LET'S BE BETTER IN SAP BI

SLT vs ODP/ODQ for extraction to SAP BW on HANA

2020-01-06T20:59:00.002-08:00

SLT vs ODP/ODQ for extraction to SAP BWonHANA

SLT for BW

SAP LT Replication Server offers a useful alternative for data transfer to BW in the following cases:

• The tables in the source are simple tables without joins or transformation logic.

• The DataSources (extractors) that you want to replace using the SAP LT Replication Server are DataSources on simple tables/views that do not provide a delta mechanism and only contain minimal extractor logic.

Two interfaces are available for transferring data using SAP LT Replication Server:

Operational Data Provisioning

• Data transfer using operational data provisioning is supported for tables from SAP systems only.

• SAP LT Replication Server provides the operational data provisioning infrastructure with the source tables as delta queues. The data from the delta queue can be replicated in BW as a subscriber.

• If you use operational data provisioning, you can load the data directly into the InfoProviders (bypassing the PSA layer) by using a data transfer process. The ODP infrastructure (with delta queues) takes over important services such as monitoring data requests. In addition, the ODP infrastructure has been prepared to support BW and other subscribers with SLT data transfer (for example, SAP Data Services).

Web service

• Data transfer using the Web service interface is supported for tables from SAP systems and for tables from non-SAP systems.

• SAP LT Replication Server replicates the data in a Web service DataSource of the BW Persistent Staging Area, where the data is available for further processing.

• If you use the Web service interface, the data can be pushed at regular time intervals to BW, where it can be updated using real-time data acquisition.

ODP/ODQ

ODP(Operational Data provisioning) is a Netweaver based framework, ODQ(Operational Delta queue) is the queue for data extraction where ODP is installed as a source.

ODP is a unified infrastructure for data provisioning and consumption which supports scenarios like:

Option 1: ODP based Data Provisioning Aspects for SAP ERP Sources

ODP allows to skip the PSA layer and load directly with DTP from the source system into a DSO. So this ODQ acts as replacement of BW Service API Delta Queue (RSA7) w/o the need of collective jobs run needed earlier.

Option 2: SLT/ODP based real-time replication

SLT replication server allows loading and replicating data in real time from SAP and non-SAP source systems into SAP HANA environment. SLT allows real time and scheduled data replication, replicating only relevant data into HANA. SLT Server can act as a provider for the Operational Data Provisioning Framework (ODP) and stores data from connected SAP systems in this framework in an Operational Delta Queue (ODQ).

Option 3: ODP based data transfer between BW systems

ODP extractors can be used to transfer data between BW systems.

Good business case on Data extraction and Modelling

Re-iterating from my earlier email on this topic(attached), below is a good example which shows how SLT replicates the data to HANA DB from ECC system and then replicated data is modelled in HANA and accessed finally to BW using ODP. This is a very good example for faster accessibility to data using SLT and HANA.

Advantages of SLT

• ODP w/o SLT is only possible for BW datasources, ODQ is a replacement of RSA7 delta queue. So this becomes useful when you are dealing only with SAP ERP datasources and there is no requirement of HANA Native modelling further for Analytics.

• With SLT, its possible to replicate source tables from SAP as well as non-SAP systems which can further be used in native HANA modelling. Additionally, it also supports BW modelling. Here is the advantage of SLT which offers more flexible options.

• So, SLT is most useful when you have multiple SAP and non-SAP sources of data want to leverage the HANA Native modelling aspects and this is more aligned to future SAP roadmap.

Advantages of ODP/ODQ without SLT

There is no additional licensing and hardware cost required for ODP extraction without SLT. Hence no additional maintenance effort is required here.

The selection should entirely be made based upon the business requirements and needs.

3 Ways to find PSA Table Name

2015-08-06T23:50:00.005-07:00

We have 3 ways to find PSA table name.

1. Use table at SE11, Table - RSDSTS: click on display, choose Contents, you can give data source name and execute. You will see below details in a row.

2. At RSA1, left side select info provider or Data source, go to respective data source ,select your data source(showed in green circle), select on wrinch symbol, marked in red circle. Below screen comes up. There you can see PSA Table.

The 2nd step and below screens shows the same, but the way is different. In below link, we need to go data source, from menu --> Go To--> Technical attributes.

http://rahulursbw.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/find-the-psa-database-table-and-data/

3. At RSA1, left side choose info provider, right side, Go to respective data source, right click--> manage, there one pop screen comes, there on top you may see request for psa /BIC/B0000XXX.

For this name you need to add 3 ‘0’ at end. That will indicate psa name. i.e The below screen show as /BIC/B0000574, so the PSA name will be /BIC/B000574000. You can see the same name in the below 2nd screen.

From the below screen, PSA Table name - /BIC/B0000574000:

Very small blog but might be useful.

Data Reconciliation

2015-07-31T02:15:00.000-07:00

We had a requirement for data reconciliation between two systems. Client wanted all the migrated data at contract level available in BI Netezza move to SAP BW system. And thus keep a copy of reconciliation data from pre-prod cube into production for audit purposes. The risk involved was once the data was approved by the user, huge number of flat files were required to download in application server and loaded to production cube.

Flat files were required because no RFC was allowed between the pre production and production system.

The best part was data reconciliation of 20 billion records was done by business and our responsibility as a BW developer was to move those reconciled data into the BW system.

Issue/Risk: Too many flat files will be created and which needs to be loaded manually into the infoprovider manually.

Approach: The requirement had three stages of development.

Stage 1: Already the flow of Insurance, Billing and Payment were present in the development which had all contract level information. A transparent table was provided which contained migrated data in the ECC development system. A generic datasource was created using the table in which delta was created on anniversary date. This datasource was replicated in BW system and a standard DSO was created. It had key fields same as in datasource. Some of the infoobject were already present which were reused and few of them were created as per the requirement. Lookup was done using the migrated DSO in Insurance, Billing and Payment DSO’s. A multiprovider was created which contained all the cubes followed by the query using Multiprovider as the infoprovider. According to the requirement 65 key figures (which included both restricted and calculated key figures) were created and 28 characteristics were required. Query was restricted on key date, calendar month, contract number and group ID. This optimized the performance of the query as 20 billion of records were expected in pre production environment.

Stage 2: Now the challenge was to move the query data into an infoprovider. We went for two approaches.

A) First was using RSCRM_BAPI. But we found that the extract table which was created is always saved in $TMP which cannot be changed also. And it can have only 20 key figures. Since we were having 65 key figures so the idea was scrapped. There were many other limitations found refer the link: http://www.stechno.net/sap-notes.html?view=sapnote&id=605208

B) The second approach was the standard one i.e. use of an APD. So we created one APD whose source was a query and target was a direct DSO. There was limitation in DSO, a DSO can have only 16 key fields. So what we did is analyzed the data and found 16 fields as key and remaining fields were derived in the start routine of the DSO. In this way we transferred all query data into an infoprovider.

Always remember when we use the APD always create variant in the query as per the selection screen of the query which is saved in the APD otherwise it generates an error of no variable entry found.

Stage 3: Now this infoprovider which had all migrated data of BI Netezaa was moved to an open hub. There was a need of open hub because all migrated data was required to move to production system. And this was possible only through flat files. So an open hub was created whose destination was an application server. Now since there will be multiple files so a function module was created which would generate timestamp and store multiple csv files in an application server.

These flat files will then be loaded to infoprovider in the production environment.

Define YTD(Year to date) logic on Query Designer

2015-07-30T23:27:00.003-07:00

Bex queries with YTD(Year to Date), month average calculation etc. are usually used in analyzing the metrics, input to dashboards etc.

There are various ways of setting up the YTD. In this case, we will see how to set-up a YTD logic on the fly on the query designer.

To perform a YTD calculation for a keyfigure, you should have Calmonth, Calyear on your "selection or RKF". This selection should be called in a "formula or CKF" with standard aggregation and reference characteristic as "Calmonth".

Some of the key steps on how to set-up the YTD calculation :

1. The Calmonth on your “Selection or RKF”: this should be always <= (less than or equal to). What this signifies is consider all the months for calculation of YTD.

2. Make sure you also have a CALYEAR in your “Selection or RKF”, this should be derived based on the calmonth that you input as a variable screen or customer exit. You have to calculate or find the year via a routine or by using the offset functionality on the variable properties .. i.e, offset =4, length =4(as shown below).

3. Based on the steps 1 and 2, we can define the "Selection or RKF" as shown below :

Please note, In the aggregation tab there is no change, use the standard exception aggregation. Since this is a "selection or RKF" we don't use the reference characteristic here. Instead we will use in the next step- 4.

4. Based on the step 3 -"selection or RKF", We define the "formula or CKF", with the aggregation as standard aggregation and reference characteristic as “0CALMONTH”.

Hence, these simple steps will allow us to define the YTD calculation for a specific key-figure. We can also calculate last year YTD by setting the offset on the calendar year.

Learning SAP BW: Everything that beginner needs to start career in SAP NetWeaver BW in a better way

2015-07-30T21:44:00.001-07:00

We have many resources available(Blogs, wiki, documents, articles) on SCN network but it will be great if we have any document which will give directions to SAP BW beginner to explore SAP BW world step by step and also clear many queries, questions, confusion on different aspects of SAP NetWeaver BW.

While searching on internet normally we get lost to some other discussions and topics. So despite of having unlimited resources on internet, SAP BW beginners are facing many problems and asking basic questions on SCN.. and there is chance that basic question may get blocked because as per Rules of engagement person asking question needs to search on SCN because there are many resources already available. I think its correct rule which will avoid replication of material, similar discussions and make SCN better place where one can get correct answers without getting more confused. But because of this many beginners are suffering as they don’t get correct path which will guide them to learn SAP BW… I was one of them when I started learning SAP BW.

I will try creating one such document which will help all SAP BW beginners and will try guiding them. This document is result of same.

So let’s start:

SAP NetWeaver BW is huge topic to cover but I am trying to design my blog in such way that they will provide answers to many queries which are running in your mind as beginner.

First aspect or first question which comes to your mind as SAP BW beginner could be one of the following or related:

Is it really worth enough to learn new technology?

Is SAP NetWeaver BW worth enough to look as a career path after few years of experience in SAP?

Is it good to switch to SAP NetWeaver BW after getting experience in SAP ABAP or some other SAP module?

I am functional consultant. Can I get basic knowledge of SAP NetWeaver BW?

I am new to SAP world (Fresher). Can I choose SAP BW for career path?

What is the market value for SAP BW? What is the future?

And many related questions. Am I right?

The answer is Yes,

In my opinion SAP BW is really worth enough to learn and choose as a career path.

Let me explain you few more things.

For any industry, business, company or Enterprise the most important thing is Data. It can be historical data, transnational data, master data, or data in any form or type. The main point is Data is important for any company to run business and to stay in business and no need to tell you that SAP NetWeaver BW(Business warehouse) is all about it.

Business data plays key role in shaping company overall strategy. All fortune 500 companies care a lot about their own business data. Now a days as companies are expanding their business globally, the volume of data which any company needs in day today business, for developing future strategy is increasing day by day. So in this kind of situation application, tool and technology which will take care of company data plays key role. SAP BW is the solution which many companies already decided to invest in.

As data volume is increasing day by day so to resolve related performance issue we have SAP HANA in place which is combination of hardware and software which will provide base architecture for BW. SAP BW on HANA is reality in today’s world.

There are quite good demand in market for SAP BW skill set and in my opinion it will remain for next couple of years, till date these entire new products(like HANA) will get stabilize in market. Anyways in any technology to stay in business you need to acquire knowledge about upcoming new technologies, new versions, updates and all which have potential to affect your current technology demand. In case BW is also same. As there are many new technologies, products are in line which are related to BW and have potential to affect BW demand like HANA, BI, BO and all. Does SAP HANA replacing BW? In my opinion,the answers is no.

On internet there are survey available which will give you some more detail about current BW rate and pay scale. Certainly everyone will think about this too.

This is all about Market demand, market condition.

Now let’s go through Pre-Requisite to Learn SAP BW.

Pre-Requisite:

· In my opinion, to learn anything the first and mandatory pre requisite is passion towards it. If you have passion you can learn this technology even if you don’t have following other skill set. I mean you can build following skill set and still can reach to your goal if you have passion.

· We have few tasks in BW for which we need ABAP knowledge. That is extraction, Routine (Field level Routine, Start and End routine in transformation step). ABAP knowledge will be great. If you don’t have ABAP knowledge then also you can lean remaining things in SAP BW and even learn basic of ABAP. In my opinion if you have experience in ABAP then it is really good while learning any new technology in SAP because you will come to know what is happening in background and you get some more confidence.

· Experience in Data-warehousing tools will help you understand database related concepts.

· Functional knowledge of at least one SAP module will give you good start while exploring and understanding SAP BW and it will help you in modeling also.

· Analysis skills if you want to understand the reporting needs of your customers or end-users in one go without rework. This plays very important role as in BW because after looking at the report if end users says you need to change few things you will need to change on every level which adds time and money and energy. So to understand business requirement in one go analysis and functional knowledge will help a lot.

After pre-requisite let me explain different aspect of SAP BW:

- SAP BW architecture:

It is important to understand basic architecture of SAP NetWeaver BW. This will help you throughout your career with SAP BW.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/e3/e60138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

- Extraction:

This part of BW is all about extracting needed data from different source system. Source system can be ECC system, any other ERP, Files and all. There are different types of extractor and related knowledge will help you in extracting correct data. It involves complex logic related to delta mechanism, LO cockpit and all. Data retrieval is one of the data warehousing processes in SAP. SAP provides mechanisms for retrieving data (master data, transaction data, metadata) from various sources. You can differentiate as to whether the SAP BW is the target or the source of the data transfer: If data from various sources is retrieved from various sources for transfer into a SAP BW system, the SAP BW system is the target of the data transfer. If the data from SAP BW is retrieved for distribution within the SAP BW or for distribution into analytical applications or other applications, the SAP BW system is the source or hub in relation to data transfer.

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/e3/e60138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

- Modeling:

This Part of BW is very important because in this you will create data model by using different objects like info-object, infoSource, datasource, DSO, Cube, Multi-provider, etc., DTP and transformation also comes into the picture. It required good knowledge about all these objects because every object has its own advantage and different process of working. If you know all of them you will be able to build robust data model. Writing routine is also part of modeling. Routines can be field level, start or end routine. Along with this you will need knowledge about of PSA, all modeling objects, DTP, transformation. Process chains,

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/e3/e60138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw2004s/helpdata/en/fc/1251421705be30e10000000a155106/frameset.htm

- Reporting:

This part of BW deals with actual reporting skills where you actually build queries using BEx or BI, BO and use it to display reports for end users.

SAP BW uses BEx tool (Business explore) for reporting purpose. The Business Explorer is the SAP Business Information Warehouse component that provides flexible reporting and analysis tools for strategic analyses and decision-making support within a company. These tools include query, reporting, and analysis functions. You can use BEx Information Broadcasting to distribute Business Intelligence content from SAP BW by e-mail either as precalculated documents with past data, or as links with live data. You can also publish it to the Enterprise Portal.

The Business Explorer gives a large spectrum of users access to the information in SAP BW: Using the Enterprise Portal, using the Intranet (Web Application Design) or using mobile devices (WAP or iMode-enabled mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants). Now a days BI and BO is also in market which many companies are considering for advance anlysis and many new advance fetures:

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/e3/e60138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

Some more good links:

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/304444f7-e02d-2d10-9c97-d5e3ecf09882?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true

https://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73ehp1/helpdata/en/b2/e50138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

http://help.sap.com/nw73bwhana

Good books for SAP BW:

A Practical Guide to SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.0

By Bharat Patel, Amol Palekar, and Shreekant Shiralkar

http://www.sap-press.com/products/A-Practical-Guide-to-SAP-NetWeaver-Business-Warehouse-7.0.html

Data Modeling in SAP NetWeaver BW

by Frank K. Wolf, Stefan Yamada

http://www.sap-press.com/products/Data-Modeling-in-SAP-NetWeaver-BW.html

SAP Certified Application Associate — Business Intelligence with SAP NetWeaver 7.

By Lisette Bellissimo

http://www.sap-press.com/products/SAP-Certified-Application-Associate-%E2%80%94-Business-Intelligence-with-SAP-NetWeaver-7.0.html

Inside SAP BusinessObjects Advanced Analysis

by Ingo Hilgefort

http://www.sap-press.com/products/Inside-SAP-BusinessObjects-Advanced-Analysis.html

SAP BW: A Step by Step Guide for BW 2.0 (Paperback)

by Biao Fu, Henry Fu

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201703661/ref=pd_sim_b_3/102-7679650-5957713?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

SAP BW Data Modeling

by Norbert Egger, Jean-Marie Fiechter, and Jens Rohlf

http://www.sappress.com/product.cfm?account=&product=H989

Data Modeling in SAP NetWeaver BW

By Frank K. Wolf, Stefan Yamada

You can use following SAP Press link to look for latest books on BW.

http://www.sap-press.com/categories/SAP-NetWeaver-BI%7B47%7DBW/

http://www.sap-press.com/

That’s it for this blog. Happy Learning.

How to Implement BADI for Enhancing the Datasource in ECC

2012-10-30T11:21:00.003-07:00

Hi all,

In this post, the document describes about writing datasource enhancements for BI extraction in ECC system using BADI. It contains Customized code which helps you to use for any BI datasource enhancement in ECC with minimal changes.

The SAP enhancement RSAP0001 is used to fill the fields which are added to the extraction structure of the datasource, From Release 6.0, the Business Add-In (BAdi) RSU5_SAPI_BADI is available for datasource enhancements. So you will have several advantages while using BAdi instead of User exits.

Note: In User exit, only one enhancement will be used for all the datasources,using BAdi, we can use multiple enhancements. Each enhancement will be implemented in a separate method of the class.

Business Scenario

Data source 0FI_AR_4 is appended with fields ZZSPART– Division, ZZVKORG- Sales organization, ZZVTWEG-Distribution channel. The data for these fields should be filled from VBRK table.

Step by Step Solution:

Create Implementation with the standard BAdi Definition

Implementing the DATA_TRANSFORM method

Writing Source code in the DATA_TRANSFORM method

Creating a customized method for each datasource enhancement

Source code in the method M_0FI_AR_4

We can write all our enhancements in separate methods in the same class. By this we improve performance and flexibility to work on respective enhancements without disturbing other enhancements.

View the document

Step By Step Procedure to Enhance Standard BI/BW Extractor Using BADI

2012-10-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

In this post, the document describes the step by step procedure to enhance Standard Business Content Extractors(Both Master Data and Transactional Data) using "RSU5_SAPI_BADI".

Generally SAP user exit RSAP001 is used to add any additional fields to the Standard BW Extractors whcih includes both Master Data and Transcation Data extractors.

But as per SAP’s recommendation BADI’s are more effecient way to enhance the standard extractors than using the exit RSAP001.

Enhacing a Standard DataSource using BADI has the following advantage over using the exit RSAP001:

BADI can have mulitple implementations (only if Multiple use flag is set for the Badi) so several developers can work simultaneously on different implementions and different logics.

RSU5_SAPI_BADI is used to enhance the standard BI DataSources.

Scenario

In this document the Standard Master Data Source 0PROFIT_CTR_ATTR is appended with the field BUKRS – Company Code. The data for this field is filled from CEPC – BUKRS.

Procedure

Enhancing Extract Structure

Filling Data to the Enhanced field

Implementation of created BADI

Testing through RSA3

View the document

How to enhance SAP BW datasource/extractor using BADI or User Exit - Step by Step Procedure

2012-10-30T02:48:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

In this post, I described Step by Step Procedure of how to enhance SAP BW datasource/extractor using BADI or User Exit.

We need to enhance SAP standard or custom extractors when the required fields are not available in the standard datasource.

Datasouces(Extractors) can be enhanced using two methods:

1. User Exit

2. BADI

In the User Exit method, we will write the logic for extracting new fields in an exit function module. This approach has some drawbacks like transport dependency, messier code, etc. This is the old approach. SAP has recently (couple of years ago?) introduced BAdis to alleviate the drawbacks of user exits. Using BAdis will allow developers to write object oriented code for extractor logic. SAP recommends BAdis over user exits.

Irrespective of the approach, we choose the first step is to add the new fields to extraction structure. First check if the fields we are looking for are hidden in the datasource before adding the new fields to the structure.

Step A : Appending new fileds to Extraction Structure

1. Go to transaction code RSA6

2. Find the datasource that we want to enhance and click on change button.

3. If we need the fields are hidden, hide them.

4. Save the datasource and click on "Enhance Extraction Structure"

5. Give a name to append structure.

6. Enter the fields prefixed by ZZ in the first column and enter component type (For component type you can enter data element for that field which you can get from table definition in SE11).

7. Activate the append structure.

8. Hit back button twice and go to datasource definition. We will find the new
appended fields at the end, do not hide them.

First part of datasouce enhacement is complete. We have added the fields that we want to enhace to the the datasource. The next step is to write some code to populate these fields. As mentioned eariler there are two different ways to go about this. The first method is to use BADI which is recommended. Below steps show how to enhance an extractor using BADI. We can also use user exits for this. See the links for the documents, if you want to use user exits.

Step B: Writing code to populate new fields using BADI

1. First step is to create Implementation with the standard BADI Definition. For this go to transaction code SE18 and give BADI Name as RSU5_SAPI_BADI and select create from 'Enhancement Implementation' menu.

2. Enter Implementation Name as ZRSU5_SAP_BADI and hit check icon.

3. Give the description and activate the implementation.

With this, we have created BADI implementation. We are going to use this implementation to fill the new fields.

4. Go to transaction code SE19 and give the implementation that we just created and hit display.

5. Go to interface tab and double click on the implementing class name as shown below. This will take you to the methods section of the implementation class.

6. In this class first two methods are SAP standard methods.

7. The first method (DATA_TRANSFORM) method allows us put in the logic/code to fill in the our added fields. Double click on this method.

8. Click on 'Parameters' button to see the parameters passed to this method.

9. You should see following SAP standard paramters. Add these parameters if you don't want to see them in your system. Go back to methods tab by hitting 'Methods' button.

10. After come back to methods tab, double click on first method (DATA_TRANSFORM). Copy and paste below ABAP code.

method IF_EX_RSU5_SAPI_BADI~DATA_TRANSFORM.

DATA : L_METHOD TYPE SEOCMPNAME.

CONCATENATE 'Z_' I_DATASOURCE INTO L_METHOD.

CHECK C_T_DATA[] IS NOT INITIAL.

SELECT SINGLE CMPNAME FROM SEOCOMPO INTO L_METHOD WHERE

CLSNAME = 'ZCL_IM_RSU5_SAP_BADI' AND

CMPNAME = L_METHOD.

CHECK SY-SUBRC EQ 0.

CALL METHOD (L_METHOD)

EXPORTING

I_UPDMODE = I_UPDMODE

I_T_SELECT = I_T_SELECT

I_T_FIELDS = I_T_FIELDS

CHANGING

C_T_DATA = C_T_DATA

C_T_MESSAGES = C_T_MESSAGES.

endmethod.

With this, we did one time configuration. We need not do all the above steps for every datasource. To enhance a datasource all we need to do add a new cutom method to above class (ZCL_IM_RSU5_SAP_BADI) and write some ABAP codo to populate new fields.

Step C: Create a custom method to populate new fields

1. Create a custome method for the class (ZCL_IM_RSU5_SAP_BADI). Method name should be Z_datasourcename . Here we are appending Z_ because method names can not start with number and most of the BW datasources start with a number. You can use you choice of prefix Z_ or M_ but you need to make sure that you are also using same prefix in the concatenate statement in the in the standard method (IF_EX_RSU5_SAPI_BADI~DATA_TRANSFORM) which calls our custom method at the tie of data extraction.

2. So, for the example in this article the method name should be Z_0FC_BP_ITEMS. To create the method in the method name field and select level as static and visibility as Publick and give some description.

3. Copy and paste following code.

Note: You need to change the table and field names in this code as per your requirement.

method Z_0FC_BP_ITEMS.

* You need to change FKKOPBW_DELTA to the extraction structure of your datasource in below statement

FIELD-SYMBOLS: <L_S_DATA> TYPE FKKOPBW_DELTA.

* declare a structure with fields required the table on which you do the lookup.

TYPES: BEGIN OF IT_DFKKKO,

V_OPBEL TYPE OPBEL_KK,

V_FIKEY TYPE FIKEY_KK,

V_ERNAM TYPE ERNAM,

V_CPUTM TYPE CPUTM,

END OF IT_DFKKKO.

* Declare an internal table and work area with above type

DATA: ZBW_DFKKKO TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF IT_DFKKKO,

L_T_DATA TYPE STANDARD TABLE OF FKKOPBW_DELTA, " Replace FKKOPBW_DELTA with extraction structure of your datasource

WA_DFKKKO TYPE IT_DFKKKO.

* Copy the incoming data into another internal table. C_T_DATA contains all the extracted records.

L_T_DATA[] = C_T_DATA[].

IF NOT L_T_DATA IS INITIAL.

* read the fields from DFKKKO table for all entries of L_T_DATA and put them in to IT_DFKKKO

SELECT OPBEL FIKEY ERNAM CPUTM WWERT RLGRD STBEL STMET BLTYP AGINF AWSYS TATYP

FROM DFKKKO INTO TABLE ZBW_DFKKKO

FOR ALL ENTRIES IN L_T_DATA

WHERE OPBEL = L_T_DATA-OPBEL.

LOOP AT L_T_DATA ASSIGNING <L_S_DATA>.

READ TABLE ZBW_DFKKKO INTO WA_DFKKKO

WITH KEY V_OPBEL = <L_S_DATA>-OPBEL.

IF SY-SUBRC = 0.

<L_S_DATA>-ZZFIKEY = WA_DFKKKO-V_FIKEY.

<L_S_DATA>-ZZERNAM = WA_DFKKKO-V_ERNAM.

<L_S_DATA>-ZZCPUTM = WA_DFKKKO-V_CPUTM.

ENDIF.

ENDLOOP.

ENDIF.

* Now that we have filled new fileds, copy everything back to C_T_DATA which will be passed on to BW system

C_T_DATA[] = L_T_DATA[].

REFRESH: L_T_DATA,

ZBW_DFKKKO.

endmethod.

That's it. We have enhanced the datasource using BADI. The ABAP code in the above method will be exuceuted when we run the infopackage to load the data from the datasource.

Go to transaction code RSA3 to test and make sure that everything is working fine.

If we want to enhance the datasource using user exit (CMOD), we can follow step by step procedure @ View the document

Read More (Reference Documents):

ABAP Development for SAP BW - User Exits and BAdis @ View the document)

How To Use ABAP Classes Instead of “CMOD” for BW Datasource Enhancements @ View the document

How to Implement BADI for Enhancing the Datasource in ECC @ View the document

Technical Considerations in Global SAP BW/HR Implementations

2012-10-29T07:08:00.002-07:00

Hi all,

In this post, the document describes SAP BW/HR implementations presented in alignment with the 4 phases outlined by Global Template Roadmap provided by SAP.

To begin with, typical challenges with SAP BW/HR implementations were discussed. Subsequently, solution alternatives were presented to handle these challenges. Technology components in BW/HR solution landscapes were highlighted along with their relevance. Implementation approaches and alternatives in modeling SAPBW as a HR data warehouse were examined. Several issues that might come up in data acquisition, harmonization, consolidation and presentation were discussed and experiences in managing these issues were shared. Solution options to handle privacy and legal requirements were presented along with the pros and cons of each option.

1. Assumptions:

a. The global SAP BW/HR implementation primarily intends to satisfy the
global HR reporting requirements.

b. There may or may not exist local BW instances, catering to the local HR reporting requirements.

2. Typical Challenges for Global SAP BW/HR Implementations

3. Introduction to Global Template Roadmap

4. Phase 1: Global Program Setup

5. Phase 2: Global Business Blueprint

6. Phase 3: Global Realization

6.1. Data Acquisition

6.2. Data Harmonization

6.2.1. How to Uniquely Identify an Employee

6.2.2. How to Identify Duplicates

6.3. Data Consolidation/Integration in BW

6.4. Data Presentation/Reporting

6.4.1. Handling Time Dependencies

6.4.2. Modeling Evaluation Ranges in BW

6.4.3. Handling Privacy Requirements

7. Phase 4: Global Maintenance and Support

8. a. Reporting Performance versus Loading Performance
b. Report Details versus Security Requirement
c. Report Quality versus Data Quality
d. User Friendliness versus Development Complexity/Timelines, etc.

This document describes several technical considerations during each phase of a global SAP BW/HR implementation that should help you in this decision making process.
View the document

SAP HR Interface for Organizational Charting (HR-OCI) 6.0

2012-10-27T05:07:00.003-07:00

Hi All,

In this post, the document describes three Business Scenarios of SAP HR Interface for Organizational Charting (HR-OCI) - Partner Integration and Configuration Guide.

BUSINESS SCENARIOS

Scenario 1: On-line data extraction – via vendor

Scenario 2: Off-line data extraction – via vendor

Scenario 3: On-line data extraction – via SAP
View the document

Creating Users in Active Directory from Employee Data Stored in SAP HR

2012-10-27T04:06:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

In this post, the document describes how to create and modify users in an LDAP directory server, such as Microsoft Active Directory using an SAP interface.

Step 1: Data extraction in SAP HR

Step 2: Configuration of the LDAP interface

Step 3: BADI Implementation
View the document

Detailed explanation about BADI and the ways to find the BADI with an example (ME23n transaction)

2012-09-28T03:28:00.002-07:00

Def: BADI (Business Add-In) is a new SAP Object Oriented enhancement technique which is used to add our own business functionality to the existing SAP standard functionality.

BADI's are available in SAP R/3 from the system release 4.6c.

Why BADI?

In contrast to the earlier enhancement techniques, BADI follows Object Oriented approach to make them reusable. A BADI can be used any number of times where as standard enhancement techniques can be used only once.

For example if we assign an enhancement to one custom project, then that enhancement cannot be assigned to any other custom projects. To overcome this drawback SAP has provided a new enhancement technique called BADI.

Transaction code for BADI Definition:

SE18

When you create a BAdI definition, a class interface will be automatically created and you can define your methods in the interface. The implementation of the methods can be done in SE19 transaction.

When a BAdI is created following are automatically generated:

An interface with 'IF_EX_' inserted between the first and second characters of the BAdi name

An adapter class with 'CL_EX_' inserted between the first and second characters of the BAdi name.

Transaction code to Implement BADI:

SE19

Types of BADI's:

While creating a BADI using the T-code SE18, it provides the pop-up screen to select the type of BADI to be used is as shown below.

There are two types of BADI's.

1) Multi use BADI:

With this option, any number of active implementations can be assigned to the same definition BADI. By default this option is checked.

If we want the BADI for multiple use, If you have multiple-use BADI definitions, the sequence must not play any role.

The drawback in Multiple use BADI is, it is not possible to know which BADI is active especially in country specific version.

2) Filter dependent BADI:

Using this option we can define the BADI's according to the filter values to control the add-in implementation on specific criteria.

Ex: Specific country value.

How to Find BADI's in SAP system:

Method 1:

Steps to find BADI:

1. Go to SE 24 transaction, type CL_EXITHANDLER and then click on display.

2. Double click on GET_INSTANCE method.

3. Put a break-point on class method CL_EXITHANDLER=>GET_CLASS_NAME_BY_INTERFACE.

4.Run any transaction on which we want find the BADI's say VA01.

5. Give the transaction name VA01 and press enter.

6. It will automatically take you to the break-point which we have set the in the SE24 transaction. Each time if you press F8 a list BADI names will be displayed.

7. You can find the BADI name in field EXIT_NAME and if you double click on it, we can get the corresponding BADI name before hit the corresponding screen. Based on the requirement find the BADI name and accordingly implement your functionality using the transaction se19.

Method 2:

Go to transaction SE84 and click on Enhancements. Then double click on Business Add-Ins.

For example if you want to find the BADI's for the standard transaction ME22n, the procedure is as follows. This example shows, finding the way of BADI names by providing the Package of ME22n.

1) Go to transaction ME22n. Select the System option from the menu and then click on Status. It displays the following information.

2) Double click on the program name i.e. SAPLMEGUI. It will take you into the program and click on Go to tab from the Menu. There we can find the package name of the standard transaction ME22n.Copy and paste it in the package filed.

3) Now Press F8, a list of BADI names will be displayed as shown below. Select the appropriate BADI name and implement it based on the business requirement using the transaction SE19.

Method 3:

Finding the BADI names using SE18 transaction.

1) Go to transaction SE 18. Select F4 help for the definition name and click on Information System button as shown below.

2) A pop-up screen will be displayed and give the package name for any standard transaction say VA02. Finding the package is explained above. Please refer above method to find the package name. The package name for VA02 transaction is 'VA.'

3) A list of BADI names will be displayed for the transaction VA02. Select the appropriate BADI name and implement it using T-code SE19.

Example :

This Example explains how to implement BADI's. Here I am trying to show how to add custom screen to the ME23N Transactions using BADI's.

The procedure is as explained below.

- Find the BADI using the method 1 as shown above.

The BADI name to add the custom screen to ME23n is ' ME_GUI_PO_CUST'.

- Go to T-code SE19 and create an implementation ZME_GUI_PO_CUST and then click on create button

- Give the Definition name "ME_GUI_PO_CUST" and continue, give short text, save.

- Click on Interface Tab, you can find the implementation class name as ZCL_IM_ME_GUI_PO_CUST2.

- Click on ZCL_IM_ME_GUI_PO_CUST2, which will take you to SE24.

- Add "MMMFD" in the Type Group Section of properties tab.

- Go to Attributes section and declare the following attribute

- SUBSCREEN1 Constant Public Type MEPO_NAME Name of a View
'ITEMSCREEN1 '.

- Go to Methods section, you can find the BADI interface methods.

- Double click on the method "IF_EX_ME_GUI_PO_CUST~SUBSCRIBE", this method is having 3 parameters.

Go to the

code section of the method and add the following code there.

Code for IF_EX_ME_GUI_PO_CUST~SUBSCRIBE:

DATA: ls_subscriber LIKE LINE OF re_subscribers.
*--FIRST SCREEN POPULATION

*--we want to add a customer subscreen on the item detail tab

CHECK im_application = 'PO'.

CHECK im_element = 'ITEM'.
*--each line in re_subscribers generates a subscreen. We add one subscreen

*--in this example

CLEAR re_subscribers[].

*--the name is a unique identifier for the subscreen and defined in this

*--class definition

ls_subscriber-name = subscreen1.
*--the dynpro number to use

ls_subscriber-dynpro = '0002'.
*--the program where the dynpro can be found

ls_subscriber-program = 'ZME_GUI_PO_CUST_SCREEN'.
*--each subscreen needs itsown DDIC-Structure

ls_subscriber-struct_name = 'ZMARA'.
*--a label can be defined

ls_subscriber-label = 'Cust BADI'.
*--the position within the tabstrib can be defined

ls_subscriber-position = 7.

*--the height of the screen can be defined here. Currently we suport two

*--screen sizes:

*--value <= 7 a sevel line subscreen

*--value > 7 a 16 line subscreen

ls_subscriber-height = 7.
APPEND ls_subscriber TO re_subscribers.
Save and check and back
Double click on method IF_EX_ME_GUI_PO_CUST~MAP_DYNPRO_FIELDS".

Add the following code in the method.
*given the field catalog of structure ZMARA we have to

*establish a mapping to metafields which are used for field selection

*purposes and error handling Standard definitions can be found in type

*pool MMMFD. It is important for customer fields to use integer

*constants above 90000000 for the metafield.
FIELD-SYMBOLS: <mapping> LIKE LINE OF ch_mapping.
LOOP AT ch_mapping ASSIGNING <mapping>.
CASE <mapping>-fieldname.
WHEN 'MATNR'. <mapping>-metafield = mmmfd_cust_08.

WHEN 'MTART'. <mapping>-metafield = mmmfd_cust_09.

WHEN 'MATKL'. <mapping>-metafield = mmmfd_cust_10.
ENDCASE.

ENDLOOP.

The metafield mapping important for field selection and error handling purpose.
Save, check and back
Activate the Implementation class.
Activate the BADI Implementation.

Now create a structure in SE11 with the name ZMARA.

Add the following fields in the structure.

Now Create a Program with the Name 'ZME_GUI_PO_CUST_SCREEN' and create a screen with sub screen type with the number 0002.

Add the fields on to screen from ZMARA program 'ZME_GUI_PO_CUST_SCREEN'.

* *De comment the PBO module in screen flow logic and create the module in above program.

Add the following code in program ZME_GUI_PO_CUST_SCREEN.
TABLES: ZMARA.
DATA: call_subscreen TYPE sy-dynnr,

call_prog TYPE sy-repid,

call_view TYPE REF TO cl_screen_view_mm,

call_view_stack TYPE REF TO cl_screen_view_mm OCCURS 0.

*---------------------------------------------------------------------*

* FORM SET_SUBSCREEN_AND_PROG *

*---------------------------------------------------------------------*

* ........ *

*---------------------------------------------------------------------*

* --> DYNNR *

* --> PROG *

* --> VIEW *

* --> TO *

* --> CL_SCREEN_VIEW_MM *

*---------------------------------------------------------------------*

FORM set_subscreen_and_prog USING dynnr TYPE sy-dynnr

prog TYPE sy-repid

view TYPE REF TO cl_screen_view_mm.

call_subscreen = dynnr.

call_prog = prog.

call_view = view.

ENDFORM.
*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

*& Module STATUS_0002 OUTPUT

*&---------------------------------------------------------------------*

* text

*----------------------------------------------------------------------*

MODULE STATUS_0002 OUTPUT.

SELECT SINGLE * FROM MARA

INTO CORRESPONDING FIELDS OF ZMARA

WHERE MATNR = '100-100'.
ENDMODULE. " STATUS_0002 OUTPUT

The sub-routine "set_subscreen_and_prog" is must with the same signature.
This routine is called from BADI to call the sub screen.
Activate the screen & program.
Now Go to T-Code ME23N to test the application.
You can find a new tab is added in the item level with the name CUST BADI.

Final Output:

How to Debug SAP RFC, Background Job, Update FM etc..

2012-09-28T02:49:00.002-07:00

This post covers RFC, portal, update task and background job debugging.

Debugging a Remote enabled Function module application:

Suppose you want to debug a function module which is there in APO system from the R/3.

(FYI: As you all know this RFC Destination is maintained via transaction code SM59 )

So here you can see the R/3 Program which is calling the APO Function module Z_TEST_CONNECTION_R3.

As you can see in the below image, keep the external break-point in your program before it calls the RFC enabled Function module.

Now login into the APO system where you’re remote enabled function module exist and put an external break-point.

Now go to Transaction code: SRDEBUG and click on the Activate Debugging Button:

It will give you a pop up which confirm your id, application server etc., click enter which will give you another popup as shown in the below image. Keep it as it is.

Now go to your Report program in R/3 system and Execute it, it will open debugger, when you press F5 key to go inside the RFC Function module it will start debugging in APO system.

How to debug a portal application:

Assume that there is a Java based application which is using HTML/JSP as its user interface and intern it uses the Java code to call the ABAP RFC enabled function module. So when user click on the submit or search option it fetches or update the data inside the ABAP system.

As compare to RFC Debugging from R/3 to APO here it’s somewhat tricky as here the user is not same, As Portal application and ABAP will not see the same user id(***It depends but mostly it will not be same).

You need to consult with portal designer and needs to set your user id as the default user when you submit the FORM in portal. Once both the JAVA and ABAP system uses the same user id you just needs to put the external break point in your ABAP System it will stops when this RFC is called.

How to debug the background job:

There are two ways to debug the background job.

Option 1: Open the running job in SM37 and select it. Enter “JDBG” in the command line and click enter. It will start the abap debugger.

Option 2: Go to Transaction code SM50. Select your job which you want to debug as shown in the below image.

It will give you a popup for asking whether you want to debug the program or not and in few seconds it will open the debugger screen.

How to Debug an Update Function Module:

As you know update function module is called when a commit work is happend. To Debug an update function put a break-point just above the update function module and executes the program. Go to the property of the debugger (Setting->Display/change debugger setting)and select the flag “Update Debugging”.

When program encounter a Commit work statement it will start the debugger in new window for the update function module.

Tips and Tricks related to Debugger:

If you want to jump to a specific line of code just put your cursor on the desired line and click on the Shift+F12. It will start the execution of the program/code from that line (Not if you are skipping the lines, those peace of code is not executed so that code is as equal as empty lines).

OLAP Cache Optimization in SAP BW

2012-09-27T11:28:00.002-07:00

This post explains how to improve performance of long running queries using OLAP Cache - View Document

OLAP Cache Optimisation

2012-09-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

I would like to expand on one aspect of improving reporting performance in SAP BW – exploiting the OLAP cache. The OLAP cache is standard functionality that is setup during a technical install of SAP BW. However, to realise the full benefits of speedy queries based on cached data, some additional steps need to be taken post-install. I’ve noticed these steps, and in particular the scheduled population of the OLAP cache, has been overlooked on quite a few implementations.

In this post i’ll focus on the concept of ‘pre-filling’ the cache on a regular basis through the Business Explorer (BEx) broadcaster. I’ll also cover some points to consider in maintaining the OLAP cache and performance tuning. Let’s use the functionality available in a standard install to give your users the benefits of cached data!

Cache: A safe place for hiding or storing things.

A cache can be described as a buffer that’s employed to re-use commonly occurring items. A cache has many applications in a computing context: the memory cache, internet browsing history cache, disk caching, etc. In all of these cases, caching provides an answer or data retrieval, faster than another alternative. Faster data access can be achieved through caching data in registers (accessed in 1-5 clock cycles) vs. storing it in slower RAM (10-100 cycles).

SAP BW OLAP cache

In a SAP BW context, the OLAP cache buffers query results sets retrieved from the database (disk) by storing them in resident memory as highly compressed cluster data. Why bother storing query results in memory? The answer is simple – this is a speed contest between disk access vs. memory access, with memory being the much faster winner. On both sides of the equation, physical and electronic, there’s compelling logic that application performance will be improved through maintaining data in memory, rather than retrieving it from disk. Disk access is one of the few mechanical (as opposed to electronic) functions integral to processing and suffers from the slowness of moving parts. On the software side, disk access also involves a ‘system call’ that is relatively expensive in terms of performance. The desire to improve performance by avoiding disk access is the fundamental rationale for database management system (DBMS) caching and other file system caching methods. SAP BW is no different – and contains caching at the application layer to improve OLAP reporting performance.

Users progressively fill the OLAP cache as they access queries. When a user accesses a query result set for the first time, a database read from disk takes place and the result set is then written to cache memory. A cache read action takes place when the same result set (or subset) is subsequently accessed. Hence, the result set is retrieved from memory, instead of being retrieved from disk. An important feature of the OLAP cache is that read/write access to the cache is available to all users on the application server. All users get the benefits of faster data retrieval from the cache if another process or user has previously written the data to it.

The OLAP cache has a physical memory size and hence a storage limit. The cache persistence mode can be setup to either swap to disk or be overwritten when it’s full. OLAP cache data is invalidated each time a request is loaded into a Basic InfoCube; meaning that any Basic InfoCube that is updated daily, will have its underlying cache data wiped. This makes sense as the cached query result set data for that InfoCube, whilst accurate as a historical snapshot is now no longer representative of the current data in the InfoCube. Hence the old query result set needs to be erased. This begs the question, when should the cache be filled with the required query result sets?

Default OLAP Cache

In the default approach post BW install, only users progressively fill the OLAP cache as they access queries. Users that access query data for the first time will retrieve data from disk and not the OLAP cache – meaning they will experience a longer delay than users subsequently accessing the same data set.

The delay in retrieving query data from the database for the first user access can be significant for certain queries – a key problem that needs to be solved. This first access delay is compounded for web templates or dashboards that execute several queries for the first time in parallel. The delay is also influenced by the complexity of the query and your success with other performance optimisation techniques. Furthermore the delay will occur during user runtime – a particularly inconvenient time – as we want to shift any delays in accessing data away from the user’s waking hours. In any case, if this query result delay is significant – then you’ve lost the user already.

Accessing the OLAP Processor

When searching for requested data, a BI query accesses performance optimised sources in the order shown to the left. The important take-away is that the OLAP cache is read first, in preference to all other performance optimisation techniques, even the BI Accelerator. However, this isn’t to say that these techniques don’t have their place.

Performance optimisation techniques, such as aggregating data, compressing data, limiting table size, etc. are still vital to any successful implementation. They are still valid and necessary even with an OLAP cache. Not only will they help to soften the blow of the first disk read as previously discussed, but it is impossible and not efficient to cache all the permutations of query result sets. OLAP analysis by its very nature is predicated on not being able to predict every possible query request.

Even if you did try to make such a prediction, you’d most likely end up caching a whole bunch of result sets that:

User’s will never read; and
Would be invalidated on a regular basis as the Cubes are updated.

Pre-filling the cache

The idea of pre-filling or ‘warming up’ the OLAP cache is to defer the database operations away from user run-time to another more convenient point in time, system time. Such a time could be after the daily load in the early hours of the morning when few (if any) query requests are being processed.

The database is going to have to do the work at some point in time to fill the cache – this much is clear. It could also be argued that this work, the ‘pre-filling’ the OLAP cache, represents an additional operation and load on the system in addition to the regular data flow processes. In my opinion this is probably the wrong way of looking at the problem. If we can accurately predict what the most common query requests are going to be, then there will be no additional load on the system. These query requests would happen in the normal course of business. Additional load would only be generated if we go overboard caching every possible query request permutation possible and then that cached data is never accessed.

To prevent this we should endeavor to restrict data being loaded to the cache to only likely requests and this will vary from Data Mart to Data Mart. Tools are available in SAP BW through the Transaction RSRCACHE to determine which query entries have been read from the cache. This should be monitored on an ongoing basis to optimise your caching strategy and remove any poorly performing cache entries from being continually generated. See Monitoring the OLAP Cache in SAP Documentation for further details.

The most common and convenient way of pre-filling the OLAP cache is through the BEx broadcaster, although there are several other approaches, such as:

Using the Reporting Agent (3.x release) to fill the cache (Transaction Code REPORTING_AGENT). Note that in 7.x a warning message appears stating that this can only be run for 3.x queries and templates, but it works fine with 7.x queries. However, it doesn’t work with 7.x web templates and will not be developed further by SAP; or

Create a program/function module/web service that executes the relevant queries (See FM RRW3_GET_QUERY_VIEW_DATA );

Create an Analysis Process to run the relevant queries and output the data to a dummy target such as a DSO.

Each of these methods are able to be inserted into a process chain and hence, can be regularly scheduled.

BEx Broadcasting Approaches:

Some recommended broadcasting approaches that i’ve seen work well on implementations are listed below. Let me know what approaches have worked well for you – I’d be interested to hear your feedback.

1. Schedule broadcast on data change

Firstly in the BEx Broadcaster schedule the broadcaster to run on a data change event.

Add a data change event to the end of each datamart load process chain.

This event triggers the broadcasts which pre-fill the OLAP cache. In the data change event you specify which InfoProvider has had it’s data changed (and hence the OLAP cache has been erased for it) and broadcasts scheduled on the event for the InfoProvider are triggered.

2. Web Templates

Web templates can contain multiple data providers and hence multiple queries. Instead of creating individual broadcast settings for each query in the template, a single global setting can be created for the template. When scheduled and broadcasted, this web template setting will run, and hence cache, all of the underlying queries in the template as they would appear in the dashboard.

Unfortunately for web templates, there isn’t a broadcast distribution type to fill the OLAP cache. Instead if you’re objective is to only fill the OLAP cache, another setting such as Broadcast to the Portal will need to be used. I’d recommend the following settings:

Distribution Type:	Broadcast to the Portal
Output Format:	Online Link to Current Data
Authorization User:	ADMIN
Export Document to My Portfolio:	Check
Export User:	ADMIN

Using these settings will result in generated online links to the web template (and not larger files) being posted for the Admin User in the Business Intelligence Role in My Portfolio/BEx Portfolio/Personal BEx Documents.

The online links posted in this folder will overwrite each other and hence preventing a large amount of documents being stored in this directory over time.

3. Queries

Queries can be individually broadcasted. Unlike with broadcasting a web template, more settings are available, such as broadcasting by multiple selection screen variants and by filter navigation on the query result set, i.e. by a characteristic.

Cache maintenance

Now that you’ve broadcast queries/web templates to the OLAP cache, you’re going to need to maintain it. To do so, a little more information is needed about the technical architecture of the SAP BW OLAP cache. Technically, the OLAP cache consists of two caches, the local cache and the global cache. These two caches can be setup with different parameters, such as size. The local cache is accessed by a single user within a session on an application server. Local cache data is retained in the roll area as long as it is required by the OLAP processor for that user. Global cache data is shared by all users across all application servers. Global cache data is retained for as long as it is required and will either be deleted when it is no longer needed, e.g. the underlying data has changed and the cache is invalidated, or depending on the persistence mode will be swapped to disk when the cache size is exceeded.

The cache size parameters indicate the maximum size that the local and global caches are permitted to grow to. The global cache size should be larger than the local cache size, as the global cache is accessed across multiple users. The local and global cache size values should be generally extended from their default settings when you install SAP BW. This will take advantage of memory available and ensure that the stored cache entries do not exceed the cache capacity. The size parameters should be reviewed periodically depending on cache usage, hit ratio and overflow. The cache size must be appropriate to manage the frequency of query calls and the number of users. Some indications that your cache size should be extended are:

The number of cache entries has filled the capacity of the cache at least once.

Average number of cache entries corresponds to at least 90% of the capacity or has reached this capacity around 30% of the time.

Ratio of hits to gets, is lower than 90%.

You can configure the cache parameters using Transaction RSCUSTV14. Note that the size of the global cache is determined by the minimum value of the Global Size MB parameter and the actual memory available in the shared memory buffer (profile parameter rdsb/esm/buffersize_kb). You should therefore use Transaction ST02 to check whether the size of the export/import buffer is appropriate – as the default setting of 4,096 KB is often too small. SAP recommends the following settings:

rsdb/esm/buffersize_kb=200000
rsdb/esm/max_objects=10000

The permitted cache size needs to be realistic though. If you’re talking in the multiples of gigabytes, you may wish to review why you need so much data in the cache in the first place. A significant OLAP processing load would need to take place to generate that much cache data.

Wrap up

We’ve covered a fair bit of ground on the SAP BW OLAP cache in this post. Significant performance benefits can be achieved through the system (and not the user) pre-filling the cache on a regular basis as the underlying data changes. The benefits are available to all users as the OLAP analysis results are stored in a central repository, the OLAP Cache. Furthermore the initial hit on the database (and subsequent delay) when the query/web template is run the first time after the data has changed, is taken away from the user and performed by the system at a more convenient time. A benefit that they’ll sure be appreciative of first thing in the morning when they arrive at their desk.

Hope you like this post and useful.

Why migrate SAP BW data flows from 3.x to 7.x?

2012-09-27T02:11:00.002-07:00

This post starts off with some of the discoveries and useful features made using this tool, and then expands further on the topic of the post: Why bother migrating a SAP BW data flow from the 3.x objects over to 7.x? This question has persisted in the SAP BW community for sometime now, since the introduction of BW 7.0 data flows in 2005. With the recent release of BW 7.3, the case for migration has become even more compelling.

Migration Wizard

Prior to the BW 7.3 release, one would have to manually migrate each object in a data flow separately from the 3.x version to 7.x. This can include the 3.x update rules, InfoSources, transfer rules and DataSources. However, through the migration wizard it is now possible to automate the migration of entire data flows to 7.x; including the addition of transformations, Data Transfer Processes (DTPs) and 7.x InfoSources (if required). The below screenshot shows the options available in the wizard.

Migration Options

One particularly useful feature of the wizard is the automated update of the migrated loading processes (specifically additional DTPs) into process chains. This has saved from a lot of searching and manual re-work in process chains post migration, adding DTPs in the right spot.

There is also a clear concept in the wizard, of segmenting data flow migrations into projects – thus enabling a more sophisticated management of data flow migration, and also recovery, than previously existed.

Some successes and failures with the migration wizard being able to automate the migration of the entire data flow. Well failures is probably too harsh, but some of the migrations were not successful and did require some manual re-work. Here’s a screenshot of the error log to give you an idea of the ‘look and feel’ of the error reporting:

Migration Wizard - Start Routine Errors

Errors were particularly apparent with update rules that had start routines that relied on the old DATA_PACKAGE concept, being automatically migrated into 7.x transformations with SOURCE_PACKAGE start routines. Encountered a few syntax errors there with the COMM_STRUCTURE for some forms missing components – but no major problem, hard to cover all coding scenarios in one migration tool.

One annoying bug that encountered was not related to the migration wizard, but did occur post migration. This resulted in the following error:

Start Routine Syntax Error

This bug centered around the automatic update of the _ty_s_SC_1_full structure (used in the migrated form routine_9998 in the start routine). This structure was not automatically updated to reflect the source InfoSource structure, post the addition of some custom Z InfoObjects to the source InfoSource. Even after a manual update of the structure to include the additional Z InfoObjects and a successful save, the change was unable to be activated. The _ty_s_SC_1_full structure would always revert back automatically to a previous version, sans Z fields (See SAP Note 1052648 for further details on what is supposed to occur). Weird – but we were able to work around the issue without using the _ty_s_SC_1_full structure, while this bug is being fixed.

No tool, particularly a newly released one, is ever perfect. Found the migration tool to be a great accelerator in setting up the necessary 7.x objects (RSDS, etc.) with only a little bit of extra tinkering around the edges required to get everything up and running.

Another great feature of the migration tool, is the tool itself provides feedback on what objects were not successfully migrated. Thus enabling you to channel your efforts into the right place to fix errors, without having to go through the whole data flow, wondering what successfully migrated, and what didn’t.

Have a look at the BW 7.30: Data Flow Migration tool blog entry on SCN for further detail on step by step screenshots on using the migration tool wizard.

So what’s the point of migrating?

The above section pre-supposes that one would wish to migrate a data flow from 3.x to 7.x. This raises the question of why would someone wish to perform such a migration in the first place? To me this situation arises in three categories:

1. Legacy 3.x implementation that used the 3.x transfer/update rules data flow

concept;

2. 7.x implementation that used the 3.x data flow concept;

3. Any implementation that has installed a 3.x business content data flow and

not migrated it!

Let’s look at these categories in further detail:

1. Legacy 3.x implementations

For the first point on legacy 3.x implementations, fair enough, your data flow model was built using the ETL logic that existed at the time. The question now is, does one invest in migrating the logic over to 7.x transformations, or leave things as they are… after all things are working just fine for the moment with transfer/update rules.

a. New Objects in BW 7.0

The arrival of SAP BW 7.0 (also known as SAP NetWeaver 2004s), brought with it a large change in the management of data flows. These changes helped to streamline and clearly segregate data flow objects based on their primary roles, i.e. persisting source data (DataSource), acquiring source data (InfoPackage), transforming data (Transformation) and moving data between persistent storage objects (Data Transfer Processes).

Improvements were also made in terms of data transfer performance, including parallelisation, reduction of loading steps through the elimination of transfer and update rules, error handling, etc. This is explained more comprehensively in SAP documentation.

b. Faster Data Load in BW 7.3

In the BW 7.3 release, further improvements have been made in the speed and capabilities in transforming data. These include look-ups from DSOs (using the Read from DataStore option) and Master data objects (using the Navigation attributes as a source). The suggested improvement in performance is between 10-20%. Without 7.x transformations in your data flow, you’ll be missing out on these benefits.

As a side note, data activation has also been enhanced in BW 7.3 through the use of a package fetch of the active table, as opposed to single look-ups. The suggested improvement in data activation is between 15-30%.

c. Go-forward ETL strategy

The above benefit available in BW 7.3 serves as an indication as to where the focus of the development team at SAP lies. Legacy 3.x data flow support is rightly being maintained, however the focus is on improving the ‘new’ 7.x data flow with transformation/DTP concepts and not the 3.x data flow. Indeed, in SAP BW 7.3, new capabilities, such as Semantic Partitioning have been introduced, and these require 7.x transformations and InfoSources.

All in all with these factors in mind, the 7.x data flow is correctly classified as the ‘go-forward’ ETL strategy in BW. Furthermore, the migration of existing data flows to 7.x is generally recommended by SAP in cases where one wishes to ‘realise benefits of the new concepts and technology’.

d. Re-implementation Risk

With 7.x data flows eastablished as the go-forward ETL strategy, this raises the ire of the dreaded ‘re-implementation risk’ for customers that continue to use 3.x data flows. PepsiCo’s CTO Javed Hussain, refers to the general SAP upgrade dilemma in a Jan 2012 ASUG news article, in which he states ‘you don’t maintain a certain level of version or capability, then you’re going to fall behind two ways—you’re going to have a support problem with what you’re running today; and you’re going to fall behind your competition because you haven’t upgraded yet.’.

This rings true for the BW ETL strategy, if you stick around with the older 3.x technology, you’re also going to ‘fall behind’ as you’re not going to be able to leverage the development that SAP is placing in modelling and transforming data using the ‘go-forward’ 7.x data flow. Also at some point you’re going to run into a support issue, as either (a) 3.x data flow tech won’t be supported by SAP in the future, and/or (b) Your staff/consultants could potentially become less and less familiar with this ‘obsolete’ data flow over time.

However the period of time until you run into a support issue, could be an extended one. For example, some of the major banks in Australia are still running on good old COBOL and being supported by an aging army of consultants. No doubt the Aussie banks have benefited from a reduced IT CAPEX spend over the years by continuing to support and flog the COBOL horse. This perfectly reflects Hussain’s comment above in that the systems (being core banking) are (a) becoming increasingly difficult to support, and (b) perhaps now lacking in competitive advantage.

Indeed, it could be argued that these support issues are linked to a spate of recent bank IT failures. Some analysts are suggesting that due to this legacy, Australian bank consumers should be prepared for ’15 years of bank IT failures’. So guess what the banks are doing… core upgrades, otherwise known as the dreaded ‘re-implementation’. Pretty dramatic, yes… but getting back to SAP BW, I don’t want to be doing a manual re-implementation of an entire data flow sometime down the track.

2. 7.x implementation that used 3.x data flow

My opinion that point number two should basically never occur. Given the benefits of the 7.x data flow, including enhanced performance, functionality and being the ‘go-forward’ ETL strategy, there’s no logical reason to implement an obsolete 3.x data flow from scratch in a 7.x environment.

3. Any implementation that has installed a 3.x business content data flow and not migrated it!

Point number three however, is a bit of a different story. SAP continues to supply a mixture of 3.x and 7.x data flows in their business content. Business content is a collective term for pre-configured templates of objects, canned reports and data modelling scenarios from DataSource to Data Mart that are based on SAP and customer experience. I find business content great and use it often as an implementation accelerator, but have found some drawbacks with the continuing supply of some data flows by SAP in 3.x format.

So do I take the leap and migrate?

So far I’ve extolled the virtues of migrating your data flow from 3.x to 7.x, but is it time to take the leap and migrate? What are the risks and is this wise in a productive environment?

The focus of this conversation should be flipped around, to ‘why shouldn’t you migrate?’. I think given the points raised, that any business needs to be able to justify why they would be implementing or continuing to support older legacy ETL data flows in a 7.x BW system. I’m not saying that the continued use is never justifiable and have seen scenarios where the extensive breadth of productive BI data flows would carry significant cost in a migration project. However in such scenarios, where the use of 3.x data flows is continued, a ‘go forward’ plan should be in place, i.e. is it realistic to still be on 3.x data flows in 5 years time?

In terms of the risks, there is always a risk that the data flow migration may not be successfully completed, with conversion errors occurring in one or more objects in the data flow. This risk still persists even with the use of the mass migration wizard, and I’ve highlighted some of the errors I’ve encountered with the wizard in the first section of this post.

Like any development, the migration work should take place in the development system and never in production. I’d recommend using the migration wizard to automate the conversion to the 7.x data flow as much as possible and to also ensure that you can recover back to the 3.x data flow if the conversion is not successful. To aid in this, each data flow should have a separate migration project.

Some ABAP knowledge will be required in more complex transformations with start/end routines and ABAP transformation code, to ensure that the conversion utility has properly handled the transformation of the code to ABAP OO where applicable.

For testing purposes, I’d recommend taking a sample snapshot of data target results prior to the data flow conversion. This should then be compared to the same data sample post data flow conversion, after you’ve loaded data into the data target using a DTP. There are various ways of doing this depending on your comfort level, the main point is that you need to compare the same set of data pre and post conversion. To aid in this you may wish to move the pre data-flow conversion data into a copied data target, or just save the results in a spreadsheet, etc. prior to reloading the data target, post data flow conversion.

To mitigate the risk in transporting the migrated data flow to a production environment, the entire data flow, with process chain and all should be thoroughly tested in a QA environment (if you’re fortunate enough to have one). Also if you are fortunate enough to be able to get away with it, insist that you only finally transport data flows in a modular fashion, flow by flow, into production and don’t go with a big bang approach.

Hope you like this post and useful.

Ad-hoc query, reporting and analysis from Business Objects

2012-09-20T02:14:00.005-07:00

Let end users interact with business information and answer ad hoc questions themselves....without having to understand complex database languages and underlying structures.

These tools support query generation and integrated analysis, as well as basic report authoring and information sharing over intranets and extranets.

More details @ http://www.businessobjects.com/product/qra/adhoc.asp

Demo for SAP BusinessObjects 4

2012-09-20T02:11:00.001-07:00

Watch a feature preview of SAP BusinessObjects 4.

Learn more @ http://blogs.sap.com/analytics

Watch the SAP BusinessObjects User Conference online to see the latest innovations in analytics @ http://spr.ly/sboucvirtualplatform

New Webi in 4.0 Preview Demo

2012-09-20T02:07:00.001-07:00

Watch a sneak preview of the new WebIntelligence for SAP BusinessObjects 4.0

SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards Statement of Direction: All Access SAP Xcelsius Webinar

2012-09-20T02:03:00.001-07:00

Check out the post-webinar Q&A with Anita Gibbings, Solution Marketing and Ian Mayor, Solution Management from SAP @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFIZXwcaySo&feature=g-all-lik

Mico Yuk from EverythingXcelsius.com and members of the SAP Business Intelligence team discuss the future of SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards, including strategy and direction, at the All Access SAP Xcelsius Webinar on April 18, 2012.

Q&A begins @ 17:07

For more information on analytics for SAP, visit http://blogs.sap.com/analytics.

New Crystal Reports in 4.0 demo

2012-09-20T01:51:00.003-07:00

Check out the new Crystal Reports, get more information on SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 @ blogs.sap.com/analytics

SAP BusinessObjects WebIntelligence 4.0 demo on SAP HANA

2012-09-20T01:40:00.003-07:00

This demo shows a new WebIntelligence report with SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 running on top of in-memory computing solutions SAP HANA.

Learn more about Business Analytics @ http://blogs.sap.com/analytics

Dashboards with SAP BusinessObjects 4.0

2012-09-20T01:27:00.001-07:00

Check out this dashboard design demo, formerly known as Xcelsius within the new SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 release. Register to watch the launch of 4.0 @ http://virtualevents.sap.com/business-analytics/login.aspx

Learn more @ www.sap.com/analytics

SAP HANA 1.0: Overview - Use HANA with BI 4.0

2012-09-20T01:07:00.003-07:00

SAP HANA is a high-performance analytic appliance that provides SAP software components optimized on hardware from SAP's leading hardware partners.

HANA's in-memory computing engine enables organizations to effectively analyze business operations based on very large volumes of detailed real-time data, without affecting backend enterprise applications or databases.

In this tutorial, you will review high-level steps for using SAP HANA with SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) tools.

Visit @ http://www.sap.com/LearnBI to view full catalog of interactive SAP BusinessObjects BI Suite tutorials.

How to Create a Universe - SAP BusinessObjects Information Design Tool 4.0

2012-09-20T00:49:00.002-07:00

Learn more about SAP Analytics Innovations in 2012. Watch the online SAP Analytics North America Forum...Register @ http://spr.ly/SAPAF

For the higher quality, interactive version of this tutorial, along with other SAP BusinessObjects BI Suite tutorials, visit @ http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/bi-suite-tutorials