Sharepoint Integration Capability

SAP BusinessObjects XI3.1

Integration with SharePoint

(MOSS). BDI Systems capabilities on

Integrating BOBJ with SharePoint.

By- Vishal Venugopal, Founding Member, Sr Solutions Architect

Ranjit Krishnan, Solutions Architect.

BDI Systems & Technologies Pvt Ltd 3/29/2010

www.bdisys.com

COPYRIGHT © 2009 BDI Systems & Technologies Pvt. Ltd www.bdisys.com

SAP BusinessObjects XI3.1 Integration with SharePoint (MOSS).

COPYRIGHT © 2008-10 BDI Systems & Technologies Pvt. Ltd www.bdisys.com

SAP BusinessObjects XI3.1 Integration with SharePoint (MOSS). BDI Systems capabilities on Integrating BOBJ with SharePoint.

BDI Systems team has worked closely with SAP India

consulting. One of the critical concerns of some large

customers having Microsoft as their base platform is

of BusinessObjects capability to integrate with

SharePoint. BusinessObjects R&D lab has released

this feature (IOMS) in early 2010.

In this white paper, we shall be talking about the

successful POC(s) on Integrating BusinessObjects

XI3.1 with SharePoint (MOSS).

Case 1: A Leading Chemical and

Fertilizers Company in India.

Environment: Business Objects XI 3.1 on Windows

server 2003 + Microsoft SharePoint 2007 server +

SAP BI + Windows AD + Tomcat 5.5 + IIS 6.0 +

Integration Option for Microsoft SharePoint (IOMS)

+ SAP Integration Kit

Number of users: As this was a POC, this was

tested for around 25 users.

Data sources: SAPBI, SQL Server 2005

Type of content: Xcelsius dashboard & Web

intelligence documents. The reports were delivered

to user’s inbox via scheduled publication (for

personalization) at pre-defined intervals.

Authentication: Windows AD at Business

Objects level and also at SharePoint level. In other

words it will allow a Windows AD user to login to

SharePoint and seamlessly login to Business Objects

Info view without being prompted for another

authentication dialog. The SAP BW data sources

for the universe were addressed by hard coding the

SAP credentials at the universe level. IOMS

provides the following web parts - Content

Explorer Web Part, User Actions Web Part,

Advanced Search Web Part, Dashboard Web Part,

Document Viewer Web Part, Xcelsius Viewer Web

Part, Crystal Report Viewer Web Part, and

Analytical Report Viewer Web Part. We have used

the Content Explorer web part for this POC, which

enables you to browse your list of documents,

navigate to folders and categories, and access the

content directly from your Business Objects

deployment.

Case 2: One of IT Majors

(Implementation done through

SAP India)

Phase I

Environment: Business Objects XI 3.1 on

Windows server 2003 + Netweaver WAS + SAP EP

+ MS Sharepoint 2007 (Some of the departments use

Sharepoint while others are on SAP EP)

Number Of Users – As this was a POC,

was tested for around 100 users.

Data sources: SAPBI, SQL Server 2005,

MS BI.

Type Of Content - : Xcelsius dashboard,

CR reports & Web intelligence documents. Included

content Delivery through scheduled publication (for

personalization) at pre-defined intervals.



Authentication: SAP Authentication was enabled

at the BOBJ level for SAP users to login and access

Business Objects functionality. The client had a

unique case wherein the Windows AD user

authentication was based on the email attribute

whereas in the SAP BI engine, the respective

Windows AD users were represented using their

Windows AD unique ID. This requirement was

addressed by creating a double ticket at the SAP EP

- SAP BW level (Done by SAP experts) and other

essential configuration settings at the Business

Objects CMC level plus the SAP EP transports.

This allowed a Windows AD user to login using his

Windows AD email id attribute into SAP EP and

seamlessly traverse into a Business Objects context

(iviews/Knowledge Mangement) to view Web

Intelligence documents without being prompted

again for an authentication. The aforesaid use case

was targeted for departments consuming data from

SAP BI via the SAP EP. While the business case for

MS BI users was addressed through Sharepoint

2007. Integration with Windows AD + SSO was not

possible owing to the limitations posed by a

Business Objects deployment on SAP Netweaver .

(Refer to Business Objects Admin guide.

1. Java Info View and CMC only support Kerberos.

2. SAP Web Application Server with AD with

Kerberos is not supported. ).Currently, the user

logs in using enterprise authentication and connects

to the MS BI world. Hence the client is planning to

move to tomcat as the application server. Hard

coded connections were maintained for all universe

connections addressing SAP BW. We are also

trying to identify methods by which Business

Objects can support both the SAP authentication

plugin and the Windows AD plug-in in a single

environment thereby allowing SAP BI users to login

using SAP EP and MS BI users to login using

Windows AD through sharepoint.

Phase II – BusinessObjects XI3.1

Integration with Microsoft SharePoint

Server

Successfully Integrated Business Objects XI 3.1 with

SharePoint for windows AD users to logon to

SharePoint portal and then subsequently on to

Business Objects InfoView Portal with Single Sign on.

Number of Users: As this was a POC, was tested for

around 100 users

Implementation Environment Details: Distributed

environment used in this deployment

Server A: Machine used 64 bit with Windows 2003

SP2, Business Objects XI 3.1, with Tomcat 5.5 as

Application server, CMS Database – SQL server

2005.

Server B: Machine used is 32 bit with Windows

2003 SP2,IIS 6.0, Microsoft SharePoint Server

(MOSS) 2007, Integration Option for Microsoft

SharePoint (IOMS)

Windows AD: Windows 2003 DC Server

The Following Web Part were added on to MOSS

portal and tested.

Content Explorer Web Part.

User Actions Web Part.

Advanced Search Web Part.

Dashboard Web Part.

Document Viewer Web Part.

Xcelsius Viewer Web Part.

Crystal Report Viewer Web Part.

Analytical Report Viewer Web Part.

End users who is basically windows AD users logs

into their windows system, from where he accesses

the MOSS portal, he navigates to the Business

Objects portal (2nd level of SSO) after clicking on the

‘Log on’ icon, from where he is able to view/refresh

Infoview Documents.



[We are showing our Logo on Screen shots to

maintain the confidentiality].

Developer (who develops Documents and uploads to

InfoView portal for users to view/refresh) uses

Tomcat Application server to login to InfoView (SSO

implemented at this level also).

High level Architecture here is the end user/ business

objects logs in via the IIS, MOSS to BO portal, the

developer uses the Tomcat Application layer to login

to Business Objects portal.

The Authentication type used here is

Kerberos, for MOSS, and BO. SSO through

Tomcat Application layer also uses the

Kerberos Authentication.

User can Navigate the Folder/Reports using the ‘Content

Explorer’ Web Part

User has Web Intelligence view options using the

‘Analytical Report Viewer’ Web Part

User Has Web Intelligence Refresh Options using the

‘Analytical Report Viewer’ Web Part

User has Crystal Report view/refresh options using the

‘Crystal Report Viewer’ Web Part



User has Xcelsius Dashboard view/refresh options using

the ‘Xcelsius Viewer’ Web Part

User has Document Scheduling Option using the ‘User

Action Web Part’

User has Dashboard viewing capabilities using the

‘Dashboard’ Web Part

Note: Currently IOMS is supported only for a 32 bit

version of MOSS. The support for 64 bit is assured by

SAP in a future release (time line is not clear).

ABOUT BDI Systems (www.bdisys.com)

BDI Systems is a young organization, promoted by

ex-SAP BusinessObjects senior R&D Professionals.

We are best-in-class for implementation of

BusinessObjects Tools, integrating them with SAP

and creating advanced dash-boards using Xcelisus.

We have developed more than 10 Xcelisus

Components. We offer professional services and

consultancy on entire BusinessObjects suite of

products; we have done more than 20 successful

implementations in last 2 years. As a solution

provider we have created a tool to monitor Platform

services, CR, WEBI services of Business Objects

implementations, we have also created a tool for

SMEs which integrates CR and Xcelsius.

For more details contact us at [email protected].

For More details logon to our website.

www.bdisys.com

‘A Business Data Intelligence Company’

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bdisys.com/

http://www.bdisys.com/

Sharepoint Integration Capability

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