Hi all,
We are in the process of upgrading from BPC7.5 to BPC10.0 and have a few questions about the easiest way for our 200+ existing BPC users to open input forms.
Our requirement is to allow our BPC users to be able to launch/open their Excel input forms with as few clicks as possible, and without having to enter username password. Why? Because our users can currently do this in BPC7.5, and we don't want to go backwards in terms of usability after we upgrade to BPC10.0. Due to the large existing user base, change management is a big risk.
We currently have SAP enterprise portal and users can launch SAP BW reports via the portal without having to enter user/password. As a result most users don't know their username and passwords.
From my understanding, these are my options:
1. From portal, launch BPC Web URL, then choose environment, then click on "EPM Office Add-in Excel", then choose from list of models in connection manager.
+ This allows user to utilise single sign-on
- A bit cumbersome as it requires too many clicks, especially for users who have access to multiple models in multiple environments.
2. From Excel EPM add-in, choose connection and enter user/password.
+ Less clicks
- Requires user to know / remember their BW username/password
- Either need to train each user how to create a new connection to their model(s)
- or need to distribute a complete list of all connections/models to all users, and let each user choose from a very long list of models
- need to redistribute a new connections.xml to all users each time a new model is built
3. From portal, launch BPC Web URL, and use BPF to create an activity link to open input form
+ less clicks
+ single sign-on
- requires maintenance of BPF owners list and BPF instances
- is it possible to create an instance that is always "open", so that the activity links is always there, and a user can't "complete" it?
Ideally I'd like a way to put a URL link on our enterprise portal that launches Excel EPM add-in with a given connection, or better still open a specific input form.
Is it possible to add a "Favourite" on the start page that opens an input form on the server?
I'm wondering what everyone's experience has been, and is there a best practice recommended?
I can't help but think that the log-on experience has gone backwards a bit from BPC7.5 add-in to BPC10.0 EPM add-in.
Thanks in advance,
Carlton