ISBN: 0761523359
Editorial
Review
The next big
thing after the Y2K obsession is to build e-business solutions—the B2B, B2C,
and C2C stuff that everyone is talking about. Right in the center of e-business
strategy sits a dynamic corporate information-supply framework that ties
business and decision-support applications together--not point-to-point, but
rather in an integrated fashion. This is where the SAP Business Information
Warehouse (BW) fits in the information supply chain. The real value of a data
warehouse is not to collect data; but rather how well it becomes an integral
component of the corporate information-supply framework to capture, manage, and
provide the right information at the right place and right time. This corporate
information factory is what William H. Inmon, the father of data warehousing,
envisioned. BW SAP is an implementation of such vision.
Book Description
This
book is intended for a wide array of professionals who want to learn BW from an
information warehousing perspective, not just as an extension to the SAP R/3
reporting environment. Data warehouse construction issues that face large
companies and how SAP BW addresses such issues is discussed. To give a
comprehensive view of BW, this book is divided in four parts: Introduction To
Data Warehousing and SAP, Implementing SAP BW, Designing Custom SAP BW OLAP
Solutions, and Appendixes covering the data warehouse industry and BW 2.0
enhancements. The book's 17 chapters provide step-by-step how-to instructions
on constructing information objects, and the more than 200 illustrations make
this book a "BW through pictures" reference. The 570MB CD-ROM
contains data warehouse material from several data warehouse vendors, a list of
data warehouse reference books and Web sites, and several Lotus ScreenCam
movies that provide a visual working of BW 1.2B and BW 2.0A.
This
book covers SAP BW versions 1.2B and 2.0A and is a complete guide that gives
information ranging from making a case for SAP BW to step-by-step instructions
on BW installation, activating business content; data loading from SAP R/3,
flat files and third-party ETL tools using staging BAPI; reporting using BEX,
and ODBO-based pure Web using ActiveX applications to defining custom
extractors to using ODS in BW 2.0 and building multi-cubes and building
InfoCubes to ODS drill-down schemes.
Book Reviews
|
"Naeem Hashmi has written a
hands-on, dead-on analysis of SAP BW that will be extremely valuable to any
company that is considering building a data warehouse or analytical solution
and has also deployed SAP R/3. And that's a good portion of the market!" Wayne W. Eckerson, Director of Education and Research, The Data Warehousing Institute
|
|
"Naeem
offers a unique blend of implementation experience, lab research, and industry
awareness. His book synthesizes all three in a clear and understandable manner.
From the early stages of SAP BW requirements gathering, Naeem provided valuable
insight to SAP. With 'Business Information Warehouse for SAP', he shares his
insight with the SAP and data warehousing communities." Kevin
McDonald, President, Compendit, Inc.(Former
director of New Dimension Technology, SAP)
|
|
“The
author has done an outstanding job of combining years worth of data warehousing
and BW experience into a perfect mix of the theory and the knowledge required
for a successful implementation. The book's foundation is an in-depth look at
the product’s architecture and technical framework. Its how-to approach
encompasses all available releases (including the 2.0 version), providing
example after example of even the most technical areas of the product. From the
beginner to the most seasoned professional, this book is a ‘must-have’ resource
for anyone serious about learning or implementing this complex environment.” Scott Pietroski, Consulting Manager/SAP BW Consultant,
Integration-Technology.com
|
|
"
'Business Information Warehouse for SAP' provides a thorough 'tour' through all
of the important aspects and considerations relative to the SAP BW. It gives the novice a broad understanding,
as well as going into considerable technical depth for the more advanced and
experienced BW developer. It would be
an excellent handbook and reference for the manager of the BW project, as well
as a worthwhile investment for those whose company is just considering bringing
BW into their ERP and/or data warehousing environment. I wish we had had this
book 2 years ago when we began working with BW." Charlene K. Mathias, SAP BW Project Manager, Eli Lilly and Company
|
|
"Recommended for anyone who wants to make the most of the
information stored
in their SAP systems. Most of the information
presented in this book is drawn from Naeem's first
hand involvement in implementing SAP BW and helping others
like myself get a handle on this complex
area. During the Microsoft implementation of SAP BW I
was very happy to have Naeem's phone number. If you
don't that and you're going to implement SAP BW, you need this book." Ray Bachert, Program Manager, Microsoft
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|
"An in-depth, comprehensive guide to building
the SAP Business Information Warehouse. The author includes the fundamental
principles for the design, development, and implementation processes. Each
chapter concisely details the issues involved with building the warehouse and
its supporting components". "This book is the combination of a product
manual and a reference guide for building data warehouse solutions. It
brilliantly succeeds in both areas. It will not only teach you the fundamentals
of data warehouse development but will also provide detailed explanations and
examples of the SAP Business Information Warehouse. This is the first book that
alleviates the mystery involved with implementing a data warehouse, including
BW 2.0. A must-read!" Michael Ullman, Independent SAP BW Consultant, Integration-Technology.com
|
|
Writing the first book
on any subject is a daunting task, especially when the topic is rapidly
evolving such as that of SAP’s Business Information Warehouse (BW). We have seen this software grow and mature
over the last couple years and Naeem has been able to not only give you a sense
of the past and present but also some insight into the future of BW and its’
critical place in the decision support environment. The book is clearly
targeted at not only technical and IT type readers but also business managers
involved in the decision making process for implementing a data warehouse. The value that BW brings to an SAP ERP
environment is incredible. Therefore, there is not another book on any shelf
today, that I would recommend more to read than Business Information Warehouse
for SAP. My sincere thanks and
gratitude goes out to Naeem, ASUG and the various others contributing to not
only this valuable book but to BW’s role in driving value through the
organization. Dan Spaulding, Senior Manager, KPMG LLP Consulting,
(Former Information Management Director at Halliburton Company and ASUG
Chairman of Business Information & Analysis Group)
|
|
"Naeem's book 'Business Information Warehouse
for SAP' covers the data warehousing basics and also the latest technologies
like ODS in the SAP Business Information Warehouse practice authoritatively
which can be very well understood by the non-technical and intermediate level
technical professionals. This book does Business information Warehouse
memorably instead of many things forettably. Naeem Hashmi's detailed analysis
with live examples doesn't tell stories, it offers itself a model to be
adhered. He is startlingly frank on many issues that most data warehousing
writers avoid. The book is very
effective and in places deeply analytic. For all the sources of books on
Business Information warehouse published each year, this book makes the
fundamentals very clear. There can be no better guide than this book for a SAP
Business Information Warehouse consultant." P.V. Rao, Senior Manager, Business Intelligence Competency Center, QwestCyber.Solutions |
SAP Business Information Warehouse
Table
of Contents
Introduction
PART 1: Introduction to Data Warehousing and
SAP Business Information Warehouse
Chapter 1: Constructing a Data Warehouse
·
What
is Data Warehousing
·
Data
Warehouse Architecture
·
Components
of a data warehouse
·
Technical
Issues in Constructing a Data Warehouse
·
Data
Warehouse Performance matrices
·
Evolution
or ERP Data Warehousing
Chapter 2: Evolution of SAP Business Information Warehouse
·
SAP
R/3 Architecture
·
SAP
R/3 Reporting Systems
·
Limitations
of Reporting Systems in R/3
·
SAP
Business Information Warehouse
Chapter
3: Comparing SAP BW with data warehouse solutions provided by other vendors
·
Cultural
Impact of ERP data warehousing
·
Data
warehouse construction Tools for SAP R/3
·
SAP
Business Information Warehouse and Third party data warehouse solutions
Chapter
4: Getting started with SAP BW
·
Logon
to SAP BW Environment
·
Logon
to Data Access Environment
PART 2: Implementing SAP BW
Chapter
5: Planning for SAP BW implementation
·
SAP
BW project scope
·
Project
Plan
·
Building
SAP BW Project Team
·
Business
requirements for OLAP and reporting analysis
·
Technical
requirements
·
Hardware
and Software Requirements
Chapter
6: Setting up SAP BW
·
Setting
SAP BW environment
·
Initializing
SAP BW global parameters
·
Installing
SAP BW components in Source SAP R/3 instance
·
Configuring
SAP R/3 for BW
·
Setting
ALE connections between SAP R/3 and BW Instances
Chapter
7: SAP BW – The Administrator Workbench
·
SAP
BW Administrator Workbench
·
Working
with Source Systems
·
Working
with InfoObjects
·
Working
with InfoSources
·
Working
with InfoCubes
Chapter 8: SAP BW – Loading Business Content
·
SAP
BW Data flows
·
Importing
meta-data from SAP R/3 instance
·
Activating
Business Content (SAP Pre-defined Cubes)
Chapter 9: Preparing R/3 data sources for SAP BW initial
data loads
·
Analyzing
Data in R/3
·
Strategies
to prepare initial data loads
·
Preparing
statistical data for SAP standard info structures
·
Loading
data in SAP BW cubes
Chapter
10: Loading Data via Flat Files
·
Non-SAP
R/3 data source loading methods
·
Defining
Data File Sources in SAP BW
·
Data
File Structure
·
Loading
Master and Transactions data
Chapter
11: Analyzing SAP BW Data
·
Business
Explorer (BEX)
·
Creating
new Queries
·
Customizing
BEX
·
Building
Solutions using Workbooks
·
InfoCatalog
·
Defining
Channels Publishing non-BW reports and URLs in the Business Explorer
PART
3: Designing Custom SAP BW OLAP Solutions
Chapter
12: SAP BW – Defining Custom InfoCubes
·
Data
Modeling
·
Defining
Custom Cubes
·
Defining
Update Rules
·
Joining
InfoCubes
Chapter
13: Enhancing Business Content and developing Data Extractors
·
User
Exists
·
Enhancing
SAP Business Content
·
Using
Generic Data Extractor
Chapter 14: Integrating 3rd party
ETL products with SAP BW
·
SAP
BW data load interfaces
·
Data
loading - Staging BAPI
·
PowerCenter
from Informatica
Chapter
15: Integrating 3rd party data access products with SAP BW
·
SAP
BW data Access Interfaces
·
Data
Access – OLEDB for OLAP (ODBO)
·
Insight
from ArcPlan
Chapter
16: Managing SAP BW - Performance and Tuning
·
Data
Warehouse Performance Characteristics
·
Optimizing
Data Loads in SAP BW
·
Defining
aggregates to improve query performance
·
SAP
BW Benchmarks
·
Sizing
SAP BW
Chapter
17: The Operational Data Store in SAP BW 2.0
·
What
is an Operational Data Store (ODS)?
·
SAP
BW 2.0A ODS Architecture
·
Defining
ODS Objects in SAP BW 2.0A
·
Drill
down from InfoCube to the ODS
·
Sizing
SAP BW
PART 4: Appendixes
Appendix
A: SAP BW, SAP R/3 and Data Warehouse References
·
Data
Warehouse Reference Books
·
References
to Data Warehouse WEB and OLAP Sites
Appendix
B: SAP BW and SAP R/3 Transactions, Tables, and Code Examples
·
SAP
BW Transactions
·
SAP
BW Tables
Appendix
C: Selected SAP BW OSS Notes
Appendix
D: Key Enhancements in SAP BW 2.0
·
SAP
BW 2.0 Web Reporting
·
SAP
BW 2.0 BDS/BDN and Knowledge Management
·
SAP
BW 2.0 Business Content
INDEX
Introduction
Fast
and complete access to corporate operational, tactical, and strategic
information is key to success in today's business world. Whether it is customer
relationships, shorter time to market a product, or services profitability
analysis, robust business intelligence technology is the foundation on which
such integrated business intelligence systems are built.
Today’s
business intelligence environment consists of a myriad of technologies that are
offered by a similar number of hardware, software, and consulting vendors.
Determining which combination of hardware and software is best suited for a
particular data warehousing need is complicated; acquiring the knowledge to
adequately design and support the configuration is equally difficult.
One
of the core components of SAP business framework is a business intelligence
solution called SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW). SAP BW is a
complete data warehouse and information delivery solution and is very tightly
coupled with the SAP R/3 OLTP environment. This makes it easier to implement an
autonomous data warehouse environment without the challenge of dealing with SAP
R/3 data extraction complexities.
Intended Audience
This
book is intended for non-technical and intermediate-level technical
professionals who want to understand emerging trends in Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) data warehousing. This book will provide readers with sufficient
information on SAP BW architecture, how to build reporting and analytical
applications using SAP BW, and how SAP BW addresses issues facing large global
companies in implementing information delivery environments. Data warehouse and
SAP R/3 developers and consultants will find this book very useful.
Readers
are expected to have some basic understanding of data warehousing as well as
some knowledge of SAP R/3 applications and technologies. However, a list of
books, Web sites, and other material on the basics of data warehousing and SAP
R/3 are provided.
How This Book Is Organized
This
book consists of four parts.
1.
Data
Warehousing and SAP BW
2.
Implementing
SAP BW
3.
Designing
Custom SAP BW OLAP Solutions
4.
Appendixes,
References , and SAP BW 2.0
How To Use This Book
Because
of the amount of information covered in the book, a guide follows to help
readers navigate to appropriate content.
Figure 0-1.
This figure lists chapters best suited for
reading based on individual reader's profile.
Part
1: Data Warehousing and SAP BW
Chapter 1 outlines basic data
warehouse concepts and technical issues one faces when constructing a data
warehouse and describes performance characteristics of a data warehouse. It
then describes details of traditional data warehouse components and services
needed at each architectural layer. After a description of traditional data
warehousing, you are given a quick history of ERP applications and data warehousing
history and how they are converging into a seamless integrated environment
called ERP data warehousing to meet today business needs.
Chapter 2
is a good start to
understanding SAP BW architecture and its components. It describes the roots of
SAP BW and how it has evolved from a simple operational reporting environment
to a full-featured information warehouse. The chapter
briefly describes SAP R/3 OLTP architecture and reporting systems built within
SAP R/3. You will then learn the SAP BW architecture and how it compares
with a traditional data warehouse. The chapter also describes how several
customers attempted to exploit SAP R/3 technologies to construct data
warehouses. Here you will learn about SAP BW components such as OLAP engine,
data management, staging engine, and data access methods.
Chapter 3
presents a comparison
of SAP BW with data warehouse solutions provided by other vendors. Here, you
will learn the cultural impact of ERP data warehousing on organizations as well
as implementation teams.
Chapter 4 introduces the SAP BW
environment. Here you learn how to log on to SAP BW and access data stored in
SAP BW data objects.
Part
2: Implementing SAP BW
This
section covers the nuts, bolts, and plumbing needed to implement SAP BW.
Chapter 5 describes the
structure of the SAP BW implementation team and SAP BW ASAP methodology. It
then identifies technical infrastructure requirements, such as sizing, to
implement a data warehouse using SAP BW.
Chapter 6 describes the SAP BW
server and client installation process. This chapter is slightly technical in
nature, and readers are assumed to have some understanding of the SAP
administration technology BASIS.
Chapter 7 is an important one.
You must read and understand this chapter to learn what it takes to build
analytical applications in SAP BW. Here you learn the development environment
in SAP BW, called the Administrator Workbench. This chapter describes how you
define data sources, master data, transactional data, and all the objects and
procedures necessary to construct InfoCubes in SAP BW from within the
Administrator Workbench.
Chapter 8 describes how
information flows in SAP BW. Here you learn how SAP BW manages metadata and
associated business content in SAP BW and SAP R/3 for change capture. This chapter
describes how to install SAP BW business content and activate data objects to
build analytical applications.
Chapter 9 focuses on SAP R/3 as
a data source SAP BW. Because you need to interact with the SAP R/3 OLTP
instance, a careful analysis of data objects and planning is critical to move
such large data volumes efficiently in SAP BW. Here you learn SAP BW data load
strategies using IDOC and Transactional RFCs (TRFCs) methods.
Chapter 10 describes the steps
to take to load data in SAP BW from flat data files.
Chapter 11 describes how to
define queries against SAP BW and build simple to complex analytical
applications and solutions. You learn simple tips and tricks on customizing SAP
BW queries and reports.
Part 3: Designing
Custom SAP BW OLAP Solutions.
Chapter 12 describes how to
design custom objects in SAP BW. Modeling is key to successful SAP BW
implementation. Performance of new InfoCubes and associated reporting objects
depends on a careful modeling of individual objects. Though the subject is
somewhat technical, the content is geared toward data warehouse analysts and
designers, who are assumed to have a basic understanding of data modeling
concepts. You also learn new SAP BW 2.0 features, such as defining InfoCubes
based on exiting InfoCubes, sometimes called InfoCube Joining or Multi-Cube
InfoCube.
Chapter 13 takes you to the next
level of SAP BW customization. Here you learn how to extend SAP BW business
content or design new InfoObjects, InfoSources, and data extractors. The reader
is assumed to have some understanding of ABAP/4 and familiarity with the SAP
R/3 LIS environment.
Chapter 14 describes SAP BW
staging Business Application Program Interface (BAPI) to load data in SAP BW
and how to load data in SAP BW using non-SAP data warehouse construction
products.
Chapter 15 talks about how to
access data from SAP BW via the industry-accepted standard, Microsoft's OLEDB
for OLAP. It also describes how to integrate non-SAP data access tools with SAP
BW to build pure Web-based applications using ActiveX controls.
Chapter 16 is designed for SAP
BW administrators. It covers SAP BW management issues, such as performance and
tuning, sizing the SAP BW environment, and benchmarks for SAP BW.
Chapter 17 describes the
Operational Data Store (ODS) in SAP BW 2.0. This very significant change in the
SAP BW architecture, will take SAP BW from a simple OLAP environment to an
extraprise data warehouse. This chapter describes how ODS implementation in BW
2.0 differs from the data warehouse industry definition of an ODS. When
designing analytical applications in SAP BW 2.0, you have to think quite
differently when modeling and accessing information. You have decided on data
sets that reside in an InfoCube and the associated ODS environment; this
chapter teaches you how to define an ODS environment in SAP BW 2.0A and access
data directly from ODS or drill down from InfoCube to ODS.
Part
4: Appendixes
This
section provides data warehouse references and supporting material to
supplement the book content.
Appendix A lists a collection of
data warehouse books that you will find helpful in understanding the data
warehousing industry, data warehouse tools providers, and good data warehouse
Web sites.
Appendix B lists most common
transactions, tables, and programs in SAP BW and SAP R/3 OLTP that you often
need to implement SAP BW.
Appendix C is a collection of
useful OSS notes for SAP BW implementation. Note that these OSS notes often
change; therefore, they are provided as a reference point. Please read the
latest changes in such OSS notes.
Appendix D describes SAP BW 2.0
features such as metadata management, the InfoCube Start schema model, Web
reporting, and the Business Document Services. Step-by-step instructions on how
to design Web reporting against SAP BW using SAP Internet Transaction Server
(ITS) technology is also provided.
CD-ROM
The
book's CD-ROM contains several Lotus ScreenCam movies to describe SAP BW design
sessions. It also has additional information on third-party products that
interface with SAP BW.
Vendor products
Information:
Acta Technology, arcplan, Hummingbird, and Informatica Corporation.
Date Warehouse
Resources:
List of data warehousing books and Web sites of data warehousing vendors
Sample Code: Simple update
programs, generated by SAP BW, to populate InfoCubes in BW 1.2B and BW 2.0A
ScreenCam Movies: 18 ScreenCam movies to demonstrate SAP BW 1.2B
and SAP BW 2.0A features
Most bookstores carry this book or you
can order this book at amazon.com, bn.com, fstbrain.com or search on the Internet
to locate the bookseller near you.
Naeem Hashmi
CTO,
Information Frameworks
Email: nhashmi@infoframeworks.com
Web: http://infoframeworks.com