SAP BusinessObjects BI Reporting and Star Schemas in OBIEE

The CData ODBC Driver for SAP BusinessObjects BI is a standard database driver that can integrate real-time access to SAP BusinessObjects BI data into your data warehouse or directly into your reporting tool. This article shows how to bypass the data warehouse and import operational SAP BusinessObjects BI data into Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE).

See the knowledge base for ODBC integrations with ETL tools like Informatica PowerCenter. For an ETL solution into Oracle Warehouse Builder, use the driver with the Oracle ODBC Gateway to Access SAP BusinessObjects BI Data as a Remote Oracle Database.

Connect to SAP BusinessObjects BI as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

To connect to your SAP Business Objects BI instance, you must set the following connection properties:

• Url: set this to the rest API URL. After logging into the Central Management Console, choose 'Applications' from the combo box. Double-click on 'RESTful Web Service' and you'll see the access URL. By default it is, http://{Server-Name}:6405/biprws.
• User: set this to the username of your instance.
• Password: set this to the password of your instance.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Import SAP BusinessObjects BI Metadata

Follow the steps below to use the OBIEE Client Tools to import SAP BusinessObjects BI metadata into an OBIEE repository. You can then integrate SAP BusinessObjects BI data into your business models.

1. Open the Administration Tool and click File -> New Repository.

2. In the Connection Type menu, select ODBC 3.5 and select the CData DSN.
3. Select the metadata types you want to import under the Relational Sources option and then select SAP BusinessObjects BI tables.