SAP Mobile BI - Offline Mode Behavior

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SAP Mobile BI 4.1
Offline Mode Behavior
And
Security Mechanisms

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BI Documents can now be
viewed on the mobile device
when the Mobile App on the
device has been set to work
offline or when the wireless
service on the device has been
disabled or is unavailable.
This is a new feature in BI 4.1
The property to enable offline
storage for the app has to be
set in the CMC. As we see
here, such an option is
unavailable in the CMC in 4.0.

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This is the CMC in BI 4.1. As we
see here, there is an option to
set the properties of the BO
Mobile app.
Click on Properties.

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Select the Client Settings tab
and set OfflineStorage to true.

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On the Mobile App, tap on the
‘I’ icon next to relevant
documents and then tap on
‘Add to My Items’. The ‘+’
changes to a check mark as
shown on the first document.
This indicates that the
document has been
downloaded locally.

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Once that is done for all
required documents, tapping
on ‘Browse’ and then ‘All’
under ‘My Items’ will display
all documents downloaded
locally.

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Change values for ‘Offline
Dataset Number’ and ‘SDK
Offline Storage’ in the Settings
for the SAP BI App, if required.
‘Offline Dataset Number’ is
the number of stored query
refresh requests. The no of
requests depends on the no of
combinations of parameter
values.
‘SDK Offline Storage’ sets the
max amount of device storage
used to save SDK files.
SDK Files include custom add-
on components and
connections that are saved
locally when downloading a
document.

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Run the documents with
different combinations of
parameter values while in the
online mode.
Now switch the Mobile BI App
to offline mode. There are
three ways to do this. Shown
here is one of them.
Tap on the arrow and then
swipe right to enable ‘Work
Offline’.

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Alternatively, tap on the
cogwheel ‘Settings’, then on
‘Application Settings’ and then
on ‘Additional Settings’.

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Swipe right to enable ‘Work
Offline’.
The third way is to disable Wi-
Fi on the mobile device or
when a wireless service is
unavailable.

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The following have been
accomplished in the steps
above.
 Required Settings
enabled
 Documents
Downloaded locally
 Documents run with
different parameter
combinations in online
mode
 Mobile BI App set to
run in offline mode
Now…Lets look at the behavior and caching
capabilities of the different BI tools when accessed
from the Mobile BI App in offline mode.

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1. Design Studio
Does not support offline
storage or caching.
So, when the Mobile BI App is
in offline mode, Design Studio
applications cannot be
accessed.

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2. Dashboards
Support viewing of documents
when offline, but with a
limitation.
This is a ‘connected’
dashboard that uses two BEx
queries – one to fill up the
years in the dropdown and the
other to retrieve data for the
chosen year, the year being an
optional parameter.
This screenshot was taken in
the online mode when no year
was chosen in the dropdown –
so the table shows data from
1965 to 2010.

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Again in online mode, a
screenshot of the dashboard
when a year is chosen, here
2009.
So, in online mode –
The first query is run with no
parameter value – so it fills the
dropdown with years from
1965 to 2010.
The second query that gets
the data for a selected year is
run first with no parameter
value and the second time
with 2009.

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In offline mode, the year
dropdown gets filled with all
years – from 1965 to 2010 –
because, in the online mode,
the first query was run with no
parameter value, so the result
set consisting of all years, got
cached.

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The second query was run
with no parameter value and
then with year 2009 – so
ironically, though there is data
for all years in the cache
(because the query was run
with no value for the year
parameter), data is not
available for year 2010.
In a nutshell, all result sets of
queries with combinations of
parameter (prompt) values
given in the online mode, are
available offline.

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3. Crystal Reports
This is a simple Crystal Report
using the same query as the
Dashboard, to retrieve oil
consumption data for years
1966-2010 (34 pages of data).
Since the mobile app is in the
online mode, the query filter
option is available, to filter out
the years for which the user
would like to view data.

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Tapping on the cogwheel
‘Settings’ icon displays
different options including one
to save this data as an Offline
PDF.

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When the report is opened, in
the offline mode, only the
saved pdf is opened and not
the actual report.

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Its interesting to note that
after saving as pdf, if the
Crystal Report has changed
meanwhile and the updated
version is retrieved in the
online mode, then the saved
pdf version is unavailable.
This is the error message
displayed in that scenario.
In a nutshell, in the offline
mode, only the dataset that is
saved on the device is
available as a PDF file. There
can be only one locally saved
file version for the report.
However, the actual report
cannot be opened. So though
this is better than Design
Studio, it is still very limited.

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4. Web Intelligence
This is a WebI report based on
the same query as the other
reports seen earlier. This a
screenshot taken in the online
mode. Years 2008, 2009 &
2010 were chosen as values
for the prompt.

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This is the second page of the
same report, taken in the
online mode.

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This has been taken in the
offline mode. So data for the
query filter values used last,
are retained. All pages of the
report are available.

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Though the query filter
(prompt) icon is visible in the
offline mode also, tapping on
it to change prompt values
gives this error message.
In a nutshell, in the offline
mode, only the dataset that is
retrieved last on the device, is
available.
This is better than Design
Studio or Crystal Reports in
that the report can be opened
with the saved data. But
Dashboards scores over this
because, data for all different
sets of prompt values given in
the online mode is still
available in the offline mode.

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5. BO Explorer
This is an exploration view
created using BO Explorer, for
an information space with
data from a universe based on
a BW Infoprovider.
All the different measures,
filters, facets chosen in the
information space are
available to the user in the
online mode.

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This exploration view shows
data for years 2004, 2005,
2008 and 2010.

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Like in Crystal Reports, this
data can be saved locally on
the device. The options are
displayed when the cogwheel
icon is tapped. This is called a
Personal View.

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In offline mode, this data
saved on the device is
available. However, the actual
exploration view cannot be
accessed.
In a nutshell, the actual
exploration view cannot be
accessed in online mode. But
the saved data is available as a
file. This is better than Crystal
Reports because one view can
have multiple local files
(termed Personal Views) as
long as the filter values are
different. So the user could
choose say years 2000-2003
and save it as a different file
on the device.

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In Conclusion… Based on their offline mode behavior, these BI tools could be rated in this order,
starting with the the best.
1.Dashboards
Result sets of queries with all combinations of prompt values given in the online mode,
are available offline.
2.Web Intelligence
Only the dataset that is retrieved last on the device, is available. This is better than the
BO Explorer or Crystal Reports in that the report can be opened with the saved data.
3.BO Explorer
The actual exploration view cannot be accessed in online mode. This is better than
Crystal Reports because one view can have multiple local files (termed Personal Views).
4.Crystal Reports
Only the dataset that is ‘saved’ on the device is available as a PDF file. There can be
only one locally saved file version for the report. The actual report cannot be opened.
5.Design Studio
There is no support for offline mode access.

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Security Mechanisms
SAP Mobile BI implements
security mechanisms to ensure
safety of :
 Network
 Communication
Channels
 Application Data
 User Data
 Other aspects of the
mobile landscape
These are implemented at the
Client (the SAP BO Mobile
App) and the Server level.
Source: SAP

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Authentication Types
The following user
authentication types are
supported :
 Enterprise
 LDAP
 Windows AD
 SAP
 Enterprise is the default type.
 Is used when distinct accounts within the BI platform are preferred.
 Else existing LDAP, Windows AD or SAP user and group accounts can be mapped to the
BI Platform.
 For the above types, the BI Platform Server and Mobile Server need to be configured.
 The authentication types are supported for manual authentication.
 Single Sign On (SSO) is not supported at this time.
 BI Platform Content is accessible to the user based on the rights assigned, using the
Central Management Console (CMC) on the BI Platform.

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Network
and
Communication Security
 The Mobile System Infrastructure provides DMZ and Firewall support.
 All communication between the Mobile Server and the Mobile Client is encrypted and
uses the HTTPS protocol.
 The Mobile Server communicates with the BI Platform Server, Web Intelligence Servers
and the Adaptive Processing Servers in Corba mode.
 Access to the BI Platform Servers and the Mobile Server is secured by setting up Reverse
Proxy Servers in the system.
Source: SAP

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User Data Protection
and
Privacy
 Downloaded documents persist on the device as encrypted files, are not uploaded to
iCloud and have same authorizations for the user, as defined on the BI Platform Server.
 Option to save connection password is disabled by default. If this enabled, the password
is stored encrypted.
 Option to download documents locally on the device is disabled by default.
 If enabled, there is a "Time to Live" parameter that can be changed.
 Confidential BI Documents can be secured by assigning them to a "Confidential" category
on the BI platform. These can be accessed only while connected to the Mobile server
and are deleted from device memory once the user logs off.

SAP Mobile BI - Offline Mode Behavior

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