Using Namespaces for Developing BW Objects

Prerequisites

To apply for namespaces, you require an ABAP development license (ABAP/4 Development Workbench License).

Note

For more information about applying for a namespace, see SAP Note 84282.

Context

To avoid naming conflicts with a customer's local objects, customer content has to be developed in its own namespace. You can use either your own namespace or an agreed subarea of the standard customer namespace (A* to Z*):

1st Scenario: Your Own Namespace for Developing Customer Content

We recommend using your own namespace. Namespaces with format /ABC are reserved for customer content development. To designate a BW object as having been developed in a namespace of this type, enter the technical name of the object together with the namespace.

Example

An InfoObject can have the technical name /ABC/MATERIAL for example.

For customers, using a special namespace for developing customer content is optional.

Caution

Partners have to develop their partner content in their own development namespace.

2nd Scenario: Standard Namespace for Developing Customer Content

As a customer, you can also develop customer content in the standard customer namespace (A* to Z*). In this case though, you have to make sure that the content objects and the recipient's personal objects are in different subareas of your namespace.

Example

You can split your standard customer namespace so that A* to D* is reserved for customer content development for example and E* to Z* is reserved for the development of personal objects.

In the source system note that for the application component hierarchy, the default customer namespace Y* and Z* is available.

The rest of this topic further explains how you can set up and use your own namespace for developing customer content, as detailed in the first (recommended) scenario.

Procedure

Apply for a development namespace in SAP Service Marketplace at service.sap.com/namespaces.
You also need to apply for a generation namespace. You apply for this in the same way as the development namespace.

Caution
If you are using more than one development namespace, you need a generation namespace for each one.

The name of the generation namespace must adhere to the following rules:
- The name can have a maximum of seven characters, including a slash ("/").
- The name has to start with the letter "B" and then consist only of numbers.
  
  Example
  /B2345/
  
  Note
  Note that the five-character namespaces /B00/ to /B99/ are reserved.
- The descriptive text starts with BWGEN. The namespace that it is assigned to then needs to be provided.
  
  Example
  "BWGEN generation namespace for /ABC/ company ABC ...".
The shorter the name of the generation namespace, the more significant characters you have available for the technical name of the BW object.
Release the development namespace and generation namespace in the BW and the OLTP system. (Use the same namespaces in both systems.)

To do this, enter the namespace and repair license in the namespace table in your development system. In the Transport Organizer Tools (transaction SE03), choose Administration → . The Display View Repository Namespaces : Overview screen appears.. (In the OLTP system, path details may differ from release to release).

Unlike the development namespace, you only enter the generation namespace with role C (customer). You therefore only need a repair license.

Caution
You can only create generated objects in the generation namespace. If you create your own nongenerated objects in the generation namespace, there is a risk of them being overwritten by objects generated in the BW system. You should therefore always use the development namespace for non-generated objects.
Enter the namespace in your BW system.

You can edit BW namespaces in transaction Maintain BW Namespaces (transaction RSNSPACE). Since this transaction uses a transport connection, your entries are written to a request and can therefore be transported to a target system. The system writes partner and customer namespaces such as /ABC/ to the RSPSPACE table. The RSNSPACE table contains the BW standard namespaces such as /BI0/ and /BIC/.

In the OLTP system, set the namespaces to changeable. You make this setting in Transport Organizer Tools (transaction SE03) Administration Set System Change Option . The System Change Option screen appears. Here you can set the namespaces to modifiable. (In the OLTP system, path details may differ from release to release).
When you use a namespace, you should create a package with the same namespace prefix (such as /ABC/PACK).

Results

You have created a development namespace and a generation namespace.

Note that the length of the names of BW objects that are located in these namespaces is restricted. The following table contains some examples. Prerequisite: These examples are based on the assumption that your development namespace has N characters and your generation namespace has G characters. (Note that the slashes count as well, meaning that namespace /ABC/ has five characters for example).

Maximum Length of Names of BW Objects

BW Object Type	Maximum Length According to Namespace
InfoObject	The maximum length ieither 14 characters - G or 14 characters - N, whichever is smaller..
InfoCubes	14 characters - G
DataStore object	13 characters - G
InfoSource	25 characters - G
InfoSet	14 characters - G
DataSource	30 characters - G

Note that existing BI objects cannot be copied to the namespace automatically. To put an existing object in the namespace, you have to create a new object in the namespace as a copy of the required object.

More information:

Features when Transporting Roles