BEx Broadcaster at International Paper

1. BEx Broadcaster at International Paper Dr. Bjarne Berg Joyce Redmon MyITgroup Ltd. International Paper

2. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using the BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

3. Learning Points In this session we will explore practical usage of the BEx Broadcasting tool based on our experience at International Paper You will learn: - What can Broadcaster do for you - What are the limitations and issues we have found - How did we implement the tool and what have we learned

4. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using the BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

5. IP Project Overview and Scope Leading global paper & forest products company $24 billion in revenues 69,000 employees Executing major transformation #70 in Fortune 500 Sales in 120 countries

6. Improve Supply Chain

7. IP Project Overview and Scope Delivering access to reporting through the Web is International Paper’s preferred delivery method to the end users. However our end users in certain roles required different availability to business intelligence. We had to: • Ensure positive end user experience with tool set • Maintain consistent look and feel for all our customers no matter how they are using the tool set • Broadcasting added to our toolset portfolio options. We also needed centralization and standardization of Corporate naming standards

8. What Is BEx Information Broadcasting? Broadcasts can be configured to run: • Once only • On a schedule basis (every day, week, month) • During specific timeslots defined by the administrator • Or any time (if you allow) • When an event occurs i.e. when an “exception” occurs, • As part of a process chain You tell the system whether to send: • A link to regenerate the query, etc. based on live data, or • A standalone (pre-calculated) version of the item • There are several format and compression options

9. What Is BEx Information Broadcasting? It’s a standard part of SAP BW 3.5 and higher. It lets you send “reports”, i.e., BEX queries, Workbooks & Web Applications • Email addresses, BW users, BW roles • SAP Enterprise Portal Knowledge Management folders • SAP Enterprise Portal Collaboration Rooms

10. Why do We Believe Broadcasting So Valuable? • Reduces the time our users spend looking for information • Improves the like likelihood that users will use our BI data • Expands the reach of BI data to non-BW users as well! • Makes BW data available for users on the go “Casual” users, non-BW users, travelling users, and executives are all prime candidates for our broadcasted reports!

11. Different Needs and Tools IP has rolled out Broadcaster gradually to developers and power users. We do not currently allow end users to use the wizard on the context menu Key concept: Push Vs. Pull. Broadcasting is a Push tool

12. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using the BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

13. The BEx Broadcaster BEx Broadcaster is a more in-depth tool than the wizard. We give it to the powerusers & developers, since it have more options and requires slightly more skills. We can get to the BEx Broadcaster two ways: The Query Designer The Web Application Designer

14. Regular Scheduling by PowerUsers using BEx Broadcaster Through this tool let powerusers and developers broadcast content to specific BW users, roles, email addresses or email groups and in a set language. They can also make the broadcast user specific. We let all powerusers use the authorized access through a business specific system user.

15. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format Independent HTML file We can use this option to send a single HTML file (standard static web page). This is an easy way to send webpages that can be used by handheld devices (i.e. Blackberry or PocketPCs), and also by custom web applications. The report is a snapshot vs. "live" data

16. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format (cont.) However International Paper has determine the Independent HTML file option is not a good fit for our Lotus Notes email system as formatting is an issue and the file sizes are very large.

17. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format (cont.) HTML as Separate MIME Files This option results in a set of individual files for each web item in your report. The benefit of this standard web format option is that it optimizes reuse of objects, as images are cached in the browser after being accessed for the first time.

18. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format (cont.) Online links back to current Data The link back to the on-line source (requires recipients to log on with a username and a password to see the content, but can see the latest data). This is the most secure method for protecting the access to your date. However, the recipient must have on-line access back to your system, have a username and password. The recipient may not see the same as what we believe we sent him, since the data may have been refreshed since the broadcast was sent.

19. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format (cont.) This is what a recipient of an on-line web link see. Text can also be added by the sender. Pros: Formatting is not an issue, smallest file size. Cons: User must have connection to the BW system and security access

20. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format (cont.) Zipping the files reduces size of the distribution files and help network traffic: • It is very good for MIME files, which tends to be many and relative large. • Not a good option for handhelds (requires unzipping, and several read steps) • Normally not needed for single HTML files unless the report is very long • Reduces network traffic and the size of the mail in the mailboxes.

21. Step 1 – Choose an Output Format (cont.) PROs: Formatting is not an issue and file size much smaller Cons: Not as easy to use as you have to unzip the file. You also need licensing for the unzip program

22. Step 2 – Identify Recipients and Enter a Message Enter one or more email addresses, a subject, and body. The 'importance' level will flag the email for delivery to your recipient. Click Continue to save and schedule the broadcast to execute later… OR Click Schedule to execute the broadcast once only, during the next available processing window and exit... Adding comments in the 'contents' area makes the query much more understandable for our recipients…

23. Step 3 – Define A Name For the “Broadcast Setting” • This is the name under which your settings are stored • If you want to execute this broadcast more than once, with these settings, you can save the settings. • You can retrieve the settings later. Define groups of settings for reports you send repeatedly (i.e., weekly status reports, month-end financial reports, etc.)

24. Step 4 – Tell the System When to Schedule the Broadcast We can schedule the job to run every time the infocube is changed (the process chain has run) We can limit the users to when they can schedule jobs to avoid stress on the system. We can provide multiple pre-defined times when they can schedule the reports. We can also allow the users to create their own scheduling times (Only authorized users see this) International Paper has elected not to allow our power users to create new scheduling for background processes. This is to ensure the data load jobs are not impacted by the broadcaster

25. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using the BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

26. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using the BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

27. BEx Broadcaster - Exception Reporting If a certain exception has occurred, or if a certain level has been reached, we can make the broadcaster send an exception report. First we have to define the exceptions for the query and make the exception 'active'.

28. BEx Broadcaster - Exception Reporting In BEx Broadcaster we can select the pre-calculation tab and ask to be alerted only when we reach a certain minimum level of the exception. Don't spend time monitoring 'business as usual' activities, only get alerted when exceptions occur And don't search for exceptions, send them automatically to you.

29. BEx Broadcaster - Filters If you pre-calculating a web template, you have the ability to specify a control query to be used in the pre-calculation of the navigation filters. This is a great feature, when you have specific queries that contains the navigation filers that you want to broadcast. The benefit of the Filter Navigation tab is that you can select which items you want to enable, without having to create new queries.

30. Broadcasting to the Portal The Broadcast options are similar to the email distribution. We have several choices: 1 - Deploy via KM “Favorites” 4 - Deploy via the “BW Showcase” role 2 - Deploy via a KM Folder 5 - Deploy via a custom iViews that you define 3 - Deploy Via Collaboration rooms Broadcasting to the Portal is currently not in the scope of the International Paper project

31. Security and Encryption Controlling who can schedule ad-hoc, or through the BEx Broadcaster is a critical maintenance issue. You can control the user's ability to schedule the reports, through the authorization object S_RS_BCS (the administrator still uses the standard S_RS_ADMWB object). You also have new broadcast settings for the RSADMWBOBJ field. These settings include: Maintain/Delete (23), Display (03) and Execute/Schedule (16).

32. Creating Timepoints Creating timepoints Background jobs can be created (transaction SM36) to schedule any jobs starting with the text "TP_BROADCASTING_".

33. Creating Timepoints (cont.)

34. Broadcasting using the Reporting Agent You can also use the traditional reporting agent to mail pre-calculated reports to a variety of targets. IMPORTANT: “Old Reporting Agent scenarios still run in NetWeaver 2004s. However, the Reporting Agent will not be developed any further and is removed from the 2004s Workbench. In BI 7.0 you can only reach the Reporting Agent using transaction code REPORTING_AGENT” – SAP Dec. 2005

35. Workbook pre-calculation - what do you need? Use transaction RSPRECADMIN in the BW administrator workbench to get to the pre-calculation settings. You also need one server with: • MS-Office XP (or .net framework version 1.1 or higher) • MS-Excel-2000 (or higher) • SAP BW workbook pre-calculation services (on standard BW install CDs). Note: servers with this installed will be visible under the transaction 'RSPRECADMIN' and you can also perform server load balancing. • GUI v. 6.20 with BEx (or higher) This is not needed for standard broadcasting of web queries or web applications, only for workbooks.

36. Cool programs for Managing Broadcaster There are some programs that can help you manage the SAP BEx Broadcaster : RSRD_BOOKMARK_REORGANISATION is a program which can be used for reorganizing and deleting bookmark IDs and view IDs that were created for Information Broadcasting by the system and are no longer needed.

37. Transaction codes for Managing Broadcaster RSRD_LOG - This displays all logs for BEx Broadcaster settings. Logs are only written for scheduled settings and not for settings executed directly. RSRD_START - Using transaction RSRD_START, you can execute (and therefore debug for test purposes) any settings. Make sure that the indicator for executing settings online is activated.

38. Cool programs for Managing Broadcaster There are some programs that can help you manage the SAP BEx Broadcaster : RSBCSRE03 - Deleting email logs created by broadcaster. In large BW systems with many users and frequent broadcasts, the logs can be really big and should be deleted periodically Latest News:With SAP NetWeaver 2004s, there is a new transaction RSRD_ADMIN (or rsa1 -> Administration -> Broadcasting), where you can view your schedules.

39. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using the BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

40. International Paper’s implementation of Broadcast functionality • Authorization was only given to a select group of trained power users from the business with rules to follow. • These same power users can create the necessary queries to broadcast (broadcast queries are often not be the same as the queries on the role menu). This is due to the query differences for push versus pull. The push queries typically do not have variables or variables determined by user exits from system information. • The business owns the creation and maintenance of the broadcast jobs. This puts the responsibility on the business to ensure the data is not improperly distributed and the broadcast jobs are updated with people change positions. Using mail groups instead of adding each user to the broadcast job may make these changes easier

41. International Paper’s implementation of Broadcast functionality The broadcast option to “execute with change of infoprovider” must be added to the process chains as a new process. We elected to add this to the end of our process chain for all infoproviders to ensure the broadcast jobs do not compete for system resources. This works for International Paper as our nightly data loads complete around 8 am each day. The option to allow the power user to create there own batch schedules was removed. If they need a new scheduled time they must contact IT for the same reason as item above. The key is to balance the times when jobs can be executed. If this is not carefully, all users tends to schedule their broadcast between 7 and 9 am each morning.

42. Spam filters and server blockers Users that create a high volume of emails may be automatically blocked by spam filters in the browsers and mail servers. You will have to make sure that the internal email system have flagged you as a valid email broadcaster. Review regularly that mail systems such as Yahoo, Google, AOL, Microsoft and others have not flagged all your emails as spam.

43. What We’ll Cover • International Paper Project Overview and Scope • Using BEx Broadcaster • Demo • Broadcaster Advanced Options • How we made it work in practice • Lessons learned at International Paper

44. Lessons learned: Avoid Tons of Junk Mail Users have a tendency to schedule queries for distribution and never disable the schedule after it has started to run. This creates mountains of junk that few actually use. Users who don't want a broadcast tends to simply delete it, or automatically removes the email. So, how do you know if anyone reads the broadcasts? A process to review and control internal "spam-kings' have to be established. Hint: use the transaction codes 'SCOT' and 'SOST' to monitored SMTP mails. A periodic review of scheduled broadcasts should be performed by the developers to see if there are any candidates for deletion.

45. Lessons learned: KPI and exception reporting A major challenge in setting up the BEx Broadcaster for exception reporting is the definition of what an exception is. This is setup in the query and used by the broadcaster. NOTE: If the query does not define the exception the way that a user wants it, it is not available to broadcast as an exception. Exception reporting require that a query is executed to see if it should be broadcasted. This overhead can be substantial if you have a high number of users 'monitoring' different queries

46. Key Learnings • Do not schedule all your broadcasts after a process chain has completed. It is tempting but may slow down nightly data loads. • Control the times users can run reports to avoid too high stress on the system. • Segment the broadcast tools based on the user roles and level of training. • Monitor the logs carefully and make sure that "spam-kings" are controlled. • Do not give free scheduling to a high number of users. • Be aware that spam filters may catch many of your broadcasts.

47. Heads-up: New Broadcaster features of BI 2004s New Object TypesWe can broadcast BEx query views and formatted reports (“reports”) in addition to Web applications, queries and workbooks. Reports are a new BEx object type developed within the new BEx Report Designer tool. New Output FormatsNew output formats are based on the distribution type we select. But, we now can broadcast web documents as PDF files. New Distribution TypesPrinters, masterdata and cache is added as distribution types.

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