Feature Comparison between Desktop Intelligence and the latest versions of WebIntelligence
the feature exists or can have a different workflow
the feature exists partially, has a different workflow or have workarounds
the feature does not exist1. Features which cannot be converted
Not all the DeskI documents can be converted with the Report Conversion Tool(RCT). The level of conversion depends on the features that are used in the original report. Desktop Intelligence features that are not (yet) available in Web Intelligence are not converted. In these section, we will list the types of DeskI features can not converted, and describe the workaround in WebI on how to accomplish the functionality in different way.
OLAP data provider
| DeskI |
DeskI used to support several types of OLAP data provider.
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| WebI |
In WebI, users may create documents against OLAP provider using OLAP universes. Especially in 4.0 release, you may create reports on top of dimensional semantic layer, which is very powerful to leverage OLAP functionalities. The DeskI documents based on OLAP data provider cannot be converted, and you need to create a UNX universe and then create documents based on the universe.
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XML as data provider
| DeskI |
In DeskI, XML can be data provider directly.
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| WebI |
DeskI document based on XML could not be converted with RCT.
In WebI, you may use the universe which is made against XML via third party Database drivers, you may refer to the following articles: 1. Querying XML data through a Universe https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/11419 2. Querying XML data with Oracle through the semantic layerhttps://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/11424 3. Consume Web services, Query XML files & columns with IBM DB2https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/11428 Another option is to use the Custom Data Provider Plug-in which provides a framework to develop your own data provider, therefore allows you to consume potentially any data provider into Web Intelligence. The Developer Guide posted athttp://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP2/en/xi31_sp2_cdp_dev_en.pdf goes in more details. |
Visual Basic Data Provider
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can create report on Visual Basic data provider directly.
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| WebI |
DeskI documents based on Visual Basic Data Provider could not be converted. Anyway, you can use the Custom Data Provider Plug-in which provides a framework to develop your own data provider, therefore allows you to consume potentially any data provider into Web Intelligence. The Developer Guide posted athttp://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP2/en/xi31_sp2_cdp_dev_en.pdf goes in more details. Essentially this should allow Visual Basic Data Providers developed for Deski to be re-used in Webi.
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Freehand-SQL
| DeskI |
In DeskI, Freehand-SQL(FHSQL) can be used directly as data source
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| WebI |
DeskI documents based on Freehand-SQL can not be converted, and you need to created them manually in WebI.
In WebI, there are two approaches, one is to create derived table with FHSQL at the universe level, the other is to overwrite the SQL when designing the WebI query. For the second approach, you may create a dummy universe with sufficient dummy objects in each data type(Char, Date, Number, etc), when designing the document, first drag the objects into Result pane, then modify the SQL and change it to the FHSQL which you desire to use. |
Filter with a Calculation operand
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can define calculation in the query panel. For example, below is a query generated when the calculation operand is used:
Select col1,col2,col3 from table1 group by col1,col2 having ( sum(col3) > all select sum(col3) from table1 group by col4 ) |
| WebI |
This type of DeskI document is not converted. WebI doesn't have this shortcut, but can make it through query-on-query.
For example, to accomplish the above report, you need to create two queries. Query 1 is: select col4,sum(col3) from table1 group by col4;
Query 2 is:
Select col1,col2,col3
from table1
group by col1,col2
having sum(col3) > @dapvalue('N', DP0.D093, MAX)
That is to find the MAX value from the first query, and use it to create a filter in the second query.
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User defined objects
| DeskI |
In DeskI, the use case is for power users to effectively add variables to universe objects (reusable variables across reports). With the feature, you may alter the way to use objects brought from the universe, e.g.: add text string to output from database, change universe definition from Dimension to Measure or Detail.
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| WebI |
Document with User defined objects can not be converted. You may create same objects in the underlying universe, and replace the user objects in DeskI, then do the conversion.
To accomplish similar functionalities, in WebI: 1. you can create variables for a given dimension that change its qualification to dimmension, detail, measure 2. you can filter on source data with variables. 3. you can also simply copy paste formula for a variable from one document to another. |
Save option with protection password
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can set protection password and write reservation password in the save option panel.
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| WebI |
WebI does't support this kind of protection, instead, the protection of WebI is based on the authentication with CMS. The DeskI documents with protection password or write reservation password would fail to be converted. You may manually remove the password from the document prior to the conversion.
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Besides, when a DeskI document contains variable that references another variable that cannot be converted, then the ducument cannot be converted. You need to manually modify the variable accordingly prior to the conversion.
2. Features which are partially converted
Some features in DeskI can be partially converted, as WebI doesn't have the equivalent feature and need to make it in different way in WebI. In this section, we give a list of these features and describe the difference between DeskI and WebI.
Automatic refresh setting
| DeskI |
DeskI documents can have the Automatic refresh setting at the document level.
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| WebI |
WebI relies on the BI Launch Pad(Infoview) to schedule the refresh, during coversion, the refresh setting is removed. After conversion, you can schedule the refresh on the BI Launch Pad.
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Scope of analysis with filter on a measure
| DeskI |
In DeskI, when the query contains both "scope of analysis" and "aggregate filter", the dimension of analysis scope participates in the Having filter, see below example:
SELECT sum(TEST2.CODE), TEST2.CODE, TEST2.NUMBER, TEST2.PRICE FROM TEST2 GROUP BY TEST2.CODE, TEST2.NUMBER, TEST2.PRICE HAVING ( sum(TEST2.CODE) > 0 ) |
| WebI |
WebI generates the query in a different way:
SELECT sum(TEST2.CODE), TEST2.CODE, TEST2.NUMBER, TEST2.PRICE FROM TEST2 WHERE CHAR(TEST2.CODE) ||' '|| CHAR(TEST2.NUMBER) In ( SELECT CHAR(TEST2.CODE) ||' '|| CHAR(TEST2.NUMBER) FROM TEST2 GROUP BY CHAR(TEST2.CODE) ||' '|| CHAR(TEST2.NUMBER) HAVING sum(TEST2.CODE) > 0 ) GROUP BY TEST2.CODE, TEST2.NUMBER, TEST2.PRICE
When converting the document with Report conversion tool, the query is changed to WebI's way. The query from WebI is actually based on most use cases, since the query in DeskI somehow doesn't return data which is desired for users.
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Context operator
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you may leverage context operaters in a formula such as Where, In
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| WebI |
The document is partially converted, and the varables contains context operater are deleted during conversion. Anyway in WebI, most of the context operators are available, and users can re-create these variables, except the operator "In Currentpage". Besides, in WebI the "Where" clause can support more operators such as Inlist, > and <.
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Variance and Variance percentage calculation
| DeskI |
In DeskI, this is a shortcut to calculates the difference between two selected values.
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| WebI |
Documents contain the calculation can be partially converted. During conversion, the calculation is removed. In WebI, instead of using the crosstab, choose vertical or horizontal table, leave one dimension as original, change the other dimension into a series of variables like [Revenue] where ([City]="City1"), [Revenue] where ([City]="City2"), create a variable like [Revenue] where ([City]="City1") - [Revenue] where ([City]="City2") to calculate the Variance. Eventually the horizontal or vertical table would display what the crosstab displays with the desired Variance calculation.
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Complex Filter using condition in a formula
| DeskI |
In DeskI, this enables formulas to define if filter applied or not. The workflow is: right-click on table, format filters, define, add a variable, define. Users can create formula like "show me all data where varA < varB" with the feature.
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| WebI |
Documents contain the formula can be partially converted. The filter is deleted during conversion. In webi, use variable to do the same, the workflow is: firstly create a variable like "varC = if (varA < varB) then 1 else 2", then add a filter like "varC = 1".
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Block and global filter
| DeskI |
In DeskI, on the "Format filters" panel, you can drag and drop filters among multiple blocks or make it as global filter.
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| WebI |
During the conversion, complex block and global filter could be removed in some cases. Regarding the usability, in WebI, you cannot drag and drop filters among multiple blocks and globale, you need to recreate filter for different blocks manually. Another approach is to use input control, which provides flexibility to choose the range of filter.
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Filter applied on a measure in a block
| DeskI |
DeskI can filter a measure in a block.
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| WebI |
During conversion the filter is removed. You may add the filter after conversion, or use input control to apply the filter in a different way.
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Same-level Break on multiple dimensions
| DeskI |
In DeskI, when defining a break, you can apply breaks of multiple columns within one single level.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the setting is removed. In WebI, this can be done by using formatting options. For examples, you can firstly add two breaks, in the "Manage breaks" window, enable the break header and foot for one break, disable them for the other.
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Break on an object not in the block
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can break a block on a column which is not part of the block.
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| WebI |
The break is removed during the conversion. In WebI, a workaround is to create a section with the column which is not part of the block, then remove the section label.
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Value-based break
| DeskI |
In DeskI, when defining the break, you can choose break values among the list of value of the break dimension. For example, when the dimension <City> contains values of DC, Boston and Seattle, you can make a break only on the value "DC", and make other values not affected by the break.
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| WebI |
The break is removed during the conversion. In webi, same views can be accomplished in a different way through formula functions. For example, create a variable as: =If ([City]="DC") Then "DC" Else "Other cities", then set section on the variable, and remove the section label to make the variable invisible.
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DeskI functions
| DeskI |
DeskI has functions which are not corresponding to functions in WebI, including: ApplicationValue, BlockNumber, CurrentPage, GetProfileNumber, GetProfileString, Hyperlink, OLAPQueryDescription, PageInSection.
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| WebI |
Duing conversion, these functions are replaced with RepFormula("original_syntax"). Besides, the function CountAll is changed to WebI syntex as Count([object_name]; IncludeEmpty; All); and the function "MultiCube" is renamed to "ForceMerge".
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Sort on an object not in the block
| DeskI |
In DeskI, to sort a block on a column which is not part of the block, you need to add dimension which is not part of the block as a break, in the break definition, disable the break header and footer, then the invisible break behaves like a sort in the table.
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| WebI |
The sort is removed during the conversion. On 4.0 release, you can add the extra column to the table, do the sorting, then hide the column.
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Dual axes line chart
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you may have Dual Y-axes line charts, which display units for different measures, which is done by enabling the Secondary (Y) Axis in the "Axes and Gridlines" window.
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| WebI |
During conversion only the first axe is kept. On XI3.1, you have to create separate chart. On 4.0 WebI addresses few remaining charting deltas compared to Deski including dual axes line chart, and introduces many new chart types which are not found in DeskI.
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Multiple groups chart
| DeskI |
DeskI can have multiple groups on a single chart. In the Chart Format window, you can add additional groups, each group can have different chart type.
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| WebI |
After conversion, only the first group appears as WebI doesn't support multiple groups on a single chart.
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Automate & Extend functionality via VBA macros
| DeskI |
In DeskI, VBA can be used for windows applications, not web-based applications.
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| WebI |
During conversion the VBA macros are deleted.
VBA Macros were mostly used to perform publishing workflows that are now handled "out-of-the-box" by the platform (http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP3/en/xi31_sp3_publisher_en.pdf) Besides, there are many customization possibilities in WebIntelligence. You can create your own function in order to use it in the Formula language seamlessly using Calculation Extension Points. You can customize how you want WebIntelligence reports to behave using the ReportEngine SDK. You can customize the WebIntelligence Report viewer using the Extension Points. You can create your own custom data provider using the Custom Data Source Framework. For all the use cases, below is the list of solutions and corresponding document links: 1. Creation of external function (custom functions visible in the WebIntelligence Formula language)http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP2/en/xi31_sp2_webi_calc_ext_en.pdf 2. Customization of WebIntelligence Reports processing (document processing, prompts, drill, report elements etc...) using the ReportEngine SDK (JAVA and .NET) . Sample Code http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc/samples?rid=/webcontent/uuid/30e2b6d2-2784-2b10-59b6-95b2d8c50a02 . REBEAN Object Model: http://help.sap.com/javadocs/boe/xi/re/en/index.html 3. Customization of WebIntelligence Reports interface using Extension Points (DHTML, Java Report Panel, WRC) RIG Podcast and Blogs: http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/18429, http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/20858,http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/17696 4. Creation of custom Data Providers: WebIntelligence Custom Data Source (CDS) Framework is a plug-in framework that facilitates creation of a data provider on custom data sources that could be consumed by Web Intelligence Rich Client. . Documentation : http://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP2/en/xi31_sp2_cdp_dev_en.pdf |
Across Edge Display settings in crosstabs
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can configure the Fold and Show header/footer setting of Across Edge Display in crosstabs.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the setting is removed.
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Page break header/footer
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can define the Page break header/footer.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the setting is removed.
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With Report Conversion Tool(RCT), besides the partially converted documents, you may also have partially published documents. Partially published documents happen when the RCT can not find the associated universe during the conversion. The partially published documents can still be opened and viewed, but they are not refreshable.
3. Features which are fully converted but with changes
When a document is fully converted, there still might be some changes in the document, as WebI might accomplish same functionality in a different way from that in DeskI. In this section, we will list all changes which might exist on the converted documents.
Fold/unfold
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you may fold/unfold tables, sections and breaks.
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| WebI |
In WebI, to fold/unfold verticaly is delivered starting from XI3.1 SP2. After conversion, all the report elements are unfolded.
In BI4.0, the feature has been enhanced to fold horizontally as well as vertically on Sections, Table and Breaks. Furthermore, you can fold/unfold over the web which is not possible in DeskI. |
Sort on query
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can apply sort at the query level.
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| WebI |
WebI doesn't apply sort at the query level, during the conversion the sort on query is removed. Anyway, you can apply the sort at the report level.
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Retrieve the top N rows
| DeskI |
In deski, you can apply sort when designing the query, and also set the count of rows to retrieve partial results at the query option panel. With combining these two features, you can retrieve top N rows for a dimension.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can choose count of rows to retrieve, but can not apply sort at the query level, so you can not do the retrieve top N directly. Anyway, you can leverage Rank ability instead. During conversion, the sort is lost, you need to apply sort at the report level.
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Option of "Delete trailing blanks"
| DeskI |
DeskI users rely on this on the query panel for enabling synchronization.
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| WebI |
The option is lost during conversion. For WebI, this should be done at the universe level, but for local sources, you have to edit cells containing trailing blanks. On 4.0 release, you can do "merge on variable" which will enable deleting the leading/trailing blanks then merging in the report.
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Option of "Do not retrieve data"
| DeskI |
In DeskI, this helps you to build the report structure without retrieving the data.
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| WebI |
The option is lost during conversion. In WebI, you can accomplish the behavior in a different approach. Beside the "Close" button on the Edit query panel, there is an arrow, click on the arrow, you will find two options: one is "Apply changes and close", the other is "Revert changes and close". If you choose the first one, you go to the edit report mode, and you can build the report structure without retrieving the data.
Besides, on 4.0 release, you can also build report firstly then mapping cells with objects from data provider. |
Option of "Do not generate SQL before running"
| DeskI |
This is a setting in DeskI when defining the query.
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| WebI |
The setting is removed during conversion. In WebI, there is a option: "Use custom SQL", which also prevents the edited SQL from being overwritten.
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Filter on a formula
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can apply Filter on a formula.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can create a variable and apply the filter on the variable, during comversion, a variable is created and the filter is applied to the variable automatically.
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Windows OLE objects
| DeskI |
DeskI can contain Windows OLE objects.
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| WebI |
WebI doesn't support it, during conversion, the OLE objects are changed into GIF format.
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Picture format
| DeskI |
In DeskI, the embeded picture is stored in TIFF format.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the static picture is converted to GIF format.
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Dynamic Picture or OLE object
| DeskI |
DeskI supports dynamic Picture or OLE object, for example, path computed at runtime or using "Read as pictures" properties.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the dynamic picture or object is deleted.
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Page setup options
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you may setup the page options for each document.
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| WebI |
During conversion, original page setup options are lost and default Web Intelligence page options are applied.
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Date format
| DeskI |
DeskI's date format is a little bit different from that of WebI.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the date is changed to an equivalent Web Intelligence format according to the mappings.
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Cell shading
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can have cells shading with gray scale and pattern.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the shading is removed. In webi you can use background images for similar effect. Any background image can be added to the cell.
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Variable description
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can define the description for each variable.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the description is removed. As a workaround, you can create another variable to store the description, or put the description in a free-standing cell.
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User defined grouping of values in a variable
| DeskI |
In DeskI, it is a handy shortcut for creating custom views, it is to create a variable with values to denote subsets of list of value of another dimension. For example, when the dimension City has list of value: New York,DC,Los Angeles,Seattle, you can createa variable with two value:"East cities"(which denotes New York and DC)and "West cities"(which denotes Los Angeles and Seattle).
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| WebI |
During conversion the variable is changed into formulaes with if-then-else statement. WebI doesn't has a shortcut for this functionality, when there are numerous values, the if-then-else approach might be complicated, especially when defining it manually, users may consider to handle the value grouping at the universe level or database level.
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Series color in Charts
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can define the color for data series.
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| WebI |
During conversion, the original relationship between a series and its color is lost.
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Stored Procedure as data provider
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can use stored Procedure as data provider directly.
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| WebI |
For WebI, you need to create universe based on stored Procedure, then create create report on top of the universe. Actually, creating universe on Strored Procedure which is much preferred by IT and Administrator people. During conversion, a DeskI document based on stored precedure is converted into two parts, one is a universe based on the stored procedure, the other is a WebI document based on the new generated universe.
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Multi-column table
| DeskI |
In DeskI, like the feature of muliple column in Microsoft Word, you can display a narrow table in multiple columns within one page. (Workflow: Right-Click on a table > Table Format > General > Columns
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| WebI |
In WebI, there is not direct feature, a possible workaround is with index number and filters, as long as the amount of data is not fluctuating too much. For example, when creating two columns within each page, first, duplicate the table, make the first table display rows with odd row index number, make the second table display rows with even row index number.
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Relative position by setting negative number
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can set position of tables/charts related to other tables, charts by setting negative numbers. And it enables a bit more flexibility for some report layout tasks.
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| WebI |
In WebI, negative number on relative position is not allowed, but you can use the other table/chart as refrence to set positive numbers relative position.
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Center across page
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can enables cells, tables, charts to be centered relative to page edges.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you need to manually set it.
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Conditional hide section, table/chart, cell, dimension
| DeskI |
In DeskI, this enables hiding content based on thresholds.
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| WebI |
In WebI, on XI3.1, there is workaround that columns can be hidden by using Alerters, when condition true (set always true) then apply formula to swap object in that same column. BI 4.0 release provides the conditional hiding functionality.
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4. Comparison on usability features
In this section, we will list the difference on usabilitiy features between the DeskI and WebI, which donot affect the conversion, but affect the ways of report authoring and consuming.
Data manager
| DeskI |
In DeskI, the feature data manager provides the following functionalities:
1. display all queries and data providers; 2. display the summary of each query, including date/time of last refresh, number of rows, duration; 3. display query results; 4. Set schedule for automatic query refresh; 5. Export data to CSV, XML file. |
| WebI |
For WebI, Data manager feature is delivered in 4.0. Furthermore, the query summary that can be even dipslayed and printed in a report. For scheduling refresh, WebI makes it through Inforview.
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Switch Universe
| DeskI |
When multiple data providers share the same universe, the universe is factorized and referenced only once in the document. Hence changing the universe of one Data Provider to another changes it for all Data Providers (given it was factorized).
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| WebI |
In WebI, you need to switch universes one by one on each Data Provider.
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Formula Editor usability
| DeskI |
In DeskI, the formula editor is context-sensitive, operators change according to the variables picked, which may help to guide formula creation.
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| WebI |
WebI is more static. Anyway, WebI users benefit from auto-complete the object/function based on first few characters for much faster creation, lowers likelihood of misspellings, also the help box doesn't let you launch help on operators (e.g. where clause). DeskI has the usability edge for formula creating, but both have certain advantages depending on the workflow and the ways functions are used.
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Invoke List of Value(LOV) in Formula editor
| DeskI |
In DeskI, it is a usability feature for adding items to "in list" operator.
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| WebI |
In WebI, type in manually, or simply capture LOV as copy paste from report output to formula dialog.
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Personal List of Values
| DeskI |
Personal List of Values(LOVs) are created in the universe, but can also be done from within a Deski report.
1.To define the personal list of value, the workflow is: on the Menu, click Tools > Universes > Lists of Values > select an object > select either corporate data or personal data > Edit. 2.In DeskI, you can view multiple columns LOVs as a hierarchy. The workflow is: Edit LOV query in the universe or from Tools > Universes > Lists of Values to have more than one object in the LOV query. When you then view the LOV, you will see the top level folder like Year, then you can expand it to select the Month, like the way to navigate a hierarchy. 3. You can use Personal Data Provider as a list of values for a given report. |
| WebI |
In WebI, you may edit the list of value at the universe level.
On 4.0 release: 1. WebI enable native hierarchies off OLAP sources. 2. You can have multidimensionality on relational sources as well. 3. You can use personal data provider as a list of values. 4. You can define the List of value by inputing values on the Information Design tool directly. |
User-defined hierarchies
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you may create User-defined hierarchies to override the default ones from universe.
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| WebI |
For WebI, the hierarchies(aka. navigation path in 4.0 release) are defined centrally in universe, then the business users who consume the universes don't have to understand data structure on the database layer. Anyway, you can always simply drag in relevant details instead of drill, or build formulas to display hierarchies in different ways. Alternatively, in 4.0 WebI will support true hierarchies defined in OLAP data source.
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Predefined custom sort by days of week, month
| DeskI |
In DeskI, this is shortcut for arranging common time dimensions (days, months)
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| WebI |
WebI can do manually with up/down "arrows".
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Adding subtotal and percentage of total on the Rank definition panel
| DeskI |
In DeskI, it is a shortcut for adding subtotal and percentage of totalcontent to table on the Rank definition panel.
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| WebI |
In webi, you have to define formula.
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Scale to page when printing
| DeskI |
In DeskI, this helps users to print content onto one page
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| WebI |
In WebI there is no workaround on XI3.l. The feature is available on BI 4.0 release.
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Search in document
| DeskI |
DeskI can find: specific values in large document
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| WebI |
WebI can find: specific values in the same page and display the total occurances. To search in the whole document, use "page content" in quick display mode to display up to 1000 rows per virtual page then users can search for keywords. And administrator can increase the default max rows per "virtual page" allowable to enables less page scrolling.
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Split window pane to freeze headers
| DeskI |
In DeskI, the feature is useful for navigating very large tables
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| WebI |
WebI doesn't suport it. In WebI 3.1 SP2 and greater, you may apply a workaround to make the table header displayed when browsing a large table, that is to use input control to scroll by row index number.
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Templates
| DeskI |
In deskI, templates enable Query results to be poured into formatted reports.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can define default style for corporate graphical charter.
Use default config file to define report's look and feel, which is to edit WebiDefaultStyleSheet.css - It is Stored on server for global modification - It uses standard Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) format For New Documents The file affects the following format: Backgrounds, fonts color, sizes, margins, spacing, color table headers/footers, cells, cell content page headers/footers, Sections titles For existing documents : You may perform manual conversion using « Clear Format » command Besides, WebI provides the usability of Format Painter which enable users to copy the format from one object to another. |
Structure view
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you have to go to multiple places (Slice and Dice panel shows sorts, breaks,filters)
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| WebI |
In WebI, structure view indicates if blocks have filters/sorts/breaks & positioning and enables sizing sections. It is time-saving features for full time authors.
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Universe refresh
| DeskI |
You may refresh universe in DeskI, this requires the end-user to know that the universe should be refreshed.
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| WebI |
WebI doesn't support it since universe authors typically refresh the universe themselves.
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Image scaling over the web
| DeskI |
Deski supports image scaling.
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| WebI |
WebI Rich client supports it, but web-based Webi doesn't enable it due to an issue with HTML to handle images over the web.
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Duplicate variables
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you have to create them from scratch.
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| WebI |
In WebI, it is shortcut for reusing complicated variables if you only need to change a small part.
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View overall report structure map
| DeskI |
In deski, you have to view structure report by report, not all-in-one presentation of report elements.
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| WebI |
In webi, may view overall report structure map for ease of maintenance (view structure, calculations/variables, filters). It's dHTML only for now.
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Prompt Order
| DeskI |
In deski, you have to delete and recreate in order to change the prompt order.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can change the order of prompts.
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User experience for prompts
| DeskI |
DeskI does enable keyboard entry, no search for DeskI Prompt List of values, must select from list.
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| WebI |
WebI enables: Cleaner graphical user experience for prompts, search in List of Values (+match case option), type unique value option instead of search long list.
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Change object qualification for personal data
| DeskI |
In Deski, you have to alter incoming excel to redefine the number type in Excel
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can change object qualification for personal data. This is necessary for enabling synchronization displays.
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Synchronized Data Providers
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you have to click and scroll for each object to see if another object might be synchronized with it.
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| WebI |
In WebI, to define Synchronized Data Providers, you can view all in one window, view synchronized values, add new object to synchronization list, etc. This is a superior user experience for managing complex synchronization within a document.
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Copy/paste tables as text into Office document
| DeskI |
In Deski, you have to save entire report as Excel to be able to reuse a specific table.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can copy/paste tables as text into Office document, or drag and drop either table or chart into Office. It is common task for business users to pull out parts of a report as needed to put into Office applications.
Cut/Copy/Paste of Tables and Charts has been improved in BI4.0. For power users looking to reuse existing contents to create another analysis or another report: Copy Paste 1 table or 1 Chart to another document: uses mechanism of Shared Objects. For business users looking to share and comment content from WebI reports: Copy Paste 1 Table or 1 Chart to external application (Office), copied block is now an html format element, can be modified in target application (tables only, charts are images). The feature is available in WRC and Java Report Panel for BI4.0. |
Save report to my computer as HTML
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can save the document as HTML format.
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| WebI |
Webi is by default over the web, so saving content specifically to HTML is not requested. Webi can save as csv file which addresses vast majority of workflows. In 4.0, WebI will enable copy/paste between WebI and Office with formatting.
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Save report to my computer as CSV (data)
| DeskI |
DeskI can not save report data to CSV, but can save data from each Data Provider to CSV file from Data manager.
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| WebI |
WebI can save data from each Data provider, moreover WebI can save as csv from report side that will save all Data Providers in a report into one csv file.
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Save report to my computer as TXT
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can save report to my computer as TXT
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| WebI |
Webi can save as csv which addresses vast majority of workflows. Then CSV can be overwritten to replace comma with a different delimiter.
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Save report to my computer as RTF
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you can save report to my computer as RTF, and keep formatting of table and values.
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| WebI |
Webi can save as csv, or save as Excel to keep the formatting. These address vast majority of workflows. In 4.0, WebI will enable copy/paste between WebI and Office with formatting.
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Publishing delivery rules
| DeskI |
Delivery rules affect how documents in publications are processed and distributed. When you set delivery rules on documents, you indicate that the publication will be delivered to recipients only if the content in the documents meets certain conditions. For DeskI documents, you can specify a formula expression. You can also set a delivery rule based on whether the personalized publication contains any data.
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| WebI |
WebI doesn't support the publishing delivery rule. Anyway the Crystal report is an option if you need the functionality.
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Publishing Method
| DeskI |
During Publishing, the data in documents is refreshed against data sources and personalized before the publication is delivered to recipients. This combined process is known as "report bursting". DeskI has the option of "One database fetch for each batch of recipients", this report bursting method uses the data source logon credentials of the publisher to refresh data. The batches are based on the personalization values you specified for the recipients.
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| WebI |
WebI publication with dynamic recipient only has two options: "One database fetch for all recipients" and "One database fetch per recipient".
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Send by email in Excel, PDF, csv format
| DeskI |
Deski can send .rep by email, for other format, cannot send directly from DeskI user interface.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can send document by email in Excel, PDF, csv format. This is a shortcut for rich client users.
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Schedule to Printer
| DeskI |
Deski can schedule output to a printer.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can schedule to PDF against an unmanaged disk and write a script to send the PDF to a printer.
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Export to XML
| DeskI |
Deski can export data provider to XML format
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| WebI |
WebI doesn't support it directly, but you can accomplish it with Extension Point.
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5. Optimizing the converted documents
For some functionalities, which you have to apply workarounds in DeskI, now you may enjoy direct features in WebI. After a DeskI documents are successfully converted to WebI, you may refer to this section and see if there are some parts of the documents can be optimized in WebI.
Create custom formula functions
| DeskI |
In Deski, possible via VBA but not integrated the same way and not available for all clients at once via server.
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| WebI |
It is very well integrated within WebI, new functions appear directly as functions in formula editor.
(To know the Creation of external function, you may refer to the document in the linkhttp://help.sap.com/businessobject/product_guides/boexir31SP2/en/xi31_sp2_webi_calc_ext_en.pdf) |
Optional Prompts
| DeskI |
DeskI doesn't support optional prompt, a workaround is to select all values in prompts, which is much less performant.
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| WebI |
In WebI, when a prompt is set as optional, when the prompt is not answered, WebI refines the query by removing the filter.
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Merge cells
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you have to accomplish it through formatting tricks.
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| WebI |
In WebI, it is a common formatting feature. The workflow is to right-Click on the cells you want to merge and select "Merge".
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Ranking in Queries (aka database ranking)
| DeskI |
DeskI cannot do it within Query, you have to rank within report or use a combination of query sort and defining row limits.
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| WebI |
In Webi, you can do it as long as the underlying Database supports it.
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Show/hide table when empty
| DeskI |
In DeskI, you have to use manually created conditional formatting.
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| WebI |
In BI 4.0, this feature is available out-of-the-box. In XI3.l, you have to use the Show when empty checkbox
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Support for Measure aggregation delegated to Database
| DeskI |
In Deski, you have to retrieve grouping sets from different levels of hierarchy, then synchronize on common dimension. Otherwise, it leads to DeskI not handling some kinds of aggregation such as ratios very well and generating wrong results.
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| WebI |
WebI supports the feature known as smart measures.
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Define relative/absolute positioning to single cells
| DeskI |
DeskI doesn't support this, you can fake this by using tables as single cells and getting rid of the body cells to keep just the header.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you can do it, it is needed for creating sophisticated report layouts.
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Ranking cumulative sum
| DeskI |
In deski, you need use formula to rank cumulative sum.
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| WebI |
In WebI, you have direct support for this common analysis view.
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Table setting for alternative row colors
| DeskI |
In Deski, you have to use alerters to conditionally format the rows to accomplish this.
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| WebI |
In WebI, It is default setting for ease of reading.
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Alerter on multiple conditions
| DeskI |
In DeskI, an alerter can only contain one object, if you want to create an alerter like: <Revenue> < 5000) and (<Expenses> > 500, you have to use an extra variable, the steps are:
First create the variable to express the condition: <Variable1> = (<Revenue> < 5000) and (<Expenses> > 500) Second add an alerter with the condition: <Variable1> = 1 |
| WebI |
In WebI, an alerter can contain conditions on multiple objects, so no additional local variable is required. After the document is conversted into WebI, you may modify it and optimize the alerter accordingly.
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I am sharing this usefull info read from SAP site.
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