Why Use the BI Java SDK? What benefits does it bring you and what sort of business cases can be solved using the SDK? On this page, we illustrate the answers to these questions with a simple real-world business scenario using the BI Java SDK.
Aim
You are a Java developer with data modeling experience, and your IT team has given you a business question to address. You want to integrate your solution into SAP's SAP NetWeaver landscape and thereby deploy a Java application seamlessly onto the Web Application Server, to provide all authorized Enterprise Portal users with a simplified view in any Web browser.
Everything you need to achieve this aim is included with SAP NetWeaver 7.0 EHP1.
Business Task
Your business case deals with a classic inventory problem: calculating the optimal order quantity and optimal reorder point. For a given product, the purchase manager needs answers to the following questions:
Why Use the BI Java SDK?
You decide to implement the scenario using the BI Java SDK primarily for the following reasons:
You use the following components that are supplied with SAP NetWeaver:
The process flow between the various components for this business scenario is illustrated in the "swim-lane" diagram below:
The process flows between the components as follows:
The user enters information into an iView in the Enterprise Portal and request results.
An application created by the BI Java SDK receives the request and initializes the communication to BI.
The application then requests some basic information from BI, as described in the following steps.
An OLAP query is executed against an InfoCube in BI to request the average demand.
The lead time is requested using an SQL query on a non-SAP data source that contains the relevant information.
The BI Java SDK application collects the information returned as results from BI.
The BI Java SDK application calculates optimal order quantity and optimal reorder point based on formulas that you have defined.
The iView reads the results of the calculations made by the SDK, and presents the numbers and a graph of the cost structure.
Users receive figures - based on what they entered in the iView - for the optimal order quantity and optimal reorder point. Users now know, for example, that one batch of orders should contain 316 units, and a new order should be placed as soon as the inventory falls below 243 units.
In addition to the figures, the iView also displays a graph which shows the changes in the cost structure (annual costs), as a function of the order quantity.
The iView might look something like this:
To implement this scenario, you need to perform the following basic steps:
The figure below shows what it might look like to work with the BI Java SDK within the integrated development editor Eclipse:
Once your application is finished, you simply have to deploy it:
More Information: