Input-Ready Query 

Use

You can use input-ready queries to create applications for manual planning, that extend from simple data recording to complex planning applications.

Integration

The definition of a query that is to be used for manual planning is done in the BEx Query Designer (see Defining New Queries).

Then you can combine the input-ready queries in the Web Application Designer or the BEx Analyzer with other queries and planning functions for complex planning applications.

Prerequisites

The following InfoProviders are suitable for defining the input-ready query:

·        Aggregation levels (see Aggregation Levels)

·        MultiProviders that include at least one simple aggregation level

The aggregation levels are created in the Planning Modeler; MultiProviders are defined in the modeling functional area of the Data Warehousing Workbench.

Features

Definition of an Input-Ready Query

Once you have defined a query on the above InfoProviders, you will see the Planning tab page under the Properties of structural components (for example, in key figures or restricted key figures). With the options provided there, you can determine which structural components of an input-ready query are to be input ready at runtime and which are not. With structural components that are not to be input ready, you can also determine whether these components are viewed as reference data or are only to be protected against manual entry.

For the structural components, you can also choose among the following options for input readiness:

Input Readiness of Structural Components of a Query

Option	Description
Not input ready (reference data)	If it is reference data, the structural components are not protected with data locks for the exclusive access of a user, because this data serves as a reference for many users. This is the default setting.
Not input ready (no reference data)	If the structural components are only to be protected against manual entries, but can be changed using planning functions, it might be useful to protect this data for one user using locks. Only then can you ensure that the planning function only works with the displayed data and not with data changed  by other users.
Input ready

You can also set whether an input ready query is to be started in change mode or in display mode. You can find this property in the Query Properties on the Planning tab page. If there is at least one input-ready query component, the query (as long as it has not been determined otherwise) is started in display mode.

Input-Ready Queries at Execution Time

Whether cells of an input-ready query are changeable at execution time depends on the query view and possibly on other settings (such as those for data slices and characteristic relationships).

In view of input readiness of cells and query views, note the following rules:

...

       1.      In a query that is to be used for manual planning, a cell is only input ready when each characteristic value of all the characteristic values included in the aggregation level is uniquely determined. It follows that all of the aggregated values on the aggregation level are not input ready. Totals, subtotals and inner hierarchy nodes are not input ready.

       2.      If a query that is to be used for manual planning includes a navigation attribute that is restricted with a fixed or dynamic filter or a restricted key figure, the system treats the navigation attribute as a normal characteristic. Thus the rule listed under point 1 applies. Only when the navigation attribute is not restricted, the system response as if the navigation attribute were not part of the query.

       3.      In a query that is defined on a MultiProvider or on a complex aggregation level and that is to be used for manual planning, a cell is not input ready when the InfoProvider that is determined by this cell is not a real-time enabled InfoCube or when it is a real-time enabled InfoCube that was switched to load mode.

Example

An input-ready query is to be created for a plan-actual comparison of revenues for a set of products for manual planning. The plan data is to be included in a real-time enabled InfoCube and the actual data in a standard InfoCube.

...

       1.      Then create a MultiProvider that includes the InfoCubes for the plan and actual data.

       2.      Define an aggregation level on it that contains the characteristic Product and the key figure Revenue.

       3.      On the aggregation level, you create two restricted key figures Plan Revenue and Actual Revenue. For restricting, choose the characteristic 0INFOPROV and restrict it to the plan or actual InfoCube.

       4.      You add the restricted key figures to the key figure structure. You insert the Product into the rows. For Plan Revenue, you choose Input Ready for the input-readiness option. For Actual Revenue, choose the option Not Input Ready (Reference Data).

       5.      As needed, set the indicator in the query properties that determines whether the queries are started in display or change mode.

Example of an input-ready query

Product	Plan Revenue	Actual Revenue
P01		20
P02		30

If you want to keep actual and plan data in a real-time enabled InfoCube, no MultiProvider is necessary for the task above. Create an aggregation level on the InfoCube and define the input-ready query for it. A version characteristic, for example, plays the role of the InfoProvider in the example above. Create restricted key figures with the plan or actual version and proceed in the following as you did in the previous example.