Agfa’s strategy for choosing the right BO reporting tool
SAP Business Objects
Eva De Vocht – Solution Architect @ Agfa
Jorn Bieseman – BI Consultant @ Cubis
ContactCubisLeuvensesteenweg 613 1930 Zaventem
T: +32 (0)2 751 77 97F: +32 (0)2 757 90 61
@cubissolutionswww.facebook.com/cubis.be
Jeroen RoosenManaging-Partner
+32 (0)478 94 93 [email protected]@jeroen_cubis
Wim Van WuytswinkelManaging-Partner
+32 (0)477 91 74 [email protected]@wimvw77
Content Summary
We will focus on deploying the right BO tools to the right audience within the company.
You will learn more about our reporting strategy and receive valuable feedback based on our experiences from implementing
several tools from the SAP BO suite.
Content Overview
Some Agfa
background
Global Agfa
BI strategy
Technical
implementation
Going to the
business
Current
projects
Future steps
AGFA BACKGROUND
Agfa-Gevaert Group
Parent Company CC and GSS
Agfa-Gevaert GroupBelgian
CompaniesAgfa-Gevaert NV
Agfa Healthcare NVAgfa Graphics NV
GSSAgfa ICSGlobal HR / Purchasing / Logistics
CC = Corporate CenterGSS = Global Shared Services
Technology Optimization: For Graphics, Healthcare and Specialty Products alike, Agfa ICS drives optimization to the
enterprise by aligning our client’s technology and operations strategies. Our professionals endeavor to improve client technological
capacities while cultivating operational efficiency, effective service delivery and optimal cost savings.
World’s first large-area flexible OLED
Graphics HealthCare Specialty Products
AGFA FACTS
Own datacenter
11.000 employees (>10% using BI tools and reporting)
3 SAP ECC
4 SAP BW systems1 BW 7.04 on HANA & 3 BW 7.03
18 TB of data end 2015
Global Agfa BI Strategy
• The IT BI team should focus on managing data
• The business should focus on reporting
Self-service
• Consistency of information/metadata
• Controlled distribution
• Consistent authorizations
• Mobile = PC
• Functional enrichment
• Not all users have the same needs
Single-version of the truthSegmentation of users
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION
Architecture & roadmap Yesterday
ERP SQL Server Access DB Oracle DB
BW 7.03
BEx
Excel
Architecture & roadmap Today
ERP SQL Server Access DB Oracle DB
BW 7.04on HANA
Universe
BEx BI Platform
WebI4.1 SP07
DesignStudio 1.6
Lumira1.29
Excel
Excel
Architecture & roadmap Today
Design Studio WebI Lumira Analysis for Office
Dashboards & Applications MS Office (Excel/PPT/Outlook) integrationReporting Discovery & Analysis
SAP BusinessObjects client tools
Build Custom Experiences
Discover. Predict. Create. Distribute Information
Reporting
Self-service
Dashboardsand Apps
Self-service: Discover. Predict. Create.
Agility for business analysts and business users
Discover trends, outliers and areas of interest in your business
Adapt to business scenarios by combining, manipulating, and enriching data
Tell your story with self-service visualizations and analytics
Forecast and predict future outcomes
Portfolio
Lumira / Predictive Analysis
Explorer
Analysis
Dashboards and Apps
Build engaging, visual dashboards
Powerful environment to build interactive and visually appealing analytics
Rich set of controls: buttons, list boxes, drop-down, crosstabs, charts…
Use custom code to extend and build workflows
Portfolio
Design Studio
Dashboards (aka Xcelsius)
Reporting: share informationHigh productivity design for report designers
Quickly build formatted reports on any data source
Securely distribute reports both internally and externally
Minimize IT support costs by empowering end usersto easily create and modify their own reports
Enhance custom applications with embedded reports
Portfolio
Web Intelligence
Crystal Reports
Architecture & roadmap Today
ERP on HANA
SQL Server Access DB Oracle DB
BW 7.04on HANA
Universe
BEx BI Platform
WebI4.1 SP07
DesignStudio 1.6
Lumira1.29
Excel
Excel
Why SAP BO?
4 BW systems, SAP BO enables use data from all 4 BW systems in 1 report
Full BW integration
Full mobile and usable on any device
Self-service: business users can create their ownWebI and Lumira reports
1
2
3
4
Single version of the thruth: central platform that enables toreuse reports and enables users to reuse the same data sets
Segmentation of users: different SAP BO tools for different users (more about this further in the presentation)
Authorizations of SAP BW are reused in the SAP BO platform
Safeguard investment in BW
5
6
7
8
Chosen Tools
WebI Lumira Analysis for OfficeDesign Studio
Reporting Discovery & Analysis MS Office (Excel/PPT) integrationDashboards & Applications
Why these 4 reporting tools?
– Only 4 main reporting tools (Lumira, WebI, DesignStudio, Analysis for Office)
– BI Platform is the centralenvironment for reporting(Lumira on BI Platform is thefuture, Lumira on HANA Server will phase out)
SAP is simplifying their BI landscape
– Roadmaps and future are clear
– Clear communication
– Agfa felt secure to invest in the future
SAP has finally a clear vision on their tools
BO implementation steps
BO POC environment (only WebI)
01/2014 12/2014
08/2015 09/2015
10/2015 02/2016
Purchased SAP BO and HANA
Go Live SAP BW Healthcare on HANA
Technical readiness of Lumira 1.27 and
DesignStudio 1.5 on BI Platform
Go Live BI Platform 4.1 SP06 (only WebI)
Upgrade to BI Platform SP07, Lumira
1.29, DesignStudio1.6
Problems encountered
Limited functionalities of Lumira
• Lumira <1.27 did not support SAP BW
• Lumira 1.27 supported limited SAP BW connectivity
• Lumira 1.28 & 1.29 finally contain good SAP BW connectivity
SSO to BW only available for 1 BW system (critical issue was solved in BIP 4.1 SP06)
• Every tool works differently and changes with every upgrade
• Different installation packages
Sizing wizard doesn’t work (issue still exists on BIP 4.1 SP07)
1. Lumira was delayed 2. SSO
3. Software installation packages 4. Sizing
GOING TO THE BUSINESS
Strategy for promoting BO to the business
BOPromotion
Working towardsself-service
Organic growth, mouth-to-mouth publicity
Avoiding the big-bang scenario
Project approach
Strategy for promoting BO to the business
BOPromotion
Working towardsself-service
Organic growth, mouth-to-mouth publicity
Avoiding the big-bang scenario
Project approach
Present the entire BI architecture (including BW, HANA, …) like in the previous slides to the business• Keep it simple• Don’t promise the ultimate
reporting tool• Focus on 2-3 advantages of
the BO environment
Give a demo to key responsible users
Presentation DemoA B
POC on real life business data together with someone from the business
POC TrainingC D
Development of reports with small teams (1 person from the BI team and 1-2 persons from the business)
DevelopmentE
This project approach is followed every time a new business team wants to use SAP BO.
Strategy for choosing a BO reporting tool
WebI Vs LumiraVs Design Studio
What is BO?
You can do everything with
Lumira, why do we need Design Studio
or WebI?
The business willnot search for the
differencesthemselves
Panic! Everything is
going tochange!
Strategy for choosing a BO reporting tool
We also asked SAP to advice us which SAP BO tools to use.
We received the standard SAP slides.
Strategy for choosing a BO reporting tool
• Only positive points, no words about limitations
• No comparison between tools
• Almost every tool can be placed on every slide
The SAP-slides are good, but:
• High level
• Also including negative reasons
Our own interpretation:
VS
Strategy for choosing a BO reporting tool
You don’t have anything and you want to first start
playing with the data?
•Lumira & Analysis for Office
Your data structure is stable and you want to build yourself a report with extended graphs?
•Web Intelligence
•Why not Lumira? Lumira has not as many options for graphs as Web Intelligence
•Why not Analysis for Office? WebI offers more automatisation (scheduling and bursting of reports)
You want to have more a dashboard then a static
report? You are willing to spend time/money to
realise this report?
• Design Studio (by IT)
• Why not WebI? DesignStudio allows you to code your functionalities giving you a lot more possibilities
Strategy for choosing a BO reporting tool
Is it that easy? Unfortunately not…
Our strategy is very self-service driven and we understand that not all users have thesame needs (segmentation of users)
Some other product functionalities are still important
o Scheduling/Publishing/Broadcasting: DesignStudio does not support this
o Excel plugins: Only WebI has a Excel plugin (Live Office)
o Integrated Planning: Only DesignStudio and Analysis for Office support this
Problems encountered
We only had WebI to start with
• Immediately demand for more functionalities like in DesignStudio, we didn’t had the full flexibility of DesignStudio
• Users couldn’t play with the data as they can in Lumira
• WebI is only self-service for high end profiles, people need to be a little IT minded. Self-service for dummies works better with Lumira.
We need to look passed the SAP selling story
Limitations are only encountered on the job
1. Stuck in the middle
2. Lumira is heaven
3. Experience
CURRENT PROJECTS
• Integrated Planning project already done successfully
• IT is in the driving mode to propose DesignStudio as an alternative to the business when users are stuck on the limitations of WebI
• Existing static reports and broadcasted reports are changed to WebI (Web reports and BEx workbooks)
• New reports are developed in WebI(MS Access data, SQL server data, Oracle DB data, Excel data)
Projects will start beginning of February to use Lumira for the development of reports and exploring data
• Delayed because of installation packages that need to be rolled out
• Lower priority, first the other tools which give supplementary advantages to users
• Only available as of MS Office 2007
WebI Lumira Analysis for OfficeDesign Studio
CURRENT PROJECTS
FUTURE STEPS & CHALLENGES
Future steps and challenges
Future
BEx queries not always BO readyUOM and other BO limitations
Continuous upgrades of the systemBI Platform 4.2
HANA ERPMore HANA, less BW
Going mobileSecurity will be a big
challenge
Analysis for OfficeSome delays with the global installation
packages
Getting more users on the platformWill the platform be able to manage all the
users (BO on HANA?)
DesignStudio – Lumira evolution
Questions?
Thank You!