Custom Program Grants Users Easy Access to Both BEx Analyzer 3.x and SAP NetWeaver 2004s

When migrating to SAP NetWeaver 2004s, your users may want to access both the new and legacy versions of BEx Analyzer until they get used to the new program. However, users accessing BEx Analyzer via single-sign on with transaction RRMX cannot choose which version of BEx Analyzer to launch. Use ABAP code to add a selection screen so users can choose their version of BEx Analyzer.

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Key Concept

BEx Analyzer in SAP NetWeaver 2004s has changed substantially. It is now more integrated into Microsoft Excel. Some new features include the direct use of Excel formulas and formatting and the ability to build applications with the new Design Toolbar. Therefore, you cannot open workbooks saved in the new BEx Analyzer release in the older legacy version (commonly called 3.x), and you must migrate workbooks created in 3.x to use them in SAP NetWeaver 2004s. To ease the upgrade and migration process to SAP NetWeaver 2004s, SAP provides and supports both versions of BEx Analyzer. Most users choose to use both versions to adjust to the new version and wait for the technical team to migrate existing 3.x query objects to SAP NetWeaver 2004s. Also, many SAP implementations support multiple BI clients, involving a combination of BW 3.x and SAP NetWeaver 2004s.

The SAP NetWeaver 2004s SAPGUI front end provides two versions of BEx Analyzer: the 3.x legacy version and the SAP NetWeaver 2004s version. Users may run queries created under either version with either tool, although they can only edit queries with the version in which they were created.

While users grow accustomed to the new version of BEx Analyzer, they probably want to access both versions of the program. However, in SAP NetWeaver 2004s, the only way to specify which version of BEx Analyzer starts with transaction RRMX is by a global setting on the SAP NetWeaver 2004s version (Figure 1). You can access this setting only after you launch BEx Analyzer in SAP NetWeaver 2004s.