Improving export to Excel performance

[Former Member]

Does anyone have any tips on improving excel performance when exporting a webi report? I don't want to get into discussions on why users are trying to export larger files (in excess of 6MB); I am just looking for suggestions.

When a user runs the export, not only does it take a long time, but there is simply no notification that the export is even processing or if it stopped, etc.

In previous tools, the user could run the same query and it would run and export very quickly, but in BO it could take upwards of 10min or [much] more.

Any ideas? We are on BO 4.0 SP 7 Patch 7 currently, with a planned upgrade to BO 4.1 SP4 over the summer.  Maybe this is no longer an issue with 4.1?

Thanks,

Missy

[Former Member]

Is anyone familiar with KBA 1994745 such that any additional insight could be shared here? It's a pretty sparse SAP note... I don't have an XI3.1 environment to compare to - we just have the 4.0 environment where the exports are slow.  However, it says that whatever the issue is, has been fixed in 4.1 SP4 Patch 2 (and SP5)... I don't see an ADAPT explicitly listed for that in the Patch 2 release notes though...

Just thought I'd ask.  We are in the process of upgrading to Patch 1 now, but may move to Patch 2 if this actually helps.

Thanks,

missy

[former_member191664]

Good point; there is no ADAPT found in the KB 1994745 nor in the SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Suite 4.1 Support Package 4 Patch 2 Release Note for "1994745 Exporting a Web Intelligence report to Excel format takes much longer in BI4.1 than in XI3.1"

[Former Member]

Hi Missy,

The issue mentioned in KBA 1994745 is fixed in 4.1 SP4 and SP5.

What is your server OS windows or Linux.

If it is Linux then it is a known issue.

See sap note 2008223 and the ADAPT mentioned in it says that it will be fixed in SP8 Patch 10(tentatively).

Regards,

Pranay Sharma

[Former Member]

Hi Pranay,

Our OS is Windows. I saw when the issue mentioned in KBA 1994745 was to be fixed, which is what sparked my interest and question, but I just didn't see a related ADAPT or any additional information on the issue.  We experience slow excel exports in 4.0 when file size is large.

Are you saying the notes 1994745 and 2008223 are for the same issue, both on Linux??  If so, I would say the problem exists on Windows too.  To date, SAP has considered it working properly... which has not been easy for our users to swallow.

Additionally, there is not even any feedback to the user here saying the export is still going... separate issue, I know, and one we have submitted an idea for at the ideas place, but still. All the more reason this one caught my eye in the release notes... so I was really hoping to get more details on it.

Thanks,

missy

[Former Member]

Hi Missy,

KBA  2008223 is only for linux specifically and 1994745 for general export performance improvement.

You can create an incident with us so that your report can be quickly tested in 4.1 SP4 and SP5 and that will confirm the fix.

Hope this is helpful

Regards,

Pranay

[Former Member]

Also for the ADAPT query now going forth we do not create ADAPTS for defects.

The internal process is changed hence you will not see any ADAPT in SAp notes in future.

Now we mention the fix environment directly in sap note.

[Former Member]

Hi Pranay,

Fair point on the ADAPTs no longer being used - I do recall hearing that in a webinar now that you mention it.

Perhaps I will open an incident to test one of our excel reports prior to/instead of downloading and applying patch 2 in one of our sandbox environments and testing on my own... it may very well be quicker!

Thanks,

missy

[andreasja_schneider]

A) Depending on the granularity of your report 3 years might be just too much data volume anyway. So check how much data (rows and columns) is actually being returnd to your Webi report!

B) Are you using a hardcoded OLAP connection or SSO?

For SSO enabled OLAP connections every user might see different data according to his analysis security setting in SAP BW, you would then have to schedule the report for each user separately.