SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise BI4.1 - What is New?

[TammyPowlas]

Back in March, I wrote about this during an ASUG webcast Crystal Clear Future for Crystal Reports BI4.1 – ASUG Webcast

Today I attended a webcast outlined  BI 4.1 Ramp-Up Knowledge Transfer Live Expert Session Schedule

This webcast was provided by tomasz.zima of SAP.

There are a lot of similarities but some changes so I am sharing my notes here.

Figure 1: Source: SAP

Figure 1 shows “Catch-up features” to Crystal Reports 2011.

The verify database was happening by default before but you as an end user you could not invoke this yourself; now you can.

Sub reports: before main and sub report had to be the same database type (e.g. main on .UNX and same for sub).  With 4.1 you can have a mix between main and sub report.

Figure 2: Source: SAP

Figure 2 shows improvement of how to connect with BEx queries – persist variable values in query panels.

When user is viewing report in HTML viewer and it is based on BEx query with a variable, while viewing the report, if someone goes to Query Designer and changes default value of variable – when report is refreshed, the change in the variable will be reflected in HTML viewer. 

With the hierarchy variable, you can select different  levels and you can select the variable (but you cannot skip level).

BW hierarchy node variables will have the ability for you to set up relative depth as shown in Figure 2.

For each hierarchy node selected in the prompt – this is the number returned – you can change to 2 or there levels

You can toggle between technical name and description

For SAP ECC – before optional parameters were showing with no default values, behave as if mandatory parameters

Figure 3: Source: SAP

Before, Crystal for Enterprise could connect through relational universe.

Now you can build an OLAP connection in IDT to HANA system – now Crystal for Enterprise can consume this OLAP connection – similar to how consume BICS connection in Information Design Tool (IDT).

Crystal for Enterprise is the only client capable of this.

Web Intelligence plans to offer this for the post 4.1 release

Figure 4: Source: SAP

Support OpenDoc functionality in Mobile

Arabic viewing Right to Left supported but not when designing the report

Right to left is only in the HTML viewer

Default view action in BI Launchpad – defines how system behaves when user double clicks on report in Launchpad – configure to view on demand – refresh against database or configure system to view at the latest successful instance

Figure 5: Source: SAP

Opendoc API is handy especially with long URL

There were no questions during this webcast.