Did you miss our webinar, "SAP BusinessObjects Statement of Direction & Road Map Update" originally webcast on June 29, 2022?
Gregory Botticchio, Director, Analytics Product Management at SAP, presented a very important update regarding the roadmap plans and a new Statement of Direction for SAP BusinessObjects. This update included important new plans for upcoming versions of SAP BusinessObjects for on-premise deployments, along with the latest information about the extension of official support timelines for SAP BusinessObjects on-premise deployments.
Key session topics:
- SAP BusinessObjects version Roadmap Update (On-Premise deployments; Private Cloud Edition)
- SAP BusinessObjects Product Support Update: Extension and updated timelines
- SAP BusinessObjects Product Feature Update
View the webinar on demand and Q&A using the links below.
Webinar highlights:
The Future of SAP BusinessObjects and BI 2024 – No End Date
SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap Update
Key Objectives of New SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 (code name)
SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap Update
Planned End of Support with BI 4.3 and Alternatives
SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap Update
Important New Timelines for SAP BusinessObjects 4.3 and BI 2024
SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap Update
Migrating UNV Universes (end of support 2027) to UNX Universes Freemium Offer
SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap Update
Recommended Next Steps for SAP BusinessObjects 4.2 and 4.3
SAP BusinessObjects Roadmap Update
APOS BI Upgrade "Freemium" Offer
Will you be upgrading your SAP BusinessObjects deployment to take advantage of the SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 project, which gives your BI system new life?
APOS is providing a Freemium offer allowing you to leverage our UNX Universe adoption solution for targeted Universes and Web Intelligence reports, helping you speed this semantic layer transition process to leverage all of the SAP BusinessObjects value that lies ahead. This Freemium offer also provides an automated inventory of your BI system content. Click here for full details
Flashes of Insight Webinar Series
If you're excited that the new SAP BusinessObjects Statement of Direction extends the life of on-premise BI, then you should think about ways to make your SAP BusinessObjects deployment the best it can be.
Fortunately, APOS has been running a series of "Flashes of Insight" webinars that can show you how to achieve deep knowledge of your system using APOS Insight. You can watch these webinars on demand to learn more about:
- Managing BI System Change
- Performance Analysis
- Usage Analysis
- Automated Report Testing
- Query Management & Governance
- Report Impact Analysis
Visit the Flashes of Insight Webinar Series webpage to learn more and watch webinars on demand.
Questions & Answers from the Webinar
This webinar generated many questions from our attendees. Gregory Botticchio, Director, Analytics Product Management at SAP graciously answered these questions:
QUESTION: We are concerned about Live Office or UNV support, as we have heard that from 4.3 SP2 these features are not being evolved, and even "deprecated." So do you recommend such customers to stay in 4.3. SP1? Will 4.3 SP1 remain and be patched for many months?
ANSWER: Live Office and UNV universes are on the list of deprecated tools, that we plan to support until the end of 2027. You can continue to use them if you stay on BI 4.3 until 2027. We will continue to deliver Service Packs for BI 4.3 during the "Mainstream Maintenance" support period, which is planned to end in 2025 for BI 4.3.
QUESTION: Will SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 SPs continue, same as previous releases?
ANSWER: SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 will be based on the same technology, services, backend and interfaces as BI 4.3. But, its scope and content will focus on the most adopted tools and components: Web Intelligence, single source UNX universes, Crystal Reports Classic, SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office and the BI Platform.
QUESTION: What will be the release cycles for the Private Cloud Edition of BOE 2024?
ANSWER: We plan to continue to deliver the equivalent of a Service Pack once a year once BI 2024 is out.
QUESTION: Is the new View Data mode something that can replace merging in WebI documents but also have more ability than the Merge capability?
ANSWER: The new View Data mode will come in addition to the Object Merging feature already available in WebI, but will propose a completely new experience with a dedicated interface that will let you: preview your data, explore your data, enrich & transform your data, and last but not least, visualise your flow of data when joining them.
QUESTION: If I am understanding correctly, the SAP Lumira tool will no longer be available in BI 2024. Will existing Lumira documents stored in the BI platform still execute and work in this release, or will they no longer even execute? Meaning an upgrade to BI 2024 can only happen after your Lumira documents are migrated to SAC?
ANSWER: SAP Lumira documents won't be available in SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024. But, the tool and documents will remain available with BI 4.3 until the end of 2027.
QUESTION: I can understand Lumira Discovery being killed, but Lumira Designer as well?
ANSWER: Correct, Lumira Designer as well. We plan not to integrate LUMIRA into the future BI 2024. But it remains available with BI 4.3 until 2027.
QUESTION: Does the BI 4.3 SP3 Feature to Combine and Transform data require CMS Service support similar to the Data Federator component? Where does this WebI Query Combine and Transformation happen (server or report level)?
ANSWER: No additional services will be added to the BI Platform. New API to serve this feature will be added into the WebI report engine.
QUESTION: Is the WebI oData Web Service a public URL or secured (e.g. require Enterprise account, AD, etc.)?
ANSWER: The oData flow from a WebI report is secured and requires an authentication in order to get the data from WebI.
QUESTION: Will the BI 2024 UI be the same as BI 4.3 UI5 with Fiorified UI?
ANSWER: Yes. SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 will contain the same FIORI interfaces as BI 4.3 (BI "Fiori" Launchpad + the new modernised and simplified WebI).
QUESTION: Will the concurrent licensing model persist in BI 2024?
ANSWER: Yes, current licensing model will remain the same, as far as I know, unless you want to adopt the SAP BusinessObjects Private Cloud Edition which is based on a subsc ription model.
QUESTION: Is SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 an in-place upgrade on top of 4.3 (or) is this a separate installation?
ANSWER: It is up to you. The future BI 2024 will use the same backend services as BI 4.3; it is the same technology, so you can consider an in-place update or a side by side migration.
QUESTION: Is there any end date for Crystal Reports classic on SAP BOBJ 2024?
ANSWER: No. No end-date for the tools and components which are part of the future BI 2024.
QUESTION: Why do you not continue with Lumira Designer?
ANSWER: It was announced months ago. The GO TO product is SAP Analytics Cloud, and the Application Designer tool in it.
QUESTION: Is there any Migration Tool planned from Lumira to WebI or do we have to throw all our Lumira documents away and build them anew with WebI?
ANSWER: There is a plan to provide such a tool. Moreover, the recommended tool to use instead of LUMIRA is SAP Analytics Cloud.
QUESTION: Is there any support for Microsoft OneDrive in 4.3? If not, when are you planning to implement? We want to schedule the reports to go out to users’ OneDrive folders instead of shared network drives.
ANSWER: Yes, we plan to support Microsoft OneDrive with BI 4.3 SP3 (ETA = December 2022).
QUESTION: Is it possible that other components may be removed from BI 2024, or is the list you showed us final?
ANSWER: The list is final.
QUESTION: Will it be necessary to upgrade from BI 4.2 to BI 4.3 to get to BI 2024, or will we be able to upgrade directly from BI 4.2 to BI 2024?
ANSWER: It will be possible, but we recommend first to move to BI 4.3 in order to train your users on the new interfaces and features and consider a proper "change management" program to help them to get the best of BOBJ, before moving to BI 2024.
QUESTION: Is SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 compatible with/will support AWS or Azure cloud environments?
ANSWER: Yes, it is the plan. The future BI 2024 is planned for On Premise and for the Cloud.
QUESTION: Will SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 be available for on-premise installation?
ANSWER: Yes, SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 will be available on-premise and in the Cloud.
QUESTION: Can you provide some additional insight on the roadmap for the SDKs (Java, .NET and RESTful) for the BI platform and remaining reporting tools as the BI 2024 roadmap evolves?
ANSWER: Our strategy for the SDKs is to continue to enhance the RESTful web services APIs in BI 4.3 and in the future in BI 2024.
QUESTION: There has been a long “pause” on development and enhancements on Crystal Reports (Classic). Can we assume that with the end-of-life for Crystal Reports for Enterprise, there will be net new investment in development and enhancements to the Crystal Reports (Classic) products in the BI 2024 path?
ANSWER: We plan to enhance Crystal Report Classic with some cumulative enhancements.
QUESTION: How do we get “early-adopter” / Beta / Sandbox access to SAP BI 4.3 (SP03) before it goes into GA in Q4-2022?
ANSWER: We have not yet decided if we will have a beta program for the BI 4.3 SP3. We will let you know if it is confirmed.
QUESTION: Is the Support for MS OneDrive just to read (datasource) or also to write (scheduling xls p.e.)? Is SharePoint also included?
ANSWER: Both, READ and WRITE is possible, as it is today with Google Drive. In the BI 4.3 SP3 release, we will support only OneDrive. Support for MS SharePoint is postponed to BI 4.3 SP4.
QUESTION: Will BI Launchpad stay the same as 4.3 using Fiori or will it change with BI 2024?
ANSWER: Yes. The SAP BusinessObjects BI 2024 will contain the same FIORI interfaces as BI 4.3 (BI "Fiori" Launchpad + the new modernised and simplified WebI).
QUESTION: Does BI 2024 support promotion management using APIs?
ANSWER: If it is available in BI 4.3, it should also be available in BI 2024.
QUESTION: Currently as per SAP we must have 1 dedicated server per each 50 Lumira users; is it going to be the same? Currently we have 5 dedicated Lumira only servers to support our production users head count.
ANSWER: As far as I know, there is no plan to change this recommendation in BI 4.3.
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