SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is now available for iPhones. At the same time, it is also the first SAP cell phone application designed exclusively for the iPhone. As yet, there are no plans for the BlackBerry. The decision in favor of the iPhone was down to its graphical capabilities, its good performance, and its growing acceptance in the business world. The app (link to iTunes), which is available free of charge, can be obtained exclusively from Apple’s App Store.

This small app takes up a mere 491 KB in the iPhone memory and is currently offered in version 1.0.203. It enables simple and fast searches in data records by setting up access to the database server. In this respect, the app functions just like the “big” SAP BusinessObjects Explorer: Users access a desired data record that is located in the working memory of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator (SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator).

What users get is a high-performance analysis tool for business intelligence (BI), which can provide answers to business questions and uncover correlations in company data. As our initial tests with the two demo data records show, the results displayed on the iPhone look highly promising. With a few swift finger movements, users can navigate within a data record and create a diagram. On the currently available smartphones, the picture quality remains exceptionally good.

The mobile version of SAP BusinessObjects Explorer is suitable for employees at companies that use SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator in combination with average-size and large data records. Other SAP components are not essential. SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator is offered as an integrated system/blade server (based on Intel Xeon processors) by companies such as Fujitsu and HP. Depending on the size of the database, there’s the starter version with 24 GB working memory (two blades, each with 12 GB). The maximum size is 480 GB working memory (in-memory database)

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iPhone: SAP BusinessObjects Explorer

Variable chart graphics from data records with using your fingers