BW/4HANA Cockpit

In BW4 an good old t-code RSA1 is replaced and most of its functions are basically moved to web environment via FIORI app called BW/4HANA Cockpit or sometimes as BW Fiori Launchpad. It serves as an entry point for BW4 administration. The cockpit was shipped with BW/4 version 1.0 SP08 for first time. It can be started by t-code BW4WEB from SAP GUI or directly in web browser by accessing an URL:

http(s)://server:<port>/sap/bc/ui2/flp?sap-client=<BW_client>&sap-language=EN

Installation of the cockpit is normally part of BW4 server installation. It involves an activation of BW monitoring and modeling UI based on SAP_UI 7.54 - component BW4-UI. For the activation, a task List called SAP_BW4_LAUNCHPAD_SETUP needs to run via t-code STC01. Roles that need to be assigned to user in order to make the cockpit available for them need to have an following authorization objects included: S_BW4_REST, S_SERVICE, S_RS_ADSO, S_RS_IOBJA, S_RS_PC, S_RS_DTP. Notice that there needs to be SAP Fiori Tile Catalogs and SAP Fiori Tile Groups assigned to the users and user roles on the Menu tab in t-code PFCG.

Many admin tasks can be performed from there like data loads (process chain, DTP) monitoring/scheduling/modeling etc. The tasks are clustered into so called groups in which the particular apps reside. The app is represented by the FIORI app. Following are basic groups and apps:

Group                    App

Modeling                 PC Editor

                              Process Variant Editor

                              Analysis Authorization Editor

Monitoring               Process Chains - Display Dashboard

                              Process Chains - Display Latest Status

                              Process Chain Runs

                              Processes

                              Remodeling Requests

                              Data Volume Statistics

                              Data Selection Statistics

Data Administration  DataStore Objects - Manage Requests

                              InfoObjects - Manage Requests

                              External SAP HANA View

                              Data Tiering Summary

                              Data Tiering Maintenance

Data Protection        Data Protection Notifications

                              Data Protection Worklists

All available application can be seen as BSP Apps in BW’s backend in development package BW4_UI5_TOOLS.                              

 

A personalization of the cockpit is available for the user. A new FIORI tiles can be added/removed from the cockpit. On home screen, there is an Edit Home page button under user’s avatar icon. A web page is rendered with a view allowing adding/renaming/reordering the group or tile. Moreover, there is an App Finder that serves to lookup other tiles/apps.

In addition there are several settings that user can maintain under Settings area. Some of them are related to: appearance (Design of the FIORI), language/region/date/time format, user’s name, email address, switching on/off collecting user’s history and information about the system itself (IP address, server address, version of system/kernel/database.

A notification can be consumed in the cockpit as well. The notification is to be displayed according the user’s role. This only works if the notification are switched on in backed system customizing.

My take: although I still prefer to work in SAP GUI while working on BW’s administration tasks (see my post about t-code RSMNG which allow a some kind of data target administration in SAP GUI in BW/4 based systems) I find the web cockpit useful. For basic admins stuff like just checking PC’s status, it can be very useful. In case I need to dig deeper into data like analyzing it I prefer SAP GUI. However, I can imagine myself to work only with the cockpit going forward.

Related t-codes:

BW4CHECK             Check BW/4HANA Cockpit Setup (ABAP prg: BW4_UI5_IFC_CONSISTENCY)

BW4WEB                 Launch BW/4HANA Cockpit (ABAP prg: BW4_WEB_SHOW)

BW4_WEB_START    BW/4HANA: Web UI Entry Point (ABAP prg: BW4_WEB_START)

More information:

Online docu

SAP software component: BW4-UI (Maintenance & Monitoring User Interfaces)

Configuring the SAP BW∕4HANA Cockpit

Authorizations for Working with the SAP BW∕4HANA Cockpit

Apps in the SAP BW∕4HANA Cockpit

2861491 UI problem in BW/4HANA Cockpit persists after implementation of a note

2918492 FAQ: BW/4HANA 2.0 Cockpit Setup

2922364 FAQ: BW/4HANA 2.0 Cockpit Notifications

2926199 Error activating ODATA Services using SAP_BW4_LAUNCHPAD_SETUP

2998821 Configuration of BW/4 Cockpit incomplete

3037823 -FAQ: BW/4HANA 2.0 Cockpit Authorizations

3124344 BW/4HANA Cockpit activation fails