Connecting to SAP Business Information Warehouse 

Use

If you have an SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) available as a database, you can also use it for Merchandise and Assortment Planning. This means you can use all the advantages of SAP BW. 

SAP BW allows you to:

·        Update all actual data for the planning scenario from the BW system to the relevant info structures for your planning scenario

·        Extract all planning data that you have created during your planning session and which was updated in the info structure, from the info structures and transfer it to the BW system.

Prerequisites

Your MAP system must fulfill the following criteria (Customizing for Merchandise and Assortment Planning) before you can use SAP BW to read actual data:

·        Activate the BW switch in the cross-scenario settings.

·        Activate the BW connection at planning scenario level. You can decide whether you want to use the BW connection for each individual planning scenario.

·        Decide from which planning step (and the storage periodicity) you want to take actual data in the BW system.

·        Enter the RFC destination for the BW system in Customizing for the planning scenario

·        In Customizing for the planning scenario, enter the source of the data from the BW system:

¡        Assign an InfoCube to each storage periodicity

¡        In the planning scenario, assign the fields used from info structures to InfoCubes to specify which fields in the planning scenario match which fields in the InfoCube.

System Landscape

The following graphic illustrates a possible system landscape when MAP is linked to SAP BW:

Explanation of the different data flows:

(1) The actual data InfoCubes in MAP are filled with actual data from existing extractor info structures in R/3.

(2) The actual data for the MAP info structures is taken from the actual data InfoCubes.

(3) The planning data or actual data is taken from the info structures.

(4) The planning data is stored in info structures.

(5) The planning data for the planning data InfoCube in MAP is taken from the info structures.

(6) The planning data InfoCubes and actual data InfoCubes can be used for reporting.

Combining a BW System with an R/3 System or ERP System

The following table indicates which functions are available for which system combination:

Function	BW System	R/3 System or ERP System
Read actual data from BW (2)	as of Release 2.0A	as of Release 4.6C
Read planning data to BW (5), plugins required	-	as of Release 4.6B
Best Practice Content in BW + R/3 or ERP	as of Release 2.0B	as of Release 4.6C

Business Content

Business Content are pre-configured information models in SAP BW. The Business Content should be used as a template or example if you want to create your own Business Content.

Business Content especially for MAP is to be included in SAP BW. The Business Content will be based on Best Practice Scenario 1_SAP. The main characteristics are:

·        The InfoCubes are created in close connection with the info structures in the Best Practice Scenario for MAP. InfoCubes exist for both actual data and planning data. This enables you to compare the two data types.

¡        The actual data InfoCubes are filled with actual data from existing extractor info structures in R/3.

¡        The planning data InfoCubes are filled with planning data from existing extractor info structures in R/3.

·        Queries are structured in the same way as the planning layouts for Best Practice Scenario.

·        Entry BWBESTFORMAP is required for the RFC destination of the BW system in Best Practice Scenario 1_SAP. Before you can use this example, you must define this destination in your system via transaction SM59.