© 2008 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved. Building Cockpits and Dashboards: Shortcuts, Design Best Practices, and Guidelines to Ensure You Pick the Right SAP NetWeaver BI Tool for the Job Dr. Bjarne Berg MyITgroup – a VIP Company Bjarne: I’ve removed your job title from this slide, since we no longer allow those on the session title slides. Also, last year we showed your company as MyITgroup Ltd. – should it be that way this year? BERG: no, we are part of VIP now

What We’ll Cover … Background, terminology, and examples Tool options What makes a good cockpit? Which tool is right for me? Wrap-up 2

Background and Terminology Many companies and people confuse the concepts of dashboards, scorecards, and cockpits. They vary in terms of purpose, usage, source, data, etc. Most BI systems fall in to the cockpits category 3 These are typical parameters, and some may be slightly different (e.g., some metrics in a cockpit may only be updated monthly). However, such deviations should be exceptions. Bjarne Berg 2008

Typical Components of a Cockpit: SEM Example Higher- level navigation between views External data Graphical displays 4 Comparative/ benchmarking Logical grouping of similar information

SEM Management Cockpit Illustrate best practices, benchmarks, or target performance Customized navigation menus and buttons 5

Represents the same data in several ways to highlight trends and to also provide transaction details Add number lists Each frame can have internal navigation SAP NetWeaver ® Visual Composer Management Cockpit 6

Link more documentation Central navigation can change multiple views Make multiple measures available Source: SAP AG, 2005 Navigations Linked to Multiple Views 7

What We’ll Cover … Background, terminology, and examples Tool options What makes a good cockpit? Which tool is right for me? Wrap-up 8

Tool Options SEM Corporate Performance Monitor (CPM) Web Application Designer (Web AD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Publishing to the portal Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK) Third-party cockpits 9

Strategy Management and Performance Measurement — CPM The presentation layer in SAP Management cockpits has four layers: Cockpit High-level overview (consists of walls) Wall A logical grouping of measures Logical view The display level of the cockpit; consists of frames Frame Lowest level of individual measure display 10 These presentation layer objects are already Web- enabled and integrated with the Portal. They also provide built-in drill-downs and navigation, based on how you constructed your measures.

What is SEM–CPM? The Corporate Performance Monitor (SEM-CPM) is part of the Strategic Enterprise Management BI tool suite. It consists of the Performance Measurement (PM) area and the Strategy Management (SM) area. The Performance Management area consists of four distinct areas : 1. Management Cockpit 2. Measure Builder 3. Benchmarking 4. Delivery of business content The Strategy Management area also consists of four areas: 1. Balanced Scorecard 2. Strategy modeling 3. Value Driver Tree 4. Risk Management 11 Source: J. Lombard, 2006

SEM – CPM Walls Walls are the highest level of the SEM-CPM Cockpit. Research has shown that more than 7 walls are hard to read and comprehend. Ideal numbers are 3, 5 or Major consideration! Humans have a hard time remembering, organizing, and retaining information that is asymmetrical. This is true for hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, and smelling. Read more about the cognitive revolution and the article that started it all: Newell and Simon “The magic number 7” (1956) Bjarne: Didn’t you and I go through an extensive discussion regarding the citation below last year? I’ll try to look up any info I have on it … BERG: Yes, and this was the update I believe…

Rules for Graphs and Real Estate Try to avoid empty spaces, but don’t force unrelated measures into the cockpit — it confuses users Don’t use as many types of graphs as possible, and never mix more than 3 types of graphs. If you use more, users have to interpret the pictures as well as the data. Missing data points add irritation 13

Rules for Graphs and Real Estate (cont.) There is nothing wrong with using the same type of graphs on a cockpit (e.g., tachometers or line charts). Users adapt quickly and can absorb the information faster. 14 Bjarne: This slide’s title calls out SEM-CPM Rules, and the previous does not. Which way do you prefer? BERG: Fixed

Tool Options SEM CPM Web Application Designer (Web AD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Publishing to the portal Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK) Third-party cockpits 15

Cockpits with Web AD 3.x and SAP NetWeaver Web Application Designer (WAD; AD) can create Web-based cockpits using BW query data Bjarne: : Does “BW” in this slide reference the SAP BW product in particular, BI products in general, SAP NetWeaver BI, or some other? And if some either, which one? BERG: See heading (any version of 3.x)

Cockpits with SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Web AD New items include improved tab strip container in SAP NetWeaver 7.0 for designing BI Web applications 17 Reduces the amount of custom coding required with the help of Command wizards, Auto complete, and support for HTML tags

SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Web AD New Features Web Items: Tab Pages, Button, Script Item (SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Support Package Stack 7) Drag and drop using Analysis item New chart types (heat map, Gantt, milestone trend analysis) Export BI Web applications in PDF format Command Wizard for generating Web API commands Integration with SAP NetWeaver 7.0 BEx Report Designer for formatted reports 18

BI Web API Commands You can use BI Web API commands for carrying out certain actions in BI Web Applications  Export to Excel, PDF, etc.  OLAP functions: Apply Filter values, remove drill downs Command Wizards guide you through the steps for creating a BI Web API command Commands appear together for easy access  Data Provider  Web Items  Web Templates 19 Web cockpits developed by Web AD in SAP NetWeaver 7.0 can be interactive, include many data sources, and be very flexible

Command Wizard and JavaScript Use Command Wizard for generating JavaScript code for the Script Item to use in custom cockpit applications 20 This is a great feature for building custom features into your cockpits based on standard JavaScript

More New Cockpit Options Personalize BI query variables Bookmark the navigational state of the BI Web application Perform multidimensional analysis of BI query data Allow users to create exceptions and conditions for BI query data 21 These features make it easier to customize the dataset that queries return to the Web cockpit

Web AD Cockpits in SAP Enterprise Portal Directly publish BI Web cockpits to Portal Content Catalog using the Publish option from Web AD 22 Portal and BI system connection should be set up per SAP Note

Broadcast Cockpit Views Using Web AD In SAP NetWeaver 7.0, use Information Broadcaster to broadcast BI Web applications (e.g., cockpit views) to Enterprise Portal knowledge management (KM) folders and via in various formats (PDF, MHTML, HTML) Information Broadcaster/Reporting Agent (SAP BW 3.x) can precalculate BI Web applications to enhance performance 23

Tool Options SEM CPM Web Application Designer (Web AD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Publishing to the portal Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK) Third-party cockpits 24

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

Visual Composer is Easy for Power Users to Learn Visual Composer is a power user tool that is simple to learn for someone with a little bit of technical background (i.e. controllers, report writers, analysts). 26 Source: SAP Source: MyITgroup Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages No coding required to create great-looking Web-based cockpits

27 Modeling of BI applications using the BI kit of the Visual Composer allows business users to create analytical content for SAP portal. It offers the integration with BI InfoProviders, views, BEx web applications, PDF and more via Web API as access to other data sources such as OLAP and relational data sources) via Java connectors Image source: Cubeserv Visual Composer for Complex cockpits

SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer DataProviders You can use BI queries and views as DataProviders for SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models You also can use BI query functionalities for exceptions and variables along with SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer models 28 SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer allows access to BI history, favorites, and roles

Visual Composer Data Methods Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model Different options available for data access include:  BI Extension Kit  Remote Function Call (RFC)  Web services BI Extension Kit allows access to the following DataSources  SAP NetWeaver 2004 BI (BW 3.5 Support Package 14)  SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0  JDBC  XMLA 29

Details about Visual Composer Cockpits Delivered as part of Enterprise Portal in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 (SPS8 and higher) Different options available for rendering Visual Composer output  Flash  Web Dynpro (HTML) Flash provides high-end visualization of Visual Composer models 30 Since a cockpit may have many different DataSources (queries), it can take quite some time to execute them if the memory cache is not used consistently

Web AD and SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer integrates with Web AD-based applications using Portal Eventing Framework For example, BW Web API can pass a filter value from a BEx Web application to SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer  And vice versa 31

The future of Visual Composer SAP July, 2008: Composition Environment including Visual Composer continues to be the go-to product for creating composite applications. 32 Source: SAP, July 2008

Tool Options SEM CPM Web Application Designer (Web AD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Publishing to the portal Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK) Third-party cockpits 33

Web Cockpit in the Portal Integrate queries and Web applications into the portal through publishing, broadcasting, or Web calls The portal can either receive designed pages passively or actively create communities, Web pages, collaboration rooms, or cockpits 34 Broadcasting Publishing

Web Cockpit in the Portal (cont.) The SEM-CPM cockpits are already part of the portal, so you can access them there iViews can build custom portal cockpits with iViews from many data sources (Web AD, BW, SEM, SAP R/3, Web) and in many formats (graphs, pictures, figures, tables) iViews can also be interactive 35

SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Visual Composer Portal Publishing SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Design time deploys Visual Composer models directly as iViews to Portal Content Catalog You can then use Visual Composer iViews in portal pages, roles, etc. 36

Building a Web Cockpit in the Portal 37 The trick in developing custom Web cockpits in the portal is to manage the real estate carefully Most pure iView-based cockpits are cluttered and hard to read and navigate 1. Start with logical groupings of items (sales, finance, e.g.) 2. Limit colors to complementary formats (we will look at these later) 3.Share the same navigation menus and tabs as the portal 4. Avoid running text, flashes, animations, layering and scrolling text (this is an absolute no-no)

Tool Options SEM CPM Web Application Designer (Web AD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Publishing to the portal Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK) Third-party cockpits 38

BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits BI Java SDK can be used for custom applications based on SAP BI and non-SAP data. BI Java SDK provides access to relational and OLAP data sources using JDBC, XMLA, OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO), etc. Access to 200+ data sources using the JDBC drivers. 39 Source: SAP AG, 2005 Java programmers will recognize the Software Development Kit (SDK) main libraries such as the abstract windowing toolkit (AWT) and the GUI-oriented Swing object library as well

BI Java SDK-Based Cockpits (cont.) SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio can develop BI Java SDK-based applications Can be used along with SAP Java Web Dynpro 40 Interested developers should familiarize themselves with SAP NetWeaver Developer Studio

Tool Options SEM CPM Web Application Designer (Web AD) SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer Publishing to the portal Custom cockpits (BI Java SDK) Third-party cockpits 41

Third-Party Cockpits Some best-of-breed cockpit tools incorporate SAP BI as part of a Web item provider, or more commonly through BW queries fed by BAPIs or OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO) in BW Some even provide separate Multidimensional Online Analytical Processing (MOLAP) solutions tightly connected to SAP BW  Hint: reading RS_ tables inside BW 42 Microsoft Cognos

Third-Party Cockpits (cont.) Other BI and cockpit companies, such as Corda, are actively working on creating cockpit tools for SAP NetWeaver BI 43

2. External access to information is more common. Vendors and customers love it! 3. You can build war rooms for collaborative decision making using cockpits 1. Shared cockpits are most useful 4. Cockpits require a true BI infrastructure. It is tempting to jump straight to the cockpit development, but it is almost impossible without a well-architected BW system to support it. War Rooms and External Access 44

A Good Cockpit Is Simple The majority of usage of cockpits is in user segments 1 and 5. You should use BI queries and OLAP for the other segments. Segment 1: Trackers - 37% Tracking - Characterized by low duration overall. Segment 2: Reservers - 3% Low duration per page view. Segment 3: Uncommitted - 10% Characterized by long duration. Complex decisions. Segment 4: Info Gatherers - 4% Concentrated in information areas. Rarely reach transaction areas. Segment 5: Single-clickers - 32% Visit homepage only. Segment 6: Wanderers - 15% Very few, very random pages. Few hits, but long duration per page view. Example source: Dr. Paul Strupp, Sun Microsystems The average manager navigates in no more than 7 dimensions and only 2 levels deep (49 views). Therefore, the majority of users of cockpits need a few, simple, but highly informative, views. The other user community is best served by OLAP queries. 45

The Need for Speed When cockpits bring together data from many sources during runtime, it can be slow and cumbersome  This is because when your system accesses the portal cockpit, it may have to execute supporting cockpit queries Solution: You can present static images (i.e., static HTML from BEx Broadcaster into a portal iView) or you can cache queries results by using BEx Broadcaster in SAP NetWeaver

The Need for Speed (cont.) SAP NetWeaver 7.0 allows you to fill the resident memory of your server with pre-run results (cache). This provides faster response to the users, since the query result sets are accessed from memory instead of re-executed on the database side. 47 SAP NetWeaver 7.0 IMPORTANT: Old Reporting Agent scenarios still run in SAP NetWeaver 7.0. However, Reporting Agent will not be developed further and is removed from SAP NetWeaver 7.0 Workbench. In SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 you can only reach it by transaction code REPORTING_AGENT SAP BW 3.5

The Need for Speed – SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator The SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator makes query response time 50–10,000 faster You use process chains to maintain the High Performance Analytics (HPA) engine after each data load 48 HP, Sun and IBM have standard solutions ranging from $32K to $250K+ (+ SAP license fees) that can be installed and tested in as little as 2–4 weeks SAP BW Any tool Breaking news : 32 Gb Blades are now certified by SAP (July 2008)

What We’ll Cover … Background, terminology, and examples Tool options What makes a good cockpit? Which tool is right for me? Wrap-up 49

What SAP Tool Should I Use? 50 BW 3.x Web AD SAP Net- Weaver 2004s Web AD SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer SAP SEM- CPM Third- party cockpits Java SDK tools Portal iViews Multidimensional Analysis (full) ---- Portal integration - Information Broadcaster Formatted reporting Graphical options (delivered) - - Automatic code generation SAP integration Direct support for non-BW data Simplicity to use and learn There are many options and sometimes the choice is based on what you are familiar with and whether you enjoy using new tools Bjarne: What’s the significance of the green versus the yellow cells? BERG: Yes, (not the greatest support)….

New Tools Roadmap 51 Source SAP AG, June 2008

Business Objects Capabilities — Dashboards and Reports 52 Crystal Reports for pixel-formatted reports has been available with SAP BW and SAP NetWeaver BI since This tool can be integrated into your tool portfolio using existing SAP NetWeaver BI queries (NOTE: Crystal Reports and Crystal Report for SAP NetWeaver BI (Crystal Light) will be the core tools for formatted reports starting 2010) Dashboards can be built using Xcelsius. Xcelsius+ will be launched in 2009, and will be “the flagship product for data visualization & dashboards” BEx Web Application Designer will not be enhanced further beyond SAP NetWeaver Release 7.1 in Source SAP AG, June 2008 Bjarne: I believe this is a copy of the slide also used in one of your other session – I have the same question: Is the animation here what you intended? BERG: No

What We’ll Cover … Background, terminology, and examples Tool options What makes a good cockpit? Which tool is right for me? Wrap-up 53

Resources Dr. Bjarne Berg's Web page: 85+ presentations, tutorials, and articles  SAP Online Help: BW and EP Integration  66fe a114084/content.htm SDN BW How to Guides - How to integrate Visual Composer Applications and BEx Web Templates  y/uuid/ad182ac7-0a fb8-8a4d217b19c1 54

Resources (cont.) BW Expert (  “Create Unparalleled Analytical Applications with SAP NetWeaver BI, Visual Composer, and Macromedia Flex” by Moya Watson and Judy Kestecher, SAP Labs, January 2006 * Requires appropriate credentials to access view full article text 55

7 Key Points to Take Home There are many ways to build Web cockpits and SAP has tools for them all Look at in-house Web skills before you decide on the tool SAP Performance Management is a great tool for those with limited Web skills, but requires consistency in performance measures (roll-ups) and structured navigation SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer is great for complex graphing Web AD is the tool of choice by experienced Web programmers who want total design freedom 56

7 Key Points to Take Home (cont.) Third-party tools for Web cockpits are emerging and some are quite advanced (Cognos, e.g.) While all these tools give you a great deal of flexibility, it is the use of the real estate, colors, graphs, and consistency that is going to determine if your cockpit is successful: Spend serious time designing instead of coding! 57

Your Turn! 58 How to contact me: Dr. Bjarne Berg

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