Overview of Business Objects Integration Kits for SAP

Applies to:
SAP NetWeaver and Business Objects, all releases

Summary
Business Objects has a long history of helping IT professionals within organizations running SAP deliver on the ever-changing information requirements of the business. Business Objects and SAP have developed seven new packages that help you to create, track, and understand key business metrics as well as deliver presentation-quality reports from SAP R/3 (mySAP/SAP ERP), NetWeaver Business Information Warehouse (BW), and non-SAP structured and unstructured data.

Company: Created on:

Business Objects 25 January 2008

Overview of Business Objects Integration Kits for SAP

Table of Contents
Overview of BusinessObjects Integration for SAP Solutions.......................................................................... 3 BusinessObjects Integration for SAP Solutions ............................................................................................. 3 Data Access.............................................................................................................................................. 3 Crystal Reports SAP Toolbar .................................................................................................................... 4 SAP Authentication ................................................................................................................................... 4 Business Intelligence Content Creation Tools............................................................................................ 4 SAP Data Source Drivers.......................................................................................................................... 4 Business Intelligence Platform................................................................................................................... 5 SAP Portal Integration............................................................................................................................... 5 Alignment with the SAP NetWeaver Strategy ................................................................................................ 5 Copyright...................................................................................................................................................... 6

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Overview of Business Objects Integration Kits for SAP

Overview of BusinessObjects Integration for SAP Solutions

Business Objects has a long history of helping IT professionals within organizations running SAP deliver on the ever-changing information requirements of the business. Business Objects and SAP have developed eight (8) new packages that combine the expertise of the two industry leaders, making employees more self-sufficient in a constantly changing work environment. To learn more about the specifics of these packages you can visit http://www.businessobjects.com/solutions/sap/default.asp

These solutions help you to create, track, and understand key business metrics as well as deliver presentation-quality reports from SAP applications ERP (R/3, mySAP), All-In-One and Business One), SAP NetWeaver BI (BW), and non-SAP data. Tightly aligned with the SAP NetWeaver strategy, these solutions leverage your existing investment in SAP applications and the SAP security model.

BusinessObjects Integration for SAP Solutions

SAP and Business Objects were able to quickly bring to market these packages due in part to the many years of experience working together to embed Crystal Reports within SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) (http://www.businessobjects.com/news/presscd/2001/100901.asp). Specifically the Enterprise Query, Reporting, and Analysis, Visualization and Reporting, and SAP Business All-in-One with BusinessObjects Edge Standard packages are built on the investments placed in the Integration for SAP Solutions.

On this page we attempt to explain from a technology point of view how these integrations work. For specific details on what technologies are included in each package visit http://www50.sap.com/m1/global/bobj/le/packages/didqm.htm.

The BusinessObjects Integration Kit for SAP is an add-on kit that enables the Business Objects reporting, visualization, and analysis capabilities to connect to, and integrate with, your SAP systems. This information can then be delivered and shared with all enterprise users who need timely access to SAP data to address key business needs. The Business Objects Integration for SAP includes a number of access drivers for SAP ERP, BW and All-In-One, SAP security plug-ins, portal connectors, report samples, and an SAP BW driver for Voyager and Web Intelligence. The Integration for SAP Solutions also allows Xcelsius to work on top of the same SAP systems noted above, to provide data visualization for end users wanting easy, intuitive insight into SAP data.

There are three key add-on components that come with the Business Objects Integration for SAP:

Data Access This component provides native access drivers that are designed specifically for reporting off SAP application level data coming from ERP, BW, and All-In-One.

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Overview of Business Objects Integration Kits for SAP

Crystal Reports SAP Toolbar Integrated within Crystal Reports, the SAP Tools toolbar facilitates tasks associated with reporting off BW queries. It allows you to log on to NetWeaver BI/BW and work with its data sources, save reports to NetWeaver BI/BW, and publish reports immediately to BusinessObjects Enterprise. SAP Authentication This component allows you to map your existing SAP roles and users to BusinessObjects Enterprise. It also enables BusinessObjects Enterprise to authenticate users against the SAP system, thereby providing Single Sign-On to your SAP users. As a result, once SAP users are logged on to the SAP system, they are recognized by BusinessObjects Enterprise as authenticated users. Business Intelligence Content Creation Tools As the world leader in Business Intelligence, Business Objects has a complete portfolio of best-in-class BI tools to handle every reporting need:

Crystal Reports (High fidelity formatted reporting) http://www.businessobjects.com/product/catalog/crystalreports/ Crystal Xcelsius (Dashboard and Data Visualization) http://www.businessobjects.com/products/crystalxcelsius/ Web Intelligence (Ad Hoc reporting) http://www.businessobjects.com/products/queryanalysis/webi.asp Voyager (Olap Analytics) http://www.businessobjects.com/products/queryanalysis/polestar/default.asp Live Office (Microsoft Office integration) http://www.businessobjects.com/products/platform/liveoffice/ Polestar (Guided Query and Information Discovery) http://www.businessobjects.com/products/queryanalysis/polestar/

SAP Data Source Drivers Whether you need to connect to the SAP transactional system or the data warehouse, the native data drivers that come with the BusinessObjects Integration Kit allow you to access your SAP data while still leveraging the SAP security models. Business Objects provides the following drivers to connect to SAP data via its Business Intelligence tool set: BW Query Driver InfoSet Driver OLAP BAPI Driver Open SQL Driver ODS Query Driver MDX Query Driver

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Overview of Business Objects Integration Kits for SAP

Business Intelligence Platform BusinessObjects Enterprise provides the framework for managing, scheduling, and distributing reports over the Web. BusinessObjects Enterprise provides many advanced features such Intelligent Search, mobile connectivity, advanced scheduling, and distribution.

The SAP Integration for BusinessObjects provides SAP users with SAP Single Sign-On for authentication. This tight integration also allows the SAP user to leverage SAP authorizations and roles. This ensures that SAP row-level security is enforced on your Business Objects reports, dashboards, and queries. To learn more about the features of the BI platform visit http://www.businessobjects.com/products/platform/.

SAP Portal Integration The integration kit provides SAP users with two options to access their reports. Users can either access their reports through the integration with the SAP NetWeaver Portal or the BusinessObjects Enterprise portal called InfoView.

Alignment with the SAP NetWeaver Strategy

Business Objects leads the industry in providing the most complete stack of SAP NetWeaver-certified BI products for SAP customers. With several recent additions to the growing list of SAP certifications, customers can rest assured that Business Objects will help make the most of their SAP investment. Our entire solution stack closely aligns with the SAP NetWeaver strategy, and we have attained a number of SAP NetWeaver certifications. In total, Business Objects has 16 SAP NetWeaver certifications, including Powered by SAP NetWeaver status for Web Intelligence and the BusinessObjects XI Integration for SAP Solutions. As a result of our history of working with SAP and our new partnership, our marketleading reporting solutions provide a unique and proprietary vantage point to SAP NetWeaver BI/BW, giving us tighter integration than any vendor in the market.

For a complete list of available solutions provided by SAP and Business Objects visit http://www50.sap.com/m1/global/bobj/le/packages/didqm.htm.

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Overview of Business Objects Integration Kits for SAP

Copyright
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