All of the documents and files in your SAP BusinessObjects BI platform are considered objects. Examples of objects include hyperlinks, shortcuts, SAP Crystal Reports, and Web Intelligence documents.
BI Launch Pad uses tabs to display the main navigation interfaces, the Home tab and the Documents tab, and any objects that you open for viewing or editing.
When you select a document in the Documents tab for viewing or editing, it opens in its own tab. From the tab, you can launch the document in its own window if necessary.
When you view a Crystal report or Web Intelligence document in BI Launch Pad, your user rights and the default settings chosen by your administrator determine the data that you see. You can view the report with data directly from the data source, the latest instance of the object, or its saved data. If you have the necessary rights, you can also refresh the report or document with new data from its data source.
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How you view an object can affect what is displayed:
• If you view a dynamic content document (for example, a Crystal Report or a Web Intelligence document) by double-clicking the object in the List panel, the latest instance of the document opens. If the latest instance is unavailable, the object itself opens.
• If you view an object by clicking View → View, the object opens.
• If you click View → View Latest Instance, the latest instance opens.
• If you view a publication or program object, BI Launch Pad will display the object properties if the latest instance is unavailable.
Pinning a Tab
If you have documents that you view frequently, you can pin them for future viewing to the user interface. Pinned objects remain open as tabs the next time you log on to BI Launch Pad.
Managing Objects
There are two ways in which objects are organized in SAP BusinessObjects BI platform: by folders and categories. Objects must belong to a folder, and they can only belong to one. Categories are an alternate method of organizing objects;
objects do not need to be assigned to a category, and can be assigned to several categories.
Folders and categories can be public (or corporate) or personal. Public or corporate folders/categories can be seen by any BI Launch Pad user who has the necessary rights, and you can add or edit objects in them only if you have the necessary rights to do so. Personal categories or your My Favorites folders are for your use; you can create new folders and categories and arrange objects within them as you wish.
These are private and cannot be seen or altered by other BI Launch Pad users.
Hint: Right-click the title of an object to access all of the actions you can perform on the object.
If you have the necessary rights, you can create and add objects to BI Launch Pad from your local computer. BI Launch Pad also allows you to make copies of objects and save them in folders you have the necessary rights to and to move objects from one folder to another.
Sorting and Filtering Objects
By default, objects are sorted alphabetically by title. However, BI Launch Pad also lets you sort and filter objects according to other criteria. When you click the column heading, the system sorts the objects in ascending order. If you click the column heading again, it sorts the objects in descending order.
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© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2012TBI30 Lesson: Working in BI Launch Pad
To apply a more complex sort, point to the column header that you want to sort or filter on. A funnel icon appears adjacent to the column header name. Click the funnel icon and configure your options accordingly. Depending on the column, the available options may vary.
Searching in BI Launch Pad
Platform search is an optimized search tool, which allows you to run a search by using techniques similar to that used in other search engines. It looks for matches between your input and the keyword, title, description, owner information, and content of objects.
After you perform a search, it is displayed in the Search drawer.
Figure 12: Searching in BI Launch Pad
The following table describes searchable content for each object type.
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Unit 1: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform TBI30
Object type Searchable content
SAP Crystal Reports
• Universe filter names
• Saved data
• Constants in the filter conditions defined in the document
• Universe measure names
• Universe objects names
• Data in record set
• Static text in cells Microsoft Excel files
• Data
• Document properties (title, subject, author, company, category, keywords, and comments)
• Header and footer text
• Calculation and formula values
• Number and date/time values Word documents
• Text
• Document properties (title, subject, author, company, category, keywords, and comments)
• Header and footer text
• Numerical values RTF, PDF, PowerPoint, and TXT files Text
• Agnostic object Metadata
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© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2012TBI30 Lesson: Working in BI Launch Pad
• Analysis views
• BI Workspaces
• Dashboard Design objects
• Discussions
• Events
• Flash objects
• Lifecycle Management Console jobs
• Metadata (from Information Designer)
• Modules
• Object packages
• Profiles
• Program objects
• Publications
• Universes
• Widgets
• Workspaces (created in SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, edition for OLAP)
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Unit 1: SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence Platform TBI30
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© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2012TBI30 Lesson: Working in BI Launch Pad