Business Intelligence with SAP BI Edge

Visual data representation is a hot topic in the age of big data. I would like to take a step back and ask (with apologies to the German philosopher Schopenhauer), do visual representation concepts follow sufficient
reason? Honestly, has it ever occurred to well-informed SAP consultants why so many reporting-related tools seem to surface and then disappear? I am sure you have come across more than one ingenious SAP demo where you see nice screens for reporting tools, only to realize not too long after that a new tool is already in the works.

In this sense, Schopenhauer, who is notorious for his complex but appealing theories about will and representation, has some commonalities with SAP— things are complicated. In this book, I will review the reporting from a higher level and use an investigative style that puts the reader in “discovery mode.”

This is designed to help cross-functional consultants survive the jungle of
tools and utilize core SAP functionality, which is close to the transactional
level. Hence, you will not find the traditional walk-through demos in this
book but rather a concept that will help you understand the data and create a framework that you can use in your own projects. This small library of skills can be leveraged better than dozens of tools that fail if just one connection is not in order.

The target demographic for this book includes informed cross-functional
consultants who need to understand technology beyond the marketing
demo.

I will focus on the source of data and its path to the visual representation
in a report or dashboard. How can you find the data in SAP? How can
you train yourself to create a repetitious concept to analyze transactions
in SAP for reporting? With this focus, I will expand the scope to connect
with common BI tools and also relate to SAP HANA. I will walk you from
SAP ECC transactions to BI tools and transaction codes to Business
Object Universes. Finally, I will show you how all of these connect in SAP
HANA without losing track of the core concepts. I will also share a BI
Consulting method that focuses on a data audit versus solely focusing on
BI Edge and the tools currently included with this product.

Keep reading in Business Intelligence with SAP BI Edge.

SAP BI Edge is a powerful business intelligence (BI) solution for midsize companies. This book offers a comprehensive overview of what to expect and where you should start building your reporting framework. You’ll get detailed information on reporting tools, like Information Designer, Universe Designer, BI Launchpad, Crystal Reports, and Dashboards (formerly XCelsius). Get tips for creating an InfoSet strategy and leverage it to run reports. Learn how to use the Information Design Tool (IDT) to design data models and layer your data to create universes. Identify the common queries you will need to get started and walk through how to publish SAP reporting data in a web format and create practical management dashboards. By using practical examples, tips, screenshots, and a case study the author brings readers new to SAP BI Edge up to speed on the fundamentals.

– Installation and setup tips for SAP BI Edge with SAP ERP
– Query and reporting tools best practices
– How to build a dynamic SAP ERP data model based on your configuration
– Step-by-step instructions on how to create a SAP BI universe

Author Wolfgang Niefert has more than 15 years of experience with international SAP implementations. He specializes in eCommerce systems integrations with SAP. As part of his consulting for companies like HP, Allen Bradley, Sabik and ATT he worked in Germany, Switzerland, the USA, Saudi Arabia and Russia. He studied Business Information Systems at the European Business School in Oestrich Winkel (Germany), London, and San Diego.