In this activity you define summarization levels.
For a general overview on summarization levels, see the corresponding chapter in the CO-PA online manual. The following text describes how you maintain summarization levels. To learn how to define them for a specific use, see the examples.
When you call up the transaction for maintaining summarization levels, the system displays a view containing all the existing levels. You can navigate in the following manners:
Use fixed values sparingly for the characteristics. If, for example, you define a summarization level which contains the data for one company code only, you can only use it when you are working in that company code.
At first you do not need to define any indexes. Indexes let you fine-tune how the system accesses the summarization levels. If you do not define any indexes here, the system will create a default when you save. This default should be sufficient in most cases. You should not need to change this until your summarization levels contain a large amount of data in the key table.
The system displays a list of all the existing summarization levels, their descriptive texts, and their current status. The status of a level tells you whether the level can be used in your application. Only those summarization levels can be used which have the status "active".
Technically you can create up to 5000 summarization levels. However, you should try to get by with as few levels as possible, since increasing the number of levels increases the amount of memory space required and the amount of time needed to build them. You can create additional levels later as required. You can also delete the ones you no longer need.
The function "Save" is only available on the initial screen. When you save, the system creates tables in the ABAP/4 Dictionary and in the database for each summarization level. If you have deleted levels, the system deletes the corresponding tables. If you change the fields or the indexes in the summarization level, the system deletes the tables and then recreates them.
Once you have saved the summarization levels, you need to run the program for building the levels , that is, supplying them with data. Until you have done so, you cannot use the summarization levels in your applications.
In the characteristic list for the summarization level, choose which characteristics you want to summarize and which not. If you change the characteristics, the system deletes all the data in the level. For more information, see characteristic value in the summarization level catalog.
Indexes let you optimize the way the system accesses the summarization levels.
At first you do not need to define any indexes. When you save the levels, the system creates a default , which should be sufficient in most cases. It only makes sense to create indexes when the data in the key table reaches a volume of several thousand records (see detail screen).
Maintain the characteristics before you define indexes.
By double-clicking on a level or clicking on the "Detail" pushbutton, you obtain the detail screen for the summarization level. The detail screen contains various statistical information, including how often the level has been accessed or how many records it contains. This data tells you how often the level is used and how high the degree of summarization is.
The menu "Extras" contains the following additional functions:
The detail screen for a summarization level gives you some informational statistics that can help you decide whether your levels are being put to good use or whether they can be deleted.
The overview list lets you compare the definition of characteristics in your levels.
You can transport the settings you make to your productive system using the CO-PA transport tool.
The system only transports the description of the summarization levels. Once you have transported the levels, you need to call up the maintenance transaction for summarization levels once and press "Save" to create the corresponding tables.
As an alternative to this, you can execute program RKETREGN. On the initial screen, enter the following (replacing "xxxx" with the name of your operating concern):