SAP BO 4.0 – WebI – 5 new features that will make you drool

While it was thought at one point that Web Intelligence would change its name to Interactive Analysis, it appears that it will keep its original name. But whatever what we want to call it, it has new features that will make you happy. To make your mouth water, here’s a preview of some features of SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 that will please every user.

Linking

This feature allows you to filter the content of an element (a table or chart) related to a selection performed in another element (also a table or a chart). Simply select the element and using the contextual menu of your mouse, select the option « Linking / Add an element link». You can then specify whether one or all of the table’s dimensions will be used as selectors.

In the example below, the year selected in the table on the left allows filtering of the data on the table on the right.

First, for 2005 (figure 1), and for 2006 (figure 2).

Hide

Often we want to hide a column because, for example, it's needed for sorting. It’s now possible to quickly hide a set of columns, but they have to contain dimensions.

You must first select the column to hide, then via the mouse’s contextual menu, select the option « Hide / Hide dimension ».

On the left panel (Figure 3), the years have been sorted in descending order. On the right panel (figure 4) we see that even if the “Year” column has been masked, sorting was preserved and aggregation of the rows was not done. This confirms that the dimension is still there.

Copy/Paste

It is now possible to copy and paste a table or a chart in another report. It sounds simple, but what’s revolutionary is that all that is at the base of the copied element is part of the copy. Therefore, all of the data providers and all of the variables necessary for the proper functioning of the element will be copied at the same time.

It’s now possible to use certain parts of the reports to build new ones. This saves a considerate amount of time.

Properties

Several improvements have been made concerning the elements’ properties. It is now much easier to modify the appearance and the behavior of a section, a table, a chart and even a cell. Below is a preview of the properties of a table (figure 5) and a chart (figure 6).

Tab

A new tab menu is now used to access the different tools. What’s great about it is that the selections available in the tab in any given time match the element’s type selected in the report.In the following example you will see a preview of the table when a chart is selected (figure 7), then when a table is selected (figure 8). We see that the portion on the right is not the same.

I wish you have fun with these new features that should make your life easier in the development of future reports.