Definitions and Abbreviations
API – Application Programming Interface
A specification and set of tools that enable a program to communicate with another system.
BW - Business Information Warehouse
A SAP business framework component that has been developed to meet the data warehousing and reporting needs of R/3 customers.
BNF – Backus Naur Form
A notation system used to deconstruct and describe a grammatical system. ODBO Microsoft’s OLE DB for OLAP
Characteristic
SAP BW dimension field. A key in fact tables.
InfoCube
An independent warehouse with information in the BW. Each InfoCube comprises a fact table and one or more dimension tables.
Key figure
A SAP BW fact, usually a field with a quantifiable value.
MDX Multidimensional Expression Language
A grammar used with the OLE DB protocols.
OLAP - On-Line Analysis Processor
An online transaction processor, in contrast to OLTP. R/3 is both an OLTP and an OLAP. BW is specifically an OLAP.
OLE object linking and embedding
A Microsoft proprietary set of protocols that specifies how desktop applications communicate with members of other applications, and how they can manipulate them.
OLE DB OLE Database
One of the protocols specified as a part of OLE. Data consumer applications can use this protocol to access data provider applications.
Query_Cube
A source of datasets, constructed by executing a pre-defined query for a BW InfoCube via the OLAP processor. Object that stages data in the BW OLAP API.
RFC - Remote Function Calls
An R/3 ABAP programming unit An RFC is a function that can be called up remotely. When called up externally, it is executed in a separate process. The term RFC is used for the functions and calls.