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SAP BusinessObjects setup

SelectZero connects to SAP BusinessObjects over the RESTful Web Services API (biprws) to catalog universes and Web Intelligence documents and to build column-level lineage from reports down to the warehouse tables behind them. It is a metadata and lineage connector: SelectZero does not run data quality tests against BusinessObjects itself, so test cases keep running against the warehouse databases over their own connections.

Prerequisites

  • SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform 4.3 (SP4 or later) or BI 2025

  • The RESTful Web Service (biprws) deployed and reachable, and a license tier that permits API access

  • A service account SelectZero can log on with

Create a service account

Create (or reuse) a dedicated BusinessObjects user for SelectZero and grant it read-only access to the content you want cataloged. In the Central Management Console (CMC), grant the account:

  • View on Demand on the folders holding the reports you want to catalog

  • View on Demand on the universe folders

  • View on Demand on the connections folder

  • Web Intelligence application access (needed to read a document's query plan, which is where the report-to-table lineage comes from)

Adding the connection

  1. From the connections page add a new SAP BusinessObjects connection

    • Connection name - a name for the connection

    • Server URL - the RESTful Web Service base URL in the form http(s)://host:port/biprws (for example https://bo.company.com:6405/biprws). Include the /biprws path.

    • Authentication - the authentication type your BusinessObjects uses (Enterprise, LDAP, Windows AD, or SAP)

    • Username/Password - the service account credentials

  2. Press Test to confirm SelectZero can log on

  3. Save the connection and run a metadata sync

TLS / certificates

For an https server whose certificate is signed by an internal authority, upload the CA certificate under Settings → Certificates so SelectZero trusts it. The certificate's subject alternative names must cover the host used in the Server URL.

Warehouse mappings (lineage)

BusinessObjects does not expose the physical database (host, schema) behind a universe over its API, so SelectZero cannot resolve report-to-warehouse lineage on its own - you map it once per warehouse.

  1. Sync the connection once. SelectZero discovers the BusinessObjects connections and their universes and lists them under Warehouse mappings on the connection form.

  2. For each discovered source, pick the SelectZero connection that holds the warehouse it reads from. A source with no mapping is marked and is skipped for lineage.

  3. Re-sync. Lineage is generated only for mapped sources.

How the metadata works

  • BusinessObjects folders are synced as schemas

  • Web Intelligence documents are synced as objects, with their result objects and the columns derived from the query plan

  • Lineage is built by parsing the generated SQL of each Web Intelligence data provider and matching its tables and columns to the warehouse connection mapped above; only the projected (SELECT) columns become lineage edges

06 August 2026
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