Business Information Warehouse
This Session provides you with:
 an overview of the functions and technology in the SAP
Business Information Warehouse (BW)
 basic knowledge of how BW works
Overview

What is a data warehouse?

OLTP Vs OLAP

A multi-dimensional data model

SAP BW architecture

mySAP Business Applications
What is Data Warehouse?
Defined in many different ways, but not rigorously.
A decision support database that is maintained
separately from the organization’s operational database
Support information processing by providing a solid
platform of consolidated, historical data for analysis.

“A data warehouse is a subject-oriented, integrated,
time-variant, and nonvolatile collection of data in support
of management’s decision-making process.”—W. H.
Inmon
Data warehousing:
The process of constructing and using data
warehouses

Categories of Data Warehouse:
•Data Warehouse
•ODS
•Data Marts
•Dependent Data Marts
•Independent data Marts
•EDW
OLTP Vs OLAP
OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) refers to the type of data
processing typically done in an R/3 system.
BW is an OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) system.
SAP BW Data Model
• Data that has been loaded into BW from various source
systems, is stored in BW in the form of star schemas. This
type of table assignment is ideal for reporting purposes.
• The dimensions answer question such as "Who?" "What?"
and "When?"
• The facts provide answers to questions such as; “how
much money, how many people, how much did we pay”?
Example : Sales
Star Schema
SAP BW: Extended Star Schema
MDM/Star Schema and BW
Info Cube
SAP BW Architecture
BW has a multi- level architecture to provide the
maximum degree of flexibility.
Bottom Layer:
BW can extract and use data provided by a variety of
sources. These include R/3 and R/2 systems, non-SAP
systems, flat files, commercial data providers, and even other
BW systems.
Middle Layer:
The BW server provides all the tools necessary to
model, extract, transform, aggregate, store, and access data.
Since the description of the data, regardless of its source, is
contained in a common Metadata Repository, data from a
variety of sources can be combined to give you enhanced
data analysis options.
Top Layer:
BW users can access data through the SAP Business
Explorer, a standard Web Browser, or third-party display
tools, which have been certified for use with a common BAPI
interface.
mySAP Business Applications
The SAP Business Information Warehouse has a central
position among the mySAP solutions. Typical characteristics
of the individual solutions are separate development,
implementation, and maintenance of the components, and
independent release cycles in the different areas.
 BAPI and ALE technology takes care of communication
between these various systems.
 The advantages of this architecture include quicker
implementation, flexibility, openness, and extendibility.
BW Strategy: An End-To-End Solution
BW Strategy: An End-To-End So
BW Strategy: An End-To-End Solution
BW is a complete data warehouse solution, from the
extraction of data from various source systems, to providing
a set of tools for analyzing and displaying the data.
Open Hub Service:
•The open hub service enables you to distribute data from
an SAP BW system into external data marts, analytical
applications, and other applications.
•Through the open hub service, SAP BW becomes a hub
of an enterprise data warehouse.
System Landscape:
The System Landscape of SAP BW is similar to that of
SAP R/3.
Extractions
•
This Section discusses the SAP BW extraction and load process
of data from various source systems.
Non-SAP Source systems:
Data from non-SAP data sources can be loaded into SAP BW in one
of the three ways.
•Flat file source systems (loaded through Flat Files).
•External source systems – connect to external systems with thirdparty custom extraction tools (using staging BAPIs).
•External data providers such as Nielsen.
SAP Source Systems:
•SAP R/3 Source system (after release 3.1H).
•SAP BW System - using Myself.
•Other SAP products.
Data Sources and Info Sources:
Flat Files:
•Flat files can be used to load both Master and Transactional
data from non-SAP source system into SAP BW.
•SAP BW can load data from 3 non-ASP Formats.
1. CSV is a Character Separated Value file type
(extension .CSV).
2. ASCII is a fixed-length record format file.
3. XML files.
Third-Party Extraction Tools:
Third-party vendors of extraction products certified for SAP BW
include.
• Acta Works for SAP from Acta Technologies
• Evolutionary Technology Inc. (ETI)
• Genio
• Informatica etc.,
External Data Providers:
External data providers are suppliers of data to SAP BW
(e.g., A.C. Nielsen and Dun & Bradstreet). They usually are value
added services that are available. External data providers use the
BAPI concept to load data into SAP BW.
Types of extractions:
•Flat File
•Generic
•CO/PA
•LIS & LO
•FI/SL
Generic Data Extraction:
This extraction is used when:
• There is no Data Source in business content.
• SAP R/3 tables to be extracted from a cross-application
or custom
tables (Z Tables).
CO/PA Data Extraction:
•This method is specific to the extraction of data from the
CO/PA application component from SAP R/3.
•It collects all of the OLTP data for calculative margins
(sales, cost of sales, overhead costs).
LIS and LO Data Extraction:
LIS and Lo are two very closely related application-specific
extractor types.
LIS (Logistics Information Systems) is a cross application
component of SAP R/3 collecting supply chain information
from the following :
•Sales Information System.
•Purchasing Information System.
•Inventory Controlling.
•Shop Floor Information System.
•Plant Maintenance Information System.
•Quality Management Information System.
• LIS Data Extractors suffer from limitations like Performance,
Volume of data and Complexity of Usage.
• To remedy these limitations, SAP developed the LO data
extraction method.
• This method is used to extract data from the LO (Logistics)
application component in SAP R/3.
FI/SL Data Extraction:
• Finance, Special Ledger (FI/SL) is another applicationspecific extraction method in SAP BW.
• It collects all of the OLTP data for Financial accounting,
Special Ledger.
• FI/SL combines data from different levels of OLTP
applications (e.g., FI/GL, EC/PCA, CO/CCA).
Update Methods:
An Update method is a scheme used to update data in SAP
BW. The updates available in SAP BW are:
•Full Update – extract all the data from source system.
•Initialization - reset.
•Delta Update – extract only the data that have been
changed or added since the last extract.
Business Explorer (BEx)
Contents:
 BEx Analyzer
 BEx Browser
BEx Components
The Business Explorer helps to analyze the data in the
SAP Business Information Warehouse.
BEx Analyzer:
BEx Analyzer is a Microsoft Excel-based interactive
environment where analyses and queries are defined by
selected characteristics and key figures.
BEx Browser:
The BEx Browser is a graphical interface for organizing
reports of SAP BW.
BEx Browser
Creating a Query
Choosing Characteristics and Key
Figures
SAP Business Explorer Toolbar:
The SAP Business Explorer toolbar integrates SAP BW
reporting functionality into Microsoft Excel.
Sample Report:
Some Reporting Topics:
• Exceptions
• Conditions
• Variables
• Calculated Key Figures
• Formulas
• Functions
• Filters
• Free Characteristics
Q&A