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April 14, 2017 7 minute read

What’s New in SAP BusinessObjects Cloud and SAP Digital Boardroom – Release 2017.06

 

This blog covers some of the latest new features and enhancements in SAP BusinessObjects Cloud and SAP Digital Boardroom release 2017.06. Please note that SAP BusinessObjects Cloud agent must be upgraded to 1.0.51 in conjunction with the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud upgrade to 2017.06.

As this blog is usually published prior to the upgrade deployment, please note that the features and enhancements listed below are subject to change.

Highlights of this release include:

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Core: Modelling

Change the data source for a remote model

You can now change the data source for a remote model whose original data source is no longer available.

 

Core: Data Integration

Introduction of versions for the SAP BusinessObjects Cloud Agent

The BusinessObjects Cloud Agent is a connectivity component that is needed for importing data from various data source types. In the past, you would have needed to upgrade the Agent with every release of BusinessObjects Cloud.

Beginning with Release 2017.06, you will only need to upgrade the Agent if a new version is produced for the specific data source types you are using. The Agent versions are based on the different data source families: SAP Business Warehouse (BW), Universes, ERP/SQL databases, file servers, and SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC).

Users attempting to create a data import connection for a data source type that requires a new Agent version will be notified via a dialog popup. This popup will allow them to request an upgrade directly to the system admin.

For your convenience, we’ll post the latest version right here in the What’s New blog (first paragraph).

 

Harmonized SAP HANA Cloud Connector (HCC) and BusinessObjects Cloud Agent versions

In addition to the new BusinessObjects Cloud Agent versions mentioned above, we’ve taken it another step further to make life easier for tenant admins. Beginning with this release, the SAP HANA Cloud Connector (HCC) and BusinessObjects Cloud Agent will both be on the same version of the SAP JVM which means you will no longer need to update the HCC separately from the agent. The current SAP JVM version is 1.8, which will allow users to acquire data from on premise data sources more easily.

 

SAP BPC: RptCurrency is imported when currency conversion is disabled

When you import a model from SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC), you can specify whether currency conversion should be enabled or disabled. When currency conversion is enabled, only the local currency is imported from BPC. When currency conversion is disabled, only the RptCurrency dimension is imported.

Using the “Where” clause to fix data quality issues (Next-gen wrangler only)

With the next generation data wrangler, you can now use a “where” clause to replace cell values in rows that satisfy a certain condition met by members from other columns, which is particularly useful for fixing data quality issues.

Let’s say for example you don’t have a name entered for a customer. You can use the “where” clause to replace all cells matching ‘ ’ (blank) in [FullName] with the customer’s name. This feature is also handy for correcting circular hierarchies and duplicate member data quality issues.

The next generation data wrangler also gives you automatic suggestions of corrections to make:

  • Please note the next generation data wrangler described above is available only for the newest tenants with non-Planning only licenses. We’re working on bringing the same experience and workflow to all our other customers, and for data imports from any source. Read more about it here.

 

Core: Data Analysis, Stories, and Tables

Export data to CSV

In this release of BusinessObjects Cloud, you can now export data that is displayed in your charts or tables in the form of a CSV file.

Some notes about the feature in this current release:

  • What’s supported in Release 2017.06:
    • Charts and tables
    • Filters, required dimensions, and calculations are applied
    • Design and View modes
    • Models created from a file, acquired data sources (including SAP BW), live HANA connections, blended data from the supported types
    • Formatting (units, scaling, currency) that is defined within the data or Model
    • Up to 3 million cells, and 60 columns + column header
  • What is not yet supported:
    • Grid mode (coming soon)
    • Geo maps
    • Present and Embed Modes
    • Digital Boardroom
    • Data from live SAP BW or SAP S/4HANA
    • Formatting (units, scaling, currency) that is defined within a Story

 

Integrated variance for bar and column charts

A picture is worth a thousand words, but the best ones can say a great deal more in the same amount of space. In this release, we’ve added the ability for you to overlay a variance on top of your bar or column charts.

  • Existing formatting options are honored when integrated variance is created.
  • Please note that variance as a percentage is not available for this feature.
  • Learn how to add a variance

Normalize a Time Series chart

You can now normalize the data in your Time Series chart. This allows you to compare the relative percentage differences over time across one or more series within the time frame, rather than viewing the absolute value of the measure. When the time frame is adjusted (moved, shrunk, or stretched), the relative differences are updated accordingly.

In terms of display, you can show/hide the horizontal and vertical grid lines separately on Time Series charts, and adjust the line width through the styling panel.

Table improvements

  • Label display has been improved when you scroll in a table
    If you have multiple dimensions where the outer dimension is shown just once for all the corresponding inner dimensions, the outer dimension label will remain visible as you scroll.

  • Resize without column/row headers
    You can now resize columns and rows in a table or grid page even when the column/row headers are not visible.

  • Modify and override story variables on a per table basis
    Assuming a model has variables, when you create a story with it, you are prompted to set story variables by default. You could always override these variables on a chart level, and now you can do the same for tables.

Data label improvements

For charts, we’ve improved overall data label rendering so that more columns can now display labels. If a user changes the format of their data labels (i.e. millions to thousands), then we dynamically change the values that are shown.

  • Please note that these improvements are automatically applied once your BusinessObjects Cloud has been upgraded to the current release.

Planning

Analysis for missing conversion rates

Previously when you had missing conversion rates, you could see an error message would alert you to the problem. In this release, we’ve enhanced this feature so when a conversion rate is missing in a story, the error message will include a link to search for the rate in the Add Missing Rates panel.

 

Additional resources:

Previous feature summary blogs:

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