InfoSource 
InfoSource
Definition
In BW, an InfoSource describes the quantity of all the data available for a business transaction or a type of business transaction (for example, cost center accounting).
An InfoSource is a quantity of information that logically belongs together, summarized into a single unit. InfoSources contain either transaction data or master data (attributes, texts and hierarchies).
An InfoSource is always a quantity of
InfoObjects that logically belong together. The structure in which these are stored is called a communication structure.Use
Data that logically belongs together is stored in the source systems as DataSources. A DataSource is an object that, at the request of BW, makes data available in one of its predetermined structures. The properties of a DataSource relevant to BW are copied into the BW system.
In the BW
Transfer rules Maintenance, individual DataSource fields are assigned to the corresponding InfoObject of the InfoSource. You also determine here, which data is actually transferred from an extract structure of a DataSource to the communication of an InfoSource.The transfer structure is used for the data transfer. The data is transferred 1:1 from the
transfer structure of the source system into the BW transfer structure.Integration
If fields that logically belong together exist in various source systems, they can be grouped together into a single InfoSource in BW. The source system release is not important here.
If you are dealing with an InfoSource with flexible updating, then the data is loaded from the communication structure into the InfoCube with the aid of the
Update Rules. InfoSources with direct updating permit master data to be written directly (without update rules) into the master data tables.InfoSources are listed in the InfoSource tree of the Administrator Workbench under an application component.