Optimize Business Objects migration to bi4.2

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OptimizeYourMigrationtoSAPBusinessObjectsBI4
Optimize Your Business Objects Upgrade to BI4.2
The BI4.2 release of Business Objects solutions is now available. This will lead more and more
customers to invest time, resources, and money in migrating to this latest major release. Migrations
are generally the occasion to deploy new solutions available for Business Objects solutions suite;
to seize new opportunities and/or serve previously under-served users in the business. Doing a
Migration right the first time is the key to optimizing time, costs, and ultimately deliver more value
to the organization. I have personally been working in the BOBJ world for the last 20 years. During
that time, I have run dozens of migrations from BO3 to BO4, BO4 to BO5 or BO6 and then, from
legacy versions to XIR2, XI3 and finally XI3 to BI4, and have been involved in several beta
programs. In a nutshell, Business Objects upgrade projects, and more specifically related
challenges, remain the same and have even become harder to overcome, making it difficult to
continue adopting BI in the organization.
We, at GB&SMITH, as SAP technology partners, have built expertise and developed technologies
that have proved to be useful when engaging in migration projects. Hundreds of clients
managing 1 million users have been using our solutions for the last 10 years. Our applications
make their migration projects easier, faster, safer, and most importantly, cheaper!
Let’s have a look – basically, we can find ten major steps in a migration project.

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Step 1: Preparing your migration
This preparation step consists in documenting your existing deployment (could be several
deployments to merge into BI4.2, for instance). This will allow you to get a big picture of the source
platform and start evaluating the scope of the migration itself. 360Eyes will provide a snapshot of
your current deployment (in-depth analysis of any universes, CMS info, or more generally
metadata, e.g.: starting with webi reports and going down to variables, functions whatever the
data source may be; unv, unx, BEX query, SQL script, etc.).
Step 2: Robust backup strategy
A fundamental point is the ability to rollback if any issue arises during the migration project, or if
some data is accidentally deleted during the clean-up steps.
This being said, setting up a powerful and reliable Business Objects backup strategy is a tricky
task. Implementing a Business Objects disaster and recovery strategy is mandatory (for instance
by backing up the whole BOBJ server and CMS database). This can be useful to start over again
from scratch (in case of full BO server crash). BUT such a backup strategy is not suitable for
selective rollback operations (like restoring a previous version of a given universe), or when
restoring deleted objects.
A common situation is as follows: an end-user (Finance VP) accidentally deletes a personal
sensitive document. They need it at once for their monthly C-level meeting. So, they contact the
BOBJ IT team and request the document to be restored. Two standard answers can be given
there: either there is no backup of personal documents, or the IT team needs a few days to use
the full backup in order to restore the document.
So, performing a full backup is mandatory, however, this is effective for disaster and recovery
only, but not for restoring selectively (or if used as a recycle bin). Incidentally, such processes may
have a strong impact on the platform availability, especially when running cold backups (for BO
disaster and recovery). In the case of worldwide deployments, this may lead to stopping the
environment for 2 hours, therefore impacting AsiaPac users, for instance.
360Plus is the professional solution for setting up a very powerful backup strategy. Upon first run,
a full backup is performed. Then, every night the tool simply runs delta and dynamic backups.
Thus, there is no impact on the platform itself, allowing high availability (24/7). As a result, you are
then able to roll back to any previous version of any object (personal documents, security
settings, users, universe connections, etc.). Likewise, you can restore any deleted object thanks
to the 360Plus Recycle Bin.
Thus, in the previously evoked scenario, 360Plus is the only option! GB&SMITH has provided a
recycle bin for any object type since XIR2 onwards! 360Plus also comes with versioning and
Promotion (Step 9)
https://rbranger.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/backup-recovery-in-bo-4-0/
https://360suite.io/sap-business-objects/backup-disaster-recovery/

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Step 3: Cleaning and tracking inactivity
This preparation is amongst the most important steps. It consists in optimizing the content to be
migrated. At this point, the following questions should be considered (beware: this list is not
exhaustive):
Do I need to migrate documents that have not been read and/or used for months?
Do I need to keep all the instances stored on my system? Is there any option to remove the oldest
and/or unused ones?
Do I have any duplicate reports (different names and/or different locations) on my system? Can
I migrate or test only one of these?
Do I need to migrate the in-boxes of all users? What about unread documents?
Can I document all my current authorization settings, security and scheduling jobs?
The less content you migrate, the easier, faster and cheaper the migration will be, ultimately
making your target SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 system easier to maintain and faster to back-up.
All those valuable insights are provided by the canned 360Eyes webi reports. Find out more in this
blog post https://360suite.io/2016/08/16/upgrading-sap-bi4-2-version-sap-businessobjects/.
360View will help you bulk-delete unused or deprecated content. Before starting a full clean-up,
do not forget to back everything up, if ever a single-object rollback were needed. 360Plus allows
performing this backup operation as well as restoring selectively, fetching a deleted object from
the recycle bin and also performing rollbacks.

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Step 4: Optimizing
A migration project is also the best moment to optimize your deployment. Consider the following:
A. Can I optimize SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence reports using hundreds of report
variables and numerous data providers?
B. Can I fast-track SAP BusinessObjects Desktop Intelligence conversion to SAP
BusinessObjects Web Intelligence or list any incomplete report conversion?
C. For instance, the query-stripping feature allows you to detect useless variables and
universe objects in your documents. This then allows removing them, thus making
conversion from SAP BusinessObjects Desktop Intelligence to SAP BusinessObjects Web
Intelligence smoother while ensuring a higher success rate. These insights are provided
by the canned 360Eyes webi reports. 360View then allows bulk-converting webis from
unv to unx. (https://youtu.be/MaZ6lkE5Nvk)
Step 5: Defining your license pool
When migrating to BI4.2 you may reconsider your license pool, switching from a CPU-based one
(or other) to CSBL. Having some insight on the actual session usage over the last few years may
be valuable to determine the most suitable amount of required licenses (mixing named & CSBL).
http://scn.sap.com/community/bi-platform/blog/2013/01/30/bi-platform-licensing-basics-csbls-
and-named-users
All this essential information is provided by the canned 360Eyes webi reports.

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Step 6: Automating non-regression testing
This is the most time-consuming part of the project. It is probably the least valued part BUT also
the most important one, since end users must rely on new outputs. Plus, Business Objects can be
used for sensitive data (Financial communication, Healthcare Data …). Depending on
circumstances, such as regulation considerations, you may need to ensure that there is no
regression. Regression testing is definitely tricky and risky if handled manually! Being able to
automate wide-scale non-regression testing is a no brainer! 360Bind allows you to automate this
for safer and faster migration to BI4.2. It enables comparing output report data (tabs, charts but
also images, colors, fonts, going down to pixel scale!). If, in parallel of your migration project, bulk-
switching webis unv to unx using 360View is also performed (Step 3), regression testing is a clear
necessity!
I witnessed frozen migration projects because of this very sensitive step! Everything was perfectly
fine from a pure technical perspective, but not enough time had been given to end users in order
to run all those tests. Using 360Bind assists in keeping track of the migration process and, above
all, makes it safe!
In other scenarios, there is no way to outsource this project step, since data is too sensitive to be
processed externally!
https://360suite.io/sap-business-objects/report-qualification-regression-testing/
Step 7: Comparing source and target
Coping with the classic migration challenge: Should you freeze your source production
environment during the migration process?

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Imagine your migration project was launched three months ago, and you are now planning on
going live for the entire organization in just a few weeks. But wait a minute… what about your
source SAP BusinessObjects XI environment?
What about the new content created or modified in the course of the migration process
(instances, security, users, variables in webis, etc.)? Should you, and could you, freeze the source
environment during the migration project? Or even better, how could you synchronize your XI
source with your SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 target in that interval?
What about keeping snapshots of your deployment, restoring any of them and performing a
rollback if needed? Imagine you launched your migration project on September 1st, after
cleaning and auditing everything by running Steps 3 and 4 (as previously explained here). Now
it is October 1st and the right moment to take a first snapshot of the source XI environment, deploy
BI 4.2 to a few pilot users, perform technical tests, convert some reports, and collect feedback
from these key users.
Everything looks good and you decide to deploy SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 to everyone on
December 1st as planned. Before doing so, though, just take a new snapshot of the source
system, compare it with the snapshot taken on October 1st, and highlight changes, like a new
alerter in a SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence report, a new publication, a modified universe
object, or security settings.
You can then replicate all these changes to the SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 target system and go
live without missing all the changes applied to your XI source when performing the previous
migration step! The ability to compare target and source at different times is a standard feature
of 360Eyes. 360Plus can help you promote modified content or new versions from the target to
the source.
Step 8: Impact analysis of a calculation engine change
Every now and then, SAP releases updates of the Webi calculation engine.
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-39973
I have been involved in several worldwide corporate migration projects at the occasion of which
such calculation engine updates could become blocking issues. Indeed, having an accurate
overview of how many Webis are going to be impacted is very valuable. With 360Eyes this can
be taken up a notch! The unique 360Eyes query stripping functionality allows detecting useless
variables in documents. This effectively highlights all the Webi documents impacted by the
engine change just by using a filter! This also reduces the actual number of webis impacted by
this change. E.g.: let’s say that, in the first place, 360Eyes detects 1000 impacted reports. Going
deeper allows highlighting that 30% of these reports make use of the modified calculation engine
function in useless variables or formulas. Eventually, only 700 of those reports need to be checked
(instead of 1000). These insights are provided by default in the canned 360Eyes webi reports, no
matter the datasource: unv, unx or even a BEX query!
See below a concrete use case involving a corporate deployment (80 000 active BOBJ users
around the globe): 360Eyes was used to apply a BusinessObjects Service Pack and ensure no side
effect would occur!
http://scn.sap.com/people/cgnodtke/blog/2014/04/17/how-to-find-the-documents-impacted-
by-calculation-engine-changes

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Step 9: Going live: flexible promotion strategy
Moving to BI4 can become challenging depending on the promotion strategy. Import wizards or
LCM in some scenarios can be limited. I remember, when I started almost 20 years ago, that my
client was using Control-M as their Enterprise Job Scheduler. It consists in a conductor allowing
linking different IT workflows (loading from the data-warehouse and running scheduled Business
Objects jobs). A part of the IT team was very frustrated with our platforms since there was no way
of linking Control-M to BOBJ scheduling nor to backup processes. No professional way to deal
with exit codes, logs, etc. We all knew we could use the Document Agent Server file watcher
tool, but it was just a TOP, and then Control-M would lose control over BOBJ scheduling. Another
scenario would be unrestricted content bulk-promotion across platforms. These scenarios can be
carried out by using the 360Plus promotion features: via a simple and user-friendly drag and drop
promotion operation, or by using the scheduled promotion feature. We, at GB&SMITH, bridge the
gap between any Enterprise Job Scheduler (like CTRLM, $U or $Universe, UC4, TWS, etc.) and
Business Objects (for backup, promotion, bursting, etc.) from XIR2 onwards!
Step 10: Going live setup: compliant security
Back in 2005, security was a banned word @BOBJ. Everybody can remember that migrating to
XIR2 required another step: redefining security from scratch and switching from a user-centric
implementation (by formerly using Supervisor) to an object-centric approach within the CMC.
That was a big bang! Actually, it was such an important move that I toured worldwide @BOUG
or conferences from down under to the US west coast in order to present the new Business
Objects security concepts as well as security migration challenges.
http://www.slideshare.net/sgoiffon/360view-xi3-new-security-concepts
https://michaelwelter.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/boe-xi-3-x-security-made-easy/
From that precise moment, my associate Alexandre Biegala and I decided to found GB&SMITH
to provide an alternative to the CMC. We invented the matrix system for implementing and
documenting security (we own several US Patents for this technology). Everything started from
that specific need, and then evolved by listening to clients' and prospects' needs. As a result, we
are now offering 7 products covering all the common needs for streamlining Business Objects,
focusing on Governance, Risk and Compliance, backup solutions, promotion, migration,
metadata, license compliance, bursting and regression testing.
Because security remains one of the backbones of any deployment, managing sensitive data
requires permanent control over security itself.

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The Matrix-based solution is the only way to comply with all regulations such as SOX, Basel, FISMA,
HIPAA, etc.
Loosely implemented security can eventually leave your resources exposed to business users who
should normally not have access to them. As I am used to saying (from my 10-year BI admin
experience): if someone is able to read the payroll for the entire company staff as result of a
security implementation error, they will never inform the administrator. Imagine if they could read
your own payroll!
In parallel with developing more add-ons for Business Objects, we wanted to continue helping all
administrators that struggled as much as we did when managing security for enterprise
applications. As a result, we built 365View, the future of administration. It is simple and intuitive.
Just download, sit back, and relax… Don’t miss out on this upcoming revolution, now on
365view.io
Conclusion
GB&SMITH's 360Suite is the Swiss army knife solution to help you optimize time and efforts,
ultimately ensuring substantial money savings when migrating your SAP BusinessObjects BI
deployment from XI or BI4.x to BI 4.2.
We estimate up to 80% time and money savings by using our solutions!
Post-migration assistance is no longer needed thanks to our 360Suite solutions.
Ultimately, keeping control over your platforms on a daily basis is essential in order to avoid going
through the aforementioned steps in future migration projects. I can still remember one of my
clients talking about how intricate and complex his platform was (fetching new documents, users,
instances and thinking about clean-up was an “impenetrable obstacle” for him). You had better
check your platform on a daily basis!
All the good practices mentioned above should be applied when migrating to any version.
360Suite products, also ensure a better daily experience for your Business Objects users. Ultimately
it allows to reconnect IT and Business!
Organizations also need to comply with multiple regulation (FISMA, SOX, HIPAA, etc.) and must
know at all times, who has been granted access to given resources, who is enabled to track
dormant users, etc.
Companies have hard time monitoring and documenting rights accurately (for instance:
inherited and double-inherited rights). As a result, the risk of leaving security breaches open is
dramatically high.
360Suite provides you with the ability to secure and control BO deployments more efficiently.
Over 1 Million users have chosen our solutions!
More info: https://360suite.io/ Video: http://tinyurl.com/optimizemigration
Discover an actual use case here: https://360suite.io/2017/02/15/sap-migration-solutions/ The ROI
brought by 360Suite helps the biggest SAP BOBJ client in the world fast-track their migration
process to BI4.2 and mitigate related risks!
How our customers used and conquered with 360Suite https://360suite.io/sap-business-
objects/use-cases/

Optimize Business Objects migration to bi4.2

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