Olap Universe in BI 4.0

[Former Member]

Hi,

I wanted to know, is it possible to convert .unv OLAP universe to .unx using IDT in BI 4.0 because when i tried to do so, i got the error saying, "CONVERSION OF OLAP UNIVERSES IS NOT SUPPORTED".

I would also like to know the difference between IDT(Infoemation design Tool) and Universe Designer Tool in BI/BOBJ 4.0

Thanks and regards,

Abhishek

[PPaolo]

Hello,

about #3: in BI4.0 you do not need anymore a universe to connect a client tool (WebI, Crystal Reports Enterprise, Dashbaord, Explorer) to BW.

We provide a direct connection from the client tool: e.g. from WebI you select to create a new report and choose a BEx query as your source. The query panel will appear exactly as if you were creating a report on a universe.

Best regards

PPaolo

[Former Member]

I have a few questions along the same line:

1) Does Universe Designer exist solely for the backward compatability purpose? Sounds like it.

2) I see the problem with directly using a BEX query as a underlying data source without a universe. I can't hide any data elements which may be needed. Obviously, I won't be able to rename an data element anymore. Wouldn't that be inflexible? SAP has a such none-friendly data names, for instance, state is called region ....

[Former Member]

Also, I don't like the B04 migration path for BW universe, in fact, there is none. I'd have to update all reports to point to the new UNX, in order to take advantage of the BICS enhancements. Any suggestions?

[Henry_Banks]

Hi Alvin,

I entirely agree with you, and so does Joe Public.

Please take a moment to visit the 'Ideas Place' for WebI, where Enhancement Requests are 'voted up' to gain traction with Product Management: [https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/community/ideas/businessanalytics/sbowebi]

If you search for terms Webi BICS - you'll see a plethora of sentiment and great suggestions, for example:

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/ideas/5920

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/ideas/3839

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/ideas/5097

https://cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/ideas/4996

Please add you vote, or cast new ideas

Regards,

Henry

p.s. Hide can be done in the BEx query, or indeed in the WebI document itself. But alas, Business Security Profiles aren't possible for BICS connections.

[Former Member]

Hi Henry ,

Thanks for the answers. They surel;y did help.

I'm however still unclear on a few points.

1. In what scenario do we use a BAPI conneciton in IDT.

2. Universes can be created on both IDT(creating a foundation and then the business layer) and universe design tool(which is same as designer in 3.x). So i would like to know which one to use.

3. If i want to create a universe on an infocube in 4.0, then how do i do it?

Thanks and regards,

Abhishek

[Henry_Banks]

Hi,

1. you can't - BAPI is not there in IDT

2. if you are looking to the future, use IDT .. otherwise, it's like staying on XI 3.1 !

3. would shouldn't wish to - performance would suck . you really should read data through a BEx query. Unless you are using the tool Analysis-for-OLAP

Anyway, to answer your question: you would use the DataFederator query server engine, via the BW-SQL driver, in IDT.

You need to go to: Repository Resources (not local project) -> new Relational connections -> Multi Source Enabled -> BW SQL driver. Create your foundation, Generate a BusinessLayer -> universe.

Please note - this is not the same as MDX or BICS access, and by-passes the OLAP engine, and cannot consume BEx queries.

Regards,

H

[Henry_Banks]

Hi,

the warning message says it all - it's not supported.

you will have noticed by now that IDT does not provide the option of OLAP BAPI access to BW via the MDX interface.

the new paradigm is the BICS (jco) driver for OLAP connectivity to BW.

You need only maintain a BICS conection in IDT, and update the dataproviders of your migrated webi documents to use the new markup.

Regards,

Henry

p.s. your second question... is a long one to answer. I'll start with: 1) IDT app is compiled in Java . 2) it generated UNX universes 3) you have Local Projects which contain a) Connections b) Foundations c) Business Layers are are promoted to the Repository Resources as a Universe file.

here's the IDT User Guide to get you started: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_info_design_tool_en.pdf

Here's the BI4 'what's new' guide: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_whats_new_en.pdf

Here's the BI4 'feature evolution' guide: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir4/en/xi4_feat_evo_en.pdf

i could go on