/Unit3 by rapha Torres

Unit 3 Information Integration with SAP NetWeaver Unit Overview The first and second lessons in this unit describe the basic structure of the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) and the possibilities offered by reporting and analysis using the SAP BW. The third lesson deals with SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) and the benefits for your business when using it.

Unit Objectives After completing this unit, you will be able to: ·

Describe the architecture of the SAP Business Information Warehouse

List the prerequisites for data modeling

Locate the predefined Business Content objects, which are easy to copy

List the capabilities of BW analysis and reporting

Define and execute a BW query by following a set of instructions

Start the defined BW query in the Web

Decide whether your company will benefit from implementing SAP Master Data Management

Describe the system landscape and components used with SAP MDM

Describe some possible SAP MDM scenarios

Unit Contents Lesson: SAP Business Information Warehouse Architecture.............100 Exercise 5: Displaying the Business Content in the Metadata Repository ...................................................................115 Lesson: Analysis and Reporting Using Business Intelligence (BW) .....119 Exercise 6: Analysis and Reporting Using Business Analysis Intelligence (BW) ...........................................................129 Lesson: Managing Master Data Using SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) ......................................................................134

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Lesson: SAP Business Information Warehouse Architecture Lesson Overview This lesson provides an overview of the structure of the SAP Data Warehouse and the prerequisites that must be fulfilled if data is to be stored and evaluated usefully.

Lesson Objectives After completing this lesson, you will be able to: 路

Describe the architecture of the SAP Business Information Warehouse

路

List the prerequisites for data modeling

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Locate the predefined Business Content objects, which are easy to copy

Business Example You use SAP applications in conjunction with applications provided by third parties. You want to create global reports using your company data and access the data directly from the analyses. The SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is available with SAP NetWeaver. You want to gain an overview of its architecture before you decide whether it is suitable for your purpose. Colleagues in other companies who use a data warehouse have told you that organizing all the data you need is time-consuming and tedious. You also want to know whether you must manually build all structures that your company needs for a BW solution or whether SAP delivers predefined structures with BW.

Goals and Prerequisites of a DATA WAREHOUSE With each solution delivered by SAP, you have options for executing reporting based on the data of the relevant application. The application usually provides a range of standard reports. However, customer-specific reporting is also possible. As a customer, you can use the query interface or you can program reports yourself in the ABAP Workbench. This allows you to read the data in the production system in accordance with your requirements. Naturally, you can continue to use this type of reporting with SAP NetWeaver. However, more than 6,000 customers successfully use SAP Business Intelligence (SAP BW), either alongside or instead of this. Reasons include the growing need for integrated solutions for companywide data analysis. Increasing globalization and market expansion mean that you must be able to access all the relevant

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information in your company at all times and be able to analyze this information flexibly and in aggregated form without affecting the performance of the transactional system. Information systems must meet the following decision-makers' requirements: ·

Immediate, single-point access to all relevant information from any source

Full coverage of all business processes Cross-system and cross-process analyses have an increasingly important role.

High-quality information Data contents and the option of flexible data analysis are important here.

High-quality support for decision-making based on the requirements of operational and strategic management.

Shorter implementation time with no resource-intensive data staging required

In heterogeneous system landscapes, the extraction and preparation of consolidated transaction data and master data from SAP systems and source systems from other providers present particular challenges. The increasing demand for high-quality company information means that, in addition to an integrated data retrieval process, detailed analyses of the data and multimedia presentations of the results of these analyses are also required. The demand for data warehouse solutions that incorporate all of these features is immense. The following section discusses the most important demands that are made of an up-to-date data warehouse and establishes the criteria for determining the efficiency of a data warehouse solution. The transaction-based OLTP and the analysis-based OLAP must be viewed as a single, integrated environment. Data on business processes provides a great deal of information that cannot easily be used in a targeted analysis. The data must first be cleansed and, since it comes from various sources, it has to be staged both technically and semantically (homogenized.) The knowledge that company managers gain from analyzing this data can be used to develop business strategies and support the associated business processes. The figure below shows how the cycle works:

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Figure 51: Differences Between Operational and Informational Environments

Differences Between a Data Warehouse and an OLTP System

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The essential differences between OLTP environments and OLAP environments are as follows: ·

Level of detail The OLTP layer stores data with a very high level of detail, whereas data in the data warehouse is compressed for high-performance access (aggregation).

History When data is archived, minimal information about its history is maintained in the OLTP. However, a comprehensive data history is kept in the data warehouse.

Changeability In the operational area, data is modified frequently. For analysis, meanwhile, the data is “frozen” after a certain point in time.

Integration In contrast to the OLTP environment, the demand for comprehensive, integrated information for analysis is very high.

Normalization Due to the reduction in data redundancy when tables are normalized, a very large number of tables is used in the operational environment. Data retrieval and system performance are the reasons why less normalization is used in a data warehouse.

Optimized access An OLAP environment is optimized for read-access. In operational applications, additional functions, such as change, insert, and delete functions, must also perform efficiently.

SAP BW is a data warehouse system that fulfills all the functions described above. This following figure provides an overview of the architecture of the SAP Business Information Warehouse in a heterogeneous system landscape.

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Figure 52: The Three Layers of SAP BW's Architecture

The lowest level shows the source systems. SAP provides mechanisms for extracting production data from SAP systems. For data from non-SAP systems, you can use the BW BAPI interface, the interfaces for accessing relational database systems, and multidimensional applications and an interface for processing XML files. You can also load data from flat files. Metadata and application data (master data and transaction data) is managed on the Business Information Warehouse server. When you execute a report, which is known as a query, the OLAP processor reads the data. The third level represents the various reporting tools: BEx Analyzer, embedded in MS Excel, and BEx Web Analyzer, embedded in BEx Web. You can use these to execute queries in the browser. In principle, you can also transfer data to your cell phone and, in particular, display and execute analyses in portal interfaces. Structuring and visualization of all information is guaranteed because relevant analysis data is staged in SAP BW on the basis of the reporting requirements and expectations. The data may originate in SAP or non-SAP systems. A large proportion of SAP BW users extract and analyze data from non-SAP systems. The Business Information Warehouse server manages application data and metadata. The OLAP processor then analyses the data when it is accessed using the reporting interface. A data model must be created as part of a data modeling process to stage the right data for analysis.

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Data Modeling as a Prerequisite for a DATA WAREHOUSE SYSTEM - Basic Principles To retrieve the right information in SAP BW, the user requirements in relation to the existing information requirements of the various departments must first be analyzed in detail.

Figure 53: Requirements in Reporting and Data Modeling

In the data modeling process, a data model containing key figures and characteristics is created, which is used at a later stage to set up the tables in the Business Information Warehouse with master data and transaction data.

Note: Key figures are values or quantities (for example, sales revenue, fixed costs, number of employees, order quantity, and so on). Note: Characteristics represent the reference values for key figures. In other words, key figures are applied to characteristics. Examples include: The order quantity (key figure) of a customer (characteristic) or the sales revenue (key figure) of an article (characteristic) Note: A dimension groups together all logically related characteristics under one superordinate term.

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Both key figures and characteristics are usually derived from fields in tables in the database of the operational system that contain the data to be evaluated. If you observe the examples of characteristics given above (the order quantity of a customer or the sales revenue of an article), you will notice that something is missing in the analyses if useful data is to be returned. The missing element is a time reference. In data modeling, a time aspect has to be included in your model. In other words, you must specify whether you want to evaluate your data on a monthly, quarterly, annual, or other basis. The time reference also determines how you store your data in the data warehouse. In a broader sense, however, modeling also requires that data transfer (extraction) be scheduled to meet requirements. To be able to extract data from source systems, you must define data flows.

Figure 54: Data Modeling - SAP BW Structure - Data Transfer

Data can be extracted automatically. As part of the data transfer, you also have the option of transferring data from tables in the database of a source system or transferring data from files in aggregated form or in part only, rather than 1:1.

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The steps involved in defining a data model can be summarized as follows: ·

Collect all of the information requirements for the area for which you want to use SAP BW.

Structure the information requirements in the form of a logical model.

Transfer the data into a physical data model containing all required InfoObjects in SAP BW.

Check whether you can use the objects delivered by SAP.

To create a sound logical data model, you must know which characteristics and key figures are to be queried but also which information sources and information receivers are to be used. For example, there may be a considerable difference in the level of granularity required in the Finance, Sales and Distribution, and Controlling views of the data. Granularity refers to the level of detail of the data in the DATA WAREHOUSE tables. For example, the “analyzed by customer” granularity level is less detailed than “analyzed by customer and material.” The second query requires more data than the first. The level of granularity is thus a decisive factor in determining the size of the database in a data warehouse. In relation to the time dimension, granularity also determines the degree to which the transaction data is aggregated. Data that is stored by customer and by month is aggregated to a much greater degree than data that is stored by customer, material, and day. There are fewer entries in the relevant tables in the first case than in the second. In other words, both the load process and the read process are faster when you execute reports. However, reduced granularity, that is, fewer tables containing less data, naturally also means a loss of information. As part of logical data modeling, you must strike a balance between these factors. In short, you should know at the end of the design phase for your logical model which key figures and characteristics are to be evaluated and at what level of detail.

Hint: For more information, refer to course BW 330 - Business Information Warehouse - Data Modeling.

Data Modeling - the Physical Model The physical model of SAP BW is based on a schema in which, to put it simply, master data (customer number, customer name, product name, status, country indicator, unit of measure, and so on) is stored in master data tables, and transaction data (sales revenues, stocks, quantities, and so on) is stored in a fact table and dimension tables. There are always two specific dimension tables, for times and units. The schema shown in the following figure could be used for our scenario.

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Figure 55: SAP BW Star Schema

To get the actual value for a field, SAP BW uses the keys in the dimension tables to read the relevant master data tables. The system takes the transaction data from the fact table. Both the fact table and the master data tables are based on InfoObjects or, more precisely, the required characteristics and key figures, which must be created in the data warehouse. Hint: Business evaluation objects (customers, sales revenues, and so on) are called InfoObjects in BW. InfoObjects are divided into characteristics, key figures, units, time characteristics, and so on. InfoObjects are therefore the smallest building blocks in SAP BW. When they are activated, the characteristic InfoObjects give rise to master data tables. Key figure InfoObjects, meanwhile, can form part of a fact table. The definition of this data can be shown in the metadata repository of SAP BW. Fact tables are created as part of the definition of a BasicCube, which is a special type of InfoCube.

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InfoCubes are the central objects that form the technical basis for reports and analyses. SAP distinguishes between different types of InfoCube: 路

BasicCubes These are InfoCubes that are physical data stores, that is, tables on the data warehouse server.

路

Virtual InfoCubes These are InfoCubes that contain no data. They simply provide a view of the physical dataset.

From a reporting perspective, there is no difference between physical and virtual InfoCubes. Users cannot tell whether they are working with a physical or a virtual Cube. How is data transferred into InfoCubes? Data from the relevant source system is transferred into physical data stores as part of extraction runs. The figure below shows the relevant concepts in the context of extraction. In this case, the data is contained in an SAP system. If an SAP system is to be used as a source system, you must import a BW plug-in.

Figure 56: SAP BW: Data Flow in Relation to a BasicCube

Source systems stage the data using DataSources, which are replicated in the BW system. In the BW system, you define a data flow from the DataSource into an InfoSource, which represents the actual source for the BasicCube and the master data tables.

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You can define rules to control the data transfer during the transfer from the DataSource to the InfoSource and from the InfoSource to the tables. (For example, you can define conditions that must be fulfilled for data to be transferred, execute currency translations, enhance master data fields, for example, to distinguish between various systems after a company take-over, and so on.)

SAP BW also provides solutions for transferring data from non-SAP systems: ·

Data transfer using third-party tools

Data transfer using XML or SOAP documentation

Data transfer using DB Connect

Data transfer from flat files

Data transfer using UD Connect (as of SAP BW 3.5)

Data transfer using the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (as of SAP BW 3.5)

More information about data flows and how they are defined is provided in various BW courses, such as BW310, BW340, BW350.

Discussion and Example of Key Figures and Characteristics Travel requests are submitted and flights are approved in your company. You want to transfer the relevant data from tables in your production system to your BW system and evaluate it there. As you already know, you must create a data model for this purpose. In other words, you must identify the characteristics and key figures that could form part of a BW schema. The table that delivers the data is called SWXTRAREQUEST. In a particular project, you have to determine the following evaluation requirements: ·

What are the costs of all flights approved by a manager in one year? (how much has been spent of flights in the department?)

How many flights are booked each year with the individual airlines?

Can any special conditions be negotiated on this basis?

Take a moment to consider which fields the table needs to contain, because they represent key figures or characteristics based on your evaluation requirements. You want to output the costs of flights in general and the costs of flights that a particular manager has approved. You also want to know the cities to and from which flights are most frequently booked. The key figures are therefore the flight prices.

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The cities to and from which flights are booked, the manager, and the airlines are all characteristics. The time dimension incorporates both monthly (costs) and annual (manager, airline, cities) references. You now have to create all of the specified objects on the Business Warehouse server and fill the resulting tables with the relevant data using data flows, which also need to be defined. Of course, the BW tables are always filled with data as part of extraction runs. However, you can avoid having to define objects and develop a data model by using objects that are delivered as standard in SAP applications.

Benefits of Using Business Content (Objects Delivered by SAP) Business Content (BC) contains preconfigured role-based and task-based information models that can be adjusted to suit company-specific requirements. For example, you may require a model for cost center accounting or for travel expenses. Business Content is based on application components and consists of roles, workbooks, queries, InfoCubes, InfoObjects, InfoSources, update rules, and extractors for SAP R/3, SAP's new dimension applications, and a selection of other applications. Queries are the defined requests used in reporting in SAP BW (in accordance with the ABAP reports and queries in an SAP system). You can display the result of a query in various Business Explorer (BEx) components: as a Workbook in the BEx Analyzer (MS Excel based) or as a Web application in the BEx Web (browser-based). You can roughly compare the result of a query with a file by saving the result of an ABAP report.

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Figure 57: SAP BW: Business Content

Business Content is delivered as an SAP BW add-on. The documentation provides detailed information about the Business Content for specific applications. The decisive advantage of Business Content is that it is based on a data model, which means that you can simultaneously activate all of the objects you need and that belong together. Since Business Content also contains data flow objects, you can load relevant data from SAP source systems very quickly and, if necessary, evaluate it using queries that are similarly predefined. Once you have a clear picture of your logical data model, you can compare it with the Business Content. ·

Determine the basic key figures and compare these with the Business Content in the metadata repository.

Compare the scenarios in your logical data model with the Business Content InfoCubes, queries, and workbooks.

Check the Business Content queries for your key figures.

Check the data flow for the key figures you have determined.

For the most part, your check should follow the top-down principle within the application components. Determine your key figures, find the relevant objects in BW, and compare the dimension model. In almost all applications, SAP provides extractors, which you can use to transfer data from an SAP source system to BW. These extractors are generally preprogrammed and delivered with Business Content. Business Content objects are usually delivered in a D version, which has to be explicitly copied and activated (=A version).

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To find the Business Content, use transaction RSORBCT or choose Modeling â&#x2020;&#x2019; Administrator Workbench: Business Content from the SAP menu, or go to the Metadata Repository of the Administrator Workbench.

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Exercise 5: Displaying the Business Content in the Metadata Repository Exercise Objectives After completing this exercise, you will be able to: 路

Display the Business Content, which SAP uses to deliver standard objects for application components

Business Example You want to use SAP BW to evaluate travel management data. You have analyzed your information requirements and determined that standard objects can fulfill all of your requirements. You now want to search the Business Content to determine which objects already exist.

Task: Search the Business Content in SAP BW for objects for booking data in travel management. You also require an overview of the areas and scenarios for which SAP delivers Business Content objects.

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Search the Business Content in SAP BW for objects for booking data in travel management. Also check the data flow in the metadata repository of the Administrator Workbench.

Use the SAP Help Portal (http://help.sap.com) to display the Business Content for an area that would be of particular interest to your company.

Can you use Business Content immediately? Can you change Business Content objects?

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Solution 5: Displaying the Business Content in the Metadata Repository Task: Search the Business Content in SAP BW for objects for booking data in travel management. You also require an overview of the areas and scenarios for which SAP delivers Business Content objects. 1.

Search the Business Content in SAP BW for objects for booking data in travel management. Also check the data flow in the metadata repository of the Administrator Workbench. a)

Log on to the BW system and choose Modeling â&#x2020;&#x2019; Administrator Workbench: Metadata Repository (transaction RSORMDR). Double-click Local Objects (FB4CLNT800) under Business Content on the left side of the screen. The Business Content objects are now displayed. Double-click InfoArea (List) on the right side of the screen. You can now open the individual areas to display the objects that have been delivered.

Choose Financials Management & Controlling and then choose Travel Management. Two entries are displayed: Travel Expenses: Totals and Documents and Travel Planning: Booking Data. The components of the basic InfoCube Travel Planning: Booking Data are displayed here in a table. You can also see which queries are based on this basic InfoCube and which update rules are used to load data into the cube.

To gain a clearer overview of the data flow, examine the relationships between the objects in the graphical display. In the tabular display, look for the Graphical Display area at the start of the list. Under this, choose Network display of the data flow. The data flow from the InfoSource to the delivered roles is displayed.

Continued on next page

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Use the SAP Help Portal (http://help.sap.com) to display the Business Content for an area that would be of particular interest to your company. a)

Open the SAP Help Portal in a new browser session. Enter the following URL in the address field: http://help.sap.com. Choose Documentation and then SAP NetWeaver. In the SAP NetWeaver '04 (SPS xx) section, choose English; xx stands for the actual support package. On the right side of the screen under Information Integration, you can see a link to BI Content. Choose this link. Here you will find detailed information about the objects delivered with Business Content. The objects are divided into different business-relevant areas. Search for an area that is of interest to your company.

Can you use Business Content immediately? Can you change Business Content objects? a)

No. Business Content objects must first be copied explicitly, that is, activated. Activating Business Content means that tables are set up for the data model.

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You can use Business Content objects without changing them or you can adjust them to suit your requirements: that is, you can make them more or less complex and you can use them as templates for your own objects.

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Lesson Summary You should now be able to:

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Describe the architecture of the SAP Business Information Warehouse

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List the prerequisites for data modeling

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Locate the predefined Business Content objects, which are easy to copy

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Lesson: Analysis and Reporting Using Business Intelligence (BW)

Lesson: Analysis and Reporting Using Business Intelligence (BW) Lesson Overview This lesson highlights the benefits of Business Intelligence for users and thus also for your company, and provides an overview of the tools for evaluating the data stored in the Business Warehouse.

Lesson Objectives After completing this lesson, you will be able to: 路

List the capabilities of BW analysis and reporting

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Define and execute a BW query by following a set of instructions

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Start the defined BW query in the Web

Business Example As a long-time user of SAP systems, you are familiar with the ABAP Workbench and ABAP reporting. You now want to analyze the data from several systems at the same time using a single tool to give you a sound, informed basis for making your decisions. You also want to be able to easily share the information you have gained with numerous different employees in your company, and you want to be able to access it on the Web at any time. You want an overview of how you can use the SAP Business Warehouse to do this.

Options for Data Analysis and Reporting with SAP BW SAP BW saves data in InfoCubes, which are then used as InfoProviders for reporting.

InfoProviders can be considered as an analysis view of a BW object for which queries can be created or executed in SAP BW. These include, on the one hand, objects that physically contain data: the so-called data targets such as BasicCubes and InfoObjects (characteristics with attributes, texts, or hierarchies). On the other, they also include objects with no physical data storage: the virtual InfoCubes. Reporting can also be performed on the basis of multiple InfoProviders which then form a MultiProvider.

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You analyze the dataset of the SAP Business Information Warehouse by defining queries for InfoProviders in the BEx Query Designer. The combination of InfoObjects (characteristics and key figures) that you select in a query determines how the data in the selected InfoProvider can be evaluated. Note: You can use a query to compile characteristics and key figures to analyze the data of an InfoProvider in the Query Designer. A query always refers to an InfoProvider, for which any number of queries can be defined. You can call the reporting interfaces in SAP BW from the menu path Business Explorer â&#x2020;&#x2019; Analyzer (transaction RRMX).

Figure 58: Reporting in SAP BW

The next section describes the reporting components of the Business Explorer (BEx).

The BEx Query Designer displays the results embedded in Excel, or displays them in the browser. BEx Web Applications are Web-based applications of the Business Explorer for data analysis, reporting, and analytical applications in the Web. You can use BEx Mobile Intelligence to access your Web applications on the move. You need one of the following devices for this: a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) with a Windows CE 3.0 operating system and Pocket Internet Explorer, a WAP-enabled cellular phone, an i-Mode-enabled cellular phone, or a mobile device with an EPOC32 operating system (for example, Nokia Communicator 9210).

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You also have the option of integrating SAP BW with the portal, if you wish.

Figure 59: Integration of SAP BW and the SAP Enterprise Portal

SAP NetWeaver therefore gives you central access to Business Intelligence information that is stored both within and beyond the system boundaries. Let us now look at how to create a BW query in the system. We will assume that your company’s financial controlling department wants to know how high the company’s costs are for each of its various managers, and with which airlines the flights were booked.

Creating Queries in the BEx Analyzer When you call the BEx Analyzer using transaction RRMX, select the Open Queries icon on the BW BEx toolbar to define a new query. This then allows you to select the InfoProvider you want. In other words, the data source of your report. You will find the InfoProviders in the InfoAreas area. The InfoAreas structure and group the content of the InfoProviders, similar to the folder structure in Windows Explorer. You can assign the InfoAreas when the InfoProviders are created. Select the InfoArea you want and find the InfoProvider you want.

Hint: As standard, the system displays the InfoProviders with which at least one query has been executed on the basic screen. When you use an InfoProvider for the first time, you choose the New icon and then get a view of all of the InfoProviders in the system in the InfoArea section.

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Figure 60: BEx Query Designer

You can use the drag and drop function to transfer the characteristics for which the data is to be determined into the line area. Transfer the desired key figures or characteristics (in the case of master data reporting) into the column area. You can also double-click in the executed report to transfer characteristics that you set in the Free Characteristics area to the display for further analysis, provided that you not displaying the report on the Web. This means that you can navigate to them. Characteristics that you set in the Filter area determine the output quantity of the report absolutely. You cannot change the filter values dynamically, so it is not possible to navigate using these characteristics in the executed query. The system requires a technical name and description that is unique in the entire system. You can save queries in your Favorites in the SAP Easy Access menu or you usually save them in a role. As soon as the query is assigned to a role, all users with the role can execute this query as well. Queries are displayed embedded in Excel as standard. However, you can also use the Execute in the Web icon to display the report in the Browser.

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Other important functions you can use when you define a query include: ·

Inclusion of calculations

Flexible reports using variables

· ·

Use of formulas Automatic currency translations

Using hierarchies

Using exceptions and conditions

Integrating documents

If your report data contains values in different currencies, you can automate currency translations. You can defining and use variables to flexibly restrict key figures. Queries may include hierarchies . You can have standard hierarchies of SAP systems, such as the cost center hierarchy, but you can also have self-defined hierarchies that make your reports clearer by arranging characteristics hierarchically. Exceptions allow you to select and highlight the most significant deviations in terms of the desired key figure values. This can allow you to respond faster to make improvements, if necessary. The definition of a condition has a similar function: for example, the ten branches with the smallest sales volumes. Of course, you could equally display the ten branches with the largest sales volumes. Exits allow you to automatically trigger a follow-on operation. One or more documents can be stored in different versions, languages, or formats for metadata (InfoObject, InfoCube, Query, ODS object), for master data (for example, drawings for materials), and for transaction data (for example, comments for certain report results) . The documents are part of SAP BW. They are stored either in the database of the BW system itself or on an SAP HTTP content server.

Creating Web Applications in the BEx Web Application Designer The BEx Web Application Designer allows you to provide results in queries not only in table form, but also on the Web in the form of various graphics, on maps, as a ticker, and so on. These Web applications can be created using the Web Application Designer. The key terms used in conjunction with the Web Application Designer are Web Item, Web Template, and Web Application.

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Figure 61: Web Items, Web Template, & Web Application

Web items are placeholders for displaying the data, for example in the form of tables, graphics or filter boxes. These Web items are embedded in Web templates and structured there. The Web template becomes a Web application when it is displayed in a browser.

Standard Web Template and Individual Templates You basically have two options when you create Web templates: 路

A separate standard Web template

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Individual templates for different user groups

You can create a separate standard template that complies with your corporate identity and with which each query is displayed in a Web browser. You can also design individual templates for different user groups. These individual templates can then contain the exact information required by those groups.

Creating Empty Templates for Internet-Based Dynamic Analyses You can use the Web Application Designer to create a template for ad-hoc analyses. Using a URL in the browser, you can then make this accessible at any time, from anywhere, for everyone who has a user in the connected SAP BW system. This template can then be used to perform any number of online analyses you want of the data in the InfoProvider available, at any time.

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You can create such a template as follows: ·

Call the Web Application Designer application In the training system, go to Start → Programs → Business Explorer → Web Application Designer.

In the logon dialog box, connect to a BW system (select BW, log on with a BW user). The template that is later created will then draw on data from this SAP BW system.

In the BEx Web Application Designer, which is now displayed, select the Ad-Hoc Query Designer item on the left of the screen in the Standard Items section and move it into the layout screen to the right using drag and drop.

Save the template under a name.

You can then start the template you have saved using the following URL: http://<server name>:<port>/sap/bw/BEx?cmd=Idoc&template_id=<name of the saved template>&sap-language=<desired language> For a concrete example, your URL could appear as follows: http://iwdf5221.wdf.sap.corp:1080/sap/bw/BEx?cmd=ldoc?template_id=MSH_WEBTEMPLATE&sap-language=EN You can use these templates to perform dynamic analyses anytime and anywhere, in the connected SAP BW system, without having installed a GUI.

BEx Information Broadcasting As of SAP BW 3.5, it is very easy to use the BEx Broadcaster to distribute reports both online and offline to different users. Two options are available: You can send the reports to users either directly by e-mail, or as a link. You can also decide what type of reporting objects you want to distribute: Web templates, queries, or workbooks. If you are using an SAP Enterprise Portal (SAP EP), you can use the BW reporting objects in the knowledge management. These are also exported from SAP BW to SAP EP using the BEx Broadcaster. The BEx Broadcaster works with SAP BW 3.5 and SAP Enterprise Portal 6.0, Support Package 3.

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Figure 62: SAP BW Broadcasting

A BW analysis can be copied to the SAP Enterprise Portal using Information Broadcasting. Optimized knowledge management services are then available in SAP EP: ·

Notification of changes

Option for personal notes

Feedback and evaluation (rating)

Searches and classifications for full texts and attributes

The following basic principles apply to the publishing of SAP Business Intelligence information ·

Available for administrators and end users

Published ad-hoc, planned (weekly,...), or event triggered (for instance when changes are made in the InfoCube)

Publication in different formats (online file, (M)HTML file, workbook in BEx, e-mail with attachment)

Cross-enterprise collaboration must be soundly based on relevant, reliable information. The integration of SAP BW and the SAP Enterprise Portal assists you in pursuing context-related information management in your company.

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Remote Access to Data with UD Connect As of SAP BW 3.5, UD Connect (Universal Data Connect) allows the analysis of both SAP and non-SAP data using SAP Web AS J2EE connectivity reporting and analysis. UD Connect allows you to access practically all relational data sources, and most multidimensional OLAP systems. UD Connect transfers the data as flat data. Currently, you can only use one database object in each case (table, View) as a UD Connect source. The scenario does not support any joins.

Figure 63: Advantages of UD Connect

The installation of SAP Web AS Java with the BI Java components is a prerequisite for using the system. You can use the UD Connect interface to integrate data of the source object into SAP BW. You can extract the data and load it into SAP BW and store it physically there. However, you can also read the data directly in the source using an SAP RemoteCube. Take the scenario shown in the figure above: The customer is using both SAP and third-party applications. Using the UD Connect interface, users have direct remote access to data in third-party systems, without having to save it in SAP BW. However, the customer can also copy the data persistently. For example, if the third-party application is ORA FI, SAP even provides SAP-specific Business Content so that you can load data into an SAP BW system.

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Exercise 6: Analysis and Reporting Using Business Analysis Intelligence (BW) Exercise Objectives After completing this exercise, you will be able to: 路

Execute a query embedded in Excel

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Use the Ad-Hoc-Query Designer

Business Example You want to run reports using your data in SAP BW.

Task: Create a query called SAPNW_## (where ## is your group number) in the BEx Analyzer to display the monthly flight costs for outward and return flights. Key figures are the prices of outward and return flights. The only characteristic is the calendar month time characteristic. First display the data without converting it, and then ensure that the prices are displayed in Euro. Display the data once embedded in Excel and once on the Web. 1.

Call the BEx Analyzer and find the SAPNW Infocube in the SAPNW InfoArea under BW Training - SAP NetWeaver - SAPNW.

Create the same query a second time, using the Query Designer function in an ad hoc query designer template on the Web. To do so, start an existing template in your BW training system: SAPNW Template 00. You can find this template in the "Web Templates" folder in the user menu for your user SAPNW-##. The template contains the Query Designer function.

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Broadcast the information broadcasting in the executed ad-hoc query. Send the query to an e-mail account you are familiar with and to which you have access from the training room.

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Solution 6: Analysis and Reporting Using Business Analysis Intelligence (BW) Task: Create a query called SAPNW_## (where ## is your group number) in the BEx Analyzer to display the monthly flight costs for outward and return flights. Key figures are the prices of outward and return flights. The only characteristic is the calendar month time characteristic. First display the data without converting it, and then ensure that the prices are displayed in Euro. Display the data once embedded in Excel and once on the Web. 1.

Call the BEx Analyzer and find the SAPNW Infocube in the SAPNW InfoArea under BW Training - SAP NetWeaver - SAPNW. a)

Use transaction RRMX to call the BEx Analyzer.

In the BW toolbar, choose Open → Queries.

Double-click the InfoAreas section in the SAP BEx: Select Query dialog box. Open BW Training → SAP NetWeaver → SAPNW in that sequence.

Select the SAPNW InfoCube and choose the New icon to the top-right on the menu bar. The Query Designer opens.

Open the Key Figures section and move the Price outward flight and Price return flight key figures (using drag and drop) into the Columns section.

Open the Time dimension and move the Calendar Year/Month time characteristic into the Rows section.

Choose Save and enter SAPNW_## (## stands for your group number) in both the "Description" and "Technical Name" fields. Save the query under your favorites.

Select Exit and Use Query to display the query embedded in Excel. You will see that the prices are stored in different currencies (MIX is given as the currency in the flight prices columns).

In the display of the data, select the Change Query icon from the BW toolbar and then select Change Query (Global Definition).... Your query definition will then be displayed again.

Continued on next page

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Select the Price outward flight key figure, right-click to display the context menu, and select the Characteristics menu option. Then select the to Euro currency translation key in the Currency Translation section.

Use Change Query to return to the display of the query definition. Now select the Display Query in the Web icon to view the data in the browser.

In your user menu, call the SAPNW Template 00 template by choosing SAPNW â&#x2020;&#x2019; Web Templates. If you are not yet authenticated in the BW system, the system requests you to log on with your user SAPNW-## and relevant password.

Choose Query Designer and then Create New Query.

Click the SAPNW InfoCube to select it as the basis for your query and choose Copy.

Select the Price outward flight key figure, right-click to display the context menu, and select it as a column.

Select the Price return flight key figure, right-click to display the context menu, and select Add to Structure, to copy the key figure into the columns If you like, reset the currency conversion of both key figures to to Euro.

In the Display section, switch from key figure to characteristics .

Open the Time dimension. Right-click to display the context menu, and select Calendar Year/Month as the line.

Choose Save and designate ADH_NW_## as the name in Description and Technical Name fields for your ad-hoc query

Choose Execute to start the ad-hoc query.

Continued on next page

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Broadcast the information broadcasting in the executed ad-hoc query. Send the query to an e-mail account you are familiar with and to which you have access from the training room. a)

Call the Information Broadcasting section from the display of the query.

Click Create New Setting.

Leave the settings unchanged under Settings Format and Distribution Type.

Delete the entry in E-Mail Addresses and, instead, enter the e-mail address you want.

Change to the Texts section and enter Query from SAPNW in the Subject field. Make any entry under Contents.

Choose Execute. Display the report in your e-mail account.

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Lesson Summary You should now be able to:

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List the capabilities of BW analysis and reporting

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Define and execute a BW query by following a set of instructions

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Start the defined BW query in the Web

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Lesson: Managing Master Data Using SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) Lesson Overview The functions of SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) are a permanent feature in SAP NetWeaver. SAP MDM contains information about master data throughout the company and can also be used to maintain master data centrally without duplicates. SAP MDM is used with SAP XI as the distribution architecture for master data. Harmonized master data can be included in SAP BW analyses. There are three key scenarios in SAP MDM that will be discussed in this lesson: consolidation, harmonization (creation and consolidation) of master data, and catalog maintenance.

Lesson Objectives After completing this lesson, you will be able to: 路

Decide whether your company will benefit from implementing SAP Master Data Management

路

Describe the system landscape and components used with SAP MDM

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Describe some possible SAP MDM scenarios

Business Example Your company has numerous production locations. In other words, it has many different plants, some of which use their own systems and have a large number of business partners (suppliers, customers, and so on). You have some of the same business partners and you discover that these are maintained differently in different systems. When you plan warehouse stock in Warehouse Management, problems tend to occur more often because of incorrectly maintained master data. You then have to resolve these problems using rush purchase orders. Your parts inventory is also frequently incorrect. You maintain a general product catalog which you always expect to be completely up-to-date. However, you frequently notice that the data is not correct because you cannot call it centrally from any system. You have installed SAP's logistics applications on your system, but are using third-party software for financials. Due to the different master data involved, discrepancies frequently occur in invoicing and the different master data in

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both areas makes it difficult to correctly carry out cross-company reporting. To help you to implement accurate reporting, you need to maintain comprehensive cross-reference tables. You generally believe that there is too much time and effort spent in your company on storing, procuring, and indexing parts, as well as on the administration involved in managing master data. You also feel that you could facilitate and improve collaboration with your business partners by maintaining your master data centrally, and therefore also uniquely.

Managing Master Data Using SAP SAP MDM Heterogeneous IT landscapes with systems provided by different third parties are widely used in your company. As a result, important master data required for cross-system business processes and analyses is often redundant in other systems and kept in incompatible formats.

The following factors consequently come into play as cost drivers: 路

Maintenance and operating costs This includes the effort required to store data (in particular, redundant data) and consolidate all the information belonging to one master data record.

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Integration costs, in particular, when a company is restructured Upgrades require more effort and new systems are not easy to integrate. The development and continuous maintenance of interface programs also incurs costs, as does the correction of inaccurate data.

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Efforts required in reporting The more master data duplicates you have in the system landscape, the more unreliable the reporting. This, in turn, increases the costs of consolidating your reports.

When companies are faced with this scenario, they intensify their search for solutions to integrate and consolidate their master data. To protect their investment, however, they should build on their existing IT infrastructure rather than simply find fault with it. SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) helps you to consolidate your master data and manage it in a central location. Imagine you have 5,000,000 units of master data in a system, 10% of which are duplicates. In addition, 10,000 new master data records are created each year and 10 systems are connected to each other. Millions could be saved here by reducing maintenance, preventing duplicate records, controlling distribution, and carrying out reliable reporting.

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Figure 64: Harmonized Master Data

At a time when customers want to be dealt with more efficiently and according to their current needs, you must be able to access accurate information about them centrally. This is even more important if the customer data is spread across different application systems and can therefore be accessed locally by the company's employees in different formats. In such a scenario, harmonized master data can reduce the costs of corrections and also increase customer satisfaction. One of the basic principals of good supply chain management is that master data in manufacturing and sales & distribution is maintained correctly and centrally. This also helps you to conduct collaborative processes more easily in procurement, production, and sales & distribution. If, as a customer, you want to optimize your procurement processes, reduce your materials and change your prices, you can use available information, which gives you a current overview of your stock and its procurement as well as the relevance of the materials in question. You also want current and correct product catalogs, both internally and for your customers. Again, you need consistent master data to help you to fulfill these requirements. SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) supports you when you maintain your master data.

SAP XI is the integration platform between the systems of a Master Data Management system landscape. The systems are integrated by exchanging XML messages. SAP XI controls the distribution (routing), transformation (mapping) and transport of messages that are exchanged between systems. You can use SAP MDM to repeatedly compare identical objects that appear in your system landscape and then store the results as ID mapping data. You can extract this ID mapping data and the master data (if available on the master

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data server) into the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW). You can use the ID mapping data and the master data in particular to fill consolidated InfoObjects in SAP BW. The figure below shows the scenarios currently offered by SAP MDM 5.5 .

Figure 65: Scenarios in MDM 5.5

Master Data Consolidation with SAP MDM SAP MDM content consolidation describes the process of consolidating master data from different systems. This involves identifying and cleaning up identical master records from the individual systems in the IT landscape.

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Figure 66: Master Data Consolidation with MDM 5.5

The SAP MDM Import Manager enables data to be uploaded from a table or via XML format to an SAP MDM repository and cleaned up interactively. You must clean your legacy systems and set up the MDM master data server as part of master data consolidation. If you manage large amounts of master data in your systems, an analysis phase usually takes place before master data consolidation. In this phase, you usually check your company's master data landscape and identify the data for the initial SAP MDM setup. You also develop a strategy to recognize duplicate master data records in this analysis phase.

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The following steps are required in the Master Data Consolidation process to clean up and normalize the master data and to recognize duplicates: 路

Uploade master data objects from application systems to SAP MDM The upload occurs once as an initial transfer, and is then carried out periodically to enter new master data and changes to existing data. The SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) is used to technically route and map different data models.

路

Compare the uploaded data to identify duplicates The loaded data can be compared interactively.

路

If required, carry out MDM analyses for the cross-company analysis and reporting using your consolidated master data. SAP MDM creates a knowledge base of existing master data and a dependency on identical master records that are spread across different systems (the original data is kept in the application systems). This knowledge can be used for other processing steps. The generated dependency allows you to carry out reporting across the company using mySAP Business Intelligence. This involves transferring the mapping data to the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW). You can carry out cross-company consolidated reporting when this mapping data has been added to the extracted data.

Figure 67: Using ID mapping tables in global analyses

Consolidated master data information is not only relevant for reporting. For example, you can use consolidated master data records to set up consolidated vendor catalogs.

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Say, for exmaple, that you require information about identical master data for your â&#x20AC;&#x153;global spend analyses,â&#x20AC;? the results of which you can then use as the basis for contract conditions. Caution: In this type of scenario is, it is important to clean up the legacy systems and set up the MDM server with the required master data. No new master data is created. This is part of the following two MDM scenarios.

Harmonizing Master Data with SAP MDM The harmonizing master data scenario enables SAP MDM to maintain the attributes of globally relevant master data consistently and to distribute the master data harmonized in this way. Global attributes constitute master data information that is relevant across the entire company and its associated IT landscape. Locally important attributes can be added to the distributed master data in the local application systems. This scenario is possible for the customer, vendor, product, and employee master data objects. It ensures that all application systems contain the harmonized dataset for the distribution process, so that business process can proceed without any problems.

Rich Product-Content Management The rich product-content management scenario enables you to create and manage master data as a starting basis for catalogs (printed or Web). You can also manage product taxonomies and hierarchies, and use all types of structured information (PDFs, audio, video, product specifications, and so on).

Figure 68: Rich Product-Content Management

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Plug-ins in desktop publishing programs that establish the connection between the layout of catalog pages and the contents in SAP NetWeaver enable catalogs to be printed without the need for employees to intervene. This can dramatically cut catalog production costs and streamline the production process.

Prerequisites for SAP Master Data Management Implementing SAP Master Data Management radically changes the process logic of maintaining master data. Therefore, not only must you analyze your data, you must also integrate a process analysis and, if necessary, existing company-specific process steps into the process logic with SAP MDM. If you are using workflows in the master data maintenance environment, these are probably obsolete. However, new workflows may be accumulating at the same time (for example, notifications about distributed master data). You must also define new user rights (reallocate and delete rights) and schedule user training on a greater scale. The internal SAP MDM components are illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 69: Architecture of MDM 5.5

The MDM import manager enables master data to be imported from different types of files or relational data sources, for example, Microsoft Excel, SQL, XML, and any ODBC-compatible source. During this process, the data can be cleaned, normalized, and regrouped.

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The MDM client is currently the front end for working with the data stored on the MDM server. Users can create and change master data using the “rich client”. For the catalog maintenance scenario, you can enrich the master data with additional data, define taxonomies, and create relationships between the data. With the planned Support Packages, SAP Enterprise Portal will be used as an end-user interface. The MDM console is a tool for administrating and monitoring the MDM server. You can use the MDM syndicator to activate the distribution of master data to various target systems.

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Lesson Summary You should now be able to:

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Decide whether your company will benefit from implementing SAP Master Data Management

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Describe the system landscape and components used with SAP MDM

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Describe some possible SAP MDM scenarios

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Unit Summary You should now be able to: ·

Describe the architecture of the SAP Business Information Warehouse

List the prerequisites for data modeling

Locate the predefined Business Content objects, which are easy to copy

List the capabilities of BW analysis and reporting

Define and execute a BW query by following a set of instructions

Start the defined BW query in the Web

Decide whether your company will benefit from implementing SAP Master Data Management

Describe the system landscape and components used with SAP MDM

Describe some possible SAP MDM scenarios

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