SAP GUI 7.20 BW Problem / Question

[michael_ellis]

Dear SAP Community

I'm looking for advice more than anything, as I am not sure if the problem I have is caused by my lack of understanding the BW component of the SAP GUI.

We have started using SAP GUI 7.20 (patch level 11) installed with the BW & BI components.

Users that open Excel BW queries via START > Programs > Business Explorer > Analyzer work perfectly.

However if the user opens Excel directly with the BW excel add-in loaded, BW fails with the following message "A critical program error has occurred. The program will not terminate".

Now my question is this: should it be possible to use BW queries in this way (opening Excel directly with a Excel add-in loaded) rather that using the Analyzer shortcut from the start menu?

I noticed when I did a clean installation of the SAP GUI that there was no Excel add file (BeXAnalyzer.xla) within C:\Program Files\SAP\Business Explorer\BI.

So Im not actually sure how a few on my users have got hold of this file as it seems not to be from the installation of SAP GUI.

Any help or advice you can provide would be very much appreciated

Thanks

[Former Member]

I found an additional note for this issue:

Please see note 1610677 and install BI 7.0 ADDON FOR SAP GUI 7.20 SP600, this might solve your problem.

[michael_ellis]

Thanks Jann I will give this a try and feed back how I get on.

[Former Member]

Dear Michael

I figured out the same problem. I gave my users the advice to open it this way (Start -> Programs -> Business Explorer -> Analyzer) and told them not to open Excel because this wont work. In my humble opinion it should definitely be possible to open BEx the other way, too.

If you use Office 2003, may this fix helps: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=10624

If you are using Office 2007/2010, please ensure you are not using the 64bit version, because this caused some errors at our users computers.

A kind of workaround, which makes the "other way" work too, is to add the addin manually: Options -> Add-Ins ->  manage/administer "Excel Add-Ins" (at the bottom click on "Go to" -> "Search" -> select file: C:\Program Files\ Common Files\SAP\shared\sapbex.xla and activate it).

Hope this helped.

Kind regards

Jann

[michael_ellis]

Hi Jann

Thanks again for your help, you always seem to come to my rescue!

I will certainly try this Office 2003 patch and let you know (we use Office 2003) although for one user I have upgraded to Excel 2007 to see if the problem happens and it is exactly the same.

When I install SAP GUI 7.20 this file is not present,  C:\Program Files\SAP\Business Explorer\BI\BexAnalyzer.xla.   Is this the correct Excel BW add-in ?

I notice you mention to use C:\Program Files\ Common Files\SAP\shared\sapbex.xla

Does this file (sapbex.xla) come with the installation on SAP GUI 7.20?

Do your users now use Excel with the BW addin without this crashing error?

Thanks for your help

[Former Member]

HI Michael

sorry for the confusion. There are different versions of BEx:

sapbex.xla -> BW 3.x

BexAnalyzer.xla -> BW 7.x

It depends on which components you install with the GUI installation. I attached a screen (sorry, it is the German version) to show which components install which version:

"BW 3.50 Add-On for SAP GUI 7.20" will of course install BW 3.x

"Business Explorer" will install the BW 7.x version if I dont mix things up

Hope this makes things a bit clearer.

My users are now able to use the Analyzer, but several errors occured from time to time. That's why I made a list with the most common errors and the solution (like the MS Office 2003 patch) to get things handled a bit easier.

Kind regards

Jann