Upgrading from BOXIR3.1 to BI4 SP4

[Former Member]

Hello All,

We are trying to upgrade the BOXIR3.1 to BI4 and this was started a year back but only few report were upgraded for some reason the upgrade process was left in between.

Now we are planning to finish that left over upgrade process for remaining WebI reports and Universes(created on DM based on Oracle).

We have current version BO4.0 and now we want to apply SP4 FP3. I am not sure if this version/patch is stable enough?

Could you please suggest if we can go ahead with this BI4 SP4 FP3 patch or we should go for other patch?

Are there any limitations for this version and patch?

Are there any recommedations from your experience?

Also, If you could share some documents which would be helpfull for applying SP4 to BO4 would be very usefull.

Thanks,

Nisha

[Former Member]

Thanks for the inputs guys.

@Arvind, That means if I have Base version of BO4 and inorder to go for SP8 I have to apply SP4 then SP6 and then SP8 so  I have to apply total 3 different Service Packs on base version?

Thanks,

Nisha

[Former Member]

I believe you can upgrade directly to SP8 after applying SP4. However it would be best to get this confirmed with SAP support.

I can definitely say you can apply SP4 --> SP6 and SP8; however again the same question gets raised; why should we apply un-necessary service packs which would only eat into your free space.

[Former Member]

Thank you all for the inputs.

My company doesn't want to go for BO4.1 so they want to stick to BO4.0. so If latest patch in BO4.0 is SP8 then do I have to apply patch sp4 first and then patch sp8 on it? or I can directly apply SP8 over base version? are there any steps to follow?

Your inputs would be highly appreciated.

Thanks,

Nisha

[Former Member]

I would request you to go thorugh the FWD FIT plan. this will have version and compatible version details.

https://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700000272572011E

BI4.0 SP4 --> BI4.0 SP 4 Patch 11 -->BI4.0 SP6--> BI4.0 SP6 Patch 3 --> BI4.0 SP8

[Former Member]

Hi Prasad,

I believe you need not move to any patches of a SP. I mean its making this quite confusing for Nisha

You can directly ypgrade to SP4--> no SP4 patches required--> SP6--> no SP6 patches required--> SP8

[Former Member]

Hi Aravind,

As per SAP’s FWD FIT PLAN i have given the details. we have to go to patches otherwise we will loose few fixes.

Ex: Customer is having BI4.0 SP4.12 and he want to go to BI4.0 SP6.

In that case We should not install BO4.0 SP6 alone on top of SP4.12. Whne we install SP6, we will loose the fixes of BI4.0 SP 4.12.

BI 4.0 Support Pack 06 (SP06) contains all the fixes contained within patches 4.4 to 4.11.

Fixes Contained within patches 4.12 onwards will be part of Support Pack 06.1 (SP06.1).

Installing SP06 alone on top of SP 4.12 will remove any fixes contained within patch 4.12

Hence we can need to go for SP 6.1- 4.

Please check the below SAP note

1794601 - The installation has detected that fixes may be removed from the system if you proceed

Hope it clarifies.

[Former Member]

Hi Prasad;

I agree that 4.12 fixes wont be available in SP6. however wont SP 8 have the fixes available of all patches of SP4. I do not recommend implementing many patches as they do take couple of space which is quite un-necessary.

Any changed feature of SP8 wont be available in a higher pack of SP6. So I would suggest move to SP4 later SP6 directly and on top of it SP8 without moving to the latest patches of SP4 or SP6. It would be best to move with tghe higher patches of SP8 from now.

[Former Member]

Many issues were fixed in Latest patches. If you have Base 4.0 version without any SP or Patches, please refer Forward fit plan.

Refer this link

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-48364

[Former Member]

I would differ from Ajay here. As you have already moved few reports to BI 4.0. It would be another humongous task to uninstall the product completely, perform a db cleanup activity etc.

As suggested by Prasad you can upgrade till 4.1 SP2 (there are certain steps to upgrade) You would need to upgrade to BI4.0 SP4 (patch installation and not full-build) first and then move to BI4.1 SP2. Once BI 4 is updated. ensure that the update is clean and then process with the migration activity of 3.1 objects to 4.0 using UMT.

Ensure that a reposcan is performed before the activity is done in 3.1 box.

[CdnConnection]

Arvind,

    As Nisha mentioned they installed BI 4.0 over a year ago and migration few reports.  Nisha has clearly done no progress in the migration for ONE year, the original reports may have change and it would have to be migrated again anyone.  This is why I suggested doing a fresh install of the latest version with the latest features to better support the migration.

Going to the latest version  will provide many more features to the migration of more complex to basic reports.   Down the line you would need to upgrade to an supported SP build anyway, why NOT start properly by doing a fresh install of BI 4.1 w/ SP2.

Regards,

Ajay

[Former Member]

Ajay,

Nisha have already moved few reports to BI 4.0. It would be another humongous task to uninstall the product completely, perform a db cleanup activity etc.Hence he can upgrade the system from BO4.0 to BI4.1.

If we  install the BI4.1 SP2 Patch or higher on top of BI4.0, this will not automatically add all new features to the deployment.Still there is a way by doing  repair the base install we can gain the new features that have been launched in the BI4.1.

[CdnConnection]

Nisha,

      I would strongly suggest doing a fresh installed of BI 4.1 w/ SP1 and update to SP2.  There are several major enhancement to the FULL suite of BI tools.  You can find all documents link below:

http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/sbo41/en/sbo41sp2_bip_admin_en.pdf

http://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001063062013E/sbo41sp2_bip_inst_win_en.pdf

http://service.sap.com/~sapidb/011000358700001063192013E/sbo41sp2_bip_upgrade_en.pdf

Regards,

Ajay

[Former Member]

Please find my comments:

Could you please suggest if we can go ahead with this BI4 SP4 FP3 patch or we should go for other patch?

it is suggested to go for the latest patch instead of going BI4.0 SP4.

BI4.0 SP8 is released, at the same time you can go for BI4.1 SP2 also.

Are there any limitations for this version and patch?

I don't think there are any limitations.as far as you fall under the Product available metrics.

Are there any recommendations from your experience?

Recently we have moved from Bi4.0 SP6.4 to BI4.1 SP2. I have noticed some improvement in the performance.