SAP NetWeaver BI Java 7.3 SP/Patch Upgrade without NW Stack Upgrade

You want to use an non-SAP external database in your SAP system. You can integrate and connect it to your BW ABAP system by using your BW JAVA system.

Please have a look at the PDFs attached to the SAP Note 1658310 - How to configure UD connect on the J2EE (710,..730) server for JDBC access to external databases and wiki.scn document Configure UD Connect in NWA for 7.3 - SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse - SCN Wiki

Hints:

-1433 SQL port must be released between SQL DB system and SAP system.

-Suitable MSSQL driver for your version can be downloaded from Microsoft website or OSS. Please check SAP Note Note 639702 - JDBC Driver for Microsoft SQL Server respectively.

-In previous NW versions (before 7.*) , UD connect has been set up via Visual Admin. This document provides NW 7.3 example and configuration is set up via Netweaver Administrator. You can open your NWA via http://bw_java_host:bw_java_port/nwa .

In our case, both systems are in version of NW 7.30 and it's assumed that ABAP-JAVA integration is already completed. The external DB is MSSQL. In the document, you will find the screenshots that I've made.

1-Please create an RFC destination type T (TCP/IP) in ABAP part via sm59. Enter "Program ID" as "Registered Server Program", ABAP hostname and system number with (sapgwSN) as "Gateway Host" and "Gateway Service" :

2-Please login to your NWA page and navigate to Application Resources. Show "All JDBC drivers" and "Create new resource". Upload the correct MSSQL driver (e.g. sqljdbc.jar) and name it:

3- Show "All resources" and click resource adapter com.sap.ip.bi.sdk.dac.connector.jdbc .

4- Under "Loader References" tab below, create library:<the driver name from step2> as reference:

5- In "Application Resources" page show "JCA Connection Properties" and find SDK_JDBC. Then click "Configuration Properties" tab and fill the related areas:

UserName     : The user which connects to SQL DB.

Password      : The password of it.

DriverName   : com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver

URL              : The URL for the SQL DB : jdbc:sqlserver://SQL_DB_HOST:1433;databaseName=<SQL_DB_NAME>

FixedCatalog :  <SQL_DB_NAME>

Below is screenshot from Visual Admin from previous Java System (NW7.0). The system information remained same but over NWA this time.

6-In "Application Resources" page, show "Resource Adapters" and find "SAPJavaResourceAdapter15". Then click "Properties" tab and fill the related areas:

ProgramID    : Program ID that you've entered in RFC in ABAP part

MaxThreadCount : 0 (1 is also fine)

SAPClient     : ABAP Client

UserName    : The user which makes communication between ABAP and JAVA parts

Password     : Password of it.

Language      : EN

ServerName : ABAP part hostname

PortNumber  : ABAP part system number

7-Open "Start & Stop : JAVA EE Services" page and restart "Connector Container" .

Test Page: http://host:port/TestJDBC_Web/TestJDBCPage.jsp

You should be able to see tables, views, etc of SQL DB.

SOME FREQUENT ERRORS:

*Credential error: "Login failed for user XXXXX"

Your user and password would be in UPPER CASE! Otherwise you can face login problems. Please avoid characters (? , ! , *, etc) in user name and password, if possible.

*Hostname cannot be resolved or the port 1433 is not open. You can check whether 1433 is open, with telnet command.

telnet SQL_DB_HOSTNAME 1433 should be successful.

Summary

This article explains about How to work DSO Overwrite and Summation functionality.

Author Bio:

Kodanda Pani K.V is a SAP BI/BO consultant currently working with Rukshaya Emerging Technology Pvt Ltd (Bangalore/INDIA). I have 3+ years of experience in various BW/BI implementation / Support Projects.

Topic: DSO Overwrite and Summation function.

Data store object:

• Overwrite function
• Summation function
• In-detail level data
• All transactional entries are added (sum) or new record added as existing record using same primary keys with using “SUMMATION” option at transformation level.
• Latest record or updated record Overwrite of existing record using “OVERWRITE” option at transformation level. Means last record was overwrite.
• Activities Carried Out:-

• OVERWRITE  functionality:-
• In this scenario I have created 6 DSO’s different combination key fields.
• I have chosen  50 entries and load to DSO model 
• The “Overwrite” function is updated to latest record or new updated record, means last record was overwritten.

• SUMMATION functionality:-
• In this scenario we have created 7 DSO’s different combination of key fields.
• The “Summation” function is summing the all transactional entries or added the existing value. Means last record added as existing record.
• At transformation level change the rule type option form Overwrite to Summation option.
• The 7th DSO is created with Summation and Overwrite option (quantity filed as “overwrite” and amount field as “Summation”). 
• Observations:-
• OVERWRITE  function
• If you want the customer latest transaction then we chose overwrite, where the overwrite functionality come into picture
• In DSO model three tables 1) activation queue table 2) Active data table 3) change log table.
• Activation queue: Used to save DSO data records that need to be updated, but that have not yet been activated. After activation, this data is deleted if all requests in the activation queue have been activated.
• Change log: Contains the change history for the delta update from the DSO into other data targets i.e. DSO or Info Cubes
• Overwrite is used when you want to overwrite the previous record with the new delta or changed record. when delta happens, data in DSO will be overwritten in active data table. But in change log table previous record will be represented as  minus values and new record as  plus values. Only the changes will be updated to the info provider (info cube). The overwritten values are stored in active table of DSO. Data in the DSO is updated overwritten data.
• Change log table REDORDMODE function is N- New image and X- before image and space means Afterimage we observed the records.

• OVERWRITE FUNCTION SCREEN SHOTS:-

1. 1st DSO of Overwrite function.

• Active data table for  1st DSO “OVERWRITE”
• Here amount 813, 00. And quantity is 26,000.

• Comparison with excel file of 1st DSO Data:-
• In excel file amount 813, 00. And quantity is 26,000.

1. 2^nd DSO Active data table.

• Here amount 240, 00. Quantity is 15,000.

• Comparison with excel file of 2nd  DSO Data:-
• In excel sheet of 2nd DSO quantity is 15,000 and amount is 2400, 00.

• SUMMATION function:

• Summation function used to all transactional entries is added. Means last record as added existing record.
• In 7 the DSO we have taken as quantity filed is “OVERWRITE” and amount field is”SUMMATION”.
• What we have done in these DSO quantity field is Overwrite option, the latest record is overwritten and amount filed is a Summation option adding the all transactional entries.

• SUMMATION FUNCTION SCREEN SHOTS:-
• EX: 3 rd DSO Summation function:-
• Active data table of 1st DSO with summation function.
• Here amount 900, 00. And quantity 24,000.

• Comparison with excel file of  3^rd  DSO Data:-
• Here quantity is 24,000. and quantity is 900,00

• EX: 1st  DSO Summation function:-
• Here 1^st DSO summation active data table data.
• Here quantity is 19,000. And amount is 10, 350, 00.

• Comparison with excel file of  1^st  DSO Data:-
• Here quantity is 19,000. And amount is 10350,00.

• THIS  DSO” OVERWRITE” AND “SUMMATION” FUNCTION  TOGETHER:-
• Here i done one DSO with “SUMMATION” and “OVERWRITE” functions together.
• Amount is “SUMMATION” and quantity is “OVERWRITE”.
• Summation value is added as existing record and Overwrite value is overwrite the latest value.
• Summation value is 15, 000, 00. And Overwrite value is 23,000.

• Comparison with excel file of   Summation and Overwrite function DSO Data:-
• Here quantity field is taken Overwrite and amount field is Summation option.
• In the excel file quantity value is 23,000. And amount value is 15000, 00.

• Learning:-

• In the scenario we learned how to impact in business environment with using DSO functionalists “OVERWRITE” and “SUMMATION”.
• In “SUMMATION” function all the transactional entries are added.
• Using two options (OVERWRITE and SUMMATION) in one DSO here also happened based on taking a rule details at transformation level aggregation option.

Hopes it will helps.....give me suggestions......

Check out the listed SAP BWNews notes to see what is delivered with the according Support Package.

SAP BWNews Notes

1949273 - Important SAP Notes for SAP BW 7.40 powered by SAP HANA

What comes with the Support Packages?

Release of SAP BW 7.4 SP8

SAP BW 7.4 SP8 powered by SAP HANA is the next milestone for enterprise data warehousing with BW on HANA and provides  the next level of simplification for BW .In addition, SAP BW on Hana’s Virtual Data Warehouse capabilities have been enhanced for even more flexibility.

The further push down of transformations and OLAP capabilities  are next steps for excellent data Load –  and Analysis performance.

Customers focusing on the planning capabilities will benefit from the enhanced Planning application Kit  and FOX usability

Support Package 07
Transfer of Reporting Objects and Reporting Data with SDATA: Using the new SDATA tool, you can transfer reporting objects and data from a source location to a target location - for test and demo purposes. This enables you for example, to transfer reporting objects and data - for test purposes - to BW trial versions in the cloud. Note that the RSDATA is intended exclusively for test and demo purposes and is not suitable for transporting BW objects or transferring data in a productive system landscape!

In expert mode in the SAP HANA analysis process, the Maintenance Execution function is now available. This function allows support to simulate execution of the SAP HANA analysis process for troubleshooting purposes.

CompositeProvider:The function for setting cardinality has been changed. Conversion routins are now taken into account if you enter constants. The external display is now shown

.

In the transformation, you can now use the new rule type Calculation 0RECORDMODE for ODP.

Various interface changes and user-friendliness enhancements have been introduced in the data transfer process (DTP):

For detailed information visit the  Release Notes for SAP BW 7.4 SP7

Support Package 06

• Find the details of the enhanncements delivered in the Release Notes for SAP BW SP 6

Support Package 05

• Find the details of  the features enabeled with SP 5 in the SAP NetWeaver BW 7.4 on SAP HANA - Overview and Roadmap
• Investigate the features for SP5 implemented in a SAP BW 7.4  SP5 for non-HANA use case  environment.
• Please see the according  Release notes with new functions, enhancements and changes in SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (BW), Support Package Stack 05.

• Exception implementation SPS 05 for NetWeaver 7.40

  This SPS is not applied via the SPAM procedure due to fundamental changes in the SP05 Basis Support Package.

  Instead this update is scheduled via the software update manager (SUM).

  Find additional informationen in the blog - Software Update Manager (SUM): introducing the tool for software maintenance.

  The creation of a stack.xml via the Solution Manager and the usage of the ASU toolbox and/or the Upgrade tasks lists are mandantory. (SP05 requires the new 7.41 UC Kernel, which is not available on 32-Bit OS)

Further Information:

• Documentation/Release note information will be provived short before release of the according Support Package
• The release dates for the  Support Package Stacks can be found in the Support Package Stack Schedule (SMP login required)
• For generell Information about SAP NetWeaver BW 7.4 please visit SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.4
• For regular updates please subscribe to the notes above as follows: You need to display the note on the service marketplace page. Use the direct links above or use SAP notes search and enter the note number directly. To subscribe to this special note activate the "subscribe" button (left hand above the title line of the note page). Also make sure that your E-Mail notification is activated (for activation see note 487366).
• Importing Support Packages: Please note that after implementing a Support Package, you are usually required to perform additional maintenance in transaction SNOTE. SAP Notes that are already installed may become inconsistent. This can lead to function errors or syntax errors. Go to transaction SNOTE and reimplement the SAP Notes that are no longer consistent. Your BW system is only operable and consistent after you have reimplemented these SAP Notes.

SAP BWNews Notes

Check out the listed SAP BWNews notes to see which notes are delivered with the according Support Package.

1846493 - Important SAP Notes for SAP BW 7.3x powered by HANA

What comes with the Support Packages?

Support Package 11

• Investigate the release notes for the Support Package 11  and find there the desriptions of the deliverered enhancements:  (Logon to SAP Help Library is required)
• In summary SP 11 is providing:
  • IMPLEMENTING CHARACTERISTIC RELATIONSHIPS AND DATA SLICES ON THE SAP HANA DATABASE 
    In the context of BW-integrated planning, you can define the permitted combinations of characteristic values (in the form of characteristic relationships) and create data slices for the selected data that you want to protect. If the generic types of characteristic relationships (attribute, hierarchy, DataStore) and data slices (selection) do not meet specific customer requirements, you can implement characteristic relationships and data slices of type Exit.
    • ABAP Exit Implementation
      The typical ABAP exit implementation of these examples is direct, with the external data being read from the database using SQL commands from the ABAP runtime and - taking into account further information such as user name (sy-uname) - checking, deriving or creating records in the corresponding structure.
    • Implementation on the SAP HANA Database
      In BW, you can perform planning using internal database routines. In the SAP HANA database, you can perform SAP HANA-optimized planning. If you are using the Planning Applications Kit, we recommend also implementing the customer-specific exist functionality for characteristic relationships directly in the SAP HANA database using SQLScript.

• Enhancements in area: REPLICATION OF DATASOURCES
  You can make a number of settings that affect how replication is performed. These allow you to define which DataSources are replicated, thus speeding up the replication process. For the replication of DataSources at the source system level or in an application component, you can make the following settings:
  • You can define the extent of the replication (active and/or delivery version).
  • You can define whether DataSources that are not known yet in the BW system should be created there and, which object type they should be created in.
  • You can define whether DataSources that do not exist any more in the source system should be created in the BW system.
  • You can define when and how DataSources that had already been activated prior to replication should be reactivated.
• Enhancements in area: TRANSFERRING DATA USING OPERATIONAL DATA PROVISIONING
  Using the operational data provisioning (ODP) framework, you can transfer InfoProviders from BW systems (source BW systems in release SAP NetWeaver 7.4 SPS05 and higher) to your BW system. When creating the ODP source system, you can use the ODP context “BW - SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse”.

Support Package 10

• For detailed information read the release notes for the Support Package 10.
• Learn here about the enhancements in DataStore Objects in SAP BW 7.30 on SAP HANA delivered with SP 10. 

Support Package 9

• Please see the according  release notes for Support Package 9 
• Support Package 9 is providing the SAP BW Near Line Storage solution (NLS) based on Sybase IQ.
• This solution helps to reduce TCO by reducing data volume in SAP BW, shortens backup time frames, provides high speed analysis for NLS residing historical information and is a SAP owned solution out of one hand.
• For the SAP recommendation of notes on top of SAP Netweaver SP09 when your system is running on HANA DB see note 1846493

Support Package 8

For detailed information read the release notes for the Support Package 8.
In summary the SP 8 is providing:

• SAP HANA specific features:
  • Performance boost for data loading, query  response time and In-memory planning
  • SAP HANA-optimized InfoCubes and Data Store Objects
  • Simplified and faster data modeling/remodeling
  • “Not active” data concept
  • SAP BW and SAP HANA Mixed Scenarios (BO Explorer, BW Virtual Master Data, etc.)
  • Support of Semantic Partitioned Objects and enhanced partitioning for write optimized DSOs
  • Simplified system landscape
• Platform independent highlights
  • Graphical data flow modeling and enhanced support of 3.x-> 7.x data flow migration
  • Semantic Partitioned Objects (SPO)
  • Rapid prototyping of Ad Hoc scenarios via BW Workspaces
  • File download of BW meta data
  • DSO planning
  • Tighter integration with SAP Data Services

For details read the presentation Support Package 8 for SAP BW on SAP HANA-Overview

For the SAP recommendation of notes on top of SAP Netweaver SP08 when your system is running on HANA DB see note 1769670 - Important Notes for SAP BW powered by HANA on SP8.

The presentation SAP NetWeaver 7.30 SPS8 - Planning on DSO shows the new planning on DataStore objects comming with SPS 8 for SAPNetWeaver 7.3

Support Package 7

Investigate the release notes for Support Package 7 and find there the desriptions of the deliverered fixes and enhancements:

• Find out about the enhancements for SAP HANA optimization and the Data Warehouse Management. Further more you can read about the enhancements of the Analytic Engine in the OLAP Cache Monitor and for creation of CompositeProviders. For the BW Workspaces some handy improvements have been developed as well.

Check out all release notes for detailed information on SAP 7.3 SPS. (Logon to SAP Help Library is required)

Generell Information

• SAP always recommends to apply the latest Support Package
• For all SAP BW 7.3 powered by SAP HANA Ramp up customers it is strongly recommended to implement SP06. For detailed information please have a look at note 1657994. SAP also recommends to apply the latest available SAP HANA revision.
• The release dates for the Support Package Stacks can be found in the Support Package Stack Schedule (SMP login required).
• Please see the SAP NetWeaver 7.3 Support Package Stack page (SMP login required). This page is the central point of information for planning the implementation of Support Package Stacks (SP Stacks) for SAP NetWeaver 7.0.
• For regular updates please subscribe to the notes above as follows: You need to display the note on the service marketplace page. Use the direct links above or use SAP notes search and enter the note number directly. To subscribe to this special note activate the "subscribe" button (left hand above the title line of the note page). Also make sure that your E-Mail notification is activated (for activation see note 487366).
• Importing Support Packages: Please note that after implementing a Support Package, you are usually required to perform additional maintenance in transaction SNOTE. SAP Notes that are already installed may become inconsistent. This can lead to function errors or syntax errors. Go to transaction SNOTE and reimplement the SAP Notes that are no longer consistent. Your BW system is only operable and consistent after you have reimplemented these SAP Notes.

Hi All,

Today ill share BW tips which is help full for those in AMS project  which reduces their effort spent on displaying the same cube data each and every time during their analysis,

This simple method will help you to reduce your time on the same, just give a try if you feel comfortable with this method.

LISTCUBE tcode which you can make use of this

Have you ever thought of how to save selection screen and output fields in tcode LISTCUBE? (an alternate way to view your cube data)If not below are the steps to be followed to make use of it.

Advantages:

•   This will help in  reusability like avoiding the LISTCUBE tcode again and again for the same selections.
•   This will also helps you to  reduce certain amount of your manual work.

Here is the steps to be followed.

     1.Go to the TCODE LISTCUBE.

     2.Select your needed info provider to be displayed.

3. Same time give the program name starting with Z or Y ( This is the program which is going to be reused) and please make a note of it.

4. Now execute the screen , which displays  your selection screen and select your needed field for the selection, later also select your needed fields for the output using field selection for output tab

5. After selecting it, kindly select the Save button which is there on the top of the screen to save it as variant.

6. You will get the popup screen in which it will ask you to update with Variant name and its Description, enter the needed info and save it again through the save button or through the file menu Variant --->Save.

7. Use can make use of options check box which is available in the screen  like Protect Variant, which protects others to changes this variant on the same program, means it can be changed only by the created user, other is not certainly required, still if you need to know its purpose kindly press F1 on corresponding check box for its use.

8. Now go to TCODE SE38 and give the program name as the one which you gave it in the LISTCUBE transaction and execute it.

9. Once you execute it you will get the screen as you decided in listcube, click on variant button for save variants or click on field selection for output tab for your changes like to save another variant or to make the changes in the current variant.

10. Here if you want to view the save variants from list cube you can use the variant button and select your variants to display it which has been stored already.

11. Select the need variant and execute the program to get your desired outputs.

Note: you can also store ‘N’ number of variants from this program itself.

Now instead of going LISTCUBE again and again to make your selection you can make use of this program when you want to make use of the same info provider to display your output for n number of times, this will reduce your time in selecting your selection option, and your desired output screen.

Dependencies: If the structure of the Info Provider changes, a program generated once is not adapted automatically. The program has to be manually deleted and generated again to enable selections of new fields.

Thanks,

Siva

BI Activities involved in SAP BI 7.4 upgrade – Part 1

Summary

The objective of the document is to give information on the activities performed during and after BI 7.4 upgrade.

System Information

Before Upgrade: SAP BI 7.0 SP 22 - SAPKW70022

After Upgrade: SAP BI 7.4 SP 7 - SAPKW74007

Introduction

The introduction about SAP BI 7.4 is absolutely not necessary here since we have lot of information already available all over SCN

Please don’t expect that I am going to give some information which is not available anywhere. The below details about the activities performed during and after the upgrade might be also available here and there.

I have tried to include our project experience during the upgrade which will be useful in overcoming the practical difficulties.

We have started our actual upgrade in mid of June and ended up in mid of September in four different BI systems. Secondary Development system,  Development System, Quality System and Production. We still have a project testing system which is not yet upgraded.

It is always better to have one system to be excluded from the upgrade, so that we could use that for testing and comparing purpose (Just a personal thought since it was very useful for us to check the changes before and after upgrade)

BW Sizing Information required for Quick Sizer

Quick Sizer is a Web-based tool designed to make the sizing of the SAP solutions easier and faster. It has been developed by SAP in close cooperation with all platform partners and is free of cost. With Quick Sizer you can translate business requirements into technical requirements. Simply fill in the online  questionnaire, an up-to-date survey that is based on business-oriented figures. The results you obtain can help you select an economically balanced system that matches your company's business goals.

The information that we have provided gives an outline of whether we need to upgrade our hardware component as well before our application upgrade.

You could get all information about Quick Sizer in SCN market place using your login id, password. We will go into what we have done actually to get the required information

Basis Team is fully responsible for updating the information into the Quick Sizer tool. There are lot more information provided other than BW sizing. Here I will explain what we have done from BI side.

The information that is required from a BI system is divided into five different tables. Based on each table, the required information varies

• Table 1: Throughput - User Groups of SEM-BPS

This table s related to Integrated Planning and BPC information. We should give the information like how many planners, how many real time infocubes and the volume of data etc.

• Table 2: Throughput - Query & User Distribution

Here we should give information related to normal, business and super users. How many of them are using the reports, how many reports in total, how much time spent by them on an average.

• Table 3: Throughput - Data Upload to BW Server

Here we need to give information about what is the volume of data expected on a daily basis which is actually based on the ECC transactions.

• Table 4: Throughput - Definition of Infocubes

This is time consuming table. As from the name, you could have find out that we are going to give all the information about each and every infocube present in the system. This holds information including number of dimensions, number of key figures, average volume of data, records in initial load and many more

• Table 5: Throughput - Definition of ODS Objects

This is also same as the above table, but DSO specific information. Number of text fields, numeric fields, average volume of data, records in initial load and so on.

Issues faced in Quick Sizer tool

The first three tables will not be of much issues. But the tables related to cube and DSO will give errors that the information provided is wrong or not  sufficient.

See a sample error message

There are scenarios like we may have to manipulate the data for those two tables.

We might not be able to get some data accurately. For example Average length of character fields in DSO. There are almost 300 DSOs in our system. It is not feasible to get the char length of all fields and calculating the average. So initially we left that field blank for all entries. But the tool gave error only for few DSOs for which we have calculated the average length and uploaded it.

For some cubes, the total number of requests was more than 10000 and the quick sizer didn’t accept 5 digits initially. Later when all other issues were rectified, it accepted 5 digits as well.

In some cases, whatever values we give, it didn’t accept. Then we gave NA and it worked. So it sometimes works in trial and error basis.

PS: We didn’t spend much time to analyse the reason for these issues. Since it was not one or two errors and we were keen in resolving the issues as early as possible and proceed further.

Important Tables which we used to get information

We have not used all of the below tables, but most of them. But I have tried to list out all tables related to Infocube and DSO which will be useful in many scenarios. There are lot more other than these tables listed below.

RSDCUBE - Directory of Infocubes

RSDCUBET - Texts on Infocubes

RSDCUBEIOBJ - Objects per Infocube (where-used list)

RSDDIME - Directory of Dimensions

RSDDIMET - Texts on Dimensions

RSDDIMEIOBJ - InfoObjects for each Dimension (Where-Used List)

RSDCUBEMULTI - Infocubes involved in a Multicube

RSDICMULTIIOBJ - MultiProvider: Selection/Identification of InfoObjects

RSDICHAPRO - Characteristic Properties Specific to an Infocube

RSDIKYFPRO - Flag Properties Specific to an Infocube

RSDICVALIOBJ - InfoObjects of the Stock Validity Table for the Infocube

RSDODSO - Directory of all ODS Objects

RSDODSOT - Texts of all ODS Objects

RSDODSOIOBJ - InfoObjects of ODS Objects

RSDODSOATRNAV - Navigation Attributes for ODS Object

RSDODSOTABL - Directory of all ODS Object Tables

RSODSSETTINGS - Settings for an ODS

This activity seem to be very simple, but it takes many days to get all the required information from the production system. There are lot more activities coming in the next couple of documents.

Thanks for your time! Please feel free to add any comments.

Other Documents published by me

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-59138 - BI Activities involved in SAP BI 7.4 upgrade – Part 2

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-58355 - Performance Tuning for Data loading in process chains

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-58038 - Procedure to Load data using Setup Table

Objective:

To provide overview of SAP Standard utilities useful for BW Operations and Production support.

During regular operations often there are situation where following information is required:

1) Analysis of Background Job : What the job was doing, where did it spent what amount of time, what memory did it consumed etc

2) BW- Accelerator                  : How often BWA indexes were used, BWA overall summary, Which infocube lies on which blade to judge impact during issues

3) Query Usage Analysis          : How often the query was executed and by whom

4) BW- Process Chain Analysis: Basic need to monitor chain and observe several aspects like run time of steps in a chain etc

Often consultant has to spent lot of time to find the information and has to apply various tricks to find the relevant information.

However this document provides an overview of some standard utilities those support consultant to derive the information:

Analysis of Background Job:

Step 1: Execute Trnx: St13 and select the program: BACKGROUND_JOB_ANALYSIS and execute

Step 2: Enter the job name /user and time frame for which you would need information and execute:

Step 3:  Execution will provide the list of jobs running in the system based on the selections entered.

Step 4: Select the job you would like to analyze from the results and select the button "STAD" as displayed in following image:

Step 5: Execution of STAD button will display the statistical information of job like displayed in following image:

Step 6: In case further details are required double click on the result row, this will lead you to a transaction providing tabular view of detailed statistical data

BW Accelerator:

Step 1: Execute Trnx: St13 and select the program: BWATOOLS and execute

Step 2: Execution displays a Cockpit to perform various analysis on  BWA as displayed in following image:

Index Usage Analysis

Step 3: Select button "Index Usage Analysis" to analyze the frequency of the index used to judge the quality

Step 4: Provide the selections for which you need to perform analysis and execute as displayed in following image:

Step 5: Execution will provide the statistical information of the selected infocube or the cube based on the time frames

BWA Index Attributes: To get the details of indexes like, Size of Indexes, No. of Records in Indexes,Which blade host which index etc

Step 1: Select button "Index Properties" and select execute:

Step 2: Select the appropriate selection for which you need to perform analysis like displayed in following and execute:

Step 3: Execution provides the statistical information about the indexes to be used for further analysis as displayed in following image:

Step 4: Further details can be obtained by selecting the particular records.

Query Usage Analysis

Step 1: Execute Trnx: St13 and select the program: BW_QUERY_USAGE and execute

Step 2: Execution displays following image to enter the selections for analysis:

Step 3: Uncheck the option "All Queries" if you want to analyze for any specific query (Currently I will uncheck to analyze one particular query) and execute

Step 4: Execution will display an additional window asking to select the relevant query:

Step 5: Expand the relevant infoarea and select the query to analyze:

Step 6: Select query and select button "Open" located at the bottom of window:

Step 7: This will display the information who executed the query and how many times:

Same exercise can be performed for all queries, for a specific time frame or for any specific user in the system.

However this utility has limitation to not provide the information about the time stamp of its usage although you can use the time frame field in selection window to narrow down the findings.

BW Process Chain Analysis

Step 1: Execute Trnx: St13 and select the program: BW-TOOLS and execute

Step 2: This program provides range of options to perform various BW analysis, for our example select option: "Process Chain Analysis" and execute

Step 3: Next window provides option to analyze complete chain or particular process types in the system for specific time range as displayed in respective images:

Step 4: Enter the name of chain if you need to analyze particular chain else leave it blank and execute

Step 5: This will display a tabular view of the chains those were running/completed/aborted in the system during the mentioned time frame

Step 6: The tabular view provides two views of data as following:

               i) Tree View: This view is displayed when you select the column: "Log Id" of chain and displays the tree shaped view of the progress of chain.

              ii) Hierarchy View: This is more analytical view providing the information of runtime of each step in process chain,displayed by selecting column "Chain"

This transaction provides lots of useful utilities this would highly recommend to use and explore further options based on your need.

Hope it helps !!

There are documents already published on how to restrict F4 help values in BI Report queries. But in case where you have to do this for more than one query we can make this dynamic and same BADI implementation can be called for all the reports for which this is required.

Business scenario

We were working on retail SAP BI implementation and we have a requirement of having different levels of article hierarchy in selection screen in most of the reports that we have developed. Now the requirement was to populate the second level of hierarchy based on the first level  and third level based on the second level.

So for example this first level of hierarchy is Department.

Department will have Values as below

1

2

3

4

Now if the next level is division it will have values like

101

102

103

201

202

2013

Now if the user enters Department 1, for division F4 help he should only see below values

101

102

103

Now this has to be done for many reports.

Solution:

We can create a parameter table in SAP BI and call it  “ZBI_F4_HELP”.

Below will be the fields in the table

I_Query = Technical Name of the Query

I_IOBJNM = Technical Name of the Info-Object

I_VNAM = Technical Name of the Variable by which the info-object is restricted

I_DESC = The level of the Info-object (In our scenario for Department it will be 1 for division it will be 2)

The screenshot below shows the sample entries.

So from above screenshot what we want is when Query ZRT_MP01_Q046_A is executed, we want the F4 values for variable for 0MATERIAL_0CM_CDT2 should populated based on value for variable for 0MATERIAL_0CM_CDT1 and value for 0MATERIAL_0CM_CDT3 should be populated based on the variable value for 0MATERIAL_0CM_CDT2.

The code in BADI will look something like below.

We first read entries from the parameter table ZBI_F4_help for the given query.

Now we have to read the relevant row for the given info-object and populate variable values accordingly.

Sample code is given below for 2 levels. The values for second level is read from material master.

This document will guide through the steps involved in back ground scheduling of all FI-CA related delta extraction.

Introduction to FI-CA flow:

There are 3 main areas in FI-CA, Invoicing, Posting and Payment. Below is a small diagram illustrating the overall data flow of the SD & FI-CA, FI-CO.

Explanation above illustration:

After SD billing has taken into place then the document created is Invoice. When Invoice is saved at the same time Posting document is also generated. Invoice is related to AR accounting where as Posting is related to GL Accounting.

Then afterwards when customer does the payment then Payment document is generated when payment is done via payment run or payment transaction (FPCJ, Cash journal, T-code).

BW Part:

As highlighted in red box in the above screen, I will go through extractors which are used for FI-CA data extraction.

Below are the extractors for each area:

1. Invoice – 0FC_INVDOC_00 (FICA Extraction of Invoicing Document Data)
2. Posting - 0FC_BP_ITEMS (FI-CA Business Partner Items) or 0FC_CI_01 (FICA Cleared Items for Interval) or 0FC_OP_01 (FI-CA Open Items at Key Date)
3. Payment - 0FC_PAY (Payments)

  Manual extraction of the FI-CA data into Delta Queue:

Below are the t-codes to extract delta/Init data into delta queue, manually.

Invoice –

1. FKKINV_BW_MON (Analysis of BI Extraction Orders):: To monitor the records and simulation of Invoicing Extraction
2. FKKINV_BW_MA (BI Extraction of Invoicing Documents):: To extract data into Delta queue

  Posting –

1. FPBW (BW Extraction of Open Items):: to extract Open BP Line Items
2. FPCIBW (BW Extraction of Cleared Items):: to extract Cleared BP Line Items
3. FPOP (Update of BP Delta Queue):: to extract BP Line items either Open or Cleared

  Payment –

1. FPCIBW (Update  Delta Queue):: to extract Payment Delta records (check the Payments tick box)

Delta Extraction:

Unfortunately all the above t-codes doesn’t have a functionality to schedule a background (batch) job to extract delta records, respectively.

1^st Option::

In order to schedule the delta extractors we have an common t-code, FPSCHEDULER.

Before scheduling jobs in FPSCHEDULER we have to do 1 manual run to get the details for date of run and identification.

STEP 1>

1. Select “Mass Activity Type”accordingly for each area as below;

  BWOP – BP Line Items

2620 – Invoice

BWET – Payment

2. Date ID & Identification – Need to pick up from old runs.

STEP 2>

In the Program menu, Execute in background.

Select Output Device as LP01 or LOCL.

After selecting the output device, select your schedule start time and Period values (frequency) accordingly. Accessing the below screen is as general scheduling screen.

STEP 3>

After saving the above schedule, you can check the Batch jobs in SM37. Job names will be created as below.

2^nd Option::

Another option in scheduler the jobs.

Go to SE38 (ABAP Program) t-code, give the program name as “RFKK_MA_SCHEDULER” then you can create as many variant as you can for respective areas.

Variants:

Variant Values provided as:

Based on the above 2 options we can do scheduling (batch job) for FI-CA related extractors.

Please provide your valuable feedback on the above guide.

Other documents from my knowledge base:

A step by step guide for Invoicing Extraction (FI-CA)

Triggering Process chain after completion of ECC Delta Extraction Job

Golden rules/Tips & Tricks for BW/BI Designing

Automation of the Data Load from SAP R/3 to BI

Design Solutions for BI/BOBJ Reporting (Part 1)

Scenario:

This scenario of triggering process chains after completion source system (ECC) delta Extraction job would be very useful when we are using FI-CA, Logistics (MCEX) related extractions. These extractions require updating delta queue first before the BW delta job run and we cannot also predict when would be the Delta queue update job finishes.

In this regards, please follow the guide below for detail steps of triggering of process chain after source system delta queue job completion.

Detailed Steps

STEP 1>

Create an event in BW in SM64, t-code.

STEP 2>

Create a remote function module (FM), SE37 in BW and provide the event name created in STEP 1.

I use method “RAISE” in class “CL_BATCH_EVENT”.

For Ex: Remote FM for Invoice.

ABAP Code for the Remote Function Module:

DATA: eventid TYPE TBTCJOB-eventid.

eventid = 'ZFICA_INVOICE_PC_TRIGGER'.

CALL METHOD cl_batch_event=>raise
EXPORTING
i_eventid                      = eventid
*    i_eventparm                    =
*    i_server                       =
*    i_ignore_incorrect_server      = 'X'
*  EXCEPTIONS
*    excpt_raise_failed             = 1
*    excpt_server_accepts_no_events = 2
*    excpt_raise_forbidden          = 3
*    excpt_unknown_event            = 4
*    excpt_no_authority             = 5
*    others                         = 6
.
IF sy-subrc <> 0.
* Implement suitable error handling here
ENDIF.
WRITE: sy-subrc.

STEP 3>

Create a program (SE38) in source system (ECC) to call the function module created in STEP 2.

ABAP Code for the program to trigger FM:

REPORT  ZCC_BI_TRIGGER_PROCESS_CHAIN.

PARAMETERS: FM(40) TYPE C,
TARGET(10) TYPE C.

CALL FUNCTION FM DESTINATION TARGET.

Above program is a general program to call any of the remote FM in target system (BW) from source system (ECC). As this is a program used to call FMs in remote system, we must mention target system. So, there is a parameter for Target has to be placed in program.

STEP 4>

Create a variant (SE38) for the program created in STEP 3.

For Ex: Based on the example above, let’s take invoice extraction. So, using FM created for invoice in STEP 2, created a variant.

STEP 5>

After creation of Event, remote FM to trigger the event and the program to call FM. Now, it’s time to create a variant for respective Extraction program.

Find the respective program to schedule the ECC Delta Extraction job and create a variant as per your requirement.

For Ex:

Kindly go through my document for Scheduling FI-CA related Delta Extraction for FI-CA related extraction.

In case of FI-CA Invoice Extraction, we use the program “RFKK_MA_SCHEDULER” and I created a variant name as “BW_INV_EXTR”.

Save the variant values and attributes.

STEP 6>

Now, every require object created main event start which is crucial.

In this step, go to SM36, create a batch job as below.

1. Create a job, name as per your project naming convention.

     b. Press Enter, then select “ABAP Program” and provide the Name of your extraction program and Variant which you have created in STEP 5.

For ex: “RFKK_MA_SCHEDULER”, for FI-CA related extraction and variant created earlier.

User name as “ALEREMOTE” or “BWREMOTE” or any other background user.

Then click SAVE. It looks as below.

STEP 7>

Now, step for triggering remote FM inturn triggering respective procress chain program has to be added.

1. Go to STEPmenu, then click on create.

                   
     b. Now, after selecting the ABAP program in the next screen, provide the Name as the program name which is created to trigger the remote FM           and variant for your specfic FM triggering as per STEP 3 & 4.

After saving will look as below:

STEP 8>

While saving the job in SM36, system will ask to schedule the job for specific start date/time and period values.

Based on the project requirement this job can be schedule for a specific start date/time and frequency like 2hours or 4hours or 6hours etc.

The above detailed steps will fetch easiness in achieving the scenario of triggering the process chain after completion of ECC delta queue job.

Please provide you valuable feedback.

Other documents from my knowledge base:

A step by step guide for Invoicing Extraction (FI-CA)

Scheduling FI-CA related Delta Extraction

Golden rules/Tips & Tricks for BW/BI Designing

Automation of the Data Load from SAP R/3 to BI

Design Solutions for BI/BOBJ Reporting (Part 1)

Following are two main reasons why it is important to prevent accidental migration of queries from 3.x to 7.x-

1) Some features (Formulas) might not work (or not work same way) in 7.x as compared to 3.x

2) Large number of users to be migrated to newer version of BEx Analyzer (time consuming)

Different Options

The first two options are preventive solutions while the third one is a reactive workaround.

Option 1 (Recommended Proactive Approach) - Enhancing standard function module

Enhancing standard function module (FM responsible for opening query and saving Query) in BW to prevent opening of 3.x query in 7.x query designer.

Notes:

1. Enhancing standard function module using implicit enhancement.

2. This will prevent opening of 3.x queries in 7.x query designer.

Note: Designer needs to be restarted to open any other query.

Step 1 (Implicit Enhancement)-

similar enhancement on "RSZ_X_COMPONENT_SET_NEW"

Step 2-

Tried to open ZTEST_3x 3.x query in 7.x query designer.

Step 3-

To allow specific users to migrate 3.x to 7.x, create a Z table and maintain list of allowed users. Code written above will be bypassed for these set of users.

Step 4-

To prevent accidental migration of 3.x to 7.x BEx Query when Query designer is launched from BEx Analyzer, logic has been put up in FM (RSZ_X_COMPONENT_SET_NEW) responsible for saving query.

Option 2- Create a different set of user-id’s in Production for BW super users. SAP OSS note 962530 can be used as a reference. Only new set of user id's will have access to 7.x designer tool.SAP OSS note 962530 (1686583 for BEx Analyzer) can be referenced.

Steps-

1. This new set of user ids will be created following a specific agreed naming convention. For instance Z7<*>, where <*> can be abbreviation of super user’s id.

2. This set of user ids will be shared amongst the 7.x toolkit users.

3. Using note 962530, an entry in t-code RS_FRONTEND_INIT  (Parameter- QD_EXCLUSIVE_USER) can be made with asterisk i.e. “Z7*”.

4.These new set of user’s will have following authorization-

a. Explicit display access to eCRM BW BEx queries.

b. Edit access to only those BEx queries whose name starts with- “Z7S_<*>”.  (7.x BEx queries by Super Users).

c. Super users will be able create and save query only if its name starts with “Z7S”.

5. It should be noted that nobody should create 3.x queries following above naming convention.

Option 3- Apply reactive workaround by doing reverse migration of queries which were migrated to 7.x

If query is migrated to 7.x accidentally, SAP notes 949330/1003481 can be used to apply reverse migration.

Summary

The objective of the document is to give information on the activities performed during and after BI 7.4 upgrade.

System Information

Before Upgrade: SAP BI 7.0 SP 22 - SAPKW70022

After Upgrade: SAP BI 7.4 SP 7 - SAPKW74007

Introduction

This part involves few important activities of pre-upgrade.

Planning the upgrade is a significant task and should be in an organized manner. We have planned our SAP BI 7.4 upgrade in three different phases and with reasonable time difference between each to identify issues and resolving them.

• Hardware Upgrade which involves Oracle patching as well (This might not be happening in all systems. Based on the requirement, business will decide in doing this)
• Stack Split (ABAP and Java stacks)
• Application Upgrade

          Online Upgrade of ABAP stack

          Offline Upgrade of ABAP stack

          Online Upgrade of Java Stack

          Offline Upgrade of Java Stack

BI activities in first and second phase is all about testing the system after the activities. The actual activities starts before and after SAP Application upgrade.

Hardware Upgrade and Stack Split

As I have already mentioned, this is not mandatory for all systems. It is based on how old or how powerful your system is.

Our system is pretty old and so we have decided to do the hardware upgrade and stack split at the same time in order to reduce cut over

Basically from BI perspective, we don’t have to do much during this activity except for testing.

The common issues that we have faced in all environments are below. Again, this is particular to issues that we have faced in our system. There might be less or more than what we have listed.

• Source system connections will get affected which basis will correct in few minutes, but this has to be first in your checklist
• Since we have done the stack split, portal and bookmarks might not work which is also a basis configuration settings.
• Integrated planning function tcode RSPLAN might not work and will give an error saying "Cannot find a J2EE Engine”. The issue was during the split the WebDynpro RFCs get deleted and need to be recreated.

• Once the stack split is completed successfully, we have got a new portal link and it worked fine, but when we try to execute the reports from Query designer, the screen was as below. The reason for this issue is same as for No 3. WebDynpro RFCs get deleted during stack split and need to be recreated.

• Process chains/jobs scheduled will be in released state and will never start. Basis team has reset the parameter rdisp/btctime in RZ10 and RZ11 from 0 to 60 which resolved the issue

• We had few APD jobs which updates data from BI query to AL11. These jobs failed after the hardware upgrade and the reason for this failure is
  /interface (or the location in AL11 of your APD jobs) was not mounted on the BI servers. Basis has done this mounting activity and the issue was resolved.

Application Upgrade

The below is the rough information on different phases in SAP application upgrade.

Most of these are done by basis and a BI consultant’s involvement should be there in Checks phase, Pre-processing and Post processing phase.

Checks Phase – Pre upgrade Task

Basis will perform few activities from their end and before moving to the pre-processing phase, below activities should be performed from BI side

We can access this information using the Tcode /N/ASU/UPGRADE. Below is the screenshot and detailed information is also given. ***

Please note that we need to access this tcode 000 client and not in the default client. But the activities should be performed from the default client (which is 100, I believe this is same for all)

Below are the details of the activities which has to be performed based on your system.

1. Check some notes before upgrade (Basis):

Check OSS Notes:

     Note 586648 - Invalid SID entries in /BI 0/SIOBJNM

     Note 1022704 - Upgrade Phase EHP_INCLUSION und SPSTACK_REQUEST

     Note 1088717 - Active services for Web Dynpro ABAP in transaction SICF

     Note 1390477 - Additional info for upgrade to SAP NetWeaver 7.3 ((((using SUM)

     Note 1403832 - Central Note: Upgrade Systems on SAP NetWeaver 7.3

     Note 1539356 - Upgrade to NW 7.3 with SEM-BW, FINBASIS, SAP_BS_FND, WEBCUIF

     Note 1405878 - SAP Solution Manager - Basic functions SP22 and higher

     Note 1484437 - BI_CONTT 77.35: Information about installation and upgrade

     Note 1543092 - BI Administration Cockpit: Upgraded from 7.00 to 7.30 release

     Note 1562522 - SAPINST aborts during central instance installation

     Note 1603103 - SMSY: NetWeaver 7.3 upgrade

     Note 16366053 - Upgrade to SAP NetWeaver 7.30: BW server: Useful note

     Note 1627683 - SCWB/SNOTE/SPAU: Changed development package

     Note 1528990 - SP Equivalence for update/upgrade to SAP NW 7.30

     Note 1636841 - Version management: Compatibility with SAP BASIS 777.x00

2. Add-On Compatibility of SAP NetWeaver: (Basis)

Check OSS Notes:

     Note 1532805 - Add-On Compatibility of SAP NetWeaver 7.3

     Note 1826531 - Add-on compatibility of SAP NetWeaver 7.4 – ABAP

3. Deactivate the Real Time Data Acquisition (BI - Not Required)

Trans: RSRDA. Though this is not active in our system, the upgrade will perform this step and therefore nothing is required to be done, apart from for your information. This task is automated in the Database Migration Option (DMO) in SUM and also in the task list SAP_BW_BEFORE_UPGRADE.  You do not have to perform this task manually if you are using one of these tools.

4. Check activate of ODS objects: (BI)

Trans: SE38/SA38 -> RSAODSACTIVATE

Report RSAODSACTIVATE checks whether your ODS objects are actively
present. Before you can perform the upgrade, all requests must be activated in
all ODS objects or deleted from the M table.  Alternatively you can go to
RSA1 => Administration => DataStore Objects.   This check is
automated in the upgrade process. Make sure that it does not report errors
before you start the upgrade.

5. Upgrade Check Report RSUPGRCHECK, isn’t valid for our release.  Step needs to be confirmed (Basis)

6. Remove temporary BI tables, this deleted any temporary BI tables and is a Basis step.  (Basis)

7. Check/Repair Status of Info Objects: (BI)

To avoid a data loss, upgrade shutdown, and long runtimes, check the status of your InfoObjects before the upgrade.  

Proceed as follows:

Call transaction RSD1 -> All InfoObjects -> Update.

Activate all information objects that are not assigned with a green light.

Then choose Extras -> Reorganize InfoObject tables to reorganize the InfoObject tables.

For more information, see SAP Note 458363.

8. Check inconsistencies with RSZ* Tables: (BI)

Trans: SE38/SA38 -> ANALYZE_RSZ_TABLES

Report ANALYZE_RSZ_TABLES is designed as a check-tool for detecting and solving different types of inconsistencies in the main query definition database tables. Execute the report to check possible inconsistencies with RSZ* Tables. Please read SAP Note 792779 for more information.  The program is recommended for BW system administrators.

9. Activate Info Objects (BI)

Trans: SE38/SA38 -> RSDG_IOBJ_ACTIVATE:

Activate Info Objects without automatic transport connection.

10. Clean/delete the messages for error (BI)

Trans: SE38/SA38 ->RSB_ANALYZE_ERRORLOG/RSBM_ERRORLOG_DELETE

You can use the report RSB_ANALYZE_ERRORLOG to analyse which DTPs have created how many single record error messages, and to how many requests these messages are distributed. You can use the report RSBM_ERRORLOG_DELETE for single DTPs to delete the messages for requests up to a specified date.

If numerous single record errors are frequently created for specific DTPs, you should analyse the relevant requests in more detail and, if required, eliminate the error cause (for example, adjusting the transformation routines).

11. Clean-up entries from table RSIXWWW: (Not Required)

SE38/SA38 ->RSRA_CLUSTER_TABLE_REORG (Just for your information, and you might like to see what it says, as this step will
be run during the upgrade)

Cluster table RSIXWWW contains large datasets that you can no longer access. This results in bottlenecks with the disk space.  Use the report RSRA_CLUSTER_TABLE_REORG to delete the entries that are no longer required in table RSIXWWW.  This task is automated in the Database Migration Option (DMO) in SUM and also in the task list SAP_BW_BEFORE_UPGRADE.  You do not have to perform this task manually if you are using one of these tools. 

12. Check code pages setting (Basis)

SE38/SA38 -> RSCPINST

RSCPINST is a setup and diagnostic tool for NLS configurations. Specify the set of languages needed, and the tool determines the settings required for a consistent NLS configuration. Modifications to the application profile parameters must be carried out manually.

13. Check Master Data consistency (BI)

Check the consistency of master data by executing report RSDMD_CHECKPRG_ALL. Execute in background ('Execute in Background') in order to avoid timeout.  If the report returns errors run the report again with the 'Repair' option flagged.

14. Clean-up background jobs (Basis)

SE38/SA38 -> RSBTCDEL2

Clean unused jobs if possible - check especially logs from job BI_WRITE_PROT_TO_APPLLOG. 

Related Documents

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-58813 - BI Activities involved in SAP BI 7.4 upgrade – Part 1

Author(s): Anil Kumar Puranam and Peesu Sudhakar

Company: Deloitte

Created on: 30th October, 2014

Authors Bio:

Sudhakar Reddy Peesu is an SAP Technology professional with more than 15 years of experience leading SAP BW/ABAP implementations, developing custom applications, and developing IT strategy. He is a PMP certified manager, has led BW/ABAP teams with hardware and landscape planning, design, installation and support, and development teams through all phases of the SDLC using the onsite/offshore delivery model.  He has strong communication, project management, and organization skills.  His industry project experience includes Banking, Consumer/Products, and Public Sector industries

Anil Kumar. Puranam is working as a Senior BW/BI Developer in Deloitte consulting. He has more than 10 years of SAP BW/BI/BO experience. He has worked on various support/implementation projects while working in consulting companies like Deloitte, IBM India, and TCS.

How to rebuild the BWA with BWA splits:

We generally build the BWA on the cube when we started the data loads.  And there is highly possible that the data in the cube is minimal at the time of BWA initial fill compare to the deltas that we receive. If we do BWA init fill with less data, we would endup reorgnize or rebuild due to large data roll up in the delta laods.

To aviod this proble, while creating the BA , we can give the instruction to system to build the BWA witht the estimated data in the cube. So that system will allocate the enough BWA index space to the  Info prociders by allocating space in different blades. The below screen shot shows how to rebuild BWA with splits.

Approach: When we index into BWA for first time i.e INITIAL FILL, we need to switch to “Own Setting” in “LOAD Admin” tab and go high value for the number of records . This will force the system to split BWA.

Estimate Runtime of Fact Table Indexing:

We can get this information from RSRV checks:

All Elementary Tests → BI Accelerator:

The system estimates the time required to fill the fact index. It uses the current parameter values for background and dialog parallel processing. The time taken is calculated from the processes available and the estimated maximal throughput of data records in the database, the application server, and the BIA server.

The calculated duration is an estimate; the load on the system, the distribution of data across block criteria and deviations during processing can all affect the actual time taken.

For ex:

Results after checking:

Estimate Memory Consumption of Fact Table Index

We can get this information from RSRV checks:

All Elementary Tests → BI Accelerator:

The system estimates the size of the fact table index of a BI accelerator index. In doing so, the system analyzes the data in the fact table and provides a projection.

For ex:

Results after checking:

BWA alert when the index size reaches 1billion.

• Program YBWA_ALERT_SEND
• Currently this program does, 2.1 billion limit check as well as Load Admin setting check (Own Setting Vs System Setting) from BWA end
• When there are exceptions in the above check the program, email sent out the exceptions to the email distribution entered.
• We can add the program to Process Chain to run them on daily basis to execute these checks.

Porgram is attached.

BWA overloaded alert:

Business Warehouse Accelerator (BWA) runs properly if we limit for the amount of data we can load into the BWA compare to thresh hold limit. The thresh hold limit is defined as below We should only load < “50% of the available blade memory” into the BWA.

• Report RSDDTZA_BIA_OVERLOAD_EMAIL can be used to check the availability
• We can create process chain to schedule a broadcast mail, for which we need to use report RSDDTREX_ADMIN_MAINTAIN to specify the e-mail
  addresses.
• Entry to maintain the email ids are BIA_NOTIFY_EMAIL_ADDRESS1 ,BIA_NOTIFY_EMAIL_ADDRESS2,… etc

Refer note 1767424 for more information.

Sample output:

BWA query performance metrics process

• BEx Query can be created as below on 0TCT_C03
• This query gives trend of BWA Read Time in Seconds per Million records.
• You can provide a date range and Multi providers as selection.
• In Addition to Time to read 1 M records, there are other measures such as time to read hierarchy, Time to Prepare Read, No of records
  Read etc are available for display in this query

We can also use one of the Analysis from ZBWA_TOOLKIT program. We can select Index Usage Analysis and we can go with different selections provided there.

Upgrade/Migration/Implementation/Systemcopy -
SAP Business Warehouse 7.3 and Higher

Product Road Map Updates => the mayor source of all product updates

BLOG:SAP BW? - three things to know ...

SAP BW on HANA 7.40 / The In-Memory Data Fabric

Content

• SAP Business Intelligence Architecture
• SAP BW Technical and Functional Upgrade
• SAP BW and BI-JAVA Installation
• Migration to SAP BW on SAP HANA
• SAP BW System Copy
• SAP BW Housekeeping Tasks
• Event Presentations
• References/Experiences/DSAG

SAP Business Intelligence Architecture

• top

SAP BW Technical and Functional Upgrade

BLOG: Software Update Manager (SUM): introducing the tool for software maintenance

BLOG: Good News - Easier Modeling of the SEM Add-On in Solution Manager

New:Get an overview about the BW specific upgrade steps here:

Upgrade to SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3x

Upgrade to SAP BW 7.40

New:

With the release of SAP BW 7.30 new and innovative capabilities have been added to SAP's EDW premium solution. SAP BW 7.30 as the backbone for a successful usage of SAP BusinessObjects Platform and SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator - BWA is the heart of the SAP Business Intelligence Architecture. The updated presentation SAP NetWeaver 7.0x - Upgrade to SAP NetWeaver 7.30 ABAP BW (full version with complete technical details) provided you with must-know delta information to quickly and effective upgrade to SAP BW 7.30 including existing information from the resources of this page and the updates for SAP NetWeaver 7.30 EhP1 (7.31).

 

See also the changes to the existing BEx Versions 3.5 and 7.x after Upgrade to BW 7.30 or 7.31
Be sure to read these notes prior to the technical upgrade in order to prevent any unwanted incompatibilities or unforeseen changes.

• top

 

BW ABAP and BI-JAVA Installation

The Software Provisioning Manager 1.0 (SWPM) can be used to install all SAP NetWeaver 7.30 based instances onwards.

See the details of the Software Logistics Toolset 1.0 here.

 

See SAP NetWeaver BW Installation/Configuration (also on HANA). This document also includes the complete SAP BW basis customizing settings, together with an example configuration of the system parameter. The guidance raises no claim to completeness.

New: It is now possible to install the ABAP CI as well on the HANA Appliance!
     Overview - SAP HANA and SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP o... | SAP HANA

     Note 1978179 - Early delivery of NW 7.40 SP06 (ABAP)

 

See all SAP First Guidance Documents here -SAP BW on SAP HANA First Guidance Collection

 

New Installation of  SAP BI JAVA 7.30 - Options, Connectivity and Security

With the release of SAP NetWeaver 7.30 all previous J2EE stacks are now synchronized in one platform. BI JAVA 7.30 is still available with the usage type BI-JAVA to connect to an existing SAP BW 7.30 stack for the classical usage of BEx Web or the native dashboards (former Xcelsius). The presentation SAP NetWeaver 7.30 – BI JAVA Implementation shows the new SAP NetWeaver 7.30 installation and configuration options with the functional unit configuration UI (former CTC BI-Java Template) All informations are also valid vor SAP NetWeaver 7.30 EhP1 (7.31)

 

SAP NetWeaver 7.0 - Deinstalling Java Add-In (also valid for SAP NetWeaver 7.30 JAVA Add-In)

The separation of the doublestack (ABAP and JAVA in one instance) into two separate stacks is a SAP recommendation. An option available since SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 is the deinstallation of the Java Add-In with SAPInst. This presentation provides details and guidance about the process to prepare for upgrade to SAP NetWeaver BW 7.30, concentrating on the ABAP stack.

 

As a successor for most scenarios, we offer the combined export of the Java system, deinstallation of the Java Add-In and installation of a new Java system using the dual-stack split tool available as part of the SL toolset 1.0 (SP5). For more information, see "Dual-Stack Split".

 

If you are running SAP NetWeaver 7.30 JAVA Add-In you can use the software provisioning manager 1.0 (SWPM) as part of the SL toolset for the deinstallation process, as this always contains the latest software components (Note 1680045). Note that the dual split process is not supported for SAP NetWeaver 7.30 systems (Note 1655335)

 

With SAP NetWeaver 7.3x JAVA the Functional Unit Configuration UI (former CTC BI-JAVA Template) is available

 

In Advance check the WebAS/SSO Settings after the Upgrade to NetWeaver 7.3x. The settings are almost identical to NetWeaver BW 7.0x

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Migration to SAP BW on SAP HANA

Migration to SAP HANA made easy with DMO

DMO is an option of SUM (Software Update Manager) for a combined update and migration: update an existing SAP system to a higher Software Release and migrate to SAP HANA database including the unicode conversion of the source database. The procedure is only available for systems based on AS ABAP, hence the executable SAPup is used in background. DMO migrates from an existing relational database type (“anyDB”) to SAP HANA. Software Update Manager (SUM) is the tool for system maintenance: Release upgrades, EHP implementation, applying SP stacks.

 

DSAG Technology Days 2014 - Migration BW on HANA - Update 2014 | SCN

SAP First Guidance - Migration SAP BW on SAP HANA using the DMO option in SUM

Database Migration Option (DMO) of SUM - Introduction

 

 

 

More flexibility with  SAP BW Post-Copy Automation

To reduce downtime for your production landscape, one of the recommended migration paths of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) to SAP NetWeaver BW on SAP HANA comprises a system copy of your SAP NetWeaver BW system. The system copy procedure of SAP NetWeaver BW systems and landscapes is complex for a number of reasons however. A large number of configuration settings are involved for example (such as connections and delta queue handling for data loading), as well as system copy scenarios of SAP NetWeaver BW (each with different landscape aspects) that have to be handled as part of every system copy, regardless of whether the system copy is part of the migration to SAP HANA or you want to perform regular system copies of your SAP NetWeaver BW landscape.

 

To achieve this, SAP NetWeaver Landscape Virtualization Management offers preconfigured "task lists" used by the ABAP task manager for lifecycle management automation.

You can also enable SAP BW powered by SAP HANA to “go productive” with parallel operation of your existing production system, both connected to the same back-end systems. This is achieved with a special and unique automated solution for delta queue cloning and synchronization on production systems.

SAP Note 886102 (SMP login required) thus becomes obsolete. Using the post-copy automation for SAP BW (BW PCA) in the migration process of SAP BW to SAP BW on SAP HANA, this process can be shortened by weeks and becomes easier, faster and more reliable.

 

The presentation Teched 2012 - Session EIM300  illustrates the migration to SAP BW on SAP HANA from an end-to-end perspective.

 

BLOG:Three things to know when migrating SAP  BW on SAP HANA

BLOG: 3 Major Reasons To Migrate To SAP BW 7.4 on SAP HANA

BLOG: What’s the Difference Between a Classic #SAPBW and #BWonHANA?

BLOG: Upgrade and Migration - SAP BW on SAP HANA

BLOG: Where to find information on SAP BW on SAP HANA migrations

BLOG: SAP BW Powered by SAP HANA Scale Out - Best Practices

BLOG: The SAP HANA Reference for NetWeaver Basis Administrators

BLOG:

Migration to SAP HANA: Latest News about SAP Note 1775293

BLOG: Migrating to BW on HANA - Real Life Lessons - ASUG Webcast

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SAP BW System Copy

 

SAP  BW 7.30  - Systemcopy ABAP

Since Release 7.30 SP05, it is now possible to perform a heterogenous system copy (incuding unicode migration) to migrate existing systems based on SAP  BW 7.30 SP05 and higher to SAP BW on SAP HANA (HDB) based systems.

With this major step forward, a new procedure called "Post Copy Automation (BW PCA)" now supports customers with what can often be complex post-steps before and after the homogenous/heterogenous BW system copy. This presentation is the delta information to the existing document "SAP NetWeaver 7.0 - BW Systemcopy ABAP" shown above. The technical Improvements with the leaner data model provides advantages with BW on HANA too.

To ease this generic step of BW system copy, a new procedure called "BW Post Copy automation (BW PCA)" is available, which supports customer now in the complex pre and post steps during the homogeneous/heterogeneousBW system copy (information from the SAP ALM group) procedure.

Please note that these procedure can be used independently from your BW and Database Version starting fromNetWeaver 7.0x

 

Visit the SCN Page - System Copy Automation for SAP Business Warehouse System Landscapes

 

BLOG: New Note Analyzer for SAP BW PCA and Housekeeping

 

We distinguish between two use cases explained in the FAQ for BW-PCA:

- initial copy based on an existing original BW system and connected BW source systems

  Task Lists - SAP_BW_COPY_INITIAL_PREPARE (BW systems only) andSAP_BW_BASIS_COPY_INITIAL_CONFIG

- refresh of an existing system based on an existing BW system and connected BW source systems

  Task List - SAP_BW_BASIS_COPY_REFRESH_CONFIG

 

Updating to the minimum level of the mentioned Support Stacks is recommended to minimize the manual effort.

For both cases the BW-PCA Tasklists support the customer together with the software provisioning manager 1.0 (SWPM) in these software lifecycle management tasks. BW-PCA is embedded in the SAP NetWeaver Landscape Virtualization Management

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BW Housekeeping Tasks

 

Important Housekeeping Principles for keeping your SAP BW in good shape

In this session, you will learn about various housekeeping activities that should be part of the operational concept of your Enterprise Data Warehouse. These housekeeping activities will support you in removing unwanted and unneeded data as well as unused metadata. Scheduling these activities regularly in the system will ensure optimum utilization of system resources while at the same time increasing the overall system performance.

 

New: SAP First Guidance - SAP BW Housekeeping and BW-PCA

 

New: Note 1829728 - BWHousekeeping Task List

(contains manual steps ZNOTE_1829728_PRE_70x/ZNOTE_1829728_PRE_73x, and automated steps applied with SNOTE)

The newly released Housekeeping Task List (Pre/Post Steps) allows you to automate mandatory tasks prior to upgrade/migration with DMO to ensure the quality of the migration process and the health of your BW System.

SCN:Create #SAP #BW Housekeeping task list

BLOG:House Keeping / Performance Tuning Activities in SAP BW Systems

 

Apply the following SAP Notes in advance and run the tasks in advance to ensure smooth implementation of the BW Housekeeping Task List.

Note 1710719 - Corrections on SAPI-Tasks for System Copy Automation

Note 1767420 - Task Manager for Technical Configuration (6. Improvements)

(contains manual steps znote_1767420 which has to be applied and executed beforehand.

Note 1810570 - Task Manager for Technical Configuration (7. Improvements)

Contains the attachment znote_1810570 which has to be applied and executed beforehand.

To solve the problem with the endless loop on the last task, apply the following Note:

Note 1880465 - SAP_BW_HOUSEKEEPING not terminating

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Event Presentations

TechEd 2012 Las Vegas/Madrid - EIM301

 

TechEd 2013 Las Vegas/Amsterdam - ITM204

Navigating and Networking at SAP TechEd => Live from TechEd Amsterdam, Replay from 05.11.2013, 18.00 Uhr

 

TechEd 2014 Las Vegas/Berlin - ITM206

 

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References/Experiences/DSAG

This is a collection of ressources from the SAP SCN Network and it´s content is not reflecting the findings from this document of future upgrade and enhancements.

See how the german customer Kärcher upgraded their SAP BW System Landscape (Three system plus sandbox) within 8 weeks including BI-IP and BIA. It is still a good reference from the project perspective

 

See Dr. Berg's Upgade to 7.30 Experience. This is a overview presentation based on 2011 findings.

See thedDoc - SAP BW 7.3 Promising Features This is a very nice overview based on the 2012 findings.

Recent blog - SAP BW 7.3 Upgrade Issues and Solutions is based on 2013 findings, esspecially application side.

Blog - SAP BW Upgrade: Pre and Post upgrade activities with answer to why?

Blog - BW 7.30: Hierarchy loading becomes easier with the help of new framework

Blog - SAP BW 7.4 Powered by HANA -- Promising Features (Part 1)

 

DSAG Forum: "Upgrade NetWeaver BW 7.3x" => (DSAG-ID requested) share you experience with other DSAG members.

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SAP NetWeaver BI Java 7.3 SP/Patch Upgrade without NW Stack Upgrade