How to Establish OLAP Connection in SAP BO Analysis

SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for OLAP relies on the OLAP connections defined in your SAP BusinessObjects BI platform for the connection to SAP NetWeaver BW. So before we are going to learn more about SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for OLAP, and the product capabilities, we will have to configure a new OLAP connection towards our SAP NetWeaver BW system.
1. Open the Central Management Console via Start > All Programs > SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise XI 4.0 > SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise  > SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Central Management Console 
2. Set the authentication method to SAP.

Establishing an OLAP Connection

 Central Management console Log on Diagram

[ Related Article: Analysis Edition for OLAP ]

Central Management console Log

3. Logon with your SAP credentials towards your SAP NetWeaver BW System

SAP Authentication

The usage of Single Sign-On for your OLAP Connection does require that your SAP BusinessObjects BI environment is configured with the SAP authentication. The setup and installation of SAP BusinessObjects BI 4 is not part of this book, as this is already covered in my book Integrating SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.x with SAP NetWeaver available with SAP Press.

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Central Management Console Home Diagram

Central Management Console Home Diagram

4. Select the entry OLAP connections in the category Organize.
5. Select the button in the toolbar to create a new connection 
OLAP Connection Diagram

 OLAP Connection Diagram

6. Enter your system details according to below OLAP Connection Details Table

Element Name Description
Name Here you can enter a name for the OLAP connection. The name will then be shown to the user when creating a new workspace. Example: SAP BW
DescriptionHere you can enter a description for the OLAP Connection, which will be shown to the user when creating a new workspace. Example: SAP NetWeaver Demo InfoProvider
ProviderHere you need to select the type of data source that you will be using. In our example: SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse.
Server Type Here you can choose between an Application Server (Server) or a Message Server (Group) based connection, depending on your SAP landscape
SystemHere you need to enter the three digits System ID of the SAP server. Example: IH1
ServerHere you need to enter the fully qualified server name of the application server. The entry Server is only shown when you select the Server Type Server. Example: ihilgefort.dyndns.org
System Number Here you need to enter the two-digit system number of your SAP server. The entry System Number is only shown when you select the Server Type Server. Example: 01
Group NameHere you need to enter the name of the Logon Group configured for your SAP system. The entry Group Name is only shown when you select the Server Type Group. Example: PUBLIC
Message ServerHere you need to enter the fully qualified server name of the Message Server. The entry Message Server is only shown when you select the Server Type Group.
Example: ihilgefort.dyndns.org
Client    Here you enter the three-digit client number of your SAP system. Example: 100
Language Here you need to enter the language code that you would like to use to establish the connection to the SAP system. Example: EN
Save LanguageThe checkbox Save Language allows you to specify if the entered Language Code is being used always, or if the Preferred Viewing Local (configured in the user profile) is being used. When the option Save Language is activated, the entered Language Code is always used.
AuthenticationHere you can configure which type of Authentication is used. You can choose between Pre-defined, Prompt, and SSO. Pre-defined will require you to enter a user and password, which then will always be used. Prompt will result in a login dialog for all users when using this OLAP connection and the users will have to enter the credentials manually. SSO will leverage the entered SAP credentials and requires the users to be logged on with their SAP credentials.

   
7. Click Connect
8. You will then be asked to enter your SAP credentials to login into the SAP NetWeaver BW system.
9. Click OK.
10. You are presented with the cube browser (see Figure 4.5) showing all InfoArea from the SAP NetWeaver BW system. As we are going to use BEX QUERIES based on the SAP NetWeaver Demo model, we are selecting the SAP NetWeaver Demo model.

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[ Related Article: SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse ]

Cube Browser Diagram

Cube Browser Diagram

OLAP Connections

You can configure OLAP Connections to be based on the SAP NetWeaver BW system, on an InfoArea, on an InfoProvider, or on a single BEx query. When creating a workspace the user will always use a BEx query and depending on which level the OLAP Connection has been defined, will see a list of queries, or InfoProvider and queries, or even InfoArea.
For example, if the OLAP Connection has been defined on the InfoProvider level, like in our previous steps, the user will see all BEx queries available for this InfoProvider.

OLAP Connections & Authorizations:

Often people ask on which level they should define the OLAP Connections, and the answer depends to some degree also what has been defined in SAP NetWeaver BW already.
In case you are using naming conventions to limit access to InfoProvider and BEx queries already in SAP NetWeaver BW, a single OLAP Connection configured with Single Sign On (SSO) might be all that is needed. In case you are not using such naming conventions in SAP NetWeaver BW, you might have to create multiple OLAP Connections and use security settings in your SAP BusinessObjects BI platform to grant or deny access to certain OLAP Connections to your users.

  1. Set the Authentication to the option SSO.
  2. Click Save.
  3. Close the Central Management Console.

We know creating an OLAP Connection in the Central Management Console (CMC) and can use this connection in combination with SAP Business Objects Analysis, edition for OLAP. In the next section, we will use this newly created OLAP connection and create our very first workspace.

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