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Discover SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04
SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04 is now available!
December has become a bit of a well-known pattern for the latest service pack releases of SAP BI 4.3, and this year is no different—SAP BI 4.3 SP04 is now available! A new service pack means only one thing: many new and improved features and functionalities for SAP BusinessObjects users. This article will explore the key innovations in this much-awaited release.
What can you expect to see in this release?
With SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04 now available, let’s take a look at the exciting features awaiting you. This release has three big focuses; extend the scope of specific key features, deliver customers’ most-wanted enhancements, and continue to improve user experience.
Extending The Scope Of Specific Key Features
Crystal Reports
One of the main focuses here is around Crystal Reports, especially putting more back into Crystal Classic as SAP goes through the point of retiring Crystal for Enterprise. In this new service pack, you will be able to use Crystal Classic with UNXs as a data source so you have all the capabilities of Crystal Classic with universe access. Other updates include the Fiori Viewer capability for the Crystal content and an extension on the end of maintenance for Crystal for Visual Studio to 2027.
Web Intelligence Data Mode
SAP BI 4.3 SP03 saw the release of a new Data Mode and in SP04, there are even more new capabilities:
- New combine operations: full join, inner join, left join without intersection, and full join without intersection.
- In SP03, a cube used as a parent of another combined cube couldn’t be used with another cube to create another join, but this limitation has now been removed.
- You can now combine multiple cubes at once.
- The designer will be able to show/hide cubes and show/hide objects.
- New icons in the Objects tab, a “more actions” button in the menu, and the “refresh time” in the query is now displayed as an indication.
WebI as a data source
You can now reuse a WebI document as a data source for a new WebI document and be able to refresh that WebI data source and respond to prompts.
Better OData Support
Several enhancements have been made to improve the behavior of the OData URL generated by WebI:
- Ability to refresh the OData query generated.
- Set prompts’ values to the OData URL.
Delivering Customers’ Most-Wanted Enhancements
Reporting Interactions
- The ability to hide columns in a table when certain formulas are true.
- Better intra-document linking.
Direct access to SAP Datasphere
- Creation of Web Intelligence reports on Datasphere models and datasets.
Information Classification Authentication and Password Policy
- Introduction of information classification for SAP BI 4.3 content.
- Users can now query and render the sensitivity labels configured in AIP in the BI platform.
- Changes to the authentication and password policy include new ways to enforce the password policy so they can be overwritten in memory as soon as they have been processed and the ability to configure the policy.
SQL Parameterization
- A behind-the-scenes optimization enhancement to avoid HANA SQL cache filling up too soon.
Improve update experience
- An enhancement to avoid breaking the customized settings done in the application server or on the other part of the configuration when installing a new patch or service pack above an existing release.
Handle multiple events while scheduling
- Introduction of a new option to choose to trigger the schedule with any one event, instead of waiting for all events to occur.
Improving User Experience
Multiple chart enhancements
- Graph windowing and floating toolbars are now available.
- More cities have been added to the geographical database.
- Maximize custom elements.
Send to actions
- The “send-to” menu item is back in SAP BI 4.3 SP04!
- You can now share your document with the following destinations: BI inbox, email, FTP server, SFTP server, and File System.
Formula language
New functions have been added to improve your variable expressiveness:
- New time-aware functions.
- Get the data source properties.
- Get custom property lists and values.
- Change the separator for the formula “UserResponse”.
User Interface improvements
- Search and highlight a specific string in the definition of a variable formula.
- Improvements in different tabs
Grouping prompts
- Group prompts in logical sets with specified options such as required/optional/exclusive.
Numeric and Data/Time Display Format
- The display format can be centrally defined at the object level.
- New formats are now available, e.g. for currencies.
UNV to UNX Conversion
To anticipate the end of UNVs in BI 2025, several enhancements have been made to improve the migration process:
- Fix blockers preventing a conversion.
- Massive change source workflows.
- The improved loading time of converted UNX.
- Better loading time in WebI.
BI Launchpad
- Improved navigation and performance during navigation.
- Improved freeform edition.
Additional Resources
Unveiling SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04! – Grégory Botticchio
SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04: What’s new in BI Platform – Venkateswara Guptha
SAP BI 4.3 SP4: What’s new in Web Intelligence and Semantic Layer – Christian Ah-Soon
SAP BI 4.3 SP4: What’s new in Crystal Reports? – Donald Guo
Thinking of upgrading?
What a jam-packed release for the new SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 SP04! If you’re planning on upgrading, our migration solutions within 360Suite, will help you upgrade successfully saving you time and money.
