Dave's Adventures in Business Intelligence

I got my reminder email from ASUG this morning about upcoming webcasts. There is one particular session that I have some interest in because I’m frequently asked the very same question. When do I use a particular tool?

I’m also pleased to say that earlier this week we integrated the ASUG event calendar with BOB. Twice a day the BOB server will poll the ASUG server and retrieve an updated listing of events and post them to the BOB calendar. So if you’re a visitor to BOB you can quickly and easily see what’s coming up with ASUG. The ASUG calendar is open for public viewing so you can get full details on the events that interest you. You will have to register (join) to be able to participate, but it does help being able to see the topics ahead of time and determine how valuable they are for you.

Here is the summary of the first session that I plan to attend:

SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) – When to Use Which BI Tool?

Date: Wednesday, April 28
Time: 12:00 PM (ET)
Duration: 1 hour

On this Webcast, attendees will learn about the different SAP BusinessObjects BI tools and how to ensure they select the right tool for the right job. This Webcast will demonstrate how to ensure a successful BI project based on user requirements. The tools to be covered during this Webcast include: Crystal Reports, Web Intelligence, Xcelsius, BusinessObjects Explorer, and BusinessExplorer/Pioneer, with a focus on the current available release XI 3.1.

Speaker: Ingo Hilgefort, SAP

Ingo is a fellow SAP Mentor and has an amazing depth of knowledge across the SAP Business Objects product suite. I can’t imagine a better person to lead this webinar, and I am definitely planning to attend to hear what he has to say.

Fellow BOB member (and long-time listserv member) Tom Nather also has a session coming up.

Configuring Single Sign-On in BusinessObjects XI 3.1
Date: Tuesday, April 27
Time: 11:00 AM (ET)
Duration: 1 hour

This Webcast will cover tips and tricks for successful configuration of Single Sign-On with Windows Active Directory. Attendees will learn how Cleveland Clinic partnered with IT security to seek approval, then worked with system engineers to configure domain controllers, and then the BusinessObjects servers to work with Windows AD.

Come and learn the “what to change” and the proper order to make those changes to get this configured and working with InfoView, WebIntelligence (OpenDocument), Query as a WebService/Xcelsius and Dashboard Builder.

Webcast participants will:

• Learn tips and tricks. The SAP white paper gives general directions, and great examples but there are tips and tricks we learned that are not very clear in the white paper.
• Hear best practices. This presentation will attempt to show what we learned as we established the connection from the domain controllers to the BusinessObjects servers.
• See how we got other domains (trusted domain, but not the default domain) integrated into our BusinessObjects deployment.
• Take away a copy of the white paper and our excel spreadsheet check list for success.
• View all the information available from a single KB article.
• See a demo of the finished product.

Speaker: Tom Nather, Cleveland Clinic

If neither of these subjects draws your attention, there are several other sessions scheduled in April that might be more useful depending on your circumstances and interests. ASUG members can go back and replay prior webinars as well, so if you can’t make the specific schedule as posted you can still benefit from the information.