Using Self-Service BI with SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio Webcast Notes
I attended this webcast today with Ingo Hilgefort to learn the “Power of Design Studio for self-service” and how Design Studio creates a self-service environment for self-service
What does self-service mean? What are the personas? What are the components needed in Design Studio? How leverage the templates?
What limitations exist?
Figure 1: Source: Visual BI
Key element is the user is able to access information without going to IT without a change to report
Look at last paragraph – doesn’t mean IT is not involved
Someone needs to create data access, establish connection
Want to give business user environment to leverage templates and customize and leverage own versions of reports
Figure 2: Source: Visual BI
Self-service is not a product
Concept as part of your strategic direction
You can’t license it
What it means – different things for different groups
You can access all information, visualizations, maps, company
For some, it means you can access on a mobile device
Self-service is not the same for everyone
“Data discovery” ad hoc – ways of serving self-service scenario
Data discovery focuses visual aspect
Ad hoc could be access on a template
Self-service shouldn’t require training
Doesn’t mean IT isn’t in picture – set up data connection, if BW, someone creates query, for HANA, IT creates model
Last item in Figure 2 – common understanding of metadata; e.g. different ways of calculating margin
Design Studio can surface a help dialog
Figure 3: Source: Visual BI
Figure 3 shows in the middle the products that SAP sees moving forward
Data discovery and analysis – in past only Lumira, now shows Lumira & Design Studio applications
SAP is planning to deliver templates, or even partners can create templates for self-service
Figure 4: Source: Visual BI
If IT hands dashboard to senior management – desktop, iPhone, tablet, ask your senior management if this is self-service, answer would be yes
Everyone has a different view of self-service
Figure 5: Source: Visual BI
Where are long-term opportunities, top 10, quota
Figure 6: Source: Visual BI
Figure 6 shows someone who looks at different kinds of data, switch between data sources
Profit centers, cost centers, overview, or income statement
Look at different sets of data, switch at data source
Figure 7: Source: Visual BI
Figure 7 shows the warehouse manager, running daily operations
They rely on personalized reports including daily shipping, deliverables
Design Studio offers personalization, bookmarking
Figure 8: Source: Visual BI
Power User – Design Studio, Analysis, possibly Predictive
Figure 9: Source: Visual BI
IT is involved in all scenarios
Figure 10: Source: Visual BI
From left to right on Figure 10 the workflow gets more complicated
Left to right – self-service includes different workflows like drilldown
You might have to share via mobile or desktop
For Finance, it means creating their own report, switching data sources, creating variants
Further move to right hear “merge data on the fly”; business user doesn’t want to wait for IT any more
Analyst can tool which tool they want
Figure 11: Source: Visual BI
Heard requirement to switch data sources from query 1 to query 2 – e.g. from BW to HANA –Design Studio uses backend connection, at run time the user can do that to switch data sources
Drilldown – standard table in Design Studio provides it; limitation is that standard charts do not provide – just show the information – there are extensions that provide drilldown with the charts
Filtering has the components, time based, measure based
Navigate in the data
Switching between charts is in Design Studio – can provide the user an option to switch from a line chart, etc.
Print / export options
Figure 12: Source: Visual BI
Can’t merge out of the box in Design Studio
Mobile access is standard for Design Studio – generated HTML5
Commenting is available – requires BW – using commenting from planning in BW
Create report variants is bookmarking
Create new reports
Figure 13: Source: Visual BI
Design Studio was created as a successor XCelsius and Web Application Designer
Templates gives you a starting point for BEx WAD
Figure 14:Source: Visual BI
Switch data source not available for adhoc – it was first template
Option to export, filter, tabular view, navigate, hierarchies enabled
Ad hoc is close to BEx Web report w/ standard templates
Figure 15: Source: Visual BI
Navigation panel, switch data sources, on properties configure a scaling factor
Figure 16: Source: Visual BI
Different capabilities in template; copy from it, customizing
Change data source, switch between visualizations
Can use online composition – go to a new page, and reuse elements
Share work
Figure 17: Source: Visual BI
Options are only available when select desktop
Still runs on iPhone/iPad
Figure 18: Source: Visual BI
Figure 18 is a webcast summary
There was a good question & answer session too, when I can I will try to document it.
Related:
SAP Insider BI 2016 – early bird registration ends soon: SAPinsider BI Conference 2016