We just finished updating our BI 4.0 server to Dashboards 4.1 to assess its new functionality. The update to Dashboards provides some enhancements for support on mobile devices as well as improved object and component browsers functionality. In this blog we look at some of the changes.
Installation and Upgrade
Installation of Dashboards 4.1 is very similar to that of the 4.0 versions with one exception. The installation for 4.1 now checks to any previous versions of Dashboards that may be installed. If a previous version of Dashboards is installed it may need to be uninstalled before the 4.1 version can continue with installation.
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Mobile Enhancements
Dashboards 4.1 are now capable of creating mobile dashboards that can be viewed on devices running iOS as well as Android. However, some components and features are still unsupported on the mobile platform due to different mobile control options, i.e. as ‘mouse over’. The smaller screen also limits the mobile platform to use specific components.
On a cool note, the later patches to Dashboards 4.0 (SP05 and later) the “Mobile Compatibility” panel has found its way back into 4.1. This panel displays information about each component’s mobile compatibility. I
f you are trying to convert your flash based dashboards to Mobile, you may see warnings concerning specific limited functionality. That means that the dashboard will work, in Mobile, but be limited in certain functionality (see yellow warning in image below). If you see ‘red’ warnings it, means that the component is not supported in Mobile/HTML-5.
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Component and Object Browser Enhancements
The “Component Browser” now has an option to display all or only mobile components. This will help expedite mobile dashboard creation and reduce the number of errors in the mobile compatibility panel. This option is selectable as a drop down at the top of the components panel.
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Objects in the “Object Browser” also include a search function. This is especially helpful for complex dashboards that have many hidden or nested items. This search field can search by component type or by name.
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Summary
For now, Dashboards 4.1 marks only an incremental update to the outgoing 4.0 version. Primarily consisting of minor functionality enhancements and for those on 4.0 SPS05 or higher, the 4.1 iteration of Dashboards does not bring any new groundbreaking features to the tools capabilities. Those seem to be reserved for SAP’s new tool called DesignStudio.
Thanks,
Dr. Berg
Dr. Bjarne Berg has extensive experience in implementing in-memory solutions for SAP analytics in Europe and in the USA. He is a frequent speaker at SAPinsider conferences, including sessions recently at BI 2013 and his upcoming multi-city seminars on SAP BusinessObjects tools in Copenhagen (October 28-30), Orlando (November 20-22) and Las Vegas (December 2-4). Dr. Berg is also co-author, with Penny Silvia, of the SAP PRESS book SAP HANA: An Introduction.