You have read and heard lots of things about BusinessObjects.
But if you are mainly familiar with SAP BW and/or SAP ERP, you want to see it by yourself before getting too excited.
Great news: you can try a lot of these great tools for free! And if your boss forbids it, you can do it calmly at home on your Linux or Mac system, if you follow these tips !! Talk about exciting weekends!
BusinessObjects trials
First thing: getting the trial BusinessObjects files.. Just go to the following website
http://www.sap.com/solutions/sapbusinessobjects/sme/freetrials/index.epx
note : some trials are actual tools that you need to install (Crystal Reports, Dashboard Design, BO Edge…), and some are online tools for which you just have to register (the Ondemand portfolio)
if you have a not-too-old Windows system, things should be OK for you.
Now if you also have a gift for, let’s say, photography, architecture, or drivers and kernel compiling (!), you might have only MAC OSX and LINUX computers: here is how I did it on my IMac
VMWare Fusion
VMware is amongst the most famous editors of Virtual Machines software. With the latest release of VMware fusion, you can easily build your Windows Server virtual server and try it for free for 30 days. If it works well, you’ll have to pay a small price to continue using it.
Go there if you have a Mac
http://www.vmware.com/landing_pages/fusion-trial-vms.html
And there if you have a Linux system
https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=player&lp=default
Microsoft OS
Now you just need the Windows system that will run inside the Virtual machine.
If you want to try the SAP BusinessObjects Edge BI 3.1, you need to have a Windows server OS
Good news: you can download a full Windows Server 2008 trial system for 180 days directly from Microsoft : go there
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/trial-software.aspx
(Note: when BO XI 4.0 will be available, it will need Windows Server 2008 64 bit, so my blog will still be useful)
Implementation Guide
Now you have to:
1) Install VMware client tool
2) Create a Windows Server Virtual machine using the ISO image you have downloaded from Microsoft
3) Install the BusinessObjects tool inside the Virtual machine
Enjoy!! (as in SAP R/3 in 1999…. private joke, sorry…)
I have done it on my Imac : it needs to be a new one with quite a bit of memory if you try a server product.
If you have any comment, I will be happy to improve and correct this blog if necessary.
Best regards,
Eric LEDU
