New Features in SAP BI Tools (BI 4.1)

[Former Member]

There has been some new features added in the latest version of SAP BI, which is 4.1.  Here I am just going through some of them.

WEB INTELLIGENCE

1. CHART IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LINE CHARTS

The new feature added in 4.1, as you can see below, is changing the width of individual line in a line chart.  It gives the ability to design report which draw emphasis to a particular measure values.

In this example, I am using "Discount amount" and "Returns amount" on a line chart, and assume that the "Discount amount" is more important than the "Returns amount".  We can try to draw the user’s attention to that by giving more emphasis on that line.

The default setting will be the default values.

Change the default value to lines, and select “Override Default Settings”.

Now, increase the width for "Discount amount"..

Now, if we apply that, we should see the chart changes accordingly.

So, we can use this method to draw the attention to some particular measure value.

2. REFERENCE LINE ON THE WATERFALL CHARTS

The other new feature is on the reference line on the waterfall charts.

Now, when we go to Format Chart option,

Now, we can see this little red reference lines that can help us determine where the one segment of the waterfall leaves off and when the next one begins.  Similarly to the line chart width, we can configure the reference line width also.

Now, these gives a little more fine grain control over the visualization of the Web Intelligence report, and ideally it gives us additional tools in the tool kit when we are trying to communicate information clearly.

3. AUTOMATIC PROMPT CREATION IN WEB INTELLIGENCE REPORT BASED ON HANA VARIABLES

Let us go the Information Design Tool to check the business layer settings.

Now, if we go to the "Parameters and Lists of Values", we cannot see anything there.

Since this is coming from HANA, this would be a construct of the data foundation, where the tables or views are mapped into this universe object.

So, now if we go to the Data foundation and we select the particular table, now we can see the table called Variables, as shown below.

Now, these were the standard variables created in the HANA views, which is inherited to the universe automatically.

It also gives the default values associated with it.

Now, if we refresh the web intelligence report which is based on this report, we will get a standard web intelligence prompt screen based on these variables.

NEW FEATURES IN OTHER BI TOOLS

1. Prompt re-ordering in crystal reports for enterprise.  We have now option to re-arrange the prompts according to their significance.

2. Direct hyperlink capability to individual folders so it gives you the ability to create external hyperlinks to take you into the BI Launchpad.

3. Design studio 1.3 had support for integrated planning.  Currently there is support for BW integrated planning and the BPC unified model  in BW 7.4.

4. Application bookmarking is that anyone familiar with BEx or web application designer had probably seen before.  Bookmarks enables the user to save a personalized version of a design studio application for later use.  Imagine that you have sliced and diced through a series of cross tabs and drop-down menu selections, and you want to save that particular path of analysis for later use, or you want to recall it again and continue working onit.

5. As an administrative feature, now it have the option to terminate a user session from CMC.

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