I really have a love/hate relationship with the new Information Design Tool (IDT). While I do enjoy the Eclipse-based interface, the multi-panel view of universes, folders, and repositories, and more, there are certainly still the “first-major-version” woes like those that my buddy Dallas points out over at his blog. But one topic that I actually still grapple with, is in how I organize my workspace, because this topic can impact not just me, but also my extended development team.
Author: EV Technologies
Migrating Imported Groups between BusinessObjects Instances
If you just thought that migrating groups is not a problem since I only have one instance, then shame on you, but that is a topic for another day. Assuming you do have separate CMS’s for Development, Test, and Production, in an idea world you would set up your security in your development instance, test to make sure it works and them migrate those setting through test and into production. Unfortunately using an external authentication group prevents you migrating your groups. This is because when migrating an object between SAP BusinessObjects instance the Cluster Unique Identifier (CUID) is used. When using external groups you cannot migrate them you have to import them into each instance. This causes the same group to have a different CUID in each instance. This means that as far as SAP BusinessObjects is concerned they are not the same group.
What is the Remote Support Component?
If you’ve been an administrator of Business Objects Enterprise for a while like we have, then there are a few big questions you regularly get asked and until now have had no good answers for.
What’s going on inside of Business Objects when I run a report? Which step in the process is taking so long?
How do I know when something bad is lurking in there?
BI4 Common Semantic Layer – Our Hero?
I’m intrigued by some things I’m seeing in the community about the new Common Semantic Layer (CSL) vs. the BICS Connector in SAP BusinesssObjects BI4. Disclaimer: I am not writing to call out anyone, indicate inaccuracy in statements/tweets, etc. I just get a vibe that the CSL is not getting the love that it should. I feel compelled to warn that this is a pretty opinionated post. I generally like to stick to technical blogs, but do believe there is some value in pondering both sides of the fence in building content in SAP BusinessObjects BI4.
Using Real-Time Analytics to make the Pudge Budge
I find myself in a situation where I need to drop a few pounds. Common thoughts for this time of year, but I’m taking a different approach this time and want to blog about my experience.
Enforcing HTTPS for Secure SAP BusinessObjects BI4
Many organizations just deploy SAP BusinessObjects without a thought for securing HTTP traffic or intra-server communication. But what you probably didn’t realize is basic packet sniffing tools can allow nefarious individuals within your own walls to watch those little packets of bytes fly by with Windows AD, LDAP, or SAP Authentication tokens included within them. So what is the probability that other, mission critical applications within your organization use those same authentication tokens? High. Very high. So what is an administrator to do? Let’s dissect.
BI4 Launch Pad Default Preferences
BI4 has given administrators something they have been asking for for years: the ability to set the Default User Preferences.
Unfortunately its not the complete list of all the user preferences, but it is a good start including some of the major pain points administrators have to deal with:
- Start page customizations
- Columns displayed in Documents tab
- Document viewing location
- Maximum Number of rows to display (Yeah)
BI4 is a Big Baby
Anybody that has been in the BusinessObjects Admin area of expertise for a long time knows that with each upgrade, the platform requirements get bigger and more substantial. The new BI4 is no exception. While that is the underpinnings of this post, what I really want to hit on is the role that virtualization will or will not play in the future of BI4.
End of the Road for Dashboards?
@ca_nicholls threw out an interesting tweet on August 1:
In memory capability will make dashboards obsolete, statement just made by SAP CEO Aus & NZ. Do you agree? I don’t.
This tweet has certainly piqued the interest of more than just a few at this point. It’s a pretty bold statement. Could it be a misquote? It’s possible. I definitely do not mean to discredit or disrespect @ca_nicholls in any way by that question, but let’s consider that he got it spot on…
For the record…I don’t think dashboards are going anywhere, but let’s talk about it.
Migrating a UNV to a UNX Universe
I’ve been having a lot of fun with the new Information Design Tool in the SAP BusinessObjects BI4 platform. While I am working on something new and cool, I took a brief tangent to take an old universe to the next level….a UNX based universe in BI4.
This is a learning experience. For whatever reason, my brain is wired to try first, read later. Maybe I’m not alone. In this case, I’m going to walk you through my first exposure to migrating a UNV into the UNX format.