Introducing the BI Launch Pad User Interface

Before you can log on to the BI Launch Pad application, you must have Microsoft Chromium Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox ESR or Apple Safari installed on your computer.

Follow these steps to log on to BI Launch Pad :

1. In a web browser, enter the URL for the BI Launch Pad.
   Note

   The URL should be http://WebServer:PortNumber/BOE/BI, where <WebServer> is the name of the web server for BI platform and <PortNumber> is the port number for the platform.

   If your system administrator has configured a custom URL for the BI Launch Pad, you may need to ask the administrator for the name of the web server, the port number, or the URL to enter.

   You don't have to enter a system name. However, some Enterprise systems may require it. 

2. If prompted, in the System Name field, enter the name of your Central Management Server (CMS).
3. In the User Name field and the Password field, enter your log on credentials.
4. Choose Sign In.

The Folders tile in the Home tab displays the reports that you have access to. The SAP BI Platform supports both Public and Personal Folders.

Public Folders are shared folders that are accessible to a few users in the organization.

Personal Folders, on the other hand, are private folders that are only accessible to the user who created them.

On expanding the tree view, sub folders and child folders are shown, if any. When you select a folder in the tree view, the folder gets highlighted, and its content is displayed.

The Categories tile in the Home tab displays the categories that you have access to.

The BI Launch Pad supports both Corporate and Personal Categories:

• Corporate Categories are accessible to all users and are typically created by a system administrator or by users who have appropriate access rights.
• Personal Categories allow you to organize your content objects.
• Hub Asset is a new corporate category in which the documents mapped to it are automatically pushed to SAP Analytics Hub as assets, which contain only document links.

The Documents tile in the Home tab shows all the content objects (such as reports and documents) present in the BI Launch Pad.

The BI Inbox in the Home tab lets you view and manage system alerts and administrator notifications.

In the BI Launch Pad, you can send the required report to recipient's BI Inbox. You can share the report to a single user or user group.

You can schedule an object to run automatically at specified times. When a scheduled object runs successfully, an instance is created. An instance is a version of the object that contains data when an object is run.

The Recycle Bin tile in the Home tab lists the deleted content objects.

When you delete a content object from the system, it is moved to the Recycle Bin, where it is temporarily stored until the Recycle Bin is emptied. This helps you to recover the accidentally deleted objects and restore them to their original locations.

The Favorites tab lists the content objects as favorites for easy accessibility.

When you mark an object as favorite, it is displayed in the Favorites tab flagged with the Favorite icon. You can deselect the Favorite icon to remove an object from the favorites.

The Recent Documents tab lists the recent documents that you have viewed.

The Recently Run tab allows you to view the recent document instances created for the scheduled content objects.

You can work with the following default applications available inside the BI Launch Pad:

• SAP Analytics Cloud
• Web Intelligence
• BI Workspace
• Information Steward

BI Launch Pad search enables you to search content within the SAP BI Platform Repository. The Search in the BI Launch Pad starts looking for matches as you enter search text.

As you type, the search looks for results that match words in the search text. Matches to search text are based on an object's keyword, title, description, and owner information. Quick search results appear at the top of the current page, and full results (after you press Enter) appear in a separate full results page.

When the search text matches words in an object’s title or description, matched words appear in bold type.

The following filters available in the Search drawer help you retrieve filtered views of the search results:

Refresh the content on the page.

The alert message appears as a notification pop-up on the top right corner in the BI Launch Pad screen. If the alert condition is met, the alert is triggered and the user receives notification according to the subscription settings.

The Web Assistant in the BI Launch Pad is a helpful feature that provides context-sensitive user assistance.

Here are the key points about the Web Assistant:

• The Web Assistant is a web-based help system designed to assist users within the application itself.
• When users click the Help icon, the Web Assistant overlays additional information directly on top of the current application screen.
• It ensures that users can quickly get started and find relevant information without leaving the application.

Through the User Settings, you can perform the following actions:

• Settings: Manage your user Settings.
• Edit Home Page: Use the Edit Home Page option to rearrange the tiles in the BI Launch Pad as per your usage and priorities, and mark files as Favorite.
• Help: Various help resources like product documentation (in PDF and HTML) formats, in-build help, and video tutorials are available to help you get accustomed with and use the BI Launch Pad application. You can access product documentation, such as the Business Intelligence Launch Pad User Guide, for your BI Launch Pad from the SAP Help Portal
•  About: Get an overview about the product.
• Log Out: When you have finished working in the BI Launch Pad, remember to close your session to improve system performance.