Installing Business Content 

Use

Before you are able to work with Business Content objects, you have to convert them from the SAP delivery version (D version) into the active version (A version). For more information, see Business Content (Versions).

SAP recommends that you install Business Content objects in the following cases:

·        After a Content release upgrade

An upgrade to a new Content release usually contains a large number of new and modified Business Content objects. If you want to be able to use the new and modified Business Content, you have to reinstall the Business Content objects. Refer to the Release Notes published with the upgrade. In some cases, we recommend explicitly that you install the A versions of certain objects.

·        After installing a Content support package

Refer to the SAP Notes that are delivered with each Content Support Package. These notes contain information on why certain Business Content objects are being redelivered.

Procedure

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The following is an overview of the individual steps in the procedure: These steps are subsequently explained in more detail.

       1.      Navigate to the Data Warehousing Workbench to install Business Content (selection of objects, settings for the transfer, starting the transfer).

       2.      Assign relevant source systems.

       3.      Group objects to be included, determine mode of collection for the objects.

       4.      Determine the view of the objects.

       5.      Transfer the objects in Collected Objects.

       6.      Check the settings for the Collected Objects with reference to the Install,Match or Copy and Active Version Available functions.

       7.      Make settings in the selection list and Transfer.

       8.      Correct errors.

 

1. Navigate to the Data Warehousing Workbench to Install Business Content

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From the main menu in Business Intelligence, choose Modeling  ® Data Warehousing Workbench: Business Content. If you are already in the Data Warehousing Workbench, select the Business Content functional area by clicking on the corresponding pushbutton in the left-hand navigation window, or by choosing the path Goto ® Install Business Content.

The Data Warehousing Workbench for installing Business Content has three navigation windows:

·        In the left-hand window you determine the view of the objects in the middle area of the screen.

·        In the middle window, you select the objects that you want to activate.

·        In the right-hand window, you make the settings for installing the Business Content. The right-hand window also contains an overview of the objects you have selected, and it is here that you start the installation of the Business Content.

In the Data Warehousing Workbench, you use the  Navigation Window On/Off pushbutton on the toolbar to display or hide the left-hand navigation window. The rest of this section assumes that the left-hand navigation window is displayed.

2. Assign Relevant Source Systems

If you want to assign a source system, select the  Source System Assignment function. The Choose Source System by Default? dialog box appears.

Select one or more source systems by setting the corresponding indicators in the Default Assignment column.

Only ever select the source systems that you really need, otherwise you may have to wait unnecessarily when objects are collected.

The assignment of the source system is only relevant for source-system dependent objects (such as transfer rules, file DataSources, and InfoPackages). If more than one source system is available, only those objects assigned to the specified source system are collected ready for the transfer. Objects that have not been assigned to the specified source systems are ignored.

For more information about the special features inherent in activating process chains that can reference to source-system dependent objects, see the Customer Content documentation, under Process Chain and Process Variant.

If you do not select a source system, all the source systems are assigned automatically. You can change your selection later, using the  Source System Assignment function.

3. Group Objects To Be Included, Determine Mode of Collection for Objects

Make the settings you require from the following selection lists on the right-hand side of the screen:

·         Grouping

Choose the objects that you want the system to include. The groupings combine the objects from a particular area. You have the following options:

¡        Only Necessary Objects (default setting)

¡        In Data Flow Before

¡        In Data Flow Afterwards

¡        In Data Flow Before and Aftrwds

For more information about groupings, see Collection Object Grouping.

If you change the default setting (Only Necessary Objects), the new setting becomes the default setting for your user.

The grouping selection has an impact on system performance when installing Business Content. For more information, see View of Objects and Object-Specific Recommendations.

·        Collection Mode

Select how you want to collect the objects:

¡        Collect Automatically (default setting): The data is collected directly when the objects are selected.

¡        Start Manual Collection: The data is collected when you click on the  Collect Dependent Objects icon.

 

Set the collection mode to Start Manual Collection. You can then select all objects without having to wait.

4. Determine View of Objects

In the left-hand navigation window, specify how you want the objects to be displayed. For more information, see View of Objects and Object-Specific Recommendations.

5. Transfer the Objects in Collected Objects

In the central area of the screen, select the objects that you want to install, and use Drag&Drop to transfer them into the right-hand Collected Objects area of the screen.

The  Find Object function allows you to use strings of characters (for example, 0CUST) or wild card searches (for example, 0CUST_*B) to search for objects.

Input help is available for every type of object: Double-click on the  Select Objects icon in the tree structure of the corresponding object type to display the Input Help for Metadata screen. Select the required objects. Choose  Transfer Selection.

If you implement BI Service API releases lower than 7.0 in the source system, you have to install the active version of the Business Content DataSources in the source system and replicate them in the BI system, before you can use them for transferring data in BI. For more information, see Installing Business Content DataSources and Metadata Upload for SAP Systems.

In the Collected Objects area of the screen, the system displays the selected objects and all dependent objects. Collected objects are stored by default in the repository cache. This reduces the time it takes to access these objects when you want to use them again.

When you transfer objects into the Collected Objectsarea of the screen, these objects are also added to the tree structure of the corresponding object type in the central area of the screen and stored for your user. This personal object list can be called up each time the program is restarted.

If you want to remove objects from your personal list, select the objects that you want to remove and choose the Remove Object from Display option from the context menu or click on the  icon.

Objects that are listed in several tree structures can only be changed in the place where they first appear. All additional instances of these objects are grayed out so you cannot modify them.

6. Check Settings for Collected Objects

Check the following columns in the Collected Objects area of the screen:

·        Install

The following Business Content objects are highlighted in this column by default:

¡        Objects that are being transferred for the first time. There is not an active version of these objects in the system.

¡        Business Content objects that have been redelivered in a new version. These objects are identified by the Content time stamp in the corresponding object tables.

When setting this indicator check whether the checkbox refers to a folder of an individual object: If the checkbox refers to a folder, the indicator is set for all the objects that belong to this folder. If the checkbox refers to an individual object, the indicator is set for a single object and the indicators for the other objects in the folder are not changed. The same applies when removing this indicator.

In the context menu, the following two options are available for the installation:

...

                            a.      Install all Below

The object in the selected hierarchy level and all objects in the lower levels of the hierarchy are selected as to Install.

                            b.      Do Not Install All Below

The Install indicators are removed for the object in the selected hierarchy level and all objects in the lower levels of the hierarchy.

·        Match (X) or Copy

If the SAP delivery version and the active version can be matched, a checkbox is displayed in this column.

With the most important object types, the active version and the SAP delivery version can be matched.

From a technical point of view, the SAP delivery version (D version) is matched with the M version. As in most cases the M version is identical to the active version (A version) in a customer system, this is referred to as a match between the D and A versions for reasons of simplification.

When a match is performed, particular properties of the object are compared in the A version and the D version. First it has to be decided whether these properties can be matched automatically or whether this has to be done manually. A match can be performed automatically for properties if you can be sure that the object is to be used in the same way as before it was transferred from Business Content. When performing matches manually you have to decide whether the characteristics of a property from the active version are to be retained, or whether the characteristics are to be transferred from the delivery version.

 Example of an automatic match

Additional customer-specific attributes have been added to an InfoObject in the A version. In the D version, two additional attributes have been delivered by SAP that do not contain the customer-specific attributes. In order to be able to use the additional attributes, the delivery version has to be installed from Business Content again. At the same time, the customer-specific attributes are to be retained. In this case, you have to set the indicator (X) in the checkbox. After installing the Business Content, the additional attributes are available and the customer-specific enhancements have been retained automatically. However, if you have not checked the match field, the customer-specific enhancements in the A version are lost.

 Example of a manual match

An InfoObject has a different text in the A version than in the D version. In this case the two versions have to be matched manually. When Business Content is installed, a details screen appears which asks you to specify whether the text should be transferred from the active version or from the D version.

 

The Match indicator is set as default in order to prevent the customer version being unintentionally overwritten. If the Content of the SAP delivery version is to be matched to the active version, you have to set the Install indicator separately.

The active version is overwritten with the delivery version if:

¡        The match indicator is not set, and

¡        The install indicator is set.

In other words, the delivery version is copied to the active version.

If the Install indicator is not set, the object is not copied or matched. In this case, the Match indicator has no effect.

In the context menu, two options are available:

...

                            a.      Merge All Below

The object in the selected hierarchy level and all objects in the lower levels of the hierarchy are selected as to Match.

                            b.      Copy All Below

The Match indicators are removed for the object in the selected hierarchy level and all objects in the lower levels of the hierarchy. If the Install indicator is also set, these objects are copied from the delivery version to the active version.

The most important properties which are taken into account when versions are matched are now listed.

When referring to InfoObjects it is important to differentiate between:

§         Characteristics

§         Time characteristics

§         Key figures and

§         Units

Valid for All InfoObjects Named Above:

Properties Matched Automatically:	Properties Matched Manually:
·        Texts ·        Description If texts/descriptions in the delivery version do not yet exist in the active version, they are transferred.	·        Attribute only (flag) ·        Short and long text (description) ·        Time dependency of attributes ·        Transfer routine

Valid for Characteristics

Properties Matched Automatically:

Properties Matched Manually:

·        Compounding New InfoObjects are included in compounding ·        Referenced characteristic Reference characteristics are transferred automatically. A warning is issued. ·        Attributes / navigation attributes New attributes are included. If an attribute is added by the customer, the settings for this attribute are transferred (for example, F4 sequence). ·        Application components If the entry for the active version is initial, the delivery version is used.

·        BEx display ·        Characteristic Constants ·        Default member ·        Authorizations (flag and field) ·        Selection (CHASEL) ·        InfoObject is document attribute ·        Data type ·        Length ·        Output length ·        Conversion routines ·        Lower case allowed (flag) ·        Contains master data (flag) ·        Master data is authorization relevant (flag) ·        Export DataSource (Flag) ·        F4 query design ·        F4 query runtime ·        Check DataStore object ·        Contains text tables (flag) ·        Texts are language-dependent (flag) ·        Short, medium and long texts exist (each with flag) ·        Default currency ·        GIS attribute ·        Hierarchies exist (flag)

Valid for Key Figures

Properties Matched Automatically:	Properties Matched Manually:
	·        Type of key figure ·        Fixed unit ·        Fixed currency ·        Aggregation ·        Exception aggregation

Valid for Units

Properties Matched Automatically:	Properties Matched Manually:
	·        See the table above (Valid for Characteristics), if these properties are also relevant for the units.

When referring to InfoProviders it is important to differentiate between:

¡        MultiProviders

¡        InfoCubes

¡        DataStore object

¡        InfoObject

InfoObjects are discussed above (see the first table Valid for All Objects Named Above).

Valid for All InfoProviders Named Above:

Properties Matched Automatically:	Properties Matched Manually:
·        New InfoObjects If InfoObjects in the delivery version do not yet exist in the active version, they are transferred.	·        Manual matching is not necessary.

Valid for MultiProviders

Properties Matched Automatically:	Properties Matched Manually:
·        New InfoProviders If InfoProviders in the delivery version do not yet exist in the active version, they are transferred.	·        Manual matching is not necessary.

Valid for InfoCubes

Properties Matched Automatically:	Properties Matched Manually:
·        New dimensions If dimensions in the delivery version do not yet exist in the active version, they are transferred.	·        Manual matching is not necessary.

With the InfoObject catalog object type, InfoObjects that are assigned to a catalog in the delivery version are transferred to the active version automatically. Manual matching is not necessary.

With the transfer rule object type, those objects that exist in the delivery version but are not yet contained in the active version (for example, additional attributes) are added automatically when the match is performed. Manual matching is not necessary.

With the process chain object type, those objects that exist in the delivery version but are not yet contained in the active version (for example, additional objects in the process chain) are added automatically when the match is performed. Manual matching is not necessary.

 

·        Active Version Available

In this column, the following display options are available:

¡        : The object is available in an active version. You decide whether you want to retain this version or reinstall the latest version of the object.

¡        Date symbol: The object is already available in an active version. However, the active version belongs to an older Content release. SAP recommends that you install the latest version.

¡        Gray symbol : An activated version of the object is available in the system. However, the object status is inactive. If an object version is activated, this indicates that all metadata for the object can be created successfully. The inactive object status indicates that the processed object is inconsistent and cannot currently be used for processing data. Transfer the object again from the SAP delivery version (D version). If this is not enough to change the object status from “inactive” to “active” the object has to be postprocessed. You find notes on postprocessing in the activation log.

Postprocessing: An inactive object status may also occur for an InfoObject if changes are made to the structure at field level. Postprocessing the object involves converting the relevant tables in accordance with the activation log.

¡        No indicator: The object is not available in an active version.

7. Make Settings in the Selection List and Install.

Make the required settings in the  Install selection list:

Installation Type

Installation Type	What You Need to Know
Simulate Installation	The system runs a test to see whether any errors are likely to occur during the installation. However, not all errors that may occur can be identified during simulation: Some error messages can only be generated when a real A version (and not just a simulation) is available in the system. You should, therefore, only use the simulation function as a rough guide to help you identify and remove basic errors.
Install	The selected objects are installed immediately.
Install in Background	The selected objects are installed in the background.
Install and Transport	The selected objects are installed immediately and then written to a transport request.

SAP recommends you use the Install in background option, because installing a large number of objects can take a long time. Modifying objects that are already active can take an especially long time to complete. Make sure that when you install objects in the background that the versions are not matched. It is always the delivery versions that are installed. These are not matched with any available customer versions.

8. Correct Errors

Any errors that occur during the installation of the Business Content are listed in a log. Click on the  Log pushbutton to view this log. In the relevant maintenance transaction, repair any errors that occurred during the installation. Install the Business Content again.

 

See also:

Installing the Business Content DataSource in the Active Version