
audience, we assume
no prior knowledge in
either BOBJ or BEx
tools and will cover all
from a high-level
standpoint.
We will take a closer
look at each tool in the
demo sections.
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What We’ll Cover …
•
Introduction
•
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview

•
SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview

•
Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes
SAP Web Application Designer Overview

Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
•
Lessons Learned and Limitations
•
Wrap-up
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There are Two 'versions' of Visual Composer (VC)
Visual Composer 7.0 is for SAP BI Development, 7.1 is for
the Composite Environment (CE). There are different SDN
forums and blogs for each - This can be confusing!
BREAKING NEWS: VC 7.2 is now in general availability.
"With the new version of SAP NetWeaver CE 7.2, you are able to design and develop
your "own practices" as business rule-based, SOA-enabled, composite business
processes & applications with the Eclipse-based SAP Developer Studio" - SAP AG
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SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data
It is a browserbased modeling
and design tool for
rapid application
development and
prototyping in a
code-free
development
environment
It All Starts with a Query
The BEx Query Designer
The query is the core method for accessing BI data. You can use existing
queries in your SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models
Our Target Dashboard
We will build a dashboard based on 2 queries called
country and customer view, and present this with tables
and graphs as well as navigational links between them
(passing variables between the queries)
Visual Composer - Building a Complete Dashboard
SAP NetWeaver VC 7.0 & Crystal Dashboard Builder
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer 7.01 (or 7.02) SP5 or
higher allows you to use existing Crystal Dashboard
Builder UI controls and use them inside Visual
Composer.
You can also use any Flex component made by Adobe
Flex Builder (Flex 2 SDK).
You can download flash objects & 'how-to' on
sdn.sap.com (by Sap's Amir Mimran)
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External Web Services
External Web services such as email,
stock quotes, news services, and weather
maps can also be integrated into your
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer cockpit.
External Data Providers — Web Services
Each Web service may require different input, so you have to spend
some time trying out what works for your site and how to format it.
What We’ll Cover …
•
Introduction
•
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview

•
SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview

•
Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes
SAP Web Application Designer Overview

Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
•
Lessons Learned and Limitations
•
Wrap-up
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Crystal Dashboard Builder (Crystal Dashboard Builder)
Dashboards can be built using
Crystal Dashboard Builder.
Crystal Dashboard Builder was
launched in March 2010, and is
the flagship product for data
visualization & dashboards”
BEx Web Application Designer will
not be enhanced further beyond
the release of NW 7.1 in 2008.
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Crystal Dashboard Builder- The basics and options
Adding Interactivity in Crystal Dashboard Builder
To make dashboards useful for more than one person, you
should plan to offer navigation and interactivity instead of
static images and graphs.
Adding Interactivity in Crystal Dashboard Builder
Where to you start?
Where do you start?
Start with a
blank
template.
My Dashboard Title
Welcome Bjarne Berg Today is Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Dashboard
Tab Title 2
Cost Measure
Table Title Goes Here
% of Rev State
Activity Name
Portlet Title
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3 Column 4
Column 5
Customer 1
Done
23,000
33,400
23,000
Bill S.
KPI
98%
Customer 2
Done
45,112
64,023
45,112
Joey D.
Metric
85%
Customer n
To Do
89,778
23,000
89,778
Frank
Another Metric
93%
Customer n
To Do
12,110
45,112
12,110
Susie
Metric Blah blah
67%
Customer n
To Do
34,000
89,778
34,000
Jill
Alerts
Customer n
Done
23,000
12,110
23,000
Bob C.
Alerts from last 2 days
Customer n
Done
45,112
50,000
45,112
Charles
Willis deal enters final stage
Customer n
To Do
89,778
30,004
89,778
Jimbo
Customer n
To Do
12,110
12,007
12,110
Benny
Customer n
To Do
34,000
55,009
34,000
Linda
Customer n
Done
10,500
12,889
10,500
Gigi
Customer n
To Do
66,998
32,002
66,998
Rose
Vendor reports problem
Marketing Cost per Sale
Budget level exceeded
Here is an
example of
a layout
template
Print | Help | Log Out
Tab Title 4
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
Portlet Title
Focus on
graphs,
layout,
measures &
navigation.
Tab Title 3
more...
Portlet Title
President’s Message
Item 1
$12,236
Item 2
$67,009
Item 3
$19,500
Item 4
$33,000
Item 5
$10,900
This is a good place to have messages that relate to the data presented.
Portlet Title
Portlet Title
What We’ll Cover …
•
Introduction
•
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview

•
SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview

•
Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes
SAP Web Application Designer Overview

Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
•
Lessons Learned and Limitations
•
Wrap-up
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BEx Web Application Designer (WAD)
BEx Analyzer/
Query Designer
BEx Web Application Designer
WAD is an intuitive
tool to build powerful
web applications and
to interact with portals
and custom templates.
OLAP Processor
Web Service
Charting Engine
Web Browser
HTLM Templates
InfoProvider
BW queries can be
manipulated in WAD
for better display
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WAD Dashboards
You can also let your SAP BI users do basic
navigation on the formatted reports by either
integrating navigation, or adding this in the Web
Application Designer (WAD)
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Command Wizard and JavaScript
•
Use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript code for the
Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications
BEx Web Application Designer
will not be enhanced further
beyond Release NW 7.1 in 2008.
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Web Application Designer (WAD) - The Basics and Options
What We’ll Cover …
•
Introduction
•
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview

•
SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview

•
Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes
SAP Web Application Designer Overview

Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
•
Lessons Learned and Limitations
•
Wrap-up
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SAP BusinessObjects Integration Options - New BICS connector!!
Notice that DF Facade and Data federator are separate products that are
currently licensed separately from the SAP BW licenses.
Xcelsius
WebI
QT
QaaWS
Universes
SQL Access
MDX Access
Data Federator
RDBMS
BW
ODA
XMLA
DF Fascade
OLAP BAPI
ODBO
Analytic Engine
BWA
Ad-hoc analysis (WebI) = SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, BWA = SAP BW Accelerator
Source: SAP AG, July, 2010
What tool to select
All SAP tools have strength and weaknesses. This is a
subjective summary of each of the major dashboard tools.
What We’ll Cover …
•
Introduction
•
SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview

•
SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview

•
Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes
SAP Web Application Designer Overview

Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes
•
Lessons Learned and Limitations
•
Wrap-up
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Resources
SDN
Xcelsius Sample Dashboards

SDN
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/xcelsius-samples
Business Objects Community and blogs

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc
NEW BOOK: SAP PRESS: Creating Dashboards with
Xcelsius:
Practical Guide by Evan Delodder and Ray Li
(Sept. 2010)
•

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer (2007), SAP Press by
Mario Herger.
Integrating VC and WAD objects - a How-To Guide

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/ad182ac7-0a01-0010-4fb88a4d217b19c1?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true
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7 Key Points to Take Home
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There are more than one tool for dashboarding, plan accordingly
•
RAD is always the preferred development methodology
•
Crystal Dashboard Builder will be the most common dash boarding
tool for most companies (90% probability)
•
Ad-hoc analysis (WebI) is a great ad-hoc tool with some graphical
capabilities. It is not a dash boarding tool.
•
Web Application Designer is a good tool for IT developers, but has not
as many web 2.0 features as Crystal Dashboard Builder, nor is the
dashboards as interactive and flexible.
•
Visual Composer is an option for simple dashboards.
•
Spend about 25-30% of the project on designing and User Acceptance
Testing (users don't know what they want until they see it).
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Your Turn!
How to contact me:
Dr. Berg
[email protected]
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Disclaimer
SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, SAP NetWeaver®, Duet™®, PartnerEdge, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their
respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product
and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by
SAP.
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