Definitions and Abbreviations
API - Application Programming Interface
A specification and a set of tools to allow programmatic communication with another system.
BW - Business Information Warehouse
A component of the SAP business framework, specifically designed to meet the data warehousing and reporting needs of R/3 customers.
BNF - Bacchus Normal Form
A system of notation used to decompose and describe a grammar. ODBO Microsoft's OLE DB for OLAP
Characteristic
A SAP BW dimension field. A key to facts.
InfoCube
An independent warehouse of information in the BW. Each InfoCube is comprised of one fact table, and one or many dimension tables.
Key Figure
A SAP BW fact, normally a quantitative field.
MDX Multidimensional Expression Language
The grammar used with the OLE DB protocols.
OLAP - On-Line Analysis Processor
In contrast to OLTP, on-line transaction processor. R/3 is both an OLTP and an OLAP. The BW is specifically an OLAP.
OLE - Object Linking & Embedding
A Microsoft proprietary set of protocols which specifies how desktop applications may communicate with and manipulate members of other applications.
OLE DB - OLE Database
One of the protocols specified as part of OLE. This protocol enables data consumer applications to access data provider applications.
Query_Cube
A source of datasets formed by applying a pre-built query on a BW InfoCube through the OLAP processor. The object which provides data in the BW OLAP API.
RFC - Remote Function Calls
A type of R/3 ABAP/4 programming unit. An RFC is a function which has been enabled for remote calling. It executes in a separate task space when called externally. The term RFC is used for both the calls and the functions.