The Road Ahead for SAP BusinessObjects

[TomWoodhead]

On December 14, 2023, we are hosting a deep dive webinar highlighting methods and techniques you can use to simplify and accelerate your preparations for the future of SAP BusinessObjects. Register here:

Technical Deep Dive – Automated Streamlining and Right-Sizing of Your
SAP BusinessObjects Deployment

Patrick Sims (Senior Director, SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) Global Center of Excellence) recently joined APOS for a webinar about the road ahead for SAP BusinessObjects. In this webinar, Patrick presented a very important update on what's coming in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3, Service Pack 04 -- and beyond.

Key session topics included:

• New features in Version 4.3, Service Pack 04


• User Experience improvements


• Web Intelligence roadmap


• Current and future platform deployment options

Please note that the summary presented below does not cover everything Patrick did, and you will get a more complete picture by viewing the webinar on demand.

View the Road Ahead webinar on demand

APOS will present a follow-up webinar on many of these topics on September 28, 2023, at 11 am ET.

This upcoming webinar will look at what you need to do to regroup and prepare for the future of SAP BusinessObjects, including:

• Roadmap Reassessment – a review of the latest roadmap update and the key points for consideration


• Right-Sizing Your BI Deployment – optimizing your deployment by rationalizing, reducing and restructuring


• Maintaining & Increasing the Efficiency of Your BI Deployment – using automation effectively to do more with less


• Adopting the UNX Universe – converting UNV to UNX, repointing and validating reports


• Migration Preparation – forming and acting upon deep system knowledge

Register for the upcoming On the Road(map) Again webinar

SAP Analytics Strategy: The Road Ahead for BusinessObjects

Allan Pym from APOS introduced Patrick, who began his presentation by reaffirming SAP’s Statement of Direction regarding BI and Analytics.

SAP Analytics Product Vision

While SAP Analytics Cloud is SAP’s strategic direction for Analytics, SAP continues to evolve BusinessObjects, and will continue to invest in the interoperabililty between SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP BusinessObjects.

Patrick then presented a comparison of the two platforms:

SAP Analytics Portfolio Comparison by Use Case

The comparison clearly shows that SAP BusinessObjects remains the leading platform for:

• High-Volume Publications


• Operational Reporting

Because SAP BusinessObjects and SAP Analytics Cloud have different strengths, you can use a hybrid configuration of the two to extend your existing BI investment and value.

SAP Analytics Hybrid Combination of SAP BusinessObjects and SAP Analytics Cloud

Patrick reviewed the timelines for SAP BusinessObjects.

SAP BusinessObjeccts Timelines

Patrick noted that some of the webinar attendees were still using BI 4.2, and emphasized that Mainstream maintenance for BI 4.2 ended in December 2022, and Priority 1 support will end in December 2024, at about the same time that BI 2025 will become available. BI 2025 will have the usual 5 years of Mainstream maintenance, followed by 2 years of Priority 1 support. There are currently no plans for an on-premise version after BI 2025, but the Private Cloud Edition, which contains the SAP BusinessObjects main code line, will most likey continue beyond the BI 2025 sunset.

SAP’s vision is to become more of a Cloud-based provider, which means that SAP BusinessObjects may eventually become a Cloud-only offering, but that eventuality is in the relatively distant future at the moment. Regardless, SAP BusinessObjects will remain a vibrant BI platform.

SAP BusinessObjects Private Cloud Edition

SAP will employ a rationalization strategy focusing on the most-used SAP BusinessObjects tools with the End of Maintenance (EOM) for BI 4.3. The slide below shows the current set of tools on the left, and what will be available in BI 2025 on the right. Of particular importance is the deprecation of the Universe Design Tool (UDT), which means UNV universes will no longer be supported after BI 4.3.

SAP BusinessObjects Rationalization Strategy

SAP provides recommendations for replacing the functionality of the components that will be deprecated.

SAP BusinessObjects Component Replacement Strategy

SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04 Preview

After finishing his high-level overview, Patrick previewed new and updated functionality that will arrive in SP04, scheduled for release in December or this year. Patrick described the updates in greater detail than is apparent in the slides below, but emphasized that SP04 is still a work in progress, and the updates are subject to change. If you want more detail, view the webinar on demand here.

Here is the high-level preview of the platform:

Preview - SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04

High-level product direction for SAP Crystal Reports:

Product Direction for Crystal Reports 1

…continued:

Product Direction for Crystal Reports 2

High-level product direction for Web Intelligence:

Product Direction for Web Intelligence

High-level product direction for the SAP BusinessObjects platform:

Product Direction for SAP BusinessObjects Platform

Patrick provided links for further information;

• SAP Analytics Statement of Direction


• What’s new in SAP BusinessObjects


• BI 4.3


• BI 4.3 SP01


• BI 4.3 SP02


• BI 4.3 SP03


• Free Learning SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3


• SAP BusinessObjects BI Community


• Help Documentation

Allan Pym added information links pertinent to the presentation:

• Webinar recording & slides PDF


• Upcoming webinar: On the Road(map) Again – Sept. 28


• SAP BusinessObjects Upgrade Kit by APOS – PDF


• SAP BusinessObjects Operations Kit by APOS- PDF


• APOS Web Intelligence Migrator - PDF

Allan concluded the presentation portion of the session with an invitation to the upcoming APOS webinar that follows up on this webinar:

Upcoming APOS Webinar - Regrouping for Your BusinessObjects Future

Register here.

APOS solutions for SAP BusinessObjects:

APOS Solutions for SAP BusinessObjects

The session concluded with a lengthy and informative Q&A. View the webinar on demand to hear the questions and answers.