Design Studio 1.1 – Using an OLAP SSO connection on the BI 4.1 platform to SAP HANA

In my previous blog (BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.1 – Setting up an SSO connection to SAP HANA to utilize in Design Studio 1.1) I showed you how you can setup an SSO connection between a SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 platform (currently in Ramp-up, GA expected by end of August) and SAP HANA.

Now I want to show you how to setup an OLAP connection on the SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 platform, build a very simple Design Studio application on top of that connection and setup authorization using Analytic Privileges in the SAP HANA Studio.

First let’s start with setting up an OLAP connection. Please logon to the Central Management Console of the BI 4.1 platform and click on OLAP Connections.

Click on ‘New connection’.

In this example I’m creating a connection called ‘SSO_TEST’. The description is optional. I want to connect to our SAP HANA system so I’n selecting ‘SAP HANA’ from the dropdown menu.

After selecting ‘SAP HANA’ as ‘Provider’ you need to provide the ‘Server Information’. As ‘Authentication’ method you select ‘SSO’.

After saving the connection it’s displayed in the CMC.

Next is using this connection within Design Studio. Lauch the Design Studio client and logon to the BI 4.1 platform.

First we need to verify whether the OLAP connection created on the BI 4.1 platform is available in the Design Studio client. Click on ‘Tools’ – ‘Preferences’. Expand the ‘Application Design’ menu item and select ‘Backend Connections’.

Notice that no ‘User’ is specified for this connection. Next step is to create a very simple Design Studio application called DS_SSO_TEST with an iPad blank template.

Let’s add a data source using the specified OLAP connection.

After selecting the connection you will be prompted for user credentials against SAP HANA. As described in the documentation of Design Studio, SSO towards SAH HANA is not supported at design time.

You should now be able to select a datasource. If you get an error message you need to first change the OLAP Connection backed to ‘Pre-defined’ in the CMC. Then try to add the data source, save the application and change the OLAP connection back to SSO again.

Click on ‘Browse’ next to the ‘Data Source’ and select a Analytic / Calculation view. In this case I used a view based on the eFashion data. I edited the initial view of the data source and created the crosstab displayed below.

Next step would be to setup a restiction on the data using ‘Analytic Privileges’ in the SAP HANA Studio. Go to ‘Content’ and right-click on the package. Select ‘New’ – ‘Analytic Privilege’.

The ‘New Analytic Privilege’ wizard will start. Please fill in a ‘Name’ and a ‘Description’ and click ‘Next’.

Select (in this case) the ‘Analytic View’ ‘Measures that is a part of the ‘efashion’ package’ and click ‘Finish’.

Next step is to create an ‘Attribute Restriction’.

In this example I selected ‘City’ to apply in the Design Studio application and click ‘OK’.

Now let’s assign a value for ‘City’, in this case ‘New York’. Make sure you ‘Save and Activate’ the ‘Analytic Privilege’.

Final step is to assign the ‘Analytic Privilege’ to my user ‘foekm00’. Go to ‘Security’ – ‘Users’ and double-click the user. Select the ‘Analytic Privileges’ tab and click on the ‘+’.

Search for the SSO_TEST and click ‘OK’. Make sure you ‘Deploy’ the user.

To verify whether SSO is working we need to logon to the BI launchpad. Now browse to the location where the Design Studio application is saved. Double-click op the application to launch it within the browser.

The Design Studio application correctly displays only the values for ‘New York’ at runtime.

Please make sure that you provide the necessary privileges on the ‘Object’ and ‘Package’ tab. In this case on the package, on the schema and on the Analytic view itself. You also need ‘Execute’ rights on the ‘Repository_Rest’ procedure.

I hope this blog will help you to leverage an SSO connection in Design Studio to create those personalized dashboards!

Please feel free to comment / ask if something is not working correctly!