11 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Contents In this chapter you will learn how to: ƒ Use the Administrator Workbench ƒ Work with SAP-delivered DemoCubes ƒ Organize workbooks in the InfoCatalog ƒ Get the most out of BW (tips & tricks) Using the Administrator Workbench 11–2 Working with SAP DemoCubes 11–4 Using the InfoCatalog 11–11 Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks 11–15 Report Development Tools 11–1 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Using the Administrator Workbench In this chapter we will cover the following topics: < Using the Administrator Workbench < Working with SAP DemoCubes < Using the InfoCatalog < Using the BW Style Tool < Business Information Warehouse Tips & Tricks Using the Administrator Workbench The Administrator Workbench allows the BW administrator to perform all data warehouse construction and maintenance tasks within a single, unified environment The Administrator Workbench controls how data from source systems reaches the InfoCubes To access the Administrator Workbench from the main BW screen, choose the button Shown below is the Administrator Workbench A InfoCubes: Central data containers for queries and evaluations A B C D E B InfoObjects: Generic term for characteristics and key figures C Operational Data Store (ODS): Contains nonaggregated data and is used as an intermediate store for the staging process D InfoSources: Structures that logically belong together (from a business perspective) E Source systems: Provide data for extraction to the Business Information Warehouse 11–2 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Using the Administrator Workbench Report Development Tools 11–3 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Working with SAP DemoCubes SAP delivers DemoCubes containing examples of various analyses, including both data and formatted reports The DemoCubes are easy to load and give users an overview of BW reporting You can activate the configuration of DemoCube data (see below) and upload the data from flat files, regardless of whether or not you have connection to an R/3 System You can execute workbooks contained in the DemoCube to better understand BW functionality BW Release 1.2 is delivered with DemoCubes for Sales and Distribution and Profitability Analysis The SD DemoCube (which includes sample sales and gross profit analyses) was used to illustrate the basics of BW in chapters through 10 Before you can work with a DemoCube, you must activate it To work with the SD DemoCube: Activate the SAP SD DemoCube to populate the DemoCube with data Upload the data Activate the SAP-delivered SD DemoCube channel to store SD DemoCube workbooks Assign users to the SD DemoCube channel to allow access to the workbook Activating the SD DemoCube From the Administrator Workbench screen, choose Tools → Business Content → Demo cubes → Sales and Distribution 2 To activate the SAP SD DemoCube, choose Activate demo cube to activate the objects Choose Yes to activate the DemoCube 11–4 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Loading Data into SD DemoCube In the Administrator Workbench, choose the InfoSources tab 2 Choose Show InfoPackage Group The SAP DemoCube InfoPackage Group will appear on the right Note: InfoPackage Groups contains the scheduling jobs Right-click SAP DemoCube InfoPackage Group and choose InfoPackage Group Scheduler Note: The InfoPackage Group Scheduler enables users to tell BW when and where data should be extracted from the source system Choose the Schedule tab To customize the upload schedule, choose Selection options Otherwise, the data upload is scheduled immediately Choose Start to start the data upload To view the job process, Monitor choose Choose Back Note: Managed using the Scheduler, data requests to the source system are formulated per InfoSource and the source system; a distinction is made between master and transaction data We can have different extraction orders, called InfoPackages, with different selection criteria for an InfoSource in a single source system You can automate the data transfer and decide when and how often to extract data Report Development Tools 11–5 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Activating the SD DemoCube Channel To activate the SAPdelivered SD DemoCube channel, choose Select the SAP Demo Channel, 0D_SAPDEMO Choose Copy 11–6 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Assigning Users to the SD DemoCube Channel To assign a user to the channel, choose Log on to the BW system and choose InfoCatalog Report Development Tools 11–7 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Choose the User channel assignment tab 4 Choose Display Change to be in the change mode Drag a user (for example, April) and drop it into the SAP Demo Channel on the right Optional: Right-click the SAP Demo Channel and choose Insert user Then, choose the user that you wish to assign Choose Save Viewing Data in the SAP DemoCube To view the data in the SAP DemoCube, choose the InfoCubes tab in the Administrator Workbench Right-click the SAP DemoCube 3 Choose Maintain InfoCube content Note: If you not find the SAP DemoCube item, it may not have been configured See your system administrator 11–8 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes The Requests in the InfoCube tab is shown on the InfoCubes screen Displayed at right is a list of the data upload requests for the DemoCube Note: A green traffic light means the data has been uploaded to the cube 5 To view the DemoCube data, choose the SAP DemoCube Choose InfoCube Content or click Details We will look at a particular set of data contained in the DemoCube To select the fields of data to view, choose Field select for output Report Development Tools 11–9 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Select the fields you want to display Choose Execute Note: The fields you choose determine the format of the displayed output 10 Choose Execute to view the output 10 11–10 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Using the InfoCatalog Select one of the InfoCatalog subareas (for example, Enterprise InfoCatalog) Choose Enter Arranging Workbooks in the Enterprise InfoCatalog You can use directories to arrange workbooks in the Enterprise InfoCatalog For example, if there are 100 workbooks in the Enterprise InfoCatalog, it may help to group the workbooks into different directories Workbooks can be brought into directories of the Enterprise InfoCatalog either by transferring predefined workbooks from the SAP InfoCatalog, or by transferring saved workbooks from the BEx Analyzer To show how to organize workbooks, we will first explain how to create directories Later, we will show how to transfer workbooks to both directories and subchannels Creating Directories in the Enterprise InfoCatalog In the InfoCatalog, directories are like folders and are used for storing workbooks Within the directories you can create subdirectories Choose the Enterprise InfoCat tab from the InfoCatalog screen Choose Display Change to be in change mode Right-click Enterprise InfoCatalog and choose Insert directory Report Development Tools 11–13 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Using the InfoCatalog Right-click New directory and choose Change directory In New directory name, enter a name for the new directory (for example, Sales Information) Choose Enter As shown, we have dragged the workbook, Annual Gross Profit Analysis, and dropped it into the directory, Sales Information 8 Choose Save 11–14 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks In this section we present the following tips & tricks for BW users < Predefining options in queries not workbooks < Protecting workbooks < Checking version information for the BEx Analyzer < Using percentage functions in the queries < Disabling interactive drilldown < Using Visual Basic: API-Calls < Inserting a logo into the BEx Browser < Working with the BW Style Tool Predefining Options in Queries not Workbooks Certain options (for example, currency translation, display, or filtering options) can be either predefined in the query or specified in the workbook For example, the display options, results position, or results display can be predefined in the query properties or selected in the workbook by simple point-and-click steps For better performance, it is recommended that you predefine the display format or filter options in the query and not in the workbook Protecting Workbooks If you activate Excel’s sheet protection command, you will no longer be able to execute a number of Business Explorer functions However, if you use SAP Protection, you will be able to protect the worksheets without limiting the functionality of the Business Explorer For example, once sheet protection is active, the cell areas of the query can no longer be deleted and no new queries can be inserted To activate sheet protection from the BEx toolbar choose Tools → SAP Protection Report Development Tools 11–15 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks Enter the password twice Choose OK Your workbook is now protected from unauthorized modifications To remove sheet protection, choose Tools→ SAP Protection Enter the password with which you activated the sheet protection Checking Version Information for the BEx Analyzer Users can check the version of the BEx Analyzer by double-clicking the system name on the status bar In the Define query screen, double click the system name (for example, QRI) in the lower right-hand corner A popup Version screen displays the version and path of the BEx frontend Choose Close to exit the popup window Using Percentage Functions in Queries In the formula definition for structure elements in queries, you can use five different percent functions The following percentage functions are available: 11–16 < % difference in percentage (for example, x % y difference in percentage): How much a value deviates from the absolute amount of y: = (x-y)/absolute(y) < %A share in terms of percentage (for example, a %A y share in percentage): How large is a share x for the total value y: = x/absolute(y) < %CT (% of the cumulated total) share in terms of percentage for the result: The value of the key figure is related to the next higher value that is aggregated (the subtotal in respect to a characteristic is 100%) Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks < %GT (% of the grand total) share in terms of percentage for the total result: The value of the key figure is related to the aggregated value for all characteristics (the total of the entire table for the key figure is 100%) < %RT (% of the report total) share in terms of percentage for the report result: The value of the key figure is related to the aggregated value for all characteristics, for which the dynamic filter is ignored For example, if a free characteristic is restricted by a filter value, the total sum of the key figure in the displayed table is under 100% % and %A can also be used for the calculated key figures The following procedure, starting from the query definition, shows how we created GP% (gross profit %) On the Define query screen, right-click and Structure choose New formula Enter a Description of the formula To define a formula, expand the Structure elements tree Double-click one of the key figures such as Gross Profit The key figure, Gross Profit will appear in the Formula box Expand the Percentage functions tree Double-click the %A Percentage share Double-click the key figure, Sales Revenue Choose Check to check the formula for syntax errors Report Development Tools 11–17 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks Choose OK to exit the Formula screen 10 The result of a new GP% key figure is displayed under Structure in Columns 11 To reposition the GP %, drag and drop the GP % (for example, into the Gross Profit area) GP % is now located under Gross Profit 12 Choose Save query to save the settings Transfer query 14 Choose to workbook to execute the query 11–18 12 11 14 13 12 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks Disabling Interactive Drilldown Interactive functions such as navigation, refreshing, etc are available as a default in the query However, to stop the report views from being changed, you can disable the interactive functions From the BEx Analyzer, right-click a cell (for example, US in the Company Code column) in the query Choose Properties Deselect Enable interactive functions Choose OK to exit the SAP BEx Query: Properties screen Saving and reusing variable values If variables that are ready for input are used in a report, you can enter the desired values or confirm the default values when embedding the query in an Excel worksheet To save and reuse variable values, select Save and reuse variable values Report Development Tools 11–19 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Getting the Most out of BW: Tips & Tricks Using Visual Basic: API-Calls A set of API-Calls are stored in the Excel add-in SAPBEX.XLA SAPBEX.XLA enables users to work with the BEx Analyzer SAP provides a list of available VBA functions/routines in SAPBEX.XLA which can be used to enhance the functionality of your Excel workbooks These routines in SAPBEX.XLA are high level commands which execute special functions in the OLAP-Processor After processing, the resulting API-Call value can be analyzed and start a specific action Creating a Drilldown Pushbutton For instance, users can use the add-in SAPBEX.XLA to create a drilldown command button The followings steps describe how to create a drilldown command button in the Gross Profit Analysis Report: Use the Control Toolbox to create a command button (pushbutton) Choose the command button and right-click the mouse Choose View Code and define the SAPBEX.XLA routines To create a drilldown command button, choose View → Toolbars → Control Toolbox Choose Button Command 3 Choose a cell, hold down the left mouse button, and draw a button Right-click the command button and choose Command Button Object → Edit to change the description (for example, Company Code) of the command button Right-click the command button again and choose Properties to redefine the appearance of the button Right-click the command button and choose View Code to enter the SAPBEX.XLA routines 11–20 Reporting Made Easy ... (from a business perspective) E Source systems: Provide data for extraction to the Business Information Warehouse 11–2 Reporting Made Easy Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics. . .Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Using the Administrator Workbench In this chapter we will cover the following topics: < Using the Administrator... Topics Using the Administrator Workbench Report Development Tools 11–3 Chapter 11: Business Information Warehouse: Special Topics Working with SAP DemoCubes Working with SAP DemoCubes SAP delivers