Book Report: Integrating SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 with SAP BW and SAP HANA

Full disclosure – I did not pay for this book, Integrating SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 with SAP BW and SAP HANA by Ingo Hilgefort, I received it for free at SAP TechEd Las Vegas:

SAP Insider sponsored this.  The line for the book was long;

This book covers the installation of BI4.2, including installing the add-ons to the platform.  It covers Analysis Office 2.3, Design Studio 1.6, Lumira 1.31, and of course BI4.2 Web Intelligence.  If you are new to installing these tools, this book will given you the confidence to do the installation yourself.  Also what is good about the book is Ingo tells you what to check post-installation.

For Design Studio, you will want to consider configuring the BI platform to handle parallel query execution and set up security.  This book walks you through those steps.

I have the hardback version of the book because that was what was free at SAP TechEd Las Vegas.  If you want to do the Design Studio hands-on exercises, consider obtaining the electronic version of the book, so you can copy in the code.

For Analysis Office, post-installation steps include configuring load behavior and your connection to the BI Platform.  These were common questions on “old SCN”.  Do you need the SAP Gui for these tools?  Find out in this book.

For SAP Lumira, a common question here on SCN is how to limit the data volume; this is covered in the book.  Another common question is SSO which is covered in-depth in this book.  Connecting the BI platform to HANA is also covered, using the http connection.

For Analysis Office, advantages and disadvantages of connecting to the BI platform are covered.  What is new in this book too is it covers supported/unsupported SAP HANA elements between the clients.  The book uses the common SAP Netweaver Demo model, which is available in the Business Content for most BW systems, meaning you can follow along and do the exercises yourself.

Data connectivity is covered for all the tools listed above, along with the BICS supported elements.  Design Studio and Analysis Office cover the BEx query elements very well.  It is important for Lumira BW and HANA users to know what Lumira currently supports and what it does not.

BI4.2 Web Intelligence supports a universe based on a BEx query; the book covers what elements are supported, along with the relational universe and the BEx query.

The final chapters the author shares his view on the Integration Roadmap and the upcoming planned combination of SAP Lumira and Design Studio.

The electronic book costs $39.95, and the bundle electronic + print is $49.95 (USD).  So if you are looking for a BI4.2 book that covers integration with BW and SAP HANA and the client tools, this is the book for you.