australia sap visual composer v7

Mastering Business Intelligence with SAP 2009

Premier Partners: Proudly Supported by: Produced by:


SAP Visual Composer Modeling

& Deployment

- A Complete Step-by-Step Tutorial for Beginners

Dr. Bjarne BergAssociate Prof., SAP University Alliance

Lenoir-Rhyne University

and V.P. Comerit Inc.


What I’ll Cover …

Introduction & Overview

SAP Visual Composer Overview

How to Build a VC model

Demo

The Future of Visual Composer

Other Options

Key Points to Take Home

Questions


3

The SAP BI Core Toolset

SAP BI is an

enterprise-wide

comprehensive

decision support

(DSS) system for

analytical needs of

an enterprise.

BI can also support

some degree of

operational reporting

The SAP BI tool set has many presentation tools and options

for companies to leverage. VC is an extension of those tools.


Getting Started - In SAP-BI it all starts with a query

The query is the core method for

accessing SAP BI data. You can use

existing queries in your VC models.

The new 7.0 Query designer

was totally re-developed in

MS-Visual Basic .NET


5

What is Visual Composer

Visual Composer is a tool to visualize the data. It is a browser-based modeling and design tool for rapid application development & prototyping in a code-free development environment.


Visual Composer for Complex cockpits

Modeling of BI applications using the BI kit of the Visual Composer allows business users to create analytical content for SAP portal. It offers the integration with BI InfoProviders, views, BEx web applications, PDF and more via WEB API as access to

other data sources such as OLAP and relational data sources) via Java connectors

Image source: Cubeserv


7

Visual Composer Data Methods

• Can integrate data from multiple data sources, including SAP and non-SAP systems, into one model

• Different options available for data access include: BI Extension Kit

Remote Function Call (RFC)

Web services

• BI Extension Kit allows access to the following DataSources SAP NetWeaver 2004 BI

(BW 3.5 Support Package 14)

SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0

JDBC

XMLA


Visual Composer is Easy for Power Users to Learn

Visual Composer is a power user tool that is simple to learn for someone with a little bit of technical background (i.e. controllers, report writers, analysts).

Source: SAP

Take advantage of prebuilt analytic business packages

No coding required to create great-looking Web-based cockpits


9

Visual Composer and WAD

• Visual Composer integrates with Web AD-based applications

using Portal Eventing Framework

• For example, BW Web API can pass a filter value from a BEx Web

application to Visual Composer

and vice versa


There are many resources for SAP VC – The SDN community

This is a great site for

quickly getting started with

SAP VC and for down-

loading a free demo-version


SAP VC – and the SAP Community Network

Many of the beginner

questions have already

been answered in the

expert forums on the SAP

community network


SAP VC – The SDN community Blogs

You can also learn from

other’s experiences by

getting ‘plugged-in’ to

the community network

blogs dedicated to SAP

Visual Composer.





Demo


Other Options


Questions

13



Download and getting started – The trial version

However, to put it into production you must work

with your SAP account executive for a license. It is

normally not covered by a general SAP BI license.

You can download a trial version on the SAP Community network.


Creating a model

Remember that this is a power user task, so providing

the group with some formal training (4-6 hrs) would be

beneficial. Also, teach them you naming conventions

The first task is to create an overall model to store all your pages and iViews.

The name cannot have blanks or special characters

You can organize your model in standard folder structures


The SAP VC add-ons

If you don’t have Adobe

SVG installed, you must

go to their web site and

download it. It is a small

file and it is free

The models are actually graphics rendered with Adobe SVG (vector graphics)


The work environment – Getting Connected

First you must make sure that your Visual composer environment is set up with connection back to your SAP BI environment(s).

You can also work with your technical team to setup

connections to other non-SAP environments


The Portal Web Page container

Using the compose icon on the right, you

Can add iViews and Portal pages to your model

You can create individual iViews that are shared in other applications such as WAD, KM folders and web pages.

You can use the portal page to group iViews.

Alternatively, you can make complex iViews that have many different display levels


The SAP VC Configure Toolbar

This tool bar allows you to zoom, access layers, insert

grid lines for layout and move objects

We can add items and see then from the highest level, or you can ‘drill-down’ on each item and configure them individually.

Navigation is provided as a toolbar and you can also zoom in on each item.


The magnifying glass

SAP VC has many tools that power users can play with.

The fastest way to proficiency is to try the many features. Very few things can 'break’, and the undo button is always available

The magnifying glass is helpful when the model is very

complex and zooming in and out is cumbersome


The Annotation tool

When you are developing

very complex models, it is

very helpful to add

annotations (comments)

to document your work.

Consider proposing standards within your company

(i.e. dates, initials, and what needs to be documented).


The iView in SAP VC

iViews can be graphical (charts) or tables and links between iViews and

queries can create complex dashboards with many navigation options


Getting an Overview over complex models

Very large visual

composer cockpits can

be hard to read.

The Browse feature

allows you to see the

cockpit in a tree format

that makes it easier to

navigate

Graphical model displays can get hard to read

once very complex dashboards are created


Development methodology

The best way to create cockpits is to prototype it first, then ask for

feedback. Since this process is discovery oriented, It is not best

practices to use functional specifications to create web cockpits.

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is the preferred methodology

Plan on spending

serious time with

users working on

layout and web page

organization.

PS! you can use the

SAP delivered

calendar to display, or

for user to interact

with your data set.


The Back-end GML code

SAP Visual Composer uses the standard GUI Modeling Language (GML).

If you are familiar with this language, you can see the code page under the ‘source’ tab


Step 1 – Find the data you want to model

You can look at existing queries

developed by others.

In this example we will create a web

cockpit based on 2 SAP BI queries

More advanced developers can

also call Business Application

Programming Interfaces (BAPI)

that is delivered with SAP BI to

build complex applications


Step 2 – Selecting the queries and defining a starting point

1.After the query is selected, the metadata is transferred to the model.

2.We select one query as the starting point and can require users to use a prompt (in this example we will leave this blank)


Step 3 – Adding a table view based on Query data

1.We add a table view and select

the fields we want from the query

2.We give the table view a

meaningful business name


Step 4 – Adding a Chart view based on Query data

1. We add a chart view based on the query data.

2. We decide to make it a column chart

3. The fields that we want to graph are selected

4. We add animation to the column chart


Step 5 – Defining graph & assigning meaningful names

1.We select the fields we want to graph as

different data series (columns)

2.We give each column a meaningful business

name (this is what the users will see)


Step 6 – Suppressing zero values from the query

We can suppress the sum rows from the query, so that the

graphs are more meaningful and the tables are less cluttered


Step 7 – Adding navigation: Linking tables to other queries

1.When a user selects a row in the country

table we want to show all the customers

in that country and their sales.

2.We link the output from the country

table view to the customer query and

map the ‘country-key’ value between the

two objects


Step 8 – Adding navigation: Linking graphs to other queries

1. We also want to give the users the option

on clicking on a country in the graph and

see the see all the customer’s sales.

2. Again, we link the output from the

country graph to the customer query and

map the ‘country-key’ value between the

objects


Step 9 – Adding a table view for customer sales data

Previously we added a table and a graph of country

sales. Now we want to add similar views for

customer sales

1. First we add a table view

2. We select the fields to be displayed from the query

3. We give the table a meaningful name


Step 9 – Adding a pie chart for customer sales data

Now we add a pie chart

1. First we add a graph view

2. We select the pie chart type and the fields to be graphed

3. We give the field a meaningful business name


Step 10 – Suppressing zero values from the query

Again, we suppress the sum rows from the query, so that the

graphs are more meaningful and the tables are less cluttered


Step 11 – Layout and Compiling of dashboard

In the layout section we arrange the objects and resize

them so that they look good. We also compile the

model and can now view it in the SAP Portal


The Result: the web cockpit in the SAP Portal

All country sales are displayed based on the first query


The Result: Navigation between the graphs

By clicking on the country in

either of the top views, the

bottom views displays sales for

those customers





Demo


Other Options


Questions

40



External Web Services

External web services (WS) such as

email, stock quotes, news services and

weather maps can also be integrated

into your SAP VC cockpit


External Data Providers – web services

Each Web Service may require different input, so

you have to spend some time trying out what

works for your site and how to format it.





Demo


Other Options


Questions

43



44

The future of Visual Composer

Composition Environment including Visual Composer continues to be the go-to product for creating composite applications.

Source: SAP, 2009


New Tools Roadmap

Source SAP AG, 2009





Demo


Other Options


Questions

46



SAP Visual Composer Options

In the Tools Options section, you can control items such as auto save, display levels, formats, high-lights and more.

These preferences are stored for each user and can be personalized


SAP Visual Composer Workspace Options

You can also control, connectors, automatic data mapping, display of selected fields, warnings etc.

Setting up defaults for the workspace will help your power users avoid frustration. Make sure you sync the windows


SAP Visual Composer Composing Options

For most cockpits the default value should be Cache retrieved services

Pick your run-time animation and select the portal system folder you want to save your models in.





Demo


Other Options


Questions

50



7 Key Points to Take Home

• SAP Visual Composer is a tool that is easy to learn

• The tool is intended for PowerUsers – not primarily IT

• SAP Visual Composer is not going away

• You should provide individual training to each of the power users

• Spend serious time performance tuning the back end queries and

data stores

• Plan for SAP BI Accelerator if you have many users of the VC

models

• Seek advise of best practices and plan on integrating data across

systems, web services and other non-SAP sources.


52

Who gets to use the SAP Visual Composer?

There is often a temptation for the IT community of wanting to keep the Visual Composer tool under their domain – That is a mistake

The IT community should actively work with the power and casual users to improve human capabilities and thereby teach them to become more productive employees.

Chinese Proverb


Download VC, Presentations, tutorials & articles

www.comeritInc.com

The Visual Composer Reference Guide -

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nwce10/helpdata/en/7c/0feaee0d214b5e9f2e890e066

8a833/content.htm

Be sure to read SAP Note 1021219 for the latest information about

limitations, known issues, and workarounds for Visual Composer. You can find

the SAP Note at SAP Service Marketplace - service.sap.com/notes.

Resources


54

Your Turn!

How to contact me:

Dr. Bjarne Berg

[email protected]

australia sap visual composer v7

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