SAP BI FAQ'S
Q) What is data integrity?a
Data Integrity is about eliminating duplicate entries in the database. Data integrity means no duplicate data.
Q) What is the difference between SAP BW 3.0B and SAP BW 3.1C, 3.5?
The best answer here is Business Content. There is additional Business Content provided with BW 3.1C that wasn’t found in BW 3.0B. SAP has a pretty decent reference library on their Web site that documents that additional objects found with 3.1C.
Q) What is the difference between SAP BW 3.5 and 7.0?
SAP BW 7.0 is called SAP BI and is one of the components of SAP Net Weaver 2004s. There are many differences between them in areas like extraction, EDW, reporting, analysis administration and so forth. For a detailed description, please refer to the documentation given on help.sap.com.
1. No Update rules or Transfer rules (Not mandatory in data flow)
2. Instead of update rules and Transfer rules new concept introduced called transformations.
3. New ODS introduced in additional to the Standard and transactional.
4. ODS is renamed as Data Store to meet with the global data warehousing standards. And lot more changes in the functionalities of BEX query designer and WAD etc.
5. In Info sets now you can include Info cubes as well.
6. The Re-Modeling transaction helps you adding new key figures and characteristics and handles historical data as well without much hassle. This facility is available only for info cube.
7. The BI accelerator (for now only for info cubes) helps in reducing query run time by almost a factor of 10 – 100. This BI accl is a separate box and would cost more. Vendors for these would be HP or IBM.
8. The monitoring has been improved with a new portal based cockpit. Which means you would need to have an EP guy in your project for implementing the portal !
9. Search functionality has improved!! You can search any object. Not like 3.5
10. Transformations are in and routines are passé! Yes, you can always revert to the old transactions too.
Q) What is index?
Indices/Indexes are used to locate needed records in a database table quickly. BW uses two types of indices, B-tree indices for regular database tables and bitmap indices for fact tables and aggregate tables.
Q) What is KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?
(1) Predefined calculations that render summarized and/or aggregated information, which is useful in making strategic decisions.
(2) Also known as Performance Measure, Performance Metric measures. KPIs are put in place and visible to an organization to indicate the level of progress and status of change efforts in an organization.
KPIs are industry-recognized measurements on which to base critical business decisions.
In SAP BW, Business Content KPIs have been developed based upon input from customers, partners, and industry experts to ensure that they reflect best practices.
Q) What is the use of process chain?
The use of Process Chain is to automate the data load process.
Used to automate all the processes including Data load and all Administrative Tasks like indices creation deletion, Cube compression etc.
Highly controlled data loading.
Q) If there are duplicate data in Cubes, how would you fix it?
Delete the request ID, Fix data in PSA or ODS and re-load again from PSA / ODS.
Q) What is the use of change log table?
Change log is used for delta updates to the target; it stores all changes per request and updates the target.
Q) What is the T-Code for Data Archival and what is it’s advantage?
SARA.
Advantage: To minimize space, Query performance and Load performance
Q) What is OSS?
OSS is Online support system runs by SAP to support the customers.
You can access this by entering OSS1 transaction or visit Service.SAP.Com and access it by providing the user name and password.
Q) How to transport BW object?
Follow the steps.
i. RSA1 > Transport connection
ii. In the right window there is a category “all object according to type”
iii. Select required object you want to transport.
iv. Expand that object, there is select object, double click on this you will get the number of objects, select yours one.
v. Continue.
vi. Go with the selection, select all your required objects you want to transport.
vii. There is icon Transport Object (Truck Symbol).
viii. Click that, it will create one request, note it down this request.
ix. Go to Transport Organizer (T-code SE01).
x. In the display tab, enter the Request, and then go with display.
xi. Check your transport request whether contains the required objects or not, if not go with edit, if yes “Release” that request.
That’s it; your coordinator/Basis person will move this request to Quality or Production.
Q) How to unlock objects in Transport Organizer?
To unlock a transport use Go to SE03 –> Request Task –> Unlock Objects
Enter your request and select unlock and execute. This will unlock the request.
Q) What is Info Package Group?
An Info Package group is a collection of Info Packages.
Q) What are the critical issues you faced and how did you solve it?
Find your own answer based on your experience.
Q) What is Conversion Routine?
a) Conversion Routines are used to convert data types from internal format to external/display format or vice versa.
b) These are function modules.
c) There are many function modules, they will be of type
CONVERSION_EXIT_XXXX_INPUT, CONVERSION_EXIT_XXXX_OUTPUT.
Q) Difference between Start Routine and Conversion Routine
In the start routine you can modify data packages when data loading. Conversion routine usually refers to routines bound to Info Objects (or data elements) for conversion of internal and display format.
Q) What is the use of setup tables in LO extraction?
The use of setup table is to store your historical data in them before updating to the target system. Once you fill up the setup tables with the data, you need not to go to the application tables again and again which in turn will increase your system performance.
Q) What is partitioning and what are the benefits of partitioning in an Info Cube?
A) Partitioning is the method of dividing a table (either column wise or row wise) based on the fields available which would enable a quick reference for the intended values of the fields in the table. By partitioning an info cube, the reporting performance is enhanced because it is easier to search in smaller tables. Also table maintenance becomes easier.
Q) What does Rollup do?
A) Rollup creates aggregates in an info cube whenever new data is loaded.
Q) What are the inputs for an info set?
A) The inputs for an info set are ODS objects and Info Objects (with master data or text)
Q) What internally happens when BW objects like Info Object, Info Cube or ODS are created and activated?
A) When an Info Object, Info Cube or ODS object is created, BW maintains a saved version of that object but does not make it available for use. Once the object is activated, BW creates an active version that is available for use.
Q) What is the maximum number of key fields that you can have in an ODS object?
A) 16.
Q) What is the specific advantage of LO extraction over LIS extraction?
A) The load performance of LO extraction is better than that of LIS. In LIS two tables are used for delta management that is cumbersome. In LO only one delta queue is used for delta management.
Q) What is the importance of 0REQUID?
A) It is the Info Object for Request id. OREQUID enables BW to distinguish between different data records.
Q) Can you add programs in the scheduler?
A) Yes. Through event handling.
Q) What is the function of BW statistics cube?
A) BW statistics cube contains the data related to the reporting performance and the data loads of all the Info Cubes in the BW system.
Q) What is the function of 'selective deletion' tab in the manage->contents of an info cube?
A) It allows us to select a particular value of a particular field and delete its contents.
Q) When we collapse an info cube, is the consolidated data stored in the same info cube or is it stored in the new info cube?
A) Data is stored in the same cube.
Q) What is the effect of aggregation on the performance? Are there any negative effects on the performance?
A) Aggregation improves the performance in reporting.
Q) What happens when you load transaction data without loading master data?
A) The transaction data gets loaded and the master data fields remain blank.
Q) How many hierarchy levels can be created for a characteristic info object?
A) Maximum of 98 levels.
Q) What is DB connect and where is it used?
A) DB connect is database connecting piece of program. It is used in connecting third party tools with BW for reporting purpose.
Q) What is data integrity?a
Data Integrity is about eliminating duplicate entries in the database. Data integrity means no duplicate data.
Q) What is the difference between SAP BW 3.0B and SAP BW 3.1C, 3.5?
The best answer here is Business Content. There is additional Business Content provided with BW 3.1C that wasn’t found in BW 3.0B. SAP has a pretty decent reference library on their Web site that documents that additional objects found with 3.1C.
Q) What is the difference between SAP BW 3.5 and 7.0?
SAP BW 7.0 is called SAP BI and is one of the components of SAP Net Weaver 2004s. There are many differences between them in areas like extraction, EDW, reporting, analysis administration and so forth. For a detailed description, please refer to the documentation given on help.sap.com.
1. No Update rules or Transfer rules (Not mandatory in data flow)
2. Instead of update rules and Transfer rules new concept introduced called transformations.
3. New ODS introduced in additional to the Standard and transactional.
4. ODS is renamed as Data Store to meet with the global data warehousing standards. And lot more changes in the functionalities of BEX query designer and WAD etc.
5. In Info sets now you can include Info cubes as well.
6. The Re-Modeling transaction helps you adding new key figures and characteristics and handles historical data as well without much hassle. This facility is available only for info cube.
7. The BI accelerator (for now only for info cubes) helps in reducing query run time by almost a factor of 10 – 100. This BI accl is a separate box and would cost more. Vendors for these would be HP or IBM.
8. The monitoring has been improved with a new portal based cockpit. Which means you would need to have an EP guy in your project for implementing the portal !
9. Search functionality has improved!! You can search any object. Not like 3.5
10. Transformations are in and routines are passé! Yes, you can always revert to the old transactions too.
Q) What is index?
Indices/Indexes are used to locate needed records in a database table quickly. BW uses two types of indices, B-tree indices for regular database tables and bitmap indices for fact tables and aggregate tables.
Q) What is KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)?
(1) Predefined calculations that render summarized and/or aggregated information, which is useful in making strategic decisions.
(2) Also known as Performance Measure, Performance Metric measures. KPIs are put in place and visible to an organization to indicate the level of progress and status of change efforts in an organization.
KPIs are industry-recognized measurements on which to base critical business decisions.
In SAP BW, Business Content KPIs have been developed based upon input from customers, partners, and industry experts to ensure that they reflect best practices.
Q) What is the use of process chain?
The use of Process Chain is to automate the data load process.
Used to automate all the processes including Data load and all Administrative Tasks like indices creation deletion, Cube compression etc.
Highly controlled data loading.
Q) If there are duplicate data in Cubes, how would you fix it?
Delete the request ID, Fix data in PSA or ODS and re-load again from PSA / ODS.
Q) What is the use of change log table?
Change log is used for delta updates to the target; it stores all changes per request and updates the target.
Q) What is the T-Code for Data Archival and what is it’s advantage?
SARA.
Advantage: To minimize space, Query performance and Load performance
Q) What is OSS?
OSS is Online support system runs by SAP to support the customers.
You can access this by entering OSS1 transaction or visit Service.SAP.Com and access it by providing the user name and password.
Q) How to transport BW object?
Follow the steps.
i. RSA1 > Transport connection
ii. In the right window there is a category “all object according to type”
iii. Select required object you want to transport.
iv. Expand that object, there is select object, double click on this you will get the number of objects, select yours one.
v. Continue.
vi. Go with the selection, select all your required objects you want to transport.
vii. There is icon Transport Object (Truck Symbol).
viii. Click that, it will create one request, note it down this request.
ix. Go to Transport Organizer (T-code SE01).
x. In the display tab, enter the Request, and then go with display.
xi. Check your transport request whether contains the required objects or not, if not go with edit, if yes “Release” that request.
That’s it; your coordinator/Basis person will move this request to Quality or Production.
Q) How to unlock objects in Transport Organizer?
To unlock a transport use Go to SE03 –> Request Task –> Unlock Objects
Enter your request and select unlock and execute. This will unlock the request.
Q) What is Info Package Group?
An Info Package group is a collection of Info Packages.
Q) What are the critical issues you faced and how did you solve it?
Find your own answer based on your experience.
Q) What is Conversion Routine?
a) Conversion Routines are used to convert data types from internal format to external/display format or vice versa.
b) These are function modules.
c) There are many function modules, they will be of type
CONVERSION_EXIT_XXXX_INPUT, CONVERSION_EXIT_XXXX_OUTPUT.
Q) Difference between Start Routine and Conversion Routine
In the start routine you can modify data packages when data loading. Conversion routine usually refers to routines bound to Info Objects (or data elements) for conversion of internal and display format.
Q) What is the use of setup tables in LO extraction?
The use of setup table is to store your historical data in them before updating to the target system. Once you fill up the setup tables with the data, you need not to go to the application tables again and again which in turn will increase your system performance.
Q) What is partitioning and what are the benefits of partitioning in an Info Cube?
A) Partitioning is the method of dividing a table (either column wise or row wise) based on the fields available which would enable a quick reference for the intended values of the fields in the table. By partitioning an info cube, the reporting performance is enhanced because it is easier to search in smaller tables. Also table maintenance becomes easier.
Q) What does Rollup do?
A) Rollup creates aggregates in an info cube whenever new data is loaded.
Q) What are the inputs for an info set?
A) The inputs for an info set are ODS objects and Info Objects (with master data or text)
Q) What internally happens when BW objects like Info Object, Info Cube or ODS are created and activated?
A) When an Info Object, Info Cube or ODS object is created, BW maintains a saved version of that object but does not make it available for use. Once the object is activated, BW creates an active version that is available for use.
Q) What is the maximum number of key fields that you can have in an ODS object?
A) 16.
Q) What is the specific advantage of LO extraction over LIS extraction?
A) The load performance of LO extraction is better than that of LIS. In LIS two tables are used for delta management that is cumbersome. In LO only one delta queue is used for delta management.
Q) What is the importance of 0REQUID?
A) It is the Info Object for Request id. OREQUID enables BW to distinguish between different data records.
Q) Can you add programs in the scheduler?
A) Yes. Through event handling.
Q) What is the function of BW statistics cube?
A) BW statistics cube contains the data related to the reporting performance and the data loads of all the Info Cubes in the BW system.
Q) What is the function of 'selective deletion' tab in the manage->contents of an info cube?
A) It allows us to select a particular value of a particular field and delete its contents.
Q) When we collapse an info cube, is the consolidated data stored in the same info cube or is it stored in the new info cube?
A) Data is stored in the same cube.
Q) What is the effect of aggregation on the performance? Are there any negative effects on the performance?
A) Aggregation improves the performance in reporting.
Q) What happens when you load transaction data without loading master data?
A) The transaction data gets loaded and the master data fields remain blank.
Q) How many hierarchy levels can be created for a characteristic info object?
A) Maximum of 98 levels.
Q) What is DB connect and where is it used?
A) DB connect is database connecting piece of program. It is used in connecting third party tools with BW for reporting purpose.
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