SAP Business Explorer (BEx) is a powerful suite of tools designed to provide users with comprehensive reporting, analysis, and data visualization capabilities across SAP systems, delivering a more engaging user experience and streamlining critical business processes.
This article explores the core features of the SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence Suite, Business Explorer, its role in data-driven business strategies, and how it empowers users to leverage the full potential of their SAP data.
What is the SAP Business Explorer?
Ideal for both business and technical users, the SAP Business Explorer tool streamlines the process of accessing and analyzing data, helping companies identify trends, uncover opportunities, and drive strategic growth.
SAP BEx provides intelligent reporting and analysis tools for strategic analyses and flexible reporting, enabling organizations to transform raw data into actionable insights and supporting better decision-making through customized reports and interactive data exploration.
Understanding Functionality within the SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence Suite
The information within SAP NetWeaver BI is divided into self-contained business data areas that enable users to access, analyze, and manage critical business data more effectively and analyze multiple dimensions simultaneously.
The Business Explorer (BEx) provides flexible reporting and analysis tools to streamline data entry, improve query functions, and deliver better decision-making support across teams. Here’s a closer look at a few key features and functions of the Business Explorer:
BEx Web
Web Analyzer
The BEx Web Analyzer is a standalone web application for intelligent data analysis, enabling users to call it using either a URL or an iView directly in the portal. With this tool, users can open any data provider, such as a query, query view, or external data source, and create views of critical BI data to be used as data providers in other BI solutions or distributed through reports.
Web Application Designer
The BEx Web Application Designer is a desktop application that helps users create web applications, implement highly customized business scenarios, and generate HTML pages with relevant BI content, including maps, charts, and tables.
Each web application is based on a specific web template that can be created, modified, and saved in the web browser on the portal, simplifying the creation of new web applications and improving consistency across business units.
Report Designer
The Report Designer provides an easy-to-use interface that enables users to create pre-formatted reports designed for printing and presentation. By providing advanced formatting options and layout functions, the Report Designer tool makes it easier to create reports that meet specific business needs, such as a master data sheet for all critical human resources data.
BI Patterns
BI Patterns are web applications based on requirements from specific user groups, enabling users to deliver a consistent view of content from the SAP Business Intelligence suite. Users can configure BI Patterns to specific needs through the Pattern Wizard within the Web Application Designer.
PDF Generation
The SAP Business Intelligence Suite provides a fully integrated PDF Generation feature that lets users print web applications and reports in various formats. This provides greater flexibility and empowers users to control their own experience in both desktop and paper formats.
BEx Analyzer
The BEx Analyzer is a design, reporting, and analysis tool in the Business Explorer suite. It provides direct integrations with Microsoft Excel and enables users to design specific interfaces for their queries through design items like button groups, dropdown boxes, and push buttons within the Excel workbook.
This tool empowers users to analyze critical InfoProvider data and leverage the built-in context menu to plan, navigate, and manage queries created within the BEx Query Designer solution.
BEx Information Broadcasting
The BEx Information Broadcasting tool enables users to create objects with content from business intelligence, delivering better consistency between the Business Explorer and the comprehensive SAP Business Intelligence Suite.
With the intelligent BEx Information Broadcasting tool, business users can precalculate queries, query views, web templates, workbooks, and reports directly in the platform and distribute them in various formats, including publishing to the portal, printing, or sending via email.
Key Integrations Across the SAP Landscape
Integration within the Portal
With seamless integration capabilities in the Business Explorer, users can integrate business content from BI seamlessly in the portal and create objects with various display formats.
Integrations are performed by leveraging KM content, BEx Broadcaster, SAP Role Upload, or Portal Content Studio features, enabling users to access critical applications and business content from external data sources and systems.
The portal integration uses a single point of entry that allows users to access both structured and unstructured content and other key business data from data analysis in one place. This streamlines data management and improves overall data consistency, integrity, and efficiency.
Integration with SAP BusinessObjects
Pre-built integration with SAP BusinessObjects empowers users to expand the capabilities of their reporting and analysis tools in the Business Explorer. This functionality includes integration with Xcelsius Enterprise and Crystal Reports to view critical BI data in dashboards and create intelligent, form-based reports related to specific BI data.
How Can We Help?
From assessing your current SAP setup and identifying critical improvement areas to navigating complex integrations and optimizing business processes across your SAP landscape, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our senior-level, US-based SAP consultants have the skills and experience to handle your critical project needs, guide your internal teams through each step, and empower users to drive continuous improvement and growth over time.
Contact Us
For more information about our SAP consulting services or to get started on a project with our team of expert consultants, contact us today.
