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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


 
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