On September 24, Clariba and SAP welcomed customers and guests to the first live meeting of their recently created SAP Strategy Management (SSM) User Group — a discussion group where clients can share their experience and best practices with SSM.
IT trends 2013: Hype or business reality?
With the last quarter of this year already in fast motion, the race to the finish line of 2013 is on! Perhaps it is already a good moment to look at whether some of the IT Trends 2013 predicted by Gartner, PwC and many others, have actually surfaced for our customers and what this may mean for your organization.
Configuring SAP Data Services 4.x with SAP ERP
In SAP® Data Services 3.2 some of the SAP system security standards were overlooked, allowing you to run any ABAP program in a production environment. As part of the improvements on SAP Data Services 4.x (SAP DS) this was fixed and it is now compliant with the SAP security standards. This means that for any ETL development including ABAP dataflows you will be forced to upload the ABAP code following the typical SAP system security process: upload to development (DEV), transport the changes to quality (QA) and, finally, transport the changes to production (PROD). In this article I would like to share with you some insights on how to get your new SAP DS 4.x environment ready using SAP systems.
Clariba helps Spinneys Implement SAP HANA to Efficiently Monitor Customer Needs
UAE, Dubai, October 02, 2013 – In-memory computing (IMC) is quoted as one of the top 10 technology trends for 2013. Jumping on this trend is Spinneys Dubai, a leading food retailer in the UAE, who recently implemented SAP’s real-time in-memory technology platform SAP HANA®. This groundbreaking solution combined with the leading visualization and analysis capabilities of SAP@ BusinessObjects™ immediately allowed Spinneys to explore and analyze large quantities of their data from a vast array of sources more effectively, at record speeds. Clariba, a leading business analytics consultancy in the Middle East, was a key player in ensuring the successful implementation and immediate results.
Installing SAP BusinessObjects 4.1 with a Unix-like architecture
In recent customer projects we have seen the need of having a machine with Unix-like architecture (more specifically Linux) ready for action. This is why we created a virtual machine with a Linux installation and proceeded with the challenge of a Business Objects 4.1 (although it should work for any other version) implementation on a Unix-like system. This post will present useful tips for starting a SAP BusinessObjects implementation on a Unix-like system and the steps you need to accomplish it.
BO Data Services - Comparison methods in the Table Comparison
In SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, you often need to use the transform "Table Comparison". Within it, you have the choice between three comparison methods: Row-by-row select, Cached comparison table, and Sorted input. This choice can have a huge impact on the data flow performance. Which one is the best for your implementation? That's what we are going to discover in this article. One of the common uses of the "Table comparison" transform is the implementation of slowly changing dimensions (you can see SCD type 2 on the Data Services wiki here) In the screenshot below is a data flow used for SCD type 1.
First Impressions on SAP Lumira Cloud: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
In 2012 SAP introduced a new product to their Analytics Solutions portfolio that was formerly known as Visual Intelligence, then recently rebranded as SAP Lumira. It is intended to allow business users to acquire, manipulate, analyze and visualize data from corporate and personal data sources to discover and share insights. It started as a desktop-based client only, but now there is a Cloud version; both could work independently but to exploit the maximum potential, if you can afford it, it is best to work with both of them.As all products that are still in early stages, I found lots of things that in my opinion are still missing, things to be improved and other things that show a lot of potential from the very beginning. Which is why in this article I will cover three categories about: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Informatica PowerCenter, Advanced mapping techniques - Part 1
According to Gartner (2013 Magic Quadrant for Data Integration), Informatica PowerCenter (PWC henceforth) is the market leading solution for enterprise level Data Integration. In this series of articles I'll cover some of the tiny technical tidbits which can make a whole world of difference in implementing appurtenant functionalities, hopefully assisting an aspiring ETL developer in day-to-day engagements. Subject matter will be segmented in multiple scenarios and a couple of sequels. As always, all readers are encouraged to reply, question and request additional information related to the topic at hand.
Centralizing your KPIs with Metapedia
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) play a key role in managing an organization, as they help define and measure progress toward company goals. As a best practice many companies use templates to build their new reports, where KPIs used in every report are included. Filling out this information manually should be a one time exercise, and the work should be re-used throughout the documents that share common KPIs. The dynamic use of KPIs in reporting was a common customer requirement. As an approach to this situation we have developed a way to centralize them and populate the list of KPIs for your reports using the Metapedia tool of the SAP BusinessObjects Metadata Management / Information Steward Application, which I will share with you in this post.
Are other industries ahead of the healthcare market when it comes to data analytics?
I recently came across Tushar Hazra’s article called Data Analytics: What Healthcare Can Learn From Other Industries and was curious to read about his opinion on the state of data analytics across the North American market. Hazra said, “As a matter of business necessity, companies are moving toward a more aggressive approach to their utilization of data analytics. The most progressive and forward-thinking organizations clearly recognize the competitive edge data provides in getting their products or services to market faster.”