Transferring Data with UD Connect 

Purpose

UD Connect (Universal Data Connect) uses the Application Server J2EE connectivity to enable the  reporting and analysis of both SAP and non-SAP data. Using UD Connect, you can access just about all relational and multi-dimensional data sources. UD Connect transfers the data as flat data. Multi-dimensional data is converted to a flat format when UD Connect is used.

For the connection to data sources, UD Connect can use the JCA-capable (J2EE Connector Architecture) BI Java Connectors that are available for various drivers, protocols and providers as resource adapters.

·        BI JDBC Connector

·        BI ODBO Connector

·        BI SAP Query Connector

·        BI XMLA Connector

For more information, see BI Java Connectors.

Prerequisites

You have installed the J2EE Engine with BI Java components.  For more information, see the SAP NetWeaver Installation Guide on the SAP Service Marketplace at service.sap.com/instguides.

Terminology

UD Connect Source
UD Connect Sources are instances that can be addressed as data sources via the BI Java Connectors. Data sources that are included are relational data sources, OLAP data sources (multi-dimensional), XMLA-capable OLAP data sources (multi-dimensional) and SAP’s own applications.

UD Connect Source Object
UD Connect source objects are multi-dimensional or relational data stores in the UD Connect sources, such as tables or cubes.

Source Object Element
Source object elements are the components of UD Connect source objects, such as fields for tables, characteristics and key figures of cubes.

Process Flow

...

       1.      Establish the connection to the data source with your relational or multi-dimensional source objects on the J2EE Engine, such as a relational database management system with tables and views.

       2.      Create RFC destinations on the J2EE Engine and in BI to enable communication between the J2EE Engine and BI. For more information, see the Implementation Guide for SAP NetWeaver  → Business Intelligence → UDI Settings by Purpose →  UD Connect Settings.

       3.      On the basis of the source object elements, model the required InfoObjects in BI.

       4.      In BI, determine a DataSource.

Result

You can now integrate the data for the source object into BI. You can either extract the data, load it into BI and physically store it there, or, as long as the prerequisites for this are fulfilled, you can read the data directly in the source using a VirtualProvider.