CAF and SAP BW Integration

Composite Application Framework (CAF) and SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) integration allows you to extract CAF services' data and load it into an SAP BW system.

In your SAP BW system, you may need to use data provided in a CAF business object node (BON). To use the BON data, you have to configure connectivity between the CAF and the SAP BW system. Then you will be able to view the CAF data represented as a DataSource for SAP BW. SAP BW uses a DataSource to transfer the required data.

To establish the connectivity between the SAP BW and the CAF system, CAF uses a connector.

The data in SAP BW system is represented using DataSources. CAF exposes its data in a suitable way, which allows SAP BW to recognize it as a concrete type of DataSource. At the same time CAF BONs are not changed, so you do not need to care about the format of the data. For the SAP BW system, CAF:

• Defines DataSources by using application metadata.
• Provides DataSource for each CAF BON to extract its instances.
• Provides DataSource for each relation between business object nodes to extract all existing relations between the business object node instances.
• Provides DataSource for each business object node with language dependent attributes to extract these attributes values.
• Provides DataSource for each application service SAP BW extractor method, enabling the user to implement its own custom extraction of data.

To ease the data extraction, CAF:

• Supports selection parameters defined from SAP BW during the extraction process.
• Extracts data using generic extractor methods, JDBC or implement custom extractors in application services.

Testing CAF's Data without SAP BW Connectivity

Before establishing connection with an SAP BW system, you can check the data provided by a BON using a dedicated CAF's test servlet. You can use the servlet to simulate functionality testing of CAF and SAP SAP BW integration, without actually using SAP BW. For example, you can retrieve a list of all DataSources that CAF provides or extract data from those DataSources.

To use the test servlet, you must have assigned the user you log on with to the role SAP_CAF_DEVELOPER.

To start the Test Servlet, use the URL

http://<host>:<port>/bwtest/CAFAdapterTest

Instructions on how to use the servlet are provided when you open the URL above.

See also:

• For more information about the steps that you have to take to establish the connectivity between the CAF and the SAP BW system, see Configuring CAF for SAP BW Integration .
• For more information and concrete examples on performing data extraction, see Data Extraction in CAF and SAP BW Integration .
• For more information, about the way the data is represented as DataSources, see DataSource Use in CAF and SAP BW Integration .