Creating and Shipping Custom Content in the BW System

Scenario 1: Creating and Delivering Your Own Content

The simplest scenario consists of the following processes:

• You develop your own content.

• You do not use BI Content delivered by SAP or you use it without changing it.

• You deliver only your own content to your customers.

To deliver customer content you have developed, you proceed as follows:

1. Create the required objects in your content development system and activate the objects that are first created in the M version (first M version first A version). The system copies the activated objects automatically to the D version (first D version).

   Note

   If you want to transport the objects that you created before you set the system as the content system in your BW system settings, you simply activate them by copying them to the D version.

2. Since the standard transport system is switched on, the system wrote your content objects to transport requests. Release these requests. Your content objects are transported from the content development system to the content test system.

3. Deliver the objects in the D version from the content test system using a delivery transport (for more information, see System Landscape). Make sure that no A TLOGO objects are transported. Further changes (second M version) do not affect delivery as long as you do not activate these objects.

The following figure illustrates this procedure:

The following figure illustrates the delivery of customer content that was developed in a separate namespace /ABC/ (for more information, see Using the Namespace or Developing BW Objects). The objects are exported in the D version. The 0MATERIAL InfoObject is used but not delivered.

Scenario 2: Adjusting and Delivering SAP BI Content

In the second scenario, you change the BI Content shipped by SAP and deliver the modified BI Content to your customers.

The procedure for delivery is almost identical to that in the first scenario. However, you must also set those SAP objects that you want to adjust to changeable (for more information, see Setting Object Changeability in Customer Content Systems).

• Install the SAP support package in your content development system.

• Create a correction delivery transport.

• When upgrading other systems, include the correction delivery transport in the upgrade.

The following figure illustrates each of the steps in the recommended process flow:

The process flow in the figure outlines the following steps:

1. Activate all BI Content objects delivered by SAP (first A version).

2. Make the required changes (second M version).

3. Activate the changed objects (second A version). The system copies the activated objects automatically to the D version (second D version).

4. You can deliver your customer content in the D version (second D version).

5. If SAP redelivers BI Content in a support package or in an upgrade (third D version), you have to restore your objects in the D version.

   Note

   The system indicates that certain BI Content objects were modified and need to be merged. The modified BI Content objects are listed hierarchically in the overview of objects for the modification adjustment (transaction SPAU). (Within the system, table SMODILOG is used to do this; this table is also transported to the subsequent systems.)

   Alternatively, in the BI Content functional area of the Data Warehousing Workbench, you can select the Objects in BW Patch view and check which objects SAP is delivering in the current support package. For upgrades, it is usual for most objects to be redelivered.

   To restore your objects in the D version, you can proceed in various ways:

   • Without Merging

     Customers generally only need their own version (second version). All that remains to be done is to reactivate the objects (using a normal user). This automatically overwrites the D version delivered by SAP (the third D version). However, with this procedure, all enhancements delivered by SAP are lost.

   • With Merging

     If you want to keep enhancements delivered by SAP, you can merge the new content version (third D version) with the active version (second A version).

     Merge the versions and copy the objects to a transport request. If you use the Add-On Assembly Kit (AAK), you can create a conflict resolution transport in your consolidation system with minimal effort (for more information, see Creating and Delivering Customer Content). Otherwise you can put the request together manually in the content development system.

     The following table provides an overview of the object types for which merging is automatically available. If automatic merging is not supported, you have to manually compare the two versions (second A version and third D version) and adjust them if necessary.

   Availability of Automatic Merging for Object Types

   With Automatic Merging	Without Automatic Merging
   Report-report interface, RRI recipient of the InfoCube, RRI recipient of query	Aggregates
   DataSource/FileSource	Application component
   InfoCubes	Crystal Report
   InfoObject	Query element: query, structure, restricted and calculated key figures, variable
   InfoObject catalog	Update rules
   Data Mining: mining model, model source	InfoArea
   MultiProvider	InfoPackage
   DataStore object	InfoPackage Group
   Process chain	InfoSet, classic InfoSet
   Transfer rules	InfoSet Query
   InfoSource TRCS	3.x InfoSource ISTD
   	Source System
   	Query view
   	Reporting Agent: Reporting Agent scheduling package, Reporting Agent setting
   	Role
   	Currency Translation Type
   	Web item
   	Web template
   	Workbook

   Caution

   Note that you need to merge the versions using the special user for which the system is not a content system and the standard transport system is switched off (for more information, see System Landscape). If objects are not to be written to the $TMP package but to another transportable package, the requests for this user are not to be released and transported.

   Finally, you have to reactivate the content using a normal user, so that the objects are copied to the D version. If no changes were made and there is nothing to be activated, you may need to make a pseudo change to the objects.

6. When activated, the objects are written to one or more transport requests. Transport the transport request(s) to the test system, and use it to create a correction delivery transport. If you use the Add-On Assembly Kit (AAK), you can create a Conflict Resolution Transport in your consolidation system with minimal effort (more information Creating and Delivering Customer Content).

7. Deliver your correction delivery transport or the Conflict Resolution Transport directly after installing the SAP support package or after an upgrade on all subsequent systems.