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© 2010 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved. Crystal Dashboard Builder, Web application designer, or SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Dr. Berg Comerit Inc.

2 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.

3 What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes SAP Web Application Designer Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes Lessons Learned and Limitations Wrap-up

4 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.. The SAP NetWeaver Legacy Toolset

5 The Big-Picture… 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. With the merger between SAP and Business Objects, we got access to new 'best-of-breed' tools.

6 What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes SAP Web Application Designer Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes Lessons Learned and Limitations Wrap-up

7 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 There are Two 'versions' of Visual Composer (VC)

It is a browser- based modeling and design tool for rapid application development and prototyping in a code-free development environment SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data

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

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) Our Target Dashboard

Visual Composer - Building a Complete Dashboard

12 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)

External Web services such as , stock quotes, news services, and weather maps can also be integrated into your SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer cockpit. External 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. External Data Providers — Web Services

15 What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes SAP Web Application Designer Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes Lessons Learned and Limitations Wrap-up

16 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.

Crystal Dashboard Builder- The basics and options

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

Start with a blank template. Focus on graphs, layout, measures & navigation. Here is an example of a layout template Where to you start?

21 What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes SAP Web Application Designer Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes Lessons Learned and Limitations Wrap-up

22 BEx Web Application Designer (WAD) OLAP Processor BEx Web Application Designer BEx Analyzer/ Query Designer Web Service Charting Engine Web Browser HTLM Templates InfoProvider WAD is an intuitive tool to build powerful web applications and to interact with portals and custom templates. BW queries can be manipulated in WAD for better display

23 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)

24 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.

Web Application Designer (WAD) - The Basics and Options

26 What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes SAP Web Application Designer Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes Lessons Learned and Limitations Wrap-up

Notice that DF Facade and Data federator are separate products that are currently licensed separately from the SAP BW licenses. SAP BusinessObjects Integration Options - New BICS connector!! 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.

29 What We’ll Cover … Introduction SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes SAP Crystal Dashboard Builder Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 7 minutes SAP Web Application Designer Overview  Demo – A cockpit in 8 minutes Lessons Learned and Limitations Wrap-up

30 Resources  SDN Xcelsius Sample Dashboards   SDN Business Objects Community and blogs  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  8a4d217b19c1?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true

31 7 Key Points to Take Home 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).

32 Your Turn! How to contact me: Dr. Berg

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