Creating and Delivering Customer Content in the BI System 

Prerequisites

●      You set up a corresponding system landscape, made the required system settings in your customer system, and defined the namespace for object development.

More information:

System Landscape  

Making System Settings for Content Creation   

Using Namespaces for Developing BI Objects

●      You copied all the required BI Content objects with the special user to the active version.

More information: Making System Settings for Content Creation    

Scenario 1: Creating and Delivering Your Own Customer Content

The simplest scenario consists of the following processes:

●      You develop your own content.

●      You do not use BI Content delivered by SAP or you use it without changing it.

●      You deliver only your own content to your customers.

To deliver customer content you have developed, proceed as follows:

...

       1.      Create the required objects in your content development system and activate the objects that are first created in the M version (first M version → first A version). The system copies the activated objects automatically to the D version (first D version).

If you want to transport the objects that you created before you set the system as the content system in your BI system settings, you simply activate them by copying them to the D version.

       2.      Since the standard transport system is switched on, the system wrote your content objects to transport requests. Release these requests. Your content objects are transported from the content development system to the content test system.

       3.      Deliver the objects in the D version from the content test system using a delivery transport (more information: System Landscape). Make sure that no A TLOGO objects are transported. Further changes (second M version) do not affect delivery as long as you do not activate these objects.

The following figure illustrates this procedure:

The following figure illustrates the delivery of customer content that was developed in a separate namespace /ABC/ (more information: Using Namespaces for Developing BI Objects). The objects are exported in the D version. InfoObject 0MATERIAL is used but not delivered.

Scenario 2: Adjusting and Delivering SAP BI Content

In the second scenario, you change the BI Content shipped by SAP and deliver the modified BI Content to your customers.

Since changes to objects from BI Content delivered by SAP must be compared and thus require manual effort, we recommend that you change as few objects as possible.  

The procedure for delivery is almost identical to that in the first scenario. However, you must also set those SAP objects that you want to adjust to changeable (more information: Setting Object Changeability in Customer Content Systems).

Delivering Modified BI Content After Installing an SAP Support Package or After an Upgrade

Note that after upgrading or installing an SAP support package, changes that you made as a customer to any BI objects delivered by SAP are lost in the D version if SAP delivers this object again.

We recommend the following procedure:

...

                            a.      Install the SAP support package in your content development system.

                            b.      Create a correction delivery transport.

                            c.      When upgrading other systems, include the correction delivery transport in the upgrade.

The following figure illustrates each of the steps in the recommended process flow:

...

The process flow in the figure outlines the following steps:

       1.      Activate all BI Content objects delivered by SAP (first A version).

       2.      Make the required changes (second M version).

       3.      Activate the changed objects (second A version). The system copies the activated objects automatically to the D version (second D version).

       4.      You can deliver your customer content in the D version (second D version).

       5.      If SAP redelivers BI Content in a support package or in an upgrade (third D version), you have to restore your objects in the D version.

The system indicates that certain BI Content objects were modified and need to be merged. The modified BI Content objects are listed hierarchically in the overview of objects for the modification adjustment (transaction SPAU). (Table SMODILOG is used in the system to do this; this table is also transported to the subsequent systems.)

Alternatively, in the BI Content functional area of the Data Warehousing Workbench, you can select the Objects in BI Patch view and check which objects SAP is delivering in the current support package. For upgrades, it is usual for most objects to be redelivered.

To restore your objects in the D version, you can proceed in various ways:

○       Without Merging

Customers generally only need their own version (second version). All that remains to be done in this case is to reactivate the objects (using a normal user). This automatically overwrites the D version delivered by SAP (the third D version). However, with this procedure, all enhancements delivered by SAP are lost.

○       With Merging

If you want to keep enhancements delivered by SAP, you can merge the new content version (third D version) with the active version (second A version).

Merge the versions and copy the objects to a transport request. If you use the Add-On Assembly Kit (AAK), you can create a Conflict Resolution Transport in your consolidation system with minimal effort (more information Creating and Delivering Customer Content). Otherwise you must create the request manually in the content development system.

The following table provides an overview of the object types for which there is automatic merging. If automatic merging is not supported, you have to manually compare the two versions (second A version and third D version) and adjust them if necessary.

Availability of Automatic Merging for Object Types

With Automatic Merging	Without Automatic Merging
Report-report interface, RRI recipient of the InfoCube, RRI recipient of query	Aggregate
DataSource/FileSource	Application component
InfoCube	Crystal Report
InfoObject	Query element: query, structure, restricted and calculated key figures, variable
InfoObject catalog	Update rules
Data Mining: mining model, model source	InfoArea
MultiProvider	InfoPackage
DataStore object	InfoPackage group
Process chain	InfoSet, classic InfoSet
Transfer rules	InfoSet query
InfoSource TRCS	3.x InfoSource ISTD
	Source system
	Query view
	Reporting Agent: Reporting Agent scheduling package, Reporting Agent setting
	Role
	Currency translation type
	Web item
	Web template
	Workbook

 

Note that you need to merge the versions using the special user for which the system is not a content system and the standard transport system is switched off (more information: System Landscape). If objects are not to be written to package $TMP but to another transportable package, the requests for this user are not to be released and transported.

Finally, you have to reactivate the content using a normal user, so that the objects are copied to the D version. If no changes were made and there is nothing to be activated, you may need to make a pseudo change to the objects.

       6.      When activated, the objects are written to one or more transport requests. Transport the transport request(s) to the test system, and use it to create a correction delivery transport. If you use the Add-On Assembly Kit (AAK), you can create a Conflict Resolution Transport in your consolidation system with minimal effort (more information Creating and Delivering Customer Contentsa).

       7.      Deliver your correction delivery transport or the Conflict Resolution Transport directly after installing the SAP support package or after an upgrade on all subsequent systems.