Offline Scenario 

Purpose

Offline scenario is a function that helps you to create a Web application or a mobile application at a predefined time so that it can be downloaded offline later to a mobile presentation device (laptop or PDA).

This function is not restricted to mobile devices. You can also download Web applications to desktop PCs and use them offline there.

Instead of using the offline scenario described here, qe recommend that you use the BEx Broadcaster to precalculate and distribute Web templates. You can find more information under Precalculating and Distributing Queries and Web Templates.

Process Flow

You create Web templates in the BEx Web Application Designer. You make settings for, schedule, and execute precalculated Web templates in the Reporting Agent on the BW server. Once precalculation is complete, the precalculated HTML pages can be picked up from the BW server.  You use the BEx Download Scheduler to download or schedule a time for the download of precalculated HTML pages to your desktop PC.

Scheduling in the BEx Download Scheduler refers to the point in time when the precalculated HTML pages are transferred from the BW server to the desktop PC. You cannot schedule Reporting Agent scheduling packages in the BEx Download Scheduler.

If you want to precalculate a Web template in order to download it as an HTML page to your desktop PC and synchronize it with your PDA device if necessary, proceed as follows:

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       1.      Create a Web template with the BEx Web Application Designer. See Creating Web Applications with the BEx Web Application Designer.

Ensure that you insert the Web item Dropdown Box into the Web template if you want to use a control query in the Reporting Agent. See also, Control Query for Precalculating Web Templates.

       2.      In the Reporting Agent, define the settings for precalculating the Web template. See Defining the Web Templates Setting.

You maintain what is to be precalculated in the settings (among other things):

¡        Data

¡        HTML for Web browser

All current desktop PC Web browsers are supported here.

¡        HTML for Pocket IE

Automatic optimization for PDA devices in mobile intelligence is used here. See also, Automatic Device Recognition.

¡        Excel

The setting Excel means that the query data or query views in your Web template are precalculated as Excel tables. Once you have downloaded the relevant files (one file per data provider), manually or from the BW server using the BEx download scheduler, you can load the Excel files into the BEx Analyzer. As long as you have a connection to the BW server, you can refresh the data there and continue to work with the BW BEx Analyzer functions.

Precalculating reports in Excel format is only possible with Web templates. It is not possible to precalculate a BW workbook using the Reporting Agent. You can only precalculate BW workbooks using the BEx Broadcaster. You can find more information under Precalculating and Distributing Workbooks.

The data is also automatically precalculated with HTML for Web Browser, HTML for Pocket IE and Excel.

You must specify the authorization (role and/or user) for the package so that the precalculated HTML page is visible to the user or in the role assigned to the user.

If you have used dropdown boxes in the Web template, you can specify a control query for filtering.

If you use a control query and want to display the totals rows, you have to define at least one key figure in the columns of the control query. The totals row can be calculated only with the key figure and listed in the dropdown box.

       3.      Create a new scheduling package in the Reporting Agent. See Creating Scheduling Packages

       4.      Assign the settings to the scheduling package in the Reporting Agent. See Assigning Reporting Agent Settings.

       5.      Schedule the precalculation of the scheduling package in the Reporting Agent. See Scheduling a Package as a Job.

In the right area of the Reporting Agent Scheduler, click  to reach the Document Overview screen. The HTML pages precalculated in the BW Reporting Agent are displayed here. For more information, see Scheduling a Package as a Job.

       6.      Download the precalculated Web templates as HTML pages from the BW server using the BEx Download Scheduler. See Downloading Web Templates with the BEx Download Scheduler.

As an alternative to downloading with the BEx Download Scheduler, you can also download the Web templates using WebDAV and Web Folder (see Downloading Web Templates Using WebDAV and Web Folder).

Result

You can now use precalculated Web templates offline and transfer them to a PDA device (using Microsoft ActveSync).

When Precalculating Web templates, the Reporting Agent deactivates the general attribute Objects with Navigation Links (GENERATE_LINKS) for the Web items. Consequently, navigation in Web items is not possible.

However, if you insert a Web item Dropdown Box into the Web template and define a control query, you can navigate in the precalculated Web template as long as you can select the filter values in the dropdown box. However, navigation with the context menu is not possible.

When calculating the pre-calculated Web templates, the system does not give you the variable screen for entering the variables. You need to preset these variables via the URL parameters in the Reporting Agent (see Definign Web Templates Settings). See also Default Variables for Web Applications