Saving and Scheduling a Workbook

You can save Analysis Workbooks or Presentations either on the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform or on the SAP BW Platform. Stored workbooks and presentations can be opened from both platforms. They can also be renamed or deleted on the platforms.

From the File → Analysis tab, you can save a workbook on the SAP BI Platform, the SAP BW platform, or as a local file. If you save a workbook to the BI platform, the workbook is saved as an Analysis Workbook object and can be shared and scheduled.

When you save to either platform, the data being analyzed in the workbook can be secured so that only appropriate personnel can see and interact with the data. The workbook is saved with the current navigation state and selected properties.

The workbook properties are part of the Component tab in the Design Panel. It is possible to save an Analysis with no data, typically to protect sensitive data. Either the workbook or the data sources of the workbook must be refreshed in order to see the data. We will discuss the Components tab in more detail in Unit 3.

You can also use standard Microsoft Excel functionality to save the workbook locally (or to a network drive) by choosing File → Save As. However, saving as a local file does not take advantage of any security profiles that exist in any BusinessObjects, BW, HANA, S/4HANA, SAP Datasphere, or SAP Analytics Cloud systems.

The SAP BW Report-Report Interface (RRI) allows you to configure a jump target from a BW query executed in Analysis. You can use the RRI to jump from the executed query (sender) to another report (receiver) containing more information. You can call targets in BW systems and even outside of the BW system.

Using either the SAP Business Intelligence (BI) Launch Pad or the Central Management Console (CMC), you can schedule Analysis workbooks to refresh at specified times. The flexible time-based scheduling system allows you to process large reports during off hours and to avoid unnecessary database hits.

You can also specify that the schedule wait for a particular event to occur before refreshing the workbook. A common event is that the database has successfully updated. These events are created by the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform system administrator.

When a scheduled object runs successfully, an instance is created. An instance is a version of the workbook that contains data from the time the object ran.

With scheduling, you can distribute Analysis workbooks stored on the BI platform repository. To open a distributed workbook, Analysis does not have to be installed. This allows you to make the workbooks available to a wide spectrum of users.

To schedule an Analysis workbook, the connection to the SAP BI Platform and any other SAP systems that are data sources for Analysis for Office must be configured as single sign-on.