Bi 2 Modeling

8/12/2019 Bi 2 Modeling

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SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

• Overview

• InfoObjects

– Key Figures

– Characteristics

• InfoProviders

– DataStore Objects

– InfoCubes

Agenda



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

SAP Business Intelligence Platform

SAP NetWeaver Portal Any Portal, Any Destination

SAP Business Intelligence - BI 4.0

Crystal

Reports

Web

Intelligence

Dashboar

dExplorer

I n f o r m a t i o n A c c e s s

M e t a d a t a M a n a g e m

e n t

D a t a F o u n d a t i o n

Data

Quality

Mgmt

SAP NetWeaver

BW / BW-IP

Data

Federator

Data Services

Data Quality

ManagementData Integrator

SAP NetWeaver BW on

HANAMaster Data

Management

Text

Analysis

3rd-Party Databases and Applications

CRM SCM

SRM PLM

SAP Business Suite

ERP

Financials

Operations

Human Resources

Corporate Services

Data

Quality

Mgmt

SAP

BExAnalysis

SAP

WADSAP

Integration



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

What is an InfoObject?

• InfoObjects are used to focus on business requirements.

– Note:

• The original product name was “SAP Business Information

Warehouse.”

• The abbrevation “BIW” conflicted with another product name, so

“BW” was chosen.

• InfoObjects are the “bricks” to build data structures inside SAP

BW.

– InfoObjects represent business objects from an end user‟s

view.

– The most important InfoObject types used for business analysis

are Characteristics and Key Figures.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoObject: Characteristics

• A Characteristic represents a business object (or concept,business term, business entity).

– A Characteristic may have attributes which describes the

business object in more detail.

– Example: InfoObject “Customer” is a characteristic with

attributes such as “Customer Number”, “ZIP Code”, “Region”,

etc.

– The attributes “Customer Number”, “ZIP Code”, “Region”, etc.

are also managed as Characteristics and may have their own

attributes.

Note: What SAP calls a Characteristic is often referred

to in the data warehouse community as a Dimension.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoObject: Key Figures

• A Key Figure (or variable, measure) is oftenly used to documentthe performance of a business process over time.

– It can be found in document records such as invoice, delivery

note, purchase order, or goods receipt.

– Example: InfoObject “Revenue” or “Sales Amount”, etc.

• Note: InfoObjects are unique inside SAP BW, and they are used to

build the data structures for analysis requirements.

– Conceptually unique: the semantics (meaning) of an

InfoObject is uniquely defined system-wide inside SAP BW. – Logically unique: the data type, value range or field length is

uniquely defined system-wide inside SAP BW.

– From the technical point of view, an InfoObject can viewed as a

database field.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Evolution from a SAP ERP Database Object to an

SAP BW InfoObject

InfoObject

"0COSTCENTER"

SAP Business Information Warehouse!!

COAccounting

R/3

HRHuman

Ressources

COSTC ...

Table Costcenter

Table EmployeeEMPLO COST_CENTER ...

BW Extraktor

DataSource

CostCenter

Definition&

Mapping

SAP ERP

SAP BW InfoObjects

SAP BW DataSource



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoObjects Are “Bricks” for Data Structures



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoProviders “Provide” Access to Data Records

InfoProviders:

• Are data storage inside SAP BW

• May store data records physically (persistent)

• May also be used to access data stored outside SAP BW virtually

(transparent views)• May be accessed with front end tools such as SAP

BusinessExplorer

Note: A query is a “view” to data within an InfoProviderand does not contain physical data.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoProviders

• InfoProviders with physical data: – InfoCubes

• Contain data optimized for fast multi-dimensional analysis.


• Contain detailed data.

• Used for high data volumes stored in normal database tables.• Often used as “data source” for InfoCubes.

• InfoProviders with virtual data:

– MultiProviders

• Often used to create “views” above two or more InfoCubes with the same

Characteristics but different Key Figures.

• Data resides in the InfoCubes involved and data redundancy is avoided.

– VirtualProviders

• Data stored somewhere outside SAP BW.

• Some ERP systems provide data storage which may be accessed directly

by SAP BW without changing the end user „s view to the data.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoCubes

• Provide data storage used for reporting and onlineanalysis.

• Consist of Key Figures and Characteristics.

• Contain data stored multi-dimensionally and often aggregated

(week, month).

• Use star database schema, consisting of a fact table surrounded

by dimension tables.

• Use a maximum of 3 + 13 dimension tables.

– 3 dimension tables are pre-defined by SAP.

• Time, Unit and DataPackage (for technical information) – 13 dimensions may be used by InfoCube developers.

Note: In practice, good InfoCube design should not exceed

6-8 dimensions (+ the 3 above) so 13 dimensions are plenty.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

DataStore Objects

• Contain single data records such as invoices,purchase orders or customer order items.

• Consist of key fields (such as “order number”,

“order position number”) and data fields (Key Figures and

Characteristics such as “sales amount”, “ net value”, “customer id”,

“material number”). • Store data records in relational database tables.

• Often contain massive volumes of data.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoCube versus DataStore Object

• Data Warehouse,Operational Data Store

and Data Marts are

general layers in a Data

Warehouse Architecture.

BI1-M2-01-Data Warehouse

• Data Warehouse and

Operational Data Store

may be implemented with

DataStoreObjects.

• Data Marts will beimplemented with

InfoCubes.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

• Overview

• InfoObjects

– Key Figures

– Characteristics

• InfoProviders


– InfoCubes

Agenda



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

InfoObjects

• InfoObjects

– Key Figures

• Revenue, Sales Amount, Net Value, ….

– Characteristics

• Customer, Region, Zip Code, …

– Units

• Unit of Measurement, Currency, …

– Time

• Calender Year, Fiscal Year, Month, Day, Quarter, ….

– Some Technical Stuff• DataPackageID, RequestID, …



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Key Figure Definition: Revenue

Amount, Quantity, .. …

EUR, USD, … (fix)

Pieces, inch, %, … (fix)

Unit / Currency (fix) / Currency

reference

Data Type: integer,

float, char(10), …



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Key Figure Definition: Revenue (cont.)

Aggregation:Summation,

Minimum,

Maximum

Aggregation: Last Value,

Maximum, Average…

Reference Characteristic, e.g. Quarter

The reference characteristic allows the use

of a function to aggregate data instead of

summation.

Example: Number of Employees at the

end of the quarter. Sum does not make

sense!

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

500

520515

520 520

Last value

No Employee per Month

521

Last value



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG


If the Key Figure is non-

cumulative (e.g.,

warehouse stock), this field

defines an InfoObject

representing non-

cumulative change. ThisInfoObject is either positive

or negative. So, the stock

amount can be calculated

from it. Two fields are used to

calculate the non-

cumulative amounts.

Inflow is the InfoObject

which represents the stock

inflow amount. Outflow is

vice versa.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG




SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Characteristic Definition: Customer

Data Types: Num,Char, Date, …



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Conversion Routine

Database values• Are stored in internal format

appropriate to the database

– Date as YYYYMMDD

• Are presented to a user in external

format according to his local settings,

e.g., in

– Europe

• Date: DD.MM.YYYY

• Numbers: 1.234,56

– US

• Date: MM/DD/YYYY

• Numbers: 1,234.56

Transformation external internal format is

performed by a conversion routine



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

ALPHA Conversion Routine

Alphanumeric database fields

• Datatype CHAR in SAP

• Can store character and number values

• Have conversion exit ALPHA as default

– Eliminates leading blanks after user input

• User input of ‚1000„ and ‚ 1000„ refers to same object

– Stores numbers with leading 0s in database

• Numeric values are stored in natural order in database, e.g. 9000

first, then 10000



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Characteristic Definition: Customer (cont.)

An InfoObject may

have attributes!

Texts:

Descriptive textsMulti-language texts

Time dependent texts



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Characteristic Definition: Customer (cont.)

Attributes Usable for OLAP operations

or display only

Time-Dependent



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Time Characteristics

• Time characteristics are alwaysnecessary and define the time-

related reference point for data

analysis purposes.

• Time characteristics are

predefined by SAP and cannotbe changed.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Units/Currencies

• Units and Currencies are used to define Key Figures in more detail.

• A Unit may be an InfoObject which defines the Unit of a Key Figure.

• A Currency may be an InfoObject which defines the Currency of a

Key Figure

• Examples:

– 0CURRENCY

– 0BASE_UOM



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

• Overview• InfoObjects

– Key Figures

– Characteristics

• InfoProviders


– InfoCubes

Agenda



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

5 Steps to Define a DataStore Object

5 steps to Define an DataStore Object1) Define a name for a

DataStoreObject

2) Choose the key fields

3) Choose the data fields

4) Define attributes used for dataanalysis

5) Activate the DataStoreObject



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Choosing InfoObjects to Build a DataStore Object

• Select the relevant InfoObjects – Direct InfoObject name input (1) or

– Choose InfoObjects by InfoObjectCatalog and drag & drop the

InfoObjects (2)



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

7 Steps to Define an InfoCube

7 Steps to Define an InfoCube1) Choose a name for an InfoCube

2) Create Dimensions as needed

3) Assign Characteristics to Dimensions

4) Choose Time Characteristics

5) Choose Key Figures

6) Define Navigational Attributes

7) Activate InfoCube



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

What is a Dimension Inside SAP BW?

• A dimension is a group of characteristics which belong to thesame business object (semantically).

• Each characteristic may contain additional attributes which are

relevant for data analysis – or not!!!

Navigational attributes are InfoObjects which are used to

perform data analysis. Display attributes are InfoObjects for which data analysis does

not make sense (e.g. a house number or a family name)

This has an impact to cube design!

Note: In data warehouse community, the term Dimension is

used for what SAP calls Characteristic .



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Excursion: SAP BW - Enhanced Star Schema

• Attributes are not part of a dimension!

Dimension

Characteristic as partof a dimension

Characteristic as

navigation attribute



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Basic Characteristic and Its Navigation Attributes

2. Characteristic

1. Dimension

3. Navigation Attributes are

ready to be used in analysis.



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Steps to Create an InfoCube

• Define the InfoObjects needed. – Key Figures

– Characteristices

• Define which Characteristics may be chosen to create a semantic

cluster for semantic dimensions.

– Examples are: Sales, Production, Material Management, Finance, etc.

• Define which attributes are appropriate to perform data analysis

– OLAP attributes define them as “navigational” attributes

– Non-OLAP attributes define them as “display” attributes

• Done! Deploy the InfoCube inside SAP BW!



SAP BI Curriculum

BI2-M1 SAP BW Data

Modeling

SAP UA

© 2012 SAP AG

Summary

• Key Figures and Characteristics are defined as InfoObjects.• InfoObjects are the smallest “bricks” to define InfoProviders

within SAP BW.

• InfoProviders are used to store data within SAP BW or allow SAP

BW to access data stored somewhere else.

• The most important InfoProviders are InfoCubes

and DataStore Objects.

• The definition of an SAP BW InfoCube is

no Witchery!

Bi 2 Modeling

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