Yes, we have it – Solution to change Web Intelligence reports' source from UNV to UNX

[former_member186327]

We launched this project with two main solution tracks as the scope;

• Provide an option to our customers to convert their UNV Universes to UNX Universes – single or multiple Universes in batch mode


• Once they convert their UNV Universes to UNX, provide a solution that will change the source of the selected Web Intelligence reports from UNV to UNX – single or multiple Web Intelligence reports in batch mode

UNV to UNX Conversion

We successfully introduced this functionality as a standard feature in our BusinessObjects Information Design Tool (IDT) a while ago. This option will let users select one or many UNV Universes in IDT and covert them to UNX format. The option is called Convert.unv Universe command in the BusinessObjects Information Design Tool.

For more details including how to convert and supported features etc., refer section 4 in the latest version of the “Information Design Tool User Guide” available here at - https://help.sap.com/viewer/index

Changing Source

Once you convert the UNV Universes to UNX, the next important question is, how do I remap the source of the bunch of Web Intelligence reports that we’ve? The answer is this new solution that we are introducing with SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP04 release.

What is this solution and how to get it?

This solution aims at changing the source of your Web Intelligence reports from UNV to UNX without requiring much time and efforts. Yes, we architected this solution in such a way that it uses most of the in-built product components in the SAP BusinessObjects BI suite.

If you are on SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP04 release, navigate to the following location; <InstallFolder>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\Samples\wics

If you are on SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 SP03 release, you can download the solution from the SAP Note 2432962 (https://i7p.wdf.sap.corp/sap/support/notes/2432962).

Where do I find more information?

For complete information around system requirements, other pre-requisites, workflow steps, limitations and more, check out these links for the SAP Note - https://i7p.wdf.sap.corp/sap/support/notes/2432962 OR
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2432962

Note that we are also working on to release this solution for SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.1 version with one of the upcoming SP releases (tentatively in Q3 2017).

 

Sincerely,

Sathish, Thomas, PPaolo & Sezhian

[former_member182521]

Thanks Sathish. I thought of exploring this feature for recommending to our customers and this blog is avery good starting point. I am very much interested in conversion of Linked universes and universe with restriction sets and how they are getting converted to Data security and Business layer security.

Thanks

Mani

[Former Member]

Hi Sathish, I can’t open url “https://i7p.wdf.sap.corp/sap/support/notes/2432962).” Page is not available.

Is it just a my problem?   Thank’s in advance!

Angelica

[raghavatscn]

Angelica - You can try https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2432962

[raghavatscn]

Angelica – You can try https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2432962

[former_member186327]

Thanks Mani.

Some of these scenarios have been successfully tested through internal testing and as well by our pilot customers. Let us know your feedback.

[former_member186327]

Thanks Veeraraghavan.

@Angelica, can you access it now? If you've access to other SAP notes then you should be able to access this one.

[former_member185603]

thanks Satish. This one will be deal breaker, instead of replying on 3rd party solutions. I will test it out in SP3, will provide my comments.

[dallasmarks]

Sathish, your original link doesn't work for me either but this one does.

[former_member186327]

Sure Dallas. Thanks. Not sure why but will add this link as well into my post.

[former_member182521]

Sure Sathish. I am into it already. Just a word of caution as this is happened to us as it might not applicable to everyone as we have very long BIP Patch history.

4.1 SP6 Base Install -> 4.1 SP7 update -> 4.2 SP2 Patch3 update- > 4.2 SP3 Patch4 update -> 4.2 SP4 update

Post BI 4.2 SP4 update, the CMS data access driver and the required JAR file (dbd_sapbicms.jar) for CMS database driver which are added during my BI 4.2 SP3 update found missing.I am going to try this in my BI 4.2 SP3 node for now and later update to BI 4.2 SP4 for further validation.

Thanks

Mani

[former_member185603]

Satish,

I installed SP4 n top of 4.2 SP2. I could I refrnot find the folder wics the path you mentioned.  I referred the KB article you mentioned in your blog, there is no instructions on how to switch UNX . I could not understand below steps. Where do i find the documentation how to change?

Use the files from your installation <InstallFolder>\SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0\Samples\wics.
– Data access driver is already installed.
– Import the LCMBIAR.

[former_member182521]

You need to run the Change source utility. Go to the SAP note mentioned above by sathish.rajagopal.   It has the PDF file (BI42_WebI_Change_source) with step by instruction with screen shots.

 

Thanks

Mani

[former_member185603]

Thanks Mani. I missed that attachment. But I cannot see wics folder, am I missing any thing

[former_member182521]

That's what happened to me too :). See my comments above though I haven’t mentioned it. I went ahead and tried to deploy the solution manually but I couldn't proceed further as this in turn depends on BI CMS metadata driver for Universe & Reports extraction.

[former_member182521]

I further validated this solution and few of my observations.

• Upon selection of .unv universe , The WebIChangeSource_Worklist report populates all the associated reports and the list is not in sync when I try to run an relationship query from CMC. Look like the report also pulls all the orphan reports that are not pointing to the universe.

• It would be good to get a log file after execution of the WebIChangeSource_Update report. I tried to execute this against couple of reports for efashion and the final status remain unchanged

• Can the behind the scenes process for each report execution detailed in the documentation?.

I will continue to explore and share my findings here.

Thanks
Mani

[NestleCH]

Did anybody try to migrate from an OLAP UNV (on BW) to Relational Universe (e.g. on HANA)?  I'm guessing the tool does not allow to control the mapping and automatically maps based on field "Name".  Would that be correct ?  I hope/expect that if field names are identical from Source A to Source B, then the change of source works.  If field names are not identical then I expect the change of source will fail.

 

[Former Member]

Hi!

‘WebIChangeSource_Worklist’ everything is OK. I got the desired WebI-Change-List. Saved the document and opened and refreshed for testing/changing ‘WebIChangeSource_Update’. As a result, I didn’t get the desired result. Result-Overview is empty, Result-Details contains only one webi doc among 8. Moreover the data source of this webi document wasn’t changed.

Also I wonder in the scenes process for each report execution detailed in the documentation. I want to find more information of the doc ‘WebIChangeSource_Update’ and how to complete update, the description of change information fields, will be a source changed in the properties of the query.

Did anyone find the answer?

Thanks,

Katerina

[111378]

Could this utility be used to migrate UNX to UNX?  We use a universe developed by a vendor and they sometimes release an updated version of their UNX.  I currently modify my version to match the new one.  It'd be great if I could simply swap them out.

[former_member182521]

You really dont need to migrate UNX to UNX, instead import the universe as a new version of the universe and try pointing to existing reports from old universe to new universe. This should work as long as the new universe has identical objects as in old universe.

Thanks

Mani

[111378]

The problem I have is that there are hundreds of reports that would need to be remapped/redirected each time.  I'd prefer not to have to individually remap reports.

[former_member182521]

If the universe is in in .unv atleast you can try to utilize this http://bukhantsov.org/2011/09/how-to-change-universe-of-a-document-using-bo-re-java-sdk/

[former_member295130]

Hi sathish.rajagopal ,

I have tested this utility with UNV and UNX and it worked fine for me. I would also like to know whether this utility can be used with FHSQL WEBI Reports or not?

What changes would need to be done in order to get it working with FHSQL Reports?

Thanks in advance.

[wobi]

I was Impressed how straight the workflow is. Well described in the PDF - would be nice to know beforehand: It is easy to use. And excellent Error documentation within the webi Report!

BUT

It took some time till I discovered that fresh converted unx universes will only Show up when at least one corresponding webi Report is in existence!

;-)

Wobi

[former_member341172]

It is an amazing solution to change source for multiple WebI documents. I believe this is exactly what many BI admins have been waiting for. Thank you for creating and sharing this solution.

However, as expected, having problems with DataAccess drivers when using SAP BI 4.2 SP04 Patch 01.

For e.g. when trying to create a Webi Report from the BIAdminWebiChaneSource.unx I am immediately getting an Error: Specified RDBMS is invalid : SAP BI Solution WebI change source

When trying to create a Webi Report from the BIAdminWebiChaneSourceCMS.unx

I expect if I would refresh the report I would get this error:

Specified RDBMS is invalid : SAP BI platform CMS system database (Error: INF )

It is a single SAP BI server environment running on Linux OS. I have the same issue when trying to unlock CMS DB with data access driver – DataAccess drivers are missing. The issue is as described on SAP Note 2405568

For this case the driver dbd_sapbiwics.jar (dataAccess>connectionServer>java) is missing on the BI Server (Linux OS). Also the files like sap_wics.prm, sap_wics.rss, etc. (dataAccess>connectionServer>sap_wics) and sap_wics.setup (dataAccess>connectionServer>setup) are missing. However, those files exists after BO Client 4.2 SP04 Patch 01 installation on personal machine (PC OS: Win 10).

The note says that the issue is solved on BI 4.2 SP04 Patch 00. Does it mean the patch 01 introduced the error again? Does it have any relation to Linux OS?

manikandan.elumalai2 did you managed to try this “Auto change source unv to unx” solution using BI 4.2 SP04? According to the note it should have been working if you have not installed any Patches on top of SP04.

Does anyone knows any ideas how to solve this issue? Update to later patch (up to 4.2 SP04 Patch04 available now)? Download the drivers and copy&paste them manually – I have found SAP Note 2432962 where I could download the drivers for SP03? If so is it safe to paste drivers of BI 4.2 SP03 to BI 4.2 SP04 Patch 01 (on Linux OS)? Any other ideas?

[former_member341172]

Solved the issue by "Modifying" the BI Platform installation on the BI server and adding the additional (missing) features (CMS DB driver, etc.) using the SAP BI Installation Wizzard.

The BI platform I use runs on UNIX environment and ./modifyOrRemoveProducts.sh allows me only to uninstall the patch once I select the latest patch or SP installed on the BI server. Meaning I have no possibility to install the missing drivers when selecting the latest patches or SP's. "Unistall Confirmation. This will remove SAP BusinessObjects BI platform 4.2 SP4 Patch 4 from your machine." Continue or Back.

I would like to share that the only way I can select "Modify" is when I select the initial (old) installation version of SAP BI Platform. SAP BI experts please correct me if I am wrong and advice if there is another way to install missing drivers on UNIX.

I have also tried to update to the latest BO 4.2 SP04 Patch 04 and it did not install the missing drivers when making update installation. So currently the only solution is to do the "Modify".

OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.8 (Santiago)

SAP BI: BO 4.2 SP04 Patch 01

Windows users simply have to go to Add Remove, Select SAP BI platform and press Modify.

[former_member341172]

I am not entirely sure whether this have been mentioned before but you will not be able to see a universe in the WebIChangeSource_Worklist report > Universe tabs if this universe was not linked with any WebI Document.

I have been testing the following solution and found out that recently converted universe from UNV to UNX did not appear on the WebIChangeSource_Worklist report universe lists. The reason as mentioned - the universe is not mapped with any WebI document. Once you will mapp it with any WebI document, the universe will appear on the list immediately.

[former_member341172]

I have converted many reports so far and would like to share the experience using this conversion method. Below you can see all the errors I have got so far. Please note that most of those errors could be solved before the conversion process.

Error 1

Scandinavian UTF-8 symbols in WebI Document name. The tool creates a copy of a report instead of overwritting it. Solution – rename the report before conversion.

Error 2

Sometimes the report hanged (no idea why) and of course the reports selected in the update report got corrupted – universe not found. Solution take as less reports as possible. I would recommend 1-20 reports once running the update report.

Error 3

Conversion Tool Status – Change. Because of universe Measures. Cause Ambiguous.

Solution: check the translations for the universe. I have changed the title and the formats of the translations using TMT in the old universe (UDT) and the new converted universe (IDT) for all the measures that were causing the error.

Error 4

Time hierarchies are no longer supported in IDT. So you will get Ambiguous error cause for Time hierarchy dimensions. Solution re-create the time hierarchies as separete dimensions on UDT unvierse before the conversion. Warning: WebI reports will be affected!!!

Error 5

Exception. Multiple Query Filters contain a prompt with the same text, but different operand type or operator count of values. Solution: recreate the report from scratch manually.

Error 6

An internal error occurred while calling ‘processDPCommandsEx’ API. (Error: ERR_WIS_30270))

I have noticed some complex WebI variables (formulas) that are causing this error to appear. Also some complex queries. Solution: Try the manual conversion using WebI Java App. Try to 0 the complex formulas and restore them after conversion.

Error 7

The status could be changed or unchanged. But the report is still pointing to the old unv. The coversion also takes way longer than usual. Not all the queries are listed.

This was the strangiest error of all mentioned. Typically appeared for complex reports where Excel sheet was part of the WebI document queries.

Error 8

This only started to appear with the latest patches BO 4.2 SP04 P04 and P05. Solution restart the BI WACS server. The problem that it is needed to restart WACS each time I have run the WebIUpdate report. A NO-GO situation if you need to run the report many times. My solution was to downgrade to SP04 P01.

[wobi]

Thank you for your thorough testing and documentation:

I was wandering about my many ambiguous  objects already  -well did not think of the Translation laying on this universe.

So in My case the first dataprovider was doing well - and from the second on -everything was ambiguous ...

I was using 360 Tools Substitute Job - does well even with the Translation!

• Wobi

[wobi]

Error 8: i see it from time to time even on :SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence 4.2 Support Pack 4 Patch 1

[wobi]

 

Ad error 3:

I discovered that the language preferences of the user running the update webi Report is part of the Translation ambiguous  Problem. Wrong user with wrong language - lots of ambiguous objects.

 

;-(

[wobi]

 

And after some error 8 in a row - check the number of session on the Server - you may reach a Limit ;-(

 

wobi

[former_member341172]

I agree. I reach the session limits all the time during the conversion. I have an alert once the session limit is reached. Usually I get this alert once converting many reports or reports with many queries. However, I was not getting Error 8 in SP04 P01 but still getting to the session limits.

[former_member341172]

In one environment I have updated from SP04 P01 to SP04 P04 and then got the Error 8. The same with patch 05. Then I have unistalled the patch 04 and went back to SP04 P01 and never seen the error 8.

SP04 P04 is also fine. Just that you will need to restart WACS all the time. And it really takes time to start.

[Former Member]

 

Does this convert Olap unv to Unx.   I have tried processing one and get a message that it changed as a status , but the report did not change to unx

In the detail of the WebiChangeSource_Update, some of the fields are listed as notfound some Ambiguous.

Does anyone have any experience with this?   The relational seem to be converting fine.

Thanks

[111378]

We have a similar challenge.  We use some universes developed by a vendor and, when they make changes, I need to manually apply those changes to our current universes.  There are hundreds are reports and it would be too labor intensive to manually remap each of them for every change.  I'd would SO much easier if I could just swap out the UNX with the updated version.  The above link doesn't work and I'm not sure and SDK approach would be an option right now.  Thoughts?

[former_member341172]

WebiChangeSource_Update does not work with BO42 SP05.

[former_member341172]

I have noticed even more issues with the automated change WebI Source solution. This time I have realized that not all of the WebI reports are being picked up and listed in the WebIChangeSource_Worklist. This might be a CMS DB driver issue.

I have made two tests scenarios and got the following results.

• Test#1: 315 WebI reports were not listed in the report from total 731 reports. Missed reports = 43%


• Test#2: 210 WebI reports were not listed in the report from total 595 reports. Missed reports = 35%

I have no idea why some of the reports are not listed in WebIChangeSource_Worklist. Sometimes the difference between the reports that have not been listed and the reports that have been listed were just the date range of the retrieved data. For e.g. a user runs the same report on a monthly basis and saves the result as a new Document in BI platform. The access, Creator, Query, Report visuals and filters are exactly the same. I am wondering what could be the cause why one of the report is listed and the other is not.

The not listed reports are saved in various location paths and have no similar marks in the overall analysis.

Workaround: If you will open the report and save it (ctrl+s). The report will be listed in WebIChangeSource_Worklist.

Does anyone of you have experienced anything like this? Any ideas how to solve it?

[dallasmarks]

This solution has already been replaced in SAP BI 4.2 SP5 utilizing the new Automation Framework. I haven't found any documentation on the SAP Help Portal but there is this YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcfJxMdCekA

[Former Member]

Anyone get "No Data to retrieve in Query 1" message.   I'm trying to just do one report.   I have had some successful runs.

[MichaelGrackin]

I installed and ran this tool with BusinessObjects 4.2, SP3, Patch 06

Just an FYI to everyone, this tool requires the BusinessObjects RESTful web services.  In addition, it will not work if the RESTful web services is configured with SSL.  You must run the RESTful web services as HTTP, not HTTPS.  You will encounter the following error if SSL is configured on the REST web services.

[wobi]

 

Is there a Limit on how many reports or dataprovider can be updated with one run? - My tests fail with 10 reports including about 50 dataprovider ... - getting an Partial Results error from the webiChangeSource_Update Report.- -

Wobi

[Former Member]

We are on 4.2 sp4 Patch 6 and the problem I am seeing is:

When converting the UNV to UNX I compared the report pointing to UNX to the old one still pointing to UNV and the numbers ($ amounts) in the new reports are lower than the original one!

Now the twist - if I go into the report - design mode and do the change source and convert it to UNX - then when I run it, it is all fine???

I don't understand what else this program is changing beside the Universe source in the report but it is changing something.

I had high hopes 😞

 

 

[Former Member]

Linda, were you able to resolve this  “No Data to retrieve in Query 1” message while refreshing WebIChangeSource_Update report to make changes from UNV to UNX. I am getting same issue.

[wobi]

Well afaik now the Limit is the WACS Memory configured - with 12 GIG now it's working - how ressource consuming is this done? Manual repoint of a universe within a Report with 50 DP does take under a Minute and don't pull the Memory of any process into Mount Everest hights...

-Wobi

[wobi]

 

Still some principal questions:

How to deal with a linked universes concept - since with conversion I loose it or get lots of converted master universes?

• Wobi

 

[wobi]

Another principal:

Since the process of automated unv to unx repoint is very time and ressouces consuming - how to deal with bigger deployments - even bi on bi Analysis is time consuming and you Need a Report for every converted universe  - or at least a dataprovider I suppose - to get any new UNX data at all...

 

any experiences from the field?

 

Wobi

[wobi]

 

The original plan to do a big bang with unv2unx is not feasible. So I will suggest to prepare the unx universes - test the results and after granting Access to the public - freeze the unv dev. So new reports and devs are done with unx. ad hoc changes of unv2unx can be done ... mass repoints are not working in My Environment.

 

• Wobi

[former_member262115]

Hi sathish.rajagopal,

Converted Linked Universes from UNV to UNX and Mass report update doesn’t seems to point to UNX Universe. Please suggest if tool supports Linked Universes.

 

[MichaelGrackin]

For everyone's information, the universe ('BIAdminWebIChangeSource.unx') used by the WICS process when changing the Webi document data providers source has a 10 minute execution time limit.  I was having a timeout issue with running the process for a lot of documents.  Once I removed the execution time limit for Queries, the process completed successfully.

[TJe]

This is an interesting finding, cause the automated solution should behave like manual change source. The solution is using the RESTFul API for the change and is not changing anything else in the document. Did you create an incident for this ?