We are currently using BO 6.5.1 and are planning to upgrade to BOXI. Unfortunately I am out of the loop with the XI release and the latest versions since I was involved with other tools. Any help will be appreciated.
I tried searching and looking around for information that could help me understand better of the stable releases of the BOXI but couldn’t find any. Could all the gurus please share their infinite knowledge, experience and suggestions?
FYI, the below mentioned are not the primary deciding factors but will be good to have (All suggestions welcome):
We would prefer to have smooth transition to convert and migrate the reports, universes, security, etc. (We understand few things might break in the process but the smoother the transition the better)
Have stable version of XI with less bugs and more features
Have the technical and patch support from SAP with Long End Of Life(EOL) support
Work with XP and Vista (Eventually Windows 7 )
Hope this post will help some other folks out there too. Feel free to share your thoughts, all are welcome.
I’d recommend XI 3.1 SP2 (includes FP1.5 - the latest FP is 1.8 and SP3 is on the horizon).
Note that XIr2 was an interim solution - the vendor rebuilt the underlying architecture and redesigned security so any major effort on these core area’s will have to be revisited if you decide to go with XIr2.
i.e. you will eventually have to migrate to XI 3.x so I’d bite the bullet now and avoid two upheavals re the users and your admins.
As to the features in the XI 3.x initial release: New features in XI R3.0 (Titan) and there have been a few more released re the SP’s.
The only major issue experienced between XIr2 and XI3.x was that some experienced some perceived overall system slowness after migrating - and some of this was related to java memory, but I also think that most did not know how to optimally deploy & configure the system to help improve performance. The latest FP’s also resolved some of the issues so I don’t see this as an issue for you as you have no user expectation to deal with re overall performance and with all the new features, they’d be sure to appreciate the later version.
XI3.x has been out for a while and many sites are already using it in production - we’ve been using it for the last 6 months and have not had a single day of downtime. We did experience the odd 100% peak initially from runaway fcproc processes, but that was in the first few months and things have been relatively stable since the application of some FP’s and some system tweaking.
Your best bet is XIr3 with security patch … We have been through XIr2…several versions…and believe me XIr3 is a good platform … having said this you must plan plan plan your migration … and don’t assume that rreports/universes will work right away. i would if i were you invest in some good consultants or softwares to help you with migration…
The Hyperlink structures are all changing too meaning if you are using a lot, that is a lot of work there … the best thing in R3 are Optional prompts … no more fiddling around with ALL in LOV’s etc…
By runaway fcproc processes, do you meen those processes that get created and never get reused by subsequent requests like they should?
In our case, our server is set to handle 150 Maximum Concurrent Jobs and while we were doing a stress test, we noticed that we would easily and in a matter of 10 minutes into the test, reach the maximum concurrent jobs and get the message saying that there’s no server available to handle our request. In our case, we’re working with Deski documents viewing them from InfoView and from a custom application (using openDocument).
Thanks MikeD, Intelligentsia, zack, ghassan for sharing.
Ofcourse we are going to bring in someone from BO to help us with the upgrade, installation and optimization of server.
Is XI 3.0 the same as XI R3? Since I can see XIR2 and XI 3.0/3.1 everywhere not XI R3. :?
It also makes me think about the compatibility of the reports that are created in the BOXI. One of our clients has XIR2 (I think not sure) and a whole bunch of them currently use 6.5. If I create a report in BOXI 3.1 any ideas on the compatibility of the report with XIR2 & 6.5 and vice versa?
Be aware of converting deski to webi reports! We had serious trouble converting complex 5.1 deski reports to corresponding webi reports. It’s because webi is a very different tool.
Therefore you should consider supplying the deski XI 3.1 client to your organisation (that is, if you’re having the troubles we had). But bear in mind that you should encourage users to use webi, since BO won’t invest a lot in the XI 3.1 deski client
Not quite - we had a few instances of fcprocs hanging around and/or consuming cpu after that particular process was supposed to have ended. This was reduced with the later FP releases. In your instance, you will have to ensure that you configure your system correctly as DESKI is more process intensive than Webi.
XI3.X = XIR3.X Got it. Thanks bension. Now I can sleep peacefully
Thanks Erik11 about the Deski to Webi tip. Will keep that in mind. What do you exactly mean by BO won’t invest in XI3.1 deski client? - Do you mean SAP is not supporting very well or are they coming up with an upgrade…?
@Erik11: Have you tried the backward compatibility of the reports at all? I know that’s a silly question. What I mean is - Few of our clients are using 6.5 and XIR2 and I was wondering if we develop reports in XI3.1 then how will it work/react when they open/refresh/edit in their versions.
SAP currently supports deski XI 3.1 reports, don’t worry about that. But their focus is on the web intelligence tool, so new changes will be implemented in web intelligence, not in deski.
To illustrate this… SAP/BO once tried to get rid of the deski tool by not supplying it with the first (?) version van BO XI. This led to protests because lots of companies weren’t able to run their old 5.x and 6.x deski reports anymore. So the next version of BO XI included deski support again. And they’re still supporting it!
You can still run your 6.x deski report in your favorite webbrowser and through the BO XI 3.1 deski client (a .exe program that needs to be installed on every PC, like 6.x)
The thing I am warning about is the report conversion tool that converts 6.x deski to XI 3.1 WEBI reports. This led to many problems in our case.
If you want to convert your deski report to webi report, rebuild it, but don’t convert it.
That’s correct, the first XI release (“R1.0”) didn’t contain a deski client and the webi client was, well, it just wasn’t deski to put it mildly. Getting some of the reports to look exactly like the customer had specified was a royal pain in the rear in XI R1.0. Luckily XI R2.0 was released in a hurry, now with deski, as our customer had actually asked us for a quote to do a full migration to Cognos.
I understood what BO was doing (SAP wasn’t in the picture back then) - they were just too far ahead with their ideas and the technology of their own products certainly wasn’t supporting an all-webi move at that time. I think now the move away from deski to webi is far more realistic.
I am out of the loop with the XI release and the latest versions since I was involved with other tools. Any help will be appreciated.
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What I mean is - Few of our clients are using 6.5 and XIR2 and I was wondering if we develop reports in XI3.1 then how will it work/react when they open/refresh/edit in their versions.
(BOB member since 2007-01-10)