A set of SCN page created to help you with your BI upgrade and migration projects

This page provides an overview and supplemental information for SAP BusinessObjects BI customers seeking to upgrade their systems from releases Enterprise XI 3.1 and earlier to BI 4.1.  There's also relevant information for current BI 4.0 customers to update their systems to BI 4.1.

When upgrading from releases XI 3.1 and earlier, it is important to realize that a significant shift to a 64-bit architecture (from 32-bit) takes place to take advantage of modern hardware and RAM, which allows BI 4.x to overcome previous resource limitations.  In other words, don't expect to run on the same hardware.  Of course, proper sizing, will help you attain optimal performance.

On the events page, you will find a series of informative webinar sessions on the Upgrade topic intended to provide you with detailed, end-to-end information and best practices on how to plan your upgrade, the upgrade process itself, and post upgrade configuration along with finishing touches.

Upgrade Process Overview

How you actually move onto the new SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 release depends largely on the release you are starting from.

There are two main options for migrating to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 from previous releases.

1. Update:  Perform a minor release update from BI 4.0 (any SP).
2. Upgrade:  Perform an upgrade from Enterprise XI 3.1 release and lower.

The diagram below provides a summary of the available migration paths to 4.1 from previous releases.

Update

Before performing an update from BI 4.0, please read the blog entry by Matthew Shaw on this topic: 

“Doing a full install for updating from BI4.0 to BI4.1? Think again...”

The “In-Place Update” option shown above is the recommended option.  As Matthew states in his blog:

“…The update to BI4.1 from BI4.0 is the same process as applying a Support Pack. I.e. just apply the ‘patch’ software to update from BI4.0 to BI4.1. There is no need to install BI4.1 on a new machine, nor is there a need to move, or copy content from one repository to another. Indeed it’s vital that the CMS System Repository database is updated as part of the update process…”

Upgrade

Upgrading to BI platform 4.1 involves installing a new deployment and copying your content and system data from an existing deployment.

You can install the new deployment independently or side-by-side with an existing deployment. The two deployments can work at the same time. When you no longer need your old deployment, you can uninstall it.

Direct

• A direct upgrade path is possible if the version is at least “Business Objects Enterprise XI R2 SP2”.
• Attention: There is information available saying that the minimum version for a direct upgrade can be “BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2”…  This is NOT correct!

Indirect

• An indirect upgrade path is available for versions that are lower than “BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2 SP2”.
• These are for example “BusinessObjects Enterprise 6.x” and/or “Crystal Enterprise 10”
• In this case you need a version which is capable of a direct upgrade path in between
• To upgrade to 4.1 from XI R2, XI MHF1, or XI R2 SP1, you must first upgrade to XI R2 SP2 (or higher).
• To upgrade from BusinessObjects 5/6, or Crystal Enterprise 9/10, you must first upgrade to XI R2 SP2.

Webinars

A BI 4.1 Upgrade webinar series is currently in progress.  Be on the lookout for these webinars by checking the Events page for scheduled dates.

Previously Recorded Webinars

Relevant Blogs

• Matthew Shaw’s “Doing a full install for updating from BI4.0 to BI4.1? Think again...”
• Top 10 Reasons to Realize the Value of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1
• Is It Time To Upgrade To BusinessObjects 4.x?

A guided tour of the top online resources that help you with BI upgrade and migration projects

Top Online Resources for BI Upgrade & Migration Projects

This page is a personal collection of links that center around BI Upgrade and Migration Projects. It is compiled by Henry Banks, who also presented this list in below listed webinar.

The content that Henry refers to is created and publishedby the entire eco system - SAP employees and non SAP community members alike. It reflects official SAP content, assetscreated through collaboration, and documented, personal experiences. Much of this content is referenced by and used for workshops, events and customer projects.

Our thanks go out to all those who willingly share their experience and knowledge on this forum. PS: If you find any particular document useful, you can give the author a virtual pat on her or his back by 'liking' and by 'rating' it. Authors usually appreciate that a lot

All mentioned top assets are found on these sites:BI Microsite | Support Portal | SCN | SCN Wiki

A Guided Tour (webinar recording) Henry kicked off the 2015 Webinar Series with a guided tour of the most important sites, highlighting links to many must-know assets.   Introduction SAP BI Microsite: 1:55 SAP Support Portal and Service Market Place: 07:18 SCN Community Forum: 12:55 Wiki Area of SCN: 41:04 Q&A: 49:08   The section below is a list of all these links and sites.
SAP BI Micro Site www.sapbi.com Our BI Micro Site contains a number of great resources, spread across a number of tabs.
Front Page
BI Competency Centre assessment A topic that comes up so often before (and during) projects: Are we truly ready for the upgrade? A first step is to implement a BI Competency Center (BICC). Got one already? Take the assessment to identify areas where there's room for optimization; topics covered include funding, reporting etc.
Tab: BI Champion	Tab: Strategy
Design-thinking methodology Deliver projects that your audience desires, with ideas & needs from decision-makers. Statement of Direction Learn where SAP's BI Solutions are heading. BI Convergence strategy Jayne Landry covers SAP's BI roadmap and describes the strategic planing for our BI clients.	This tab includes links to surveys andquestionnaires that help you assess your strengths and opportunities. “Take a Strategy assessment” to discover and prioritize business challenges across your organization.
Tab: Implement	Tab: Upgrade
“Get a custom Implementation report” Identify key technical touch points to consider, like virtualization, protocols, authentication and more. The personalized report is a sound basis to gauge where you are at and need to go next.	“Get a custom Upgrade report” This report is a huge help for planning major milestones of a project. As such, it is mostly targeted at Project Management.
Support Portal http://support.sap.com The Support Portal has been simplified and re-desgined for easier navigation. Here you report incidents and manage your remote connections for SAP Support to help you.
Highlights of the SAP Support Portal: Documentation - http://help.sap.com This is one of the most overlooked and yet most helpful resources! Navigate down to the Analytics tab, and under Business Intelligence you'll find all our BI products. Knowledge Base & Articles -http://support.sap.com/notes When facing issues, one of the the first entry points for you should be the notes search. A wealth of information that helps you trouble shooting and investigation. Search by criteria like subject matter, release, patch information etc. The search results include links to solutions, related downloads and more. These knowledge base articles address questions we often get asked: KBA 1909881: How to upgrade from one version of BI4 to another KBA 1934748: Is a full installation required when updating BI4.x installations? KBA 1882363: Upgrading and multiple CMS database/Nodes leading to CMS database corruption, missing Application Settings/rights/icons/??dummy placeholders and more KBA 2013616: How to patch BI 4.x servers in a distributed BI Platform deployment simultaneously ( in parallel ) ? KBA 1949693: AdaptiveProcessingServer Running with errors after installing BI 4.1 or after upgrade to BI 4.1 KBA 1987825: The APS status is "Running with errors" after upgrading to BI 4.1 SP2 KBA 1982241: Tomcat does not start in BI 4.1   Remote support - Remote Support | SAP Support Portal A prerequisite for our support engineering and experts on demand to help you investigating any issues. Remote Supportability chose the right technology, includes links to downloads and detailed information. Remote Connection types helps you select and setup the remote connection type that most appropriately serves any particular situation.   Roadmaps / Release and upgrade information - https://support.sap.com/release-upgrade-maintenance.html Roadmaps - Includes Product and Solution Roadmaps as well as Implementation Roadmaps (ASAP) Maintenance schedules - Learn about upcoming, planned releases for Support Packages and SP Stacks. Product Compatibility Matrix - compatibility between components (aka PAM) Details about SAP software product versions, including availability, end of maintenance, upgrade paths, and technical release information (database platforms, Java platforms, operating systems, and so on).
SAP Community Network (SCN) https://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform The place where SAP experts meet, share experience and knowledge and help each other. Meant for customers, partners, subject matter experts, curious individuals and SAP employees.
Highlights on SCN and recommend to our customers:   The Events Page shows you what webinars are planned and is updated with links to recordings of past webinars. A great page to 'receive email notifications' for to not miss any updates.   ThePlanning your upgrade is fine landing page and great for getting a first glance of what to consider.   Size matters, and these resources are most important for this crucial topic: Sizing Microsite for primary sizing and performance tips for BI and Lumira, with heaps of additional links. BI 4 Sizing Guide for services by Ian Treleaven with best practices and recommendations. BI4 Sizing and Deployment Guide by Bill Lang. Crucial, will also be covered in webinars.   Performance Improvements In his publications, James Rapp describes how the user experience can be improved by using Apache in conjunction with the WDeploy web application deployment tool, for BI 4.1 and BI 4.0 the Best Practices for SAPBO BI 4.0 Adaptive Processing Servers by Jan De Vilder is handy summary for an administrator familiar with the BI platform and references other related resources.   Sample Auditing universes and Reports Radim Bacinschi offers a starting point for developing your custom auditing universe and reports.   Best Practices for Virtualizing BI 4.x on VMware is a technical white paper by Ashish Morzaria and focuses on validating SAP's recommendations for deploying BI 4 systems in virtual environments.   Interactive Diagrams and Process Flows, updated by Tomasz Zima, are found on the Tutorials Landing page (sap.com/LearnBI).   Choosing the right client tool Blair Wheadon offers decision support in the context of business problems that are to be addressed.   Timeouts in the BI Platform across various processing tiers. Janos Nagy explains how to manage timeouts, covering main settings, notes, and best practices.   Best practices for backing up the CMS and Audit DB Jose Ramos's blog is relevant if you are using BI 4.1 and your CMS and Audit databases are on SQL Anywhere.   Overview of SSO options on BI Greg Wcislo summarizes various SSO options, from authenticating to BI, all the way down to the database.   Updating the JRE/JDK for Tomcat Ajay Gupta's blog is a great example of a community member covering a third party components.   Moving from DeskI to WebI? Merlijn Ekkel describes how to convert DeskI content for use in WebI (webinar).   WebI Tuning Tips On WebI already? Jonathan Brown covers report design, semantic layer choice and much more.   WebI Performance Tuning Tips (SAP BW) A step-by-step guide by Kurt Holst, making use of BI Consumer Services Connection (BICS).   WebI Calculation Engine Changes A deep dive into changes in the calculation engine by Gregory Botticchio and  Pascal Gaulin (webinar)   Setting up Introscope for Advanced Monitoring Toby Johnston describes how to setup extended monitoring capabilities of the BI platform.   Branding and Theming of BI Launchpad Christina Obry covers how you can incorporate company logos and color with the help of CSS templates.   Multi Tenancy Best Practices for BI Platform Learn how to quickly onboard new LOB's or companies, and how to manage new tenants in an SAAS concept.   Data Federation Admin Tool - What it is, How it works and When to use it This blog by Sonet Kebede helps you joining data from various sources into a multi-source Universe.   Cluster Patching Guide Step-by-step instructions for Parallel Patching, to reduce effort and time spent in multi node deployments.
SCN - Wiki http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/ Business+Intelligence The SCN Wiki is a subset of the community network and contains actively maintained pages, with much content from our support team.
Highlights on the SCN Wiki:     Pattern Books:'You can't go worong with a pattern book', as Henry says These step-by-step guides complement the standard documentation with check lists, workflows and more.   BI Platform Support Tool A tool designed for supporting many aspects of the BI Platform and for simplifying the process of reporting on the landscape configuration, performing root cause analysis tasks, and delivering performance optimization and go-live services. It is used used by support engineers, consultants and administrators.   Universe conversion - Moving from UNVs to UNXs This article describes the conversion of XI3.1 relational universe (UNV) to BI4.0 relational universe (UNX).   Feature Comparison: WebI and DeskI This page contains a very comprehensive feature comparison for WebI and DeskI.   Promotion Management This troubleshooting blog by Matthew Shaw includes best practices for design and implementation and includes videos.   WebI GUI customisation Customize the GUI on a per user or per folder base: hide/disable elements, simply interfaces. By Jason Everly.   Performance Tuning for WebI Applet Interface  Jonathan Brown's tips & tricks for tuning the Java based designer/viewer found within the BI Launchpad.   WebI Automatic Calculation rewrite This page complements the above listed SCN document on the changes of Calculation Engine, is authored by Carly Thomas and David Francois Gonzalez.   Configuring the Connection of BI to BW, through the Information Design Tool A great article targeting the BW basis and the BI administrators, by Jacqueline Rahn and Bryan Booth.

Scenario

In this document we will see how to install a language pack in existing SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.0.

Prerequisites

As per the installation guide prior to SP05, it was not possible to Add or Remove language packs in a BI 4.0 system.  In SP05 it is possible to add and remove language packs IF and ONLY IF the original full install was from the full BI 4.0 SP04 package (not a patch).

If the original base install of BI 4.0 was FP03 or earlier then it is only possible to remove/add language packs that were installed at the original install time.  This is because these installers do not install the language packages onto the machine that are required to add the languages into Business Objects with the SP05 installer.

Step-by-Step Procedure

Go to Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features, select your product and click Uninstall/Change. Select the Modify option and add or remove languages from the "Choose Langage Packs" screen.

Select the language accordingly.Our case it was French.

     Provide the CMS name as the host name of the CMS Server

Reference

SAP Note#1799908 - How do you add or remove a language pack from an existing SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.0 installation?

This is the second part of the series focused on customer focused analytics. If you have not seen it yet you can check the part 1 here.

I am going to discuss how to build a custom application URL to host BI contents so that a user group gets their BI contents available in just one place rather than having to go through launchpad and bunch of folders. I am going to discuss on a step by step approach how to configure in IIS webserver so all the screen shots are specific to IIS only.

Prerequisites

Three items need to be installed/configured on the server in order to prepare to serve up IIS websites:

• IIS services should be configured on the server
• .Net Framework 4.5 should be installed

Configure IIS Services on the server

Go to the Server Manager console on the server and select the option Add Roles -
  

Select the web server IIS role anc click next -

Once the installation is over, you will be able to see the role and services installed -
  

Install .Net Framework 4.5

Download the .Net 4.5 setup from Microsoft site.
Double click on the downloaded .exe file to start the setup.
Follow the on screen instructions to complete the setup.

How to Setup a Custom IIS Website for housing opendoc links

1. Content Home Folder for Site

Create Directory Folder

Create a folder that will server as the home folder for the website, this is required while creating the website.

Apply Access Levels to Site Folder

Go to the properties of the home folder that was created for the web site and add the ‘Everyone’ group with execute access –
  

2. Create the Website In IIS

Add the Web Site

Open up the Windows Server IIS manager console in one of two ways:

Start > Run > inetmgr > hit enter

or …

Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services Manager

Right click on ‘Sites’ and select the option – Add Web Site.
  

Fill in the detail fields corresponding to the application area for which we are creating the site. These are…

Site Name: This name should match that of the Application Area established in the BO Launchpad

Physical Path: This is the path to the home contenet folder for the site that you created in an earlier step

Host Name: This equates to the web URL that users will enter to visit the web page (see example, below, for the “Inventory” application).
  

Application Pool Settings

In IIS left pane, click on Application Pools to see all application pools for your sites.  For your new site, make sure that the application pool is set to use the latest version of .Net Framework .  If it is not, double click the application pool and in the dialoge window select the latest version for .Net Framework.

Bindings

In IIS left pane, right-click on your new application site and select Edit Bindings…  Make sure that both bindings are present on the website – the short name and the fully qualified name.

3. Finalize Web Content Customization

Populate the Home Directory with Sample Web Content

Once the website is created, the code needs to be put in the home folder we created.

  
 

Modify Customized Content Files

There are couple of things that we need to modify for the sites for each application area that we are rolling out the site for.

The following three files need to be modified to change the site as per the new application.
  

Default.aspx

The timeout popup setting is in this file in the section for function Init() , if required it can be changed. We are currently using a standard timer value of 7140000.

Web.config

The title of the Web Site and the working environment is present in this file –
  

The Workingenv parameter decides which links will be used from the links.xml file.
The Title parameter decided what will be the title of the webpage.

Links.xml

the opendoc links, title of the different tabs and the tooltip help is present in this file –
  

Based on the working environment we set in the web.config, the opendoc links will be picked from the links.xml file.

while inserting the links, we needto modify them a bit –

4. Request DNS Alias for the server/loadbalancer

Once the website is created, make sure to create an simple alias for the users to accessthe site – for example http://sales, http://quality etc.
Alias names being requested should be SAME as the bindings that have been provided for the web site.

Once the alias has been created, access the web site using any browser and confirm that it is working as expected.

Now finally once you are done with these you will have a website where you can embed the BI content for a personalized experience of your end user community.

Applies to:

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform, SAP BusinessObjects Semantic Layer and SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence.

Summary

This article provides step by step process of creating universe on flat file using Information Design Tool (IDT). In addition it also mentions the details of key points to be considered while creating flat file universe through IDT. The content in this article is intended for semantic layer users and designers those who would wish to create flat file universes and provide developers access via web Intelligence etc.

Note: Flat file in this article refers to .CSV, .Txt and other supported files.

Author:Mallikarjuna Chary Narayandas

Company:Gyansys Inc.

Created on:June 22, 2013

Author Bio

The author has worked on several SAP BusinessObjects projects and has experience on using all the SAPBusinessObjectsBusiness Intelligenceplatform tools. Author has experience on working with SAPBusinessObjectsmobile including designing and accessingBusinessObjectscontent (Web Intelligence Reports, Crystal Reports, Dashboards, Analysis and Information Spaces) through IPAD /IPhone/ Android.

Introduction

This article provides step by step process of creating universe on flat file using Information Design Tool (IDT). In addition it also mentions the details of key points to be considered while creating flat file universe through IDT. The content in this article is intended for semantic layer users and designers those who would wish to create flat file universes and provide developers access via web Intelligence etc. Below are few key drivers of choosing a Flat file universe over web intelligence rich client report creation of flat files.

• Being able to apply query filters to restrict data coming from Excel
• Merge Dimension objects from Excel with objects from Universe queries
• Provide flexibility in terms of controlling object formats, data type conversions and add prompts etc.

Step By Step Process of Flat File Universe Creation

• Go to All Programs>SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4> SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform Client Tools> Information Design Tool (IDT) to launch IDT

• Create New Project by Choosing menu Option File>New>Project

• Enter Project Name (Ex: Flat File Universe Demo) and Specify Project Location. Designer can leave the default location as is or click on browse button to choose any location of choice. Click on Finish to complete creation of project.

• Right click on the project created above and choose New > Relational Connection

• Enter Resource name and description and then click on “Next >”

• Choose Generic>Text Files>BusinessObjects OpenConnectivity as middle ware in order to connect to flat files (.CSV, .txt etc.) & click “Next >”

• Choose Location Type as Local and Provide information to connect to flat file such as file path and click on Test connection. Click on Finish once Connection is tested successful.

• Now the Local connection is ready.

• Publish connection to the repository choosing appropriate folder location on repository and Clicking on Finish.

           Note: Designer should have been already connected to BO server on IDT or else he may have to do it at this step.

• Designer will receive a publish successfully message. Now press “Yes” to create a shortcut to local folder. Designer will receive a Shortcut created successfully message.

• Go to project >Right Click>New>Data Foundation and Enter data foundation name, Choose connection short cut and click on Finish.

• Expand the connection listed in data foundation and drag and drop the table to the schema window and save your data foundation.

• Go to project> Right Click> New>Business Layer and Choose Relational Data Foundation, Enter Business Layer name and Select the data foundation created in previous steps and click Ok and Finish.

• Business Layer is generated with Classes and Objects as below and overall project should look as below. If designer chooses to re-organize or rename the classes and objects he can do it and save the Business Layer after changes.

• Go to Business Layer >Right Click > Publish>To a Repository.

• Perform Check Integrity and Click Next to choose an appropriate folder and Click Finish to publish the Business Layer to repository.

Now the that the UNX universe created would work fine with local connection for rich client reports, if designer wants this universe to be allowing queries from BI Launchpad to run fine without any error messages then he has to update the connection published to repository using steps below.

• Go to Repository resources>Connections>Flat file connection and double click on the flat file connection to open properties

• Choose Edit Connection and Update the File path or pattern to the server URL as below where the Flat file should have been placed by BusinessObjects Administrator in the specified location as below.

Note1: This file location on BusinessObjects server would be different if the BusinessObjects server is deployed on Unix or Windows OS.

Note2: Since designer is updating the connection from repository resources, No connection publish step is required.

Even though the connection is updated with right folder location pointing to BusinessObjects server, when designer performs Test connection it returns the error message as below and data preview of query would also result in an error message as below. However, the query built from web intelligence through BI launch pad runs fine and users can create and execute reports on this Flat File universe.

References

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform

SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence.

Semantic Layer|SCN

SAP BusinessObjectsWeb Intelligence... |SCN

Disclaimer and Liability Notice

This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is not supported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade.

SAP will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or methods suggested in this document and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk.

SAP offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the content of this technical article or code sample, including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this document and the materials and services offered by SAP. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, SAP responsible or liable with respect to the content of this document

Webinars covering all things important for BI projects. Register for upcoming sessions or watch recordings of past events.

Technical Webinar Series: Upgrading to the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.1

Once again will we provide a series of free webinars that are focused on upgrading to the SAP BI Platform 4.1. This webinar series is a supplement to other information assets found on SCN.

Webinar title, date, registration and presenter information is given below - all webinars will start at 7am PDT, unless otherwise specified. Webinar dates and times may be subject to change.

• Registration links: will be enabled a few days before the scheduled webinar date.
• Recordings: will be posted no later than a week after the event.

If you 'follow' this page, you will receive notifications of any updates, including new webinar content, dates and registration links - also recordings of all completed webinars will be made available from this page. Stay Tuned !

Upcoming Webinars - Registrations		Date	Presenter
	SAP BI: Creating a Relational Connection for SAP BI 4.1 for Reporting on SAP BW	Aug 4	JR
	ASUG What's coming in BI 4.2	Sep 15
	UNX Adoption: the APOS WebI Migrator	Sep 29	AP
h
Recordings of Past Webinars		Date	Presenter
	User Authentication and Single Sign-On with BI 4.1 (recording)	Jul 21	GDL
	Sizing your BI Platform, using the SAP Sizing Tool (recording)	Jul 07	HJ
	What's new in BI 4.1 SP6 (recording | presentation)	Jun 23	ME
	Best Practices for WebI (recording)	Jun 23	JB
	A guided Tour: How to best make use of Online Resources (recording)	May 18	HB
	BI 4.1 Monitoring - (Recording)	Nov 13	TJ
	Troubleshooting - (Recording)	Nov 06	GS
	Promotion Management & Version Management - (Recording)	Oct 23	MS
	WebI Calculation Engine Changes - (Recording)	Oct 16	PG
	DeskI to WebI Conversion & Desktop Compatibility Pack - (Recording)	Oct 09	ME
	Upgrading from XI Release 2/3.1 to 4.1 and updating From BI 4.0 to 4.1 - (Recording)	Sep 25	ME
	User Authentication & Single Sign-On - (Recording)	Sep 11	TZ
	BusinessObjects BI Strategy & Roadmap - (Recording)	Sep 09	JL
	Installation & Patching - (Recording)	Sep 04	HJ
	Deployment Best Practices - (Recording)	Aug 29	HJ
	Sizing & Virtualization - (Recording)	Aug 14	CL
	Update Best Practices - (Recording)	Jul 30	SR
	Value Prop & Tools - (Recording)	Jul 17	HB

A set of SCN page created to help you with your BI upgrade and migration projects

This page provides an overview and supplemental information for SAP BusinessObjects BI customers seeking to upgrade their systems from releases Enterprise XI 3.1 and earlier to BI 4.1.  There's also relevant information for current BI 4.0 customers to update their systems to BI 4.1.

When upgrading from releases XI 3.1 and earlier, it is important to realize that a significant shift to a 64-bit architecture (from 32-bit) takes place to take advantage of modern hardware and RAM, which allows BI 4.x to overcome previous resource limitations.  In other words, don't expect to run on the same hardware.  Of course, proper sizing, will help you attain optimal performance.

On the events page, you will find a series of informative webinar sessions on the Upgrade topic intended to provide you with detailed, end-to-end information and best practices on how to plan your upgrade, the upgrade process itself, and post upgrade configuration along with finishing touches.

Upgrade Process Overview

How you actually move onto the new SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 release depends largely on the release you are starting from.

There are two main options for migrating to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 from previous releases.

1. Update:  Perform a minor release update from BI 4.0 (any SP).
2. Upgrade:  Perform an upgrade from Enterprise XI 3.1 release and lower.

The diagram below provides a summary of the available migration paths to 4.1 from previous releases.

Update

Before performing an update from BI 4.0, please read the blog entry by Matthew Shaw on this topic: 

“Doing a full install for updating from BI4.0 to BI4.1? Think again...”

The “In-Place Update” option shown above is the recommended option.  As Matthew states in his blog:

“…The update to BI4.1 from BI4.0 is the same process as applying a Support Pack. I.e. just apply the ‘patch’ software to update from BI4.0 to BI4.1. There is no need to install BI4.1 on a new machine, nor is there a need to move, or copy content from one repository to another. Indeed it’s vital that the CMS System Repository database is updated as part of the update process…”

Upgrade

Upgrading to BI platform 4.1 involves installing a new deployment and copying your content and system data from an existing deployment.

You can install the new deployment independently or side-by-side with an existing deployment. The two deployments can work at the same time. When you no longer need your old deployment, you can uninstall it.

Direct

• A direct upgrade path is possible if the version is at least “Business Objects Enterprise XI R2 SP2”.
• Attention: There is information available saying that the minimum version for a direct upgrade can be “BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2”…  This is NOT correct!

Indirect

• An indirect upgrade path is available for versions that are lower than “BusinessObjects Enterprise XI R2 SP2”.
• These are for example “BusinessObjects Enterprise 6.x” and/or “Crystal Enterprise 10”
• In this case you need a version which is capable of a direct upgrade path in between
• To upgrade to 4.1 from XI R2, XI MHF1, or XI R2 SP1, you must first upgrade to XI R2 SP2 (or higher).
• To upgrade from BusinessObjects 5/6, or Crystal Enterprise 9/10, you must first upgrade to XI R2 SP2.

Webinars

A BI 4.1 Upgrade webinar series is currently in progress.  Be on the lookout for these webinars by checking the Events page for scheduled dates.

Previously Recorded Webinars

Relevant Blogs

• Matthew Shaw’s “Doing a full install for updating from BI4.0 to BI4.1? Think again...”
• Top 10 Reasons to Realize the Value of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1
• Is It Time To Upgrade To BusinessObjects 4.x?

A guided tour of the top online resources that help you with BI upgrade and migration projects

Top Online Resources for BI Upgrade & Migration Projects

This page is a personal collection of links that center around BI Upgrade and Migration Projects. It is compiled by Henry Banks, who also presented this list in below listed webinar.

The content that Henry refers to is created and publishedby the entire eco system - SAP employees and non SAP community members alike. It reflects official SAP content, assetscreated through collaboration, and documented, personal experiences. Much of this content is referenced by and used for workshops, events and customer projects.

Our thanks go out to all those who willingly share their experience and knowledge on this forum. PS: If you find any particular document useful, you can give the author a virtual pat on her or his back by 'liking' and by 'rating' it. Authors usually appreciate that a lot

All mentioned top assets are found on these sites:BI Microsite | Support Portal | SCN | SCN Wiki

A Guided Tour (webinar recording) Henry kicked off the 2015 Webinar Series with a guided tour of the most important sites, highlighting links to many must-know assets.   Introduction SAP BI Microsite: 1:55 SAP Support Portal and Service Market Place: 07:18 SCN Community Forum: 12:55 Wiki Area of SCN: 41:04 Q&A: 49:08   The section below is a list of all these links and sites.
SAP BI Micro Site www.sapbi.com Our BI Micro Site contains a number of great resources, spread across a number of tabs.
Front Page
BI Competency Centre assessment A topic that comes up so often before (and during) projects: Are we truly ready for the upgrade? A first step is to implement a BI Competency Center (BICC). Got one already? Take the assessment to identify areas where there's room for optimization; topics covered include funding, reporting etc.
Tab: BI Champion	Tab: Strategy
Design-thinking methodology Deliver projects that your audience desires, with ideas & needs from decision-makers. Statement of Direction Learn where SAP's BI Solutions are heading. BI Convergence strategy Jayne Landry covers SAP's BI roadmap and describes the strategic planing for our BI clients.	This tab includes links to surveys andquestionnaires that help you assess your strengths and opportunities. “Take a Strategy assessment” to discover and prioritize business challenges across your organization.
Tab: Implement	Tab: Upgrade
“Get a custom Implementation report” Identify key technical touch points to consider, like virtualization, protocols, authentication and more. The personalized report is a sound basis to gauge where you are at and need to go next.	“Get a custom Upgrade report” This report is a huge help for planning major milestones of a project. As such, it is mostly targeted at Project Management.
Support Portal http://support.sap.com The Support Portal has been simplified and re-desgined for easier navigation. Here you report incidents and manage your remote connections for SAP Support to help you.
Highlights of the SAP Support Portal: Documentation - http://help.sap.com This is one of the most overlooked and yet most helpful resources! Navigate down to the Analytics tab, and under Business Intelligence you'll find all our BI products. Knowledge Base & Articles -http://support.sap.com/notes When facing issues, one of the the first entry points for you should be the notes search. A wealth of information that helps you trouble shooting and investigation. Search by criteria like subject matter, release, patch information etc. The search results include links to solutions, related downloads and more. These knowledge base articles address questions we often get asked: KBA 1909881: How to upgrade from one version of BI4 to another KBA 1934748: Is a full installation required when updating BI4.x installations? KBA 1882363: Upgrading and multiple CMS database/Nodes leading to CMS database corruption, missing Application Settings/rights/icons/??dummy placeholders and more KBA 2013616: How to patch BI 4.x servers in a distributed BI Platform deployment simultaneously ( in parallel ) ? KBA 1949693: AdaptiveProcessingServer Running with errors after installing BI 4.1 or after upgrade to BI 4.1 KBA 1987825: The APS status is "Running with errors" after upgrading to BI 4.1 SP2 KBA 1982241: Tomcat does not start in BI 4.1   Remote support - Remote Support | SAP Support Portal A prerequisite for our support engineering and experts on demand to help you investigating any issues. Remote Supportability chose the right technology, includes links to downloads and detailed information. Remote Connection types helps you select and setup the remote connection type that most appropriately serves any particular situation.   Roadmaps / Release and upgrade information - https://support.sap.com/release-upgrade-maintenance.html Roadmaps - Includes Product and Solution Roadmaps as well as Implementation Roadmaps (ASAP) Maintenance schedules - Learn about upcoming, planned releases for Support Packages and SP Stacks. Product Compatibility Matrix - compatibility between components (aka PAM) Details about SAP software product versions, including availability, end of maintenance, upgrade paths, and technical release information (database platforms, Java platforms, operating systems, and so on).
SAP Community Network (SCN) https://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform The place where SAP experts meet, share experience and knowledge and help each other. Meant for customers, partners, subject matter experts, curious individuals and SAP employees.
Highlights on SCN and recommend to our customers:   The Events Page shows you what webinars are planned and is updated with links to recordings of past webinars. A great page to 'receive email notifications' for to not miss any updates.   ThePlanning your upgrade is fine landing page and great for getting a first glance of what to consider.   Size matters, and these resources are most important for this crucial topic: Sizing Microsite for primary sizing and performance tips for BI and Lumira, with heaps of additional links. BI 4 Sizing Guide for services by Ian Treleaven with best practices and recommendations. BI4 Sizing and Deployment Guide by Bill Lang. Crucial, will also be covered in webinars.   Performance Improvements In his publications, James Rapp describes how the user experience can be improved by using Apache in conjunction with the WDeploy web application deployment tool, for BI 4.1 and BI 4.0 the Best Practices for SAPBO BI 4.0 Adaptive Processing Servers by Jan De Vilder is handy summary for an administrator familiar with the BI platform and references other related resources.   Sample Auditing universes and Reports Radim Bacinschi offers a starting point for developing your custom auditing universe and reports.   Best Practices for Virtualizing BI 4.x on VMware is a technical white paper by Ashish Morzaria and focuses on validating SAP's recommendations for deploying BI 4 systems in virtual environments.   Interactive Diagrams and Process Flows, updated by Tomasz Zima, are found on the Tutorials Landing page (sap.com/LearnBI).   Choosing the right client tool Blair Wheadon offers decision support in the context of business problems that are to be addressed.   Timeouts in the BI Platform across various processing tiers. Janos Nagy explains how to manage timeouts, covering main settings, notes, and best practices.   Best practices for backing up the CMS and Audit DB Jose Ramos's blog is relevant if you are using BI 4.1 and your CMS and Audit databases are on SQL Anywhere.   Overview of SSO options on BI Greg Wcislo summarizes various SSO options, from authenticating to BI, all the way down to the database.   Updating the JRE/JDK for Tomcat Ajay Gupta's blog is a great example of a community member covering a third party components.   Moving from DeskI to WebI? Merlijn Ekkel describes how to convert DeskI content for use in WebI (webinar).   WebI Tuning Tips On WebI already? Jonathan Brown covers report design, semantic layer choice and much more.   WebI Performance Tuning Tips (SAP BW) A step-by-step guide by Kurt Holst, making use of BI Consumer Services Connection (BICS).   WebI Calculation Engine Changes A deep dive into changes in the calculation engine by Gregory Botticchio and  Pascal Gaulin (webinar)   Setting up Introscope for Advanced Monitoring Toby Johnston describes how to setup extended monitoring capabilities of the BI platform.   Branding and Theming of BI Launchpad Christina Obry covers how you can incorporate company logos and color with the help of CSS templates.   Multi Tenancy Best Practices for BI Platform Learn how to quickly onboard new LOB's or companies, and how to manage new tenants in an SAAS concept.   Data Federation Admin Tool - What it is, How it works and When to use it This blog by Sonet Kebede helps you joining data from various sources into a multi-source Universe.   Cluster Patching Guide Step-by-step instructions for Parallel Patching, to reduce effort and time spent in multi node deployments.
SCN - Wiki http://wiki.scn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/ Business+Intelligence The SCN Wiki is a subset of the community network and contains actively maintained pages, with much content from our support team.
Highlights on the SCN Wiki:     Pattern Books:'You can't go worong with a pattern book', as Henry says These step-by-step guides complement the standard documentation with check lists, workflows and more.   BI Platform Support Tool A tool designed for supporting many aspects of the BI Platform and for simplifying the process of reporting on the landscape configuration, performing root cause analysis tasks, and delivering performance optimization and go-live services. It is used used by support engineers, consultants and administrators.   Universe conversion - Moving from UNVs to UNXs This article describes the conversion of XI3.1 relational universe (UNV) to BI4.0 relational universe (UNX).   Feature Comparison: WebI and DeskI This page contains a very comprehensive feature comparison for WebI and DeskI.   Promotion Management This troubleshooting blog by Matthew Shaw includes best practices for design and implementation and includes videos.   WebI GUI customisation Customize the GUI on a per user or per folder base: hide/disable elements, simply interfaces. By Jason Everly.   Performance Tuning for WebI Applet Interface  Jonathan Brown's tips & tricks for tuning the Java based designer/viewer found within the BI Launchpad.   WebI Automatic Calculation rewrite This page complements the above listed SCN document on the changes of Calculation Engine, is authored by Carly Thomas and David Francois Gonzalez.   Configuring the Connection of BI to BW, through the Information Design Tool A great article targeting the BW basis and the BI administrators, by Jacqueline Rahn and Bryan Booth.

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The following tutorials have been developed to help you get started using the Business Intelligence Suite products. New content is added as it becomes available, so check back on a regular basis.

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General Platform

• NEW for 4.1 SP5 View all components in BI 4.1 SP5 interactive diagram
• 4.1 View all components in BI 4.1 interactive diagram
• View all components in BI 4.0 Feature Pack 3      interactive diagram
• View all components in BI 4.0      interactive diagram
• Log on to BI launch pad      process flow
• Start the Server Intelligence Agent    process flow

Central Management Console

• Create OLAP Connections to BW      tutorial
• Set a schedule for a program object      process flow
• Run a schedule for a program object      process flow

Lumira

• NEW for 4.1 SP5 View a Lumira document  process flow
• NEW for 4.1 SP5 Refresh a Lumira document based directly on a database process flow
• NEW for 4.1 SP5 Refresh a Lumira document based on a universe (UNX)  process flow
• NEW for 4.1 SP5 Set a schedule for Lumira document  process flow
• NEW for 4.1 SP5 Run a scheduled Lumira document  process flow

Crystal Reports 2011

• Set a schedule for a report      process flow
• Run a schedule for a report      process flow
• Run a scheduled publication of a report      process flow
• View a report instance when the page is in the cache      process flow
• View a report instance when the page is not in the cache      process flow
• View a report on demand      process flow

Crystal Reports for Enterprise

• Set a schedule for a report      process flow
• Run a schedule for a report      process flow
• View a report instance when the page is in the cache      process flow
• View a report instance when the page is not in the cache      process flow
• View a report on demand      process flow

Live Office

• Insert a Web Intelligence part      process flow
• Refresh a Web Intelligence part      process flow
• Insert a Crystal Report part      process flow
• Refresh a Crystal Report part      process flow

Web Intelligence

• Set a schedule for a Web Intelligence document      process flow
• Run a schedule for a Web Intelligence document      process flow
• View a Web Intelligence document on demand      process flow
• Export a document      process flow
• Refresh a document based on a multi-source universe      process flow
• Refresh a document based on a dimensional universe      process flow
• Refresh a document in Web Intelligence Desktop in one-tier mode      process flow
• Refresh a document in Web Intelligence Desktop in two-tier mode      process flow
• Refresh a document in Web Intelligence Desktop in three-tier mode      process flow
• Refresh a document based on an SAP NetWeaver BW BEx Query using BICS connectivity      process flow
• Refresh a document based on an SAP Netweaver BW data using a relational UNX universe      process flow
• Refresh a document based on a multi-source datasource using a relational UNX universe      process flow
• Refresh a document based on OLAP data using a multidimensional UNV universe    process flow
• Refresh a document based on OLAP data using a multidimensional UNX universe    process flow

Analysis, edition for OLAP

• View an Analysis, edition for OLAP workspace      process flow

Dashboards

• View a dashboard when the query result is in the cache      process flow
• View a dashboard when the query result is not in the cache      process flow
• Design a new dashboard based on a universe      process flow
• Preview a new dashboard based on a universe      process flow
• Save a new dashboard to the platform      process flow

Design Studio

• View an SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio document (based on SAP NetWeaver BW) in a web or mobile client      process flow
• Refresh an SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio document (based on SAP NetWeaver BW) in a web or mobile client      process flow
• Refresh an SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio document (based on SAP HANA) in a web or mobile client      process flow
• Refresh an SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio document (based on a dimensional UNX universe) in a web or mobile client      process flow

Explorer

• Log on to Explorer      process flow
• Display list of information spaces in Explorer      process flow
• Display list of data sources in Explorer      process flow
• Create an information space based on Excel      process flow
• Index an information space based on Excel      process flow
• Create an information space based on a universe      process flow
• Index an information space based on a universe      process flow
• View an information space based on a universe or Excel file      process flow

Upgrade Management Tool

• Upgrade content directly from an older version of the platform      process flow
• Perform a complete upgrade      tutorial
• Perform an incremental upgrade      tutorial

Lifecycle Management

• Create a promotion job to promote content from a live source system to a live destination system      process flow
• Run a promotion job to promote content from a live source system to a live destination system      process flow

To report a technical issue with a tutorial, send an email to: BI_Suite_eLearning@sap.com.