Confused what is patch, Service Pack (SP), Hotfix, Minor Release in SAP BusinessObjects ?

SAP BusinessObjects has different versions and each release names might be confusing. BusinessObjects has 5.x, 6.x, XI, XIR1,XIR2, 3.0x, 3.1x,4.0x,4.1 and 4.2 . With each version there will be ServicePacks, Pathces, Hotfixes and Combined patches. This blog will help you to solve the confustion of releases.

BOBJ 3.1 Release

Service Pack (SP)

• This is available for everyone and can download
• New features and new platform support will be released with ServicePack

Fix Pack (FP)

• This is available for everyone and can download
• Issue fixes and corrections will be available
• Fixes to the new features that causing issues will be available

Limited Availability Fix (LA Fix)

• Not available for everyone. In case of High priority P1 issues this will be given to the client
• In some cases System will not be functional due to the bug in the product especially related to the client environment. In this scenario, SAP will provide the fix to the specific clients

Note: 3.1 End of Support for Priority 1 issues – 12/31/2018

BOBJ 4.X Release

BusinessObjects 4.x have 5 type of releases.

Minor Release (MR)

• New features, innovations and new platform support will be released in MR
• 4.2 & 4.1 are the Minor releases and can be installed on 4.0 Platform. 4.2 is the latest Minor release

Support Pack (SP)

• New features and new platform support will be released with Support Pack
• P2 and P3 fixes will be included in Support pack
• Release will be every 6 months

Critical Patch (CP) (aka Patch)

• High priority ticket fixes (Veryhigh (P1) & High (P2)) will be included in Critical patch
• Available to download for everyone. Release will be every ~6 -8 weeks

Combined Patch

• Combined Patch is not available for all customers.
• Combined Patch will have SP + CP.

Ex: If you want to upgrade from BI 4.2 SP1 to BI 4.2 SP3 Patch 7. Normal procedure is to Install SP3 first then Patch 7. In Combined Patch you can directly go to BI 4.2 SP3 Patch 7 with single install. Less downtime .

Hot Fix (HF)

• Critical High priority fixes will be released in Hot Fix
• You may not find HF for all SP and Patches. Available for all customers
• Before applying Hot fix you must install specific Patch first.
• Cannot install 2 Hot fixes on same Patch

How to Read Installation File

Downloaded install files will have the name as below.

BIPLATS4205_0-80001044_P1.EXE  — BusinessIntelligence 4.2 Server SP05 Part 1

BIPLATS – BI Platform Server
 42 – Minor Release
 05 – Support Pack
 0 – No Patch
 P1 – Part 1 of the install (In some cases we will have multiple part of install file)

BIPLATCLNT4205_0-70000090.EXE — BusinessIntelligence 4.2 Client SP05

BIPLATCLNT – BI Platform Client
 42 – Minor Release 
 05 – Support Pack
 0 – No Patch

After downloading the install file we will get 1 KB file, open it with notepad you will be able to see the install information in the file

Installation Types

Full Install (Base)

• In case of new BOBJ install , must install Full (Base) install

Patch Install

• Patch install only to upgrade the existing system. System should have “Full Install” installed then only we can apply the patch.