7–12 7 In this chapter you will learn: How the Business Information Warehouse BW works as an enterprise-wide information hub The overall architecture of the Business Information W
Trang 1Chapter 7: Overview of Reporting in the
Business Information Warehouse
Contents
What Is the Business Information Warehouse? 7–2
Business Information Warehouse Architecture: An Overview 7–2
Business Information Warehouse Terminology 7–8
Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environment 7–9
Review 7–12
7
In this chapter you will learn:
How the Business Information Warehouse (BW) works as an enterprise-wide information hub
The overall architecture of the Business Information Warehouse environment
Important concepts and terminology related to the Business Information Warehouse
Trang 2Chapter 7: Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Warehouse
What Is the Business Information Warehouse?
What Is the Business Information Warehouse?
A component of SAP’s New Dimension product, the Business Information Warehouse (BW)
is an enterprise-wide information hub It enables you to analyze data from R/3 applications
or any other business application, including external data sources such as databases and the Internet The SAP Business Information Warehouse also offers easy integration with other New Dimension products, such as the SAP Advanced Planner and Optimizer (SAP APO), the SAP Business to Business (SAP B2B), and the SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SAP SEM) Additionally, the Business Information Warehouse is a core element of SAP’s MySAP.com’s reporting strategy
The Business Information Warehouse is a comprehensive end-to-end data warehouse solution with optimized structures for reporting and analysis To help knowledge workers quickly “mine” the business data in an enterprise, BW is equipped with preconfigured information models and reports, as well as automatic data extraction and loading methods With an easy-to-use Microsoft Excel based user interface, you can create, format, and analyze reports Built for high performance, the Business Information Warehouse resides on its own dedicated server Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and reporting activities are therefore separated, and system performance is not compromised
Note: The chapters in this section cover the reporting functionality as of BW Release 1.2B For product information, white papers, customer case studies, and other materials
on the Business Information Warehouse, visit SAPNet or the Business Information
Warehouse Information Center at http://www.sap.com/bw
Business Information Warehouse Architecture: An Overview
The Business Information Warehouse includes a relational Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), automated data extraction and staging tools, a preconfigured data repository, a user-friendly front-end (the Business Explorer) , and an Administrator Workbench)
As shown on the next page, there are three layers in the Business Information Warehouse architecture:
< Business Explorer: As the top layer in the BW architecture, the Business Explorer (BEx)
serves as the reporting environment (presentation and analysis) for end users It consists
of the BEx Analyzer and the BEx Browser for analysis and reporting activities With its easy-to-use graphical interface, the Business Explorer provides standard functionality such as Microsoft Excel and Internet technologies integrated with advanced evaluation and business tools, such as currency translation, and pre-defined report builders for various reporting areas For more information, page 7–4
Trang 3< Business Information Warehouse Server: As the middle layer, the Business Information
Warehouse server has two primary roles:
Data warehouse management and administration: These tasks are handled by the
production data extractor (a set of programs for the extraction of data from R/3 OLTP applications such as logistics, controlling, etc.), the staging engine, and the Administrator Workbench The OLAP processor is for multi-dimensional data views and is preconfigured with business models derived from the R/3 System
Data storage and representation: These tasks are handled by the InfoCubes in
conjunction with the data manager, the meta data repository, and the optional Operational Data Store (ODS)
For more information, see page 7–5
BEx Browser BEx Analyzer
Meta Data
Repository
Administrator Workbench Staging Engine
BW
SAP BW
System
External System BAPI
Business Explorer
Business Information Warehouse Server
Source Systems
Reporting and analysis environment for users
Application layer to facilitate data storage and retrieval; database layer to maintain the data
Multiple information sources include R/3 systems, non-SAP systems, files, non-SAP
BW, etc.
OLAP Processor
InfoCube
ODS
< Source Systems: As the bottom layer, the source systems serve as the sources for raw
business data The Business Information Warehouse environment can include a wide range of data sources, including R/3 (OLTP) systems, external systems, and files, as well
as the SAP BW system For more information, see page 7–7
Trang 4Chapter 7: Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Warehouse
Business Information Warehouse Architecture: An Overview
Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) enable communication among the various components of the Business Information Warehouse By using BAPIs, the
Business Information Warehouse remains open for integration with additional applications and tools where needed
What Is the Business Explorer (BEx) ?
The reporting environment of the Business Information Warehouse, the Business Explorer (BEx) helps you analyze business data It enables end users to locate reports, view reports, and analyze information In the Business Explorer you can execute queries, create linked report output (organized in “workbooks”), present data from multiple application areas, systems, and more You can save queries in workbooks that can be assigned for use in other areas known as “channels.”
How Is the Business Explorer Organized?
The Business Explorer has the following components:
Business Explorer Browser
A graphical interface for organizing reports in the BW The BEx Browser is used to access R/3 transactions, reports, and Web sites For more information, see chapter 10
Business Explorer Analyzer The BEx Analyzer is an Excel-based interactive environment where analyses and queries are defined by selected characteristics and key figures You can analyze the selected data by freely navigating through multi-dimensional data and built-in business functions
Presentation in Excel also allows users to take a report view and manipulate it as a document For instance, you can add additional calculations or notes, charts and graphics, combine different reports in one workbook, or distribute reports via e-mail For more information, see chapter 8
Microsoft Excel
OLAP Processor
Business Information Warehouse Server
InfoCatalog
Business Explorer
Business Explorer Browser
Business Explorer Browser
Trang 5What Is the Business Information Warehouse Server?
The Business Information Warehouse server is the name given to the application layer which facilitates data storage and retrieval It houses the following main components:
< Administrator Workbench
< Staging Engine
< Meta Data Repository
< InfoCube
< Operational Data Store (ODS)
< OLAP Processor What Is the Administrator Workbench?
Acting as the control system of the Business Information Warehouse, the Administrator Workbench allows the BW administrator to perform all data warehouse modeling and maintenance tasks within a single, unified environment The Administrator Workbench has the following components:
< Meta Data Maintenance to allow the administrator to specify and maintain the InfoCubes,
ODS definitions, and technical data
< Scheduler to schedule the transfer of data from your source system at regular intervals
< Data Load Monitor to supervise the load and staging processes
< Data Access Monitor to obtain statistics on BW usage
For more information, see chapter 11
What Is the Meta Data Repository?
Meta data is information on information It is central to the data warehouse concept An active meta data repository documents and controls the entire data warehouse environment 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, descriptions, and rules used for reporting) and technical (for example, structure and mapping rules for the
data extraction and staging process) meta data With the Business Content (for more
information, see 7–7) SAP delivers ready to run preconfigured meta data.For more information, see Business Information Warehouse online documentation
What Is the Staging Engine?
The Staging Engine is employed to implement data mapping and transformation as a fully automated, meta data driven process Application Link Enabling (ALE), SAP’s persistent messaging middle-ware, is used for data transport from OLTP platforms to the BW server Initiated by its Scheduler, the Staging Engine requests an extract from an OLTP system Production data then undergoes a series of transformation, mapping, andcondensing steps before it is stored in the InfoCubes, the central data containers of BW For more information, see Business Information Warehouse online documentation
Trang 6Chapter 7: Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Warehouse
Business Information Warehouse Architecture: An Overview
What Is an InfoCube?
The central data containers which form the basis for reports and analyses in BW are called InfoCubes InfoCubes contains two types of data: key figures and characteristics (see
Appendix G, Glossary) An InfoCube is a set of relational tables that are arranged in a star
schema with a large fact table for recording transaction data at the center and several dimension tables around 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) supply data to InfoCubes A query in the Business Explorer always refers to exactly one InfoCube For more information, see Business Information Warehouse online
documentation
C
T
C
Fact Table
Time Dimension Customer Dimension
InfoCube: Profitability by Customer T
What Is the Operational Data Store?
The ODS is a central store of requested data within the BW system The Operational Data Store (ODS) contains non-aggregated data, is organized as a set of relational tables, and is used as an intermediate store for the staging process The ODS is a store in which
transaction and master data from different source systems can be stored in the technical format of the source systems For more information, see Business Information Warehouse online documentation
What Is the OLAP Processor?
The OLAP processor is the analytical engine of BW It uses a multidimensional database for analyzing and presenting various types of data, such as summarized OLTP data, and market and syndicated data The OLAP processor allows many different types of analyses (for example, drilldown to various levels of details) Additionally, it offers other business functions such as currency translation For more information, see Business Information Warehouse online documentation
InfoObject (characteristic)
InfoObject (key figure)
Trang 7What Are Source Systems?
Systems that provide data for extraction to the Business Information Warehouse are known
as Source systems The Business Information Warehouse supports various types of source systems:
< R/3 systems as of Release 3.0D (with Business Content)
< R/3 systems prior to Release 3.0D (BW regards them as external systems)
< Non-SAP systems or external systems (connected via BAPIs)
< File systems
< SAP Business Information Warehouse system Data provision mechanisms in R/3 OLTP systems include extraction programs that export the data from the extract tables and send it to the Business Information Warehouse in the required format
Business Content in the Business Information Warehouse
SAP delivers preconfigured and extendable intelligence called Business Content to 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 models Based on consistent meta data, these information models include channels, workbooks, queries, InfoCubes, InfoObjects, extractors, and InfoSources (see below)
90+
45+
180+
180+
10+
Channels
Workbooks
Queries
InfoCubes
Extractors and InfoSources
InfoObjects
1000+
Business Content (Release 1.2B)
Data extraction and transformation Data warehouse management Data analysis
Data presentation Information deployment
Trang 8Chapter 7: Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Warehouse
Business Information Warehouse Terminology
The goal of Business Content is to make relevant information available to selected user roles
in an enterprise To speed up the implementation, the Business Content includes both general and industry-specific business content
Before modeling your own InfoCubes, or building new queries in the Business Information Warehouse, it is recommended to check if a similar evaluation already exists in the BW Business Content
To illustrate the BW reporting in subsequent chapters, we will use the SD DemoCube from the BW Business content For more information on Business Content, see the Business Information Warehouse online documentation
Technical and Demo Content
In addition to the Business Content described above, BW also includes Technical Content and Demo Content Technical Content is intended for Data Warehouse administrators, consultants, and SAP development support Demo Content encompasses sample data and can be used as illustrative material (for example the Sales and Distribution (SD) DemoCube and Profitability Analysis (PA) DemoCube) Before you can you work with the Business Content objects, you must activate them For more information on how to activate the SAP DemoCube, see chapter 11
Business Information Warehouse Terminology
To help you become familiar with some of the terms covered in this and later chapters, we have included a brief explanation of the following terms: InfoObject, InfoSource,
InfoCatalog, and Business Content
InfoObject
An InfoObject is a generic term for characteristics and key figures in the Business Information Warehouse InfoObjects are used in InfoCubes and in the three structures that are relevant for data requests—extract, transfer, and communication structures
InfoSource
An InfoSource is a set of logically associated information which can contain transaction data (stored in InfoCubes) and master data (attributes, texts, and hierarchies stored in separate tables) InfoSources describe all the information available for a business transaction or type
of business transaction (for example, cost center accounting)
InfoCatalog The InfoCatalog (see graphic below) is a tree-like structure that displays a list of available
BW workbooks The various InfoCatalog trees contain SAP-delivered workbooks and user-defined workbooksthat are available to user groups, individual users, and as favorite queries (user favorites) The structure of the subtrees can be freely defined by the administrator For more information, see chapter 10
Trang 9Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environment
The Business Information Warehouse is an information hub for enterprise-wide use at all hierarchical levels From office workers to top executives, most of a company’s employees can access comprehensive, flexible, and powerful queries The evaluations and analyses are tailored to meet particular needs Shown below is a typical BW landscape in an enterprise
Business Explorer Business Explorer Business Explorer
Business Information Warehouse Server
Business Information Warehouse Server
R/3 OLTP (different versions)
SAP
BW System
External System
Data File
Internet
Sales Manager Chief Financial Officer Operations Manager Field Sales Rep
Business Explorer
Workbooks in Channels and Favorites can be accessed using the BEx Browser
You can view the workbooks according to:
< Channels
< Channels assigned to specific users
< User favorites
Note: Internet capabilities are available with Release 2.0 of the Business Information Warehouse
Trang 10Chapter 7: Overview of Reporting in the Business Information Warehouse
Business Information Warehouse Reporting Environment
You analyze the data stored in the Business Information Warehouse by defining queries for the InfoCubes After a query has been created, the results are “embedded” into a workbook What Is a Query?
A query is a data evaluation based on the selection of characteristics and key figures
Queries can be configured according to the way you want to view and navigate through data Users define queries to analyze the data from an InfoCube In chapter 9 you will learn how to create a query in the Business Information Warehouse
What Is a Workbook?
A workbook is a multi-functional “report” in Microsoft Excel Workbooks integrate data output, graphical displays, and multi-functional queries, all with the spreadsheet
capabilities of Microsoft Excel (see sample workbook shown below) In the next chapter you will learn how to create a workbook template in the Business Information Warehouse
Integrates Business Explorer toolbar
Allows
presentation of
annotated
analysis of report
data
Incorporates
corporate logo or
other graphical
elements
Provides
push-buttons to
display another
worksheet of
other queries
Offers a graphical view of the report result
Use the push-buttons to drill down