SAP BI Acquisition

Zaheer Abbas - 311733

September 21, 2010

TCS Public

SAP BI Data Acquisition - Content

Data Flow in the BW Data Acquisition

Transformations in BW

Enhancing BW Data Sources

Delta Management

Transfering Data from Flat Files

Define and manage Process Chains

September 21, 2010

Data Flow in SAP BI

Definition

It shows the flow of data from the source system to the InfoProvider where it gets readied
for use in the reports. Simply put together the data flow is the path that data have to
follow (among several stages and provider) in order to have all the info available for final
reporting purpose.
Sample Data Flow Screen

September 21, 2010

Datasources
Definition

SAP describes Datasource as Data that logically belongs together is stored in the source
system in the form of DataSources. So to say that DataSources are used for extracting
data from a source system and for transferring data into BI.
Sample Data Flow Screen

1) DataSources are used to extract and stage data from source systems. The DataSource
can be used for all objects that contain data i.e. Master data (Attribute, Text, and
Hierarchy) and Transactional data.
2) Or for that matter the data is loaded into BI from any source in the DataSource
structure.
3) The structure for transferring data from a DataSource to SAP BW is called transfer
structure (we will discuss this later in the class under the same topic)
5) An InfoPackage is used for this purpose. You determine the target into which data from
the DataSource is to be updated during the transformation. You also assign DataSource
fields to target object InfoObjects in BI.
6) SAP R/3 systems provides a number of SAP Business Content DataSources that can be
used immediately.

September 21, 2010

Persistent Staging Area

Definition

PSA (Persistent Staging Area) is an inside storage place where the data is stored in an
unchanged form from the source systems.
- Info Package's load the data from the source into the PSA
InfoPackages are meant for scheduling the load and they send a request Idoc to the
source system to fetch the data. You would create InfoPackages for each of the source
system
- Is stored in Transfer Structure format as a transparent PSA table is created for every
Data Source that is activated.
- In the relational database tables as in BW systems, the PSA tables each have the same
structure as their respective Data Source
- Data is not summarized/transformed and the duration of the data storage in the PSA is
medium-term.

September 21, 2010

Transfer Rules
Definition and Purpose
The transfer rules transform and clean up the data from the PSA.
Transfer rules determines how the mapping is done from the Datasource fields to the
InfoSource InfoObjects.
Transfer rules are dependent on the source system data and reflect the same
The no. of transfer rules would be equal to the no. of source system for a data target
Transfer rules is mainly for data cleansing and data formatting after the data arrives in
the activation queue
Here the transfer structure and the communication structure are maintained
You use the transfer rules to determine how you want the transfer structure fields to be
assigned to the communication structure InfoObjects.
You can arrange for a 1:1 assignment. You can also fill InfoObjects using routines,
formulas, or constants.

September 21, 2010

Update Rules Concept & Purpose

Updates Rules
- Generally, the update rules are only used here for one-to-one transfer into the ODS
object
- Update rules contain the business logic and its nature depends on how we want the data
target i.e. InfoCube to be.
- Update rules specify how the data (key figures, time characteristics, characteristics) is
updated into the InfoProvider from the communication structure.
- Update rules are Data target dependant
- In Update rules you would write the business rules (called routines which in done in
ABAB) for your data target for e.g. Currency translations are possible in update rules and
some other more complex computations.
- If you would want to split a single record into multiple values, return table is an ideal
solution in update rules (we will not discuss return table here as it is an advanced topic).
For e.g.: We have sales revenue value for a particular customer. Now if it is needed to be
split into percentages based on an additional character say segment (and this not a
standard field in R/3), the single record with one value per customer can be split into these
percentages using the return table.

September 21, 2010

Infopackage
- 1) When you trigger the info-package it sends a request to the source system to start the
extraction process and this corresponds to the step "Data Request Received" in monitor
under details tab. It is the first step.
2) Then the selections specified in the info-package are transferred to the source system to
select the requested data from BW system. Then it is sent back to BW system.
3) Once it reaches BW, it gets into the PSA and then it gets updated into the data target
(depends on what settings are made in IP). No rule (Transfer rules / update rules) comes
into picture when data is stored in PSA. Only the transfer structure is used to map the BW
info-objects with the source system fields.
4) After data is stored into PSA, the update into the data targets begins. First the transfer
rules are applied -> data then flows through the communication structure -> update rules
are applied and finally the records gets updated into the data target.

September 21, 2010

SAP BI 3.5 Extraxtion Flow

The extraction flow is: - Source System (DS) -> PSA -> Transfer Rules ->
Communication Structure -> Update Rules -> Data target.
Info-package actually triggers the whole data flow in BW system.

September 21, 2010

Transformation in SAP BI
The transformation process allows you to consolidate, cleanse, and integrate data. You
can semantically synchronize data from heterogeneous sources.
When you load data from one BI object into a further BI object, the data is passed through
a transformation. A transformation converts the fields of the source into the format of the
target.
A transformation consists of at least one transformation rule. Various rule types,
transformation types, and routine types are available. These allow you to create very
simple to highly complex transformations:
Transformation rules: Transformation rules map any number of source fields to at
least one target field. You can use different rules types for this.
Rule type: A rule type is a specific operation that is applied to the relevant fields using
a transformation rule.
Transformation type: The transformation type determines how data is written into the
fields of the target.
Rule group: A rule group is a group of transformation rules. Rule groups allow you to
combine various rules.
Routine: You use routines to implement complex transformation rules yourself.
Routines are available as a rule type. There are also routine types that you can use to
implement additional transformations.

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Replication of datasources
In the SAP source system, the DataSource is the BI-relevant metaobject that makes source
data available in a flat structure for data transfer into BI. In the source system, a
DataSource can have the SAP delivery version (D version: Object type R3TR OSOD) or
the active version (A version: Object type R3TR OSOA).
Features
Depending on your requirements, you can replicate into the BI system either the entire
metadata of an SAP source system (application component hierarchy and DataSources),
The DataSource of an application component in a source system, is an individual
DataSources of a source system.
When you create an SAP source system, an automatic replication of the metadata takes
place.
Whenever there is a data request, an automatic replication of the DataSource takes place if
the DataSource in the source system has changed.

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