SAP BO Universe

This article outlines the integration with the SAP BO Universe connector, enabling streamlined metadata management through features such as crawling and lineage building (both automatic and manual).

This connector supports connectivity to SAP BusinessObjects Universe from OvalEdge deployments on Windows and Linux/MacOS using SAP BI Platform RESTful Web Services (REST APIs). It provides authentication using Enterprise Authentication (secEnterprise) and Windows Active Directory Single Sign-On (secWinAD) to access the CMS repository and retrieve Universe metadata.

Overview

Connector Details

Connector Category	Application
OvalEdge Release Supported	Release6.x and later
Connectivity [How the connection is established with SAP BO Universe]	REST APIs

Connector Features

Feature	Availability
Crawling	✅
Delta Crawling	❌
Profiling	❌
Sample Profiling	❌
Query Sheet	❌
Data Preview	❌
Auto Lineage	✅
Manual Lineage	✅
Secure Authentication via Credential Manager	✅
Data Quality	❌
DAM (Data Access Management)	❌
Bridge	✅

Metadata Mapping

The following objects are crawled from SAP BO Universe and mapped to the corresponding UI assets.

SAP BO Universe Object	SAP BO Universe Attribute	OvalEdge Attribute	OvalEdge Category	OvalEdge Type
Schema	SI_NAME~SI_ID	schemaName	Schema	Schema
Table	table_name	tablename	Tables	table
Table	table_desc	comment	Tables	table
Columns	column_name	name	columnname	Columns
Columns	column_type	type	oecolumntype	Columns
Columns	column_desc	name	columntitle	Columns
Columns	column_code	description	wiki -> srcText	Columns
Columns	Array index + 1	columnPosition	columnposition	Columns

Set up a Connection

Prerequisites

The following are the prerequisites to establish a connection:

External Supporting Files

The required external JAR files are included as part of the OvalEdge installation artifacts. Please contact the OvalEdge Team for assistance related to the driver files and configuration setup.

Service Account User Permissions

It is recommended to use a dedicated service account to establish the connection to the data source, configured with the following minimum set of permissions.

👨‍💻 Who can provide these permissions? These permissions are typically granted by the SAP BO Universe administrator, as users may not have the required access to assign them independently.

Operations	Source System	Access Permissions
Connection Validation	SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform REST (biprws)	Valid SAP BO user account with Enterprise Authentication (secEnterprise) or Windows AD SSO (secWinAD) and CMS logon rights
Crawling	CMS Repository (CI_APPOBJECTS)	Read access to Universe and DSL.Universe objects with Universe listing privileges
Crawling	Target UNV / UNX Universes	Universe Design / Export permissions to extract Universe metadata
Metadata Extraction (Linux)	RPT Remote Service	Network access from the OvalEdge server to the configured RPT Remote Base URL

• The connector authenticates with the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform RESTful Web Services (biprws) and uses the configured service account to discover Universes and extract metadata.

• For Linux deployments, Universe metadata extraction is performed through the configured RPT Remote Service.

API Details

Operation	HTTP Method	APIs	Description
Connection Validation	POST	{baseUrl}/logon/long	Authenticates the connector using Enterprise Authentication (secEnterprise) and establishes a session with the SAP BO Universe Platform for subsequent operations.
Connection Validation (Windows AD SSO)	POST	{baseUrl}/logon/adsso	Authenticates the connector using Windows Active Directory Single Sign-On (secWinAD) and establishes a session with the SAP BO Universe Platform for subsequent operations.
Crawling (Schema)	POST	{baseUrl}/v1/cmsquery?page=1&pagesize=2000	Queries the CMS repository to retrieve the list of available Universes and their associated metadata required for metadata discovery.
Logoff	POST	{baseUrl}/logoff	Ends the active SAP BO Universe Platform session after connector operations are completed.

Connection Configuration Steps

Users are required to have the Connector Creator role in order to configure a new connection.

1. Log into OvalEdge, go to Administration > Connectors, click + (New Connector), search for SAP BO Universe, and complete the required parameters.

Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory for establishing a connection.

Field Name	Description
Connector Type	By default, "Sapbo_universe" is displayed as the selected connector type.
OvalEdge Installed Environment	Select the operating system where OvalEdge is installed. Windows Linux/MacOS

Windows

Field Name	Description
Credential Manager*	Select the desired credentials manager from the drop-down list. Relevant parameters will be displayed based on your selection. Supported Credential Managers: OE Credential Manager AWS Secrets Manager HashiCorp Vault Azure Key Vault For more details, click here.
License Add Ons	Select the checkbox for Auto Lineage Add-On to build data lineage automatically. For more details, click here.
Connector Name*	Enter a unique name for the SAP BO Universe connection (Example: "SAP BO Universe_Prod").
Connector Environment	Select the environment (Example: PROD, STG) configured for the connector. For more details, click here.
Connector description	Enter a brief description of the connector.
Base URL*	Enter the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform REST API URL, including the protocol, host name (or IP address), and port. Example: http://<host>:6xx5/biprws.
Username*	Enter the service account username used to authenticate with the SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform. The account must have the required permissions described in the Service Account User Permissions section.
Password*	Enter the password associated with the specified SAP BusinessObjects service account.
Authentication Type*	Select the authentication type used to connect to SAP BusinessObjects. The default value is secEnterprise.
Filter	Enter a filter expression to limit the Universes included during metadata crawling. Leave this field blank to crawl all available Universes.
SAP Universe file path*	Enter the local directory path where the connector stores the extracted SAP BO Universe metadata files during processing.
CMS Server Name*	Enter the SAP BusinessObjects CMS server name, including the port number. Example: cmsserver:6xx0.
Proxy Enabled*	Select Yes to route API calls through a proxy server. Select No to bypass the proxy and connect directly.

Linux/MacOS

Default Governance Roles

Default Governance Roles*	Select the appropriate users or teams for each governance role from the drop-down list. All users and teams configured in OvalEdge Security are displayed for selection.

Admin Roles

Admin Roles*	Select one or more users from the dropdown list for Integration Admin and Security & Governance Admin. All users configured in OvalEdge Security are available for selection.

No of Archive Objects

No Of Archive Objects*	This shows the number of recent metadata changes to a dataset at the source. By default, it is off. To enable it, toggle the Archive button and specify the number of objects to archive. Example: Setting it to 4 retrieves the last four changes, displayed in the 'Version' column of the 'Metadata Changes' module.

Bridge

Select Bridge*	If applicable, select the bridge from the drop-down list. The drop-down list displays all active bridges configured in OvalEdge. These bridges enable communication between data sources and OvalEdge without altering firewall rules.

1. After entering all connection details, the following actions can be performed:

   1. Click Validate to verify the connection.

   2. Click Save to store the connection for future use.

   3. Click Save & Configure to apply additional settings before saving.

2. The saved connection will appear on the Connectors home page.

Manage Connector Operations

Crawl

To perform crawl operations, users must be assigned the Integration Admin role.

The Crawl/Profile button allows users to select one or more schemas for crawling.

1. Navigate to the Connectors page and click Crawl/Profile.

2. Select the schemas to crawl.

3. The Crawl option is selected by default.

4. Click Run to collect metadata from the connected source and load it into the OvalEdge Data Catalog.

5. After a successful crawl, the information appears in the Data Catalog > Databases tab.

The Schedule checkbox allows automated crawling at defined intervals, from a minute to a year.

1. Click the Schedule checkbox to enable the Select Period drop-down.

2. Select a time period for the operation from the drop-down menu.

3. Click Schedule to initiate metadata collection from the connected source.

4. The system will automatically execute the crawl operation at the scheduled time.

Other Operations

The Connectors page in OvalEdge provides a centralized view of all configured connectors, including their health status.

Managing connectors includes:

• Connectors Health: Displays the current status of each connector using a green icon for active connections and a red icon for inactive connections, helping to monitor the connectivity with data sources.

• Viewing: Click the Eye icon next to the connector name to view connector details, including databases, tables, and columns.

Nine Dots Menu Options:

To view, edit, validate, build lineage, configure, or delete connectors, click on the Nine Dots menu.

• Edit Connector: Update and revalidate the data source.

• Validate Connector: Check the connection's integrity.

• Settings: Modify connector settings.

  • Crawler: Configure data extraction.

  • Access Instructions: Add notes on how data can be accessed.

  • Business Glossary Settings: Manage term associations at the connector level.

  • Lineage: Select server dialects for parsing and setting connector priority for table lineage.

  • Others: Configure notification recipients for metadata changes.

• Build Lineage: Automatically build data lineage using source code parsing.

• Delete Connector: Remove a connector with confirmation.

For more details on connector settings, click here.

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