SAP NetWeaver 2004s

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SAP NetWeaver 2004s what is new?

• Dr. Bjarne Berg
• Lenoir-Rhyne College
• bergb_at_lrc.edu

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Time is running out.
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Why NW 2004s?

• Let us take a look at some of the major new
  features of version 2004s
• Web Application Designer
• BI Accellerator
• BEx Broadcaster
• BEx Query Designer
• BEx Report Designer
• ReModeling Toolbox
• Security Changes
• New ETL Interface
• BPS Integrated Planning
• PDF print
• Real-time data warehousing
• BEx Web Analyzer

We will now take a quick look at these features
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Web Application Designer gets better

• The Web Application Designer is improved with new
  chart types (Heat Map, GANTT Milestone Trend
  Analysis), as well as new layout elements such as
  tab strips.

WAD also has new step-by-step wizards for maps,
command editing to create Web API Commands and
charts, as well as a simplified wizard for layout
elements such as radio buttons, action buttons
etc. This reduce the amount of custom coding
required with the help of Command wizards, Auto
complete and support for HTML tags.
WAD is a key tool for all SAP BI shops and in
NW2004s the tool is simplified and more powerful.
New integration with NW 2004s BEx Report
Designer.
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BI Accellerator for 2004s
SAP BW
Any tool
HPA Engine/Adaptive Computing
SAP NW 2004s BI
AnalyticEngine

• The SAP BI accelerator makes query response time
  50-10,000 faster.
• You use process chains to maintain the HPA engine
  after each data load

InfoCubes
DataAcquisition

1. In-memory processing
2. Dictionary-based, smart compression using
   integers
3. High parallel data access / horizontal
   partitioning
4. Column-based data storage access/vertical table
   decomposition

Both HP and IBM have standard solutions ranging
from 32K to 200K that can be installed and
tested in as little as 2-4 weeks
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New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s
New Object TypesYou can broadcast BEx query
views and formatted reports (reports) in
addition to Web applications, queries and
workbooks. Reports are a new BEx object type
developed within the new BEx Report Designer
tool. New Output FormatsNew output formats
are based on the distribution type you select.
But, you now can broadcast web documents as PDF
files.
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New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s
New Distribution Types You can broadcast to any
printer using Adobes PDF, Printer Common
Language (psl) or Post Script (ps). (hint Set up
the printers under tools? CCMS ? print).
You to broadcast user-specific information
based on attributes in the master data attributes
using a distribution list in BI (bursting of
emails). The information can be controlled by the
system so that users only see data related to
them.
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New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s
Exception broadcasting is now available in the
Broadcaster. Create the exceptions in the query
designer and select distribution type in the
broadcaster. You can also use additional
distributions types (subordinate) and create
rules for when the exception report is
monitored/executed. Exceptions can be based on
single events or levels of any performance
measure. You can use multiple distribution
type to create a setting that broadcasts many
channels (i.e. the printer and the portal).
NOTE To manage all alerts and workflow tasks
from a single location, an alert is integrated
with the portals universal worklist the central
alert framework of NW application server.
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New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s
To increase the performance of key queries, you
can fill the OLAP Cache, or the MDX Cache. This
is useful if you have large numbers of users
accessing a query, or you have a query that
accesses a high volume of data. The Fill
Precalculation Store distribution type allows you
to precalculate Web templates, and the
Precalculate Value Set option you to fill
pre-calculated value set variables with values
for characteristic values. The pre-calculated
value sets are then available as variable values
in BEx queries.
BREAKING NEWS Reporting agent goes-away. The
old Reporting Agent you could pre-calculate the
data of a template and access it through the URL
. It could not broadcast queries, workbooks or
web templates by email or to KM folders.
SAP Dec. 2005 Old Reporting Agent scenarios
still run in NetWeaver 2004s. However, the
Reporting Agent will not be developed any further
and is removed from the 2004s Workbench. You can
now only reach the Reporting Agent using
transaction code REPORTING_AGENT
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BEx Query Designer gets a needed facelift
This new property pane makes it easier to format
and control displays than in the past.

• The 3.5x BEx Query Designer

The NW2004s BEx Query Designer
Note
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BEx Report Designer is here!!

• This new tool was created to simplify the
  formatting of reports and fix many of the
  printing issues in previous versions of BW.
• 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.

Source SAP AG, 2006
For many, this tool may reduce the need for 3rd
party tools to address structured reports.
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New Remodeling Tool Box
In NW2004s you get a new tool to add
characteristics and key figures to your model.

• In older BW versions, if you forgot to include a
  field in your infocube, the rework was quite
  substantial and often involved reloading the
  infocube as well.

Source SAP AG, Richard Brown, Aug. 2006
NW 2004s goes a long way to address the
complaints that BW is a hard to maintain
environment with forever fixed models.
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Better security features

• There are many new security features in NW 2004s,
  and a conversion is needed (all or nothing).
• Role menus are displayed in the portal and
  passwords becomes case sensitive.

Authorizations are fundamental building blocks of
the new reporting concept and security contains
both the data value and hierarchy restrictions.
The new security can be built using new
RSECADMIN transaction
Source SAP AG
ASUG Security Upgrade by Eric Dwyer, Nike
http//www.asug.com/client_files/Calendar/Upload/E
A1_upgrade_bw_security_2.ppt
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More Authorization Objects
Authorization objects for the Data Warehousing
Workbench S_RS_DS For the DataSource or its sub
objects (NW2004s) S_RS_ISNEW For new InfoSources
or their sub objects (NW 2004s) S_RS_DTP For the
data transfer process and its sub
objects S_RS_TR For transformation rules and
their sub objects S_RS_CTT For currency
translation types S_RS_UOM For quantity
conversion types S_RS_THJT For key date
derivation types S_RS_PLENQ Authorizations for
maintaining or displaying the lock
settings S_RS_RST Authorization object for the
RS trace tool S_RS_PC For process
chains S_RS_OHDEST Open Hub Destination Authoriza
tion objects for the Business Explorer S_RS_DAS
For Data Access Services S_RS_BTMP For BEx Web
templates S_RS_BEXTX Authorizations for the
maintenance of BEx texts Authorization objects
for the Admin of analysis authorizations S_RSEC
Authorization for assignment and administration
of analysis authorizations S_RS_AUTH
Authorization object to include analysis
authorizations in roles Changed Authorization
Objects S_RS_ADMWB (Data Warehousing Workbench
Objects) New sub objects CONT_ACT Installing
Business Content USE_DND - Drag Drop to
InfoAreas and application components CNG_RUN -
Attribute change run
You get the ability to use much lower security
granularity for developers and users!!
Source SAP AG July 2006
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Upgrading to NW2004s Security
SAP has created an ABAP migration tool to help
you upgrade security in NW 2004s. To access it,
goto transaction code SA38, and execute migration
program RSEC_MIGRATION. About 80 of you
security setup is expected to make it using this
tool. i.e. customer exit variables for the object
0TCTAUTHH does not migrate, and you will have to
manually reassign all hierarchy nodes. While you
upgrade, the old security is left intact and you
can switch back if absolutely needed (IMG
setting). Plan to testtest..and test
More Great Details about the Security Upgrade at
http//csc-studentweb.lrc.edu/
swp/Berg/Articles/ 2004S_Authorizations.pdf (Sourc
e Amelia Lo, SAP)
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Better interface for ETL Design
On a typical DW project, 40-60 of project effort
will be spent on data integration, transformation
and loads (used to be higher when tools were more
immature).
SAP NetWeaver 2004s has a new and better GUI and
formula editors to write complex transfer rules,
update rules and data mapping.
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BPS Integrated Planning
1
2
3
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InfoProvider
Aggregation Level
Planning Sequence
Pattern
Planning Function
Filter

• You can now create planning templates using the
  web based planning wizard to create models using
  patterns in the data (tool Road map Pattern).
  Queries based on aggregation levels can now also
  write back to the InfoProvider

Source SAP AG, 2006
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New PDF Print

• You can also use the PDF to create reports based
  on BEx web applications, queries and reports
  using the Adobe DS (comes with NW2004s).
• The only Gotchas.. Your users now need to install
  Acrobat Reader
• (free at http//www.adobe.com/ products/acrobat/re
  adstep2.html).
• The PDF document can also be Broadcasted through
  BEx Broadcaster

The PDF options allows companies to protect
reports from changes by employees by taking a
snapshot of the data regardless of subsequent
updates to the data warehouse. Risks no link
back to SAP BW is needed and security is not
validated.
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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 NW2004s)

Source SAP AG, 2006
News BEx browser goes away in NW2004s
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Real-time Data warehousing gets better

• NW 2004s has more features for updates that does
  not follow the typical asynchronomous (batch)
  updates. This include
• 1. We can use XML to fill the PSA directly
• 2. Daemon-based update from delta queue (BW API)
• 3. Daemon-based update of the ODS and minimal
  logging

Note XML documents creates many tags that will
slow down large dataloads due to the size of each
XML record (relatively large) However, it works
great for smaller streams of data.
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Drag-and Drop in BeX web Analyzer

• Unlike the old days of dynamic HTML, you can now
  use the web analyzer more like a real application
  without refreshing the whole page every time you
  click on something.
• I.e. You can drag a characteristics into a filter
  area and automatically filter on that value, and
  you can also drag it into a column header or a a
  row.
• Building conditions and activating them was often
  confusing in earlier versions and exception based
  reporting was sometimes not easy to create for
  beginning users. NW2004s has now simplified this
  with more wizards that helps users to build this
  step-by-step.

BEx web analyzer is a better user tool than in
the past. You now get the best world of Java
the web instead of the more clunky user
experience related to Dynamic HTML
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Some hints on the upgrade client, engines and
usage types

• We are in a transition period, when some items of
  NW2004s are separate engines, some are clients,
  and other are usage types.
• Key question is you organization committed to
  java and the new NW2004s direction?
• -- if so, go java all the way..

Note standard system copy and SAP migration
tools have no standard support for splitting or
merging systems with different usage types
Source SAP Installable software units May 2006
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Unicode conversion

• Unicode has been available since BW version
  3.5.1. and is now highly recommended as part of
  the upgrade (hint web application designer is now
  also unicode compliant).
• Some things to remember and plan for

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