Getting Started with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.3

Let There Be Light

With the release of the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence suite 4.3 earlier this month, la grande dame of business intelligence stepped back into the lime lights. We find SAP Business Intelligence Portfolio listed, for example, on the latest Data Value Formula diagram as on-premises offering that complements SAP Analytics Cloud.

• How to Turn Your Data into a Superpower by Gerrit Kazmaier

For a product whose heritage goes back to 1984 and a Canadian shipping company who needed some Quik Reports ¹ this is great news indeed for the many fans and aficionados.

Previously, we already posted two articles about how the BusinessObjects Business Intelligence suite fits into the overall SAP Analytics portfolio with SAP NetWeaver BI, SAP Predictive Analytics, SAP Lumira, and SAP Analytics Cloud.

• Analytics with SAP | Business Intelligence Suite(s)
• Analytics with SAP (continued) | SAP Analytics Cloud

We won’t go into detail either into the fiorified (yes, that is a word Spelling Checker) BI Launch Pad and other enhancements to Webi or the IDT. You can find these listed in the What’s New Guide for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Suite 4.3, complemented by several excellent articles here on the Community.

• SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 : What’s New by Venkateswara Y Guptha
• SAP BI 4.3: What’s New In Web Intelligence and Semantic Layer by Christian AH-SOON
• SAP BI 4.3: What’s New – Automation Framework renamed as Workflow Assistant by Thomas Jentsch
• SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 (SAP BI 4.3) Released! by Patrick Perrier
• SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 Now Available by Steve McHugh
• Preparing for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 by Dallas Marks

For the nostalgics, here is the Let there be light video from 2007, anticipating the Intelligent Enterprise.

For the genealogists, here is the family tree

• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.3 (2020-2027)
• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.2 (2015-2022)
• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.1 (2013-2018)
• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform 4.0 (2010-2017)
• BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 3.0 (2008-2015) – version 12
• BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2 (2005-2010) – version 11.5
• BusinessObjects Enterprise XI (2005) – version 11
• BusinessObjects Enterprise 6 (2003) | Crystal Enterprise 10
• Crystal Decisions versions 1-9 (1992-2002)

XI was marketed as eXtreme Insight.

1 – see Chapter 1 of Crystal Reports XI: The Complete Reference, Chapter 1, Amazon Look Inside

Video Tutorials

For the video tutorials, see the dedicated playlist on the SAP Analytics channel.

• SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.3

Product Information

For the business side of things visit the product page on SAP.com. Here we find the key benefits, capabilities, pricing, packaging, etc.

• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence suite

SAP Help Portal

For the documentation visit the SAP Help Portal. Here we find the What’s New Guide, guides about installation and update, administration guides, user guides, and the different reference guides.

• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform

Related products have their own home on the portal:

• SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence
• SAP BusinessObjects Live Data Connect
• SAP Crystal Reports 2020

A good place to start is the What’s New guide

• What’s New Guide for SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Suite 4.3

SAP ONE Support Launchpad

The one-stop shop location for product information, knowledge base articles, incidents, licenses, and downloads is the SAP ONE Support Launchpad. To access this resource you need an SAP S-user account (Your New S-User ID – Your Key to the SAP Ecosystem).

Product Pages

If you only want to bookmark a single resource from this blog, make it the product page on the SAP ONE Support. This page is continuously kept up to date with relevant support information.

• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform

Notes and Knowledge Base Articles (KBA)

For notes and articles, search the knowledge base for component BI-BIP

• 2446607 – How to find BI Platform Knowledge Base Articles (KBA’s) for Installation, Deployment, AdministrationVersion
• 1868921 – Where to find Install Guide, Release Notes, Update Guide for each of BI Platform 4.x

Guided Answers

As the number of articles and notes can be overwhelming, there is a Guided Answer to help you find your way

• How to find TOP Knowledge Base Articles (KBA’s) related to BI Platform Infrastructure?

Software Downloads

For information about downloading SAP BusinessObjects software, read the notes

• 2936923 – SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform 4.3 Release
• 2671301 – What is the ONE Installer and where can I find it ?

Search for SAP

• SBOP BI PLATFORM 4.3

License Keys

You can use the License Key application on the launch pad to generate your license key. There is also a emergency license keys (temporary) available for download from the public side of the portal

• Keys

Product Availability Matrix (PAM)

Not part of the SAP ONE Support Launchpad but still an important source of information is the Product Availability Matrix. Here we find the official release dates (RTC, GA, EMM), supported operating systems, browsers, etc.

• SBOP BI PLATFORM 4.3

SAP Community 

As you are reading this blog on the community you are probably already quite aware of this fact but for those who arrived on this blog through search, the SAP Community is a great place to stay up to date about SAP products, read the latest blog posts and ask (or answer) questions.

The dedicated topic page for the BusinessObjects BI suite no longer exists but it is easy enough to create your own feed by selecting a tag to follow (and configure how you want to be notified in your profile). Works for both blogs and answers.

• SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform
• SAP BusinessObjects – Web Intelligence (WebI)
• SAP BusinessObjects – Semantic Layer
• SAP Crystal Reports

The topic area for SAP Crystal Repots is still available and there is a generic one for SAP Analytics:

• SAP Crystal Reports
• SAP Analytics

SAP Training and Certification

There are a large number of courses about BusinessObjects business intelligence and the best way to get a clear picture of what’s available (and the sequence to take) is through a Learning Journey.

• SAP Business Intelligence (BI) Platform
• SAP Business Intelligence (BI) Reporting

Currently, the training and certifications still reference the previous 4.2 platform

• SAP Certified Application Associate – SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform 4.2 (C_BOBIP_42)
• SAP Certified Application Associate – SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence 4.2 (C_BOWI_42)

SAP Press Books

There are several titles about the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence platform, the most recent about Set Analysis with SAP BusinessObjects BI by Pierpaolo VEZZOSI from 2019.

Other titles published by SAP Press are about universe design, system administration, web intelligence, and predictive analytics were published a little longer ago.

For the collection, go to

• SAP BusinessObjects BI

Sharing Knowledge and Connect

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• LinkedIn > linkedin.com/in/dvankempen
• Twitter > @dvankempen

Best,

Denys van Kempen