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 Aspect

Definition

An aspect is an individual sub-section of the summarized business information of an enterprise. A database table containing characteristics and key figures from the field catalog is created for each aspect. Together, the aspects form the data pool on which the presentation ( Report Portfolio and Interactive Drilldown Reporting ) in the Executive information System (EC-EIS), and the planning in Business Planning (EC-BP) are based.

Use

The information contained in an aspect serves as a basis for evaluating a busines area. An aspect can, for example, contain information on the cash position, logistics, human resources, market situation or share prices. You can determine the number and structure of the aspects according to your company’s requirements.

Structure

An aspect consists of Characteristics and Basic Key Figures . Characteristics are classification terms such as division, region, department, or company. Basic key figures are numerical values such as revenue, fixed costs, variable costs, number of employees or quantity produced. The key figure data is stored in an aspect by characteristic. Determining characteristics and key figures when setting up the system provides the framework for future evaluations.

Besides the key figures stored in the database, you can also define calculated (or derived) key figures. Calculated Key Figures can be calculated with a formula from the basic key figures of the aspect (for example: Contribution Margin 1 (CM1) per employee = (sales - sales deductions - variable costs) / Number of employees).

In addition to the database table with the characteristics and key figures, each aspect consists of a description of its structure in the ABAP dictionary, and environment objects. The transaction and plan data for an aspect is stored in the database table. The aspect environment consists of screens, user interfaces and programs for entering and displaying data. (See also Creating an Aspect ).

Example aspects

As shown in the graphic, one aspect can contain key figures on orders, another one may contain information on profit centers, another on market data etc. The characteristics (for example, Company ) and basic key figures (for example, Sales revenue ) are selected from the field catalog. The transaction data or plan data for the key figures is sorted by characteristic values (for example, the company XYZ Oil Inc .). The characteristic values are also indicated as master data.

Granularity of the data

The number of characteristics n in the aspect data structure combine to form an n -dimensional data cube. This is the basis for drilldown and aggregation in the presentation and business planning. The number of characteristics determines the complexity of the data cube, and the number of characteristic values determines the length of the side of a dimension. The characteristics of the aspect determine the maximum degree of fineness with which the data is available. The cube on the left shows the possible combinations of characteristic values of the characteristics. The cube on the right is an example of an evaluation object or a planning object, meaning a combination of characteristic values.