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Validate a BusinessObjects Upgrade

Prove that Web Intelligence reports, universes and security behave the same after a BusinessObjects upgrade, using Report Validation, Visual Diff and the Upgrade dashboard.

Goal

You upgrade BusinessObjects, for example from BI 4.3 to BI 2025, either side by side on a new cluster or in place. Before you sign off, you need evidence that reports open, refresh and return the same numbers, that universes and security came across unchanged, and a list of what needs fixing.

Who

BI administrators and the upgrade project team; report owners for sign-off.

Before you begin

Report Validation scope

Report Validation compares Web Intelligence documents. Check Crystal Reports and other content types with Visual Diff and by refreshing samples.

Steps

1. Check readiness

  1. In the Web Console, open the Upgrade Readiness dashboard.
  2. Select the source environment and, for a side-by-side upgrade, the target environment.
  3. Review the readiness checks, for example Web Intelligence documents that cannot be opened or are only partly parsed, Crystal Reports on Business Views, and UNX universes without query limits. Fix what you can before the upgrade.

Image of the Upgrade dashboard with source and target environments and the readiness matrix here

../images/use-cases/upgrade-readiness-matrix.png

2. Compare report output

Choose the tab that matches your upgrade:

  1. In the Report Validation tab, click New Report Set....
  2. Choose the old environment as the left side and the new environment as the right side.
  3. Choose the reports on the left, then click Match Other Side. Use CUID matching if content was promoted with its CUIDs, or Full Path if it was re-created.
  4. Enter prompt answers. If the same prompts exist on both sides, let MetaMiner copy the answers to the other side.
  5. On the Margins tab, exclude the header and footer if reports print a refresh date.
  6. Save the set, right-click it and choose Run Now.
  1. Before the upgrade, in the Report Validation tab click New Report Set (one-side mode)..., choose the environment and the reports, and enter prompt answers.
  2. Exclude the header and footer on the Margins tab if reports print a refresh date.
  3. Save the set, right-click it and choose Run Now. This output is the baseline.
  4. After the upgrade, press F5 in the MMC, then run the same set again.
  5. Select the new output and choose Compare with Previous Output.

See Report Validation for every option.

3. Review the differences

  1. In the outputs table, select the run. Reports with differences are highlighted in the compare pane.
  2. Open a report's PDF comparison. Differences show with a red background; switch between text mode and image mode for tables and charts.
  3. Record each difference with the report owner as accepted (expected change) or a defect to fix.

Image of the PDF comparison window showing one difference highlighted here

../images/use-cases/upgrade-pdf-compare.png

4. Compare universes and security

  1. In the Visual Diff tab, compare key universes and documents between old and new environment. See Visual Diff.
  2. In the Security Diff tab, compare the security of the main folders. See Security Diff.

Expected result

A Report Validation run with no unexplained differences, readiness checks resolved or accepted, and Visual Diff and Security Diff showing the expected state. This is your sign-off evidence.

Variations

Next steps