SAP Business Explorer 

Purpose

The SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence Suite, SAP Business Explorer (SAP BEx), provides flexible reporting and analysis tools for strategic analyses and decision-making support within a business. These tools include query, reporting and analysis functions. As an employee with access authorization, you can evaluate historical or current data at various levels of detail and from different perspectives; both on the Web, in the portal and in Microsoft Excel.

You can also use the SAP Business Explorer tools to create planning applications, and for planning and data entry in BW Integrated Planning. More information: Planning Business Data with BW Integrated Planning.

You can use BEx Information Broadcasting to distribute objects created with Business Explorer by e-mail, either as precalculated documents with historical data, or as links with live data. You can also publish this content to the portal (in Knowledge Management folders or collaboration rooms).

Information about supported Microsoft operating systems and Microsoft Office versions (with maintenance periods) is available in the SAP Developer Network (SDN) under Information Management →  Business Intelligence →  Reporting, Analysis, and Planning →  Maintenance Information →  BEx Compatibility of MS Operating Systems and Office Products or in the Product Availability Matrix (login to SAP Service Marketplace (SMP) required).

Features

The graphic below outlines the functional areas of the Business Explorer and how they relate to SAP NetWeaver Portal and SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer.

BEx applications are created using the various tools from the Business Explorer Suite or SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer; the applications can then be published to SAP NetWeaver Portal.

Query, Reporting and Analysis

The data in SAP NetWeaver BW is divided into self-contained business data areas (InfoProviders). You analyze the data from the BW system by defining queries for InfoProviders in BEx Query Designer. By selecting and combining InfoObjects (characteristics and key figures) or reusable structures in a query, you define how you will evaluate the data in the selected InfoProvider.

Analyzing data based on multidimensional data sources (OLAP reporting) makes it possible to analyze multiple dimensions simultaneously (like time, location, and product). You can implement any number of variance analyses (such as plan-actual comparison, fiscal year comparison). The data is displayed in a table and acts as the starting point for detailed analyses that can be used to provide answers to a large variety of questions. A range of interaction options, such as sorting, filtering, swapping characteristics, and local calculations allow flexible navigation through the data at runtime. You can also display data graphically (such as bar charts or pie charts). You can also evaluate geographical data (for example, characteristics such as Customer, Sales Region, and Country) on a map. You can also use exception reporting to determine deviating and critical objects, to broadcast messages on deviating values by e-mail, or to distribute the messages to the universal worklist in the portal.

You can perform a detailed analysis of BI information on the Web and in Microsoft Excel.

BEx Web

Web Application Design

Web Application Design allows you to use the generic OLAP navigation in Web applications for simple or highly individual scenarios. You can use standard markup languages and Web Design API to implement highly individual scenarios with user-defined interface elements. Web application design comprises a broad spectrum of interactive Web-based business intelligence scenarios that you can adjust to meet your requirements by using standard Web technologies.

BEx Web Application Designer

BEx Web Application Designer is a desktop application for creating Web applications. You can use it to generate HTML pages containing BW-specific contents such as tables, charts or maps. Web applications are based on Web templates that you create and edit in Web Application Designer. You can save the Web templates and access them from the Web browser or the portal. Once they are executed on the Web, Web templates are referred to as Web applications.

BEx Web Analyzer

BEx Web Analyzer is a standalone easy-to-use Web application for data analysis that you can call using a URL or as an iView in the portal. In Web Analyzer, you can open a data provider (query, query view, InfoProvider, or external data source) and use ad hoc analysis to create views of BW data (query views) that you can then use as data providers for other BEx applications. You can also distribute and save the results of your ad hoc analysis as required.

Report Designer

Report Designer is an easy-to-use design tool that you can use to create formatted reports that are optimized for presentation and printing. Report Designer provides extensive formatting and layout functions that you can use to create corporate balance sheets or HR master data sheets to suit your needs, for example.

PDF Generation

The integrated PDF generation function allows you to print Web applications and reports in various formats. More information: Creating Print Versions of BEx Applications.

BEx Patterns

BEx patterns are Web applications that are tailored to the requirements of particular user groups. BEx patterns are used to provide a uniform display of BW data. You can configure BEx patterns to a certain extent using the Pattern Wizard from the Web Application Designer.

BEx Analyzer

BEx Analyzer is an analysis, reporting, and design tool in Business Explorer, which is integrated into Microsoft Excel. In BEx Analyzer, you can analyze selected InfoProvider data and use it for planning by navigating in queries created in BEx Query Designer. You can do this using the context menu or drag and drop functions.

You can design the interface for your queries by inserting design items such as dropdown boxes, radio button groups, and pushbuttons into your Excel workbook. A workbook thus becomes a complete query application.

See Analysis & Reporting: BEx Analyzer.

BEx Information Broadcasting

BEx information broadcasting allows you to make BEx objects and BW objects available to a wide range of users, according to your requirements.

Using BEx Broadcaster, you can precalculate Web templates, queries, query views, reports, and workbooks and publish them to the portal, distribute them by e-mail, or print them. In addition to precalculated documents containing historical data, you can also generate online links to queries and Web applications.

The Business Explorer portal role illustrates the various options that are available when working with BEx objects and BW objects in the portal.

See BEx Broadcaster.

Integration in the Portal

You can integrate the business contents from SAP NetWeaver BW and SAP BEx in the portal. Integration is performed using BEx Broadcaster, KM content, SAP Role Upload, or the Portal Content Studio. You can create objects with various display types in the portal, depending on the type of integration. More information: Overview: Integration and Display Types of BEx Objects and BW Objects.

The portal allows you to access applications from other systems and sources, like the Internet or intranet. Using one single entry point, you can access both structured and unstructured information. In addition to content from Knowledge Management, business data from data analysis is available from the Internet and intranet.

See Integration of BEx Objects and BW Objects in the Portal.

Integration with SAP BusinessObjects

Integration with SAP BusinessObjects broadens the scope of the reporting tools in Business Explorer. This integration comprises the following:

●      Integration with Xcelsius Enterprise to visualize BW data in dashboards

●      Integration with Crystal Reports to create form-based reports based on BW data

See Integration with SAP BusinessObjects.