Interfaces in the Analytic Server
SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse provides an open architecture in many areas: You can extract data from various systems into a BW system and can evaluate this data for your reporting using various front-end tools.
Multidimensional, Web Service and relational Analytic Server interfaces are available for connecting front-end tools. The table below gives an overview of the functions that are allowed in BEx queries and are supported by the interfaces:
Decision Table for Using the Interfaces
| Scenario | Multidimensional Interfaces | Relational Interface |
|---|---|---|
Read mass data |
Not recommended for result sets larger than 1 million cells (see SAP Notes 931479 and 1232751) |
Possible |
BEx Query |
Supported |
Possible but with restrictions |
Ad hoc reporting |
Not possible |
Supported |
Federation |
Not possible |
Supported. In other words, the relational interface means that the BW system can be a federation source (in SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator). |
Security |
Supported |
Supported |
Calculated key figures, formulas |
Supported as part of a query definition |
Possible with computed measures in the SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer |
Variables |
Supported as part of a query definition; SAP variables (especially exit variables) that can be replaced with calculations are also possible here |
Variables with input can be represented with @prompts in the SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence Query Panel; Customer and SAP exit variables possible by combining functions in the SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator (calculation functions, use of user-defined tables or CSV files as source, as well as SAP NetWeaver BW) and in the SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer (create list of values, @prompt mechanism) |
Currency and unit conversion |
Supported as part of a query definition |
Possible with manual modeling of tables with conversion rates in the SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer |
Exceptions and conditions |
Supported |
Not possible; conditions can be modeled using key figure filters. |
BW Hierarchies |
Supported |
Not possible (however, hierarchies that are modeled as dimension characteristics, such as COUNTRY - REGION - CITY are possible) |
InfoCube with non-cumulative key figures |
Supported |
Not possible |
Exception aggregation (COUNT DISTINCT, AVERAGE, STDDEV) |
Supported as part of a query definition |
Is possible with the use of derived tables in SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer; SQL Standard aggregations (AVG, COUNT DISTINCT) possible by using data federator processing |
Select Constant |
Supported as part of a query definition |
Possible by defining and combining multiple queries in a report |
Elimination of internal business volume |
Supported (modeled to key figure) |
Not possible |
EMPTY function, for example in slow moving item scenario |
Supported |
Possible by defining a query in the SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence Query Panel or by manually modeling predefined objects in the SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer |
Structures as reusable units in query |
Supported as part of a query definition |
|
Conversion exits (for example 10.2008 instead of 200810 for October 20008) |
External format is used |
Conversion possible with formatting routines in the SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator or in the SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer or by creating special formats in a report |
Navigation attributes |
Supported |
Supported |
Display attributes |
Supported as part of a query definition |
Possible with joins from InfoProvider to the master data tables in SAP BusinessObjects Universe Designer |
The graphic below shows how interfaces are integrated in the BW system:
Third-party front-end tools can send query requests to the MDX processor in the BW system via the standard interfaces. This processor forwards the request to the OLAP processor. The Easy Query Web service interface can be used to send queries directly to the OLAP processor. Internal interface BICS is used for this. SAP BusinessExplorer and SAP BusinessObjects tools also direct queries to the OLAP processor via this interface. The OLAP processor accesses InfoProviders. The InfoProviders contain either the data objects themselves (InfoProviders of type Target such as InfoCube, DataStore object and InfoObject) or reporting-relevant views on data objects (MultiProvider, VirtualProvider, InfoSet). Using the Data Federator's relational interface, SAP BusinessObjects tools can access BW InfoProviders directly for queries.
Open Analysis Interfaces
On the basis of MDX (MultiDimensonal Expressions), the Analytic Server has the following multidimensional interfaces:
- OLE DB for OLAP (ODBO)
- OLAP BAPI (Business Application Programming interface)
- XML for Analysis (XML/A)
The Analytic Server provides the following interface as a Web Service interface:
- Easy Query (seeManaging Easy Queries)
Relational Interface
You can still use a relational interface: