Differences between BO 3.1 and BI 4.1

What’s New in BI 4.1

In the latest BI 4.1,  many changes have been made to the existing tools and few new tools have been introduced.

• Common query interface across all reporting tools built in the Information Design Tool.
• Many new features here including multiple data connection. (Even though some limitations there while connecting Multi data connections)
• Data Federation included.
• New abstraction layer for multi-dimensional data sources.
• Native multi-source support.
• Crystal Reports Enterprise – online report development based on universes built /converted in Information Design Tool.
• Alert information through SAP Solution Manager support
• CMC monitoring of servers and thresholds related to their performance.
• New Search Engine.
• Promotion management Tool (Which we use to call Life Cycle Management which is already existing in 3.1 and also until BI 4.0 intial release ) installed by default.  Promotion management tool is like IMPORT wizard in 3.1

SAP Business Objects Enterprise 3.1 is changed to SAP Business Objects Business Intelligence platform 4.0 and later to 4.1.

SAP Business Objects Enterprise XI4.0/4.1,  is the Business Intelligence platform that supports the entire range of Performance Management, Reporting, Querying, and Analysis Applications. It has proven architecture and platform support for Semantic Layers, Data Integration, and Security. SAP Business Objects Enterprise XI4.0 provides full web-based administration and configuration of the entire system.

Software Development Kit (SDK)

The software development kit included in the new version has many new features, such as support for security, support for alerting, support for role based authentication.

Architecture

•  64-bit Architecture.
• Native support for 64-bit Operating System for BI 4.0 server side components.
• Allows handling large reports: no more 2 GB memory limitation.
• 64-bit database middle-ware support.
• Java Application server utilizing 64-bit JDK’s (Java Development Kit).
• Desktop products and client tools support Windows 32-bit and 64-bit OS platforms.

Changes

New version of BI 4.0 which are shown in the comparison table below.

	BO 3.1 Naming	BI 4.0 Naming
1.	Business Objects Enterprise	Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform
2.	Infoview	BI Launch Pad
3.	Business Objects Xcelsius Platform	SAP Business Objects Dashboard Design
4.	Universe Designer	Information Design Tools and Universe Design Tool
5.	Crystal Reports 2008	Crystal Reports for Enterprise, Crystal Reports 2011
6.	Business Objects Voyager	Business Objects Analysis, Edition for OLAP
7.	Dashboard Builder	BI Workspaces
8.	Web Intelligence	SAP Business Objects Interactive Analysis
9.	Translation Manager	Translation Management Tool

10	No change in Web Intelligence Rich client

Above screen shot gives the different Tools names from 4.1 and 3.1

Also decommissioned (no more in new BI 4.1)

1. Performance Manager
2. Desktop Intelligence
3. Import Wizard