Broadcaster v15

7/27/2019 Broadcaster v15

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2005 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

Distributing Reports With SAPInformation Broadcaster: Dos,Donts, and Real-world Lessons

Dr. Bjarne BergComerit Inc.


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What Is BEx Information Broadcasting?

Its a standard part of SAP BW 3.5 and higher

It lets you send reports, i.e., Bex Queries

Workbooks

Web Applications

To...

Email addresses, BW users, BW roles

SAP Enterprise Portal Knowledge Management folders

SAP Enterprise Portal Collaboration Rooms

You can define and deploy iViews based on the resulting KM /

Collaboration documents, if you wish!Note


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Why Is Broadcasting So Valuable?

It...

Reduces the time users spend looking for information Improves the like likelihood that users will use your BI data

Expands the reach of BI data to non-BW users as well!

Particularly, non-BW users

Makes BW data available for users on the go

Lets you link your BW and Portal systems together!

Users can collaborate, integrate BW content with other

enterprise and Web content, etc.!

Casual users, non-BW users, travelling users,

and executives are all prime candidates for

broadcasted reports!Note


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Different Needs and Tools

Flat Reporting Formatted

Print

Form based

Static

Predictable access

OLAP ReportingDrill Down Slice and Dice

Analyse

Data Mining

Search and discover

KPI & ScorecardFormatted

Simple

Easy to view

Limited nav Aggregates

The information needs of the user communi ties are diff erent


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What Well Cover

Overview

The Broadcast Wizard

Scheduling by PowerUsers via BEx Broadcaster

Broadcasting to the Portal

Broadcaster Advanced Options

How to make it work in practice

Wrap up


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The Broadcast Wizard - ad hoc scheduling

You can access the Broadcast Wizard from the context menu in a query

The Broadcast wizard is a

tool for end users to

distribute queries, andworkbooks to single

individuals or larger

audiences through email

or the enterprise portal


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Step 1 Choose an Output Format

Independent HTML file

We can use this option to send a single HTML file (standard static web page).This is an easy way to send webpages that can be used by handheld devices

(i.e. Blackberry or PocketPCs), and also by custom web applications.

The report is a snapshot vs. "live" data


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Step 1 Choose an Output Format (cont.)

HTML as Separate MIME Files

This option results in a set of individual files

for each web item in your report.

The benefit of this standard web format

option is that it optimizes reuse of objects,

as images are cached in the browser after

being accessed for the first time.


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Online links back to current Data

The link back to the on-line source (requires recipients to log on with a username and

a password to see the content, but can see the latest data). This is the most securemethod for protecting the access to your date. However, the recipient must have on-

line access back to your system, have a username and password.

The recipient may not see the same as what you believe you sent him,

since the data may have been refreshed since you sent the broadcast.


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Depending on how

your mail system is

setup, this is what

a recipient of an

on-line web linkmight see.

Text can also be

added by the

sender


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Step 2 Identify Recipients and Enter a Message

Enter one or more email

addresses, a subject, and

body.

The 'importance' level

will flag the email for

delivery to your recipient.

Click Cont inueto save

and schedule the

broadcast to execute

laterOR

Click Scheduleto executethe broadcast once only,

during the next available

processing window and

exit...Adding comments in the 'contents' area wil l make the

query much more understandable to your recipient


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Step 4 Tell the System When to Schedule the Broadcast

We can schedule the job

to run every time the

infocube is changed (the

process chain has run)

We can limit the users to

when they can schedule

jobs to avoid stress on the

system. We can providemultiple pre-defined times

when they can schedule the

reports.

We can also allow the

users to create their ownscheduling times (Only

authorized users see this)

Setting up pre-defined

'windows' of time is a

developer's job.


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Broadcast Wizard Demo


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What Well Cover

Overview






Wrap up


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The BEx Broadcaster

BEx Broadcaster is another way you can access tools to broadcast queries,

workbooks and web apps. It is typically given to the powerusers or developers,

since it have more options and requires slightly more skills.

You can get to the BEx Broadcaster through:

The Query Designer

The Web Application Designer


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Regular Scheduling by PowerUsers using BEx Broadcaster

Through the regular BEx Broadcaster more advanced users or developers can

broadcast content to specific BW users, roles, email addresses or email groups andset language. You can also make the broadcast user specific.

Another feature is that you can authorize access through another user (if permitted).

The output formats are the same as in the broadcast wizard.


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BEx Broadcaster - Exception Reporting

First you have to definethe exceptions for the

query and make the

exception 'active'.

If a certain exception has

occurred, or if a certain level hasbeen reached, you can make the

broadcaster send you an

exception report.


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BEx Broadcaster - Exception Reporting

In BEx Broadcaster we can select the pre-calculation tab and ask to be alerted onlywhen we reach a certain minimum level of the exception.

Key concepts: Don' t spend time moni tor ing 'business as usual'

activi ties, only get alerted when exceptions occur And don' t

search for exceptions, send them automati call y to you.


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BEx Broadcaster - Filters

If you pre-calculate the queries, you can allow the recipient to navigate the reports by the

characteristics you select. When doing so, you have to include a navigation block in the

web template so that user can actually use the navigation features you have enabled

The more items you include, the larger the size of the broadcast

items. Thi s is not a 'big-deal' if you are mail ing to a few of users, but

for thousands of users dail y, you should select these items carefu lly.


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BEx Broadcaster - Filters

If you pre-calculating a web template, you have the ability to specify a control query to

be used in the pre-calculation of the navigation filters. This is a great feature, when

you have specific queries that contains the navigation filers that you want tobroadcast.

The benef i t of the Fi lter Navigation tab is that you can select which

items you want to enable, without having to create new quer ies.


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BEx Broadcaster - Web Application Designer and Portal

You can also use the web application designer to pick up queries and publish the

applications to the portal or the BEx Broadcaster


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What Well Cover

Overview






Wrap up


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Why Broadcast to the Portal vs. Email?

More powerful

Users can comment, rate, and discuss the broadcasted assets You can place the assets in iViews on cockpits/dashboards

You can integrate the assets with other Portal content!

Portal users without a BW user id can now access BW content

Broadcasted assets are included in TREX searches More user friendly

Users can subscribe/unsubscribe themselves!

Easier, more flexible administration

You can leverage the Portals access control lists/capabilities

No email address lists to maintain - users sub/unsubscribe

Avoids the email glut, and the BW/network performance hit!


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The Broadcast options are similar to the email distribution. You have several choices:

1 - Deploy via KM Favorites 4 - Deploy via the BW Showcase role

2 - Deploy via a KM Folder 5 - Deploy via a custom iViews that you define

3 - Deploy Via Collaboration


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Using BEx Broadcaster to send items to the Portal

You can broadcast the content to the portal at fixed intervals and have the contentinstantly available through independent web pages. You can also broadcast to the

portal through links back to your system

There is a demo role available in SAP Enterprise Portal version 6.0. You can use

thi s role for your publi shing to the portal or enhance it anyway you like.

The role is avai lable undercom.sap.ip.bi.business_explorer_showcase


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Sending items to a KM folder, Content directory or iView in the Portal

KM Folders and Portal roles appears as

targets within the Broadcast Wizard and Bex

Broadcaster...

You broadcast the content to a personal

portfolio of a user, or a portfolio shared by a

set of users i.e. knowledge management

folders.

You can see all KM folders and broadcast

directly to any of them.

Users can subscribe to the broadcasts and be

notified when the content is updated:


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Deploy Via the BW Showcase Role

You dont have to go

through KM orCollaboration...

Use the special SAP BW

Showcase Role

com.sap.ip.bi.business

_explorer_showcase

You can use this role for

your publishing to theportal or enhance it

anyway you like.


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What Well Cover

Overview






Wrap up


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Why is Broadcasting so all encompassing?

BW is an integrated

decision support

system with a high

degree of flexibility.

Therefore the

broadcaster has to

function for a varietyof purposes and for a

diverse audience.

Today, broadcaster

supports everythingfor portals, PDAs,

alerts and email to

caching and

Knowledge

Management.


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Bex Broadcaster

Bex Broadcast

Wizard

Broadcast Process Flow Three Key Avenues

Job added toSAP BW JobScheduling

Broadcastsent immediately

to the Portalor Email

Broadcastregistered

with BW Alerting

Portal

Collaboration RoomPortal KM Folder

Email

Recipients

Broadcasttools

Broadcastengine

Broadcasttargets

Event triggersfor broadcasts

One-time, immediatebroadcasts

ScheduledBroadcasts

1 2 3

S it d E ti


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Security and Encryption

Controlling who can schedule ad-hoc, or through the BEx Broadcaster is a

critical maintenance issue. You can control the user's ability to schedule the

reports, through the new authorization object S_RS_BCS (the administrator stilluses the standard S_RS_ADMWB object).

You also have new broadcast settings for the RSADMWBOBJ field. These

settings include: Maintain/Delete (23), Display (03) and Execute/Schedule (16).

Activate Secured Socket Layer (SSL) 2.0 or

higher in your browser and use HTTPS as a

protocol for you browsers to encrypt and secure

your web content. This is not an SAP function,

but standard M icrosoft browser web options.

P h i d Ti i t


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Process chains and Timepoints

You can also assign broadcast event to process chains. First you create a variantwith and assign it to the infocube. The event in the process chain will trigger the

broadcast event.

Creating timepointsBackground jobs can be created (transaction SM36) to schedule any jobs startingwith the text "TP_BROADCASTING_". This is to allow users to broadcast at certain

time points. Under SM36 start the condition,select the date and time when the job starts,select the periodic flag and defineit as hourly, daily, weekly, monthlyor other.

Timepoints contr ols when end users can

schedule broadcasts. This is used to avoid heavy

schedul ing dur ing data loads or times when

many users are accessing the systems.

C ti Ti i t


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Creating Timepoints

Creating timepointsBackground jobs can be created (transaction SM36) to schedule any jobs starting

with the text "TP_BROADCASTING_".

Creating Timepoints


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Creating Timepoints

Broadcasting using the Reporting Agent to external applications


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Broadcasting using the Reporting Agent to external applications

You can also use the traditional reporting agent to mail pre-calculated reports to avariety of targets including 3rd party portals such as Plumtree.

Workbook pre calculation what do you need?


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Workbook pre-calculation - what do you need?

Use transaction RSPRECADMIN in the BW administrator workbench to

get to the pre-calculation settings. You also need one server with:

1. MS-Office XP (or .net framework version 1.1 or higher)

2. MS-Excel-2000 (or higher)

3. SAP BW workbook pre-calculation services (on standard BW install

CDs). Note: servers with this installed will be visible under the transaction 'RSPRECADMIN' andyou can also perform server load balancing.

4. GUI v. 6.20 with BEx (or higher)

This is not needed for standard

broadcasting of web queries or web

appli cations, only for workbooks.

Cool programs for Managing Broadcaster


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Cool programs for Managing Broadcaster

There are some programs that can help you manage the SAP BEx

Broadcaster :

RSRD_BOOKMARK_REORGANISATION is a program which can be used

for reorganizing and deleting bookmark IDs and view IDs that werecreated for Information Broadcasting by the system and are no longer

needed.

RSBCSRE03 - Deleting email logs created by broadcaster.

I n large BW systems with many users and frequent

broadcasts, the logs can be really big and should be

deleted per iodical ly

Transaction codes for Managing Broadcaster


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Transaction codes for Managing Broadcaster

You also have transaction codes for helping you debug and monitor the

logs in SAP BEx Broadcaster:

Transaction Codes

RSRD_LOG - This displays all logs for BEx Broadcaster settings. Logs

are only written for scheduled settings and not for settings executed

directly.

RSRD_START - Using transaction RSRD_START, you can execute (and

therefore debug for test purposes) any settings. Make sure that the

indicator for executing settings online is activated.

P t l I t ti I


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Portal Integration - Issues

If you broadcast to your own web "report center" that users can acess form the portal, the

portal takes control of the pages hosted by BW. This prohibits interaction between

pages contained within the frameset by changing the document.domain property of thelaunched page

Understanding Try/Catch :

http://www.devguru.com/Technologies/ecmascript/quickref/try...catch.html

More on Cross Frame Scripting With IE :http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/om/xframe_scripting_security.asp

The SolutionMust be addressed on the

frameset page

Place this function in theframeset ONLOAD event

Soultion by David Cole

Wh t W ll C


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What Well Cover

Overview






Wrap up

D idi Wh Sh ld B All d t D Wh t G i C il


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Deciding Who Should Be Allowed to Do What - Governing Council

Powerusers

Regularusers

Authors DevelopersBW

Admins

PortalEmail

Process Chains

Schedule usingpre-set timepoints

Free schedule

One-time

Bex BroadcasterBex Wizard

Scheduling

Tools

Target

- /

- /

-

-

- - -

-

- /

There are many options and decisions to be made on who should be able to access

all the Broadcast features. A good approach to decide how gets access and also

when to create any timepoints is to create a Governing Council of a few managersand developers

Spam filters and server blockers


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Spam filters and server blockers

Users that create a high volume of emails may be automatically blocked by spam filters inthe browsers and mail servers. You will have to make sure that the internal email systemhave flagged you as a valid email broadcaster.

Review regularly that mai l systems such as Yahoo, Google, AOL,

M icrosoft and others have not f lagged al l your emails as spam.

Management of Timepoints


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Management of Timepoints

Be careful to not add all your broadcasts

to the end of process chains. Large

systems with hundreds of infocubes maybe 'bogged down' with lengthy process

chains that slows down the whole load

processing.

Good timepoints may be 6-8 am when

the load jobs are finished and before a

large numbers of users accesses the

system.

The key is to balance the times when jobs can be executed. If this is not carefully,

all users tends to schedule their broadcast between 7 and 9 am each morning.

Another good time may be at the end of weekly, or monthly loads on theweekend (i.e. Saturday or Sunday mornings).

Avoiding Volumes of Junk


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Avoiding Volumes of Junk

Users have a tendency to schedule queries for distribution and never disable the

schedule after it has started to run. This creates mountains of junk that few actually

use.

Users who don't want a broadcast tends to simply

delete it, or create a program/agent that automatically

removes the email.

So, how do you know if anyone reads the broadcasts?

A process to review and control internal "spam-kings'

have to be established. Hint: use the transaction codes

'SCOT' and 'SOST' to monitored SMTP mails.

A periodic review of scheduled broadcasts

should be performed by the developers to see

if there are any candidates for deletion.

Push Vs Pull - Change in Mentality


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Push Vs. Pull - Change in Mentality

Users have a to change their mentality to stop reviewing everything that is

'business as usual'. The Push mentality requires that users plan for what is

important to them and set up fixed sets of reports that are used to manage thebusiness.

In general the push approach reduces the time users spend looking for

information and provides them with more time to examine data that really

matter to them.

You should carefully consider using the BEx Broadcaster for the core reporting

that is done through any handheld computer devise. This will simplify the

security setup and also increase the speed of any report (will be viewed on thedevice instead of accessing back to the source system through limited

bandwidth).

Casual users and executives are prime

candidates for broadcasted reports


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Exception Reporting Demo


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Exception Reporting Demo

What Well Cover


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What We ll Cover

Overview






Wrap up

"Sneak peek" at Broadcaster in BI 7 0


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Sneak peek at Broadcaster in BI 7.0

New Object Types Query Views

Formatted Reports

New Distribution Types Master Data based broadcasting- Broadcast

to recipients derived from BW master data

and optionally adapt the output format foreach recipient

Exception broadcasting - Create Alertsettings based on defined exceptions

Integration into SAP Alert Framework & UWL

New Output Options Printers PDF Files Cache

Source: SAP AG

7 points to take home


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7 points to take home

1. Do not schedule all your broadcasts after a process chain has completed. Itis tempting but may slow down nightly data loads.

2. Control the times users can run reports to avoid too high stress on thesystem.

3. Segment the broadcast tools based on the user roles and level of training.

4. Monitor the logs carefully and make sure that "spam-kings" are controlled.

5. Do not give free scheduling to a high number of users.

6. Be aware that spam filters may catch many of your broadcasts.

7. Broadcasting to a portal simplifies the distribution, but be careful with linksto workbooks.

Resources


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Resources

SAP Developer Network

"New BI Capabilities in SAP NetWeaver" Version 2.0, June 30, 2005

Broadcasting with SAP NetWeaver '04, Eric Schemer, Glenn Leslie

and Oliver Mayer -- TechEd 2004.

Information Broadcaster with SAP BW, Katie Beavers,https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/servlet/prt/portal/prtroot/com.sap.km.cm.docs/library/events/asug-biti-

03/Information%20Broadcasting%20with%20SAP%20BW

BW Expert (bwexpertonline.com)BEx Information Broadcasting in SAP BW 3.5 Puts Users Front

and Center, Glenn Leslie, August 2005

Your Turn!


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Your Turn!

Dr. Bjarne [email protected]

Questions?

Broadcaster v15

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Transcript of Broadcaster v15