Leveraging SAP BusinessObjects Lumira with SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2

Part 3 of the SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2 Q&A Series

Published: 01/August/2016

Reading time: 29 mins

If you missed the chat or need a refresher, we welcome you to view the online chat replay or read the full, edited transcript below.

This Q&A was part of the four-part Q&A series Innovating the Core: SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise BI.

SAPinsiderMatt: Welcome to today’s Q&A! I’m pleased to be joined today by members of the SAP BusinessObjects Lumira product management and product development teams.

It is my pleasure to welcome SAP’s Ramu Gowda, Sukesh Kaul, Ravichandran Mahadevan, and Ashok Kumar KN! Thank you for taking the time today to answer questions.

Comment From CrisE: What are typical models for rolling out Lumira to the enterprise but still allowing for ad-hoc use of the tool?
Ashokkumar KN: Please use Trusted Data discovery features in Lumira. These allow the administrator to control data access and functionality in Lumira Desktop and for all users to connect to corporate data source UNX,UNV, BW, and so on. Also you could restrict users to avoid export of data. For more information, visit these links:

Comment From Shreekant Shiralkar: The roadmap shared at SAPPHIRE mentions Lumira and Design Studio would be a “single product with two separate clients.” Please explain the strategy behind combing self-service and dash-boarding solutions.
Ramu Gowda: We plan to converge Lumira and Design Studio to enable them to run on a common technology framework, but still keep two different clients for self-service and dashoarding use cases.

This would enable us take advantage of the strength of each product, i.e., BW Online for Lumira and Offline Dashboards for Design Studio, and enable new use cases, such as enabling business users to create a quick prototype that can be extended by professional designers [AA1] .

Comment From Shreekant Shiralkar: Please share plans for data security capabilities of Lumira, especially for direct connection to ECC using ECC Infosets or through BO Universe. I also want to know the required data security (row level security) to host story boards on Lumira Server for BI Platform.
Ramu Gowda: We do support “save without data / purge data” capability when connected to ECC via UNX.

With this, the document gets refreshed when it is opened with the user credentials and it retrieves the data based on authorization in ECC.

Comment From Guest: What new features will be available in SAP BusinessObjects Lumira 2.0?
Ravichandran: Please see the official roadmap available in the SAP Service Market Place at
https://websmp105.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000212382013E.pdf

Comment From Pallavi: We have just installed Lumira on BOBJ 4.2. Why do I only see HANA as the data source when I use the Launchpad Lumira app? When I use the Lumira Client, I see more options as the data source, but don’t see an option to save back to BOBJ Enterprise.
Sukesh Kaul: The option that you see in the Launchpad Lumira app is meant for visualization in a browser for HANA online. HANA online is the only data source supported in the Launchpad.

Comment From Anonymous: We have deployed a Fiori Portal using a Fiori Launchpad; we would like to have a Lumira Tile that gives information in the tile and displays a Lumira graph when clicked on.
Ashokkumar KN: Lumira supports OpenDocument URL. We recommend you use the OpenDoument link and build Fiori tiles.

For more information, visit https://scn.sap.com/community/lumira/blog/2016/01/14/sap-lumira-for-bi-platform–hana-fiori-integration.

Comment From Anonymous: We are positioning Lumira as a data exploration tool and an easy BI rReporting tool (easier than WebI). Are we correct in regards to the current and future roadmap of Lumira?
Ramu Gowda: Yes, Lumira is our solution for data discovery, agile visualization, and self-service use cases.

Comment From Anonymous: We are not planning to use Design Studio. Will the merging of Design Studio and Lumira oblige us to use Design Studio?
Ramu Gowda: We plan to converge Lumira and Design Studio to enable them to run on common technology framework, but still keep two different clients for self-service and dashoarding use cases.

You can choose one of the clients and roll out depending on your use case with one add-on on BI platform.

Comment From Anonymous: Lumira introduced Infographic functionality. Will it be enhanced? Decommissioned?
Ramu Gowda: We do plan to continue supporting and enhancing infographic functionality.

Comment From Anonymous: Can we have a Lumira Tile in a C4C cockpit? We have purchased C4C and we are implementing the sales cockpit Can we have Lumira graphs integrated in the sales cockpit?
Ashokkumar KN: We do support embeddable BI via an OpenDocument link. It would allow you to add BI document into any portals.

Comment From Anonymous: Will the data preparation functionality in Lumira be enhanced in the future?
Ashokkumar KN: We have plans to enhance data preparation functionality in a future release. We also have plans to get data preparation functionality in browser for end users.

Comment From SNC Shawn Herring: Will it be possible to embed Lumira content into Workspaces?
Ashokkumar KN: We do support embeddable BI via an OpenDocument link. It would allow you to add BI document into any portals.

Comment From Anonymous: We are deploying BI mobile with WebI reports today. Would you advise us to push Lumira reports on mobile? Will the Roambi acquisition affect WebI on mobile and/or Lumira on mobile?
Ravichandran: Yes, Lumira reports can be used on mobile BI. With Lumira 1.31 and mobile BI 6.4, a native consumption experience is offered.

Roambi is currently positioned as a cloud offering, and in the medium term we do not expect this to impact on-premise WebI or Lumira on mobile BI.

Comment From Mike Decker: Where can I find a sizing guide or similar documentation for Lumira Server rollout?
Sukesh Kaul: The sizing guide is available at the following link: https://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-53374

Comment From Guest: How does SAP BusinessObjects Lumira support both SAP HANA and SAP BW data?
Ramu Gowda: For HANA, we support two types of connectivity:

Downloading data to Lumira and making use of the in-memory engine to support calculations
Online connectivity where the calculations are delegated to the HANA engine

For BW, we support downloading data by connecting to BeEx queries or Infoproviders.

Comment From Asghar Khan: Does Lumira have detailed maps for Canada? I know the US maps are current, but I’m not sure about Canada.
Ashokkumar KN: We support Online ESRI maps in Lumira (out of the box). By default, you have access to all country maps. If you have an ESRI account, you could also bring in feature layers defined in ESRI.

Comment From Guest: What are the benefits of the BI Launchpad?
Ravichandran: It is a single portal for all BI content which is hosted on the BI platform. This enables users to access all content they have access to via this portal.

Comment From Senthilkumar.VP: What about the licensing for the new Lumira version 2.0? I’m using Design Studio but not Lumira?
Ramu Gowda: There won’t be any changes to the license entitlement. You can continue to use discovery (Lumira) and/or designer (Design Studio) clients as per existing entitlement.

Comment From Mahesh Patel: Will new Lumira add-on be supported by the Linux platform?
Sukesh Kaul: Yes. We plan to support the add-on on Linux.

Comment From Senthilkumar.VP: How does the latest version of Lumira 2.0 compare with Power BI?
Ashokkumar KN: With Lumira 2.0, we have plans to improve the experience with HANA and BW. You would get the online BW experience, where users could analyze BW without downloading data from BW.

With HANA, we are improving connectivity via HTTP connector, which would help Lumira to support additional HANA view elements.

Comment From Surya: Are the compatibility issues between some of the Lumira components and Chrome browser addressed?
Ramu Gowda: The issue with Chrome version 49 is resolved with Lumira 1.30 release.

Comment From Senthilkumar.VP: What are all the data sources Lumira connects to? How are the UX/UI with this new tool? Will this be deployable in the NetWeaver stack against BW?
Ashokkumar KN: Lumira 2.0 would connect all the data sources we support in 1.0. For deployment, we would support BI platform, not the NetWeaver stack. We have no plans to support the NetWeaver stack in the future.

Comment From HS: Are there any firmed up dates for when Lumira Studio 2.0 will go GA?
Ramu Gowda: Current plan for Lumira 2.0 RTC is early Q2 2017 followed by GA in early Q3 2017.

Comment From Yoav Yahav: Are there plans to enhance rich filtering capabilities in Lumira?
Ramu Gowda: With Lumira 2.0, we plan to improve the filter capability by adding support for filters on page, single, and multiple visualization. We also plan to support additional controls for Input controls like slider and date picker.

Comment From Paul: Can you automate extraction of data using Lumira?
Ashokkumar KN: Could you please elaborate? We support custom data access extension, which allows you to build a connector to any data source and connect SAP Lumira.

Comment From Cindy G: Is there or will there be functionality to create measure palettes with more distinct colors rather than a gradation?
Sukesh Kaul: This is supported from version 1.30 onwards while choosing/defining a palette when you are in a visualization. Users can choose to define distinct colors, apply single color gradient, or apply 2 color gradients.

Comment From Mark: How does Lumira compare with other data discovery products?
Ramu Gowda: Lumira delivers data discovery, agile visualization, and self-service for end users along with the reliability and scalability of the BI platform.

Some examples include: Desktop governance from CMC, auditing, authorization and row level security, and lifecycle management.

Comment From SNC Shawn Herring: When embedding Lumira in Workspaces, will you be able to do content linking for a more interactive experience?
Ashokkumar KN: With Lumira document, we do support hyperlink. You could provide the content linking experience via link in Lumira.

Comment From Mithun Kumar Kesir: Which version of Lumira do we see UNX as the source in BI Launchpad?
Ramu Gowda: Today, you can view the documents and create new stories and visualizations once the data is acquired in desktop and published to BI platform.

We do plan to deliver data acquisition and preparation capabilities on Launchpad for UNX and other sources in future releases.

Comment From Cris: Does the Lumira connection to BW for consumption of BEx delivered infoproviders require the use of Lumira Server or can this be accomplished via the desktop version with no server implementation?

Ramu Gowda: You can connect to BEx queries / infoproviders using the download from BW connection option from Lumira desktop with no need for Lumira Server for BI platform.

Comment From Mithun Kumar Kesir: What is the maximum number of rows Lumira can handle using the velocity engine, considering the back end is non-SAP? For example, Microsoft SQL Server.
Ashokkumar KN: There is no defined limit for the velocity engine. You could increase the RAM and size to support your use case.

Comment From Marc Rosson: With SAP’s purchase of Roambi, how will that impact Lumira and does Roambi have an on-premise integration to BOBJ or is it entirely cloud based?
Ravichandran: With the acquisition of the Roambi suite of solutions and related key assets, SAP intends to continue delivering innovations that enable users with tangible, easy-to-use analytics solutions that can retrieve relevant data anywhere, anytime.

Roambi is a separate offering and is entirely cloud based. It does not impact Lumira.

Comment From Mithun Kumar Kesir: What are the upcoming free SDK extensions from SAP for Lumira?
Ashokkumar KN: Please refer to these links:

Comment From Mike Decker: What is the current (create, edit existing, map data source) functionality and planned changes for browser-based Lumira? For example, I believe you need the desktop version to create a Lumira object from scratch today. Correct?
Ramu Gowda: Today we support visualizing HANA views from launchpad with no dependency on desktop. With Lumira 2.0, we plan to extend this support for online BW connection in Launchpad.

In future releases, we plan to deliver support for data preparation capabilities for offline sources in Launchpad.

Comment From Darin: I like the power of Lumira to “clean-up” the data set, removing or adjusting values. However, I have concerns with reconciling back to other reports. Does or will Lumira offer a delta type tracking of changes to the data so you could see original, changes, and adjusted results side by side in a view?
Ashokkumar KN: Thanks for the feedback. Please post this in Idea-place. We would like to see community feedback and take a call on investment if there is a good amount of votes: https://ideas.sap.com/SAPLumira.

Comment From Darin: In one response you stated “…For BW, we support downloading data by connecting to BEx queries or infoproviders” and in another “With Lumira 2.0, we have plans to improve the experience with HANA and BW. You would get the online BW experience, where users could analyze BW without downloading data from BW.” Does this mean that with the current release, BW data must be downloaded, but with 2.0, BW data can be used online?
Sukesh Kaul: With 2.0, users will have both the options to download and connect to BW. Currently, Lumira just allows downloading (BW offline) capabilities.

Comment From Rob: I know Design Studio enables very complex applications and dashboards, but from a basic dashboard perspective, what does Design Studio bring to the table that Lumira doesn’t provide? Is there a document or other resource that details the use cases for each product? As an IT developer, I’m trying to understand when I would want to use Design Studio vs perhaps using Lumira to create saved views/stories/templates that would act as a dashboard or maybe dashboard components users could arrange themselves.
Ramu Gowda: With Design Studio along with Dashboards, you can also build customized dynamic applications, for example, an ad-hoc analysis template. The following blog should help you with deciding when to choose Design Studio or Lumira: https://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-38981.

Comment From Yoav Yahav: Can Lumira support live reports that may contain high volumes of data which can take time to load to the Lumira Server?
Ashokkumar KN: For a real-time dashboard experience, we would recommend to using Design Studio data streaming. With Lumira 2.0, Lumira and Design Studio come together.

Comment From Mahesh Patel: Can we merge two data sources in Lumira?
Sukesh Kaul: Yes. Lumira allows merging, appending, and blending of two data sources.

Comment From Rob: Will the analysis functionality of Lumira be enhanced in later releases? Or is it aimed at more of an end-user rather than perhaps a power-user audience?
Ravichandran: Lumira is a data discovery and visualization tool enabling self-service BI for business users. We will continue to enhance and improve the analysis features in future releases.

With Lumira 2.0, we are bringing together both end-user and power-user audiences, and enabling interoperability between these use cases.

Comment From Rob: Does Lumira have the ability to drill into detail in a WebI report or some other interface? I know that doesn’t make so much sense in the normal user self-service visualization/exploration scenario, but I’m wondering if we can create shared stories/views for common views of the data where such a drill into detail type link might be useful.
Ashokkumar KN: In Lumira, we have hyperlink support. You can link to a WebI document via a hyperlink. If you are looking for table/chart supporting hyperlink on each cell/element and passing parameter to WebI, we have the same in our backlog. We plan to support this in a future release.

Comment From Mahesh Patel: Any performance related updates in BI 4.2 release?
Ramu Gowda: We have improved performance in BI 4.2 on many areas like, WebI, UNX, LCM, install and upgrade, and so on. Are you looking for any specific tool or use case?

Comment From Deepa Chintapalli: What are some of the big changes in Lumira 2.0?
Ramu Gowda: There are plenty of new features planned for Lumira 2.0. Some examples are:

Modernized user experience
Improved filtering and input controls
Simplified visualization experience
BW online analysis support in Lumira
Offline Dashboard applications support in Design Studio
Enabling Business and IT to work together with interoperability for Lumira and Designer clients

With Lumira 2.x, we plan for half-yearly release instead of quarterly releases.

Comment From HS: What kind of changes to the bookmark functionality can we expect from Lumira 2.0?
Ashokkumar KN: In 2.0, we are working on a reworked bookmark concept:

Designer configures what is captured in bookmark
Increase robustness of bookmark against application UI change
Bookmark configuration as a technical component in Design time
Promotion management supports Bookmark

For more information, go to https://websmp105.sap-ag.de/~sapidb/011000358700000212382013E.pdf.

Comment From Mithun Kumar Kesir: When acquiring data from UNX, there are options to filter and select data. In the filtering area, I see either Inlist or Exclude options. Are there any improvements that are planned for other options like Between Date Range and All at this particular level?
Ramu Gowda: With UNX Query Panel extension, we support all the capabilities we have with Query panel. We would recommend installing and using UNX QPE instead of default Universe connection.

Comment From Mark: What are some helpful scripting languages business users should learn if they work in Lumira every day?
Ravichandran: Business users do not need to know any scripting language to work with Lumira.

Comment From Chris: What do you mean by “offline dashboard” applications? Do you mean that the data is downloaded into the document?
Ramu Gowda: Yes. Just like Lumira, the data set is downloaded and saved along with the document.

Please note, the offline dashboards are planned to be supported only with data sets acquired in Lumira with Lumira 2.0.

Comment From SNC Shawn Herring: Not hyperlinks, but content linking so that changes are made on the Workspace shows on the Workspace. Similar to how two WebI documents work on a Workspace.
Ashokkumar KN: We do not plan to support BI Workspace for Lumira. Overall, we don’t plan to do any enhancement in BI Workspace.

Comment From Mike Decker: What type of scheduling functionality exists with Lumira/Lumira Server? I’m wondering specifically with refreshing the underlying queries before a user opens the doc (improved performance) and with scheduling/publication/burst to PDF or other format like you can with WebI/CR?
Ramu Gowda: Scheduling is supported for Lumira documents based on UNX, HANA offline, and BW (only for managed connection) with scheduling format being Lumira document on BI platform.

Comment From Yoav Yahav: Can you explain more about BW live connection?
Ashokkumar KN: This is similar to what we have in the Design Studio ad-hoc analysis template. Basically with a live connection to BW, you don’t need to download data offline into Lumira.

Comment From LD: Can Lumira be used in the same way as rich client by creating a lock [AA7] security file so that the users doesn’t need to VPN into the platform?
Ashokkumar KN: We have plans to improve capabilities in browsers so that users do not have dependency on desktop.

Comment From Rachel: For an executive audience, how would you explain Lumira capabilities vs. BusinessObjects Explorer?
Ramu Gowda: Lumira does support all use cases possible with Explorer with additional capabilities and is a go-forward tool with investment. Explorer is under maintenance.

Comment From Comment from JS: Can you comment on improved ESRI integration?
Ashokkumar KN: In the latest version, we (by default) have License to ESRI base maps. We allow users to customize the server they are connecting, such as an on-premise server and so on.

SAPinsiderMatt: Thanks to everyone who participated in today’s Q&A. And thank you to Ramu Gowda, Sukesh Kaul, Ravichandran Mahadevan, and Ashok Kumar KN for your time and for your insightful answers.

Ramu Gowda: Thank you everyone for the great session.

SAPinsiderMatt: You can review the Q&A chat replay at any time, and I will alert you by email when the transcript of today’s discussion is posted. There is one more Q&A in this series — Advancing Your Analytics for the Digital Age with SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, Premium Edition — on September 27, 2016. Please join us for that event!