Dashboards in SAP BPC

Using Crystal Dashboards

Main functionalities when integrated with SBOP PC:

• Reads live data from SBOP PC
• Supports simulation and write-back to SBOP PC 
• Can be built dynamically using SBOP PC metadata

Key Capabilities

• Provides a planning dashboard with rich visualization attributes
• Allows for data input via write-back functionality

Installation and configuration

To view a dashboard, only the Adobe Flash player is required

To build a dashboard, you must install the Dashboard Design tool, formerly Xcelsius

Other supporting software includes:

• SAP BPC DataGrid –UI element which is optional for visualization
• SAP EPM Add-In for Microsoft
• SAP BW OLE DB Provider –Part of the NW front-end installer
• SAP EPM Connector

A Crossdomain.xml file is required if the dashboard is to be run standalone, outside of the BPC web client.

XMLA service in ICF must be activated

• sap/bw/xml/soap/xmla/ node can be activated via Transaction SICF
• Details are in the installation guide

In order for the BPC cube to be available for reading externally, the Use as Source of Data flag must be set for the model from the administration console.

This generates a transient query in the BW system.

The EPM Connector and BPC Data Grid are Add-ons for Dashboard Design.

You must install them by using the Add-on manager within Dashboard Design.

Launch Dashboard Design. Excel is then launched, in-place, within Dashboard Design

From the EPM tab, click Report Actions, then Manage Connections. This launches the Connection Manager for the EPM Add-in

Click Create to create a new connection to the backend BW system.

In order to integrate SBOP PC 10.0 NW and Dashboard Design(Xcelsius), you must use the local connection using the SAP BW OLE DB Provider. You can not use the Planning and Consolidation connection type.

Select Local and select the SAP BW OLE DB Provider and click Connect

You must have already installed the BW OLE DB Provider in order for it to show up here.

Enter the hostname of the BW application server, enter the system number, client, and language, then click Next.

Enter the user id and password for the BW application server and click Logon.

Select the location as $INFOCUBE and click Finish

Select the PC model. You must select the model/cube for the transient cube which was generated when setting the Use as Source of Data flag in the Administration console.

All Models/Cubes are listed in alphabetical order.

The naming convention for the transient query is /CPMB/TQ2_<InfoCube>, where the “I”(in position)the is9 replaced with “B is /CPMB/MPIRF2X, then the generated transient query name would be /CPMB/TQ2_MPBRF2X

Now that the connection is created, you can create a report against this connection.

Select the connection and click OK

Click the Edit Report button. This will launch the report editor

Drag and drop dimensions to the row and column boxes, for example, add TIME to the column box, and ACCOUNT to the row box, then click OK.

The report is then generated in the excel sheet.

In an empty cell, type =GetReportDefinition() and hit enter.

This will generate an XML based report definition string which will be used by the EPM connector.

Design the dashboard by dragging and dropping user interface elements into the layout editor.

For example, use the BPC Data Grid to visualize the main report values.

Bind the header data element of the BPC Data Grid to the header row of the report in the excel spreadsheet. Doing so will fill the columns grid in the BPC Data Grid property sheet. Here you can adjust the attributes of each column of the data grid, such as alignment and formatting. Set the alignment for the last three columns to “Right”.

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Bind the detail data element of the BPC Data Grid to the detail rows of the report in the excel spreadsheet.

The grid in the layout editor should show a preview of the configured grid.

By using the EPM connector, you can make the data retrieval operation of the report dynamic, meaning the data can be retrieved at runtime as opposed to at design time. To prove this operation, first clear out the static data which was retrieved by the EPM Add-in report.

Then from the Dashboard Design menu, choose Data, then Connections.

From the data manager dialog window, choose Add, then EPM Connector.

Configure the input details of the EPM connector connection by supplying the connection name, for example, readData, then chooses the application and operation. There many operations which can be used here. In this case, we will use the EPM report operation, but there are others

Available operations for EPM connector include:

• Retrieve Environments
• Retrieve Models
• Retrieve Dimensions
• Retrieve Dimension Members
• Input Data
• Retrieve Context
• Retrieve Members Property Values
• Retrieve Text From Library

Enter the URL for host application server, Http(s)://<host>:<port>/

Bind the Report Definition value to the cell on the excel spreadsheet where you entered the formula, =GetReportDefinition()

In the Output Details section, the result value has already be inserted by the report definition.

Check the checkbox for Refresh on Load.

Drag and drop the Connection Refresh Button UI element into the layout, and configure the button to trigger the readData EPM connector connection. When the user clicks the button, the EPM connection will be triggered, retrieving fresh data from the backend system.

Configure the data grid to accept new values by setting the Editable column to true.

Create a new EPM connector connection for the Input Data operation. This operation only supports the writing of exactly one cell of data at a time.

Enter the Environment and Model

Input Data operation can only be configured for exactly one cell of the report. If you have multiple cells to update, you must create one connection per cell.

Specify a member for each dimension, this must be FULLY qualified.

An alternative would be to create member list boxes for each dimension and have the end-user select the members at runtime. Still, the end-user can only update one cell at a time.

Define what cell is used to pass the new value to the backend, again only one cell corresponding to the cell defined in the Cell Definition section.

Drag and drop the Connection Refresh Button UI element into the layout, and configure the button to trigger the write Data EPM connector connection. When the user clicks the button, the EPM connection will be triggered, sending the data back to the backend system.

Preview the dashboard and see that the values are retrieved from the SBOP PC system.

Export the new dashboard by selecting File, Export, Flash(SWF) from the Dashboard Design menu.

Give a name for the file and click Save

You can publish the dashboard to the library from the Home tab.

From the Home tab, click Library, then Dashboards.

Click New, then Dashboard.

Select the SWF file and click

This screen provides a view of the dashboard as well as allows for some configuration around variables. If there are no special variables, simply click Save.

The new dashboard is now available in the library. The dashboard can now be added to a workspace.

Create a new workspace from the library, by selecting workspaces, then clicking the New Select Workspaces.

From the new workspaces tab, click the Add Content button.

Select the dashboard from the appropriate location and click OK

Save the workspace by clicking the Save Workspace As button.

Choose the location, give the name of the workspace, as well as a description, then click Save.

The dashboard is now shown in the workspace tab.

For in-depth understanding click on

• Models in SAP BPC
• Business Rules in SAP BPC
• Work Status in SAP BPC
• Audit Reports in SAP BPC