SAP Business Intelligence...12.4.1 Underlying SAP BW Components ..... 544 12.4.2 Creating Selections...

Bonn � Boston

Egger, Fiechter, Kramer, Sawicki, Straub, Weber

SAP Business Intelligence

082.book Seite 3 Mittwoch, 3. Januar 2007 4:30 16

Contents at a Glance

1 Business Intelligence Concepts—Innovations ........ 27

2 New Features of SAP NetWeaver 2004s—An Overview ............................................................ 67

3 Data Modeling in the Data Warehousing Workbench of SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI ............... 155

4 Data Retrieval ......................................................... 213

5 Performance Optimization with Aggregates and BI Accelerator ......................................................... 263

6 Redesign Functions: Repartitioning and Remodeling ............................................................. 297

7 BEx Query Designer ................................................ 325

8 Business Explorer Analyzer ..................................... 365

9 BEx Web Application Designer .............................. 387

10 Report Designer ...................................................... 425

11 BI-Integrated Planning ........................................... 451

12 SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer .......................... 535

A Abbreviations .......................................................... 631

B New Terminology .................................................... 633

C Transaction Codes ................................................... 635

D Literature ................................................................ 641

E Authors ................................................................... 643


7

Contents

Preface ......................................................................................... 15Foreword ..................................................................................... 19

Introductory Notes ........................................................ 21

1 Business Intelligence Concepts—Innovations ......... 27

1.1 The Closed-Loop Business Analytics Process ............... 271.2 Implementation in Modern Data-Warehousing

Systems ...................................................................... 321.3 New Features in SAP NetWeaver 2004s ..................... 36

1.3.1 Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA) ............ 371.3.2 The Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) .......... 421.3.3 Real-Time Data Warehousing ......................... 451.3.4 Information Lifecycle Management and the

Use of Nearline Storage .................................. 471.3.5 Clustering (Reclustering), Partitioning

(Repartitioning), and Remodeling Functions ... 491.3.6 The New ETL Process, Including

Transformation Rules and Data Transfer ......... 531.3.7 The Business Intelligence Accelerator and Its

Search and Classification Functions (TREX) ..... 541.3.8 Advanced Analytics Applications .................... 581.3.9 BI-Integrated Planning ................................... 591.3.10 The Composite Application Framework and

Barrier-Free Applications ................................ 61

2 New Features of SAP NetWeaver 2004s—An Overview ............................................................. 67

2.1 SAP NetWeaver 2004s ............................................... 672.2 Software Components and User Interfaces .................. 68

2.2.1 Data Warehousing Workbench ...................... 682.2.2 BEx Query Designer ....................................... 742.2.3 Report Designer ............................................. 762.2.4 Web Application Designer ............................. 772.2.5 BEx Analyzer and Workbook Design ............... 782.2.6 BEx Web Analyzer .......................................... 79


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2.2.7 Planning Modeler and Planning Wizard ......... 802.2.8 Visual Composer ........................................... 82

2.3 Enterprise Data Warehousing: Data Modeling ............ 852.3.1 InfoObjects ................................................... 852.3.2 DataStore Objects ......................................... 872.3.3 InfoCubes, VirtualProviders, and

MultiProviders .............................................. 932.3.4 InfoSets ......................................................... 952.3.5 Modeling Aspects: Remodeling and

Partitioning ................................................... 972.4 Enterprise Data Warehousing: ETL and

Administration ........................................................... 1012.4.1 Data Flow Concept in SAP NetWeaver

2004s ............................................................ 1012.4.2 Source Systems and DataSources ................... 1022.4.3 Transformation .............................................. 1052.4.4 Controlling the Data Flow with InfoPackages

and DTP ........................................................ 1112.4.5 Process Chains ............................................... 118

2.5 Enterprise Reporting, Query, and Analysis .................. 1222.5.1 Query Design ................................................ 1232.5.2 MS Excel Integration and Workbook

Design ........................................................... 1262.5.3 BEx Web Analyzer ......................................... 1282.5.4 Formatted Reports ........................................ 1292.5.5 Web Applications and Web Printing .............. 1322.5.6 Information Broadcasting .............................. 141

2.6 Business Planning and Analytical Services ................... 1422.6.1 BI-Integrated Planning .................................. 1422.6.2 Planning Modeler .......................................... 145

2.7 Performance Optimization ......................................... 1472.7.1 BI Accelerator ............................................... 1482.7.2 Delta Caching ................................................ 150

2.8 User Management and Analysis Authorizations .......... 1512.9 Conclusion ................................................................. 153

3 Data Modeling in the Data Warehousing Workbench of SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI ................ 155

3.1 Introduction .............................................................. 1553.2 Sample Scenario ......................................................... 1553.3 Creating an InfoObject ............................................... 156


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3.4 “Sales Order Header“ Data Model .............................. 1603.4.1 “Sales Order Header“ DataStore Object ......... 1603.4.2 “Sales Order Header“ InfoCube ...................... 173

3.5 “Sales Order Items“ Data Model ................................. 1893.5.1 “Sales Order Items“ DataStore Object ............ 1893.5.2 “Sales Order Items” InfoCube ......................... 197

3.6 “Sales Order Header and Item“ MultiProvider ............. 203

4 Data Retrieval ........................................................... 213

4.1 Sample Scenario ......................................................... 2134.2 DataSources ............................................................... 2134.3 Emulating the 3.x Data Retrieval Process in

SAP NetWeaver 2004s ............................................... 2174.3.1 Direct Update ................................................ 2174.3.2 Flexible Updating ........................................... 221

4.4 Data Retrieval Processes in SAP NetWeaver 2004s ..... 2304.4.1 Migrating 3.x DataSources ............................. 2304.4.2 ETL Process for Master Data Under

SAP NetWeaver 2004s ................................... 2324.4.3 ETL Process for Transaction Data Under

SAP NetWeaver 2004s ................................... 238

5 Performance Optimization with Aggregates and BI Accelerator ........................................................... 263

5.1 Introduction ............................................................... 2635.2 Reporting without Performance Optimization

Measures .................................................................... 2645.2.1 Sample Query for Performance

Optimization .................................................. 2645.2.2 Response Time Behavior without

Performance Optimization ............................. 2685.3 Performance Optimization Using Aggregates .............. 270

5.3.1 The Concept of Aggregates ............................ 2705.3.2 Defining Aggregates ....................................... 2725.3.3 Functionality of Aggregates ............................ 277

5.4 Performance Optimization Using BI Accelerator .......... 2795.4.1 The Concept of the BI Accelerator .................. 2795.4.2 BI Accelerator: Technical Background ............. 2815.4.3 Definition of BI Accelerator Indices ................ 2845.4.4 The Functionality of BI Accelerator Indices ..... 292


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5.5 Comparison and Evaluation of Performance Optimization Tools .................................................... 294

6 Redesign Functions: Repartitioning and Remodeling .............................................................. 297

6.1 Redesign Requirements in SAP BW Applications ........ 2976.2 Repartitioning InfoProviders ...................................... 297

6.2.1 An Overview of the Functionality .................. 2976.2.2 Sample Scenario for Repartitioning ................ 299

6.3 Remodeling InfoProviders .......................................... 3086.3.1 An Overview of the Functionality .................. 3086.3.2 Sample Scenario for Remodeling ................... 310

6.4 The First Redesign Functions: An Interim Result ......... 323

7 BEx Query Designer ................................................. 325

7.1 Reporting and Analysis—An Overview ....................... 3257.2 BEx Query Designer in Detail ..................................... 327

7.2.1 Sample Scenario ............................................ 3287.2.2 Getting Started with BEx Query Designer ...... 3287.2.3 Filters in a Query ........................................... 3327.2.4 Rows and Columns ........................................ 3357.2.5 Free Characteristics ....................................... 3387.2.6 Formulas ....................................................... 3397.2.7 Properties of the Components ....................... 3447.2.8 Selections ...................................................... 3467.2.9 Variables ....................................................... 3587.2.10 Conditions and Exceptions ............................ 3637.2.11 Exception Cells .............................................. 3637.2.12 Table Display ................................................. 364

8 Business Explorer Analyzer ...................................... 365

8.1 Introduction .............................................................. 3658.2 Running a Query in BEx Analyzer ............................... 366

8.2.1 Starting BEx Analyzer .................................... 3668.2.2 Using Filters in BEx Analyzer .......................... 3698.2.3 Drag-and-Drop in BEx Analyzer ..................... 372

8.3 The Design Mode in BEx Analyzer .............................. 3748.3.1 General Remarks ........................................... 3748.3.2 Creating an Application in the BEx Analyzer

Design Mode ................................................ 375


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9 BEx Web Application Designer ................................ 387

9.1 Getting Started ........................................................... 3879.2 Simple Web Reporting ................................................ 389

9.2.1 Creating a Simple Web Template for Time Series Reporting ............................................. 390

9.2.2 Design of the Web Template .......................... 3919.2.3 Design Based on CSS and MIME Objects ....... 3979.2.4 Integrating Charts .......................................... 3999.2.5 Other Web Items ........................................... 401

9.3 Complex Web Reporting ............................................ 4059.3.1 Basic Template ............................................... 4069.3.2 Menu Structure .............................................. 4079.3.3 Export Function ............................................. 4119.3.4 Multiple Languages ........................................ 4149.3.5 Links .............................................................. 4179.3.6 Preliminary Result .......................................... 417

9.4 Structure of Web Templates ....................................... 4189.5 Portal Integration ....................................................... 4199.6 Migrating 3.x Web Templates ..................................... 4199.7 BEx Broadcaster .......................................................... 421

10 Report Designer ....................................................... 425

10.1 Introduction ............................................................... 42510.2 Enterprise Reporting—Sample Application .................. 42610.3 Installing and Executing BEx Report Designer ............. 428

10.3.1 Starting and Creating a Report in the Report Designer ........................................................ 428

10.3.2 Setting Up a Page in the Report Designer ....... 43210.3.3 Forcing a Variable Selection at Report

Runtime ......................................................... 43310.4 Formatting in BEx Report Designer ............................. 435

10.4.1 Report Designer General Settings via Portal Theme ................................................. 435

10.4.2 Formatting Columns ....................................... 43510.4.3 Formatting Rows with Different Font Styles ... 43710.4.4 Formatting Cells with Different Font Styles .... 43710.4.5 Changing the Background Color ..................... 44110.4.6 Adjusting the Column Width and

Row Height .................................................... 444


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10.4.7 Inserting Spacing Columns and Rows ............. 44510.4.8 Inserting the Report Title as Page Header ...... 449

11 BI-Integrated Planning ............................................ 451

11.1 Introduction .............................................................. 45111.2 Sample Scenario ......................................................... 454

11.2.1 Planning Application Requirements ............... 45611.3 The Planning Environment ......................................... 458

11.3.1 Introduction .................................................. 45811.3.2 Planning Environment Objects ...................... 46111.3.3 Business Planning with the SAP Enterprise

Portal ............................................................ 46311.3.4 Lock Concept ................................................ 46411.3.5 Modeling Aspects .......................................... 46611.3.6 InfoProviders ................................................. 46811.3.7 Characteristic Derivations .............................. 47211.3.8 Data Slices .................................................... 47511.3.9 The Variable Wizard ...................................... 478

11.4 Planning Functions ..................................................... 48011.4.1 Creating a Delete Function Using the

Planning Wizard ............................................ 48011.4.2 Creating a Copy Function Using the

Planning Modeler .......................................... 49211.4.3 Delete and Copy Functions in the

Planning Cockpit ........................................... 49911.4.4 Copying with the FOX Formula Function ....... 501

11.5 Manual Planning ........................................................ 50711.6 Planning on the Web ................................................. 51411.7 Planning in Microsoft Excel ........................................ 52511.8 Conclusion ................................................................. 534

12 SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer ........................... 535

12.1 Sample Scenario ......................................................... 53512.2 Basis Components ...................................................... 536

12.2.1 SAP BW ........................................................ 53612.2.2 SAP R/3 (ERP) ............................................... 53812.2.3 Customer Data Sheet ..................................... 540

12.3 Creating a Model in Visual Composer ........................ 54012.3.1 Creating a Model .......................................... 54012.3.2 Creating an iView .......................................... 543


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12.4 The “Accounts Receivables by Customer“ Overview .... 54412.4.1 Underlying SAP BW Components ................... 54412.4.2 Creating Selections for the Top N Overview

in Visual Composer ........................................ 54612.4.3 Creating the Top N Overview in Visual

Composer ...................................................... 55912.5 Development of the Payment History of a Selected

Customer .................................................................... 56912.5.1 Underlying SAP BW Components ................... 56912.5.2 Creating the Table “Payment History“ in

Visual Composer ............................................ 57012.5.3 Creating the “Payment History“ Chart in

Visual Composer ............................................ 57712.6 The Customer Data Sheet ........................................... 581

12.6.1 Underlying Documents .................................. 58112.6.2 Creating an HTML View for Customer

Data Sheets in Visual Composer ..................... 58212.7 Changing Customer Credit Management Data in

the OLTP System ........................................................ 58612.7.1 Underlying Components in the OLTP System

SAP R/3 for Updating the Customer Credit Management Data ......................................... 586

12.7.2 Components for Updating the Customer Credit Management Data in Visual Composer ...................................................... 590

12.8 Creating a Header Field .............................................. 61512.9 Integrating the Composite Application in the

SAP Enterprise Portal .................................................. 62012.10 Running the Application ............................................. 62212.11 An Interim Result ....................................................... 627

Appendix ......................................................................... 629

A Abbreviations ........................................................................ 631B New Terminology .................................................................. 633C Transaction Codes ................................................................. 635

C.1 Transactions in the SAP BW System ............................ 635C.2 SAP R/3 Transactions Relevant to SAP BW .................. 639

D Literature .............................................................................. 641E Authors ................................................................................. 643

Index ............................................................................................ 647


15

Preface

I am very pleased to take the opportunity to address the readers ofthis book with a few words from SAP product development, espe-cially since after SAP BW 3.5, SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI is a releasewhose functional width and depth marks the greatest step forwardsince SAP entered the business intelligence and data warehousingmarkets.

The most significant change is doubtlessly the new name—SAPNetWeaver Business Intelligence. The SAP BW 3.5 Release was alreadypart of SAP NetWeaver 2004 and achieved significant synergies withother NetWeaver components, in particular, with SAP EnterprisePortal. Just think of the information broadcasting function thatenables you to distribute reports via email or the portal.

With SAP NetWeaver 2004s, SAP has now managed to comprehen-sively integrate business intelligence into an integration platform forbusiness processes. The resulting benefits are reflected in numerousareas. All applications that are based on SAP NetWeaver—whetherthey are SAP-proprietary applications, partner solutions, or cus-tomer-specific solutions—can now build on a standard portfolio ofBI functions and tools. The coherence of user interfaces, interactionoptions, metadata, master data, and the general request processing istherefore guaranteed.

But, even as a standalone solution, BI benefits from the integrationinto SAP NetWeaver. Today, business intelligence can no longer beconsidered an isolated task. On the contrary, increasingly more,sometimes almost existential, interdependencies are being createdwith other software components. Consequently, no web-browser-based BI solution can exist today if it isn’t integrated into a portal orintranet. The same holds true for document management: context-specific comments, descriptions, remarks, and so on, are critical ifyou want to communicate insights based on reports or analysesbetween different users. Other areas of integration include data qual-


16

Preface

ity (master data management), the tracking of tasks (collaboration),and business process management.

All those interdependencies are mapped in the NetWeaver platform;the BI component in SAP NetWeaver 2004s is virtually able to dele-gate the relevant tasks to the responsible special components. Thisensures that BI-specific solutions (e. g., for the portal) don’t make thesystem landscape more complex than it already is.

In the planning phase of BI in SAP NetWeaver 2004s, we had fourstrategic goals. You can determine how far we managed to set theright priorities and to attain the planned goals as outlined below. Inany case, this book should prove invaluable to you.

1st Objective: Extending the Range of BI to Masses of End Users

In this age of the so-called information democracy, each employee of acompany has the right to an appropriate supply of information. Thisalone (and there are many other reasons) turns the entire companystaff into a potential business intelligence user base. SAP NetWeaver2004s meets this requirement because of massive investments in twokey areas: user friendliness and query performance. The new Busi-ness Explorer (web, Excel, and design tools), the integration into SAPNetWeaver Visual Composer, and the BI Accelerator as a perfor-mance turbo engine are the outstanding technology innovations inthis respect.

2nd Objective: Real Integration of Planning and BI

Today, planning and budgeting are regarded as natural extensions tobusiness intelligence. From the user departments’ viewpoint, that iscertainly not a new outlook as there is no strict separation betweenthese areas that closely interact with each other in daily business pro-cesses. But, on the software side, reality looks different. BI and plan-ning tasks are usually carried out using different tools, even thoughthe same vendor provides these tools. With NetWeaver BI, we wantto provide a realistic combination of BI and planning: identical userinterfaces, the same design tools, identical master and metadata,common hierarchies, authorizations, processors, and so on. There-fore, each report has the potential to become a planning template.


17

Preface

3rd Objective: Assuming the Role of a Companywide Data Warehouse

A modern data warehouse must ensure that the stored information isas up-to-date, consistent, and complete as possible. A companywideview of the entire organization should ensure that correct strategicdecisions can be made in real time and based on a consistent databasis. SAP NetWeaver 2004s addresses the requirements with a stra-tegic implementation as a corporate data warehouse: simplifiedadministration, reduced efforts during operation, improved datatransfer processes, fewer implications of changes to the modeling,increased loading throughput, management of very large data quan-tities, and so on.

4th Objective: Service-Oriented Basis for All Kinds of Analytical Applications

The Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA) is the prerequisite forincreased flexibility and agility in times of constantly changingrequirements to IT and to the user departments. ESA is also the basisfor a closer interaction of strategic and operational decision-makingprocesses. The focus of service orientation in SAP NetWeaver 2004sBI is based on an improved support of operational reporting andembedded analytics. In other words, the BI functions are exposed asservices and integrated into a model-driven application developmentusing the Visual Composer.

Once again, Norbert Egger and his team of authors have found theright point in time to capture their rich project experience and excel-lent knowledge of the product in a book that reconciles theoreticalconcepts and practical use in a highly useful manner.

I hope that you enjoy reading this book and will have great successwith your SAP NetWeaver 2004s Business Intelligence projects.

Walldorf, December 2006Stefan SiggVice President SAP NetWeaver BISAP AG


27

In recent years, technological innovations have catapulted the concept of a companywide, consistent information land-scape from its academic ivory tower into the coarse reality of everyday work. This chapter provides an overview of the basic concepts and technologies required for a companywide information landscape.

1 Business Intelligence Concepts—Innovations

1.1 The Closed-Loop Business Analytics Process

“For many years, the computer profession and business have formed apartnership that has operated under what can be termed an open-looparchitecture. But with recent advances in data-warehouse technologyand the possibilities of the Internet, there is the prospect of what canbe termed a closed-loop architecture for the marriage of business andcomputers. With a closed-loop business/computer architecture, newbusiness opportunities and possibilities arise that were never beforeimaginable.“1

When Bill Inmon, president of Inmon Data Systems, introduced hisvision of a closed-loop analytical process under the name of CorporateInformation Factory (CIF) in 1998, people sneered at him. Today,things have substantially changed. The “screwballs“ of the past arethe innovative pioneers of today, and those who haven’t yet imple-mented such a landscape run the risk of sooner or later losing theircompetitiveness.

Companywide information landscape

The term Corporate Information Factory describes an informationlandscape that collects, transforms, standardizes, and stores datafrom the most disparate operational applications in a company inorder to provide this information for analysis and reporting pur-poses. During this process, the data runs through different layers,

1 Inmon, 1998.


28

Business Intelligence Concepts—Innovations1

after which this meaningful information can be used to influence theoperational systems.

You can easily recognize those layers by taking a close look at Figure1.1. The different layers are: the staging area, extract-transform-load(ETL), enterprise data warehouse, data marts (respectively data min-ing), and the decision-support system (DSS) applications. Each ofthese layers fulfills a specific purpose (standardization of data in theETL, “Corporate Memory“ in the EDW, user-friendly data staging inthe data marts, and so on) so that all the individual parts of the jigsawpuzzle fit together to form a single picture.

But what you can clearly see already is that building up such an infor-mation landscape can be a very complex undertaking, which is oftendoomed to failure without the support of appropriate software tools.

Figure 1.1 The Corporate Information Factory According to Bill Inmon

EDW

GlobalODS

Oper.Mart

Marketing Sales CustomerService Accounting

Exploration Warehouse/Data Mining

DSS Applications

Cross-MediaStorage Manager

Archival Storage Nearline Storage

ETLStaging

Area

eComm

ERP (Reports)

CRM

Bus Int

BusinessApplications

EAI

ChangedData

Capture

ERP

Data Marts in Departments


29

The Closed-Loop Business Analytics Process 1.1

Closed-loop business analytics process

Let us now return to the closed-loop business analytics process.2 Wewill use it as a central thread throughout this chapter to better posi-tion the conceptual innovations in SAP NetWeaver 2004s BusinessIntelligence.

The primary goal of the closed-loop business analytics process is toenable you to convert operational data into analyzable informationfrom which you can then generate actionable knowledge, to be used toinfluence the operational systems.

As you can easily see in Figure 1.1, this is only possible on the basisof a companywide, consistent information landscape.

Five process stepsFor this reason, we’d first like to describe the five steps that form theclosed-loop business analytics process and discuss their meaning forimplementing a companywide, consistent information landscape(see Figure 1.2). This will make it much easier for you to understandSAP’s priorities for the new SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI release.

Figure 1.2 Closed-Loop Business Analytics Process (Source: IDC, 2003)

1. TrackThe first step of the closed-loop business analytics process focuseson data acquisition and data storage.

2 Vesset, 2003.

Tran

sact

ion-

Orie

nted Analytical

Track Analyze

Decide

ModelAct


30


First, the data is extracted from all relevant operational systems.Depending on the requirements, this happens either at set times(recurring regularly: daily, weekly, monthly, and so on) or almostin real time.

The data must then be cleansed, transformed, enriched, and stan-dardized.

After that, the cleansed data can be imported and stored in the“basic layer: the enterprise data-warehouse layer of the data ware-house.

This layer serves as the basis for filling the upstream data martswith data as well as for forwarding the data to the DSS applica-tions. Once the data has been staged sufficiently, the processenters the data-retrieval phase.

The following quote by Dan Vesset, Research Director for IDC’sAnalytics and Data Warehousing Software service, also empha-sizes the importance of creating a clean foundation for the datawarehouse, particularly regarding data retrieval:

While the end user’s needs and tools that support these needs differ,foundational components of business analytics software must be ableto provide a unified architecture that supports all the user groups. Endusers should be able to view summary information and then drill downinto detail that is specific to their business process. The underlyingmeasures that enable this analysis must be consistent across the enter-prise.3

2. AnalyzeData retrieval, which consists of analyzing and modeling (as theprimary activities) as well as presenting and distributing informa-tion (as secondary activities), represents the second and third stepsin the closed-loop business analytics process.

Once the data has been stored in the data warehouse, it is finallyavailable for analysis using business intelligence tools, for query,reporting, and multidimensional analysis.

Traditional business intelligence tools enable decision-makers andinformation users to answer the following questions. What hap-

3 Vesset, 2003.


31

The Closed-Loop Business Analytics Process 1.1

pened? How did it happen? When did it happen? And if one addi-tional aspect could be added, it might be: Why did it happen?

On the other hand, the following questions are not taken intoaccount: Which alternate decisions are available? Which one is theideal decision? What are the implications and possible conse-quences of this decision? What is going to happen?

3. ModelAt this stage, the advanced analytics tools come into play. Thesetools are used to create rules, classifications, and additional modelsto support the decision-making process. In this context, the fol-lowing methods are used: decision modeling, forecasting, simula-tion, optimization, and risk analysis.

Even though the diagram in Figure 1.2 gives you the impressionthat analyzing and modeling are sequential steps, real life is differ-ent. It often happens that the results of an Online Analytical Pro-cessing (OLAP) analysis serves as the basis for the creation of amodel. Conversely, forecasts and simulations often result in pro-found analyses, or the modeling results must be presented anddistributed. For that reason, it is clear that both steps are closelyinterrelated.

4. DecideThe fourth step of the closed-loop process involves making deci-sions based on solid information that has been presented in a user-friendly manner. The results obtained in the Analyze and Modelsteps represent the basis for those decisions.

The ability to access all types of information consistently and in anintegrated way lays the foundation for making solid decisions.

5. ActWhen the decisions have been made, the corresponding actionsmust be taken in the fifth step. This step can involve, for instance,the start of a new marketing campaign based on the results of pre-vious campaigns. In another scenario, it may be necessary to auto-matically lock a credit card based on a transaction analysis and in

To run a company with just those traditional BI tools would be like drivinga car and looking only into the rear-view mirror. Although you can seeeverything that happens, you don’t see it until it has happened, whichmight be too late.


32


order to prevent a fraudulent use. Still, another action might con-sist of granting or refusing a loan on the basis of specific customerprofiles.

This step represents the necessary feedback to the operational pro-cesses in companies.

In some cases, the feedback occurs automatically. If that happens,we speak of a retraction. In other cases, a decision-maker (or enduser) obtains actionable knowledge, and then we speak of a man-ual feedback.

To benefit significantly from the use of a data warehouse, the closed-loop process must in no way end with the modeling step. It is vitalthat this step is followed by the additional steps, decide and act.

1.2 Implementation in Modern Data-Warehousing Systems

Benefits of moderndata warehouse

systems

When it comes to a comprehensive utilization of the closed-loop pro-cess, modern data-warehousing systems come into play. Only thiskind of business intelligence, which has been made possible with theintroduction of today’s data-warehousing tools, can maximize thebusiness value and improve the competitive advantage for the com-pany.

Technology vs.business processes

But those who consider the integration of such heterogeneous sys-tem landscapes to be a mere technological challenge are completelymistaken. Companies are experiencing a significantly higher needfor flexibility, mobility, and innovation, especially in the area ofbusiness processes. Consequently, a competitive advantage can beattained only if the companies focus on their core business processesand tasks. On the other hand, IT departments must provide a highdegree of flexibility and mobility to master these challenges quicklyand efficiently.

It is the objective of each organization to accelerate the process of “track,analyze, model, decide, and act“ to attain a competitive advantage. Speedwithout understanding, however, can also result in faster but wrong deci-sions. Therefore speed and precision must merge with understanding inorder to produce a real competitive advantage.


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Implementation in Modern Data-Warehousing Systems 1.2

Purpose of the closed-loop process

The closed-loop technologies used should help you perform the fol-lowing tasks:

� Make the complexity of systems and applications invisible to theuser and reduce this complexity via standardization and integra-tion, wherever possible.

� Optimize the interoperability between applications and systems,based on application and process integration.

� Provide consistent, intuitive access to all relevant information andto the actionable knowledge at any time and anywhere, using anyfrontend device.

� Achieve an increase in the productivity of end users by standard-izing the user interfaces of all relevant applications.

� Ensure optimal system stability and data security as well as accesscontrol for sensitive information.

Service-oriented architecture

To master all those tasks successfully, the motto “think big; startsmall“ should be observed more than ever before. In this context, anapproach that is based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA) can helpto build a landscape that’s made up of reusable application compo-nents with the objective of saving time and money.

Please allow us now a slight digression in order to demonstrate theimportance—or rather the inevitability—of such an approach.

Today, companies have to face numerous challenges:

� Markets and consumer behavior change ever more rapidly andrequire a high degree of flexibility and reactivity from successfulcompanies.

� Companies are forced to implement new strategies faster and toshorten the development cycles for products and services. Only inthis way can they attain a long-term advantage over their compet-itors.

� In order to cope with those increasingly tight innovation cycles,existing business processes must be constantly optimized, trans-formed, or even replaced by more efficient processes.

� To meet such challenges quickly and efficiently in terms of costsand resources, companies need dynamic and business-oriented IT


34


departments that can react rapidly and flexibly to changing condi-tions and requirements.

� In recent years, IT has become a strategic tool that businesses needto secure competitive advantage and even to survive.

Future-orientedIT landscape

To meet all those demands, the following requirements, which mustbe regarded as indispensable for a future-oriented IT landscape, haveemerged in recent years:

� Technological openness

� Functional modularity

� Integrated technologies and components

� Reusable technologies and components

� Powerful development tools

The approach of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) aims to meetjust those requirements. Openness, modularity, and integrated andreusable components form the basis for application development.

Service-orientedarchitecture

A service-oriented architecture is based on an application platformthat provides business functions as reusable, self-contained compo-nents. Working from that platform, different services are combinedto map entire business processes, such as an ordering transaction.These services are managed centrally and “published“ in directorieswhere they can be found and used. Analysis functions are directlyintegrated in those operational services and no longer treated as sep-arate processes. Finally, the whole structure is rounded off by lifecy-cle-management services. The objective of all those efforts is toincrease the user productivity.

Thus, a companywide vision can grow via projects that are well man-aged in terms of time and resources.

Each subproject runs through a complete development cycle thatconsists of specifying and prioritizing the requirements, modeling,and implementation, as well as introduction and review (see Figure1.3). The reuse of existing services and components therefore helpsto consistently create a service-oriented IT landscape step by step.

Advantages This brings us back to our data-warehousing systems. The consistentintegration of data-warehousing systems into a service-orientedarchitecture has two main advantages. First, projects can be run


35

Implementation in Modern Data-Warehousing Systems 1.2

much faster and more cost-efficiently. Second, the data-warehousingsystems allow for faster, more precise, and more accurate decisionsbecause they base the closed-loop process on a solid, uniform, con-sistent service-oriented architecture and thereby ensure competitiveadvantage for the organization.

Figure 1.3 Iterative Implementation of Projects in a Service-Oriented Architecture

Figure 1.4 SAP NetWeaver Architecture Components Relevant to SAP BI

Introduction

Implementation

Modeling

Requirements

Evaluation

Examination/Assessment

CompleteBI

Landscape


36


Figure 1.4 shows such a structure by depicting SAP NetWeaver2004s Business Intelligence. Not only does SAP NetWeaver 2004s BIcontain all aspects of a service-oriented architecture—including anapplication platform, processes and services, the integration of oper-ational and analytical functions, component lifecycle management,and the focus on the integration and standardization of user func-tions—but, it also provides the benefits of a closed-loop process byintegrating the BI results into the operational processes.

1.3 New Features in SAP NetWeaver 2004s

With the new NetWeaver 2004s release, SAP pursued the goal ofconsistently implementing a closed-loop process architecture in itssoftware application. Figure 1.5 shows that this goal has beenimpressively attained. As you can see, the most important new fea-tures of SAP NetWeaver 2004s have been smoothly integrated intothe five steps of the closed-loop process:

Figure 1.5 Most Important New Features of SAP NetWeaver 2004s Business Intelli-gence

ESA

Tran

sacti

on-O

riente

d

Analytical

Track Analyze

Decide

ModelAct

ETLEDW

Realtime DWH

Nearline Storage

Clustering,(Re-)Partitioning,

Remodeling

TREX

BIAccelerator

AdvancedAnalytics

IntegratedPlanning

CompositeApplications

Barrier-FreeApplications


37

New Features in SAP NetWeaver 2004s 1.3

Important new features

The most important new features in SAP NetWeaver 2004s BI are asfollows:

� The Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA)

� The Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW)

� Real-time data warehousing (DWH)

� Information lifecycle management and the use of nearline storage

� Clustering, partitioning (repartitioning), and remodeling func-tions

� The new extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) processincluding transformation rules and data-transfer process (DTP)

� The Business Intelligence Accelerator (BIA) including its searchand classification functions (TREX)

� Advanced analytics applications

� BI-integrated planning

� Composite Application Framework (CAF) and barrier-free applica-tions including

� Visual Composer

� Data Warehousing Workbench (DWB)

The following sections of this chapter provide a brief description ofthese new features and position them both within the SAPNetWeaver architecture and within the closed-loop process.

1.3.1 Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA)

By enhancing the approach of a service-oriented architecture, SAP hasdeveloped its Enterprise Services Architecture (ESA). For SAP, ESA isthe future-oriented, modular architecture that builds completely onservice-based, reusable application components (enterprise services).In this context, SAP NetWeaver 2004s provides the technologicalplatform for implementing this SOA.

Innovation and standardization cycle

The greatest benefit of SAP ESA is the consistent support of the inno-vation and standardization cycle within a single environment.

FocusAnother fundamental advantage of ESA is that it focuses primarily onindividual business processes such as purchasing, production, mar-keting, sales, accounting, and so on, instead of the technology. This


647

Index

3.x Data retrieval process 2173.x DataSource 215, 221, 2303.x Emulation 2183.x-InfoSource 222

A

ABAP routines 106ABC Analysis 136Accelerator index 285Actionable knowledge 29ActionScript 84Activating aggregates 275Activation 162, 177Actual data 143, 457Actual data InfoProvider 492Actual profitability analysis data 457Ad-hoc query 128Ad-hoc Query Designer 136Administration 71, 73, 101Administrator Workbench 68, 155, 178,

212, 214, 218, 643Advanced 78, 133Advanced analytics applications 37, 58Advanced analytics tools 31Agent group 611Aggregate sizes 277Aggregate synchronization 279Aggregate technology 294Aggregates 149, 295Aggregation 270Aggregation hierarchies 43Aggregation level 43, 146, 459, 461,

467, 480, 483, 493Alert Monitor 136Alerts 508Analysis 137, 460Analysis authorizations 151Analysis engine 451Analysis table 375, 376, 392Analyzing business content InfoCube

173Appearance 78Appearance, configure 612Application building 127

Application logs 287Application Server 465Attribute 87, 321, 388Attribute derivation 316Attribute values 388Authorization 360Authorization-relevant attributes 86

B

Background color 441Bar chart 400Barrier-free applications 61Basic functions 340Basic InfoCubes 270, 272Basic template 406Behavior 78, 134BEx Analysis Tool Box 367BEx Analyzer 78, 127, 366BEx Analyzer design mode 375Bex Analyzer functionality 525BEx Analyzer Workbook 369BEx Analyzer workbook 374BEx Broadcaster 421BEx Design Box 532BEx Query Designer 74, 325BEx Web 387BEx Web Analyzer 79, 128, 463BEx Web Application Designer 387, 425BEx workbook 378, 385, 386BI Accelerator 54, 148, 149, 263, 279,

294BI Accelerator Architecture 149BI Accelerator index 280, 284BI Accelerator Monitor 289BI Accelerator sizing 283BI Analytic Engine 149BI applications 43BI implementation 42BI system 458BI tags 388BIA index 287BIA index filling job 285BIA index properties 291BIA Monitor 289


648

Index

BI-integrated planning 37, 59, 80, 142, 451, 453

BI-integrated planning environment 458BI-integrated planning transactions 462Blade technology 281Blank column 446Bookmarking 412Boolean functions 340BPS0 80Broadcaster 136Business analytics market 54Business content 156, 173, 178, 455Business content DataStore object 165,

189Business content InfoCube 176, 313Business content object 161, 166, 176Business content transfer rules 310Business content update rules 311Business Explorer Analyzer 326, 365,

456Business Explorer Broadcaster 326Business Explorer query 326Business Explorer Suite 122, 325, 365,

426Business Explorer Web Application 326,

456Business Explorer Web Application Desi-

gner 326Business Information Warehouse 263Business Intelligence Accelerator 37, 54Business Intelligence concepts 27, 644Business Intelligence solution 535Business Intelligence tools 30Business Planning and Analytical Services

459Business planning and analytical ser-

vices 68, 142Business Planning and Simulation 452Button group 135, 402, 516BW Administrator Workbench 313

C

Calculated key figures 508Calendar day 175Calendar month 267, 274Cascading stylesheets 397Category axis 399Cell content 438

Cell manipulation 132Cells 331Central selection 535Change log 92, 118Characteristic 85, 156, 309, 316, 327Characteristic derivation 472Characteristic relationship 453, 473Characteristic selection 383Characteristic usage 489, 503Characteristic value variable 358, 562Characteristic values 347, 351, 373Characteristics assignments 210Chart 129, 137, 399, 577Chart types 135, 399Chart view 578Chart, configure 579Chassis 281Checkbox Group 137, 402Client tool 428Closed-loop business analytics process

27Closed-loop Process 58Closed-loop process 37Clustering 37, 49Code editing engine 133Code generation 139Column header 567, 575Column headings 438Column structure 336Column width 567, 575Columns 435Command sequences 413Commands 408Company code 22, 316Compatibility 74, 77Composite application 82, 535, 592, 620Composite Application Framework 37,

61Conditions 404, 508Consistent time characteristics 298Constant 309, 317Constant value 245Constants 245Container 403, 515Container layout 135, 403Content administration 621Context menu 136, 394, 405Control 320Control area data 536


649

Index

Control components 112Control properties 554Conversion 320Converting units of measure 111Copy function 492, 495Corporate Information Factory 27Corporate memory 43, 44Creating a 3.x InfoPackage 228Credit control area 592Credit control area parameter 550Credit limit 565Credit management 536, 569, 597CSS properties 398Currency conversion 508Currency parameter 548Currency translation 570Customer 544, 565, 593Customer credit management 539Customer credit management status data

624Customer data sheet 540, 582Customer exit 52, 99, 309, 359Customer master 540

D

Daemon-based control 118Data abstraction layer 43Data aging strategy 48Data basis 451, 540Data binding 78, 134Data columns 560, 571Data entry layouts 457Data flow 112, 223Data flow concept 101Data flow control 111Data flow objects 70Data flow tree 227Data functions 340Data maintenance 624Data maintenance table 610Data marts 28, 43Data mining 28Data model 160, 189, 313, 537Data modeling 85, 155, 643Data propagation layer 43, 192Data request 229Data retrieval 213, 238, 253Data retrieval level 43

Data retrieval process 217, 230Data retrieval tree 251Data slices 453, 475Data source 425, 429, 559, 570, 571Data staging process 105Data storage 282Data target administration 118Data targets 456Data transfer process 37, 53, 113, 118,

236, 261Data transfer process monitor 116Data warehouse 263Data warehouse architecture 213Data warehouse systems 32Data Warehousing Workbench 37, 65,

68, 177, 483Database 307Database access 270, 277, 278, 293Database access times 278, 293Dataflow 178DataProvider 128, 129, 375, 514, 527DataProvider information 404DataSource 54, 102, 105, 213, 221DataSource tree 103, 214DataStore 87DataStore object 87, 93, 97, 105, 114,

156, 160, 164, 183, 189, 473, 537DB Connect 103Debugging 114Decision modeling 31Default setting, configure 549, 551Default URL 584Default value 359, 441Defining aggregates 272Delete button 530Delete function 488Delta caching 150Delta determination 91Delta mechanism 113Deploy 557Deployment 84, 620Description 350Design adjustments 398Design environment 451Design item 374, 386Design mode 374, 531Design time components 63Design Tool 540Development interface 82


650

Index

Development status 559Dimension 94, 181, 186, 198, 205Direct update 89, 217Disk subsystem 282Display 134Display mode 120Document List 138Drag-and-drop 78, 444Drawing area 399Drilldown 508Dropdown box 137, 383, 402, 502, 532Dropdown list 549DSO table 91DSS applications 28DTP 111, 112DVD source download 284DWH integration layer 43Dynamic document assignment 583Dynamic reports 131Dynamic selection 358, 545, 552

E

Edit Command Wizard 517EDW concept 42EDW implementation 44EDW layer 91Effectiveness 279, 293Emulated DataSources 70Emulation 217, 218End routine 108Enhanced planning layout 507Enterprise data warehouse 28, 37, 42,

459Enterprise data warehousing 85, 101Enterprise Portal 82Enterprise reporting 68, 122, 129, 425,

460Enterprise reporting, query and analysis

68, 122Enterprise Services Architecture 37ERP 538Error and warning area 388Error handling 111Error stack 112, 114ETL 28, 101, 213ETL process 37, 53, 217, 218, 232, 238,

537ETL Requirements 456

Excel 373, 525Excel workbook 452, 525, 534Excel-based planning 453Excel-based planning layout 532Excel-based solution 500Excel-in-place functions 525Exception broadcasting 142Exception cells 363Exceptions 363, 404Exit function 459, 473Expert routine 109Export function 411External system 103Extraction 213Extraction methods 455

F

Fact table 279, 298Favorites 332Field catalog 130Filter 264, 331, 461, 480, 484Filter area 123, 401Filter pane 135Filter value 334, 370, 485, 511, 572Filtering 564Filters 369Filters area 333Fiscal year variant 22, 274Fixed value selection 271, 274Flash technology 628Flex 84Flexible updating 221Forecasting 31Form View 556Form view 558, 601Form view components 564Formatted reporting 425Formatting 129Formula 339, 349Formula function 583Formula variable 358FOX formula 505FOX formula components 504FOX formula function 459, 501FOX formula language 501Frame style 557Free characteristic 266, 338, 545, 563Frontend 535


651

Index

Frontend technology 627Function module 545, 553, 587, 591Function pool 588Functions 340

G

Global data 588Global filters 123Global properties 96Global settings 399Global structure 354Goods manufactured 631Granularity 44, 491Grid 532Group 135, 403Guided procedures 63

H

Hardware 148Header 174Header field 615Help document 555Hide tree 158Hierarchical filter 137Hierarchical filter selection 403Hierarchical structures 508Hierarchy display 218Hierarchy level 271Hierarchy node variable 358Hierarchy variable 358History 332HTML elements 388HTML pages 397HTML technology 435HTML view 582, 628HTML view component 585Hyperlinks 388

I

Identifier 595Implementation 159Implementation step 455Inconsistency ditch 58Indexing 148, 280, 286Info field 404

InfoCube 52, 93, 97, 105, 106, 174, 178, 180, 264, 298, 314, 456, 457, 538

InfoCube conversion 320InfoObject 85, 105, 156, 170, 180, 193,

266, 309, 315, 456InfoObjectCatalog 156, 170, 184InfoObjectCatalog template 184InfoPackage 54, 101, 111, 113, 218,

219, 220, 228InfoPackageGroups 72InfoProvider 85, 97, 149, 177, 204, 264,

297, 308, 330, 453, 461, 468, 492Information broadcasting 60, 129, 141,

454Information Field 138Information landscape 27Information lifecycle management 37,

47, 48InfoSet 95, 105InfoSource 101, 105, 217, 222, 238Initial cockpit 463Initial view 269Initialization planning sequence 497Inmon, Bill 27Inner Appearance 78Inner Join 96Input field 135, 547Input help 162Input layout 480Input variable 431Insert 91Inserting a button 384Integrated planning 125Internal display 134Interrupt process 118Intuitive navigation 126ISFS 105IT practices 39IT scenarios 39iView 543, 621

J

J2EE engine 460Job log 305Job monitoring 286Join with InfoCubes 95


652

Index

K

Key figure 86, 93, 174, 187, 193, 309, 318, 327, 505, 511

Key figure assignments 207Key figure calculation 226

L

Large T-shirt size 283Last customer contact update 119Layer 156, 213Layout 399, 514, 556, 558, 575Layout editing engine 133Layout mode 388Layout, edit 565Lead column 428Legend 399Lifecycle 36Line item dimension 186Link 135List of documents 403Listbox 136, 402Lock concept 464Lock server 465Logistics extract structure customizing

cockpit 456Look & feel 104

M

Maintaining aggregates 273Maintenance 286Maintenance table 595Manage models 541Manual feedback 32Manual input layout 480Map 138, 404Mapping 255Mass changes 125Master data 158, 160, 213, 232Master data access 85, 159Master data/texts 86Mathematical functions 340Medium T-shirt size 283Menu bar 135Menu structure 407Message box 531Message table 607, 613

Messages 123Metadata 162, 216Migration 105, 216, 230, 419Migration project 455Migration scenario 467MIME objects 397MiniCubes 270Miscellaneous 78, 133Model 540Modeling 69, 93, 177, 264Modeling area 331, 387Modeling aspects 97, 466Model-oriented architecture 62Monitor 270Monitoring 220, 229, 237, 253, 304,

320MS Excel 373MS Excel integration 126Multi-Channel Broadcasting 141Multidimensional clustering 51Multiple editing 125Multiple languages 414MultiProvider 93, 97, 143, 203, 208,

272, 456, 467MXML 84

N

Navigation 126, 128, 338, 493Navigation area 393Navigation attributes 93, 174, 188, 201,

202, 208Navigation block 500Navigation pane 137Navigation window 111Nearline 48Nearline storage 37, 47Near-real-time scenario 116NetWeaver 2004s DataSources 215NetWeaver Portal 419

O

Object access layer 62Object maintenance 158ODS layer 91OLAP 31OLAP analysis 31OLAP cache 50, 149, 150


653

Index

OLAP functions 452OLTP 538OLTP data basis 540OLTP system 586OLTP transaction 538Operating system 281Operation 315Optimization 31Output medium 425Output table 566, 573Own implementation 85

P

Page elements 129, 130Page header 449Page layout 129Parallelization 53Parallelized deletions 88Parameter 592Parameter group 502Parameter transfer 592, 606Partitioning 37, 49, 97, 100Partitioning condition 302Partitioning setting 306Payment history 537, 569, 570, 577,

624PDF generiation 140Percentage function 340, 342Performance management 264Performance optimization 147, 268Performance optimization measures

147, 264Persistent staging area 101Planned data 457Planned InfoCube 489Planned InfoProvider 489Planned profitability analysis data 457Planning 451Planning application 451, 452, 453, 456Planning architecture 470Planning areas 457Planning basis 457, 497Planning cockpit 499, 514, 520, 531Planning data 143Planning environment 457, 458, 461Planning function 146, 461, 480Planning integration 127Planning interface 456

Planning layout 507, 521, 533Planning model 146Planning Modeler 80, 145, 451, 460,

471, 492, 509Planning point 486Planning process 508Planning query 491, 509Planning sequence 461, 496Planning transactions 462Planning Wizard 80, 146, 451, 460, 480Planning-compatible queries 147Populating the aggregate 275Portal 65, 557, 620Portal content 621Portal integration 419Prerequisites 309Print version 141Process chain 120Process chain maintenance 120, 460Process chains 118, 146Process types 118Properties 327Properties pane 135Property area 405Proposed transformation rules 256, 257PSA 101PSA table 54

Q

Query 149, 331, 425, 460, 508, 544, 559, 571

Query and analysis 68Query description 428, 449Query design 123Query Designer 74, 329, 451, 509Query Monitor 150, 270Query runtime 270

R

Radio button group 137, 402Ranking list 363Real-time cube 143Real-time data acquisition 46, 116Real-time data warehousing 37, 45Real-time InfoCube 93, 118, 146Real-time InfoProvider 453, 467Real-time-enabled InfoCube 468


654

Index

Receivables 565Reclustering 49Redesign components 297Redesign functionality 323Redesign functions 100, 297, 323, 643Redesign requirements 297, 310, 323Redundant functions 143Remodeling 37, 49, 52, 72, 97, 297,

308, 313, 320, 323Remodeling function 320Remodeling monitor 321Remodeling rule 98, 312, 314Remodeling Toolbox 98Remote 85, 159Remote-capable module 588Repartitioning 37, 49, 72, 100, 297, 304,

323, 643Repartitioning Monitor 304Repartitioning request 303Replacement path 358Replication 215Report 136, 401, 430, 450Report call 266Report Designer 76, 130, 425, 435Report title 428Reporting 425Reporting Agent 72Reporting tools 456Request ID 91Request processing 92Response times 263Retraction 32RFC connections 282Risk analysis 31Risk class 597Routine 108, 245, 249Row characteristic 337Row content 336Row height 444Row-pattern concept 131Rows and columns 265RSA1 68RSDS 105RSPLAN 81, 145Rule details 244, 257Runtime components 63Runtime parameter 89Runtime version 628

S

Sales document 175Sales order header 160, 173, 174Sales order header and item 203Sales order item 189, 197Sales order reporting 155, 203SAP Alert Framework 142SAP Analytics 65, 535SAP Analytics application 535SAP Business Content 455SAP Business Explorer 425SAP Business Information Warehouse

263SAP BW 456, 536SAP BW 3.5 452SAP BW components 544, 569SAP BW data model 456SAP BW installations 297SAP BW-BPS 144SAP Delta Queue 47SAP Enterprise Portal 65, 463, 557, 620SAP Exit 359SAP GUI 460SAP liveCache 465SAP NetWeaver 2004s 29, 67, 76, 101,

120, 132, 142, 148, 155, 213, 215, 230, 323, 452, 535, 643

SAP NetWeaver 2004s Business Intelli-gence 153, 428

SAP NetWeaver architecture 36, 37SAP Query Designer 509SAP R/3 455, 592SAP R/3 (ERP) 538SAP R/3 upstream systems 456SAP Visual Composer 535Save button 528Scheduling 303Search and classification 37, 54sel_Currency 556sel_TopN 556Selection 346, 351, 545, 546Selection form view 558Selection screen 301Selection values 549, 551Selection, configure 550Semantic groups 114Semantic key 184Server blade 281


655

Index

Server slot 281Service-oriented architecture 33Setup 148Shared Object Memory 465Shockwave 84Show tree 158Simulation 31Simulation Prediction 136Single Document 138Single document 403Single version of the truth 44Small T-shirt size 283Sold-to country 267Sold-to party 174Source code 389Source InfoCube 207Source system 102, 214, 253, 317Source system ID 317Source system type 103Spacing row 450Staging area 28Standard 78, 85, 88, 133Standard InfoCube 468Standard web template 433Standard workbook 78Start option 320Start point 561Start routine 107, 108Static and dynamic sections 131Static filter 380Static reports 131Statistics data 270Status and tracking system 60, 454Status data 624Structure 335, 350, 400, 508Structure elements 348, 373Structured data 148Stylesheet 397, 435System messages 136, 404

T

Tab pages 135, 522Table 129, 137, 526Table display 364Table functions 625Tables and indices 307Tabs 403Target InfoObjects 106

TCO 153Technical name 315Template 520Template enhancement 522Template object 200Test Frame 491Text 138Text element 378Text variables 358Third-party frontends 425Thresholds 363Ticker 405Time characteristics 185, 186, 298Time dimension 173Time series 624Time series reporting 390Top n condition 545Top n customers 548Top n overview 544, 546, 559Top node 275Total cost of ownership 153Trace evaluation 499Transaction 538Transaction data 213, 238, 262Transaction data retrieval 262Transaction type 274Transactional InfoCubes 456Transfer rules 106, 218, 222, 310Transformation 102, 105, 232

transaction data 238, 239Transformation blocks 109Transformation routine 246, 250Transformation rules 37, 53, 242, 244,

250Transformation types 109Trigonometric functions 340T-shirt size 283

U

UD Connect 103Unstructured data 148Update 217Update button 529Update components 609Update function module 605Update rules 106, 224, 311Upstream systems 456


656

Index

User interface 63, 68, 111, 133, 157, 180, 369, 453

User management 151User-specific code 309User-specific coding 52

V

Value axis 399Value range 302Variable definition 479Variable selection 487Variable types 358Variable use 360Variable value 381Variable Wizard 478Variables 123, 332, 358, 368, 457, 561VC-iView 621Version 174VirtualProvider 93Visual Composer 37, 64, 82, 535, 546,

559, 570, 582Visual Composer applications 628Visual Composer design tool 540, 627Visual Composer model 620

W

Warning area 388Web application 132, 141, 147, 387,

425, 433, 644Web Application Designer 77, 132, 387,

425, 451, 499, 514Web Design API 405Web interface 456, 457Web item 133, 401, 515Web item pool 388Web printing 132, 140Web reporting 389Web service 103, 105Web template 390, 403, 433, 515Web-based reporting 387Wizard 139Work areas 123Workbench 68Workbook 147Workbook design 78, 126Write-optimized 89, 90Write-optimized DataStore object 169

X

XHTML mode 388XHTML source code 139


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