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Business Objects to support native OLAP access to SAP Business Information Warehouse


Johannesburg, 01 Dec 1998
Business Objects, SAP working together to provide certified SAP BW solution for integrated complementary presentation for query, reporting and enhance analysis functionality.

Business Objects, the world`s leading provider of integrated enterprise decision-support tools, is to support native access to data in SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW). and, to this end, has become an early tester of a new SAP interface.

BW is SAP`s preconfigured data warehouse system for R/3, the world`s most-used standard business software for client/server computing. SAP BW enables companies to aggregate external and internal data, convert it into information, and respond with speed and accuracy to market changes. The SAP BW solution combines state-of-the-art data warehousing technologies with SAP business expertise to create an end-to-end solution that provides users with a comprehensive view of data across the organization, including SAP R/3 and non-R/3 generated data.

Joint customers including Lawson Mardon, a Zurich-based major manufacturer of food and tobacco packaging products, will soon begin testing Business Objects access of SAP BW data via the OLE DB for OLAP, or ODBO, interface. Optimised for SAP BW, the BusinessObjects interface will offer customers benefits over SQL-based data queries including:

  • Interactive OLAP analysis -- users of BusinessObjects will be able to perform highspeed "slice-and-dice" and drill-down analysis directly against SAP BW InfoCubes. This analysis will let users take full advantage of the SAP BW OLAP environment and performance-enhancing features.
  • Leverage of SAP BW security and metadata -- by utilizing SAP`s preferred and supported access method (ODBO interface), users of BusinessObjects are able to take advantage of the SAP BW security features and can easily access BW metadata.

According to Henry Morris, program director of International Data Corporation (IDC), some SAP BW customers may seek to make the business information content more widely accessible by means of additional end-user tools that complement SAP`s Business Explorer. "Business Objects is addressing this market need with a robust tool for query, reporting and analysis that makes a company`s investment in SAP BW even more valuable."

According to Dave Kellogg, vice president of corporate marketing at Business Objects, his company`s tools build on the value of SAP R/3 by integrating data from BW and other sources and delivering it to the end user in the form of business intelligence.

"Together BusinessObjects and SAP Business Information Warehouse offer customers an integrated, enterprise solution that provides the a highest level of decision support functionality for R/3 SAP applications," said Kellogg.

One of the first decision-support vendors to strategically commit to providing access to SAP information through SAP BW, Business Objects will provide customers with a certified, supported alternative to the unorthodox R/3 data extraction methods that some other vendors are promoting. Business Objects offers customers numerous ways to access their data including the business application programming interface (BAPI).

Business Objects and SAP are working towards a late 1998 timeline for SAP BW certification, with general availability of a certified solution scheduled for early 1999.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is the world`s leading provider of integrated enterprise decision support tools. Business Objects products provide non-technical business users with access to information stored in data warehouses, data marts and packaged business applications. Business Objects provides a complete suite of decision support tools including query, reporting, online analytical processing, data mining and DSS administration for both client/server and internet environments. Business Objects has sold more than 870 000 licences to over 6 700 organizations in more than 60 countries worldwide.

Business Objects is distributed in South African by USKO Software.

ABOUT SAP

SAP, R/3, SAP Business Information Warehouse, SAP BW and all SAP product and services mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG. Other products and company names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Heath Young
Iona Press Services
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hyoung@iafrica.com
Jenny Hoggarth / Coral de Villiers
Bytes Technology Group
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