Introduction to BI Launch Pad

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2 Introduction to BI Launch Pad

This session introduces SAP BusinessObjects BI Launch Pad by describing how to log into the environment, navigating around, and managing areas where you save your work.

2.1 Logging On

Your BI Launch Pad Log On screen is accessed through a browser using a dedicated URL pointing to your repository location. Contact your SAP BusinessObjects Administrator or Web Server Administrator to determine your site’s URL.

Getting to this page requires that the web server is active and that you have rights to view this page. Security rights to this page are handled through the web server and not through the SAP BusinessObjects repository.

Type in your User Name and Password provided by your administrator. In ‘Single Sign-On’ implementations there is no need to provide User Name and Password as your Windows ID is automatically used to Log On to BI Launch Pad.

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2.2 BI Launch Pad Home Page

When you first log on to BI Launch Pad, you retrieve the home page but you can select a different page to be your homepage by customising BI Launch Pad (see session on ‘Setting BI Launch Pad and Web Intelligence Preferences’). This page might also appear differently depending on how your administrator has configured BI Launch Pad and your privileges.

The BI Launch Pad default view is made up of:

Header Panel

Home Tab

o My Recently Viewed Documents panel

o My Recently Run Documents panel

o Unread Messages in My Inbox panel

o Unread Alerts panel

o My Applications panel

Documents Tab

Header Panel

My Recently Viewed

Documents

My

Applications

Home

Tab

Documents Tab

Unread Messages

in My Inbox

My Recently Run

Documents

Unread

Alerts

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2.2.1 Header Panel The Header Panel displays the logo and the user name of the account that you used to log on to BI Launch Pad. It also has a few menu items that you can use to perform the following actions:

Applications – You can launch the BusinessObjects applications you have access to use from here.

Preferences – Determine how you log on to BI Launch Pad and what view is displayed when you do. Preferences also control specific settings for the various objects that you view, such as viewers for Crystal Reports and view formats for Web Intelligence documents. As a best practice, you should set your preferences before you begin to work with objects in BI Launch Pad. However, depending on your deployment, your SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise Administrator may configure your system to use predetermined settings by default.

Help – Displays the online help for BI Launch Pad. About – Displays information about the version of SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise being used.

Log Off – Click to Log Off and return to Log On screen

Search box – Provides search functionality for objects stored in the repository. Search is performed on object names, descriptions, keywords, etc.

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2.2.2 Home Tab

The default Home tab is designed to offer quick access to the features you will probably work with most in SAP BusinessObjects. The tab contains 5 panels:

My Recently Viewed Documents Displays a list of the last ten documents that you have viewed. The most recently viewed document will be at the top of the list.

My Recently Run Documents Displays a list of the latest documents that you have run/scheduled. The status of the document instance is also shown (i.e. success/failure). If the schedule has been successful then clicking the document name will open the relevant instance. If the document has failed to run then clicking the document name will show more details related to the failure.

Unread Messages in My Inbox Documents can be sent to your SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.x inbox by other users, schedules or publications. Displays a list of the latest documents sent to your inbox. Click on a document name to view the document contents. If you have more unread documents in your inbox then click on ‘See More…’

Unread Alerts You can subscribe to Alerts, for example values in reports exceeding specified limits, or system alerts for monitoring the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise environment. Displays a list of the latest alerts. Click on the alert name to view more details of the alert. If you have more unread alerts then click on ‘See More…’

Applications You can launch the BusinessObjects applications you have access to use from here.

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2.2.3 Documents Tab

The Documents tab is designed for you to interact with all types of objects in the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise environment (such as folders, categories, documents, dashboards, etc). The Document tab:

Contains a Toolbar with the options View, New, Organize, Send, More Actions, and Details. The toolbar options are context sensitive depending on what is selected in the three panels.

Is made of three panels acting in a hierarchical manner to display content (Navigation \ List \ Details):

NOTE – By default the ‘Details Panel’ maybe be visible, so click on ‘Detail’ button to toggle the panel off/on.

A brief description of each of the panels is given below:

Navigation Panel This panel is designed for you to manage and locate your documents within the SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise environment. To enable this, the panel is organised into four drawers called My Documents, Folders, Categories, and Search.

List Panel Displays a list of objects belonging to the currently selected folder or category (in the Navigation Panel).

Details Panel Displays the details associated to the object/item currently selected in either the Navigation Panel, or the List Panel.

Navigation Panel List Panel Details Panel