Defining the Value Set Setting 

Use

The Reporting Agent enables you to fill precalculated value set variables with values for characteristic values in the background. In addition, the precalculated value sets are available as variable values in BEx queries.

The following cases are typical examples of where the execution of precalculated value sets in the background is used:

·        When analyzing target groups, because you can specify a fixed value.

·        When complex selections are involved such as with top N queries, used to greatly improve query performance.

·        Instead of variables that are filled from a query event (Replace from a Query Event).

Prerequisites

The query must contain the characteristic that is the placeholder for the variables.

Procedure

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       1.      Choose the REPORTING_AGENT transaction code.

       2.      Select Precalculating Value Sets and choose Execute.

       3.      On the left side of the Reporting Agent Settings, you can see the available   characteristics as well as the Reporting Agent settings   that are assigned to them. You have the following options for creating a new setting:

-         Select the required characteristic and choose New Settings in the context menu. The New Reporting Agent Setting dialog box appears.

The name of the selected characteristic is pre-defined on the Parameters tab page under the Characteristic group heading.

-         Choose  Create New Setting. The New Reporting Agent Setting dialog box appears.

       4.      Specify a technical name and a description for the Reporting Agent setting.

The following information is displayed on the General tab page:

-         The functional area of the setting is Precalculation of Value Sets. 

-         After the setting has been saved for the first time, under the Last Changed On/By group header the system displays details of the last person who changed the setting and the time this change was made.

-         Under the Setting is Used in Packages group header, the system displays information about the packages in which the setting is used, and how they are scheduled. This information can only be displayed if you have defined the setting and assigned one or more scheduling packages to it.

       5.      Choose the Parameters tab page to set parameters.

If you have not created the setting in the context menu for the characteristic, you need to enter the name of the  characteristic for which you want to create the variable. Do this under the Characteristic group header. Input help is available.

Under the Query group header, enter the name of the query whose result is to be saved as a pre-calculated value set. The input help function is available.

The system displays the following information about the query you have selected:

-          InfoCube (technical name, description)

-          Query (technical name, description)

-         Variant (if required).

       6.      Save active . Under the Generated Value Sets group heading, the system returns the  value set (technical name, description) and the table as a result.

A value set that has been precalculated in the background corresponds to a query with the following properties:

§         The key figure structure is in the columns.

§         The characteristic that you have selected in the Reporting Agent setting is in the rows. All other characteristics are removed from the query.

The precalculated value set displays the value of a variable of type Precalculated Value Set from the selected characteristic.

Result

After you have defined the Reporting Agent setting, you must assign this to a scheduling package and schedule the package as a job. For more information, see Processing a Scheduling Package.

As a result of background processing, you can use the precalculated value set in a characteristic variable. You use the variable wizard in the Query Designer to create a characteristic variable. You determine that the variable represents a precalculated value set in the Details step. The value of this variable is the technical name of the Reporting Agent setting. You enter the technical name in the Default Values step. The variable can be input ready and you can select different value sets in the variable screen at query runtime.

In addition, you can manually enter variables of type Precalculated Value Set on the variable screen. To do this, you enter the technical name of the Reporting Agent setting.

Note that for technical reasons, you cannot use variables that represent a precalculated value set in restricted key figures or in selection structure elements.

For more information, see section Using Variables: Variable Wizard and Variable Editor under Details and Default Values.