Using SAP BusinessObjects Cloud with Hybris Marketing Cloud

It is now possible to use BusinessObjects Cloud (BOC) to explore and analyze Hybris Marketing Cloud data. This blog describes the necessary steps to connect BOC to Hybris Marketing Cloud.

The S/4 HANA Cloud connector allows to connect to Hybris Marketing Cloud CDS query views without data replication. Using the remote system connectivity feature, no direct connection from BOC to the data source will be made. Instead, the reporting data will be just embedded in the user’s browser when accessing the BOC story. To seamlessly integrate the Hybris Marketing Cloud data into BusinessObjects Cloud, the following prerequisites currently apply:

• The same SAP Cloud Identity Provider (IdP) is used by both applications
• The IdP user needs to be authorized for both applications.
• The IdP is not used as proxy for a corporate IdP.

Compared to the on-premise integration, which was described in this blog, no additional reverse proxy is required to access the remote system. It is completely integrated in the HCP application. To use it, BOC must be accessed via the AppRouter URL which follows the pattern https://<tenant_name>.<zone>.sapbusinessobjects.cloud/sap/fpa/ui/tenants/<tenant_no> .

To enable the integration between BOC and Hybris Marketing Cloud, the following changes need to be done:

• BOC needs to get connected to the IdP used by Hybris Marketing Cloud
• A live data connection to Hybris Marketing Cloud needs to be created

Connecting BOC to the IdP used by Hybris Marketing Cloud

Open the Administration Console of your SAP Cloud Identity system. Goto “Tenant Settings”, “SAML 2.0 Configuration” and download the IdP’s metadata file.

Start the BOC application in a separate window as administrator. From the menu, select “System” -> “Administration” and switch to tab “Security”. Klick on the pencil symbol to edit the settings.

In the section Authentication Method change the setting to “SAML Single Sign-On (SSO)”

In the next section, in step one download the BOC metadata.xml file.

In the next step, upload the metadata.xml file that you have previously downloaded from the IdP (not BOC one!). Select the Checkbox “Configure for S/4HANA Cloud Edition Identity Provider (BETA)”.

In the third step, select “Custom SAML User Mapping”.

Return back to the IdP and open “Applications”. Add a new application for BOC.

Choose “SAML 2.0 Configuration” on the tab “Trust”. In the section “Define from Metadata” upload the metadata.xml file, which you downloaded from BOC.

Return to the “Trust” tab. Choose the entry “Name ID Attribute” and change the setting to “Login Name”.

Save the settings.

Now it’s time to verify that all settings are correct. In the fourth step in BOC provide the login name of your Hybris Marketing Cloud user and click on Verify account.

From the popup, copy the URL, open it in another browser session and logon via the IdP. You should get logged on with the SAML_VERIFY user.

Return to the security settings page, where you now should get a message that your account has been verified. Click on Convert and confirm the message in the popup. After some minutes, your BOC tenant is connected to the S/4HANA’s IdP. The SAML user mapping for your user that carried out the conversion has already been changed.

The SAML user mapping of all existing BOC users need to be adjusted manually to the new IdP. First, ensure that you have created all users in the IdP. After that, navigate to “Security –> Users”. In the column SAML User Mapping enter the IdP Login Names for all other users. Save the changes.

Creating the live data connection to Hybris Marketing Cloud

In the BOC menu, navigate to “Connection” and press the plus icon to add a new connection. From the menu, choose “Live Data Connection” à “S/4HANA (BETA)”. In the dialog, enter a connection name and description, choose connection type “Cloud” with system type “S/4HANA”. In the host field, enter your Hybris Marketing Cloud system name (e.g. my123456.s4hana.ondemand.com). Choose a connection language (e.g. EN) and confirm with OK.

In the Modeler, you can now start creating models on the Hybris Marketing Cloud’s CDS views. Create a new model, choose “Use a datasource” à “Live Data connection”. In the dialog, select your system ID. You can either search for data sources or choose the relevant query from the dropdown. You can retrieve the corresponding query name from the query browser application in Hybris Marketing Cloud.

Assign a name and a description to the model and confirm with OK. Based on this model you can start building a story.

Enjoy analyzing Hybris Marketing Cloud data in BusinessObjects Cloud!

Further Information Sources

BOC documentation on SSO setup: https://cp.hana.ondemand.com/dps/d/preview/1949b084ea3343df9e83923e906b7a03/release/en-US/frameset.htm?3651184dad944aa2b361ad029a7a8cae.html

BOC documentation on connection setup:
https://uacp2.hana.ondemand.com/doc/d63117a5016f41968498f4db652801d6/release/en-US/d7f3abd23aa64d298a42b2ce4e4a8cff.html

Hybris Marketing Cloud product documentation on connection setup:
https://uacp.hana.ondemand.com/http.svc/rc/PRODUCTION/6e0d53c8a52a4ef795a0b7f8e7f0d3e2/1702%20500/en-US/frameset.htm?3164d452b44440b1bffd2fc3b1d30692.html

First aid: If anything goes wrong during the setup, empty the cache and try again.

If you need to open a ticket, consider the following components:

• IdP issues: BC-IAM-IDS
• BOC issues: LOD-ANA-BI
• Marketing system issues: CEC-MKT-BF