SAP Lumira Designer is a powerful visualization and dashboard design tool within the SAP BusinessObjects suite, widely used in conjunction with SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) to create interactive, customized analytical applications. It enables SAP BW professionals and business users to build rich, user-friendly dashboards that bring data insights to life.
This article introduces SAP Lumira Designer, highlighting its capabilities, integration with SAP BW, and benefits for business intelligence (BI) reporting.
SAP Lumira Designer is a comprehensive, professional-grade tool for creating interactive dashboards, applications, and analytic content. It allows developers to design tailored user interfaces and embed complex visualizations, providing a flexible presentation layer over SAP BW data.
Formerly known as SAP Design Studio, Lumira Designer supports advanced scripting and data manipulation, enabling precise control over dashboard behavior and appearance.
- Drag-and-Drop Design: Build layouts using components like charts, tables, input controls, and selectors.
- Rich Visualizations: Support for various chart types — bar, line, pie, scatter, heat maps, geo maps, and more.
- Scripting Support: Use JavaScript-based scripting to implement custom logic, dynamic filtering, and interactivity.
- Responsive Layouts: Create applications that adjust to different screen sizes and devices.
- Integration with SAP BW: Connect natively to BW InfoProviders (InfoCubes, DSOs, CompositeProviders) and query views.
- Advanced Filtering and Input Controls: Enable user-driven data exploration with dropdowns, sliders, date pickers, and input fields.
- Multi-Source Data Support: Combine data from SAP BW, SAP HANA, SAP BusinessObjects Universe, and other sources.
SAP Lumira Designer connects seamlessly to SAP BW queries and InfoProviders, allowing users to:
- Consume multidimensional data models created in SAP BW.
- Leverage existing BEx queries as data sources.
- Apply BW-specific filtering and variables directly within the dashboard.
- Enable real-time, interactive analysis on BW data without data duplication.
- Access hierarchies, attributes, and key figures for in-depth insights.
This tight integration empowers BI teams to utilize SAP BW’s robust data foundation while delivering compelling front-end experiences.
- Custom User Experiences: Build tailored analytical applications that match specific business workflows.
- Improved Data Discovery: Users interact with data dynamically, filtering and drilling down to uncover insights.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Share dashboards across teams with role-based access control.
- Reduced Development Time: Prebuilt components and scripting ease the creation of complex visualizations.
- Scalability: Suitable for enterprise-scale deployments with SAP BW and SAP HANA backends.
- Mobile Support: Dashboards can be accessed on tablets and smartphones, supporting on-the-go decision making.
- Executive Dashboards: Summarize KPIs across sales, finance, and operations.
- Operational Monitoring: Real-time tracking of logistics, production, or service performance.
- Ad-hoc Analysis Applications: Interactive tools allowing analysts to explore data without IT intervention.
- Cross-Functional Reporting: Consolidate data from multiple SAP BW sources for holistic insights.
- Connect to SAP BW: Configure the data source connection to your BW system.
- Select Data Sources: Choose BEx queries or InfoProviders for your dashboard.
- Design Layout: Drag and drop components and set up the user interface.
- Add Visualizations: Insert charts, crosstabs, geo maps, and other elements.
- Apply Filters and Variables: Enable user input controls for dynamic data interaction.
- Use Scripting: Implement custom logic for interactivity and data manipulation.
- Test and Deploy: Preview dashboards and publish them via SAP BusinessObjects BI platform or SAP Analytics Hub.
SAP Lumira Designer bridges the gap between SAP BW’s powerful data warehousing capabilities and the need for rich, interactive business intelligence applications. By leveraging its advanced design features and tight BW integration, organizations can transform raw data into actionable insights, fostering smarter decisions and driving business success.
For SAP BW professionals, mastering SAP Lumira Designer is a strategic skill to deliver next-generation analytics and visual storytelling.