SAP HANA Reporting
Welcome to the reporting section of TeachMeHANA. The whole reason most database modeling is done is to ensure that a data-set emerges at the end which contains all the relevant information to create a report or any other application on top of it. This SAP HANA reporting section would elaborate how the commonly used reporting tools/applications connect and communicate with SAP HANA.
Disclaimer: This section would not be a training on reporting tools. This is a SAP HANA tutorial website and hence this section would be more about understanding how commonly used reporting tools connect to SAP HANA. We would build simple reports on each of them to establish a basic understanding of the look and feel of each of these tools.
Different worlds on SAP HANA Reporting
There are different reporting options on top of SAP HANA. Different connectors can help reporting tools reach the underlying views in this database. Each of them would have their own way of connecting. I have categorized the major reporting tools as below:
1. SAP Business Objects Suite
SAP’s own reporting tool-set – SAP BO or SAP BOBJ or SAP Business Objects as it’s called is a collection of different distinct tools – each catered towards specific use cases. I won’t get into the history of how SAP acquired Business Objects (which you can find easily online) but I would say that it is the preferred tool reporting tool especially in SAP oriented landscapes. This is because SAP optimizes Business Objects to have the best connectivity with its own back end applications/databases like SAP HANA. We would go through different business objects tools and their connectivity to SAP HANA throughout the course of this SAP HANA Reporting section.
2. Third party reporting tools
This can include MS Excel as well as other non-SAP tools like Qlikview, Tableau, etc. Most of these have the ability to connect to any database and also HANA. Although they may offer beautiful reporting solutions, since they are non-SAP tools, there may exist potential issues and SAP might offer limited support in these situations. Companies might still want to use it due to existing licenses or due to the fact that SAP Business Objects license would be too expensive for them.
3. Web based applications/reports
These are online portals which run using the information stored in SAP HANA. As described in the SAP HANA architecture document HANA has an XS engine which allows data to be fed to these portals in real-time.
Types of reports in SAP Business Objects
Reports can broadly be classified into three categories.
1. Agile Visualization/Data Discovery
This form of reporting is referred to as “Discover, Predict, Create” model. These tools provide business users with a simple experience to independently ask and answer business questions on the fly
3 major tools to be used are for such requirements are:
- SAP Lumira
- SAP Business Objects Explorer
- SAP Business Objects Analysis
2. Dashboard & Apps
This form of reporting is used to provide the user with an interactive reporting experience
The 2 tools to be used are for such requirements are:
- SAP Business Objects Design Studio
- SAP Business Objects Dashboards (formerly Xcelsius)
SAP Recommends Adopting Design Studio as the primary tool to create for creating dashboards and applications, for both Web and mobile deployment for new implementations. Hence, Design studio will be the primary and only Dashboard tool discussed in this SAP HANA reporting section.
3. Operational Reporting
This form of BO tools will be used to share information and are optimized for high-volume reporting and publishing
The 2 tools to be used are for such requirements are:
- SAP Business Objects Web Intelligence
- SAP Crystal Reports
A SAP HANA developer may not be required to be an expert on these reporting tools but knowing how to interface to these tools is quite important. It helps you understand how reporting tools talk to SAP HANA which in turn helps you better understand the solution you work on and also allows you to grow as an architect who designs solutions for clients as well.
This ends our introduction to SAP HANA Reporting. We will now start out journey in understanding how SAP HANA connects to these tools one by one.
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