Welcome to today’s training on the data analysis and reporting options within SAP HANA.

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After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Describe the various SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence solutions that may be

used to report on data from within SAP HANA

Explain how to connect the various SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

solutions to an SAP HANA data model

There are three primary steps to using HANA. The first step is to load data into HANA

from an existing content source. We covered that in the Data Provisioning and Data

Replication lessons in this curriculum. The second step is to model the data in SAP

HANA Studio to facilitate data analysis. We covered that in the Information Modeling

lesson in this curriculum. The third step is to connect the SAP HANA data model to the

appropriate SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence solution, based on the

reporting requirements. We’ll discuss the third step in this lesson.

You may consider the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence suite of products to

be the “face” of SAP HANA. The SAP BusinessObjects BI suite is optimized to access

data within SAP HANA and to leverge the power of HANA to provide end users with

instant access to information and split-second response time to queries on massive

volumes of data, in a reporting environment that makes sense to them. The SAP

BusinessObjects philosophy has always been to give each user the right BI tool for the

way they work. Power users who want to analyze data need a different experience then

an executive who wants to track and monitor key metrics.

The table on this slide defines the key business users in a typical organization and

places them along a spectrum of technology experience, then matches the most

applicable SAP BusinessObjects BI solution based on various reporting needs and

desired interactivity (from a highly guided experience to one free of any assistance). For

example, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software offers a new BI paradigm where

users, no matter what skill-set, can explore their business data and find answers even

when they don’t known which question to ask. This tool is for information workers who

are seeking an easier self-service environment or users who are involved in making

day-to-day operational decisions.

In this lesson we will look more closely at some of the key features of each solution

shown in the diagram.

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As noted in the previous slide, there is a SAP BusinessObject Business Intelligence

solution to suit the specific reporting needs each business user across a wide spectrum

within an organization. This slide provides a high-level viewpoint of the various SAP

BusinessObject Business Intelligence that can be used with SAP HANA, and how each

solution addresses a business need.

Take a few moments to review the information on this page, then we’ll proceed to look

at formatted reporting capabilities using SAP BusinessObject Business Intelligence

solutions with SAP HANA.

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SAP Crystal Reports 2008 and SAP Crystal Reports 2011 can connect directly to tables

in SAP HANA to create user-friendly and dynamic reports from virtually any data

source. A robust production reporting tool, SAP Crystal Reports turns transactional and

relational data into actionable information.

Crystal Reports are often utilized by IT professionals, report authors, and developers to

gain fast insight into current business conditions. End users can explore data and make

informed decisions with visual what-if scenarios created in SAP Crystal Dashboard

Design and embedded in a report. Sliders, gauges, and dials enable users to visualize

the potential outcome of decisions dynamically, without leaving the report file and

without any coding.

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Smart guidelines help you insert, move, and align objects with ease by automatically

adjusting the layout of the report. You can insert summaries, variances, and other

custom calculations into a cross-tabulated row or a column – especially useful for

financial reports – without the need for any programming. Built-in bar-code support lets

you convert fields to Code 39 bar codes. Just point and click, and you’re done.

Business users have great flexibility in creating and formatting reports, right down to

details like the size of a report page. You’re not limited by the standard page sizes set

by printers. Instead, you can customize page sizes and page breaks, and can combine

portrait- and landscape-oriented pages within the same report, to create an optimal

viewing environment.

With SAP Crystal Server software, users can create multiple reports based on different

data sources, load the reports with data, and personalize the reports for each recipient.

You can also combine the reports into a single file (such as PDF) and then distribute the

reports to a dynamic list of recipients – all with a single action.

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SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards provide drag-and-drop visualization designed to

create interactive analytics for powerful, personalized dashboards with live connections

to the SAP BusinessObjects BI platform, SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse and

other data sources.

Dashboards are now widely recognized as essential tools for monitoring business

performance and empowering decision makers to make informed decisions more

quickly. Traditionally reserved for upper

management, these data visualization tools are now making their way across all levels

of organizations. Leading businesses understand that to ensure ongoing competitive

advantage, they need to unlock the power of essential data for employees at all levels –

because taken collectively, every decision helps or hurts the business.

Armed with the right dashboards, users can see trends and relevant key performance

indicators, interact with data, test out scenarios, and more – right from their desktops.

For example, executives can perform what-if analysis to understand changes in the

business under different conditions, assess key metrics related to performance, and drill

down to more detailed reporting when needed. And business users can access time-

sensitive information using a self-service model and receive visual or audible cues or

alerts for exception management and dynamic situations.

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Using the Information Design tool, you can build universes (UNX) that are stored in the

SAP BusinessObjects BI platform repository. Universes are a semantic layer that

facilitates analysis of important data by hiding unnecessary technical complexities in the

underlying data from the end-users. Relational universes can be built directly on tables

in HANA, but the universes do not store data themselves.

Relational universes are a good starting point because BI clients build queries from the

Query Panel against this universe. Alternatively, you can build relational universes on

views in HANA instead of directly against the tables. To report off HANA 1.0, a relational

universe is built to allow SQL-like access to tables and views stored in the HANA

system. This allows you to leverage modeling work already done in the SAP HANA

Studio.

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The semantic layer enables the business users to freely and securely access, analyze,

enrich and share information using familiar business terms. The semantic layer offers a

consistent user experience, as well as a single language that is used by all kinds of

client tools to speak about data and metadata. BI clients, as well as metadata

management or data quality applications will use the Common Semantic Layer to

exchange information about data and metadata they need to manipulate. The semantic

layer is open to third party applications so that the whole enterprise data can be

covered by the same concepts and mechanism.

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Web intelligence is one of the most advanced ad-hoc reporting solutions on the market.

It lets end-users design and analyze their own reports and queries. This tool is the one

to use for Reporting & Analysis, especially for the casual business users.

Business users need answers to new and evolving business questions – without having

to rely on IT help. SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence offers business users self-

service access, ad hoc reporting, and intuitive analysis across heterogeneous sources,

so they can turn data into actionable insights. Web Intelligence reports may be served

up on the Web, a desktop, or a mobile device.

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence offers a powerful, intuitive interface that enables

business analysts and non-technical information consumers to ask spontaneous and

iterative business questions about their data. Business users can use simple drag-and-

drop techniques to access data sources and create interactive reports to answer

business questions. Cutting edge visualization functionality allows end users to view

two- and three-dimensional charts and hone in on specific areas of focus and share

those results with colleagues, customers and partners.

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence delivers self-service information access to your

business users wherever they are, providing full flexibility and control of data analysis

and interactivity. Your business users have decision-quality information at their fingertips

to investigate issues, identify the root causes of problems, and explore new

opportunities – without relying on IT to create reports. And because your users have

autonomy, your IT department is no longer burdened with a backlog of reports and

doesn't need to build and maintain multiple variations of numerous queries and reports.

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All businesses require multidimensional analysis to fundamentally understand where the

company has been, where it stands today, and, most critically, where it must go in the

future. This is why it makes

sense to provide analysts with the tools and data they need to give the business insight

necessary to make informed business decisions. But when it comes to traditional

multidimensional online analytical processing (OLAP) solutions, getting timely, effective

business insight can be a very resource-intensive, manual process.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for OLAP, is a next-generation business

intelligence solution that provides self-service multidimensional analysis workspaces for

personal or shared use over the Web. You can immediately use your existing SAP

NetWeaver® Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) component cubes, queries

from SAP Business Explorer (SAP BEx) tools, and Microsoft SQL Server cubes to

uncover deep business insights.

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With SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, users enjoy a highly visual look and feel that lets

them run analyses across multiple dimensional and hierarchical data sets following

intuitive drag-and-drop steps. Business users have full autonomy without reliance on IT

or power users, encouraging broad adoption of BI for more effective decision making

across the organization.

By fully leveraging the deployed BI infrastructure, including the SAP BusinessObjects BI

platform, the software delivers a fast return on investment while lowering ownership

costs.

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In order to make everyday business decisions, business users need intuitive access to

corporate information. Unfortunately, traditional business intelligence (BI) tools, which

often require significant

training and an understanding of analytical methods, sometimes do not meet the needs

of business users. Recent surveys show that these users often rely on “gut-feel”

decision making.

These same business users have no problem, however, searching for information online

or browsing for books on Amazon.com. SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software brings

together the simplicity

and speed of Internet search with the trust and analytical power of BI to provide

immediate answers to business questions. Business users can employ familiar keyword

searches to find information hidden in data sources. They can then navigate to and

explore the data directly; no existing reports or metrics are necessary.

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SAP BusinessObjects Explorer, part of the SAP BusinessObjects BI suite of solutions,

leverages the metadata layer to enable user friendly reporting. In addition, it takes

advantage of the security, trust, and administration services provided by the SAP

BusinessObjects BI platform – thereby speeding its deployment and reducing IT

backlog.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer presents the most relevant keyword search results first

and complements the results with additional contextually relevant details. In addition,

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer automatically generates the type of chart that best

represents the information. For example, when displaying the percentage breakdowns

of a multi-entry data set, it generates a pie chart; when comparing revenue and profit for

multiple entities, it displays a bar chart.

All in all, SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is designed for ease of use, allowing you to

start by entering a few search keywords to get at the results that are most relevant to

you. Explorer then generates charts or diagrams to be shared via e-mail or a format of

your choice.

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We’ve covered a great deal of information regarding the various types of data analysis

and reporting methods that you may leverage to work with your SAP HANA data. We’ve

defined each solution, descibed the business users who typically interact with each

reporting solution, and explained why these reporting solutions are so important to the

organization.

Please take a moment to review this summary slide to further solidify what you’ve

learned.

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The following videos provide more information on some of the key concepts that have

been introduced in this training.

The first link launches a 5 minute, high level overview of data modeling and reporting steps.

The second link launches a 75 minute recorded webinar on SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0 and

SAP HANA

Pause this course to allow yourself time to view the videos.

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You can learn more about the concepts covered in this lesson by accessing existing

training and other enablement tools and assets on the partner portal. Explore the links

provided on this slide.

Solution Consultant Training:

https://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=01200252310000087332&_SCENARI

O=01100035870000000183&_ADDINC=011000358700001192682007E&

SAP BI Workbook:

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-24342

Product Tutorials:

http://sap.com/LearnBI

SAP Resource Libraries:

https://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_SHORTKEY=01100035870000723867&_SCENARI

O=01100035870000000183&_ADDINC=&

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Correct!

SAP Crystal Report and SAP BusinessObject Analysis (OLAP edition) software offer the

technology for executing formatted reports and uncovering historical trends to make

improved forecast decisions based on data sourced from within SAP HANA.

Sorry, that is incorrect. The correct answers are:

SAP BusinessObject Analysis, OLAP edition

SAP Crystal Reports software

SAP Crystal Report and SAP BusinessObject Analysis (OLAP edition) software offer the

technology for executing formatted reports and uncovering historical trends to make

improved forecast decisions based on data sourced from within SAP HANA.

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Correct!

With SAP BusinessObjects Explorer users are able to enter a few keywords to search

for the most relevant information for them, with the results organized in order of

relevance.

Sorry, that is incorrect. The correct answers are:

Ability to run a simple key word search

Ability to view results in relevant order

With SAP BusinessObjects Explorer users are able to enter a few keywords to search

for the most relevant information for them, with the results organized in order of

relevance.

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Correct!

SAP Crystal Reports functionality enables business users to connect to information

sources spread across the organization, and deliver personalized reports to the

business users’ preferred destination in their preferred language and format.

Sorry, that is incorrect. The correct answers are:

Ability to connect to various information sources

Ability to specify a customized language and format

SAP Crystal Reports functionality enables business users to connect to information

sources spread across the organization, and deliver personalized reports to the

business users’ preferred destination in their preferred language and format.

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Correct!

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence enables users to ask questions, analyze data,

and identify trends whether in the office or on the road, while eliminating the need for IT

to build and maintain multiple variations of numerous queries and reports.

Sorry, that is incorrect. The correct answers are:

Ability to create and view reports both offline and online

Ability to create multi-dimensional and interactive reports without IT assistance

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence enables users to ask questions, analyze data,

and identify trends whether in the office or on the road, while eliminating the need for IT

to build and maintain multiple variations of numerous queries and reports.

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You should now be able to:

Describe the various SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence solutions that may be

used to report on data from within SAP HANA

Explain how to connect the various SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence

solutions to an SAP HANA data model

For more information on topics discussed in this course, see the references listed here.

Thank you for completing this training.

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