Since Google Chrome silently updates to the latest version, unless your IT department keeps an iron grip on things, new releases can crop up without warning and cause issues with other applications that run through it.

This has happened recently with SAP BusinessObjects and Web Intelligence. Since June and version 45 of Google Chrome the problem has been that if you try to view a Web Intelligence report, instead of the report you get a plain white screen and a spinning loading wheel.

It is possible to work around this problem by using a different browser, but in some cases these can be slower, or by rolling back your version of Chrome. This can be a lot of work to do as an IT department if you’re not already controlling browser versions, and you then need to stop it auto-updating again to version 45. There is also a workaround provided by SAP in SAP note 2801734 which is documented in our support knowledge base here.

SAP have released a formal patch for the problem, SAP BusinessObjects 4.2 SP7 patch 4. This patch addresses the Chrome issue as well as bringing other bug fixes and functionality (if you’re on a lower service pack at the moment).

The patch needs to be applied to your BusinessObjects server, as well as to all related add-ins and local client tools to ensure that your system is fully updated. DSCallards can help you with this process if you call and speak to our account directors. The process would be expected to take up to a day to patch the entire system.

Our own in-house testing proved this week that Google Chrome 46 does not have the same problem as 45 did.

Using the latest version of Chrome (as at 09/08/2019) with SAP BusinessObjects 4.2 SP6 showed that Web Intelligence reports opened as expected and displayed data with no problems.

If you have any questions about this issue or any others related to SAP BusinessObjects then please give a call on 0808 164 2625.