Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ category

Lessons Learned BOBJ 4.0 (WIP)

December 19th, 2011

I am going to keep editing this post till I am satisfied I have recorded all I have experienced

Good things

  • Server Installation seems to not have any issues
  • The web application seems to run much faster
  • A good hardware or VM environment makes all the difference
  • Windows AD Kerberos SSO sign-on documentation works perfectly if you follow it EXACTLY !
  • History Screen Auto-Refreshes in CMC and launchpad

  • Not so good things

  • Tomcat has had trouble stopping
  • There are more warning messages in the event viewer that are not necessarily things you can fix
  • RAS server can have issues that cause it to restart
  • Connection server uses 64 bit ODBC
  • Migrated Crystal 2011 Reports use 32 bit ODBC
  • Client installation works on Vista 64 (did take 3 different times to get it working and then my MS Office 2007 got wacked)
  • Error messages are not any better

  • Migration specific issues

  • If a user set their Web Intelligence settings to the Webi (Interactive ) Viewer for their default “modify” option then when migrated in 4,0 it shows “Interactive Analysis” and they can only view reports as the query builder does not seem available in the “Interactive Analysis” viewer. They need to change it to the Rich Client (i.e. Java viewer)
  • Upgrade Manager doesn’t act the way you would expect around importing groups and changing the dependency menu once you have expanded the users and groups screen can crash it
  • View Webi reports & Xcelsius dashboard in Java web portal

    October 18th, 2011

    We get questions from lots of people on how to integrate the users that are accessing externall BI portals with the users on the internal BI system. Here is the link to the ROI with your BI SaaS presentation I gave at the ASUG BOUC conference talking about options on how how to deliver secure external reporting portal for BusinessObjects (aka Outward Facing)

    It goes over the concepts involved on how to provide the simplified view of reports and dashboards to external users that most people want and also how LaunchWorks software specifically can help when you don’t want to start from scratch with the SDK development needed.

    Specifically there are three ways to handle the security including

    1) using a Windows AD/LDAP centric user account
    2) Enterprise based account (which can be automatically setup upon first signon).
    3) You can technically use a system account , however ….

    a) you will loose auditing
    b) may have issues with incorrect caching between sessions
    c) probably be out of compliance unless you have CPU based licensing.

    Would love your questions and comments

    Thanks

    Kevin McManus
    www.launchworks.com

    Speaking at the BusinessObjects User Conference 2011

    October 4th, 2011

    Excited to present next week at the following sessions

    • SDK Best Practices session 0109
    http://boucschedule.asug.com/Agenda/Details.aspx?SID=117
    Tuesday, October 11, 2011 2:45 PM – 3:45 PM
    Room Number : Australia 3

    • How to use BOE as a BI SaaS solution with the Launch Platform session 4003
    http://boucschedule.asug.com/Agenda/Details.aspx?SID=114
    Monday, October 10, 2011 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
    Room Number : Northern Hemisphere A-1

    Please also look for our team at the LaunchWorks booth where we have some great give aways that will keep on giving throughout the year

    The Intelligence of Socialization

    September 5th, 2011

    Gabriel Braun asked in his Linked In post “What does Socializing Data or Social Intelligence mean?”

    Here is a point per point response

    1. How will your company gain value from the cache of data within its social networks?

    It depends whats being said within its social networks. Do you have questions you want answered or are you looking for general customer sentiment. Do you rely on tweets and Facebook links or combine it closely with phone and web surveys?

    2. What kind of predictive models and metrics can be devised from your social sources?

    I propose since human communication by nature relates to what “has happened” the vast majority of open communication wont qualify. To get the answers you want you have to drive the conversation and not expect your community to migrate there by themselves.

    3. How can intelligence be shared within private or public social networks with privacy being a cornerstone of BI data?

    Sounds like a data modeling question, and one that most companies struggle with. When is aggregation not enough? What dimensions should not be connected? Who is the audience of this information and is there a value to the information it provides that can be commercialized?

    4. How will real-time collaboration find its way into serious business dashboards?

    Dashboards have been read only for the vast majority that I have seen. When a dashboard is designed that answers a complete question (not just a metric) and the time and money is spent to design and document a workflow that allow the viewer to write back a transaction or workflow hand-off down the supply chain based on the approval of the answer the dashboard presented then collaboration will be effective

    5. Is Social Intelligence fool’s gold or the next big thing?

    Social Intelligence must have several pieces in place to present even a partial picture
    a) A pipeline for capturing customer sentiment at different points in the chain of the transaction i.e. pre-purchase, post-purchase, post-reception, post-use.
    b) Clearly defined metrics – i.e. tweets per day,
    c) ability to tie metrics across dimensions such as time, marketing [promotions , product changes, etc
    d) a Two way street – If your product is getting slammed because its broken on receipt and you change your shipper or packaging are you communicating that change back to the community in which you have measured the negative impact?

    Do you concur?

    My Favorite BI4 Objects #1

    February 23rd, 2011

    1) Alerting to BI Launch Pad. Moving alerts from the report level to the User Interface
    2) Charting tooltips in Webi
    3) Join multiple data sources in new UNX design tool at a Data Services Layer
    4) The “Data Preview” pane in new UNX design tool that allows you to see your data as you test and object query
    5) Text Analysis moved into Data Services
    6) Schedule report packages of Crystal and Webi Reports
    7) For SAP Crystal Reports, you can embed the content of onereport in an email.
    8) For Web Intelligence documents, you can embed thecontent of one report tab in an email.
    9) Export reports to the Excel 2007 workbook
    10) How new versions of enteprise software creates real jobs

    Typical Report Launch Requirement Q and A

    February 23rd, 2011

    Question: Is it possible to limit the report list view of a user in Report Launch? For example, if I decide to integrate Report Launch with an application for project A, we’d like to give the user access to projects reports only (and make the other reports the user has access to invisible).

    Yes: You can set the Report Launch list to show a root folder so that the list only shows reports below that folder even if they have access to other folders.

    We also have a category security model that allows your application administrators to control security on their folder of reports without giving access to the CMC

    Universe Designer

    February 5th, 2011

    I reviewed the Universe Designer 4.0 documentation for those of us not going to the new Information Design Tool and was reminded of the importance of correctly configuring the Universe parameters for your database. this topic focuses on the use of ANSI92-SQL and GROUP BY settings and also applies to the 3.X platform.

    While its still from the last century, I love ANSI-92 SQL. It took a while for me to get it back then, but now I hate it when its not setup on a Universe to use it. I am somewhat still amazed we are still mostly using ANSI89-SQL which was defined when Madanna and Prince were still on the top the charts.

    In reviewing the settings I was reminded that to take advantage of ANSI 92 there are multiple settings you need to be knowledgeable.

    The first if of course ANSI92 which is set to NO by default and needs to get an override of YES.

    FILTER_IN_FROM. This feature that allows the outer join filter to be in the FROM clause can be set at the join properties level. However it can also be set to YES in the universe parameters so that it defaults to “All objects in FROM”.

    The second is INNERJOIN_IN_WHERE which has to be added if you want to use it. Allows you to force the system to generate SQL syntax with all the inner joins in the WHERE clause whenANSI92 is set to yes. This is sometimes a nice way to show that query is not using any outer joins as all the joins being innter will revert to being in the Where clause.

    SELFJOINS_IN_WHERE can also override the ON clause to move back to the WHERE clause even if ANI92 is set to YES.

    If you dont have Aggregate values (i.e.e SUM, SVG) in your measure objects that will force a GROUPBY on your queries then you better consider theDISTINCT_VALUES parameter. The key thing to remember is that its only invoked if and when the option “Do not retrieve duplicate rows” isactive in your report. If you want GROUP BY instead of DISTINCT then you have to override the default it in the Universe Paramters.

    The last thing I will mention is that there are other settings that are database specific stil managed inthe PRM files. I think that many new designers who never had to manage the PRM file in 6.X and earlier may not even know where that file is and what it does.

    But thats for another post.

    Kevin McManus

    Troubleshooting a BO Edge on Red Hat Linux Oracle driver Issue

    August 29th, 2010
    So BOE 3.1 SP2 Edge CMS would not start after a database driver upgrade to solve an LDAP imcompatibility on a Red hat installation
    1) checked the tnsnames.ora
    Status: OK
    2) Checked my Connectivity through sqlplus
    Status: OK
    3) Checked the CMS Setup
    [bobj@server bobje]$ ./cmsdbsetup.sh
    err: ERROR Failed to get cluster name. (STU00165)
    err: Error description: Database access error. Reason Loading shared object failed. First tried to load library clntsh and failed because of error: [clntsh: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory]. Second tried to load library libclntsh.so and failed because of error: [libclntsh.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64].
    4) Checked the LD_LIBRARY_PATH in the profile of the bobj account
    drwxr-x— 58 oracle oinstall 4096 Aug 27 13:51 OraHome10gr2_32bit
    $ cd
    $ vi .bash_profile
    Status: OK
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:$ORACLE_HOME/lib:
    5) Tried changing to 32 bit libary path
    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:$ORACLE_HOME/lib32:
    Status: libclntsh.so file was not there
    6) Reset the rights for Read and Execute
    chmod -R 755 lib32
    Status: OK
    7) Checked the file that BOE is looking for and it shows as a 64 bit file
    libclntsh.so.10.1: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, AMD x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), not stripped
    This should be showing as the following as BOE requires 32 bit database drivers
    libclntsh.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), not stripped
    Status: Issue
    8) The current issue prohibits the BusinessObjects system from running on the server. Database driver to be setup correctly

    So BusinessObjects 3.1 SP2 Edge CMS would not start after an Oracle database driver upgrade to solve an LDAP imcompatibility on a Red hat installation

    1) checked the tnsnames.ora

    Status: OK

    2) Checked my Connectivity through sqlplus

    Status: OK

    3) Checked the CMS Setup

    [bobj@server bobje]$ ./cmsdbsetup.sh

    err: ERROR Failed to get cluster name. (STU00165)

    err: Error description: Database access error. Reason Loading shared object failed. First tried to load library clntsh and failed because of error: [clntsh: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory]. Second tried to load library libclntsh.so and failed because of error: [libclntsh.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64].

    4) Checked the LD_LIBRARY_PATH in the profile of the bobj account

    drwxr-x— 58 oracle oinstall 4096 Aug 27 13:51 OraHome10gr2_32bit

    $ cd

    $ vi .bash_profile

    Status: OK

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:$ORACLE_HOME/lib:

    5) Tried changing to 32 bit libary path

    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:$ORACLE_HOME/lib32:

    Status: libclntsh.so file was not there

    6) Reset the rights for Read and Execute

    chmod -R 755 lib32

    Status: OK

    7) Checked the file that BOE is looking for and it shows as a 64 bit file

    libclntsh.so.10.1: ELF 64-bit LSB shared object, AMD x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), not stripped

    This should be showing as the following as BOE requires 32 bit database drivers

    libclntsh.so: ELF 32-bit LSB shared object, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), not stripped

    Status: Issue

    8) The current issue prohibits the BusinessObjects system from running on the server. Database driver to be setup correctly

    SAPPHIRE

    May 28th, 2010

    My Highlights
    – Met with new product managers of Webi Intelligence and BI On-Demand
    – Everyone I met had a challenge with BOE that we could assist with
    – Other BOE parters were ready to talk about collaboration
    – Got to see my sister who lives nearby
    – Great feedback at my presentation on Data Quality

    April 16th ASUG Meeting

    April 14th, 2010

    Busy Spring on tour. I will be speaking a the Dallas / OK ASUG meeting in Plano BusinessObjects Installation Concepts.

    Address is
    SMU – Plano Campus
    5236 Tennyson Parkway
    Plano, Texas 75024
    9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

    Just spoke at the Central Texas conference in March in San Antonio on Xceslius Project Management and will be speaking in May at SAPPHIRE in Orlando on Web Intelligence Data Tracking techniques.