Connectivity options between various SAP BusinessObjects BI tools and BPC

The following is a summary for the connectivity options between the various SAP BusinesObjects BI tools and BPC.

This article is only meant to provide general guidance in regards to the different technologies and software versions.

For updated information on this topic please refer to SAP Note 1731626 (https://service.sap.com/sap/support/notes/1731626).

For official SAP Product Support please refer to the corresponding platform support document of each of these products for the latest information.

Dashboard Design (formerly known as Xcelsius)

Data source	Runtime connectivity requirements	Design time requirements (version)	Design time requirements (version)	Design time requirements (version)	Design time requirements (version)
		Dashboard Design (Xcelsius)	EPM Connector	SAP BPC ODBO Driver	Excel Add-in
BPC 7.5 (MS, NW)	Adobe Flash, XMLA	Xcelsius 2008	7.5	1	Analyzer Add-in
BPC 10 (MS)	Adobe Flash, XMLA	Dashboard Design 4.0	10	2	EPM Add-in

Data source	Runtime connectivity requirements	Design time requirements
BPC 7.5 (MS, NW)	UNX + XMLA	IDT
BPC 7.5 (MS, NW)	OLAP UNV +BPC ODBO 2.0	UDT
BPC 10 (NW)	UNX + XMLA	IDT

Data source	Runtime connectivity requirements	Design time requirements	Observations
BPC 7.5 (MS, NW)	BPC ODBO 1.0	OLAP UNV + BPC ODBO 1.0	Member properties are restricted to Member ID and Description
BPC 10* (MS)	BPC ODBO 1.0	OLAP UNV + BPC ODBO 1.0	Member properties are restricted to Member ID and Description

*Although this may work, it’s not a supported configuration.

Data source	Runtime connectivity requirements	Design time requirements	Observations
BPC 7.5 (MS, NW)	XMLA	N/A	BI 4.0 FP3 is required
BPC 10 (MS)	XMLA	IDT	BI 4.0 FP3 is required

Data source	Runtime connectivity requirements	Design time requirements	Observations
BPC 7.5 (MS, NW)	BPC ODBO 1.0	BPC ODBO 1.0	Member properties restricted to Member ID and Description Connection configured in CMC
BPC 10	N/A	N/A

The following abbreviations have been used in this document:

IDT = Information Design Tool

UDT = Universe Design Tool

UNV = Classic BusinessObjects Universe

UNX = New BI 4.0 Universe

OLAP UNV = OLAP Universe

XMLA = XML for Analysis connector for BPC.

ODBO = SAP ODBO driver

The XMLA connector for BPC (BPC XMLA) is different than the Microsoft XMLA and uses different libraries. The BPC XMLA connector uses the BPC COM+ application logic tier while the MS XMLA connects directly to the underlying MS OLAP cube and bypassing the BPC business logic.
As of BPC 10 SP04 Patch 02, the BPC XMLA is no longer installed by the BPC setup program and it needs to be manually configured. For more details please refer to SAP Note 1713232 - How to configure XMLA for BPC 10.

For ODBO driver connectivity issues, please refer to the following SAP Notes:
- 1613548 How to troubleshoot the BPC ODBO driver connectivity issues
- 1690965 How to test ODBO connectivity on 64-bit editions of Windows

As of FP03, BI 4.0 Dashboards can no longer be traced due to the upgrade of the Adobe Flex SDK to 4.0 and the way the Dashboard Design produces the SWF file. For more details refer to SAP Note 1632820 - How to debug and trace Xcelsius dashboards connected to a web service.