SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.3 (SAP BI 4.3) Released!

[Patrick_Perrier]

Source: Webi4Me

SAP BusinessObjects 4.3 SP00 Released!

June 12th, 2020

It has been exactly 4 years, 3 months and 5 days since the previous minor release of SAP BusinessObjects.  Time flies... SAP BI 4.2 was released on March 8th, 2016!

Well 4 years and many service packs, patches and hotfixes later, today I'm pleased to announce the first release of SAP BI 4.3 - version 14.3.0.3532!

Source: int33h.com

This version is announced to be supported for at least 7 years so that should take us to December 31st, 2027 at the earliest.  Who knows, maybe SAP BI 4.4 between now and then?!  You read this one here first ?

Timeline

• June 2018: SAP BI 4.3 first announced at SAP Sapphire

• Q4 2019: SAP BI 4.3 "Early" BETA

• Q1 2020: SAP BI 4.3 "Standard" BETA

• Q2 2020: SAP BI 4.3 "Extended" BETA

Source: Webi4Me

Source: SAP

What was released?

The usual suspects were released for a fresh Installation or Support Package:

• SBOP BI Platform 4.3 Server

• SBOP BI Platform 4.3 Client Tools (now only in 64-bit)

• SBOP BI Platform 4.3 Live Office

• SBOP BI Platform 4.3 Integration for SharePoint

• SBOP BI Platform 4.3 NET SDK Runtime

• SBOP BI Platform 4.3 Crystal Reports for Enterprise

• SAP Crystal Server 2020

• SAP Crystal Reports 2020

See SAP Note: 2936923

What's New?

There are several new features in this version of course.  Here are some slides.

Undoubtedly the biggest evolution with SAP BI 4.3 is with regards to the Enhanced User Experience via a new and Modernized User Experience.

The New Fiori Launchpad

Source: SAP

A Modernized and Simplified Web Intelligence

Source: SAP

A Rejuvenated User Experience

Source: SAP

Watch gregory.botticchio introduce and demonstrate live the new Fiori Launchpad and Web Intelligence in SAP BI 4.3 on YouTube.

Web Intelligence Data Model in SAP Analytics Cloud

Today in SAP BI 4.2 SP4+ it is possible to consume Universes as a data source in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC).

From SAP BI 4.3, you go a step further and consume your Web Intelligence documents.

Source: SAP

More from SAP: What's New

Detailed blog by christian.ah-soon: SAP BI 4.3: What’s New In Web Intelligence and Semantic Layer

Deprecated and Catch up Features

Feature catch up and deprecated features for Web Intelligence in Business Intelligence 4.3

Deprecated features that no longer exist in 4.3 (see SAP Note: 2801797😞

• HTML Viewer in BI Launchpad

• Java Applet Viewer

• Desktop Intelligence Compatibility Pack (DCP)

• Upgrade Management Tool

• Report Conversion Tool

• SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards (aka Xcelsius)

• 
  
  
  
  • Dashboards and SAP BI 4.3 (SAP Note: 2739919)
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Dashboard Roadmap (SAP Note: 2579982)
  
  
  
  

• SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

• 
  
  
  
  • Explorer and SAP BI 4.3 (SAP Note: 2824537)
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Explorer Roadmap (SAP Note: 2679783)
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Explorer Remover Tool (SAP Note: 2930751)
  
  
  
  

• BI Widgets

• 
  
  
  
  • BI Widgets and SAP BI 4.3 (SAP Note: 2837139)
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • BI Widgets Roadmap (SAP Note: 2729987)
  
  
  
  

Delete deprecated content from BI Platform Repository after the update of BI 4.3.x (See Note: 2914654)

Feature Catch up (see SAP Note: 2937327😞

The features in the list below will be added in future support packages:

• Shared Elements

• SAP HANA Online Mode

• UI Customization

• Extension Points

• Freeze Header

• Send to FTP

• Query/ Document as a Web Service

• .TXT and .CSV as a data source

• Authoring intra-document links

Lumira Note:

SAP Lumira Server for BI Platform 2.3 and lower versions are NOT supported on SAP BI Platform 4.3 due to technical limitations: SAP Note: 2903302

Release schedule of SAP Lumira Server for BI Platform 2.4: SAP Note: 2465894

Download Location

These packages are available from (see SAP Note: 2936923😞

• Installations and Upgrades

• Support Packages & Patches

Upgrades and Migrations

Your Upgrade or Migration path will depends on which BOBJ version you are currently running:

• SAP BI 4.x

If you are running SAP BI 4.0, SAP BI 4.1 or SAP BI 4.2 you have the following options:

• 
  
  
  
  • Upgrade "in place" - I.e.: Install SAP BI 4.3 on top of SAP BI 4.x
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Upgrade "side by side" - I.e.: Like a migration, install a fresh SAP BI 4.3 server then move the objects
  
  
  
  

Note: I suggest reading my blog on "In Place" vs "Side by Side" Upgrades

Update: 26/06/2020 - My Latest Blog: Real Life Upgrade from SAP BI 4.x to SAP BI 4.3

• SAP BI 3.1 or earlier

This is a two steps process:

• 
  
  
  
  • You will need to migrate first from e.g. SAP BOXI 3.1 to SAP BI 4.2.
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Upgrade (see above) from SAP BI 4.2 to SAP BI 4.3
  
  
  
  

Source: SAP Note 2921811

How did it go?

My test environment is running on an AWS EC2 t2.xlarge.  That's 4 Cores and 16GB RAM.

Note: You will need a new license key.  Your existing SAP BI 4.x key will not work.

To install SAP BI 4.3, you need to follow the exact same steps as in previous 4.x versions.

Products Installed:

• SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform Servers 4.3 - ONE

• 
  
  
  
  • 1/2 BIPLATS4300_0-70002684_P1.EXE
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • 2/2: BIPLATS4300_0-70002684_P2.RAR
  
  
  
  

• SBOP BI Platform Clients 4.3 - ONE

• 
  
  
  
  • BIPLATCLNT4300_0-70002771.EXE
  
  
  
  

Documentation

The usual documents have been made available on the SAP Help Portal:

• Released Notes & Fixed Issues: N/A

• Release Restrictions

• Release restrictions for Web Intelligence Rich Client in Business Intelligence 4.3

• Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide

• Business Intelligence Platform Installation Guide

• 
  
  
  
  • Windows
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Unix
  
  
  
  

• Business Intelligence Platform Upgrade Guide

Product Availability Matrix (PAM)

(Supported Platform)

Release to Customer (RTC): 12.06.2020

General Availability (GA): 12.06.2020

End of Mainstream Maintenance: 30.06.2025

End of Priority One Support Phase: 30.06.2027

• URLs:

• 
  
  
  
  • SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 Supported Platforms (PAM)
  
  
  
  

• 
  
  
  
  • Product Availability Matrix | SAP Support Portal
  
  
  
  

The most notable addition to the Relational Data Sources:

• Google BigQuery

Maintenance Schedule - What's Next?

• SAP BI 4.3 SP00

24.07.2020: SAP BI 4.3 SP00 Patch 1 (14.3.0.3569)

11.09.2020: SAP BI 4.3 SP00 Patch 2 (14.3.0.3625)

30.10.2020: SAP BI 4.3 SP00 Patch 3 (14.3.0.3677)

04.12.2020: SAP BI 4.3 SP00 Patch 4 (14.3.0.3715)

Week 4 (January 2021): SAP BI 4.3 SP00 Patch 5

Week 10 (March 2021): SAP BI 4.3 SP00 Patch 6

• 09.12.2020: SAP BI 4.3 SP01 (14.3.1.3701)

• SAP BI 4.3 SP02: Expected December 2021

Source: Maintenance Schedule

Source: BI Support Pack End of Life Dates

Conclusion

It's very exciting to see finally something new around SAP BusinessObjects!

Looking forward to testing and using it.

Next step.  Trying an in-place upgrade ?

Keep in Touch!

Hope this blog was useful.   Please do share your thoughts and comments.

Feel free to "like" and post it on social media!

Always happy to connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pperrier/

Take care... A+

 

[julien_bras]

Thanks Patrick ! Let's test the final release next week !

 

[former_member197738]

Excited as always!!

Business Object has always been one stop shop for Enterprise solution.

I really wish and hope, to see ‘Major upgrades specifically with Lumira Designer visualization.

Just like Commentary feature that was magical!

For last 5plus years many of my clients has been seeking out for enhanced visualization, since the competitor are beating their drum loud and hard.

Their is a great potential in 3-party extensions market when it comes to visualization but it has proven to be rough road to convince clients.

Prime time for something in-house would be just awesome

Recently demo Lumira 2.3 Sp2 with extension Graphomate, they loved it.

You can’t paint the picture perfect, if the tool-kit is not upgraded

[CdnConnection]

To All,

Please keep in-mind that the install of BI 4.3 will require NEW Keys.   You will need to request new BI 4.3 keys prior to installation.

Regards,

Ajay

[Patrick_Perrier]

Hi Ajay, thanks for your comments.

Indeed, this is already mentioned in this blog. You will need new SAP BI 4.3 license keys.

I have received many questions regarding this. See what I get here:

Those are permanent keys.

Enjoy!

[d0m12859]

Hi Patrick,

Great article. I think it's also worth stating that the Upgrade Management Tool is deprecated too.

So far, testing on the new Webi front end has gone well, although I can definitely see some areas that SAP could tweak to improve usability - Collapsing sections vertically would help for example.

Regards

[Patrick_Perrier]

Thank you for the feedback, you are correct.  Everything SAP BOXI 3.1 is gone!  I have added it to the list of Deprecated Features.

[michael_tocik5]

Hi

 

Love the article and I agree with Mohd that BusinessObjects from a reporting perspective is an amazing product. We just need SAP to realize this and to invest in the platform, cloud is one perspective but not the only one.

 

 

 

[MarcSchweizer]

Nice Blog Patrick,

 

were i could find the patch and sp schedule plan for bo 4.3 ?

best regards

 

Marc

[Patrick_Perrier]

Thanks Marc.

It has not been updated yet unfortunately.  You can find the info available today here: https://blogs.sap.com/2020/06/13/sap-businessobjects-bi-4.3-sap-bi-4.3-released/#Maintenance_Schedul...

I’ll keep this blog up to date but you will see there the official SAP link also.

All we know is SAP BI 4.3 SP1 is scheduled for December 2020 and should have the catchup stuff mentioned earlier in this post.

Between now and then it’s fair to expect about 3 patches I’d say.

[graham_farr2]

Small note that this feature (Web Intelligence Data Model in SAP Analytics Cloud) is not currently available, and is planned to be supported in a future version of the Live Data Connector.

[VenkateswaraGY]

Hi Marc,

 

It is available now, refer https://support.sap.com/content/dam/support/en_us/library/ssp/release-upgrade-maintenance/maintenanc...

Regards, Venkat.

[former_member185603]

Feature catchup in later patches. what is the time line for those patches and which features will be implemented in which patch?

 

[former_member632593]

Thanks Patrick for this information. Well done!

Am I right in understanding, that in this release the mix of 32Bit and 64Bit modules (known from release 4.2 and lower) has definitively been changed to complete 64Bit ?

I am sure I have read it somewhere but do not remember where 😉

Regards Christine.

[Patrick_Perrier]

Thanks Christine.

I do confirm!  You have read it here in this blog for sure.  And I bet elsewhere too!

In Universe Design Tool (UDT) and Information Design Tool (IDT), you will only be able to consume 64-bit ODBC connections.

A silly thing is that when installing BI 4.3, it creates “club” and “club-webi” 32-bit connections!

I’m doing a live SAP BI 4.2 -> SAP BI 4.3 Upgrade tomorrow (July 30th) if you’re interested: https://www.linkedin.com/events/experiencealivesapbi4-3upgrade/

Take care,

Patrick

[former_member694945]

Maintanance schedule:

• SAP BI 4.3 SP02: Expected June 2121

I think you have to mention 2021.

[manolff]

Can someone tell if the "Cascading Prompts" feature made it into the 4.3 release? I know that 4.2 did not support it and that it was planned for 4.3 but never saw anything on it.

Also, if it did not make it into the initial release when is it planned to be made available? Thanks so much for your help with this.

 

 

[sally_newey]

We need a more complete (non Xcelusis and Explorer) what we lost!

Just looking at it now, need more on the HTML and Java Viewers and what we are losing from a Webi General user point of view. The side panel with the User Prompt Input and Input Controls is gone and the pop up prompt is a train wreak.

Oh the new Fiori front end, new Favorite option great, but where do you set it? As usual dumb security settings, unlike comments is not explicitly set. Scheduling a document great, different destinations but only one file type. and a gdpr message that won't ever go away and thats just for starters. plus a new set of inexplicable error messages

really hope sp1 is out soon, and does anyone know where the bugs are listed that need sorting.

 

[former_member185487]

Dear colleague !

 

All the best ! Keep it up !

[ritesh0605]

Is SAP BI 4.3 is compatible with Windows 10?

[EricFenollosa]

Hi Ritesh,

Yes.

By the way, you can find all supported platforms as well as connectivity in the Product Availibilty Matrix (PAM).

Regards,

Eric

[ritesh0605]

Thanks Eric.

I am planning to migrate SAP Business Objects 4.1 to 4.3 side by side so have few queries should I configure SSO, tomcat & Clustering etc. after BI 4.3 installation on new system or it will be migrated by default with Reports, Universe & User/Groups.

Better if you can provide step by step migration.

Thanks

 

[EricFenollosa]

Hi,

The best existing resource is the upgrade path page on SAP Help Portal. 

If you need further support, you should contact SAP professional services or your favorite partner.

Regards,

Eric