Automation Framework - Change Web Intelligence Source

server administration XI Server Discussion
#1

Has anyone started working with the Automation Framework? Specifically with the Change Web Intelligence Source option. I have been trying to get it to work for last couple of months, working on it off and on.

Here’s where I am.

  • Environment is BI4.2sp8. We upgraded from BI4.2sp4 and so had to modify the base BI4.2sp4 install to add the BI Agent and Automation Framework.

  • I configured the ActiveMQ Broker to run as a service per KBA 2676566

  • The default landscape and templates are not created after a modified update installation so I followed the instructions in KBA 2566764 to create them.

  • I have configured tracing for the BI Agent and Automation Framework by following the instructions in KBA 2588729

  • I created a simple report that just returns one field against the original unv universe.

  • I have created a converted copy of the universe to unx format.

  • I have used the preconfigured template Change Web Intelligence Source & Verify the Documents. All parts of this template run successfully except the Change Web Intelligence Source step which fails every time. I can’t find any log files or other information to tell me why this is failing even though I have the tracing enabled for the BI Agent and Automation Framework.

Has anyone else tried working with this yet and have you encountered similar issues?

I had some trouble getting all the services running initially and used the “Schedule an Expert” option on the SAP Support site but the support person that I got was definitely not an “expert”. Wanted to try my luck here.

#2

We have simplified the architecture in BI 4.3, only one service left.
If there is no Information in the Logs of Automation Framework, you can check the log of the WebI Processing Server, sometimes there are issues with the RESTFul calls and this is executed in WIPS.

#3

I noticed there was a log file generated by the Web Intelligence Processing Server but I didn’t find anything relevant in that log either.

I’ve opened an incident case with SAP. Will have to see what they can come up with.

#4

Have seen the incident and tested your scenario also. The support engineer has experience in that area and guided you already in the right direction. Just wanted to share some findings here.

The Change Source task template is using the RESTful API to replace the universe. For this it is important to set the Access URL for the RESTful Web Service in the CMC (Applications).
Unfortunately the issue with the REST call can only be found in the Agent trace and is not displayed in the task results of the scenario.
It is also good practice to use worklists, like you did for the documents to work on and the universe mapping. Important for worklists is, that they contain header information.
Document list could be: id,name or cuid,name could also be just id or cuid
Universe mapping could be: unv_cuid,unx_cuid or unv_id,unx_id
The task templates are using most times just the id or cuid information to find the objects.
Using cuid in worklists makes them reusable on different systems, cause if you promote objects to another system, they get a new ID but the CUID stays the same.

I have also created some blogs and samples, they may give more insights, e.g.:
BI Automation Framework Samples