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January 26, 2006

Mac and the Art of SAP BW Reporting

I’ve been working in various capacities in the IT industry for over 20 years, starting back in 1985 as an IBM PROFS system administrator (my apologies to all those involved: I actually taught people mainframe word processing!), After a while a strange and wonderful event occurred that would put my mainframe days behind me forever: my boss plunked an IBM PC/XT and a Macintosh SE down on my desk, side by side, and told me my new job was to learn all I could about these new “microcomputers” to see if there was anything to them. He had no idea what he had started.

I remember being like a kid in a candy shop. I quickly dove in and learned all I could about my newfound toys. And, not surprisingly, since I had no pre-conceived notions of what was the “correct” platform, I immediately found myself gravitating toward my cute little smiley-faced Mac. It didn’t take long until I was a one of the faithful. I was committed and loved every minute of it. I had found “the computer for the rest of us”.

Looking back, the reason was quite simple: I could accomplish more with my Mac than I could with my PC. I could get more things done more simply with less effort. That’s a hard combination to beat. And it was kinda fun to boot. In fact, the real fun was showing up the IBM PC techies in my group. After we had purchased two more Macs and an Apple LaserWriter, I was told to “hook them all up”. The only thing I had ever hooked to any computer was a printer, and the idea of a “local area network” all new to me. But the Apple rep said all I needed were these things called “LocalTalk” connectors and some wires. “Just hook em together” he said, and went on his way.

Well, the strangest thing happened. After plugging in the connectors and going to this thing called the “Chooser” on the Mac, I saw an “Apple Laserwriter” show up. I blinked my eyes, clicked “OK”, went into my word processor and selected File, then Print. Like magic a sheet of paper came out of the printer. Now this was the way computers were supposed to work. A few months later when I left for my new job at Apple Computer my IBM PC co-workers were still up to their ears in manuals trying to get their IBM Token Ring network up and running. I’m not sure they ever did. But it didn’t matter to me – I was on my way to spreading the word about this wonderful little computer called “Mac”.

The following six years at Apple Computer were a terrific experience that taught me some valuable lessons. First of all, that the “best” technology doesn’t necessarily win (that was a particularly hard lesson that I won’t go into for now). Another lesson I learned was something that was drilled in mantra-like into every Apple employee who bled six colors: the end user experience is everything. Every new technology, hardware, software or in between, was always filtered through the prism of the end user experience. “Yeah, it’s cool and it’s the latest and it runs at amazing speeds, but does it help people get more things done more simply with less effort?” In short, does it truly empower the user?

I say all this to provide some background for purpose of my blog here. After Apple and I parted ways years ago, I have since branched off into several other technologies and have for the last four years been working with SAP BW reporting solutions. My hope and intention is to provide a forum where you and I can discuss the current state of SAP BW reporting from a “Mac” perspective, or, if you will, from the user’s perspective. My desire is to take an honest and candid look at the end user’s experience with the current solution offerings available to them and ask the question, “How are we really doing in empowering the user to do his or her job?”

While I will certainly not hesitate to offer my opinions and perspective, my desire is that this blog be a forum for anyone to participate and share their viewpoints and experiences. While I don’t mind getting “down and dirty” and technical where appropriate, I intentionally would like to keep the focus on the end user and how the current solution offerings affect him or her. The proof is in the pudding. So, think about how you might participate going forward. I’d love to hear from you. And come back soon for my next installment, “The Elephant in the Room”.

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Posted by at January 26, 2006 9:15 PM

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Posted by: Paul at February 7, 2006 11:36 PM

Posted by: Emilio at February 8, 2006 4:36 AM

Posted by: Mike Garrett at February 21, 2006 6:34 AM

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