Introducing the BI Launch Pad User Interface

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to Explore the different elements of the BI Launch Pad interface.

The Different Elements of the BI Launch Pad

When you first log in to the BI Launch Pad, you see the default user interface, which you can customize for the tasks you perform.

The Home page of the BI Launch Pad contains the following elements:

  • The BI Platform Tool Bar allows you to navigate between different tabs like Home, Favorites, Recent Documents, Recently Run, and Applications.
  • The Global Navigation Bar allows you to traverse between User Settings, Help, Notifications, Refresh, and Search.

The new BI Launch Pad has a renewed user experience, designed to help you focus on your tasks with ease. The new interface allows you to create and manage your documents and files using elements such as panels, bars, windows, and tiles. Any arrangement of these elements together contributes to the user interface.

The BI Platform Tool Bar

Home: Folders

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 typically created by a system administrator. Depending on your access rights, you can create Personal folders in the BI Launch Pad.

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.

Home: Categories

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.

Home: Documents

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

Home: BI Inbox

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.

Home: Instances

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.

Note

For more information, please refer to Lesson: Publishing and Scheduling Documents.

Home: Recycle Bin

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.

Favorites

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.

Recent Documents

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

Recently Run

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

Note

For more information, please refer to Lesson: Publishing and Scheduling Documents.

Applications

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

  • SAP Analytics Cloud
  • Web Intelligence
  • Crystal Reports for Enterprise
  • BI Workspace
  • Information Steward

The Global Navigation Bar

The following items are available in the Global Navigation Bar:

  • Search: Enables you to search content within the SAP BI Platform Repository.
  • Refresh: Refresh the content on the page.
  • Notifications: 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.
  • Web Assistant: It provides you a guided tour of the application.
  • User Settings: The drop-down allows you to access your account information and set personalization preferences.

BI Launch Pad Search

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.

BI Launch Pad 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.

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.

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