01_BW_Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Ware

7/31/2019 01_BW_Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Ware

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BW 1.2B Report Development Tools 11

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What Is the Business Information Warehouse? ..................................................12Business Information Warehouse Architecture: An Overview ..........................12Business Information Warehouse Terminology ..................................................18Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environment ...............................19Review....................................................................................................................112

In this chapter you w ill lea

How the Business

Information Warehou

(BW) works as an

enterprise-wide

information hub

The overall architectu

the Business Informat

Warehouse environm

Importan t concepts an

terminology related to

Business Information

Warehouse


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Chapter 1: Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Warehouse

What Is the Business Information Warehouse?

Reporting Made Easy12

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A component of SAPs New Dimension produ ct, the Business Information Warehou se (BW)

is an enterprise-wide information hu b. It enables you to analyze data from R/ 3 applications

or any other business app lication, including external da ta sources such as databases and the

Internet. The SAP Business Information Warehouse also offers easy integration w ith other

New Dimension prod ucts, such as the SAP Advanced Planner and Optim izer (SAP APO),

the SAP Business to Business (SAP B2B), and the SAP Strategic Enterpr ise Managemen t

(SAP SEM). Add itionally, the Business Information Warehouse is a core element of SAPs

MySAP.coms reporting strategy.

The Business Information Warehou se is a comp rehensive end-to-end data warehouse

solution w ith optimized structures for reporting and an alysis. To help know ledge workers

quickly mine the business data in an enterpr ise, BW is equipped with p reconfigured

information models and reports, as well as autom atic data extraction and loading method s.

With an easy-to-use Microsoft Excel based user in terface, you can create, form at, and

analyze rep orts. Built for h igh performance, the Business Informa tion Warehou se resides on

its own ded icated server. Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and reporting activities are

therefore separated , and system performance is not comprom ised.

1RWH The chapters in th is supp lement cover the r eporting fun ctionality as of BW

Release 1.2B. For prod uct information, wh ite pap ers, customer case studies, and other

materials on th e Business Information Warehouse, visit SAPNet or the Business

Information Warehouse Information Center at http://www.sap.com/bw.

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The Business Information Warehouse includes a relational Online Analytical Processing

(OLAP), autom ated d ata extraction and staging tools, a preconfigured d ata repository, a

user-friend ly front-end (the Business Explorer) , and an Adm inistrator Workben ch) .

As shown on the next page, there are three layers in the Business Information Warehouse

architecture:

< Busine ss Explorer:As the top layer in th e BW arch itecture, the Business Explorer (BEx)

serves as the reporting en vironment (presentation and analysis) for end users. It consists

of the BEx Ana lyzer and th e BEx Brow ser for ana lysis and r epor ting activities. With itseasy-to-use grap hical interface, the Business Explorer provid es stand ard functionality

such as Microsoft Excel and Internet technologies integrated w ith advanced evaluation

and business tools, such as currency translation, and pre-defined rep ort builders for

various rep orting areas. For more informa tion, page 14.


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Business Information Warehouse Architecture: An Overview

BW 1.2B Report Development Tools13

< Business Information Warehouse Server:As the m idd le layer, the Business Informa tion

Warehou se server has two prim ary roles:

Data warehouse management and administration: These tasks are hand led by the

prod uction data extractor (a set of programs for the extraction of data from R/ 3

OLTP app lications such as logistics, controlling, etc.), the staging en gine, and the

Adm inistrator Workbench. The OLAP processor is for multi-dimen sional data views

and is preconfigured w ith business models derived from the R/ 3 System.

Data storage and representation: These tasks are hand led by the InfoCubes in

conjunction with the da ta manager, the meta data repository, and the optional

Operational Data Store (ODS).

For more information, see page 15.

BEx BrowserBEx BrowserBEx AnalyzerBEx Analyzer

Meta Data

Repository

Administrator WorkbenchAdministrator Workbench

Staging EngineStaging Engine

R/3R/3SAP

BW

SAPBWFile

File ExternalSystem

ExternalSystem

BAPI

Business Explorer

BusinessInformationWarehouse Server

Source Systems

Reporting and analysis

environment for users

Application layer to

facilitate data storage

and retrieval; database

layer to maintain the

data

Mult iple information sources

include R/3 syst ems, non-

SA P systems, files, SAP

BW, etc.

OLAP ProcessorOLAP Processor

InfoCube

ODS

< Source Systems: As the bottom layer, the source systems serve as the sources for rawbusiness data. The Business Information Warehou se environment can include a w ide

range of data sources, including R/ 3 (OLTP) systems, external systems, and files, as wel

as the SAP BW system. For m ore inform ation, see page 17.


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Business Application Programm ing Interfaces (BAPIs) enable comm un ication am ong the

various comp onents of the Business Information Warehouse. By u sing BAPIs, the

Business Information Warehouse rema ins open for integration with additional

app lications and tools wh ere needed.

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The reporting environm ent of the Business Information Warehou se, the Business Explorer

(BEx) helps you analyze business data. It enables end users to locate reports, view rep orts,

and analyze information. In the Business Explorer you can execute queries, create linked

report ou tpu t (organized in w orkbooks), present data from m ultiple application areas,

systems, and m ore. You can save qu eries in workbooks tha t can be assigned for use in other

areas known as channels.

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The Business Explorer h as the following components:

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A graph ical interface for organ izing rep orts in the BW. The BEx Brow ser is used to access

R/ 3 transactions, reports, and Web sites. For m ore information, see chapter 4.

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The BEx Analyzer is an Excel-based interactive environm ent w here an alyses and queries are

defined by selected characteristics and key figures. You can analyze the selected data by

freely navigating through mu lti-dimensional data an d built-in business fun ctions.

Presentation in Excel also allows users to take a report v iew and man ipulate it as a

docum ent. For instance, you can ad d ad ditional calculations or notes, charts and graphics,combine different reports in one w orkbook, or distribute reports via e-mail. For more

information, see chapter 2.

Query DefinitionQuery Definition AnalyzerAnalyzer

Microsoft Excel


Business Information Warehouse Server

InfoCatalogInfoCatalog

Business Explorer

Business ExplorerBrowser

Business ExplorerBrowser

InfoCube InfoCatalog


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The Business Informa tion Warehou se server is the name given to the ap plication layer

wh ich facilitates data storage and retrieval. It houses the following m ain compon ents:

< Administrator Workbench

< Staging Engine

< Meta Data Repository

< InfoCube

< Operational Data Store (ODS)

< OLAP Processor

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Acting a s the control system of the Business Information Warehouse, the Ad ministrator

Workbench allows the BW adm inistrator to perform all data warehou se modeling and

maintenan ce tasks within a single, unified env ironment. The Adm inistrator Workbench has

the following compon ents:

< Meta Data Maintenance to allow th e adm inistrator to specify and maintain the InfoCubes

ODS definitions, and technical data.

< Schedulerto schedule the transfer of da ta from your sou rce system at regu lar intervals.

< Data Load Monitorto superv ise the load and staging p rocesses.

< Data Access Monitorto obtain sta tistics on BW usage.

For more informa tion, see chapter 5.

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Meta da ta is information on information. It is central to the d ata w arehouse concept. An

active meta data rep ository docum ents and controls the entire data w arehouse environm ent

Meta data is used to describe the source, history, and many other aspects of data. The Meta

Data Repository contains both business-related (for example, definitions, d escriptions, and

rules used for reporting) and technical (for examp le, structure and map ping ru les for the

data extraction and staging process) meta d ata. With the Business Content(for more

information, see 17) SAP delivers ready to run preconfigured m eta data.For more

informa tion, see Business Informa tion Warehou se online docum entation.

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The Staging Engine is emp loyed to imp lement data m app ing and tr ansformation as a fully

autom ated, m eta d ata driven process. Application Link Enabling (ALE), SAPs persistent

messaging midd le-ware, is used for data tran sport from OLTP platforms to the BW server.Initiated by its Scheduler, the Staging Engine requests an extract from an OLTP system.

Produ ction da ta then undergoes a series of transformation, mapp ing, and condensing steps

before it is stored in the InfoCubes, the centra l data conta iners of BW. For more inform ation,

see Business Informa tion Warehou se online docum entation.


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The central data containers w hich form the basis for rep orts and analyses in BW are called

InfoCubes. InfoCubes contains two types of data: key figures and characteristics (see

Append ix G, Glossary). An InfoCube is a set of relational tables that ar e arran ged in a star

schema with a large fact table for recording transaction d ata at the center and severaldimen sion tables arou nd the fact table. The fact table contains the key figures of the

InfoCube while the dimension tables contain the characteristics of the cube. InfoSources (see

below) supp ly data to InfoCubes. A query in the Business Explorer always refers to exactly

one InfoCube. For more informa tion, see Business Information Warehouse on line

documentation.

Quantity Sold Revenue Discount Sales Overhead Stock ValueC

Period Fiscal YearT

Customer No. Chain Office Head OfficeC

Fact Table

Time Dimension

Customer Dimension

InfoCube: Profitability by Customer

T

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The ODS is a central store of requested da ta w ithin the BW system. The Operational Data

Store (ODS) contains n on-aggregated da ta, is organized as a set of relational tables, and isused as an interm ediate store for the staging process. The ODS is a store in w hich

transaction and m aster data from different source systems can be stored in th e technical

format of the source systems. For m ore information, see Business Information Warehou se

online documentation.

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The OLAP processor is the ana lytical engine of BW. It uses a m ultid imensional da tabase for

analyzing and p resenting various types of data , such as summ arized OLTP data, and

market and synd icated d ata. The OLAP processor allows many d ifferent types of analyses

(for examp le, d rilldown to var ious levels of details). Add itionally, it offers other business

functions su ch as currency translation. For m ore information, see Business InformationWarehouse online documentation.

InfoObject (characteristic)

InfoObject (key figure)


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Systems that p rovide d ata for extraction to the Business Information Warehouse are know n

as Source systems. The Business Information Warehouse su pp orts various typ es of source

systems:

< R/ 3 system s as of Release 3.0D (with Business Con tent)

< R/ 3 systems p rior to Release 3.0D (BW regard s them as external systems)

< Non-SAP systems or externa l systems (connected via BAPIs)

< File system s

< SAP Business Information Warehouse system

Data provision mechanisms in R/ 3 OLTP systems include extraction program s that export

the data from the extract tables and send it to the Business Information Warehouse in the

required format.

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SAP delivers preconfigured and extendable intelligence called Business Contentto help with

information deployment, data presentation, data analysis, data warehouse management,

and data extraction and transformation. Business Content consists of preconfigured role and

task based information m odels. Based on consistent meta d ata, these information m odels

include chann els, workbooks, queries, InfoCubes, InfoObjects, extractors, and InfoSources

(see below).

90+

45+

180+

180+

10+ChannelsChannels

WorkbooksWorkbooks

QueriesQueries

InfoCubesInfoCubes

Extractors and InfoSourcesExtractors and InfoSources

CommonMetadata

InfoObjectsInfoObjects

1000+

Business Content (Release 1.2B)

Data extraction and transformation

Data warehouse management

Data analysis

Data presentation

Information deployment


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Business Information Warehouse Terminology


The goal of Business Conten t is to make relevant information available to selected u ser roles

in an enterp rise. To speed up the implemen tation, the Business Content includ es both

general and indu stry-specific business content.

Before m odeling your own InfoCubes, or building new queries in the Business Information

Warehou se, it is recommend ed to check if a similar evalua tion already exists in the BW

Business Content.

To illustrate the BW reporting in subsequ ent chap ters, we w ill use the SD DemoCu be from

the BW Business conten t. For more inform ation on Business Conten t, see the Business

Informa tion Warehouse online docum entation.

Technical and Demo Content

In ad dition to the Business Content d escribed above, BW also includ es Technical Content

and Demo Content. Technical Content is intended for Data Warehouse ad ministrators,

consultants, and SAP developm ent support. Demo Content encompasses sample data

and can be u sed as illustrative material (for examp le the Sales and Distribution (SD)

DemoCube and Profitability Analysis (PA) DemoCube). Before you can you work withthe Business Content objects, you mu st activate them . For m ore information on how to

activate the SAP DemoCube, see chap ter 5.

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To help you become familiar w ith some of the terms covered in th is and later chap ters, we

have includ ed a br ief explanation of the following term s: InfoObject, InfoSource,

InfoCatalog, and Business Content.

,QIR2EMHFWAn InfoObject is a gener ic term for characteristics and key figures in th e Business

Informa tion Warehouse. InfoObjects are u sed in InfoCubes and in the three structures that

are relevant for data requ estsextract, transfer, and commu nication stru ctures.

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An InfoSource is a set of logically associated information w hich can contain transaction da ta

(stored in InfoCubes) and master d ata (attributes, texts, and hierarchies stored in separate

tables). InfoSources describe all the inform ation available for a business transaction or type

of business tran saction (for example, cost center accounting).

,QIR&DWDORJThe InfoCatalog (see grap hic below) is a tree-like structure that d isplays a list of available

BW w orkbooks. The va rious InfoCatalog trees contain SAP-delivered w orkbooks and user-

defined workbooksthat are ava ilable to user group s, ind ividu al users, and as favorite

queries (user favorites). The stru cture of the subtrees can be freely d efined by the

adm inistrator. For more information, see chap ter 4.


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Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environmen


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The Business Information Warehouse is an information h ub for enterp rise-wide use at a ll

hierarchical levels. From office workers to top executives, most of a companys employees

can access comprehensive, flexible, and pow erful queries. The evaluations and analyses are

tailored to meet p articular needs. Shown below is a typ ical BW land scape in an enterp rise.

Business Explorer Business Explorer Business Explorer

BusinessInformation

Warehouse

Server

BusinessInformation

WarehouseServer

R/3 OLTP

(different versions)

SAPBW System

ExternalSystem

DataFile

Internet

Sales Manager Chief Financial Officer Operations ManagerField Sales Rep

Business Explorer

Workbooks in Channels andFavorites can be accessedusing the BEx Browser.

You can view the workbooksaccording to:

< Channels

< Channels assigned to

specific users

< User favorites

Note: Intern et capabilities are available with Release 2.0 of the Business Inform ation War ehouse


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Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environment


You analyze the d ata stored in the Business Information Warehouse by defining queries for

the InfoCubes. After a qu ery has been created, the results are embedd ed into a workbook.

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A qu ery is a d ata evaluation based on the selection of characteristics and key figures.

Queries can be configured according to the way you want to view and navigate throughdata . Users define qu eries to analyze the data from an InfoCube. In chapter 3 you will learn

how to create a query in the Business Information Warehou se.

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A w orkbook is a m ulti-functional rep ort in Microsoft Excel. Workbooks integrate d ata

outp ut, graphical displays, and m ulti-functional queries, all with the spread sheet

capabilities of Microsoft Excel (see sample workbook sh own below). In the next chap ter you

will learn how to create a workbook tem plate in the Business Information Warehouse.

Integrates Business Explorer toolbar

Allowspresentation ofannotatedanalysis of reportdata

Incorporatescorporate logo orother graphicalelements

Provides push-buttons todisplay anotherworksheet ofother ueries

Offers a graphicalview of the reportresult.

Use the push-buttons to drilldown.


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Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environmen


The graph ic below shows the relationship between th e Business Explorer and the Business

Informa tion Wareh ouse server. Typically, the first step is to define a query in the Excel-

based BEx Analyzer. Once a qu ery has been d efined , the Meta Data Manager facilitates the

retrieval of meta d ata from the Meta Data Repository. The BEx Analyzer requ ests the data

from the query and p resents the current view of the stored d ata. The query r esults are

presented in a workbook. Only the data tha t is curr ently required in the Business Explorer i

transferred from the InfoCube to the qu ery. If a new d ata view is needed , the OLAP

processor retrieves the d ata from the InfoCube. The OLAP processor builds the query

from the InfoCube data and p rovides method s for navigating through th e data in several

dimensions. The data from both the current an d p revious Business Explorer drilldow n

always rem ains on the application server.

Business

Explorer

ApplicationLayer

DatabaseLayer

BExAnalyzer

BExAnalyzer

Execute

Query DefinitionQuery Definition

Drilldown

BusinessInformationWarehouseServer

1

Meta Data Repository

Meta Data ManagerMeta Data Manager

2

3

4

InfoCube


5

6

InfoCatalog

Optional:Store orretrieve

workbook

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This chapter p resented an overview of reporting in a Business Information Warehouse

environmen t. To help build a good founda tion for the material covered in subsequent

chapters, we introd uced you to the BW architecture, concepts, and terminology. With the

help of a business example, you w ill learn h ow to u se the Business Information Warehouse

to create a workbook in the next chapter.


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Review


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< The Business Informa tion Warehou se is an enterp rise-wide information hu b. It allows

you to analyze data from R/ 3 and n on-SAP applications in an Excel-based user

interface.< The Business Informa tion Warehou se includ es a relational data processor, automated

data extraction and staging tools, a preconfigured d ata repository, a user-friend ly front-

end (the Business Explorer), and an Adm inistrator Workbench.

< The Business Information Warehouse architecture has three layers:

Business Explorer:Reporting and analysis front-end for knowledge w orkers (top

layer).

Business Information Warehouse Server:Application layer to facilitate data storage

and retrieval (midd le layer).

Source Systems: Data sources, including R/ 3 systems, non-SAP systems, da ta files,

and SAP BW systems (bottom layer).

< The Business Explorer has two compon ents: BEx Browser (to organize workbooks into

channels and clusters) and BEx Analyz er (to create consumer, standard and ad hoc

reports).

< The Business Information Warehouse server comp onents include:

Administrator Workbench:Serves as the BW control system .

Meta Data Repository: Contains business-related and technical meta data.

Staging Engine: Implements data m apping and transformation as a meta d ata

dr iven process.

InfoCube: Central da ta container wh ere key figures and characteristics reside.

Operational Data Store (ODS): A central temp orary store of requested d ata within

the BW system.

OLAP Processor:Analyzes sum mar ized OLTP data.

< The Business Information Warehouse term inology includes the following:

InfoObject:Generic term for key figures an d characteristics.

Business Content: Provides all the objects needed to extract and display OLTP data.

InfoSource:Set of logically associated information which can contain transaction

and m aster data.

Query:Data evaluation based on th e selection of key figures and characteristics.

Workbook: Multi-functional report in Microsoft Excel where queries are

embedded.

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