What's New in BackOffice Associates® SolutionsSAP Accelerators by BackOffice Associates® 6.5

This topic contains:

NOTE: A 6.4 version of BackOffice Associates®Solutions was not released. The immediately prior release to 6.5 was version 6.3.1.

NOTE: A 6.4 version of SAP Accelerators by BackOffice Associates® was not released. The immediately prior release to 6.5.3 was version 6.3.1.

New Features

AutoGen

dspCompose™

A user can access the black dspCompose Requests tab on the Quick Panel to navigate among active requests for which the logged in user has access. Refer to Use the dspCompose Requests tab for Quick Access to Request Details for more information.

Integrate

  • A user can configure After Post rules that run after the process template executes successfully and before the next process template begins processing (if posting with a multi-template process). After a process template that has an After Post rule registered posts successfully, the data is passed to the next dependent process template as an input parameter. Refer to Register After Post Rules to a Process Template for more information.
  • The SAP Data Services Job  template type has been added to Integrate. It uses a Data Services Job (consisting of a Data Services Repository and a job name) when posting request data to a target system. Refer to Post Data Using an SAP Data Services Job for more information.
  • A user can add a Custom template in Integrate for posting to any application. Refer to Post Data Using a Custom Template for more information.

Map

A user can profile a source data source on the Vertical View of the Target Sources page or an Update Row source data source on the Vertical View of the Target Sources (Update Row) page. Once the profile has run, the user can view the profile results such as record counts, unique values, or field data types.

Common

  • Target system connections and the user credentials for these connections are now set in Common. Refer to Establish a Connection to a Target System for more information.
    NOTE: This feature replaces Back End Authentication that was previously established in Integrate and dspCompose™.
  • An Administrator can import a System Type from any system. The user can add a System Type using that system’s data dictionary to create a System Type Model with the correct SQL. The process imports table descriptions, field descriptions and registers check tables to fields. Refer to Import a Data Source for more information.
    NOTE: The SAP and DE System Types are included with the DSP®.

Target Design

A new Visibility column has been added for both Natural and Utility fields. Setting the visibility determines whether a field is available to be mapped on the source or target pages. Refer to Set Visibility for Mapping of Target and Source Fields and Set Visibility for Appended Utility Columns for more information.

Enhancements

AutoGen

Collect

  • For a Target Source, the data store created in Data Services now has the Target Source name as part of the name when using an SAP Data Services using RFC package type (for example, <DS_SAP_SOURCE1_RFC>) to allow multiple sources to download to a single DS repository.
  • A validation message has been added in Collect, on the Tables page, for Data Services or Data Service using RFC package types to let the user know if a data services repository is not assigned on the Targets page’s vertical view.
  • In Collect, the Data Services using RFC package type can only be used by a Target Source with a connection type of SAPAPPSERVER. The Manual Data Services package type is now available for Data Services connections.
  • In Collect, on the Tables page’s Vertical View Advanced Settings tab, a user can now edit the package name for a Manual Data Services package or accept the default name for the package.
  • In Collect, when a table is added to a Target Source with SAPAPPSERVER as a source type, the package type now defaults to SAP Data Services using RFC regardless of the package type set in Common on the Parameters – Collect page > Package Info tab.
  • A Do Not Delete check box has been added in Collect on the Target Sources page's Vertical View so that a user can choose whether or not data is automatically deleted from the target table when the target data is built and refreshed. This option has been added to support change data capture with Data Services.
  • In Collect, <source> has been added to the name of for SAP RFC connections, to allow multiple connections to SAP in a single Data Services Repository.

Common

Profiling and duplicate detection are available again after being removed in a previous version.

Console

dspCompose™

  • On the Template (Role Excel Column Control) page, the Include, Exclude, and Exclude If Null options have been moved to the toolbar to allow updates to multiple records.
  • If columns have been previously imported and a new column is added to a template, when the columns are imported again, the new column is added but there are no updates to existing columns.  
  • On the Template (Post Message Tables) page, a user can identify the Integrate template ID specific to the post message tables if a dspCompose™ template is associated with a multi-template process in Integrate.

Excel Integration

  • A user can now update data in the DSP® from an Excel spreadsheet created by the user (based on the current DSP® page) or from a spreadsheet previously downloaded from the DSP®. Refer to Import Data for more information.
  • The default values from the page are now applied for records inserted via Excel Integration. Refer to Import Data for more information.

Integrate

In Integrate, the Delay Between Records field has been added to the Process page's Vertical View. It allows the user to set the amount of time, in milliseconds, that passes after processing of one record is complete and processing of the next record can begin.

Target Design

The Derived from Source field has been added to the Target Fieldspage. It allows the user to include or exclude a field from an insert rule when building the rule in SQL AutoGen.

 

Resolved Issues

AutoGen

  • An issue occurred after reports were created in AutoGen. If any values were changed on the Target Lookup Table page in Target Design and the reports were rebuilt, the lookup table changes weren’t reflected in the reports. A target table join was not being updated. With the fix, the join is updated when reports are rebuilt, and changes to lookup tables display on reports.

  • In AutoGen, the Include Action In Rule Name option was available in the Parameters Automation page. The underlying functions for this option had been removed previously. With the fix, the field is no longer on the page.  
  • In Data Services AutoGen, the data types FLOAT and BIGINT were causing validation errors. With the fix, the data types FLOAT and BIGINT are supported.
  • In Data Services AutoGen, the Data Services rules in Transform were not properly identifying a field mapped to default to <blank> in Map. With the fix, fields mapped to default to <blank> in Map are correctly set to blank by the Data Services rules in Transform. Refer to Default for more information about the Default action used in field mapping.

Collect

  • Errors occurred during the Build Package process on AIX for DB2 ODBC. The ODBCDB2AIX connection type is available for Source Connection Types for the build/refresh process. With this fix, the Build Package process executes with no errors.
  • Post action rules would fail because of missing brackets around columns names. With the fix, in Common, on the Collect configuration Post Action Rule Table Column page, when a column name is added the rule is created with the column name in brackets.

dspMonitor™

An error occurred when workflow emails were sent for reports. By default, dspMonitor™ does not send workflows to users if a report has zero records. If a report was generated that had zero records, but had previously generated with records, workflow emails were sent to users incorrectly. With the fix, workflows are not sent to users once the report has zero records.

Integrate

An issue occurred when posting data using the post method BOAFileCreation. If the process post was based on a template view that contained thousands of records, the file creation process could take over an hour. The method for writing files using this post method has been updated. With the fix, these same files are created in under 10 minutes.

Map

  • An issue occurred when generating a snapshot for Wave Gate metrics. If the snapshot contained a large number of records, the daily service page that calculates metrics failed. With the fix, the service page runs with no errors and the metrics are calculated.
  • An error occurred when building reports with remediation that did not allow the reports to generate. The field length of the Specifications Section field on Transform's Target Reports page has been updated to unlimited, which corrected the issue. With the fix, remediation reports generate.

Online Help

  • TheTarget Fields page field descriptions was updated with this note: "NOTE: If the field is Natural, the Verify Post Load check box is enabled by default when a user clicks the Activate icon on the Page toolbar."
  • References to DTS packages were removed. Supported SQL versions have been updated to 2012 and 2014.

System Administration

  • Setting up a custom Security Role that only provides access to a single Wave-Process Area and limited objects did not prevent assigned users from seeing additional Process Areas and objects. Security checks were added to the Wave: Process Areas and  Process Area: Object to prevent users from seeing Process Areas and objects they were not assigned to.
  • An error occurred when navigating to the Security Definitions page after a record was deleted from the Security Definition Keys page because the values for the key record were orphaned in the key value table. With the fix, the key definition and value records are deleted and the Security Definitions page loads correctly.
  • In System Administration, the tasks were not visible on the Failed Jobs page's Vertical View for the General job type. The Tasks option was added to the Failed Jobs page's Vertical View. With this fix, the tasks are now visible.
  • Failures occurred at a client's site for reports due to incorrect syntax in the code when object names contain spaces or special characters. With this fix, the reports are generated with no failures.
  • Members of the Migration Developers group could not see the data source in Analyze after adding a data source in System Administration (on the Data Sources page). The DataSourceID was added to the Migration Developer Security Role which allows migration developers to see the data source when viewing the page.
  • The email address for license requests has been updated to licenserequests@boaweb.com.
  • When a validation failed for a soft required field, a warning message displayed. With the fix, validation failures for soft required fields return an error.
  • When a validation for a soft required field was created, it was saved with a nonstandard name and description that made identifying the validation difficult. With the fix, the name follows this naming convention:
    [TableName] + [ColumnName] + NN + “Val”
    The description that displays for a validation failure is clear: the target field names are translated, and instructions to remediate the issue are included.
  • When a validation for a list source was created, it was saved with a nonstandard name and description that made identifying the validation difficult. With the fix, the name follows this naming convention:
    web[PageTableName]_[ColumnName]_NotInListVal
    The description that displays for a validation failure is clear: the target field names are translated, and instructions to remediate the issue are included.
  • When a validation failed for a list source, a warning message displayed. With the fix, validation failures for list sources return an error

Target Design

An issue occurred that prevented a user from adding a source when the number of roles and role key values is in the thousands. After a user clicked Add, the processing icon displayed followed by a network connection error. With the fix, an Insert statement in a stored procedure was optimized and a user can add sources without receiving the error.

Transform

  • Members of the ReportsOnly WebApp group in Transform could not access the All Business Reports – All Wave/Process Areas page. An update to the pages accessible to the WebApp group now allows members of that group to view the page.
  • A procedure in Transform had a poorly formed concatenated IN clause which caused performance issues on the Targets and Target Sources pages. The procedure has been rewritten and views optimized to alleviate the performance issues.
  • When a new report header/footer created in Console was chosen in Transform, the header/footer did not display on the report. With this fix, the new header/footer appears on the report.
  • An error occurred when a user entered a value in the Export Order By field on the Target Exports page’s Vertical View. After processing the export, when a user clicked the View Export icon on the Target Exports page, an error displayed. With the fix, an invalid ORDER BY clause was removed from the query used to view the target export from DSP®. The ORDER BY clause is placed in the Assemble package. The records in the export file sort by the ORDER BY and the error no longer displays when the user clicks the View Export icon. Note that when viewing the export from DSP®, the sort occurs by the left most column.
  • An error displayed if a user attempted to generate reports in Transform when the Report Generate Empty check box was disabled in Console on the Transform tab of the Parameters page. The Report Generate Empty setting determines whether Transform generates reports when there are no records on the report. With the fix, if the setting is disabled, only those reports that have records are generated from Transform.
  • When registering a Target Remediation rule on the Target Remediation page, rules for all targets were available for selection in the Target Report Remediation Rule View list box. With the fix, only rules for the selected target display.
  • Line feed characters from the field mapping fields in Map caused incorrect formatting in the Rulebook reports. With the fix, the line feed characters have been removed and reports are formatted correctly.
  • If a target report had sampling configured, the sample report was not generated when the target was processed. With the fix, a report with sampling configured generates the sampling report when the target is processed.
  • An error occurred when creating and executing a report that had an Order By clause. With the fix, reports can be created and executed in Transform with an Order By clause.
  • An issue occurred when a business user was assigned to a report segment, but not to the full report. When the report was executed, the business user was removed from all of the report’s segments, so could not access any report data. With the fix, the business user remains assigned to the report segment and unassigned to the full report. The user can view report data for assigned segments only.

Enhancement Requests from the Field

  • In online help, page navigation has been added to all field description topics.
  • In online help, information has been included about how to Use Field Groups with Target Sources Other than the Default (*) Field Group.
  • In online help, a note was added to clarify using the RuleXref and Xref actions: "When mapping fields on a multiple key lookup table, concatenate the fields with a ":" separator, for example, field1:field 2. "
  • In online help, the naming convention for packages (#Database#%#Source#%) has been added. Refer to Create Packages for more information.
  • When in edit mode, if the user clicked an element on the page which resulted in a navigation, the record changes could have been lost. With the fix, the system displays a warning that the record changes can be lost and the user is required to confirm the action.
  • In System Administration, added a parameter to adjust the number of days prior to expiration the license expiration warning message is displayed.
  • In Transform, the UI has been updated so that the Target Source Rules and the Target Rules page are consistent. The Source Rule field has been removed from the Target Source Rules page's Horizontal View and the Target Rule field has been removed from the Target Rules page's Horizontal View.
  • In Transform, when registering a flat file export, the Assemble process is generated automatically and is defaulted to a tab delimited text file. The user has the option to specify alternate delimiters when registering a flat file export.
  • In Transform, when adding a target export, if a Migration Developer selected a load type of LSMW, BDC views displayed as an option in the Target Export list box on the Target Exports page. BDC views should not be used with exports of LSMW load type. A filter on the list box was updated, and BDC views no longer display in the list box when load type of LSMW is selected.

WARNING: Customizations made to any component of thedelivered BackOffice Solution will be overwritten in the next upgrade. To preserve customizations, make a copy of the customizations prior to applying any upgrade.

A customization is a change to the underlying source code, which differs from configuration – normal setup of the software, such as setting up workflows and defining parameters via the configuration pages.

Previous Versions

NOTE: A 6.4 version of BackOffice Associates® Solutions was not released. The immediately prior release to 6.5 was version 6.3.1.

NOTE: A 6.4 version of SAP Accelerators by BackOffice Associates® was not released. The immediately prior release to 6.5 was version 6.3.1.