ARCHITECTURE & INTERFACES
GLOBAL ASAP FOR BW ACCELERATOR
SAP BW- SEM
System Landscape and Interfaces
Considerations
Global ASAP for BW Accelerator
BUSINESS INFORMATION WAREHOUSE
Document Version 2.0B.02 (03.07.2000)
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Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................... 2
1
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 3
1.1
1.2
2
SOFTWARE VERSION SUPPORTED......................................................................................... 3
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 3
INTERFACES BETWEEN BW AND SEM ................................................................................ 4
2.1
CONCEPT AND MODULES PROVIDED BY SEM......................................................................... 4
2.1.1
The SEM Module - BPS Business Planning and Simulation ....................................... 5
2.1.2
The SEM Module – CPM Corporate Performance Monitor ......................................... 6
2.1.3
The SEM module – BIC Business Information Collection ........................................... 8
2.1.4
The SEM Module – BCS Business Consolidation ....................................................... 9
2.2
BW AND SEM SYSTEM SCENARIOS ..................................................................................... 11
2.3
INTERFACES BETWEEN BW AND SEM ................................................................................. 15
2.3.1
Interface between BW and SEM-BPS....................................................................... 15
2.3.2
Interface between BW and SEM-CPM ...................................................................... 16
2.3.3
Interface between BW and SEM-BIC ........................................................................ 16
2.3.4
Interface between BW and SEM-BCS ...................................................................... 17
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1 Introduction
This document provides background information on the system architecture concerning the
mySAP application component products delivered by SAP. Interfaces between Business
Information Warehouse (BW) and Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) should be covered in
this paper. The purpose of this paper is to give the reader an idea how to design the system
landscape concerning a global approach.
Please note the following sources of information that contain important hints and advice when
setting up global mySAP.com systems:
1.1

BW System Landscape Scenarios and Considerations (ASAP Accelerator)

CTS for BW (Correction and Transportation Settings) (ASAP Accelerator)

Sizing and Performance (ASAP Accelerator)

Data Modelling (ASAP Accelerator)

SAPNet notes

SAPNet BW/SEM/APO/B2B/CRM information links
Software Version Supported
This document was written specifically for BW version 2.0A and considerations to BW version
2.0B, SEM version 2.0B and consideration to SEM version 3.0.
1.2
References
No reference material is required for this accelerator.
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2 Interfaces between BW and SEM
2.1
Concept and Modules provided by SEM
Many enterprises have installed integrated Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP) such as
R/3. They have succeeded in making their operational business processes more efficient and
customer oriented and, as a result, increased their competitiveness.
As a byproduct of ERP system implementations these enterprises have got a wealth of information
at their disposal that can also be utilised to effectively support strategic management processes.
Harnessing this information is currently one of the top priorities for most enterprises.
This requires new types of information systems, namely analytical applications for Strategic
Enterprise ManagementTM. These systems must support the management processes themselves
and also, through close integration with the ERP system, guarantee continuous feedback with the
operational business processes.
SEM 2.0 consists of one or more BW 2.0 instances, two SEM instances and front-end tools. One
SEM instance hosts the applications BPS, BIC and CPM and the other SEM instance hosts BCS.
The BW instance and the SEM-BPS/BIC/CPM instance are using 4.6 basis technology. The SEMBCS instance is technically based on R/3 4.6C OLTP standard for SEM release 2.0B.
The BW instance and the SEM-BPS (Business Planning and Simulation)/BIC (Business
Information Collection)/CPM (Corporate Performance Monitor) instance usually are contained in
the same logical instance. With release SEM 2.0B the SEM-BPS/BIC/CPM instance is able to
communicate with multiple BW instances. The SEM-BCS instance is separate from the BW
instance and can be used in conjunction with multiple BW instances. With release SEM 2.0B the
SEM-BCS system is able to load transaction data from SEM-BPS periodically.
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2.1.1
2.1.1.1
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The SEM Module - BPS Business Planning and Simulation
Purpose
Business Planning (SEM-BPS) enables you to produce a group-wide strategic business plan. The
business plan adds an overall plan to the detailed plans that have been put together using the
transaction systems’ components. The aim of strategic business planning is to produce a
consistent and realistic plan from various perspectives. The plan should improve the efficiency of
the enterprise and the management process. Here, the issue is – in contrast to the operational
subplans – less the level of detail, but rather planning the enterprise's development over the longer
term.
2.1.1.2
Implementation Considerations
SEM-BPS is a planning system, in which you can record and evaluate aggregated plan data. It is
suitable for the collection and maintenance of data from the various functional plan sections in one
uniform view.
2.1.1.3
Integration
The actual data and plan data that you process with SEM-BPS is extracted automatically from the
operational systems and written to the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP-BW). This
means that the operational systems provide the data and in SEM-BPS, therefore, you do not have
to deal with this. Business Planning is based on the same data basis, and has the same data
collection facilities as the SEM-BIC and SEM-CPM components.
2.1.1.4
Features
SEM-BPS, similar to the components SEM-BIC and SEM-CPM, relies on data from the SAP
Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW). When you configure planning areas, you refer to
SAP BW InfoCubes that provide the necessary characteristics and key figures. Within each
planning area, you can produce plans which portray different planning views (for example, by
group or business area), or you can produce plan sections (portraying investments or sales, for
example). You can either enter your data manually or edit it using various automatic functions.
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Versions allow you to maintain various plan scenarios for any particular time period. You can
produce plans for a fiscal year, and also cross-yearly plans, for example, June 1999 – March
2000.
You carry out interactive planning using planning layouts. You can configure these planning
layouts as you wish. Here, you can use the characteristics and key figures from the data basis,
and you can also define formulas for locally-calculated key figures. The planned data is saved
bottom-up, which means that data from a lower level is aggregated to the next highest level.
For interactive planning, SEM-BPS takes advantage of the integration of Microsoft Excel into the
SAP System. This links the Microsoft Excel interface with the SEM-BPS planning functions. Plan
documents that you produce and edit with Microsoft Excel are saved in the SAP System (together
with the planning layout settings).
For process cost planning, SEM-BPS makes use of the integrated tool Oros ABCplus. This
enables a process-based view of the activities carried out in an enterprise. You can determine
whether or not these activities contribute to increasing the enterprise value or not, and you can
plan accordingly.
SEM-BPS also contains the Powersim Constructor tool. You can use this to simulate dynamic
events in your enterprise and to derive appropriate planning measures. You can define complex
scenarios where you can examine the behaviour of your enterprise under changing conditions and
you can influence this behaviour in the simulation by altering the parameters.
In automatic planning, the system generates plan data based on user-defined premises. After you
have set the parameters for automatic planning and have started the automatic planning run, the
plan data is generated and updated automatically.
Apart from recording plan data, there are various functions available for editing your plan data.
Using revaluations, you can increase or decrease your plan data values by a certain percentage.
Seasonal distribution factors help you distribute the data from the year level to the period level.
Top-down planning distributes aggregated data to lower levels on the basis of reference data from
a different version or a different time period. Using statistical methods, you can have the system
project plan data based on historical figures. In automatic planning, the statistical methods
(forecast profiles), distribution keys and revaluation factors can refer to certain combinations of
characteristic values.
2.1.2
The SEM Module – CPM Corporate Performance Monitor
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2.1.2.1
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Purpose
The Corporate Performance Monitor component consists of various tools for measuring enterprise
performance. You can define, analyse and effectively visualise key figures such as key
performance indicators (KPIs) to support and accelerate management decision-making. You can
use the Corporate Performance Monitor to build your own interpretation models, for example,
Balanced Scorecards, value driver trees or Management Cockpit scenarios.
2.1.2.2
Integration
The Corporate Performance Monitor accesses data that is stored in the SAP Business Information
Warehouse (SAP BW). This is the same data basis that is used by the components SEM-BPS
and SEM-BIC.
2.1.2.3
Features
Management Cockpit
You can use the Management Cockpit to create diagrams of various types. These are based on
report data from both SEM aspects and the Business Information Warehouse. The tool helps to
organise these diagrams in such a way that content-related key figure groups are formed. You can
then make presentations on these figures in a special-purpose room. The particular type of
presentation that is possible offers an ergonomic view of the enterprise data. The data is
presented in a clear and intelligible way. This eases and accelerates management decisionmaking.
Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard offers a new approach to reporting on the enterprise's performance. It
considers not only the traditional historical-based financial key figures, but also qualitative factors
that may significantly affect the success of the enterprise, for example, product quality or
employee skills. The Balanced Scorecard integrates both types of factors through a user-defined
evaluation system and provides a comprehensive view of the enterprise as a whole.
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2.1.3
2.1.3.1
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The SEM module – BIC Business Information Collection
Purpose
The SEM-BIC component helps you to find enterprise-external information that may be relevant
for your enterprise. It helps to evaluate the information and to store it in structured form in the
system. In contrast to the data that arises in the transaction systems as a result of regular
business transactions, and is then transferred to SAP SEM in aggregated form, the data that
SEM-BIC deals with is qualitative information. This must be interpreted and evaluated so as it can
be used to support enterprise decisions. This qualitative information can be in the form of market
assessments, competitors' press releases, annual reports, stock market trends, economic and
taxation policy decisions, academic publications and so on.
You can use SEM-BIC to find these publications – especially in the World Wide Web (WWW), you
can evaluate them and add comments, and you can archive them with source and other
administration details.
2.1.3.2
Implementation Considerations
We recommend using SEM-BIC as a support tool when you wish to take account of external
factors when making enterprise decisions.
2.1.3.3
Integration
If you compile documents using text excerpts from the various data sources and your own
comments, you can use the Business Document Service component to manage them in the
system. The Business Document Navigator gives you direct access to all the information managed
there. You can also link these documents with key figures in order to illustrate the relationships
between quantitative developments and external factors (for example, decreased profit figures as
a result of changes in tax laws).
2.1.3.4
Features
The SEM-BIC component consists of the following functions:
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
Call up and navigation between Web pages with the integrated Web browser

Management of data sources for information research

Transfer of selected document contents for editing and saving in the system

Assignment of documents to transaction data from the SAP Business Information
Warehouse
2.1.4
2.1.4.1
The SEM Module – BCS Business Consolidation
Purpose
This application component features consolidation functions you can use for external (statutory)
rendering of accounts as well as internal (management) reporting.
To do this, this component offers different Consolidation types that are based on user-definable
organisational units. Specifically, you can perform consolidation for companies, divisions, business
areas or profit centres.
In the component, the consolidation types are represented by dimensions. For example, you can
define one dimension for company consolidations and, at the same time, another dimension for
profit centre consolidations. Each dimension lets you process flexible and, when needed, parallel
hierarchies of consolidation units and consolidation groups:

Flexible hierarchies means that you can use any number of hierarchy levels, define these
hierarchies in variable depths, and maintain these hierarchies easily and clearly.

Parallel hierarchies means that you use different criteria for structuring the consolidation
units of each type of consolidation (e.g., business area consolidation). For example, one
hierarchy could have a structure of consolidation units as companies; another hierarchy
could have a structure with business segments.
The component features the ability to use different consolidation charts of accounts. For example,
this lets you generate consolidated statements for both German HGB requirements as well as US
GAAP – in parallel.
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You can use consolidation versions to maintain different categories of data, such as actual data,
prognostic data or budget data.
2.1.4.2
Integration
The application features integration functions with different transaction modules of SAP that
provide data for consolidation; this is available for the consolidation types company consolidation,
business area consolidation and profit centre consolidation. The integration functions enable the
following:

Generation of the organisational units of consolidation, based on the units in the
transaction system.
There must be a clearly defined relationship between the organisational units of the
transaction system and those of the consolidation system before an automatic transfer of data
can take place.

Automated collection of transaction data.
Several data transfer methods are available. A prerequisite for the collection of transaction
data is that the data carried in local charts of accounts be converted for the aggregated chart
of accounts in Consolidation. In some consolidation scenarios the transaction data can even
be collected into different consolidation charts of accounts.
2.1.4.3
Features

Different methods are available for transferring the transaction data to the Consolidation
system. Which method you use depends on your consolidation scenario.

You can post manual entries, for example to standardise the reported data to the group's
methods of balance sheet valuations.

You can use validations to check the consistency of the reported or standardised financial
data.

You can translate the reported financial data into the currency of the consolidation group.

You can automatically execute the following consolidation tasks:

interunit elimination (e.g. elimination of payables and receivables, elimination of
revenue and expense, elimination of investment income)

elimination of interunit profit/loss in transferred inventory

consolidation of investments

reclassifications
The automated postings are controlled by the task settings you previously define in
customising.
The logic of the consolidation tasks can remains the same for all types of consolidation.
For example, the system uses the same logic when executing interunit elimination for
either company consolidations or business area consolidations.

You can generate reports using the standard tools in drilldown reporting (e.g. SEM-CPM,
BW Reporting), and the Report Painter or Report Writer of SAP. There are also existing
reports for listing master data, additional financial data and the control parameters.
The entire consolidation process can be broken down into two areas: a) the collection and
preparation of reported financial data, and b) the consolidation of the financial data. Both of these
areas have their respective monitor, which you can use to maintain and execute all of the
individual tasks.
2.1.4.4
Constraints
The automated execution of the elimination of IU profit/loss in transferred assets is not available in
this release.
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2.2
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BW and SEM system scenarios
This section gives you an overview about the possible system scenarios between BW and SEM.
Lets bring the BW systems scenarios described in the SAP Accelerator “BW System Landscape
Scenarios and Considerations” into our mind.
Scenario 1: Consolidation/ Aggregation brick
The picture above describes a typical consolidation scenario. Data is being merged from different
sources to create a BW (e.g. on a regional basis) to again be consolidated into a global
Warehouse.
Scenario 2: Distribution/ Replication brick
A common warehouse strategy for a Warehouse architecture is called “Hub and spoke” strategy.
This strategy describes a typical distribution and replication model. The idea is to form a central
“version of truth” (ODS) for data coming from different systems. From this centre of truth data is
being distributed (replicated) into different data marts.
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Scenario 3: One BW data warehouse approach
Of course we should also keep the simple data warehouse approach in mind to describe the
interfaces between the SEM and BW, which will be in the beginning the most common case.
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If we keep these three different BW scenarios in our mind and think about the SEM/BW scenarios
we will see that the BW approach influences also the SEM system landscape approach. SEM
nevertheless gives us the possibility to appear in all of these system scenarios, this means, that a
BW global approach does not limit your way to extend your system scenario with the SEM
component.
The next slide introduces the first scenario, which we could think of. In this case SEM is used as
an Add-on. Basically this means that you do install it on the same instance as BW, but of course it
would be also possible to install the SEM on a separate instance. In our case the data is collected
in (one) BW system whereas the BW collects the data from different legacy systems.
Let’s take a closer look at BW scenario one. We could think of installing the SEM as an Add-on for
the BW 3. The customer scenario could look like as follows: “Every country/region has its own BW
instance installed. The consolidation BW collects the data and stores it to provide the data for the
SEM Add-on for strategic reporting”. If the requirement would be that also every country/region
would have its SEM for the local strategic reporting we could also fulfil that requirement by
installing to every BW a SEM Add-on.
Having the second BW Scenario in our mind we could think of installing the SEM as an Add-on for
the BW 2 and BW 3. The customer scenario could look like as follows: “Every country/region has
its own BW instance installed. The sending BW collects the data and stores it to provide the data
for the receiving BW which have their SEM Add-on for strategic reporting”.
The BW scenario 3 is also suitable for our SEM scenario. It makes sense to install SEM as an
Add-on if we only talk about one BW instance. Reasons like Performance, sizing, users, etc. of
course could force you to solutions where you would have to install the SEM even as an Add-on
on a separate instance. As mentioned before this is also supported by SEM.
After discussing the SEM Scenario 1 I would like to talk about the next possible SEM scenario. It is
shown in the next picture. The name of this scenario is “SEM as a specialised Data Mart”. How
does this Scenario fit to our BW scenarios?
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Having the first BW Scenario in our mind we could think of replacing the BW 3 by the SEM Data
Mart. The customer scenario could look like as follows: “Every country/region has its own BW
instance installed. The consolidation SEM data mart collects the data and stores it to provide the
data for the strategic reporting”.
Last but not least there is another SEM scenario I would like to mention for the sake of
completeness. It is called the “SEM stand alone” scenario.
In this SEM scenario no data warehouse being involved. Both SEM instances collect data from the
legacy systems (the SEM-CPM/BPS/BIC system using BW functions and the SEM-BCS system
using BCS functions). Within the SEM system BW provides data bases and reporting functionality.
SEM-BCS interacts with the BW database of the SEM-CPM/BPS/BIC system; with SEM 2.0B BCS
is able to load transaction data also from SEM-BPS (in addition to loading data via BCS functions)
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What I would like to point out by describing these scenarios is that the flexible design on the SEM
New Dimension component supports all kinds of system scenarios. As you see in previous
sections all SEM scenarios support every scenario. If we now move on and have a closer look to
the interfaces we will get more information for our detailed system design.
2.3
Interfaces between BW and SEM
This section describes the interfaces of the different SEM modules to the BW. I also would like to
point out the current status (SEM 2.0B) and the outlook for SEM 3.0. Please keep in mind that at
the time writing this document some features are still under development. Please refer to the latest
information and Notes placed in the SAPNet. The interface description is divided into three parts:

interface for transaction data

interface for master data

interface for metadata
2.3.1
Interface between BW and SEM-BPS
The SEM-BPS module is using the low level interface (for further details please refer to the APO
and BW paper). The advantage of using the low-level interface lies in the read and writes access
to the InfoCube but limited to the basic keyfigures and characteristics of the InfoCube. It is
therefore possible to read and write transaction data from and to the InfoCube.
For master data and meta data SEM-BPS uses functional modules (functional group RSSEM) to
access the required information. For hierarchies – part of the master data – only read access
exists.
Special interest also lies on the topic of aggregates. The read access always delivers the most
recent view on the actual data. This means that also requests which are not pushed forward to the
aggregate are also shown in the figures. Every so called “transaction” in the SEM BPS generates
one request to the InfoCube.
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The restriction “One planning area is restricted to one InfoCube” is not valid anymore. In version
SEM BPS 2.0B it is possible to define ‘Multi-plan areas’ which allow planning across InfoCubes. (A
further idea supports also the implementation of an interface to the R/3 system. Advantage would
be that the user could directly write the planning data back to R/3.)
Within SEM BPS we also provide a close integration to BIC. SEM BPS provides read and write
access to store documents for every characteristic value.
2.3.2
Interface between BW and SEM-CPM
In general we are talking about reporting components named Management Cockpit, Balance
Scorecard and Value Driver Trees. The concept in SEM CPM 2.0B allows to assign multiple
measures from multiple BW systems to your for example Balance Scorecard application.
The Management Cockpit is only reading master data from the BW master data tables, which
means there is no write access from SEM to these tables. Considerations on the BW side like
rebuilding of aggregates or change run are not an issue here. The interface used by the
Management Cockpit is the ODBO interface. The advantage of using the ODBO interface is that
the basis is a BW query. This means you also have access to calculated and restricted keyfigures.
The access via the ODBO interface is only a read access.
The Balance Scorecard using the LOW-LEVEL interface (for further details please refer to the
APO and BW Accelerator) in SEM 2.0A has switched to the ODBO interface. The advantage of
using the ODBO interface lies in the full access to basic key figures and characteristics of the
InfoCube and also the access to restricted and calculated key figures.
For the write access SEM BSC is using the close integration to SEM BPS. In this module your are
able to key in your measures directly. This method is using again the LOW-LEVEL interface
The SEM BSC creates also its own master data in the BW. The characteristic values are stored in
own InfoObject on the BW side.
The measure tree provides you with the possibility to display the definitions of calculated key
figures – e.g. Return on investment. The meta data definition is read from the BW with a special
functional module. This extend to the ODBO interface works like an explain function for calculated
key figures.
The measure builder provides you with an business approach to the BW key figures. You can
create a measure from a business point of view and link this measure to BW key figures. More
over you are able to store benchmark data for this key figures. An InfoCube and an InfoObject
(0measure) is provided for this purpose. You can automatically create master data for 0measure
in the BW system
2.3.3
Interface between BW and SEM-BIC
You assign documents and transaction data to each other so that you can use qualitative
information to illustrate the quantitative facts contained in the SAP Business Information
Warehouse (SAP BW). By assigning documents and transaction data to each other, you can be
aware not only of what value a key figure has at a particular point in time, but also why it has this
value. By way of the assignment, you establish a relationship between the developments in your
enterprise (reflected in the current value of a key figure) and the business environment your
enterprise is operating in. The key figures and characteristics that you can assign to a document
come from the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) data catalog. This catalog is also
the data basis for the other SAP SEM components.
You edit characteristics in SEM-BIC in order to determine whether the characteristic's values can
be assigned to a document created during research. The characteristics that you can edit here are
those characteristics defined in the SAP BW System that you access when you use the Editorial
Workbench in SEM-BIC.
This means that the SEM-BIC component uses the write access only to store documents on the
BDS located on the BW instance and to set the mark for the InfoObjects on the BW as
documentation relevant. For all other operations only read access is necessary, e.g. to load
information from the BDS or to read InfoObject values.
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SEM BIC module is closely integrated into the SEM modules BSC, CPM and BPS. BW will also
provide read access via the BW browser to all documents assigned to a workbook. This
functionality is planned for third quarter 2000.
2.3.4
Interface between BW and SEM-BCS
SEM-BCS provides with 2.0B the functionality of a periodical update from the BW system. We
could think of a scenario like: “The customer does his planning in the BPS module writing data to
the BW InfoCubes. Data will be transferred for consolidation purpose to the BCS and via real time
update stored back – consolidated – to the InfoCube.” ( look at the SEM overview slide page 4)
Meta data and transaction data is a accessed via the LOW-LEVEL interface (for further details
please refer to the APO and BW Accelerator). The advantage of using the low-level interface lies
in the read and writes access to the InfoCube but limited to the basic key figures and
characteristics of the InfoCube. It is therefore possible to read and write transaction data from and
to the InfoCube.
The SEM BCS has its own master data. The master data could be transferred to the BW system
using the standard BW upload mechanism for master data, like for any other e.g. SAP R/3 system
or SAP BW system.
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