Hi All,

I do see question frequently coming in community that connecting to HANA HTTP using Analysis Office 2.x, you get an error "Remote server returned an error:(403) Forbidden".

Follow below Steps  to resolve this issue

You need to Import Delivery Unit "AHCO_INA_SERVICE.tgz" from  Server

Add the "INA_USER" role to the user Under "Granted Roles" section

Add the Object Privileges "_SYS_BI" , "_SYS_BIC" & "_SYS_RT" to the user, and  enable checkbox "SELECT" option for those objects

These steps will helps you to resolve from err "403"

Related :

How to create HANA Http in BIP and consume in Analysis Office 2.0

How to create HANA Http connection in local and consume in Analysis Office 2.0

Step by step how to create a local SAP HANA connection with Analysis for Office 2.x

Thanks & Regards,

Subhash

Analysis Office 2.x allows you to use SAML Single Sign On over the BI platform to connect to your HANA systems. The blog post Setting up SAML SSO between Analysis Office 2.x to HANA SP9 from Jyotish Gogoi already describes the necessary configuration steps in HANA and BI Platform very well.

But what if you carefully performed all the steps and it still does not work as expected? How to do troubleshooting and find the root cause?

I want to share with you the most prominent pitfalls during SAML setup and provide ways to discover wrong configurations.

Correction in Analysis Office for HANA SP 10

If you have installed HANA SP 10 you probably get the following error during logon procedure in Analysis Office:

This is a bug in Analysis Office in combination with HANA SP 10 (and later) which is resolved with note 2232963. But anyway this error text may also appear due to some other root causes. So please first review the following instructions to be really sure that everything is configured correctly.

Check BI platform configuration (CMC)

Server names

The server name you define in the "OLAP Connections" area must be identical with the host name you enter in the "HANA Authentication" application. You should use the fully qualified host name of the HANA server.

HTTPS ports

Both in "OLAP Connections" and in "HANA Authentication" application you have to specify the HTTPS port of the HANA server. The default HTTPS port is 43<INSTANCE_NUMBER>, e.g. for instance number 01 the HTTPS port is 4301. Using SAML requires the SSL protocol when connecting to HANA so entering the HTTP port (e.g. 8001) will not work.

Check HANA XS configuration

Check HANA user authorizations

Your HANA user needs specific privileges in HANA. See note 2097965 for all details. If some of the privileges are missing you will get a HTTP 403 error during logon in Analysis Office:

Analysis Office executes the following URL when trying to authenticate to HANA:

https://<host>:<https_port>/sap/bc/ina/service/v2/GetResponse?Request={"Metadata":{"Expand":["Cubes"]}}

You have to enter the same host name and port that you used in the "OLAP Connections" area in CMC. When executing the URL in the browser you are probably asked for a HANA user and password. As a result there should be no error response code from server but a valid JSON response. If this is the case then the HANA user has all the needed rights to access the InA (Information Access) component in HANA. InA is the interface that is used by Analysis Office 2.x to query the multi dimensional data from HANA.

Restart HANA server

After the IDP certificate from BI Platform has been imported into HANA trust store you have to restart the HANA server. Otherwise you may get this error in Analysis Office when trying to logon via SAML to HANA:

SAML Configuration

Probably there is some inconsistency in the SAML configuration in HANA. You can execute the following SQL statements in HANA Studio to see what is really stored in the HANA configuration tables and views. You should use the SYSTEM user for that. If some configuration is wrong you can use HANA XS Admin Tools or HANA Studio to correct it.

select * from "PUBLIC"."SAML_PROVIDERS" ;
select * from "SYS"."SAML_USER_MAPPINGS" ;
select * from "_SYS_XS"."RUNTIME_CONFIGURATION" ;
call "HANA_XS_BASE"."sap.hana.xs.admin.db::metadataParams" (?)

01. Identity Providers

The statement should return the identity provider that you have defined in HANA XS Admin tool. The name must be the same as declared in "HANA Authentication" application in CMC.

02. User Mappings

There should be at least one row in the result set containing a user mapping from your BIP user (that you use to logon in Analysis Office) to the respective HANA user.

Error message in case of a wrong configuration:

Error message in xsengine trace on HANA: "Assertion authentication failed with reason: User is not allowed to use SAML(StatusCode: , StatusMessage: )"

03. Runtime Configuration

There should be a row in the result set where the SAML authentication method is enabled for the InA service and the correct identity provider is used. In my example I enabled SAML for the "sap.bc.ina.service.v2" package.

Error message in case of a wrong configuration:

04. Service Provider Name

This statement should return one row where the SERVICE_PROVIDER_NAME column contains "spId". This is a limitation of the BI Platform where the HANA service provider has to be named exactly like that. See SAP note 2169386 for more details when this limitation is resolved.

Traces

If you come to this point and still the logon via SAML is not working the next option would be to have a look at the traces written by Analysis Office and HANA.

AO Client

In case you get an error when logging on via SAML to HANA you can check the Analysis Office trace files for a detailed error message. Please set the log severity to "Support", restart Excel and repeat the scenario. For more details about how to enable tracing in Analysis Office and how to find the trace files see note 2129389.

HANA Server

Mostly the HANA server traces contain more detailed error information. You first have to set the trace level of the authentication components to DEBUG in order to see all details. Here is an example trace level configuration:

After that repeat the scenario and have a look at the traces of webdispatcher, indexserver and xsengine by searching for "SAML" keyword.

Fiddler

Fiddler is a tool that captures HTTP(s) traffic from your local machine. You can use it to see what HTTP(s) requests are sent from your client to BI platform and HANA and which errors come back.

See note 1766704 for details how to install and user Fiddler.

I logged on the SAP Software Distribution Center this morning and noticed the software for 2.2 is available:

It is a quick installation/update.

I will review some of the new features below:

New Excel Formulas

Above I inserted a new row, and am calculating the actual expenses of a an item divided by budget

When you refresh the workbook, the Excel formula stays.

I can also create text cell for this new Excel formula, shown above as "New Calc" - again, it stays with the workbook when you refresh

I can also insert a new formula in a new column, and add the text to the column (shown above as "Share")

You can use Excel's AutoComplete to copy the formulas

New Search By Data Source

When you are looking for a data source you can now search for it by InfoProvider, Query and Query View

Remove Data Before Saving

If your workbook contains confidential data, you can select the "Remove Data before Saving" option.  Then when you save the workbook to the BI Platform and you open it again, you will see this:

After refreshing, the data is back (assuming you have access)

There are more features, if I have time I will review later.  I couldn't locate the updated help, and the release notes haven't been released yet.

If you are interested in influencing SAP for this product and are an ASUG member, please join ASUG in January for the relaunch of the Analysis Office Influence Council - register here

Analysis Office 2.2 has just been generally available since Nov 23, 2015.

It is the latest and best release of Analysis Office, combining the power of the classic Analysis functionality and the EPM features. Here’s some short overview on the new features:

As SAP is generally recommending the Analysis plug-in on top of BPC embedded model (EPM plug-in also works on top of it, but there are no major enhancement planned), release 2.2 introduces the work status integration into Analysis plug-in. You can set the locks within the frontend according to the definition in web admin client.

One of the most innovative features is the possibility to use Excel formulas in new lines that have been created with the Table Design feature of Analysis plug-in. The Excel references are internally transformed into the semantic relations (i.e. members, measures etc.) and transformed back again into Excel formulas after any navigation. With this you can easily build highly interactive reports using custom Excel formulas.

Analysis Office 2.2 also adds new features on top of native HANA, like consuming attribute views and using top n/bottom n calculations.

In addition, the Analysis plug-in provides several smaller enhancements like searching for attributes in the member selector, restricted search for data sources, new callback (BeforeFirstPromptsDisplay) and many more. Please find detailed information in the online help.

Important note: Analysis Office 2.2 requires Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2013 (and will soon support Office 2016). If you are still using Office 2007, you need to stay on Analysis Office 1.4 or EPM Add-In 10.0, respectively. Note that Analysis Office 1.4 will end in Q2 2016.

The usual legal disclaimer applies - things in the future are subject to change.

Source: SAP

SAP’s Alexander Peter kicked off ASUG Influence re-launch this month.  He said SAP collects feedback from ASUG members.  Joyce Butler is the customer ASUG point of contact

Figure 1

SAP collects feedback to learn what are the current issues you face with the product.  They are seeking feedback for next release

It is a forum to collect and prioritize feedback for several companies

The council tries to have calls every 2 months to discuss topics, roadmaps, prioritize features

The council meets regularly at ASUG Annual Conference (SAPPHIRE) and SAP TechEd

Figure 2

Joyce said “we love your feedback” and network amongst yourselves

Figure 3

This round we want a combined council to include both Analysis Office and EPM

Figure 4: Source: SAP

Figure 4 shows the plans for Q2 – planned for end of May

The plan is to continue convergence with Live Office and support for extensions such as Sales & Operation Planning, IBP – budgeting for public sector

They also are developing the business process flow integration

Comments in BW; today you can do comments on Analysis but they are local.

Cancel query feature is planned

DPI support is important for Windows 10

Future direction – this is where SAP wants ASUG Influence Council feedback, including scheduling enhancements

Figure 5

Figure 5 shows the ASUG Influence charter, influence the next release

Figure 6

You need to be an ASUG member to participate

A non-disclosure agreement is required

Next Steps

Take the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/analysis_IC

Joyce said she has been on ASUG influence councils for 8 years; it is the best part of ASUG, she said. It is a great way to get your voice heard and is great for networking

Source: ASUG

ASUG has over 25 influence councils with over 1K members participating

Source: ASUG

Above is an ASUG slide about why you want to participate in an ASUG influence council - to help shape the future of your SAP software investment.

The end of maintenance for Analysis Office 1.4 is scheduled for June 2016. Please make sure that you upgrade your 1.4 release to the current 2.2 release until then. We don't recommend an upcoming go-live with release 1.4 at this point in time.

Release 2.2 has a lot of advantages over 1.4:

• New features like Table Design, formula editor, restricted measures on native HANA
• New settings framework (setting filed-based) – no need for registry authorizations anymore!
• New HANA connectivity (http) that extends hierarchy features on native HANA and SSO
• Coexistent Analysis and EPM content in same workbook
• Support of specific BPC embedded features (e.g. work status)
• Support of Office 2016 (planned for March 2016) and much more

Note that release 2.2 requires the following infrastructure:

• MS Office 2010 or higher, .NET 4.5 or higher
• HANA SP9 or higher (if connecting to native HANA)

The effort for the upgrade is rather low in most cases.

• You will have to migrate the native HANA connections from ODBC to html connection type (there’s a migration wizard for the workbook).
• And you might have to migrate your settings from a registry-based framework to a setting file-based framework.
• Manual effort is required if you refer to the add-in name in your VBA code (name of add-in has changed).

Find more information in SAP note 2275352.

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office 2.2 is generally available since end of November 2015 on the SMP and offers among others the long-awaited possibility to define variable values before the initial refresh.

How does it work?

Your own coding is called before the initial prompt. Here you can provide variable values and pre-fill the prompt. If everything is fine, no prompt is shown and the query will start straight.

This enables many scenarios that you might want to implement.

Some examples are:

• Take values from some places in your excel workbook
• Define your own initial selection screen
• Derive time values dynamically based on current date.

The time value example is explained in detail in this blog.

Understand Analysis Office Callbacks

In short: you need a macro with some callbacks.

Analysis Office offers a range of several callbacks that are executed with certain events. Most of the callbacks must be registered with the API method 'SAPExecuteCommand' before being used for the first time. To deregister the callbacks, you can also use 'SAPExecuteCommand'. -For more information regarding Callbacks, please refer to the Analysis Office guide.

Example – derive date variable values from “today”:

We have a report based on a query with 2 variables: “Time period” and “Product Group”. Our report is executed once a month and always for a specific time period, which changes with every month.

In the prompt screen, you don’t want to always select the last 12 months (e.g. 03.2015-02.2016) , but you can have Excel do this automatically.

Values for the variable “Product Group” can be changed manually. So we start our workbook, “change” the variable values and refresh our report.

How is our workbook built/designed?

Our workbook consists of 4 sections/elements/parts:

(1)  “Alternative Prompt”, get your personalized prompt for your report/query

(2)  “Help table” with formulas (to support automated setting of variable values)

- Both sections can be defined in a separate sheet, e.g. Settings. In our example we have all in a one sheet.

(3)  Report

(4)  Macro

Let’s explain the single sections:

(1)  “Alternative Prompt” (~ my personalized variable values) for setting variable values before first refresh

In our example we have two variables, but you can define more than 2 variables and the data range containing the values we defined in our example as name range AOVarPrefill. (This content will be later accessed by the VBA coding/macros to populate/prefill the prompt)

Note: All the needed data such data source, variable name and variable value should be defined as a key.

For product group nothing specific needs to be done – just enter the value for variable “Product Group” manually.

For the time variable for sure we need to implemented the logic to derive the value from “today”. The rule to define the time value is implemented using excel formulas (see Help Table). The result is referenced from “Alternative Prompt” and then executed via callback handler.

Additional, there is a button “Refresh DataSource” for refresh the data after the variable values were set and this is the coding called by the button:

(2)  “Help table” with formulas (to support automated setting of variable values)

As described above, our report is executed once a month and always for a specific time period: (ThisMonth.ThisYear-1) – (ThisMonth-1.ThisYear), e.g. 03.2015 – 02.2016 –> this can be set in an automated mode using Excel formulas.- Using the excel formulas you are not forced to create specific variables in the Query Designer.

(3)  Report

Additionally you can set „Force Prompts“

to get the prompting dialog with prefilled values as a check (Optional).

(4)  Macro

Now we need some VBA coding: we start with open the workbook and initialize it. Both should be placed in the “ThisWorkbook” section of the VBA editor. The other callbacks should be defined in a separate module.

The callback “Workbook_SAP_Initialize” has to be defined as a subroutine without input parameters.

In the next step we create a module “AOPrefillVar” with some VBA functions prefilling the variable values.

At first we declare the data range to read the data from the “Alternative Prompt” and set the values for variables:

Then we need the callback “BeforeFirstPromptsDisplay” to perform the definitions of variables before the initial display of the prompting dialog:

The Callback has to be registered; if the registration was successful, you get a message:

This should just give you some idea what you can do with the API, so check it out.

I thank Olaf Fischer and Matthias Gemmel for providing some example coding for this blog.

Last week SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office 2.1 was generally available.  Some key links follow:

One key item to feature from the Product Availability Matrix is the add-on to the BI platform - you need to be in BI4.1 SP5 or higher:

Source: SAP

Also changed is what was previously called "free-form" calculation is now called "advanced calculation" - see below:

From here you are taken to a formula editor:

You can access the Formula Editor from the Context Menu, the Display panel, or the Ribbon

The above shows accessing the advanced calculation / formula editor from the Display Panel

The above shows accessing the advanced calculation / formula editor from the Ribbon.

The % Contribution Balance column shows the result of a "dynamic" calculation for percentage share of budget.  The last column shows a ratio/result of the "advanced calculation" of actuals divided by budget.

There are many more features of the advanced calculation editor; it will be interesting to see more use.

What I also noticed is the context menu shows an entry for Live Office;

One issue I experienced during ramp-up was I kept getting launcher errors when trying to launch Analysis Office inside ECC.  This was quickly fixed by upgrading to the latest SAP Gui 7.40 patch.

Somewhat related to Analysis Office, I just watched the Wayne Eckerson visualization webcast and now I will also be paying more attention to how I put together Analysis Office workbooks.  Below are some examples:

The above shows number of tickets over time; Mr. Eckerson's webcast mentioned following the IBCS standards and in starting to read those I should be using a column chart showing time on the horizontal axis.  I also show data labels.

Reference:

SAP Help: http://help.sap.com/boao

Product Availability Matrix: https://support.sap.com/content/dam/library/ssp/infopages/pam-essentials/TIP/AO_PAM_Add_Info.pdf

What's New: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/AMS21/en/21_1_aaoffice_whatsnew_en.pdf

Subhash has an overview of the key features here Whats New In Analysis Office 2.1

I wrote about an early version from ramp-up SAP BusinessObjects Analysis Office 2.1 - a First Look

Coming up at SAP TechEd Las Vegas, there are hands-on sessions for Analysis Office.  ASUG has a webcast on October 8th to re-launch the ASUG Analysis Influence Council; this is easily one of the best benefits of ASUG.

I also hope you will consider joining ASUG at TechEd on October 19th for an all-day hands-on session for Design Studio - register here.

Hi everyone,

SAP Early Knowledge Transfer for SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1, edition for Microsoft Office is now available in SAP Learning Hub. The SAP BusinessObjects Analysis editions offer premium value over today's BEx Web Application designer as well as BEx (Excel) and Web Analyzer.

After you have the access to SAP Learning Hub with Enterprise, Customer or Partner Edition Subscription, you will be able to see SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1, edition for Microsoft Office: Learning Map for Consultant (search term: EKT_BOANAMS21APP) and you will learn about the new features which include:

• Analysis 2.1: Overview
• SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1 Edition for Microsoft Office: Road map and Overview
• Formula Editor
• Enhancements in Table Design
• Scheduling 2.x workbooks
• Restricted measures in HANA
• Continuous Improvements
• EPM add in – Insert New lines support
• EPM add in – Converged Office Client
• Integration Demonstration

If you don't have the subscription yet, please go to SAP Learning Hub, choose your region and find the Local Education Contact in the bottom of the page.

See also: Discover SAP Learning Hub

Additional Links:

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office Road map

Official Product Tutorials – SAP BusinessObjects Analysis

Check out other Analytics Solutions from SAP in YouTube

Last week SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office 2.1 was generally available.  Some key links follow:

One key item to feature from the Product Availability Matrix is the add-on to the BI platform - you need to be in BI4.1 SP5 or higher:

Source: SAP

Also changed is what was previously called "free-form" calculation is now called "advanced calculation" - see below:

From here you are taken to a formula editor:

You can access the Formula Editor from the Context Menu, the Display panel, or the Ribbon

The above shows accessing the advanced calculation / formula editor from the Display Panel

The above shows accessing the advanced calculation / formula editor from the Ribbon.

The % Contribution Balance column shows the result of a "dynamic" calculation for percentage share of budget.  The last column shows a ratio/result of the "advanced calculation" of actuals divided by budget.

There are many more features of the advanced calculation editor; it will be interesting to see more use.

What I also noticed is the context menu shows an entry for Live Office;

One issue I experienced during ramp-up was I kept getting launcher errors when trying to launch Analysis Office inside ECC.  This was quickly fixed by upgrading to the latest SAP Gui 7.40 patch.

Somewhat related to Analysis Office, I just watched the Wayne Eckerson visualization webcast and now I will also be paying more attention to how I put together Analysis Office workbooks.  Below are some examples:

The above shows number of tickets over time; Mr. Eckerson's webcast mentioned following the IBCS standards and in starting to read those I should be using a column chart showing time on the horizontal axis.  I also show data labels.

Reference:

SAP Help: http://help.sap.com/boao

Product Availability Matrix: https://support.sap.com/content/dam/library/ssp/infopages/pam-essentials/TIP/AO_PAM_Add_Info.pdf

What's New: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/AMS21/en/21_1_aaoffice_whatsnew_en.pdf

Subhash has an overview of the key features here Whats New In Analysis Office 2.1

I wrote about an early version from ramp-up SAP BusinessObjects Analysis Office 2.1 - a First Look

Coming up at SAP TechEd Las Vegas, there are hands-on sessions for Analysis Office.  ASUG has a webcast on October 8th to re-launch the ASUG Analysis Influence Council; this is easily one of the best benefits of ASUG.

I also hope you will consider joining ASUG at TechEd on October 19th for an all-day hands-on session for Design Studio - register here.

Hi everyone,

SAP Early Knowledge Transfer for SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1, edition for Microsoft Office is now available in SAP Learning Hub. The SAP BusinessObjects Analysis editions offer premium value over today's BEx Web Application designer as well as BEx (Excel) and Web Analyzer.

After you have the access to SAP Learning Hub with Enterprise, Customer or Partner Edition Subscription, you will be able to see SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1, edition for Microsoft Office: Learning Map for Consultant (search term: EKT_BOANAMS21APP) and you will learn about the new features which include:

• Analysis 2.1: Overview
• SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1 Edition for Microsoft Office: Road map and Overview
• Formula Editor
• Enhancements in Table Design
• Scheduling 2.x workbooks
• Restricted measures in HANA
• Continuous Improvements
• EPM add in – Insert New lines support
• EPM add in – Converged Office Client
• Integration Demonstration

If you don't have the subscription yet, please go to SAP Learning Hub, choose your region and find the Local Education Contact in the bottom of the page.

See also: Discover SAP Learning Hub

Additional Links:

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office Road map

Official Product Tutorials – SAP BusinessObjects Analysis

Check out other Analytics Solutions from SAP in YouTube

Dear Analysis Office Guru's / Users / Lovers

Do you like SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Office and would you like to give your thoughts in the direction of analytics? Please do participate in the 2016 BI Survey and provide your insights for Analysis for Office to make it count in the bigger story..

The more feedback received, the better we can anticipate in where the analytics market is heading towards = SAP to invest into.

as a participant you will receive a summary of the survey results, enter into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers and best of all your experiences are included in the final analysis.

The survey takes approx. 15 minutes of your valuable time, but make result in a massive time saving in the future.

you can enter the survey via ; https://digiumenterprise.com/answer/?link=2877-RS4BPJGG

The survey is opened until the end of May 2016

thanks for your time in this

Merlijn

Hello Everyone,

Here I would like to showcase, how to ignore worksheets from Analysis Office processing and improve the initial loading performance.

Consider the scenario of AO workbook, which is quite slow in opening and has lot of worksheets with excel formulas and excel functionalities.

In such cases, lot of time is spent by AO, analysing all the worksheets in order to find out, if there are SAP formulas or data related to datasource.

If we mark all the worksheets, which do not contain any AO functionality as “Non-COF”, we can improve the loading time of workbook. This can be done under the “Components” tab of Display panel.

Let’s consider the AO workbook which has two worksheets, wherein first worksheet contains the Data source(from BW or HANA) and the second worksheet just refers the first worksheet and uses some excel formulas and functionalities to get the expected results.

Sheet1 -> Contains the Data source

Sheet3 -> Contains the excel formulas and functionalities

Please note that, by default, when the data source is added to any worksheet, it will be treated as Analysis Sheet Type. In this case, Sheet1 is having a data source from BW, and hence it’s marked as Analysis Type

Let’s say “Sheet3” is not marked as “Non-COF Worksheet”, and marked as “Analysis”(which is default).

Open the AO workbook and refresh it. Check the AO Logs by opening the .glf file.

You can see that the data presented in Sheet3 is taken into consideration by AO, for processing.

Let’s look into the other scenario, say “Sheet3” is marked as “Non-COF Worksheet”.

Open the AO workbook and refresh it. Check the AO Logs. You can see that AO skips that worksheet and hence time spent for this checking would be cut-off, and the loading performance would be improved.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Murali

This was an ASUG webcast given by SAP yesterday

As always things in the future are subject to change

Source: SAP

Figure 1: Source: SAP

Figure 1 shows what is new in Analysis Office 2.3

There is a new Table design rule editor

Enhancements for BW – Report to Report Interface framework, with Analysis Office as a receiver so you can jump from Design Studio to Analysis Office.

Dynamic RRI targets are enabled.

API enhancements include save data back to planning backend

Cancel log running queries

Full dpi support – size of characters

Logoff button to logoff system, particularly for testing reasons

Additional refresh mode – to include new master data in refresh

You can upload a list of filter values from a file

Figure 2: Source: SAP

Table Design Rule editor – there is a new tab for the rules and you can filter and edit some of them.

Figure 3: Source: SAP

For only BW 7.50 SP4 due in July, you can create restricted measures in the client.

You can define a measure and a filter condition in the dialog

Figure 4: Source: SAP

You can cancel long-running queries; 5 seconds is the default

You will get a pop-up to cancel the query

Figure 5: Source: SAP

You can logoff from the components tab

It is hidden as SAP considers it a more of a technical button

You can also replace a system here (last entry)

Figure 6: Source: SAP

The roadmap will be updated after 2.3 is GA

2.3 features are shown in the middle column of Figure 6

Plans for the future- create restricted measures in an easier way; possibly combine queries and create butterfly reports

Also looking to do things around grouping – personal grouping

Sheet protection is being worked on for the Q4 release

Also working on commentary framework with cell-level comments

Question & Answer

Q: Contains a Plug-In for EXCEL & POWER POINT. An Date/Roadmap when we wil be able to embed into WORD documents..? Timeline to move all former BOBJ LIVE OFFICE functions into Analysis Office..?

A: See current slide -to be fixed in later release

Q: Just curious why is LiveOffice not listed?

A: That is part of future convergence - today's webcast covers 2.3, the next release.

Q: We do not use BPC, to use 2.3 do we need to be on BW7.4 SP15 or BW7.5 SP4? Or will it work on our current 7.3 version?

A: It should work on current 7.3 version. The Version listed was for embedded - so if you are not planning it is not required

Q: What does "Upload list of filter values" mean?

A: Upload from a text file to a filter

Q: If you upgrade to A4O 2.3 on the destop, should you also upgrade the A4O BIP server add-on to version 2.3? What versions of BIP does the A4O BIP server on-add support (for example, is BIP 4.1 SP6 compatiable with the A4O 2.3 BIP add-on)?

A: Minimum BI4.1 SP5 or 6 - not sure

Q: Have you seen issues of using the plug-ins with Excel 2013?

A: issues should be shared with SAP Support.

Q: Upgrading users to most recent version of Analysis for office require someone typically user with admin rights doing installation, executing .exe files. I am wondering if new version of Analysis Office offer automatic upgrade options to most current vers

A: No, not yet

Q: Do the plug-ins support SSO kerberos authentication?

A: yes, couple of SSO protocol - depends on what asking - from BI to HANA - no, only SAML

Q: We are using standard bpc 10.1 and analysis for bw. If we upgrade to 2.3, we still have these tool separate or we can use the combined tool

A: No separate installation

Q: does 2.3 is going to support office 365 or 2016?

A: supported in 2.2 latest SP

Q: What is a SAP strategy regarding publishing AO Workbook if we have SAP BW and BO Platform? If it depends on AO licence?

A: not sure of question - scheduling is available on BI platform

Q: Can we use AO for BO Universe?

A: Not yet - use Live Office

ASUG Annual Conference Sessions next week:

Other:

Take the BARC Survey: Take the BARC BI Survey 2016 - Chance to win Amazon Vouchers

So first I install the client, then try the Report-to-Report where Analysis Office is a receiver from Design Studio:

First you set up the RSBBS on the back end, then in Design Studio you can select right-click and "Jump-to"

So the "jump" is from Design Studio to Analysis Office

Note what is new in RSBBS as shown above - Analysis Office is a report type

In the above I am formatting cells (not new) but what is new is the table rules editor:

This is on the 4th tab of the Design panel

You see the last data update of your multiprovider

It is also nice to have the ability to cancel long-running queries as shown above

You can also rename your measures from within Analysis Office

And you can logoff now from Analysis Office; this is a long-standing request from the ASUG Analysis Influence Council More to come.

Last week SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office 2.1 was generally available.  Some key links follow:

One key item to feature from the Product Availability Matrix is the add-on to the BI platform - you need to be in BI4.1 SP5 or higher:

Source: SAP

Also changed is what was previously called "free-form" calculation is now called "advanced calculation" - see below:

From here you are taken to a formula editor:

You can access the Formula Editor from the Context Menu, the Display panel, or the Ribbon

The above shows accessing the advanced calculation / formula editor from the Display Panel

The above shows accessing the advanced calculation / formula editor from the Ribbon.

The % Contribution Balance column shows the result of a "dynamic" calculation for percentage share of budget.  The last column shows a ratio/result of the "advanced calculation" of actuals divided by budget.

There are many more features of the advanced calculation editor; it will be interesting to see more use.

What I also noticed is the context menu shows an entry for Live Office;

One issue I experienced during ramp-up was I kept getting launcher errors when trying to launch Analysis Office inside ECC.  This was quickly fixed by upgrading to the latest SAP Gui 7.40 patch.

Somewhat related to Analysis Office, I just watched the Wayne Eckerson visualization webcast and now I will also be paying more attention to how I put together Analysis Office workbooks.  Below are some examples:

The above shows number of tickets over time; Mr. Eckerson's webcast mentioned following the IBCS standards and in starting to read those I should be using a column chart showing time on the horizontal axis.  I also show data labels.

Reference:

SAP Help: http://help.sap.com/boao

Product Availability Matrix: https://support.sap.com/content/dam/library/ssp/infopages/pam-essentials/TIP/AO_PAM_Add_Info.pdf

What's New: http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/AMS21/en/21_1_aaoffice_whatsnew_en.pdf

Subhash has an overview of the key features here Whats New In Analysis Office 2.1

I wrote about an early version from ramp-up SAP BusinessObjects Analysis Office 2.1 - a First Look

Coming up at SAP TechEd Las Vegas, there are hands-on sessions for Analysis Office.  ASUG has a webcast on October 8th to re-launch the ASUG Analysis Influence Council; this is easily one of the best benefits of ASUG.

I also hope you will consider joining ASUG at TechEd on October 19th for an all-day hands-on session for Design Studio - register here.

Hi everyone,

SAP Early Knowledge Transfer for SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1, edition for Microsoft Office is now available in SAP Learning Hub. The SAP BusinessObjects Analysis editions offer premium value over today's BEx Web Application designer as well as BEx (Excel) and Web Analyzer.

After you have the access to SAP Learning Hub with Enterprise, Customer or Partner Edition Subscription, you will be able to see SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1, edition for Microsoft Office: Learning Map for Consultant (search term: EKT_BOANAMS21APP) and you will learn about the new features which include:

• Analysis 2.1: Overview
• SAP BusinessObjects Analysis 2.1 Edition for Microsoft Office: Road map and Overview
• Formula Editor
• Enhancements in Table Design
• Scheduling 2.x workbooks
• Restricted measures in HANA
• Continuous Improvements
• EPM add in – Insert New lines support
• EPM add in – Converged Office Client
• Integration Demonstration

If you don't have the subscription yet, please go to SAP Learning Hub, choose your region and find the Local Education Contact in the bottom of the page.

See also: Discover SAP Learning Hub

Additional Links:

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for Microsoft Office Road map

Official Product Tutorials – SAP BusinessObjects Analysis

Check out other Analytics Solutions from SAP in YouTube

This was an ASUG webcast given by SAP yesterday

As always things in the future are subject to change

Source: SAP

Figure 1: Source: SAP

Figure 1 shows what is new in Analysis Office 2.3

There is a new Table design rule editor

Enhancements for BW – Report to Report Interface framework, with Analysis Office as a receiver so you can jump from Design Studio to Analysis Office.

Dynamic RRI targets are enabled.

API enhancements include save data back to planning backend

Cancel log running queries

Full dpi support – size of characters

Logoff button to logoff system, particularly for testing reasons

Additional refresh mode – to include new master data in refresh

You can upload a list of filter values from a file

Figure 2: Source: SAP

Table Design Rule editor – there is a new tab for the rules and you can filter and edit some of them.

Figure 3: Source: SAP

For only BW 7.50 SP4 due in July, you can create restricted measures in the client.

You can define a measure and a filter condition in the dialog

Figure 4: Source: SAP

You can cancel long-running queries; 5 seconds is the default

You will get a pop-up to cancel the query

Figure 5: Source: SAP

You can logoff from the components tab

It is hidden as SAP considers it a more of a technical button

You can also replace a system here (last entry)

Figure 6: Source: SAP

The roadmap will be updated after 2.3 is GA

2.3 features are shown in the middle column of Figure 6

Plans for the future- create restricted measures in an easier way; possibly combine queries and create butterfly reports

Also looking to do things around grouping – personal grouping

Sheet protection is being worked on for the Q4 release

Also working on commentary framework with cell-level comments

Question & Answer

Q: Contains a Plug-In for EXCEL & POWER POINT. An Date/Roadmap when we wil be able to embed into WORD documents..? Timeline to move all former BOBJ LIVE OFFICE functions into Analysis Office..?

A: See current slide -to be fixed in later release

Q: Just curious why is LiveOffice not listed?

A: That is part of future convergence - today's webcast covers 2.3, the next release.

Q: We do not use BPC, to use 2.3 do we need to be on BW7.4 SP15 or BW7.5 SP4? Or will it work on our current 7.3 version?

A: It should work on current 7.3 version. The Version listed was for embedded - so if you are not planning it is not required

Q: What does "Upload list of filter values" mean?

A: Upload from a text file to a filter

Q: If you upgrade to A4O 2.3 on the destop, should you also upgrade the A4O BIP server add-on to version 2.3? What versions of BIP does the A4O BIP server on-add support (for example, is BIP 4.1 SP6 compatiable with the A4O 2.3 BIP add-on)?

A: Minimum BI4.1 SP5 or 6 - not sure

Q: Have you seen issues of using the plug-ins with Excel 2013?

A: issues should be shared with SAP Support.

Q: Upgrading users to most recent version of Analysis for office require someone typically user with admin rights doing installation, executing .exe files. I am wondering if new version of Analysis Office offer automatic upgrade options to most current vers

A: No, not yet

Q: Do the plug-ins support SSO kerberos authentication?

A: yes, couple of SSO protocol - depends on what asking - from BI to HANA - no, only SAML

Q: We are using standard bpc 10.1 and analysis for bw. If we upgrade to 2.3, we still have these tool separate or we can use the combined tool

A: No separate installation

Q: does 2.3 is going to support office 365 or 2016?

A: supported in 2.2 latest SP

Q: What is a SAP strategy regarding publishing AO Workbook if we have SAP BW and BO Platform? If it depends on AO licence?

A: not sure of question - scheduling is available on BI platform

Q: Can we use AO for BO Universe?

A: Not yet - use Live Office

ASUG Annual Conference Sessions next week:

Other:

Take the BARC Survey: Take the BARC BI Survey 2016 - Chance to win Amazon Vouchers

This was an SAP webcast today on the overview/roadmap

Source: SAP

The usual legal disclaimer applies; things in the future are subject to change

Source: SAP

Word has an asterisk, part of the EPM plug-in

Source: SAP

2.x is the go-to release for future development

The Analysis plug-in refers the Analysis ribbon

Based on a pivot table user experience, from Excel

Convergence is a single product, single installer, single license

Introduced a common layer into Excel

Source: SAP

Some limitations for EPM exist as shown above

Source: SAP

BPC embedded recommend Analysis

Above shows which plug in to use

For BW/HANA, use Analysis

For BPC standard, EPM is the right plug-in

For BPC embedded, recommend Analysis

See note above that explains it more detail

Source: SAP

Differences are due to architecture and performance

Analysis approach uses design panel and context pane, Excel styles

Source: SAP

EPM plug-in has limitations with embedded

Check the notes

Exceptions, user interface, performance limitations based on architecture

Source: SAP

You can integrate Analysis with Fiori launchpad  – BI platform (open doc)

Source: SAP

Analysis can be a target for RRI interface

Source: SAP

If you are on 1.4 please upgrade, said SAP

Source: SAP

Planned (subject to change):

Missing EPM Word support

Re-introduce EVDRE support

For Analysis – continuous improvement, table design, rule editor, enable formulas in cross tab

HANA – SSO via cloud

Simplify user experience, asymmetric measures, auto complete

Axis sharing (butterfly report)

Grouping on the fly

Future  (planned for 2017) – commenting framework, similar to Web Intelligence

Integration – working with Lumira colleagues and Cloud colleagues

Looking at offline velocity engine / database

PoC with Excel365 geomaps

If you have live apps that might interact with BI data

Reference:

You can view the roadmap here (note logon may be required)

Recording: https://sap.na.pgiconnect.com/p4sadjzl5af/

Question and Answer
Q: https://apps.support.sap.com/sap/support/pam not working (PAM)

A: working today; could be browser related

Q: Will Analysis for Office work with HANA Enterprise Semantic Search? (for agile data preparation)

A: At this time no other plans

Q: Analysis for office on HANA source does not incorporate scenarios such as constant selection and RRI . When are we planning to include them?

A: move to HANA backend colleagues; not something do in the front

Q: One of the biggest pain points for us is upgrading software on end user s computers. As of today it’s manual process requiring user with admin rights accessing end user’s computer. About 80% of our Analysis end users work remotely. Any plans for automating upgrade procedures?

A: Customers said they would like control when upgrades; relies on IT infrastructure and central set up

Q:  Today, you have support for Bex workbook , In which version  of AO the Bex is enable to convert workbook?

A: been there for a while

Q: integration of excel 365 apps — what is support integration with excel 365 today

A: Analysis Office requires on-premise installation; not plan to integrate with HTML of Excel

Analysis for office reports can be saved on BI platform and SAP netweaver Platform.

Saving on Net weaver platform requires few pre-requisites to be taken care of, one important thing is to have analysis service created.This can prevent from facing the below error.

1. Use t-code sicf (once authorization is assigned), execute in Hierarchy type --> Service

2. Under Virtual hosts/service --> bw , check for analysis.

3. if there is no analysis, click on Create Host/Service

4. Give name of the service element as analysis

5. Enter description as analysis launcher

6. In Handler List tab, enter the below mentioned HTTP Handler, which is a basic class to handle http requests for Analysis for Office reports.

7. Once activated, Check under same path Virtual hosts/service --> bw , analysis service is created.

8. Test the service on right-click

This results in opening analysis for office through the platform

There you go!