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Author's profile photo Thomas Jentsch

SAP BI 4.3: What’s New – Automation Framework renamed as Workflow Assistant

As part of BI 4.2 SP05 we have introduced a the new FIORI based application BI Administration Console to simplify and automate administration tasks with Landscape Management and Automation Framework (Introduction to BI Administration Console).

In the BI 4.3 release we have simplified the architecture and integrated the applications into the Central Management Console (CMC):

  • Automation Framework is renamed as Workflow Assistant
  • Landscape Management is now the Systems tab in Workflow Assistant
  • The service ActiveMQ is removed, Services Automation Framework and  Agent are merged into one service called Workflow Assistant
  • Usability enhancements
  • Help integrated in the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide, section Workflow Assistant

 

CMC Integration

No separate URL http://<server>:<port>/BOE/BIAdminConsole anymore, Workflow Assistant with all the features can be found in the Manage section of the CMC:

The Workflow Assistant comes with the tabs Scenarios,Workflow Templates and Systems (former Landscape Management):

 

Workflow Assistant – Service

The service ActiveMQ is removed. The services Automation Framework and  Agent are merged into Workflow Assistant service, managed in the CCM.

With this change there is no more the option to add new Agent services. The task execution load is always managed by the Workflow Assistant service.

 

Configuration

Some information about changes in the configuration.

Enterprise Authentication

Trusted configuration is still needed for Workflow Assistant, but the Shared Secret must be downloaded to a different folder now:

In Windows, at <INSTALLDIR>/SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\win64_x64.
For unix systems you can find the information in the BI Platform Administration Guide.

Default User for Workflow Assistant Service

It is recommended to create a new user for Workflow Assistant with the name WAUser and grant Full Control for this user on folder Workflow Assistant. The service will be started using the WAUser account. The Administrator account will be used if the WAUser doesn’t exist.

 

Scenario – Folders

The scenarios can now be organized and managed in folders, like documents in BI Launchpad:

 

Scenario – Use Task Templates

Task Templates can now be used in scenarios. It is not needed to create a Workflow Template anymore.

 

Task Template – Parameters

Parameters for Task Templates can now be defined in Scenarios and Workflow Templates. For example you can create a workflow template with a parameter definition. This allows you to create a library which can be easily reused in scenarios.

In the sample below, there is a Workflow Template to query the list of users:

This workflow template can be used in scenarios (Custom WFT) and the condition is already set with the default value defined in the workflow template:

 

Scenario – Run with Parameter

It is now possible to change or set the parameters when you run the scenario:

the Task Templates will be listed:

and parameter values can be changed:

 

Scenario – Save

As we introduced Run with Parameter, you can now save a scenario without setting all the parameter values.

 

Task Templates

We have introduced new Standard Task Templates:

  • Save Output with BI 4.2 SP07
  • Set Server Properties with BI 4.3.

To add more Task Templates you can develop Custom Task Templates and/or use the samples available with the SAP Samples project I have started (BI Automation Framework SamplesSAP Samples GitHub).

 

More BI 4.3 information

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 Now Available by Steve McHugh

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 : What’s New by Venkateswara Y Guptha

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      12 Comments
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      Author's profile photo Paul Hardy
      Paul Hardy

      SAP - rename a product? Surely not?

      Author's profile photo E. Ocula
      E. Ocula

      Maybe a stupid question but as well in this blog and in the admin-guide (https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_BUSINESSOBJECTS_BUSINESS_INTELLIGENCE_PLATFORM/2e167338c1b24da9b2a94e68efd79c42/16433abc6e724ef29fddac5cf55f0d5a.html?version=4.3)

      it is mentioned to create a "Default User (WAUser) for Workflow Assistant Service.

       

      But which user is this : a BO-user ? If yes, I cannot find a folder "Workflow Assistant" through CMC

      Or is this a Domain/Windows-user. And is folder "Workflow Assistant" a folder om the (Windows) Operating System ?

       

      Author's profile photo Thomas Jentsch
      Thomas Jentsch
      Blog Post Author

      Yes, as far as I remember, this is a BO User.

      Author's profile photo Amithkumar Goel
      Amithkumar Goel

      By Default, Workflow Assistant service in Central Console Management (CCM) is started via administrator user. If anyone prefer not to start the service via administrator account, he can create an enterprise user in system by username "WAUser" with appropriate rights. If "WAUser" is present in the system, it will be used to start the service else administrator's account will be used.

       

      Author's profile photo E. Ocula
      E. Ocula

      OK, thanks for the answers. So I guess we can also run the service in CCM with the same (Windows) domain/service-account which is used to run the SIA.

      Author's profile photo Ayman Salem
      Ayman Salem

      In CCM you can define which OS user the service should be started with.

      and yes, you can start the service with the same SIA (Windows) domain/service account

      Author's profile photo E. Ocula
      E. Ocula

      Yes, indeed. Thanks

      Author's profile photo E. Ocula
      E. Ocula

      I had to log a support-ticket to make WA technically working. But since a few weeks it does work now.

      Now I'm struggling with a scenario using the template “Change Web Intelligence Source & Verify the documents” . I have constructed a .csv file with the CUID's of the WEBI-Documents for which I want to change a universe from .unv to .unx. Following the documentation, the format of the .csv must be :

       

      The supported column delimiter is ,. The row delimiter is ;. A column and a row delimiter in an input field separates the data in column and row format. For an example, refer to the CSV data below:

      name, cuid, status;

      Charting, AW4AVT1AUhVAogA6P7OQv9c, success;

      SalesReport, BW3AVT1AUhVAogA743QCDsD, success;

       

      So I have constructed my .csv as below (example):

       

      cuid;
      AbyKeMAkS71Ci99RkAZMEb0;
      AQMqtXD8nD5PpWlmeeKuf84;
      AdYs.OLfokVBhkIY3sJivwM;

       

       

      But it is not working. I have the error:

       

      Document CSV header must contain: 'id' or 'cuid' but is ''

       

      I do not understand what I'm doing wrong. Hopefully somebody can help me.

       

      Thanks a lot !

      Author's profile photo Thomas Jentsch
      Thomas Jentsch
      Blog Post Author

      Not working in that area anymore, but try to help.
      can you just try without delimiter:

      cuid
      AbyKeMAkS71Ci99RkAZMEb0
      AQMqtXD8nD5PpWlmeeKuf84
      AdYs.OLfokVBhkIY3sJivwM

      Guess you don't need the row delimiter if your CSV entries are listed in lines.
      Row delimiter may be needed if your CSV looks like:

      cuid;AbyKeMAkS71Ci99RkAZMEb0;AQMqtXD8nD5PpWlmeeKuf84;AdYs.OLfokVBhkIY3sJivwM;

      Author's profile photo E. Ocula
      E. Ocula

      Thanks Thomas for trying  to help anyway.

      Meanwhile I was able to make it working but I had to spend several hours. Below what I have put in our own documentation :

      On the document-list

      • As in one of the blogs is mentioned, it’s better/easier to use a .txt file
      • Although it is not mentioned that it should not work, it does not work if you only have the CUID’s in the .txt . So header must be included the name of the WEBI-Doc :

        name,cuid

      • The record-separator can be <CR><LF> , it does not have to be semi-colon (although not tested with semi-colon)
      • Make sure there is no blank line, so no record-separator, after the last cuid

      As mentioned in the documentation, do not run for more then 50 WEBI-Doc’s (although not tested on our environment

       

      Screenshot of the Document-list:

       

      More or less the same for the UniverseList. Although here I did used the semicolon as record-separator

      Author's profile photo E. Ocula
      E. Ocula

      Does somebody know if there is a maximum of WEBI-Documents which can be taken into one Scenario, to change .unv to .unx ?

      Author's profile photo Thomas Jentsch
      Thomas Jentsch
      Blog Post Author

      There is no limitation for the number of documents, but there is recommendation to limit the number of documents for one run, this is mainly because of memore impact for the WebIntelligence process.

      2432962 - Web Intelligence Change Source from UNV to UNX – Automated Solution

      Recommendations:

      The change data source solution modifies existing Web Intelligence documents. Hence it is recommended to back up the Web Intelligence documents that you want to change before running the solution.

      Best practices is to start with the solution in a development or test system and promote the updated documents to the production. Also start with a small set of documents.

      The change source is using the Web Intelligence Processing Server, you should select not more than 100 Web Intelligence documents to execute the change in a single run.