bo xi enterprise tech overview

8/6/2019 BO XI Enterprise Tech Overview

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WHITE PAPER

Author: James Thomas

Contributors: Whye Seng Hum, Pierre Leroux, MaryLouise Meckler,David Townley

Audience: ITCIO, database administrators, report authors, data warehousemanagers, business intelligence managers

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis paper provides a technical overview o BusinessObjects XI.BusinessObjects Enterprise is the business intelligence (BI) platorm thatsupports BusinessObjects XI. It is designed to let IT manage and securely

deploy specialized end-user tools and applications or reporting, query andanalysis, and perormance management on a proven, scalable, and openservice-oriented architecture. The scalable, reliable, high-perormancearchitecture delivers business insight to all end users with a exible systemthat allows organizations to deploy and standardize BI implementations withconfdence.

This paper outlines the overall platorm architecture, system tiers, and individ-ual services and components that make up the BI platorm. Weve includedinormation that will help IT and administrators understand the essentials oBusinessObjects Enterprise and help them plan the deployment, manage-ment, and maintenance o the system. For more extensive documentation,installation guides, and deployment strategy support, reer to the documenta-

tion available with BusinessObjects XI.

BUSINESSOBJECTS ENTERPRISE XIIncludes Updates or BusinessObjects XI Productivity Pack

CONTENTS

1 Executive Summary2 BusinessObjects Enterprise:

The Trusted BI Platorm

5 BusinessObjects Enterprise XIArchitecture7 User Interaction Tier: Connecting Any

Type o BI Content to the Users10 Developer Services: Connecting the

Platorm to the Users12 Platorm Services: The Core BI

System23 Data Services: Comprehensive and

Flexible Data Access24 System Management Tools: Flexible

Administration and Upgrades27 Conclusion


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BusinessObjects Enterprise XI is the modern, service-oriented architecture (SOA)BI platorm rom Business Objects, an SAP company, currently used by thousandso global organizations to deliver mission-critical inormation that helps companiestrack, understand, and manage their business. BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

combines the underlying platorm services including publishing, security, manage-ment, and the powerul Business Objects semantic layer and BI tools. It providesthe complete BI platorm or specialized end-user tools including Crystal Reports,BusinessObjects Web Intelligence, BusinessObjects Desktop Intelligence,BusinessObjects Dashboard Builder, BusinessObjects Perormance Manager, anda series o analytic engines and applications.

The BusinessObjects Enterprise BI platorm was designed to integrate seamlesslywith existing web and rich-client application investments without imposing a newset o standards and processes. The platorm helps our customers extend theircurrent Business Objects and Crystal technology investments with an extensiveset o upgrade tools and single platorm support.

BusinessObjects Enterprise provides organizations the ability to mix operating sys-

tems and servers and to meet ever-changing business needs. It has proven near-linear scalability, supported by published benchmarks and numerous deployments,with user bases greater than 1,000. It provides superior reliability with servicesredundancy and delivers enterprise-class reliability backed by third-party certif-cations. BusinesssObjects XI Release 2 also oers specifc capabilities to driveperormance, such as built-in load balancing, caching services, and data sharing(the ability to share the same data or dierent reports). The result is a platorm youcan trust to power your current and uture BI initiatives.

SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTUREA BI platorm is a vital component o an overall enterprise IT inrastructure and pro-vides a key support system or corporate inormation access and decision-making.

Customers depend on the BI platorm to enable organizations to track, understand,and manage their businesses. This necessitates a readily available and highly ef-cient architecture or processing, managing, and delivering critical inormation andanalysis to a broad user base.

BusinessObjects Enterprise is built on a modern, sophisticated service-orientedarchitecture and is designed or exibility and extensibility so it can manage andgrow with the varied demands o BI. BusinessObjects Enterprise XI was archi-tected using modern web standards with an industry-standard communicationramework to tie all the components and services together. Customers and third-party benchmarks have recognized it as one o the industrys most scalable, reli-able, and powerul platorms.

BUSINESSOBJECTS ENTERPRISE:THE TRUSTED BI PlATfORM

Business Objects. BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Technical Overview


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exible enough to grow rom several users with a single tool, to tens o thousandso users with multiple tools, interaces, and user types.

BusinessObjects Enterprise has undergone rigorous internal benchmark and per-ormance tests throughout the product development cycle. The testing continues

throughout the product liecycle to ensure that it continues to meet customer per-ormance needs. In addition, the product is tested with third-party testing labs onvarious platorms. Business Objects provides sizing guides and tools to estimatethe required deployment architecture or dierent usage scenarios.



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The BusinessObjects Enterprise XI technical architecture is composed o a com-plete set o separate, yet interconnected, tiers each optimized or specifc tasksand operations. The architecture is based completely on modern web standardsor inter service-to-service communications across internet networks. This com-

munication protocol is based on the Internet Inter ORB Protocol (IIOP) which isthe communication method o choice or a majority o web application servers andenterprise applications available today. This communication method continuesas the preerred choice or Business Objects due to the latency challenges andunnecessary network trafc common with other approaches, including SimpleOpen Access Protocol (SOAP).

All end-user tools, portals, and portal integration kits are built on top o theplatorm. Developers can easily access the platorm using a complete seto web services, Java, and .NET APIs. The result is the best o both worldswhen it comes to the BI platorm. The platorm delivers a powerul, high-per-ormance BI platorm proven by customers and benchmarks to scale to meetthe demands o an extremely broad set o customers. At the same time, itprovides all the exibility developers need to customize the user experience,integrate the BI platorm in enterprise applications, and connect to data anddocuments stored using the integrated development environment o choice.

BUSINESSOBJECTS ENTERPRISE XIARCHITECTURE

User Interaction Tier

Portal & WebApplications

Rich ClientApplications

MicrosoftOffice

Dashboards &Scorecards

Data Services

ODBC, XML &

Native Drivers

OLAP Servers ERP/CRM Data Integration

J2EE SDK Web Services.NET SDK

Developer Services

Security Caching &Failover

Repository Storage& Retrieval

Publishing& Distribution

Scheduling& Alerting

Excel

Powerpoint

Word

ManagementTools

Migration &Importing

Metadata Design

Adobe Acrobat

Hyperlinks

Business Rules& Metrics

ManagementCollaborationAuditingPerformance ManagementEngines

Platform Services

BI Tools & Content

Management Tools

.net

Microsoft

Metadata

Desktop Intelligence

Web Intelligence

Crystal Reports

Voyager

Dashboard

The BusinessObjects XI unctional architecture and tools.



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BUSINESSOBJECTS INfOVIEWBusinessObjects Enterprise XI includes an intuitive portal or both Java and .NETplatorms. BusinessObjects InoView allows customers to provide access to BIto large groups o users via the web, without the challenges o deploying desktop

sotware products. With its single web interace, it can access and interact withany type o business intelligence including reports, analytics, dashboards, score-cards, and strategy maps.

InoView Discussions oers end users the ability to collaborate and share insight ondierent content types, while the Encyclopedia eature helps end users locate andinterpret their corporate inormation or more confdent and accurate decision-making.

PORTAl INTEGRATION KITSBusiness Objects provides portal integration kits to enable our customers tointegrate business intelligence content into industry-leading enterprise portals.BusinessObjects Enterprise XI includes prebuilt integration kits or BEA WebLogicPortal, IBM WebSphere Portal Server, Microsot SharePoint Server, SAP

USER INTERACTION TIER:

CONNECTING ANY TYPE Of BI CONTENTTO THE USERS

BusinessObjects InoView por tal



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Enterprise Portal, and Oracle Portal Server. These portal integration kits were builtbased on portal standards such as JSR-168, enabling interoperability betweenportals and portlets. Additional portlets and portal integration kits can be built bypartners or customers using the sotware development kits (SDKs) provided with

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI.

DASHBOARDS AND SCORECARDSBusinessObjects Enterprise XI supports an entire set o perormance managementtools that help organizations align corporate actions with strategy by tracking andanalyzing key business metrics and goals via management dashboards, score-cards, and alerting. Business Objects dashboard and scorecard products consisto an integrated dashboard, scorecard, and dashboard builder, as well as a catalogo analytic templates and fve integrated analytic engines. The fve analytic engines(metrics, rules, sets, predictive, and process analysis) provide the processingpower to monitor perormance, alert to exceptions, track customer segments, ore-cast, and analyze business processes.

MICROSOfT OffICE INTEGRATIONBusinessObjects Enterprise XI includes tight integration with Microsot Ofceincluding the ability to store and manage Word, PowerPoint, and Excel docu-ments in the system repository. With BusinessObjects Live Ofce, end usersembed accurate, updatable data in documents, spreadsheets, and presentationswhile allowing IT to maintain control o the underlying inormation. Users can thenreresh the view or modiy document parameters rom within Ofce by logging in toBusinessObjects Enterprise. Live Ofce provides business users with easy accessto the data available within Web Intelligence documents or live integration intotheir PowerPoint, Word, and Excel fles. Live Ofce also oers the ability to flterdata rom a Crystal report using dynamic and cascading prompt pick lists. In addi-tion, users can dynamically change the data viewed in their reports by using picklists generated rom Crystal Reports parameters.

In this release Live Ofce has been enhanced to make the process o accessingtrusted data within Microsot Ofce even simpler. Users will be able to create newqueries directly rom within Ofce documents, with the addition o a query panelthat utilizes the Business Objects semantic layer. This can urther reduce the timeand resources spent adding trusted data into presentations and documents, whereno Web Intelligence or Crystal report exists to meet the requirement. This releasealso includes the ability to add secure, rereshable tables and charts rom WebIntelligence documents (known as report parts). This allows customers to gainurther value rom their Web Intelligence documents and help ensure consistent



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use o data across the organization. Finally, customers can use Live Ofce in anextranet deployment, enabling them to make available secure, trusted businessintelligence to users outside their frewall.

KEY USER INTERACTION INNOVATIONSSearch

Business Objects Enterprise already delivers innovative capabilities to bringthe simplicity o search to the world o business intelligence. This allowsBusinessObjects XI users to search using the amiliar Google interace andretrieve, index, and deliver BI content, presentations, business content in docu-ments, and web pages. In this current release, an additional set o capabilitiesurther advance the concept o search-based business intelligence.

These new capabilities reduce the time and eort users spend fnding the specifcpiece o data or report they need to answer their business questions. Simply by en-tering text into the search box within InoView, users will quickly see a relevant, cat-egorized, and ranked set o results rom with their XI Release 2 system. Other newsearch capabilities include document ranking based on requency and position ouse o the users search string, intelligent categorization o documents by relevanttopics and type based on Business Objects advanced semantics, and step-by-steprefning o results based on a user selecting defned subsets o document.

Encycopedia

The BusinessObjects Encyclopedia is a key innovation in BusinessObjectsEnterprise XI that delivers improved user insight by providing inormative BI reer-ence guides or your organizations inormation. BusinessObjects Encyclopediais accessible rom every document, directly in your BI portal so users can easilylocate and interpret the right inormation to more confdently and accurately makedecisions. All BusinessObjects Encyclopedia content is stored and managed in the

central repository and is available directly within the InoView portal environment.

Threaded Discussions

Discussions provide threaded notes that enable users to create and maintaincomments on any documents in BusinessObjects Enterprise. Discussions are aully integrated eature o the BusinessObjects Enterprise environment and aredisplayed in the InoView portal. The system manages all threaded discussioninormation and stores it in the repository. Discussion threads can be added toCrystal Reports, Web Intelligence, and OLAP documents, and third-party manageddocuments like Microsot Word or Adobe PDF.



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DEVElOPER INTERfACESBusinessObjects Enterprise is composed o a powerul set o BI services, exposedthrough a set o sotware development kits (SDK). All o the end-user interaces pro-vided by the platorm are built on top o these SDKs, ensuring developers can access

all aspects o the system. These object models encapsulate all the calls needed toextract content listings rom the system, control content processing and delivery, viewcontent, interact with content, and administer the system. And all the sample applica-tions included with the product use this well-documented object model.

JAVA AND .NET SDKSBusinessObjects Enterprise provides tight integration with Java and Microsot-based platorms via native Java Platorm, Enterprise Edition and Microsot .NET.These kits are made up o robust components, sample applications, and documen-tation. Developers install these components on web application platorms includingBEA WebLogic Server, IBM WebSphere Application Server, Apache, MicrosotInternet Inormation Services, Oracle 10g Application Server, or Sun Java System

Web Server. For specifc platorm support, please reer to the online documenta-tion or contact your account representative.

The developer services layer hosts the server-side components and acts as thetranslation layer between the end user and the BusinessObjects XI platorm.The components process requests rom the users in the presentation tier andthen communicate these requests to the appropriate service in the platorm tier.The developer services include support or document viewing, scheduling, andlogic to understand and direct web requests to the appropriate BusinessObjectsEnterprise platorm service.

From a technical perspective, BusinessObjects Enterprise systems use theBusinessObjects Enterprise Java SDK or the BusinessObjects Enterprise .NETSDK to run the system with a third-party application server. The application server

acts as the gateway between the web server and the rest o BusinessObjectsEnterprise components. The application server is responsible or processingrequests rom your browser, sending certain requests to the web componentadapter (WCA),1 and using the SDK to interpret components in Java server pages(.jsp fles) or in active server pages (.aspx fles). BusinessObjects EnterpriseXI continues to support Crystal Server Pages (.csp) or legacy system support.However, developers are encouraged to use industry standard .jsp and .asp when-ever possible when building web applications.

DEVElOPER SERVICES:

CONNECTING THE PlATfORMTO THE USERS

1 The web component adapter runs on the web application server and provides all services that are not

directly supported by the BusinessObjects Enterprise SDK

Business Objects. BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Technical Overview 10


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WEB SERVICE SDKBusiness Objects oers a comprehensive set o web services that supportsorganizations extending the reach o BI beyond the traditional corporate boundar-ies. The BusinessObjects web service SDK makes it easier and aster to integrate

Business Objects technology with other web-based applications, and it acilitatesthe deployment o BusinessObjects XI with customized applications.

These web services are made available through a sotware development kit andconsist o two partsthe server and the consumer. On the server side, web ser-vices are deployed with BusinessObjects Enterprise XI and are based on the JavaPlatorm, Enterprise Edition ramework. On the consumer side, the application pro-gramming interace (API) enables consumers to create web services that accessXI Release 2 unctionality using .NET or Java Platorm, Enterprise Edition.

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI oers a broad range o web services that include:

Session, or authentication, authorization, and user-setting management

BIPlatorm, to expose advanced platorm eatures such as scheduling, search, userand group administration, server administration, platorm events, and calendars

ReportEngine, to display Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports in HTML, PDF,Excel, and XML ormat

Query, to build ad hoc query based on the Business Objects universe semantic layer

QUERY AS A WEB SERVICEBusiness Objects Query as a Web Service is a wizard-based application thatallows the creation o custom web services or specifc queries. Query as a WebService gives customers the ability to integrate queries with any application or tool.This ensures customers standard semantic layer (the Business Objects universe)

can become the central hub o delivery or secure, trusted inormation wherever it isneeded.

Using the simple-to-use wizard-based client component, IT sta or business userscan quickly create the queries they would like to use. At the end o this processthe web service is available or use via a URL that can be added to any application.A catalogue o queries as web services can be stored and managed or use by arange o users. The generated web service can be consumed by any web service-enabled application. All o this makes the process o accessing trusted businessintelligence within other applications or tools such as Xcelsius Enterprise as simpleand manageable as possible.



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PlATfORM SERVICES OVERVIEWThe platorm services tier is the core processing and management engine orBusinessObjects Enterprise XI. The BI platorm services tier is oten reerred toas the intelligence and processing tier because this is the area where the actual

data processing, document processing, and end-user interactivity access takesplace. The platorm is segmented into a series o specialized services or dierenttasks and is linked by a highly-optimized communication ramework. The individualservices can be run rom a single processor, multiple processors on the samemachine, or in virtually any clustered multi-server environment.

The communication ramework handles the movement o inormation between theplatorm services and SDKs, and provides end-user inormation access, delivery,and interaction. You can access individual services via the provided Java, .NET, andweb service SDKs so there is no need to directly access or confgure the commu-nication ramework. This communication ramework is built on proven applicationtechnology and is designed as a pluggable or extensible ramework to add, cus-tomize, or remove services as required or specifc BI deployments.

The Central Management Console (CMC) is included or ull control over the BIplatorm. In addition, specialized administration interaces are provided when yourequire administration o specifc-user access, document creation, and serverconfguration. This is particularly important in decentralized system managementenvironments where dierent people are responsible or dierent aspects o thedeployment. The result is a powerul, open, and complete BI platorm that meetsthe needs o end users while providing IT with ull control over the deployment.

BUSINESSOBJECTS ENTERPRISE PlATfORM SERVICESBusinessObjects Enterprise includes the entire set o cross-platorm BI ser-vices and supports leading server and application platorms including MicrosotWindows, Sun Solaris, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Red Hat Linux, and Novell SUSE Linux. In

addition, it provides support or Java and .NET application servers and web servers.

The platorm enables end users to view and interact with inormation. It allows intui-tive on-report analysis or inormation exploration, discussion threads or collab-orative decision making, and integrated scheduling and distribution o documentsbased on events, business calendars, or intervals.

IT management and administration beneft rom the central repository or all contentand user profles, access to security entitlement databases or user, role, and docu-ment security, metrics management and perormance management applications,and portal integration components.

PlATfORM SERVICES:THE CORE BI SYSTEM



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MANAGEMENT SERVERThe Central Management Server (CMS) is the central platorm service and isresponsible or maintaining a database o inormation about your BusinessObjectsEnterprise XI system. All the platorm services are managed and controlled by theCMS. The CMS also manages access to the system fle store where the physi-cal documents are actually managed. The system repository database is main-tained using the provided MySQL database, or by using your preerred IBM DB2,Microsot SQL Server, Oracle database, or Sybase ASE1. The database structureis automatically created when you set up your BusinessObjects Enterprise XIsystem or it can be confgured on a dierent database i you want to move yourimplementation to another environment. All access to the repository is manageddirectly by the platorm and management interaces and by the SDKs.

The CMS data includes inormation about users and groups, security levels,BusinessObjects Enterprise content, and services. The CMS also maintains theBusinessObjects Enterprise repository, and a separate audit database o inorma-tion about user actions. The CMS perorms our main tasks:

Maintaining Security. By maintaining a database o users and their associatedobject rights, the CMS enorces access rights to BusinessObjects Enterprise andthe types o tasks users are able to perorm.The platorm manages user accessand content delivery to broad internal and external user audiences. Building on ahierarchical object-level security model, BusinessObjects Enterprise enables theapplication o rights at both the older and object level, and supports ull inheri-

BI Platform

Enterprise Communication Framework

Systemrepository

PageViewingServices

CacheServices

ReportModification

Services

ReportServices

ScheduleServices

SearchServices

EventServices

File RepositoryServices

ManagementServer

Multi-DimensionalAnalysisServices

PerformanceManagement

Services

Auditrepository

The BusinessObjects Enterprise platorm is comprised o a set o components or services, connectedwith a powerul web-based communication ramework.

2 Please reer to our supported platorm documentation or exact versions



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tance at the user and group level. Similarly, it supports aggregation through a ex-ible, group-user membership model.

The system is designed or access and integration with third-party security sys-tems including the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), CA Siteminder,Microsot Active Directory, and Windows NT. The BusinessObjects Enterprisesecurity system directly maps to these security systems so when a user is addedto an LDAP group, he or she is automatically added to that same group within theplatorm. In addition, an integrated security system is available or those customerswho do not currently use an entitlement database. The system also supports theability to use more than one entitlement database in the same implementation. Thisis particularly important in cases where organizations need to combine dierentaudiences. For example, a system might maintain that internal users access theenvironment using an NT authentication database while business partner securityinormation is stored in an LDAP database.

Managing Objects. The CMS keeps track o the object location and maintains theolder hierarchy. All system objects are called InoObjects and essentially containall the inormation about the actual object. The physical documents or objects arestored in a fle store. The separation o the object defnition (metadata) rom thephysical document allows or ast and efcient processing as only the requiredinormation is retrieved rom the systems repository. In addition, by communicat-ing with the scheduling and processing services, the CMS is able to ensure thatscheduled jobs run at the appropriate times.

Managing Servers. By staying in requent contact with each o the services in thesystem, the CMS is able to maintain a list o service status. Report services accessthis list, or instance, to identiy which cache server is ree or a report viewingrequest. BusinessObjects Enterprise XI includes adaptive Crystal Reports pagegeneration services that automatically add or remove service instances as work

loads change or services become unavailable.

The CMS also handles intelligent load balancing and automated clustering usingalgorithms to eliminate bottlenecks and maximize hardware efciency. In a multi-server environment, balancing load efciently across multiple machines greatlyenhances scalability and end-user response time. Thereore, most implementationsdo not require separate third-party load balancing sotware.

Managing Auditing. By collecting inormation about user actions rom each Busi-nessObjects Enterprise service and writing these records to a central audit data-base, the CMS acts as the system auditor. This audit inormation allows systemadministrators to better track and manage their BusinessObjects Enterprise XIdeployment.



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Typically, administrators provide the CMS with database connectivity and creden-tials when they install BusinessObjects Enterprise XI, so the CMS can create itsown system database and BusinessObjects Enterprise repository database usingyour organizations preerred database server. The auditing unctionality allows

administrators to better understand which users accessed the enterprise system,which documents they interacted with, and the overall system metrics or systemoptimization. The usage data is collected rom the system interactions, and thenwritten in a usable orm to the auditing database. A sample universe and a set osample auditing reports are also available to provide ast access to inormationsuch as the most accessed reports, peak system use times, and average usersession times. With new compliance regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley and Basel II,capturing and storing audit inormation is a critical component or any BI system.

fIlE REPOSITORY SERVICESIn every BusinessObjects Enterprise XI implementation, there is both an input andan output fle repository service. The input fle repository server manages all o the

objects managed by the platorm. The output fle repository server manages all othe report instances generated by the scheduling services.

EVENT SERVICESThe event service manages three event types: fle-based, scheduled, or program-matic. IT administrators create fle-based event monitoring programs to track avariety o tasks including the monitoring o inventory reorder thresholds, revenueshortalls or increases, or the addition o new customers or employees as theyare added to the application. Ater the fle-based event is created and stored inBusinessObjects Enterprise XI, the event service monitors the specifed directoryor new fles and executes those programs when they appear. In other words, theevent server notifes the CMS that the fle-based event has occurred. The CMSstarts processing any jobs that are dependent upon your fle-based event. Forexample, i inventory reorder thresholds are met, a fle is written to the event direc-tory that executes the scheduling o an inventory level report to the manager, allow-ing the manager to take the appropriate action.

Scheduled events are an eective way to link the execution o reports together. Itis possible to have a report schedule processed based on the success o anotherscheduled report. Programmatic events are events that are triggered rom within acustom application. Ater notiying the CMS o the event, the event service resetsitsel and monitors the directory or the appropriate fle. When the fle is newly cre-ated in the monitored directory, the event service triggers your fle-based event.



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SCHEDUlE SERVICESJob servers provide scheduling capabilities or Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence,Desktop Intelligence as well as rereshing perormance management metrics. Thereport job server processes scheduled reports and generates report instances

(instances are versions o a report object that contain saved data). To generate areport instance, the report job server communicates with the database to retrievethe current data and then stores that instance in the repository. There are manyoptions available or scheduling including scheduling based on a specifed time,a recurring schedule, or even a predefned business calendar. Depending on theobject type, the scheduler can schedule objects to dierent ormats such as CrystalReports, Web Intelligence, Desktop Intelligence, Excel, CSV, PDF, Word, and textand schedule to dierent destinations including email, printer, or fle server.

A job server processes scheduled actions on objects at the request o the CMS.A job server confgured to process program objects is called a program job server.Program objects allow you to write, publish, and schedule custom applications,including scripts or Java programs that run against, and perorm maintenance work

on, BusinessObjects Enterprise. To run a program, the program job server frstretrieves the fles rom storage on the input fle repository server, and then runsthe program. By defnition, program objects are custom applications. Thereorethe outcome o running a program will be dependent upon the particular programobject that is run.

PAGE VIEWING SERVICESThe Crystal Reports page server is primarily responsible or responding to pagerequests by processing reports and generating encapsulated page ormat (EPF)pages. The key beneft o EPF is that it supports page-on-demand access so onlythe requested page is returned, not the entire report. This greatly enhances peror-mance and reduces unnecessary network trafc or large reports. The EPF pages

contain ormatting inormation that defnes report layout. The page server retrievesdata or the report rom an instance or directly rom the database (depending onthe user request and the rights he or she has to the report object). When retriev-ing data rom the database, the page server automatically disconnects rom thedatabase ater it ulflls its initial request and i necessary, reconnects to retrieveadditional data. This helps conserves database trafc and use o unnecessarydatabase licenses.

CACHE SERVICESThe cache services are responsible or handling all report viewing requests.The cache service checks whether or not it can ulfll the request with a cached



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report page beore it requests new data rom the database. For example, i thecache server fnds a previously viewed page that has been stored with exactlythe requested data, it returns that cached report page instead o retrieving theduplicate data. By storing report pages in a cache, BusinessObjects Enterprise XI

avoids accessing the database each and every time a report is requested, greatlyaccelerating viewing perormance or end users, while at the same time reducingunnecessary network trafc and database hits.

Crysta Reports Cache Server The cache server is accessed beore the pageserver is used. I the cache server does not ulfll the request with a cached reportpage, it passes the request to the page server. The page server runs the reportand returns the results to the cache server. The cache server then caches thereport page or uture use, and returns the data to the viewer.

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI also supports active data sharing with Crystal Re-ports. Active data sharing means that in situations where dierent reports accessthe same data, the documents can use shared data and the requested report can berendered without an additional database hit even though the other report itsel maybe dierent. This results in a signifcant perormance improvement across the entiresystem, including the database. A major beneft o active data sharing is as the loadand usage increases, more data is cached, and the system runs more efciently.

Desktop Inteigence Cache Server As with the Crystal Reports cache server,the Desktop Intelligence cache server is accessed beore the page server isused. I the cache server cannot ulfll the request with a cached report page,it passes the request to the page server. The page server runs the report andreturns the results to the cache server. The cache server then caches the reportpage or uture use, and returns the data to the viewer.

REPORT SERVICES Web Inteigence Report Server The Web Intelligence report server provides

core Web Intelligence display and interaction within the platorm or end-userquery and analysis. The Web Intelligence report server is accessed when theCMS requests the creation or viewing o a Web Intelligence document or urtherinteraction.

For users who want to conduct ad hoc query and analysis, the Web Intelligencereports server requests a predefned metadata object, called a universe, rom therepository and opens an HTML or Java-based query panel. Users select felds and/or flters through the interace. The Web Intelligence report server handles reportmodifcation and interaction. Due to the interactive nature o Web Intelligence, noseparate report application server is required.



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Desktop Inteigence Report Services The Desktop Intelligence Report serviceis the core engine that handles the collection o data, ormatting, and layout o aDesktop Intelligence document. As a core service, is communicates with the CMSwhen a document is requested. The service handles connection to the universe to

collect the data. The CMS determines the user rights to the document and thengenerates the inormation required to view with the document.

REPORT MODIfICATION SERVICESThe Crystal Reports Report Application Server (RAS) is used by BusinessObjects provided or custom-written applications that address interactive reportcreation and modifcation scenarios. When RAS is used within BusinessObjectsEnterprise, these applications are generally web based.

RAS has two main partsthe server that processes requests, and the API. Whenan application uses the RAS API to create and modiy reports, the RAS Serverprocesses these requests. The RAS API that is used to create and modiy reportsis remoteablemeaning that the application that uses the RAS API can reside on

a separate machine rom the RAS Server. When used in combination with theBusinessObjects Enterprise SDK, RAS can create reports and save them into theBusinessObjects Enterprise Repository.

RAS is dierent rom the Page Server in that it is optimized to meet the needs oreport creation and modifcation scenarios. The Page Server / Cache Server com-bination is optimized or report viewing.

NEW MUlTI-DIMENSIONAl ANAlYSIS SERVICESBusinessObjects Voyager is a new web-based application that enables busi-ness analysts to easily navigate and perorm analysis on their various OLAP datasources. It is a compelling next-generation web-based OLAP client and one o thekey dierences rom OLAP Intelligence is the ocus on providing the best possibleuser experience or analyst users.

Voyager documents are processed via the CMS and are serviced by the newMulti-Dimensional Analysis Services (MDAS) Server. Unlike OLAP Intelligencewhich used the Web Component Adaptor, this new server is dedicated to Voyagerand provides a scalable architecture to distribute load as the number o usersincreases. The CMS is used or user authentication and managing access rightsto Voyager workspaces and connections while data level security is managed bythe OLAP server. The web-based viewing and interaction requires sign on to boththe BusinessObjects Enterprise XI Release 2 platorm and the OLAP data source,except or MS Analysis Services and SAP BW where single sign-on is supported.



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Voyager supports the ollowing OLAP servers:

Essbase 7.0.x, 7.1.x and 9.0.x

SAP BW v3.0b, 3.1c, 3.5, and SAP BI 7

MSAS 2000 SP4

MSAS 2005 SP1

Oracle OLAP 10g R2 (planned to be delivered in H2 2007)

PERfORMANCE MANAGEMENT SERVICESBusinessObjects XI integrates specialized analytic engine services to supportdashboard, scorecard and analytic products. Each o these services can beconfgured separately depending on the license options purchased and the spe-cifc implementation requirements. More inormation on these services is availableseparately.

Analytic Engines

Performance Management Engines


Analytics

Service

Rules

Service

Metrics

Service

Mining

Service

Profiling

Service

QueryManagement

Service

Dashboard

Service

PerformanceManagement

Service

SetAnalysisService

PredictiveAnalysisService

ProcessAnalysisService

Within the perormance management ramework, there are specifc graphic and analytic engineservices managed by BusinessObjects Enterprise. The arrow signifes that all these services plugdirectly into the Enterprise communication ramework and take advantage o the platorm manage-ment and deployment capabilities.



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ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATION fRAMEWORKWithin the perormance management ramework, there are specifc graphic andanalytic engine services managed by BusinessObjects Enterprise. The arrow signi-fes that all these services plug directly into the Enterprise communication rame-

work and take advantage o the platorm management and deployment capabilities.The services are:

Analytics Service Metrics Service

Rules Service Mining Service

Profling Service

Query Management Service

Dashboard Management Service

Perormance Management Service

Set Analysis Service

Predictive Analysis Service

Process Analysis Service

DASHBOARD AND SCORECARD PRODUCT UPDATES fOR

BUSINESSOBJECTS XI RElEASE 2 PRODUCTIVITY PACKDashboard and scorecard products rom Business Objects help organiza-tions align corporate actions with strategy by tracking and analyzing key busi-ness metrics and goals via management dashboards, scorecards, and alerting.BusinessObjects XI Release 2 Productivity Pack brings better lie-cycle manage-ment or customers who deploy sotware via a development, test, quality assur-ance, and production environments. Enhancements include enhanced workow, anew user interace, and the ability to import and export additional assets includingcalendars, security on dimensions, rules, and alerts. This upgraded deploymenttool will make it easier or customers to deploy enterprise-class dashboard andscorecard applications.

Additional enhancements include the ability or Voyager documents and WebIntelligence report parts to be displayed in a dashboard rame. This allows or eas-ier reuse o existing reports and documents and improved dashboard display. WithWeb Intelligence report parts, you can select sections o the report to be displayedin the dashboard rame, as well as a compact mode which allows you to removetoolbar rom around the report and have a cleaner dashboard design.



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PlATfORM SERVICE SCAlABIlITYPlatorm services can be vertically scaled (use more processors on the samemachine) to take ull advantage o the hardware they are running on, and can behorizontally scaled to take advantage o multiple computers over a network environ-

ment. This means that the services can all run on the same machine, or they canrun on separate machines. The same service can also run in multiple instances ona single machine or reliability and load balancing.

For example, you can run the central management server and the fle repositoryserver on one machine, while you run the report application server on a separatemachine. This is called horizontal scaling. I the entire set o system services is run-ning on a multi-processor computer, then you may choose to run multiple instanceso each service on it. This is called vertical scaling. The services do not need torun on separate computers but rather take advantage o multiple processors on thesame machine.

There are many actors that inuence the actual architectural design and confgura-tion. These include an understanding o where the data resides, the complexity o

the application, the need to place processing power closest to the application tospeed perormance, and reduce network trafc and current and uture hardwareinvestments. Once the system is up and running, individual services can be added,removed, and confgured using the tools provided with the platorm without restart-ing or reinstalling the entire system.

Below are a ew examples o how BusinessObjects Enterprise could be deployed.The dierent shading reers to dierent physical hardware boxes that comprise theindividual services.


Systemrepository

RDBMS Data

ApplicationData

Auditrepository

PageServer

CacheServer

Report JobServers

Program JobServers

Metrics &AnalyticServices

Windows WindowsWindows Windows Windows

SharepointPortal Server

.NET SDK

Windows

EventServer

Windows

File RepositoryServer

Windows

CentralManagement

Server

Windows

Single Server Deployment: Reporting Server on Windows

In this scenario, all services are deployed on a single Windows NT/2000/2003 machine. The platormaccesses a portal server on a separate machine and databases are managed within an application. Some

services are duplicated to spread the workload. When more than one service is installed, the systemautomatically load balances across them.



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Systemrepository

PageServer

CacheServer

Report JobServers

Program JobServers

SharepointPortal Server

ERP Data

.NET SDK EventServer

CentralManagement

Server



Auditrepository

Windows

Sun Sun Sun

Windows Windows

Wi ndows Windows

Windows

Mixed Deployment: ERP BI Solution on Windows and Sun Solaris

In this scenario, the report processing services are placed on a UNIX machine closest to the ERP ap-plication to minimize network trafc. The remaining services are placed on a Windows machine closestto the end-user portal environment. The result is that the processing and display are separated or optimal

perormance o each task. The common ramework communicates with each service regardless o theplatorm.


Systemrepository

PageServer

CacheServer

Report JobServers

Program JobServers

Tomcat(or other JAS)

J2EE SDK EventServer

CentralManagement

Server



Auditrepository

RedHatRedHat

HP-UX or AIX HP-UX or AIX HP-UX or AIX

RedHat RedHat

RedHat RedHat

RedHat

RDBMS Data

Legacy Data

Mixed Deployment: Data Warehouse on Multiple Servers

In this scenario, a Linux server handles the web portal viewing services and system management whileIBM AIX or HP-UX handles the core report processing. In this case, available hardware is used in amixed-realm deployment to lower procurement costs while maximizing processing efciency.



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DATA SERVICES: COMPREHENSIVEAND flEXIBlE DATA ACCESS

BusinessObjects Enterprise supports a exible set o options or accessing, orga-nizing, and exposing data to report writers, analysts, and end users.

SEMANTIC lAYER

With BusinessObjects Enterprise XI, you can easily and cost-eectively create ametadata-based semantic layer to unlock corporate data or end users.

Universes

The Business Objects patented semantic layer is the oundation or empoweringend-user query and analysis. It abstracts the complexity o data by using businesslanguage rather than data language to access, manipulate, and organize data. Thatbusiness language is stored as objects in a universe fle. Web Intelligence andCrystal Reports use the universe to simpliy the user creation process required orsimple to complex end-user query and analysis.

Universes are a core component o BusinessObjects Enterprise XI. All universeobjects and connections are stored and secured in the central repository. Universe

designers need to login to BusinessObjects Enterprise to access the system andcreate universes. Universe access and row-level security can also be managed atthe group or individual user level directly rom with the design environment.

BusinessObjects XI Release 2 saw a number o improvements made to theBusinessObjects universes, with the objective o meeting the requirements othe specialized end-user client tools discussed elsewhere within this document.Enhancements made to the semantic layer allows Web Intelligence to deliver docu-ments utilizing synchronized multiple data providers. The ability to build universesupon OLAP database sources have been updated so users can leverage theirdata stored in OLAP servers. Additionally, it has been urther enhanced to sup-port the Common Warehousing Metamodel (CWM) version 1.1. This unctionalityhas also been extended to include the lineage and impact analysis capabilities o

BusinessObjects Data Integrator.

Business Views

As with universes, access to Business Views is managed by BusinessObjectsEnterprise security. Business Views Manager is a tool designed to simpliy thereport creation experience and interaction by abstracting the complexity o dataor report developers. Business Views help separate the data connections, dataaccess, business elements, and the overall business defnition and allow or granu-lar rights access control or report designers.

Business Views can only be used by Crystal Reports and are designed to simpliythe data access and granular view time security required or Crystal Reports cre-ation. Business views support the combination o multiple data sources in a single

view. Business Views are ully supported in BusinessObjects Enterprise XI.



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BusinessObjects Enterprise XI includes a series o dedicated, preconfguredplatorm management services or tasks such as password management, servermetrics, and user access control to support decentralized management unctions.

CENTRAl MANAGEMENT CONSOlEBusinessObjects Enterprise provides or centralized and/or decentralized systemmanagement depending on the organizational needs. The system management isbuilt on a common API providing granular control o the environment or tasks thatinclude setting up user roles, security access, server administration, passwordmanagement, and more.

Included with BusinessObjects Enterprise is a 100% .NET or Java web-basedenvironment or total inrastructure management, deployment, and confguration.The CMC is a web-based environment or administrators to easily access andconfgure the system while controlling the overall access rights, applications, andend-user viewing experience.

The CMC manages the ollowing system elements:

User and group creation and management

User categories

Security authentication services

Services confguration

Objects rights

From the Central Management Console, you can manage user-access and interac-tion rights at the older, category, group, user, or object level.

SYSTEM MANAGEMENT TOOlS:

flEXIBlE ADMINISTRATIONAND UPGRADES



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Processing confguration

Scheduling

Business calendars

License keys

Universes and data connections

User interace settings and preerences

CENTRAl CONfIGURATION MANAGERThe central confguration manager (CCM) is designed exclusively or the servermanagement and confguration o your BusinessObjects Enterprise services. Thistool allows you to start, stop, enable, and disable servers, and it allows you to viewand confgure advanced server settings.

IMPORT WIzARD

The Import Wizard is a locally-installed Windows application that guides adminis-trators through the process o importing users, groups, reports, and olders roman existing Crystal Enterprise, BusinessObjects, or Crystal Ino implementation toBusinessObjects Enterprise. In addition, the Import Wizard can be used to move atest or development deployment o BusinessObjects XI to a production deployment.

In BusinessObjects XI Release 2, the Import Wizard has been enhanced to sim-pliy the process o managing the ull liecycle o BI deployments. This capabilityis called the BI Application Resource and allows customers to move documents(Web Intelligence, Crystal Reports, and Desktop Intelligence) and their associateddependencies (olders, categories, universes, connections, Business Views, cas-cading prompts, etc.) through the development liecyclerom development, to test,to productionwithout the need to rewrite or recreate these elements.

The import wizard can ac-cess a BusinessObjects 6.xand/or a Crystal deploymentand can import documents,semantic layer, security set-tings, users, and groups.



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The Import Wizard runs as a Windows client, but can be used to import inorma-tion into a new BusinessObjects Enterprise system running on Windows, UNIX,and Linux by simply logging in to the CMS. The BusinessObjects Enterprise XIimport wizard supports imports o Web Intelligence documents, universes, users,

categories, and olders rom the BusinessObjects 5.1.4 and above. This includesall o the 6, 6.1.x, and 6.5.x repositories. In addition, BusinessObjects XI Release1 supports the ull repository upgrade or Crystal Ino 7.5 and Crystal Enterprise8, 8.5, 9, and 10 and BusinessObjects XI Release 2 supports automated upgraderom Crystal Enterprise 8.5, 9, 10, and BusinessObjects XI.

PUBlISHING WIzARDThe Publishing Wizard is a Windows desktop application that enables bothadministrators and end users to add documents to BusinessObjects Enterprise.By assigning object rights to BusinessObjects Enterprise olders, you control whocan publish reports and where they can publish them to. The Publishing Wizardpublishes reports rom a Windows machine to BusinessObjects Enterprise servers

running on Windows or UNIX.



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CONClUSION

BusinessObjects Enterprise XI is the proven and trusted BI platorm rom BusinessObjects. The highly-scalable, service-oriented architecture is comprised o special-ized tiers or the presentation, design, deployment, and data access required ortodays BI requirements. The platorm is designed or extensibilityso as new ser-

vices are purchased, new and innovative tools become available, new platorms areintroduced, new hardware or sotware is acquired, new innovations are developed,and more users need access, the system can adapt to these changing requirements.



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2008 Business Objects. All rights reserved. Business Objects owns the ollowing U.S. patents, which may cover products that are oered and licensed by Business Objects: 5,555,403; 5,857,205;
http://www.businessobjects.com/http://www.businessobjects.com/

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