Combining Information from Several Structures
You can combine data from several structures, that is, combining characteristics and key figures from different structures (for example, evaluation structures or information structures, DD tables) in the following cases:
Case 1
You want to combine and evaluate information from two or more evaluation structures.
Case 2
You want to combine and evaluate data from two or more DD tables.
Case 3
You want to combine and evaluate information from an evaluation structure and a DD table.
The following illustration shows you the procedure for these three cases.
Caution
Note that an evaluation structure with the same name already exists for each information structure in LIS.
The procedures that are described below refer to the above illustration.
Procedure for case 1
If you want to combine and evaluate data from two or more evaluation structures, execute steps 1 and 3. (refer to illustration) Step 1 (create an evaluation structure with reference to a DD table) no longer needs to be carried out.
In this case, create an evaluation structure with reference to an existing evaluation structure and then define the evaluation on the basis of this evaluation structure (step 3).
Procedure for case 2
If you want to combine and evaluate information from two or more DD tables, then execute steps 1 to 3.
You first need to create an evaluation structure for each DD table (step 1, create an evaluation structure with reference to a DD table). To combine information from these evaluation structures, create another evaluation structure (step 2, create an evaluation structure with reference to evaluation structures).
You then define the evaluation on the basis of this evaluation structure (step 3).
Procedure for case 3
You want to combine and evaluate information from an evaluation structure and a DD table.
You first need to create an evaluation structure for the DD table (step 1, create an evaluation structure with reference to DD table).To combine both of the evaluation structures, create a new evaluation structure (step 2, create an evaluation structure with reference to evaluation structure).
You then define the evaluation on the basis of the combined evaluation structures (step 3).
Caution
The sequence of the selected characteristics and key figures in the evaluation structure is irrelevant. During generation, these fields are sorted alphabetically according to their field names.
Please note the following additional restrictions for combining evaluation structures:
Technical restrictions:
Only table fields that have the field type C (text), D (date), or N (numeric text) can be selected as characteristics. Only table fields with the field type P (packed number), I (integer), F (floating point) or X (hexadecimal) can be used as key figures.
When you combine evaluation structures, you can only select key figures that are different.
Note that in the evaluation, the data always originates from the table from which the key figure was selected.
Due to the few technical restrictions, non-key fields from the DD tables can also be selected as characteristics. This, however, along with a variety of other complex characteristic combinations from the tables which probably do not have a corresponding index, could result in very long execution times for the evaluations.
Logical restrictions:
In order to ensure that the evaluations for the newly created evaluation structures produce complete lists, you should use only characteristics that appear in all of the evaluation structures. In the above illustration, in evaluation B, for example, the key figures K1 and K2 from evaluation structure 1 cannot be determined for characteristic C3, since this characteristic is not available in evaluation structure 1. As a result, no data exists for this combination.
Only the sequence of the characteristics and key figures in the evaluation definition is of relevance for the selection of data in an evaluation.