Connect to an SAP BW BEx query using the Query Browser: Dashboards 4.0 FP3

[Former Member]

Hello Experts,

I want to create a dashboard on top of a Bex Query. In the dashboad e-learning link i saw a video which talks about "Connect to an SAP BW BEx query using the Query Browser: Dashboards 4.0 FP3".

My question here: Is it possible to connect a BW Bex query from query browser of Dashboards designer only  on FP3?

We are currently into BO 4.0 Patch 2.9. When i tried opening the query browser i don't see the "Bex" option there. Is it only available in FP3 or anything wrong i am doing here? It shows me only the universes present in the repository.

In otherway, i went to the Data Manager --> Add  --> SAP Netweaver BW Connection --> here i can see the Bex queries through the SAP GUI but when i do a data preview am not getting the correct output. So, my doubt here is: why we have such two options? and what's going wrong in the 2nd approach because of which my query preview is not working?

Please help.

regards,

Tilak

[nikhil_joy2]

Hi Tilak,

Yes you are right. The feature to use BEx query from query browser will be available only from FP3 only. In the current version you are using, you can only select universe through query browser. So nothing wrong there.

In your last doubt, you are using BICS(BI Consumer Services) connectivity to get data from back end SAP BW. This is a different method of connectivity. Dashboards created using this method cannot be published in BI launchpad. After designing dashboard you have to launch it in SAP BW. So it will be like any other BW object. these dashboards don't have offline capability. ie they cannot be exported to any other formats like pdf,ppt etc. Only method through which you can view these dashboards is to launch them in back end BW and publish them in Portal. Also you cannot preview dashboard in design time. Only way is to launch it in BW and view. This is why you cannot view query preview.

From FP3 onwards these difficulties wont be there. Like any other dashboard we can publish them in BI launchpad and export to any format.

The answer for"why we have 2 methods?" : depends on requirement and environment available, users can choose different options. If one user has only SAP BW environment, he can use BICS connectivity to create dashboards and can view them in portal. So no need of BO environment there, For a user having non SAP back end, he can create universes and directly access them in query browser. You can also have a universe with same BW data and use that universe through query browser so that those dashboards can be published in BI launchpad. So which method to choose is purely requirement and environment availability dependent.

Hope it is clear.

Regards,

Nikhil Joy

[Former Member]

Thanks Nikhil. You thought process has helped me to understand upto certain extent. However, i have couple of more queries here:

1. So in FP3 BEx query will be available from query browser, so in that case i should have created a connection in backedn IDT for the specific Query. So that connection should be a BICS one or something else?

2. In that case what would be the difference between the approach which i have followed above and the one which i will get once i upgrade to FP3? Are they not going to do the similar things?

3. When we say BICS connectivity:- does that directly generated SQL on top of the Data targets like Cubes/DSOs? Or is there any MDX things comes into picture here.

please help.

[nikhil_joy2]

Hi Tilak,

That is a  valid question. In BI4.0 the BI Java portion in SAP BW is only needed for Xcelsius / Dashboards. With Feature Pack 03  the dependency of the BI Java portion for Xcelsius is being removed and Xcelsius is using the same connectivity as the other BI Clients.

So both BICS connectivity are not same although they have same name. So you can Create BICS connection first in IDT and publish it in repository. then use that connection in dashboard design. Just like what we do in CR4E and webi 4.0

Throug BICS connectivity you can directly access already created BEx queries wit all its elements like RKF,CKF,filters,variables etc. So during rutime the underlying BEx query fetches data for the report.  It is a faster method compared to old MDX approach and recommended by SAP whenever the back end is SAP BW.

Regards,

Nikhil Joy

[former_member195433]

Nikihl,

Are both methods uses BICS connectivity

If go to connections --> add--->> sap net weaver connection .. Is this method uses mdx approach ? Can we call this BICS connectivity ?

I understand from your earlier post that from fp3  we can use BICS connectivity .to use this do we have to make an olap connection .

My question is I have sap BW and dashboard there is no BO  can use query browser   and use bex as source ..

What is the difference between  these two methods are both uses BICS connectivity .. ?

Please help , thank you

[sapanesh_agnihotri]

Hi Tilak,

the main defference is one can open and save in BI 4.0(BI Launchpad) and other will be in BW Portal.

Thanks,
Sapanesh

[Former Member]

Hi Tilak,

Yes it is possible to connect bex query using query browser in dashboards 4.x FP3

for your reference check this video--->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu7B79O-flU