I would like to share one of my recent experiences while I was working on upgrading from SAP Business Objects 3.1 to SAP BI Platform 4.0 for one of our customers – one of the most trusted dental benefits carriers. They had an immediate business need to upgrade their current BOBJ 3.1 to SAP BI 4.0. The major challenge they had was that their current environment comprised of 1,300 reports, 24 universes, 765 users and 700 schedules; all of which needed to be migrated to the SAP BI 4.0 environment.

1. Are you considering Migrationor Upgrade to SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0?
I would like to share one of my recent experiences while I was working on upgrading from SAP Business Objects
3.1 to SAP BI Platform 4.0 for one of our customers – one of the most trusted dental benefits carriers. They had an
immediate business need to upgrade their current BOBJ 3.1 to SAP BI 4.0. The major challenge they had was that
their current environment comprised of 1,300 reports, 24 universes, 765 users and 700 schedules; all of which
needed to be migrated to the SAP BI 4.0 environment.
Thanks to our predefined framework, we were able to back up and clean up repository for that risk will be
minimized, and also tuning the BI environment in optimal time.
Steps to follow for Migration & Upgrade process:
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Analyze and validate for any risks and anomalies
Estimate and set up systems with pre-requites for SAP BI Deployment
Backup existing CMS repository
Deployment of SAP BI
Clustering services - Load balancing
Setup Audit Databases and CMS Databases separately
Automate backup FRS regularly
Migrate all users, groups, profiles
Configure authentication for users
Enablement of auditing universes and reports
Upgrade BI Content per subject area/s recurringly (Schedules and instances)
(Universes, Webi reports, Crystal Reports, Folders, Categories)
Detailed validation
Enable version control mechanism in SAP BI and configure life cycle Manager
Tuning of SAP BI Services (especially APS services)
Switching - Server Parallel run methodology
This project was an enriching experience for our team. We not only proposed to migrate and upgrade the
development environment but also provide an executable document to the client to perform similar activities in
other environments in future.
Here are the three major phases for our upgrade process.
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Migration/Upgrade to SAP BI 4.0 on development environment
Complete Documentation, Recommendations and Best Practices
Administration Training
We proposed a six-step methodology for migrating and upgrading the client environment, emphasizing efficiency
(time and cost) and effectiveness (risk reduced, proactive steps can be taken and is agile).
Given below is the six-step upgrade methodology followed during the first phase Migration / Upgrade
process.
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Analyze (to mitigate upgrade risk)
Design and Deploy SAP BI 4.0 platform
Users and security upgrade/setup
Content upgrade
Enablement of SAP BI 4.0 features as per defined scope
Switching - Server Parallel run methodology
Documentation phase was challenging, but offered great learning as we were asked to illustrate all the
migration/upgrade tasks. This document became a ready reckoner and enabled the team to replicate these
activities in other environments. The client was delighted to receive the detailed documentation including
Recommendations, Best practices and a checklist for migration from BOBJ 3.1 to 4.0.

2. In the third phase we had conducted an administrator workshop that covered key steps for installation,
configuration, monitoring, maintenance and best practices. Training and guiding administrators on SAP BI platform
enabled them to migrate to other environments while minimizing risks.
We hope that this article was informative and useful. Feel free to comment on this article and share your personal
experiences from a BOBJ 4.0 Upgrade/ Migration.
Good luck with your upgrade!