Which Browser Is Best for SAP Analytics?

It seems like it was just yesterday that SAP analytics customers were waiting for SAP to support Internet Explorer 9 in its products, but alas that was an eternity ago in 2011 (see related ASUG News article, Waiting on SAP, User Communities Fix SAP BusinessObjects Browser Woes). Fast forward eight years and the desktop browser situation has changed dramatically.

For many years, Internet Explorer (IE) was the only browser most organizations cared about because it showed up on user desktops “for free” as part of the Microsoft Windows system. But Internet Explorer hasn’t been receiving new features for nearly two years – only security updates. And last week, Microsoft published a blog entitled “The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser” which among other things states that

Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution. We’re not supporting new web standards for it and, while many sites work fine, developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days.

Chris Jackson, The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser

A “compatibility solution” and no longer a browser?

So which browser should SAP analytics customers use in 2019?

SAP BusinessObjects

The SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform supports all of the major browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer 11, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple’s Safari. As always, check the Product Availability Matrix (PAM) for Supported Platforms. But with the latest SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP6 (and 4.2 SP7 that should arrive next month), customers can deploy a plug-in free analytics platform, with viable HTML-only options for both Crystal Reports and Web Intelligence users.

SAP Analytics Cloud

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) requires Google Chrome, which gives SAC its clever capabilities to keep customer data safely in the browser so it never leaves the enterprise. SAP Analytics Cloud provides read-only support in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge, but full functionality requires Chrome. Microsoft recently announced its intention to move to adopt the Google Chromium open source project in future versions of its Edge browser. It also plans to support Edge on all supported versions of Windows (not just Windows 10) and teased that it may also bring Edge to the Apple MacOS platform. So Microsoft Edge may eventually provide more than just partial support to SAP Analytics Cloud.

Google Chrome: The Best Browser for 2019

But today, Google Chrome is currently the best browser for all SAP analytics customers, providing full support to both SAP BusinessObjects and SAP Analytics Cloud. Microsoft Edge currently comes in second place but may be a tie sometime in the future.

Although it is still supported, Microsoft Internet Explorer has gone from being the most preferred to least preferred browser for SAP analytics. Your BI team may want to reach out to your organization’s desktop support team and work together to direct users to Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge instead of Microsoft IE.

Resources

• The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser, Microsoft blog by Chris Jackson,
• Microsoft Edge: Making the web better through more open source collaboration, Microsoft blog by Joe Belfiore, December 6, 2018
• Use Enterprise Mode to improve compatibility, Microsoft article for directing legacy intranet sites from Edge to IE, October 23, 2018
• Browser Envy and Browser Envy, Revisited, SAP Community Blogs
• Waiting on SAP, User Communities Fix SAP BusinessObjects Browser Woes, ASUG News Article, November 1, 2011
• SAP Product Availability Matrix (PAM) – S-ID required
• System Requirements and Technical Prerequisites for SAP Analytics Cloud – SAP Help Portal
• SAP KB 2516259 – Limited IE 11 Functionality message in SAP Analytics Cloud & SAP Digital Boardroom when using Internet Explorer 11
• SAP KB 2674150 – What type of browsers are supported in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) & SAP Digital Boardroom ?

Is Microsoft Internet Explorer still the reigning standard in your organization? Does your organization allow users to choose their favorite browser? Share your thoughts about browsers in the comments below.