SAP Queries in Xcelsius/Crystal Dashboard Designer

[Former Member]

Hello,

my name is David and actually i compose my bachelor thesis.

In the first step of my project I have generated the relevant SAP-Queries via Infosets (sq03 --> sq02 --> sq01) in SAP. Now i try to get a connection between Crystal/Xcelsius and my ERP-System (reports), but i dont know how...the problem is i need a direct connection from the BO-System(Crystal/Xcelsius) to SAP.

The first idea was to use the web service connection in crystal/xcelius, but i dont know how to get an access to the reports in SAP (which transaction did i need, what have i to do?) A http connection via transaction "sicf" is available.

If it is not possible to get a direct connection to my generated reports, whats about to generate a function module (Web Service in ECC) to get access to a table who already exists in SAP ?

I hope someone can give me assistance and tips to get my project done

Thank you so much for your help!

kind regards!

David

[Henry_Banks · Accepted solution]

Here's an example: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-41945

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Henry,

thank you so much for your fast answer!

So, is there no other possibility to get a connection to my generated reports?

The program SAP Information Design Tool (IDT) installed on my desktop-pc. The available programs are:

• SAP
• Crystal Dashboard Designer
• Netweaver Business Client

Is there a chance to establish another connection as described above(without a universe)?

Thank you so much!

David

[abhilash_kumar · Accepted solution]

Moved to the right space!

-Abhilash

[vinay_mhaske · Accepted solution]

Hi Dave,

As mentioned by Henry we need to create a universe on top of ERP system and then build dashboard based of universe. There is no direct connector available in Xcelsius Dashboards to get data directly from SAP ERP.

The only possible solution is to create a Web Service on top of SAP ERP and use a Web Service connection in Xcelsius Dashboards to build a Dashboard.

There is one more connection ‘Web Dynpro Flash Island’ in Dashboard Design which may help you. I guess it requires knowledge of ABAP and Web Dynpro.

Here is useful tutorial:

Create a Web Dynpro Flash Island connection

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-27346

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Vinay Mhaske

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Vinay,

thanks for your fast response!

Thats the point! The problem is to establish a connection to the generated SAP Queries which i have to use for my Dashboards. The question is, is it possible to get a direct connection to these reports?!

I dont want to create new tables, i want to use the existing reports!

Since a few days, i try to establish a connection via Web Service Connection in the Crystal Dashboard Designer... ...thank you for the tip with Flash Island, i have a look!

Mayby someone of you guys knows how to establish these connections via web service?!

Thank you so much for your help guys!

Regards

David

[vinay_mhaske · Accepted solution]

Hi Dave,

If you need any help with Web Service connection let me know.

Here is useful article:

Connect Dashboard Design to a Web Service:

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-21290

For creating dashboard based of Web Service you may refer my article: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-29765

Above article explains steps on how to create dashboard on BIWS (BI Web Service). First 16 steps explain how to create BIWS. You can skip first 16 steps in the above article and continue with the remaining.

For step 17 add Web Service connection (not Query As A Web Service Connection) and use Web Service created on top of SAP ERP to build the dashboard.

I have asked one of my friend with ABAP skillset to research on WebDynPro connection.

Regards,
Vinay Mhaske

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Dave

Here is one more option you can consider.

You can make a direct connection to the ECC InfoSet using Crystal Reports.

You can also embed a Dashboard/Xcelsius in Crystal Reports.

scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-6684

This is a back-door way of getting your InfoSet data into Xcelsius but it works well.

This also works for ECC Function Modules.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hey Mike,

thank you for your fast response

The big problem still is: I have no access to a BW System. I have no available bw connection. I have to establish a direct connection between SAP and Crystal Dashboard Designer / Xcelsius. The InfoSets are created via transaction code SQ02, because i cant create InfoSets in the workbench.

So any other approaches to solving this problem?

Thank you so much!

Best ragards

David

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Vinay,

thanks for your help

The tutorial are very nice and helpful, but my problem are the steps before pasting the WSDL-URL in the Dashboard Designer.

I dont know how to get data from SAP with a direct connection to Xcelsius, thats the main problem. To create a Dashboard thats not that problem, you know

As described above, i have created some InfoSets/Reports in SAP via transaction code SQ02/SQ01. Now im trying to get these data to Xcelsius, but without a BW System(Crystal Report, InfoProvider, universes etc.)

Thanks so much bro

kind regards

Dave

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Do you have Crystal Reports installed on your desktop?

You do not need access to a BW system to connect Crystal Reports to an InfoSet in ECC.

Try launcing Crystal Reports, create a new report, and choose the "SAP Info sets" connection.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hey Mike,

thanx for your answer

Yes i have installed Crystal Reports 2008 and a few days ago ive tried to connect to my generated InfoSets via SAP Info sets driver in Crystal Reports. But there are no available connections.

(no elements found)

Im still connected to the available SAP System, but I dont know how to establish a connection to my InfoSets (is it necessary to create the InfoSet as global in SQ02 to get a connection?)

Mayby you have an idea to solve this problem

Best Regards!

David

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Check these two things first.

1. In Crystal Reports . . . in the data connection (your above screenshot) . . . right-click on the connection to open the Options window.  Make sure the Table Name is blank.  Then right-cloick the connection and choose "Refresh".

2.  In ECC execute transaction /crystal/rls . . . . turn off “Allow access only to tables specified above”

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hey Mike,

you are the best!

Setting up SAP ECC for Crystal Integration :
 You need to import a set of ABAP transports into your SAP ECC system to enable integration between crystal reports and SAP ECC system. You can find these transports in SAP Service Market place. These transports will enable a set of crystal related transaction codes in your ECC system using which you control which tables, views or FM enabled for crystal access. It also allows to setup row level security on these tables.

regarding to the text above, first of all i have to install some ABAP transports, right? Because i cant execute a transaction called /crystal/rls in my ECC system, this transaction is not available...

Do you know which transports need to be installed? Another very nice member of this community, gave me the tipp to install Crystal Transports on ECC?! (look here: http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-23484)

Thank you so much for the efforts to help me with my problem!

Best Regards

David

[TammyPowlas · Accepted solution]

You need authorizations in ERP/ECC to be able to connect - these are outlined in the Crystal help guide as well.

You also need the Crystal transports installed on the ECC

Then, Mike is right, you can connect directly from Crystal to ECC.

Regards,

Tammy

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hey Tammy,

ok, i understand the steps to built a direct connection between crystal reports and SAP ECC, but where can i find the authorizations i need? What do you mean with the help guide, i cant find them and where can i find the crystal transports?

Currently i have installed crystal reports 2008, crystal dashboard design and netweaver business client...

questions questions questions..sorry for that

Did I need the SAP Integration Kit also?

Thank you so much!

I hope we can solve this problem!

Best Regards

David

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

If /crystal/rls is not available then you haven't installed the SAP Integration kit on your ECC system.

Looking at my notes I found 5 transports

* Open SQL Connectivity transport (K900574.r21 and R900574.r21)

* Info Set Connectivity transport (K900575.r21 and R900575.r21)

* Row-level Security Definition transport (K900576.r21 and R900576.r21)

* Cluster Definition transport (K900585.r21 and R900585.r21)

* Authentication Helpers transport (K900578.r21 and R900578.r21)

Here's a link to the documentation I used when I went through this exercise.

http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP5/en/SMP/xi31_sp5_bip_sap_inst_en.pdf

I'm sure your basis team has more up-to-date information.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Or maybe could use that crystal reports and passing it to Dashboard via Live Office component. (part of the BO platform).

[TammyPowlas]

You need to install the Crystal Transports in the ECC system.

These are available in the Crystal installation folder

I recommend working with your Basis team to get those installed.

Regards,

Tammy

[Former Member]

So far...

tomorrow the basis team will install the necessary transports to the ECC System.

I have a few more questions

First of all im using Crystal Reports 2011

So my first question regarding to this giude: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/index?rid=/webcontent/uuid/a02d2792-452a-2c10-7c8f-ddd50dad779b

1.) Did i need BusinessObjects Enterprise XI and the Integration Kit ? The transports in the IntegrationKit-Folder are the same as in the Crystal Report 2011-Folder, right?

     (IntegrationKit)                                (Crystall2011)

If your SAP system is running on a 6.20 BASIS system or later, you must use the files listed below:
(These files are Unicode enabled.)
* Open SQL Connectivity transport (K900732.R21 and R900732.R21)
* Info Set Connectivity transport (K900688.r21 and R900688.r21)
* Row-level Security Definition transport (K900689.r21 and R900689.r21)
* Cluster Definition transport (K900690.r21 and R900690.r21)
* Authentication Helpers transport (K900691.r21 and R900691.r21)

So i do not need to install the IntegrationKit seperately, because i install the transports out of the Crystal Report 2011-Folder ?!

2.) Whats about to install SAPGUI and LiveOffice is this relevant to get a connection to my InfoSets?

3.) Can i establish the connection to the ECC System (InfoSets) only with Crystal Report 2011 + transports  ?!

4.) Must i create the authentifications in the ecc system only for the objects as described in the Installation Guide ( http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP5/en/SMP/xi31_sp5_bip_sap_inst_en.pdf ) page 229 - 330 ("From within Crystal Reports using the InfoSet driver")?!

5.) Must I "Creating a user account for BusinessObjects Enterprise" as described on page 65 ?

Hope you guys can help me to fix my problems

Thanx so much in advance for your help!

Best Regards

David

[Former Member]

The easiest way to accomplish your goal is the relation: ECC + Crystal Reports + Live Office + Dashboard Design

- ECC: Define infosets, procedures, etc, you want.

- Crystal reports: define the RFC connection to the ECC system and retrieve the objects / tables you want. Create the report with the desired info provided by the objects.

- Live office: in dashboard design will appear a new menu tab called Live office. Just create a new Crystal report component, bind it to the excel and all the work is done.

- Dashboard: Use the data fed by the live office component previously created and build your dashboard up.

It's complexity is lower than create a universe between ECC and Dashboard.

[Former Member]

Thank you Nestor, Tammy and Mike

i have still no connection to my InfoSets, SAP-Querys...

The first step is to establish the connection to my InfoSets...

1.) the basis installed the transports to the system (crystal transports and abap transport are the same, right ¿? )

* Open SQL Connectivity transport (K900732.R21 and R900732.R21)

* Info Set Connectivity transport (K900688.r21 and R900688.r21)

* Cluster Definition transport (K900690.r21 and R900690.r21)

* Row-level Security Definition transport (K900689.r21 and R900689.r21)

We did not installed:

* Authentication Helpers transport (K900691.r21 and R900691.r21)

as decribed on page 195 ( http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP5/en/SMP/xi31_sp5_bip_sap_inst_en.pdf )

Note:
For NetWeaver 7.0.2 or higher, this transport will be provided as part of
NetWeaver.
This transport provides access to the higher performance user list used by
the SAP SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise security plug-in. This enhancement
frees users from having to enter their credentials more than once to access
any of the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, R3, and BW systems.

because we have actually the SAP-System 7.0.2

but the object /CRYSTAL/SECURITY from "Authentication Helpers transport" is still not available in the system. Did I need this object to establish the connection?

2.) So i dont need to install the IntegrationsKit on the Server and Client Side anymore??

3.) My User have SAP_ALL authentication, so i dont need to set the ZSSI --> ZSEGREPORT, right?

4.) Must i create the InfoSets in the standard or global area in the system?

5.) I dont see any available SAP Systems in CR, did i must see my SAP connection there?

Infos:

System (installed tools):

client side:

• Crystal Reports 2011 Developer 14.0.4.738 RTM
  
• SAP GUI 7.30 Compilation 1
• Crystal Dashboard Designer 6.0.4.0
• NetWeaver Business Client 4.0 Final Release PL 4

server side:

• Crystal Transports (decribed above)
• SAP ECC 702 System
  

Did I need further tools to establish the connection , i.e. SAP GUI ?!

I would appreciate any help and tipps from you!

Thanx so much!

Best Regards

David

[TammyPowlas]

David - this discussion needs to be moved to the Crystal Reports space or the BusinessObjects for SAP BI space.

Right now it doesn't fit in the Dashboards area.

Authorizations should be in the Crystal Transports - without those authorizations inside ECC you will not be able to connect.

You can connect to either global or local infosets.

First step is to get the transports in correctly and in the right order.  It sounds like they were not done right. 

At this point I would submit a SAP Support ticket to have them help you troubleshoot this, since we cannot see your system remotely

Regards,

Tammy

[Former Member]

Hey Tammy

thank you again!

as described above on friday we have have already installed all transports successful, except the

* Authentication Helpers transport (K900691.r21 and R900691.r21), because the objects are already available in a 7.0.2 system (since today i can see both: /crystal/bc and /crystal/security in se80). Do you think i should install the transport as a percaution ??

Sorry I dont get it...did i have to set the authorizations separately in the sap-system, because my user still have SAP_ALL authorization??

Another question regarding to my post above, did i have to install the integrationkit separately too? The integrationkit contains the same transports as the manual installed transports out of the crystal reports 2011 folders, right?

I open a new discussion in crystal reports too!

Thanx so much tammy and all others!

Best Regards!!

David

[Former Member]

switched to discussion:

http://scn.sap.com/thread/3372441

[Former Member]

5.) I dont see any available SAP Systems in CR, did i must see my SAP connection there?

It's a common issue, follow the steps I'd written in another post (Crystal Reports section as Tammy suggests)

http://scn.sap.com/thread/3345312

[Former Member]

Hey Nestor (hope thats your first name )

Thanx for your post:

I`ve tried it...

the path: C:\Users\your user\AppData\Roaming\SAP\Common is not available on my system but the file saplogon.ini already exists in C:\Windows, so i put this path as the variable-value in.Everytime i want to make some changens in the system i must switch to admin-user, mayby this can cause problems?

My ini-File is empty, theres no code inside, is this correct?

I also tried to save the file as UTF-8, 2 hours before, as described in another solution.

Did I need BO Edge to get connection, or is this not a required tool?

Thank you bro

David

[Former Member]

Yes, Nestor is my first name

Ok, so you have defined well the path, doesn't care wherever it is if you show it to Windows.

An empty saplogon.ini could be, Have you defined a RFC connection to your R3 (or system) in the SAP Logon?

Regards,

[Former Member]

Hey Nestor

lets discuss here about the saplogon.ini problem:

http://scn.sap.com/thread/3372801

Best Reagards

David

[Henry_Banks]

Hi,

You need to use a "multi source" enabled .UNX universe, published to the BIPlatform as a pre-requisite.

To do this, go via IDT, open "repository resources", and create your Relational connection from there.

This will invoke the Data Federator engine (part of the Adaptive Processing Server) on the BIPlatform.

From here, you can point to your ERP structure in your table foundation. 

After building a Business Layer atop of the federated tables, you Publish the universe.

Then you will be able to consume the ECC structure into Dashboard Designer, and all other BI Client tools.

Regards,

H