SAP BO Business Intelligence Platform 4.0
BI LaunchPad
Overview, User Features and Improved Usability
Carmelo Riso
Confidential
Lesson Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
©

Describe changes to product names

Describe the new features and capabilities in BI launch pad 4.0

Updated layout

Repository browsing

Viewing content

New actions in 4.0

Search

Explain which features are deprecated or no longer supported
2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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2
AGENDA
1. Introduction to BI launch pad
2. What is new in the 4.0 release
4. Updated Layout
5. Documents Tab
6. Viewing Content
7. New Actions
8. Search
9. Deprecated and unsupported features
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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3
Product Name Changes
Dashboards,
Data Exploration
BI LAUNCH PAD
Formerly known
as InfoView
Reporting,
Analysis
Other
BI LAUNCH PAD

Search and browse BI content

Manage and share your documents,
dashboards and BI workspaces

Launch your BI tools
(Web Intelligence, Analysis)
BI WORKSPACES
BI WORKSPACES
Formerly known
as Dashboard Builder

Organize (content layout)
Points to remember
 BI launch pad is the new name for InfoView.
 BI workspaces is the new name for Dashboard Builder.
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What is new in BI 4.0 : End User Improvements
Bringing important
information forward

New welcome page gives
users easy access to the
most common features.

Quick access to BI
applications and search.

Recently viewed reports,
alerts notifications,
scheduled documents and
more.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Navigation improvements

Tab-based interface allows
several documents to be
open at the same time.

Pinning feature to keep
document open as a
permanent tab.

Easier to manage scheduled
reports
New layout with more screen
real estate and modal dialogs.

Home tab shows you the list of
documents
you
have
scheduled and run (last run
including status).

Auto refresh of History page.

Errors preview.
Easier to
find information

New enhanced Search.

Search by all document
attributes including content
search.

Facetted navigation on search
results makes it easier to filter
and refine results.
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What is new in BI 4.0 : Administration Improvements

Role based personalization
 General preferences management from
the CMC.
 Home page customization and
assignment per user role.

Application customization
 Customization can be done via
properties file (these will not be
overwritten).

Simplified deployment
 One .war file only.
 Integration of add-ons and patches.
 Improved session management.
 Multilingual and auditing.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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AGENDA
1. Introduction to BI launch pad
2. What is new in the 4.0 release
3. Updated Layout
4. Documents Tab
5. Viewing Content
6. New Actions
7. Search
8. Deprecated and unsupported features
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Updated Layout
Default Home tab provides
relevant information to the
user.
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Updated Layout
My Recently Viewed
Documents lists the last 10
documents that you have
viewed.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Updated Layout
Unread Messages in My Inbox
lists the last 10 unread objects in
your BI Inbox.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Updated Layout
My Recently Run Documents
lists the status of your last 10
completed schedule jobs.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Updated Layout
Unread Alerts lists the last 10
triggered alerts that you have
subscribed to.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Updated Layout
My Applications lists the
applications that you have
access to from within BI
launch pad.
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Documents Tab : Browsing the Repository
Quickly switch between
My Documents,
My Documents,
Folders,
Categories
Folders, Categories
and Search
and
(results).
Search.
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Documents Tab : Filtering on Columns
On mouse over of the
column header the
Filtering icon displays.
Enter the criteria
to filter the
column.
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Documents Tab : Filtering on Columns
Onthe
mouse
After adding
filterover of the
column header
the
the icon is updated
to
Filtering
reflect that
a filter icon
is displays.
applied to the column.
The listing is updated
to reflect the filter
applied.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Enter the criteria
to filter the
column.
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Documents Tab : Filtering on Columns
Onthe
mouse
After adding
filter over of the
columntoheader the
the icon is updated
reflect thatFiltering
a filter isicon displays.
applied to the column.
The listing is updated
to reflect the filter
applied.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Select the Clear Filter
checkbox to remove
the column
filtering.
Enter
the criteria
to filter the
column.
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Viewing Content : Default Action (Double–Click Action)
What is the default (double-click) action?
This is the action that is launched by default when you select and double-click an
object from the listing in the Documents tab.
Why was this added?
 So users will always see an action displayed.
 To avoid confusion.
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Viewing Content : Default Action (Double–Click Action)
What is displayed when you use the default action?
• Schedulable objects:
 Open in a new tab as follows :
 View – open the report in View mode
 View on demand if user has rights to view on demand
 Show saved data if no access to view on demand
 Display the report template
Documents are
opened for viewing
in a new tab (by
default)
Date and
timestamp is
displayed
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Viewing Content : Pinning Content in Tabs
Pin tabs so that they
remain open during next
session
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Viewing Content : Open in a new window
To provide a bigger viewing
area, content in the tab can be
opened for viewing in a
separate browser window.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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AGENDA
1. Updated Layout
2. Documents Tab
3. Viewing Content
4. New Actions
5. Search
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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New Actions in 4.0 : Execute Actions While Viewing
While you are viewing a
report ,other actions are
available such as Open,
Send To, Schedule * ,
History and Create Shortcut
in My Favorites
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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New Actions in 4.0 : Document Link Action
The new Document Link
action allows you to quickly
generate a link for the current
document to share with
others.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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New Actions in 4.0 : Add to Favorites Action
Create a shortcut in
your Favorites folder for
any object
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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New Actions in 4.0 : Delete All Messages (BI Inbox)
Quickly delete all messages
in your BI Inbox
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New Actions in 4.0 : History Page Enhancements
Auto refresh to
update the job
status
Improved
tooltips display
on the History
page
Right-click menu is
available to you in
the History page
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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27
AGENDA
1. Introduction to BI launch pad
2. What is new in the 4.0 release
3. Updated Layout
4. Documents Tab
5. Viewing Content
6. New Actions
7. Search
8. Deprecated and unsupported features
©
2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Confidential
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Search Improvements : Quick Search
Start typing text in the
search box and the top 6
matches are quickly
displayed.
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Search Improvements : Refining Results Using Facets
Facets and filters
related to your
search results
display in the
Search drawer in
the left navigation
pane.
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Search Improvements : Refining Results Using Facets
Facets that you
have applied
appear in the
Current Filters list.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Search Improvements : Refining Results Using Facets
The number displayed beside a
facet indicates the number of
matches
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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Deprecated Feature vs. Unsupported Feature
DEFINITION
A deprecated feature is a feature that is included in the product but is planned to be retired
(removed) in the next major release.
An unsupported feature is a feature that was included in previous versions of the product but
have been removed from this release and are no longer supported.
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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List of Deprecated Features
DEFINITION
A deprecated feature is a feature that is included in the product but is planned to be retired
(removed) in the next major release.
Feature Name
Recommended Alternative
Discussion Threads
No replacement available within BI launch pad. The
feature appears as disabled by default.
Opendocument parameters:
©
sIDType = GUID and sIDType = RUID
Use sIDType=ID or sIDType=CUID.
sKind
No replacement available
sType
Use sIDType=ID or sIDType=CUID
2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
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List of Unsupported Features
DEFINITION
An unsupported feature is a feature that was included in previous versions of the product but
have been removed from this release and are no longer supported.
Feature Name
Encyclopedia
Recommended Alternative
Use SAP BusinessObjects Metapedia.
MyInfoView and InfoView Page Layout
Use BI workspaces (formerly known as Dashboard
Builder)
Use Save As function to save instance as a new report
and then Edit report.
4.0 Search
There is no longer need to specify which attribute to
search by. 4.0 search integrates all of these into a single
search.
Editing of Web Intelligence report
instances (wrong workflow anyway)
Advanced Search
Search by:
• keywords
• title
• description
• all fields
Content Search
Contextual Search by Default
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Integrated into the 4.0 search.
4.0 Search performs a global search at all times.
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List of Unsupported Features
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Feature Name
User interface customization via the
InfoView Applications area of SAP
BusinessObjects BI suite Central
Management Console.
Customization in the web.xml file
Recommended Alternative
 Use a custom stylesheet to change visual styles.
 Use object rights to change or disable user interface
features.
sWindow parameter in Opendocument
 Use the HTML target attribute instead.
2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
 The modification of parameters contained in the
web.xml file is not supported.
 Customizable parameters have been moved to the
external.properties file.
 Customization done in the external.properties file
will not be overwritten when patches are applied to
the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise server.
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Appendix
BI Launch Pad Logs
How to turn on/off traces for the BI launch pad:



In the CMC, go to Applications > BI LaunchPad > Properties > Trace Logs Settings
You can choose the log level (unspecified, none, …, high)
Log files are generated in the following directory:
%HOMEDRIVE%/BOBJWebapp_InfoView_<IP address>_<WebApp port>/
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2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Confidential
38
Overview: Lesson Summary
After completing this lesson, you are now able to:
©

Describe changes to product names

Describe the new features and capabilities in BI launch pad 4.0

Use the updated layout

Use the repository browsing

Viewing content

New actions in 4.0

Know the new Search

Explain which features are deprecated or no longer supported
2011 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
Confidential
39
Thank You!