Tài liệu Appendix C: SAP Open Information Warehouse pptx

C–21 C In this chapter you will learn: ƒ What the SAP Open Information Warehouse OIW is ƒ How the SAP OIW is organized ƒ How to prepare OIW source and meta data ƒ How to download an

Appendix C: SAP Open Information

Warehouse

Contents

What Is the SAP Open Information Warehouse? C–2

Working With OIW Source and Meta Data C–5

Running OIW Reports in Excel C–15

Getting the Most from SAP OIW: Tips & Tricks C–20

Review C–20

Where to Learn More C–21

C

In this chapter you will learn:

ƒ What the SAP Open Information Warehouse (OIW) is

ƒ How the SAP OIW is organized

ƒ How to prepare OIW source and meta data

ƒ How to download an OIW report into Microsoft Excel

What Is the SAP Open Information Warehouse?

The SAP Open Information Warehouse (OIW) unifies the various information systems within the R/3 System into a single system It pools various disparate information systems into a single, easy-to-use “information warehouse.”

You can use the OIW to gain an overview of information units across the R/3 System With the OIW you can overcome the boundaries that tend to exist among different information systems by easily combining particularly relevant information units into queries (for example, a sales report that combines stock and purchasing data, or a sales report that includes costing/profit information) All connected information systems automatically supply business data to the OIW

Note: The OIW was first delivered with Release 3.1G It is available free-of-charge to R/3 customers Although the OIW is still available, it is widely regarded as the precursor

to the recently introduced SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) For more information on the Business Information Warehouse, see chapters 7 through 11

The OIW was designed to provide users with:

< A single source/toolkit to access different information (for example, logistics, finance, and costing)

< An easier-to-understand user interface for data extraction and display

< An improved report layout through the use of familiar PC applications such as Microsoft Excel

The OIW is an open system because it provides a link to standard PC applications To learn more about how the OIW establishes a link between the R/3 System and Microsoft Excel, refer to page C–4

The R/3 System makes the following source data available to the OIW:

< Basic data in specific areas such as recruitment in HR, personnel administration in HR, and overhead cost controlling in CO

< Some secondary data such as other areas of FI and CO (refer to OSS note 82836)

< Information structures created and used by the Logistics Information System (LIS)

Basic Terminology

OIW Information Catalog The OIW information catalog defines which data and access paths the OIW can retrieve The customer can individually change the contents of the OIW information catalog when

customizing the OIW Generally, the OIW does not maintain its own data stores It only holds links to certain data sources in the R/3 information systems

Before starting to use the OIW, make sure that the OIW customizing has been done in the R/3 System The OIW Frontend will not work if the OIW information catalog is still empty

OIW Browser The OIW Browser is a standard dialog in the OIW Frontend for Microsoft Excel (see page C–4 for more information) that allows queries to be defined and modified The OIW Browser shows all of the information objects that are currently available in OIW It also allows the current definition of each of the queries to be viewed Information objects can be copied (using drag and drop) from the OIW Browser into a query

The OIW Browser performs the following tasks:

< Reads the OIW information catalog and displays it as a hierarchical listing

< Allows the user to define a query by inserting (or moving or deleting) columns and selections

< Keeps track of the query’s current definition and displays it to the user

< Constantly updates the OIW information catalog’s display so that only the selected information, which fits into the query, is displayed

Data Sources Data sources are sets of information objects in the OIW Catalog that can be used in combination with the queries A query on the OIW is valid only if there is at least one data source in the OIW that combines all of the information objects present in the query Just like

OIW Frontend for Microsoft Excel

The OIW contains a programming interface to help users connect to external applications The OIW Frontend for Microsoft Excel is based on this programming interface It is delivered with the SAPgui on the installation CD

With Microsoft Excel’s add-in capability (In Excel, choose Tools → Add-Ins) you can use the

OIW Frontend to construct queries in the OIW and embed them in Microsoft Excel worksheets

This linkage to Microsoft Excel offers the following benefits:

< The OIW obtains the answers to queries without requiring you to understand all the access paths in the R/3 System To use the OIW for data retrieval, you do not need any knowledge of the tables, programs, reports, or information systems, etc

< Direct and easy access to the layout and formatting options (for example, fonts, columns, graphics, etc.) available in Microsoft Excel The OIW reports in Excel can be maintained with all the functions of Excel, Microsoft Office, and Visual Basic

The OIW Frontend for Microsoft Excel is implemented in the Add-in SAPOIW When this add-in is opened—either manually or automatically—the OIW Frontend becomes active in Microsoft Excel

You can use the OIW Frontend toolbar or the menu options to embed new OIW queries

in Microsoft Excel worksheets as array functions and to change existing embedded

queries

When calculating the embedded array functions, the OIW Frontend automatically tries

to call the corresponding OIW queries in the R/3 System The results of these queries then appear as values of the array functions in the Excel worksheet

Since the queries are updated whenever the Excel “recalculation” function is executed, you can be sure that your data is consistent as long as the automatic calculation mode is selected in Excel and the OIW add-in is active

The OIW BAPI

The OIW Frontend uses a normal SAP Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) to read the OIW information catalog and to retrieve data Therefore, external tools can access the same data that the OIW Frontend can deliver as a normal BAPI according

to SAP’s Business Framework Architecture

The OIW offers two BAPI’s with the following methods:

< OpenInfoWarehouse.GetData: Executes a query and delivers back the results

< OpenInfoWarehouse.GetCatalog: Reads the OIW information catalog

Working With OIW Source and Meta Data

In this guided tour you will learn how to:

< Define the OIW meta data

< Display the OIW information catalog

< Create a custom OIW information catalog

Guided Tour

Defining the OIW Meta Data

The OIW meta data represents

information about all available source

data that can be later transferred to

the OIW Browser in Microsoft Excel

As not all available meta data might

be used, specify only the data you

want to use later

1 From the SAP main menu, choose

Tools→ Business Engineer →

Customizing, then Implement

projects → SAP Reference IMG

2 In the implementation guide

(IMG), select the area Cross

Application Components, then the

folder Open Information Warehouse

3 To start maintaining the OIW meta

data, choose the Execute icon to the

left of Maintain OIW metadata

2

3

In this example, the following OIW

meta data is needed:

< Cost Center Accounting

< Logistics (information structures

containing sales and inventory

data)

< Personnel Management

4 In the Controlling section, select

Cost Center Accounting

5 In the Logistics section, select

Standard info structures to include

all standard LIS structures

(S001-S499)

6 From the Administration area in the

Personnel Management section,

select Standard fields

7 Choose Execute

This screen shows the requested meta

data for the data source

8 To view the list of the data sources

of the OIW meta data, choose

Display on the previous screen

9 Choose Enter

4

5

6 7

8

9

Display Standard OIW Information Catalog

The R/3 System contains a standard

OIW information catalog based on the

main components in Financial

Accounting (FI), Controlling (CO),

Logistics Information System (LIS),

and Human Resources (HR)

1 To display the standard OIW

information catalog, choose the

Execute icon next to the

appropriate line

The standard OIW information

catalog includes most of the

characteristics and key figures

2 Choose Expand to display the

hierarchy of each node

1

2

Creating a Self-Defined OIW Information Catalog

If you need data from nonstandard

information sources, such as

self-defined LIS structures, you must

create your own OIW information

catalog

1 Choose Maintain self-defined OIW

information catalog

You can name and create your own

OIW information catalog

2 Choose Edit rename to give a

unique name to your custom OIW

information catalog You can use

any names and hierarchy structure

to organize the objects and key

figures

3 Choose Create nodes to define the

nodes for your OIW information

catalog

4 Enter the names of the nodes in

the Create Node popup window

5 Choose Create

2 3

4

5 1

At the lowest level, assign the

information objects that represent the

data fields of the data sources

6 Choose Info obj to create

information objects for your OIW

information catalog

7 Select Create info objects for data

source

8 Choose Enter

This screen shows all available data

sources from PA, LIS, CO, and HR

9 For our first example, select ISS039

(not shown), which contains all

objects and key figures of standard

LIS Inventory controlling

10 For the second example, select

S600 (not shown), a

customer-specific SIS structure containing

objects and key figures

You can either keep all data

sources, or deselect those you do

not need

11 Choose Enter

8 7 6

11

Your completed OIW information

catalog should look like the one

shown in the right column

12 Choose Save to save your OIW

information catalog

13 Assign it to a change request (not

shown here)

Later, this self-defined OIW

information catalog will be

downloaded to the OIW Frontend

Activating the OIW Browser in Excel

Now that you have created your own OIW information catalog, you are ready to export to Microsoft Excel via the OIW Frontend

1 Open a new workbook file in Microsoft Excel

2 From your Windows desktop, choose Start → Programs→ SAP Frontend OIW frontend (3.1H) or the

location where the OIW Frontend is available on your PC

3 As shown below, the SAP Open Information Warehouse toolbar now becomes available in Excel You can

move it to any place or integrate it into your other toolbars

12

Snapshot

Automatic calculation on double-click Define SAP

Automatic calculation off from R/3 Logoff

Help

R/3 System connection information

Adjust results area Recalculate query

Define

query

Show relationships

Downloading/Refreshing the OIW Information Catalog in Excel

The first time you use the OIW

Browser, you will be asked to

download the OIW information

catalog from an R/3 System

If you have used the OIW Browser

before, you will see the OIW catalog

you previously worked with To

refresh the contents of the OIW

catalog, click the Refresh Catalog

button in the OIW Browser

1 From the SAP main menu, connect

to the R/3 System that contains

the OIW information catalog (not

shown here)

The R/3 System’s current OIW

information catalog is now available

in Excel, with all the direct data

sources and the self-defined OIW

information catalog

Defining and Fine-tuning OIW Reports in Excel

Use the Define query function on the SAPOIW toolbar to:

< Create new queries

< Embed queries as array functions

< Change existing embedded queries

1 Choose Define query (first button

from the left) to define a new

query

2 Selection criteria:

To define and position your

selection criteria, select the object

from the catalog and drag it in an

area outside of the report area (for

example, the objects Plant and

Division in cells A2 to B3)

3 Reporting criteria objects:

Select the desired objects from the

catalog and drag them into the

report area (column) in the Excel

worksheet (for example, the

objects Plant, Division, and Material

in cells C4 to H30)

The OIW Browser now displays

the result as columns in the

spreadsheet

4 Reporting criteria key figures:

Select the desired key figure from

the catalog and drag the objects

into the reporting area (column) of

the Excel worksheet For example,

Incoming Order Qty and Order/Adj

Forecast Qty

Notice that an additional column

containing the “unit of measure”

related to the selected key figure is

To avoid requesting too many records at once, you may want to use the selection criteria (recommended during testing)

In this example, we enter 1015 for plant and 000 for version

Note that Excel may require an apostrophe after some entries to interpret them as text, for

example, 000’ instead of 000 This ensures that Excel will preserve the leading zeroes and not just send a 0 to the R/3 System

Through the online connection to the

R/3 system, the OIW requests data

from the referenced LIS table S600 and

displays the result in the Excel

spreadsheet

As shown here, a raw version of the

report is loaded

With a few additional Excel layout

adjustments, the report can be

fine-tuned

This is an online query against R/3

data from an LIS table Depending on

the server performance and the

amount of data selected, the data load

may take some time Therefore, it is

important to enter specific selection

criteria

5 In this example, Division 40 was

entered as a selection criterion

The query is automatically

refreshed and the result is

displayed online

6 If layout changes are needed (such

as displaying keys or adding

columns), then click the left button

on the OIW toolbar again and

review the data

7 If you want to display the key and

description for objects, you have

to select each object twice in

separate columns In this example,

Material has been selected twice

To display the object as a key, and

not as a description, deselect the

flag in the OIW Browser for the

first of each object that was

entered twice in the columns

5

7

6

After this change, the material

number is displayed as a key with a

description

The OIW Browser retrieves the key or

the description from the material

master tables in the R/3 System

Running OIW Reports in Excel

Once the reports are designed and provided by IT or key users, the trained end user may run the reports in three different versions:

< With automatic update

< With manual update

< Static snapshot

For the static snapshot, you do not have to load the OIW Frontend The other two options, however, require that you have the Frontend installed as an automatic start procedure in Excel, or that you run OIW from your desktop before you select the Excel workbook which has the OIW query you need embedded

Running an OIW Report With Automatic Update

Since the queries are updated every time the Excel “recalculation” function is executed, you can be sure that your data is consistent so long as the automatic calculation mode is enabled in Excel and the OIW add-

in is active

For example, you can store worksheets with query definitions so that the R/3 data is automatically

updated as soon as you reopen the worksheets Another option is to make the OIW queries dependent on selection values that are obtained from cells in the Excel worksheet If you change the values in these selection cells, then the next time the Excel functions are calculated, they will automatically access the current data in the R/3 System