Data flow on the BI platform (4.2 SP8) question

general discussion
1

So we have some Crystal Reports that are run (scheduled) on our BI platform. A member of our security team is asking where the data is stored? How it is transferred? And is there a architecture drawing of the data flow?

Any information on this would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

2

What does your security team mean by “data”? This could mean any number of things.

There were some data flows available for XIR2 when you took the Administration training but I don’t know if they are available anymore and they probably have changed since then.

I thought there were some Process Flow diagrams on the SAP Support Site but I was recently looking for them and couldn’t find them. Makes me wonder if they were removed.

3

I am assuming that the data the staff member is implying is the data returned by the report (I never had any formal Administration training). I believe they want to make sure that data is stored in a secure way (outside of unauthorized prying eyes).

4

They’re stored in the default IFRS location, unless specified otherwise. This is usually on your Webi server. Schedule one with a unique name and check, as it no doubt varies from version to version. Something like %installation directory%\Program Files\Business Objects\BusinessObjects Enterprise xx\FileStore\Input

If secured properly, access should be to those who have access to the server file system itself and to those entitled to view the report.

1 Like
5

Thanks for the info.

6

If you have CMC Admin access you can find the Input (and Output) FRS directory in your InputFileRepository server.

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If you have a variable like we do on our system, go to the Placeholders section (on the left) of the same server to get the exact value.

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Another option is to use the BI Platform Support Tool. Run a Landscape Analysis of the Server and Services.

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And you get those same values and whole lot more…

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Certainly, the first option easier and quicker.

Noel

2 Likes
7

I will pass this information to the staff that needs it. Thanks again.

8

Hi,
just a few more notes, not sure if it helps and I am no expert:

  • It also depends on the output location of the scheduled report. The instance manager in my case allows for historic occurrences to be reviewed (basically the generated report file), but also produces e.g. email output or file destination or BO inbox. Depending on the job there might be several locations where the output can be found.
  • If some kind of data flow is requested, probably the question is also with regard to the underlying data, hence the data sources of the reports.
  • Last but not least, afaik the internally generated files are not encrypted, hence BO relies on your filesystem and the cms_repo database to take care of that, if needed (encryption at rest).
    Best
    Martin
9

We know of the possibility that a user could store the data outside the BI system. Not much we can do about that.

Since the BI system is internal to the organization with security in place. I feel confidant that only authorized users would be able to access any of that data.

Thanks for the info.

10

Hi there, just an addition,
I just analyzed this for a client.
With scheduling (or publishing ) the process flow is as follows.
Adaptive job server - adaptive processing server - file server - destination.
If there is no document instance, it will be created by the adaptive processing server, calling CMS. The document input format is generated once and stored in the file server input. Then the output formats are generated and pushed into the output folder. Then the destinations (inbox, smtp, file server, ftp server) are processed.
File server manages the IFS Input and Output Directories. There can be only one per cluster.
There can be more than one destination service.
Send to uses the same logic without the job server.

If security and protection is really important, well,
I just finished a publishing plugin for a security software company, CH, to integrate their security product which uses Azure Information Protection to protect published documents.
Their solution also protects the manual export of WEBI and CR Documents.
As I am only a freelancer, I would connect you directly to the company, if of any interest to you.

11

Not sure why staff wants to know how the data flows. But if they ask about it more. I may be having them contact you.