Business Explorer 
Purpose
The Business Explorer is the SAP Business Information Warehouse component that provides flexible reporting and analysis tools for strategic analyses and decision-making support within a company. These tools include query, reporting and OLAP functions. As an employee with authorization for the Business Explorer, you can evaluate old and current data to varying degrees of detail and from different perspectives on the Web and also in MS Excel.
The Business Explorer gives a large spectrum of users access to the information in SAP BW. Using the Enterprise Portal (for example, through an iView that you can call up alongside the applications from which you extracted data), using the Internet (Web Application Design) or using mobile devices (WAP or iMode-enabled mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants).
Integration
The following graphic illustrates the integration of the Business Explorer as an analysis and reporting component within the Business Information Warehouse:
Features
The following overview shows the functional areas of the Business Explorer:
Queries, Reporting and Analysis
The data in the Business Information Warehouse is structured into self-contained business data areas (InfoProviders). You analyze the dataset of the Business Information Warehouse by defining queries for InfoProviders in the BEx Query Designer. By selecting and combining InfoObjects (characteristics and key figures) or reusable structures in a query, you determine the way in which you navigate through and evaluate the data in the selected InfoProvider.
Analyzing data on the basis of multi-dimensional data sources (OLAP reporting) makes it possible to analyze several dimensions at the same time (like, for example, time, location, product) You have the option of carrying out any number of variance analyses (for example, plan-actual comparison, fiscal year comparison). The data, displayed in the form of a pivot table, serves as the start point for a detailed analysis for answering a variety of questions. A large number of interaction options, such as sorting, filtering, swapping characteristics or recalculating values allow flexible navigation through data for the runtime. You can also display data in graphics (for example, bar charts or pie charts). In addition, you can evaluate geographical data (for example, characteristics such as customer, sales region, country) on a map. Furthermore, using exception reporting, you can establish those objects that deviate from the norm or are critical, send messages automatically (through background processing in the Reporting Agent) about deviating values by email or SMS, or calculate the values at a glance in an alert monitor.
In the Business Information Warehouse, you can analyze data in the Business Explorer in the following areas:
· In the BEx Analyzer (MS Excel-based) in the form of queries.
Integration of the two areas is seamless. You can display queries from the BEx Analyzer with one click in a standard view in the Web browser. Similarly, you can export a Web application to MS Excel 2000.
Web Application Design
Web Application Design allows you to use the generic OLAP navigation in Web applications as well as business intelligence cockpits for simple or highly individual scenarios. You can implement highly individual scenarios with customer-defined interface elements by using standard markup languages and Web design APIs. Web application design comprises a broad spectrum of Web-based business intelligence scenarios, which you can adjust to meet your individual needs using standard Web technologies.
Using the BEx Web Application Designer (the desktop application for creating Web applications) you can create HTML pages that have BW-specific contents such as tables, charts or maps. You can save the Web applications as a URL and access them from an intranet or on mobile devices. In addition, you can save Web applications as iViews and integrate them into an Enterprise Portal.
The Web application wizard is an assistant that is integrated into the Web Application Designer. You can use this to help you create Web applications using a step-by-step procedure and to simplify design activities.
Formatted Reporting
The integration of Crystal Reports into BW enhances the functional area of the Business Explorer. With Crystal Reports, you can now create formatted reports. It is important in formatted reports that you can specify the layout design to one pixel and also have convenient print options.
See Formatted Reporting: Crystal Reports Integration
Mobile Intelligence
With BEx Mobile Intelligence, you can call up Web applications (created with the Web Application Designer) on the move. The following devices are supported:
· PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) with Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 Operating System and Pocket Internet Explorer
· WAP-enabled mobile telephone
· i-Mode-enabled mobile telephone
· Mobile device with an EPOC32 operating system (for example, Nokia Communicator 9210)
Handheld devices, such as Palm Pilots, are also supported to a certain extent. This is dependent upon the browser installed on the system.
The BW 3.0 Web Application Server automatically recognizes what kind of mobile device is being used to call up the mobile application (WAP device, PDA, iMode or normal desktop browser). In the case of PDAs, you can call up your mobile applications either online, or use them offline in the form of static, precalculated HTML pages. The pages are precalculated using the Reporting Agent. An additional function of mobile intelligence is the ability to send a message using SMS to a mobile terminal as soon as a defined exception occurs in the mobile application.
Offline Reporting
Not only can you use Web applications or mobile applications online for analysis and reporting, you can also use them offline. The system generates the HTML pages in the Reporting Agent at a predefined time. You can then use the BEx Download Scheduler (a wizard that takes you through the download process step-by-step) to download the precalculated HTML pages from the BW server onto your desktop PC or to schedule the download for a later time. You can now use precalculated Web applications offline and transfer them to a PDA device.
See, Offline Scenario.