2143214 - Error When Opening Excel Workbook

When trying to open workbook with the Excel add-in you may encounter performance issues or even an error message:

Unexpected error in server communication; session needs to be closed
Message was: The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error.
(Exception System.Net.WebException)

Or

Unexpected error in server communication; session needs to be closed
Message was: The remote server returned an error: (504) Gateway Timeout
(Exception System.Net.WebException)

Or

Unexpected error in server communication; session needs to be closed
Message was: The remote server returned an error: (400) Gateway Timeout
(Exception System.Net.WebException)

• SAP Business ByDesign
• SAP Cloud for Customer

1. Logon to the ByD Excel add-in.
2. Select Open > All Workbooks.

It takes a long time to open your workbook or even fails with the above error.

This error is generally caused by an insufficient performance of the report. This happens due to a very high data volume in the system and / or due to the design of the report and the underlying data source.

With custom reports for example, it is possible that the workbook contains a report which has been designed in the UI(Business Analytics) and has selection parameters which have been added via Add Fields in the report. This is not advisable as it consumes too much performance internally.

If you want to add some characteristics as selections, you can do it in the report wizard itself. Please convert as many selections fields as possible of such report from Add Fields to selections via the Report wizard (Step 4 > Use as Variable) and then add this report into the workbook. This should improve the performance.

Additionally, it is advisable to reduce the report data by adding variables to the report selection.

Please check this KBA for further suggestions on the best practices in designing reports: 2366796 - Best Practices for Modelling Data Sources and Reports - Performance

See also: 2043737 - Excel Report Time Out errors

Add-in, excel, report, time out, session needs to be closed, unexpected error , KBA , excel add-in , unexpected error in server communication , analytics , AP-RC-ANA , C4C, ByD, Travel: Analytics Tools & Frameworks , LOD-CRM-EMP , Employee , How To

SAP Business ByDesign all versions ; SAP Cloud for Customer add-ins all versions