8/18/2019 Web Intelligence Report to Tableau Data Source Workflow : InfoSol Help Desk

Web Intelligence Report to Tableau Data Source Workflow

With IBTab, data from a SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence (Webi) report can be exported to a Tableau Data Extract file in TDE or Hyper format.

In this workflow, Company ABC has a "Production" Webi report containing variables (calculated fields in Tableau). Company ABC wants to use the underlying data from the
Webi report as the basis for visualizations to be created using Tableau Desktop and/or Tableau Server. In addition, the Hyper extract needs to be updated daily between
Monday and Friday so that Tableau Dashboards based on this data are updated with current data.

In this topic, we will cover:

Creating a Hyper Extract based on a Webi report with InfoBurst

Option 1: Watch the Video Tutorial

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Web Intelligence to Tableau HYPER Data Source

Option 2: Review the step by step directions

Consider the report below. This Webi report shows sub-totals and totals by Region, Category, Sub-Category and Year. Company ABC wants to use the underlying data from
this Webi report in a Tableau Dashboard to create visualizations of the exact same data.

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In order to achieve this functionality, a separate tab with the

As we can see, a tab named Raw Data (this can be called anything), is part of this Webi report. This tab contains all of the objects retrieved from the Universe query in
addition to two Variables that were created using calculations. These "calculated fields" can also be brought into Tableau.

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Important Note:

The Web Intelligence report can be derived from a single Universe, or multiple Universes using Merged Dimensions. The report can also be based
on a Multi-Source Universe.

Steps to Create a Tableau Data Extract

1. In order to use the Webi report as the source for Tableau visualizations,the Webi report must be cataloged on InfoBurst. Select New/Document.

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2. In InfoBurst a BusinessObjects "Platform" would be configured. Select your BusinessObjects platform. In this example, the platform is named Virtual Server. Then
navigate to the appropriate folder and select the Webi report and click OK.

3. Once the Webi report has been added to InfoBurst, you can view the properties of the report.

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4. Next, create a Burst.

5. Give the Burst a descriptive name.

6. Click the Green + icon to add a new document. Select the Webi report that was cataloged and click OK.

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7. Delivery to Tableau Server. Click on the Deliveries tab and create a new Blank delivery

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8. Select Tableau Server as the destination. Select your defined Tableau Server platform. In this
example, that platform is named Tableau. Check the Replace existing file if the intent is to overwrite the existing Data Extract.

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9. Select the Tableau Server Project. In this example, we have a project named IBTab Workflow Examples.

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10. In the Format section, select Tableau Data Source as the format. TDE or Hyper can be selected as the file types. Typically the first row of your data should include the
column headers. This box is checked by default. Select the Webi report tab to extract the data from. This should contain the data in tabular format.

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11. Click Burst Now to run the Burst.

12. View the Activity Log Timeline. We can see that the burst completed successfully.

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13. On Tableau Server, the Hyper file created by InfoBurst appears under Data Sources in the specified project.

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14. Tableau users with Web Authoring permissions, can use this data source to create a New Workbook on Tableau Server.

15. This is the interface for Web Authoring in Tableau Server using the Data Source generated by InfoBurst from a Webi report.

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16. To use the same data source from Tableau Desktop, connect to Tableau Server.

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17. Once you have logged in to Tableau Server from Tableau Desktop, select the Data Source created by InfoBurst.

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18. After refreshing the data, we see the rows from the Webi report Raw Data tab available in Tableau.

19. Delivery to Network Share. Create a New Burst and repeat steps 1-7 above. Create a New Delivery. Select Network Share as the destination.

20. Select the Destination. The Network Share destinations are configured by your InfoBurst Administrator.

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21. For the File Name, we'll use the InfoBurst Macro Builder. (Note: This isn't necessary, a file name can just be typed in the field)

For more information on the InfoBurst Macro functionality, click here (https://help.infosol.com/support/solutions/articles/19000075079-using-system-
macros).

22. Select the Burst Name. The output file will have the same name given to the burst.

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23. The File Name field with the macro expression.

24. Select the following Format options.

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25. Click Burst Now to run the Burst.

26. Burst has completed successfully.

27. Tableau Hyper file has been created on the network share, in this example D:\Infoburst_output - the Hyper file has been created.

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Scheduling a Data Extract Refresh

The following Dashboard was built using Web Authoring with Tableau Server. This dashboard uses the data from the Hyper file created from data in the Webi report. In this
workflow, the intent is to have this dashboard refreshed daily between Monday-Friday at 05:00.

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Here are the steps to create a schedule that will refresh

1. From the InfoBurst main menu, select New/Schedule.

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2. Enter the Schedule parameters. In this example the schedule will run between Monday and Friday at 05:00. The Hyper Data
Extract on the Tableau server will be updated with current data from the Webi report which is refreshed when the burst is executed. This topic does not cover adding
dependent events to a schedule - for example, not running the schedule until an ETL load completes successfully; however, InfoBurst does support this functionality.

(Note: For a full explanation of schedule settings, please see this link - add link here.)

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3. Select the Burst to add to the Schedule. We're selecting the Burst that publishes the Hyper data extract to Tableau Server.

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4. Add the Schedule. Any Tableau Dashboards that reference this Hyper file will contain current data.

This is the end of the workflow to create and schedule a Tableau Data Extract in Hyper format from a SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence report.

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