SAP

WEB
INTELLIGENCE
SAP Webi Overview
Web Intelligence is part of SAP BusinessObjects product suite and is used for analytical and ad hoc reporting to
meet an organization’s business requirements. Web Intelligence is a Business Intelligence reporting tool for
business users to analyze data in Data Warehouse. It assists business managers in the decision-making process for
building future strategies.

Using Web Intelligence, business users can create basic, medium, and complex reports from transactional data in
database and by creating Universes using Information Design Tool/UDT. Various SAP and non-SAP data sources
can be used to create reports in Web Intelligence. SAP Business Warehouse (BW) system doesn’t require a
Universe to connect to Web Intelligence tool.

Web Intelligence tool can work as a client tool of BusinessObjects platform and also as a standalone tool for
reporting.
SAP Webi Overview
Versions and History
BusinessObjects was first started in 1990 with the tool name Skipper SQL 2.x, and in the year 1994 Business
Objects v3.0 was launched.

In 2005, BO XI was released and later on various other versions introduced. Some of the versions are:

 BO XI R1

 BO XI R2

 BO XI R3

 BO XI R3.1

 BO XI R3.2

In 2007, SAP acquired this company for $6.8 billion and the product has been renamed as SAP BusinessObjects.
Later in the year 2011, BO XI 4.0 was introduced. The latest version of the tool is SAP BO 4.2.
SAP Webi Overview
Web Intelligence Architecture
SAP Webi has a three-layered architecture:

 Database Layer – This layer defines multiple SAP and non-SAP data sources.

 Semantic Layer – This layer defines multidimensional data model.

 Presentation Layer – This layer defines where data is presented to end-users.

Various data sources can be used to create analytical and ad hoc reports. You can pull data from SAP
systems, like SAP ECC, SAP ERP, SAP SRM, and other SAP modules.

Non-SAP data sources include Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, and Sybase.
SAP Webi Overview
Web Intelligence Architecture
SAP Webi – BI Launchpad
BI Launchpad is a Java or HTML based interface of BusinessObjects tool to perform analytical reporting and data
analysis. You can set the preference for your BI Launchpad that determines which tool interface is launched via
Launchpad.

Using Web or Internet Application to access Webi interface via BI Launchpad, you can perform the following
tasks:

 Create, edit and refresh all the reports in Web Intelligence.

 Create and edit all the queries in no data source (Universes) but not BEx queries in Web application.

Note: If you are using Webi 4.0 SP2, it is not possible to create queries and you can only work on documents and
reports.
SAP Webi – BI Launchpad
BI Launchpad has the following important tabs:

 Home – Displays recent messages, alerts, documents, and applications that can be run.

 Documents – Displays the available documents and folders, making it easier to view, organize, and manage
the documents.

 Any open Document – Displays each open document.

You can use the Application tab to start an application including Web Intelligence. You can use the Preference tab
to define BI Launchpad preferences.
SAP Webi – BI Launchpad
Logging to BI Launchpad
As mentioned, BI Launchpad is HTML5 or Java-based web interface to launch an application via BI
Launchpad.

To access BI Launchpad, you should have a web URL, user name and password. Access profile to be set
for the resources.

To get the BI Launchpad details and user credentials you can reach the BO Administrator using the link,
http://BOSERVER:8080/BOE/BI

To login to BI Launchpad, open the web browser and enter the Launchpad URL provided by your
administrator. The following screen pops up.
SAP Webi – BI Launchpad
Logging to BI Launchpad
Select the system name you want to login. Enter the user
name and password.

In the Authentication dropdown, select the

Click ‘Log On’ and it will open the home page for BI
Launchpad.
SAP Webi – BI Launchpad
BI Launchpad homepage
SAP Webi – BI Launchpad
BI Launchpad homepage
You can use Applications tab of Launchpad to run any of the application.
SAP Webi – BI Preference
Let us now discuss how to set up preference

Setting BI Preferences
You can set BI Launchpad preferences for the following tasks.
SAP Webi – BI Preference
General Preferences
These are defined by the administrator. You can reset your password. You can also set time zone, locales preferences,
and Web Intelligence preferences.
SAP Webi – BI Preference
General Preferences
 General Tab: Using this tab you can set user default settings.
 Change Password: As per your user access.
 Locales and Time Zone: To set product locale, preferred viewing locale, current time zone.
 Analysis Edition for OLAP: To define accessibility mode.
 Web Intelligence: You can select the interfaces to use for view and modify modes. You can also select a
Default Universe. You can set the drill options. You can also select saving priorities when saving a report
in .xls format.
 BI Workspaces: Used to select a default stylesheet to use when creating a new workspace.
 Crystal Reports: Used to set crystal reports options like printing options, default measuring unit, etc.
SAP Webi – Application Modes
There are three different application modes that can be used to build the queries, create documents and to analyze
the reports.

When you open an existing report, the following modes are available:

 Data

 Reading

 Design

Data Application Mode

In this mode, you can create new data provider, change an existing data source or rename a data provider. You can
also create, edit, and manage queries, which is used to pass data to reports. In Data mode, it shows the list of all
the available data providers. All the options in tool mode are disabled in this mode.
SAP Webi – Application Modes
Reading Mode

This mode allows you to display existing reports, search text, monitor changes in the reports, and drill down on
the data in the report. You can also use the left panel and tool bar in the Reading mode.

Design Mode

Design mode allows you to add, delete objects in a report, applying conditional formatting, applying formulas in
report, creating variables, etc. Design mode with Structure only allows you to view the structure of the report. All
the changes that you make in this mode, they are not applied to the server till you populate it with data.

In Design mode with data, all the modifications applied in a report are on the server. In case you have to make a
lot of changes in an existing report, it is recommended to make changes in structure mode and then populate the
report with data.
Thank you!