SAP BusinessObjects 4.2 SP3: How to Fix Migrated Web Intelligence Reports with Missing Data
Platform migrations are rarely, if ever seamless. We were reminded of this while performing a recent client migration from BO 4.1 to 4.2 SP3. In particular, we experienced an issue with certain Web Intelligence reports containing Free-Hand SQL queries and merged dimensions not rendering properly once migrated. We share our findings, including resolution here to assist you during your 4.2 SP3 migration.
Symptom – Missing Data
You open and refresh the report. The query completes successfully with no error, but the data table does not appear. Important note: It’s not that the data table is empty; it’s that the table is not visible at all. While it appears in “Structure” mode, it is invisible while in “Data” mode.
Impacted Reports – Types
4.1 Web Intelligence (“Webi”) documents migrated to 4.2 SP3, where those Webi documents had a mixture of Universe and Free-Hand SQL data providers, and merged dimensions were created across those data providers.
Resolution
SAP acknowledges issues with migrated Web Intelligence reports not displaying data in SAP Note: 2369088 (n.b.-External link, login required.)
The note recommends installing additional hot fixes and fix packs to resolve this issue. However, we did not wish to risk introducing any new issues by installing these files, and with only a few reports experiencing this issue, we opted to perform report modifications in the base 4.2 SP3 environment.
Modification Procedure
Delete all “detail” variables in affected reports. Unmerge the objects.
Delete and re-create the Free-Hand SQL data provider(s).
Refresh the report. Re-merge the objects.
Re-create the “detail” variables and re-drag them into the report.
Save and close.
Performing these modifications resolved this issue, and the reports refresh properly.
Have you migrated to 4.2 SP3? We’d love to hear about your experience, and any issues you encountered.
