Product Information
SAP Integration Support Matrix for SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence on SAP HANA
This document summarizes what SAP HANA features are compatible with SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence according to business solutions.
Indeed, since SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.2 and 4.3, SAP provides multiples options to connect Web Intelligence reports to SAP HANA:
- The SAP HANA Online option allows connecting directly to HANA views (no universe) to discover and analyze live data on SAP HANA. With this option, the Web Intelligence report creation is simplified (no query panel), and the report calculations are delegated to SAP HANA DB layer whenever possible. This option is only available on HANA relational connections.
- The SAP HANA Direct Access option allows connecting directly to HANA views (no universe). Contrary to the SAP HANA Online option, this one requires to specify data scope with the query panel, and the report calculations are not pushed down to SAP HANA DB. This option is available on HANA relational, HANA OLAP connections, and HANA HTTP / INA connections (supported since SAP BI 4.3); excepted for the direct access to SAP S/4 HANA views that rather required BICS connections from the SAP BEX option.
- The SAP Universes on HANA option allows connecting to HANA artifacts through the SAP Universe Semantic Layer. To achieve this, this option requires first to author and maintain SAP universes on the top of SAP HANA artifacts. The SAP universes are based on HANA relational and HTTP connections; excepted for multi-dimensional universes on SAP S/4 HANA views that rather based on BICS connections.
- The Free-hand SQL option allows Web Intelligence to directly connect to HANA through HANA relational connections and to query SAP HANA through SQL. This option can be the preferred one for advanced users and SQL experts.
This document determines the support level of Web Intelligence on SAP HANA, based upon the selected solution (also available in the SAP Note 2631562)
Note
The current document version is based on the following product releases:
- SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.2 SP08
- SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.3
- SAP HANA 1.0 SPS012
- SAP HANA 2.0 SPS05
| HANA Artifacts | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| HANA Tables | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| HANA Procedures | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Native HANA Attribute Views | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Native HANA Analytic Views | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Native HANA Calculation Views | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Native HANA Calculation Views (DIMENSION) (1) | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| HANA Live Views (BI Business Suite) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Open CDS Views (a.k.a. S/4 HANA CDS Views) | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only support on S/4 HANA BICS connections. Support for S/4 HANA CDS views of type @Analytics.datacategory:#CUBE since SAP BI 4.3 |
| HANA XSA Calculation Views (a.k.a. HDI Calculation Views) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
(1): Calculation views in which the data category is set as “DIMENSION”
| HANA View Elements | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| Attributes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Calculated Attributes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Measures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Calculated Measures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Restricted Measures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for CDS Attributes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only support on S/4 HANA BICS connections. |
| Support for CDS Measures | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only support on S/4 HANA BICS connections. |
| Support for Attribute Data Type STRING | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Attribute Data Type NUMERIC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Attribute Data Type DATE | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Attribute Data Type TIME | No | Limited support | Limited support | No | Data type mapped as string on HANA OLAP and HTTP connections; else not supported |
| Support for Attribute Data Type TIMESTAMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Measure Data Type NUMERIC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Measure Data Type DATE | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Measure Data Type TIME | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for Measure Data Type TIMESTAMP | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Hide / Show the Element | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Label Column | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only supported on HANA OLAP and HTTP connections; else not supported |
| Display Folders for Measures | No | No | No | No | |
| Display Folders for Attributes | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for Value Help Column for Attributes | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for Conversion Functions on Attributes | No | No | No | Yes | |
| Support for Measure Aggregations | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Semantics on Attributes | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for Semantics on Measures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Measures with Currency and Unit Conversion | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Multilanguage support for HANA metadata object labels | Limited support | Limited support | Limited support | No | Only support for the document creation; but not for the document viewing according to the user preferred viewing locale |
| HANA Hierarchies | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| Level-Based (LB) Hierarchies | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only supported when using HANA OLAP and HTTP connections; else not supported |
| Parent-Child (PC) Hierarchies | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only supported when using HANA OLAP and HTTP connections; else not supported |
| Support for CDS hierarchies | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only support on S/4 HANA BICS connections. |
| Support for Hierarchy Data Type STRING | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Hierarchy Data Type NUMERIC | No | Limited support | Limited support | No | Data type mapped as string |
| Support for Hierarchy Data Type DATE | No | Limited support | Limited support | No | Data type mapped as string |
| Support for Hierarchy Data Type TIME | No | Limited support | Limited support | No | Data type mapped as string |
| Support for Hierarchy Data Type TIMESTAMP | No | Limited support | Limited support | No | Data type mapped as string |
| Support for multiple parents in PC hierarchies | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for additional attributes in PC hierarchies | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for custom sorts in LB and PC hierarchies | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Time-based hierarchy levels | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for time-dependent hierarchies | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for Hierarchy SQL Integration | No | No | No | Yes | |
| Support for SQL hierarchy functions (HANA 2.0) | No | No | No | Yes | |
| HANA Variables and Input Parameters | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| Optional Variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited support | To force as mandatory prompt |
| Mandatory Variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited support | Using @prompt function in the SQL script |
| Default Values: Constant | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited support | Duplicate default values in @prompt function |
| Default Values: Expression | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Multiple default values | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Variable Selection Type: Single Value | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Variable Selection Type: Interval Value | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited support | No support for multiple interval values |
| Variable Selection Type: Range Value | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for multiple entries for Variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for multiple entries for Input Parameters | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Input Parameter Type: Direct | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Input Parameter Type: Column | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Input Parameter Type: Derived from Table | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Input Parameter Type: Derived from Scalar/Procedure | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Input Parameter Type: Static List | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited support | Duplicate static list in @prompt function |
| Support for Semantics on Input Parameters | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Cascading Input Parameters | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Hierarchy-based Variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Variable Mappings | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Supported since SAP BI 4.3 |
| Support for Variable Sequence based on HANA Studio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited support | Duplicate prompt order in @prompt function |
| Support for manual entry of values | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Key Date variables | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Value Help: Label/Description | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Value Help: External views as value help references | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Support for external views with HANA variables or input parameters since SAP BI 4.3 |
| Value Help: Search in Key values | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Value Help: Search in Description Values | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Value Help: Sort values based on Key Values | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Value Help: Sort values based on Description Values | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Support for Conversion Functions on Input Parameters | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for CDS input parameters | No | Yes | Yes | No | Only support on S/4 HANA BICS connections. |
| HANA Functionality | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| Support for Currency / Unit Conversion (defined in HANA view) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for HANA workload management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for HANA query result cache | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for HANA multi-tenant database | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for SAP HANA Vora | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for HANA Spatial | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for HANA text analysis | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for time travel with HANA views | No | No | No | Yes | |
| Support for HANA Predictive Integration | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for SAP HANA HDI Containers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for SAP S/4 HANA | No | Yes | Yes | No | Support available from BICS connections on S/4 HANA |
| Support for SAP BW/4HANA | No | Yes | Yes | No | Support available from BICS connections on BW/4HANA |
| HANA Connectivity Options | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| HANA Relational Connection on OBDC | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| HANA Relational Connection on JDBC | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| HANA OLAP Connection (MDX-based) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| S/4 HANA OLAP BICS Connection | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| BI Client Functionality | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| Defining Conditions in the report | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Merge / Unmerge Variables in the report | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Defining Variable Sequence in the report | No | No | No | No | |
| Query Panel | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Defining Query Limits (Max Rows, Query Timeout etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Parallel Data Provider Refresh | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Cancel Refresh | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Query Stripping | Yes | Limited support | Yes | No | No support on HANA OLAP connections for HANA Direct Access |
| Change Source | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Merged dimensions | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Hierarchical Charting | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Hierarchical Report Design | No | Yes | No | No | |
| Navigation Paths for drill through HANA hierarchies | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Universe security profiles | No | No | Yes | No |
| BI HANA Connectivity Options | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| HANA ODBC Connection | No | No | Yes | Yes | |
| HANA JDBC Connection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| HANA OLAP Connection (MDX) | No | Yes | No | No | |
| HANA HTTP Connection (INA) | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| S/4 HANA BICS Connection | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| BI Platform Capabilities | SAP HANA Online | SAP HANA Direct Access | SAP Universe on HANA | Free-hand SQL | Notes |
| Schedule a Document | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Create a Publication (= Broadcasting) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Support for Report Interface as Sender | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for Report Interface as Receiver | No | No | No | No | |
| Support for OpenDocument with Parameters | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Great blog! Thank you !
Great document thank you! One question, I see that HDI container calculation views can only be consumed by Free Hand SQL but can you provide steps on how to authorize the HANA relational connection user access to this container/calculation view please?
Hi,
HANA allows to query your HANA HDI views via JDBC.
So, in Web Intelligence Free-hand, you can use HANA relational connections to query your HANA HDI views. You must just make sure that your HANA relational connections are granted to be used in the Free-hand SQL (see the CMS security rights at the relational connection level).
Regards,
Hi Oliver,
If we implement the _SYS_BIC synonym artifact in the HDI container, will that work to expose the HDI Calculation View to BusinessObejcts?
Best regards,
Martin
Hi Martin,
I am not sure that this workaround would fully fix the issue.
For your information, the support for HANA HDI views in Web Intelligence is planned in BI 4.2 SP07 (planned for Q1 2019).
Regards,
Olivier
Great Post Olivier.
Any updates on support for HANA HDI Views for Web Intelligence and other relevant BOBJ 4.2 components?
Best Regards
Prabir Mondal
Hi,
The support for HANA HDI views is now available in SAP Web Intelligence 4.2 SP07.
Best regards,
Olivier T.