SAP BPC 10.0 NW : Performance issue

[Former Member]

Hi BPC Experts,

We are facing some intermittent performance issues and unable to resolve them i.e., identify and pin point the exact root cause. Sometimes the report executes quickly in less than 1 minute and next iteration it takes longer time - 5 minutes, 10 minutes and sometimes it even gets worst. 

Back end seems to be fine, when the report is executed we do not see any long running/hang threads of BPC users. We suspect it to do with front end but unable to find the cause of such intermittent issue.

Below are the SAP System and EPM details.

• SAP NetWeaver 7.31, SP 14.
• SAP BPC 10.0 , CPMBPC 801, SP 9
• EPM Add-in for Microsoft Office , SP 24 / .Net 4 frame.

Laptop Configurations : 

Configuration A: Laptop

4 GB RAM

64 BIT Operating System

Excel :2013 (32 Bit)

Configuration B:Laptop

8 GB RAM

64 BIT Operating Sys

Excel :2013 (32 Bit)

We are unable to find what is causing this intermittent performance, wondering if any one had such similar issues. I was hoping I could get some tips and knowledge share from your end.

Regards

S.

[Former Member]

Hi S.,

There are hundreds of causes why some report can sometimes run slower. First you have to analyze where that slowness occurs. A good approach would be to run Fiddler and check what part is slow: workstation, network or server. Depending on what you find, next step will be taken.

Regards,

Gersh

[Former Member]

Hi Gersh,

I did try fiddler ,but I was not able to quantify where its taking long. Any tips which section/thread we should be looking for in fiddler.

Regards,

S

[Former Member]

Hi S,

First of all, try not to do any other activities on you computer after you started tracing in Fiddler.

Then after you stopped the trace you should see a few records with your user ID. Click on each of them and it will show how long it ran.

When you find the longest it will show from where it was sent and to where.

Regards,

Gersh

[damovand]

Hi,

As Gersh said there are many possible reasons for performance issues.  We usually use the Fiddler and EPM add-in performance log to determine where the time is spent.  If you capture these logs and are not able to find the information you need you can open a support incident.

The bigger issue in your case is that the problem is intermittent.  You can either enable full EPM Add-in logging for just one or two users and leave them on, or enable them for only during a few hours and then disable them.

EPM Add-in and Fiddler logs will give you the total time spent on the server and on the client.  Once you find where the bottleneck is then you can focus on why.

I highly recommend after such a bad performance to collect the runtime MDX query.  If you are coming across this issue with the same report and the exact same context, the issue is probably not due to runtime MDX query.  But it is good to confirm.

So the essentials to start the rest of trouble shooting are the logs.  I hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Leila

[Former Member]

Hi S,

First, I suggest that you run the light optimize and then check if the behavior still persist.
If this will be the case, then you can refer to the following SAP note: 1634922 - BPC 10.0 NW Collective Note for Performance Improvement.
In addition to that, analyzing the performance logs can be helpful. In order to collect them, please refer to the note: 1891006 - How to Capture Performance Logs for EPM Add-in.

Good luck.

Regards,
Safa

[Former Member]

Hi Safa,

Thank you for the notes. Its bit tricky going through the PerfTrace.log and I was not able to find/understand what was the issue statement. Any tips where we can concentrate and look for pattern in the PerfTrace.log which gives us away the source for the cause.

Regards,

S 

[Former Member]

Hi S,

How often do you run light optimise?

Try run light optimise and refresh the report and see if anything changes.

SP09 is bit old, maybe try the latest SP13.

Andy

[Former Member]

Hi Andy,

We consider Light Optimization process and we do run it often, twice/ thrice a week.

Moving to SP 13 is not an easy option , any other approaches or experience you can share to pin point the issue?

I have enabled the EPM trace and check the PerfTrace.log but its not so user friendly to analysise  BPC trace files so I was not able to find the Root Cause.

Any other suggestions ?

Regards,

S

[former_member186338]

May be the effect of antivirus software on the client?

Vadim

[Former Member]

Hi Vadim,

Can you please explain in detail when you say Antivirus software vs BPC execution ? Do we have any SNOTEs which talks about these problem. By any chance you would have done deep analysis on this section ?

Regards,

S

[former_member186338]

You definitely have some antivirus software on the user's workstation. Temporary disable it and compare the results! Contact desktops support...

Vadim

[Former Member]

Hi Vadim,

Sure, we will pursue this and definitely consider to check. Before I take this to business to take this approach, they will ask some facts. How about long term solution? What would cause this behavior? Any SAP notes suggest this issue, so I can present those.

Regards,

S

[former_member186338]

Sorry, but there are a lot of different versions of antivirus programs. Some of them may affect EPM report execution. First of all you have to test. If the test will show the difference we may continue...

Vadim

[Former Member]

Thank you Vadim, I am not sure how I will convince business with out facts (SAP Notes). I will definitely give it a try on my work station and see if I can find any difference. Can you please provide me your email ID so I can run through the finding or if I need to get hold of you

Regards,

S

[former_member186338]

Do you really think that there is a SAP note for any issue with user workstation??

You have to test it with the same configuration as on the user workstation!

My e-mail is private (only for paid consultancy).

Vadim