If you want to read data and metadata at the level of an InfoProvider, you can connect BusinessObjects tools to the SAP NetWeaver BI system using the Data Federator interface of the SAP NetWeaver BI system (Web Intelligence, Polestar, Xcelsius). The Data Federator interface uses the Data Mart interface (see Data Mart Interface). You can read all the data and metadata of an InfoProvider (characteristics, key figures, navigation attributes) in a similar manner.
More information about the BusinessObjects tools can be found on the SAP Help Portal at help.sap.com → BusinessObjects.
Access using the Data Federator interface is especially suitable for the following scenarios:
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● You use the SQL connector to the SAP NetWeaver BI system. You get a high performance when reporting on relational data. You only need the objects of the InfoProvider. However you don‘t need any of the objects defined on the level of the BI query such as calculated or restricted key figures.
● We recommend that you continue to use MDX for accessing when reporting on multidimensional data and for smaller amounts of results.
● You can create multi-source relational universes, whereby you connect SAP NetWeaver BI and other sources using the Data Federator interface (such as DB, XML, SAS, Web Services)
The Data Federator interface is available with SAP NetWeaver 7.01 SPS3.
When configuring your BI system, note the following points regarding the integration of the Data Federator:
● Setting for the package size for the SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator
We recommend that you set the package size to 2,000,000. The value cannot be 0. You can thereby avoid a situation where all the data in a large package is delivered and therefore avoid problems with saving data in the Data Federator.
More information: SAP Note 1157582.
● Setting for the runtime of the work process
The default value is 5 or 10 minutes. If you have Data Federator queries that run for a longer time, you need to increase the value of the parameter -rdisp/max_wprun_time - Maximum work process run time accordingly, to avoid canceling the queries. Enter this parameter in the maintenance screen of the profile parameters (transaction code RZ11).
The Data Federator interface is fully compatible with the SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator (see Performance Optimization with SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator).
When running queries, the system automatically creates an RFC destination in the BI system. These RFC destinations have type T (TCP/IP connection) and following the naming convention DF_JCO_<hostname>_<number>, with hostname being the host of the Data Federator.
Reporting users also need authorization for the following objects:
Authorization object S_RS_ADMWB with
Settings = Data Warehousing Workbench object and
Activity = 23 (maintenance).