We have many resources available(Blogs, wiki, documents, articles) on
SCN network but it will be great if we have any document which will give
directions to SAP BW beginner to explore SAP BW world step by step and also
clear many queries, questions, confusion on different aspects of SAP NetWeaver
BW.
While searching on internet normally we get lost to some other discussions and
topics. So despite of having unlimited resources on internet, SAP BW beginners
are facing many problems and asking basic questions on SCN.. and there is
chance that basic question may get blocked because as per Rules of engagement
person asking question needs to search on SCN because there are many resources
already available. I think its correct rule which will avoid replication of
material, similar discussions and make SCN better place where one can get
correct answers without getting more confused. But because of this many
beginners are suffering as they don’t get correct path which will guide them to
learn SAP BW… I was one of them when I started learning SAP BW.
I will try creating one such document which will help all SAP BW
beginners and will try guiding them. This document is result of same.
SAP NetWeaver BW is huge
topic to cover but I am trying to design my blog in such way that they will
provide answers to many queries which are running in your mind as beginner.
First aspect or first
question which comes to your mind as SAP BW beginner could be one of the
following or related:
Is it really worth
enough to learn new technology?
Is SAP NetWeaver BW
worth enough to look as a career path after few years of experience in SAP?
Is it good to switch to
SAP NetWeaver BW after getting experience in SAP ABAP or some other SAP module?
I am functional
consultant. Can I get basic knowledge of SAP NetWeaver BW?
I am new to SAP world
(Fresher). Can I choose SAP BW for career path?
What is the market value
for SAP BW? What is the future?
And many related
questions. Am I right?
In my opinion SAP BW is
really worth enough to learn and choose as a career path.
Let me explain you few
more things.
For any industry,
business, company or Enterprise the most important thing is Data. It can be
historical data, transnational data, master data, or data in any form or type.
The main point is Data is important for any company to run business and to stay
in business and no need to tell you that SAP NetWeaver BW(Business warehouse)
is all about it.
Business data plays key
role in shaping company overall strategy. All fortune 500 companies care a lot
about their own business data. Now a days as companies are expanding their
business globally, the volume of data which any company needs in day today business,
for developing future strategy is increasing day by day. So in this kind of
situation application, tool and technology which will take care of company data
plays key role. SAP BW is the solution which many companies already decided to
invest in.
As data volume is
increasing day by day so to resolve related performance issue we have SAP HANA
in place which is combination of hardware and software which will provide base
architecture for BW. SAP BW on HANA is reality in today’s world.
There are quite good
demand in market for SAP BW skill set and in my opinion it will remain for next
couple of years, till date these entire new products(like HANA) will get
stabilize in market. Anyways in any technology to stay in business you
need to acquire knowledge about upcoming new technologies, new versions,
updates and all which have potential to affect your current technology
demand. In case BW is also same. As there are many new technologies,
products are in line which are related to BW and have potential to affect
BW demand like HANA, BI, BO and all. Does SAP HANA replacing BW? In my opinion,the
answers is no.
On internet there are
survey available which will give you some more detail about current BW rate and
pay scale. Certainly everyone will think about this too.
This is all about Market
demand, market condition.
Now let’s go through
Pre-Requisite to Learn SAP BW.
Pre-Requisite:
·
In my opinion, to learn anything the first and mandatory pre
requisite is passion towards it. If you have passion you can learn this
technology even if you don’t have following other skill set. I mean you can
build following skill set and still can reach to your goal if you have passion.
· We have few tasks in BW for which we need ABAP knowledge. That is
extraction, Routine (Field level Routine, Start and End routine in
transformation step). ABAP knowledge will be great. If you don’t have
ABAP knowledge then also you can lean remaining things in SAP BW and even learn
basic of ABAP. In my opinion if you have experience in ABAP then it is really
good while learning any new technology in SAP because you will come to know
what is happening in background and you get some more confidence.
· Experience in Data-warehousing tools will help you understand
database related concepts.
· Functional knowledge of at least one SAP module will give you good
start while exploring and understanding SAP BW and it will help you in modeling
also.
· Analysis skills if you want to understand the reporting needs of
your customers or end-users in one go without rework. This plays very
important role as in BW because after looking at the report if end users says
you need to change few things you will need to change on every level which adds
time and money and energy. So to understand business requirement in one go
analysis and functional knowledge will help a lot.
After pre-requisite let
me explain different aspect of SAP BW:
- SAP BW
architecture:
It is important to understand
basic architecture of SAP NetWeaver BW. This will help you throughout your
career with SAP BW.
- Extraction:
This part of BW is all
about extracting needed data from different source system. Source system can be
ECC system, any other ERP, Files and all. There are different types
of extractor and related knowledge will help you in extracting correct data. It
involves complex logic related to delta mechanism, LO cockpit and all. Data
retrieval is one of the data warehousing processes in SAP. SAP provides
mechanisms for retrieving data (master data, transaction data, metadata) from
various sources. You can differentiate as to whether the SAP BW is the target
or the source of the data transfer: If data from various sources is retrieved
from various sources for transfer into a SAP BW system, the SAP BW system is
the target of the data transfer. If the data from SAP BW is retrieved for
distribution within the SAP BW or for distribution into analytical applications
or other applications, the SAP BW system is the source or hub in relation to
data transfer.
- Modeling:
This Part of BW is very
important because in this you will create data model by using different objects
like info-object, infoSource, datasource, DSO, Cube, Multi-provider, etc., DTP
and transformation also comes into the picture. It required good knowledge
about all these objects because every object has its own advantage and
different process of working. If you know all of them you will be able to build
robust data model. Writing routine is also part of modeling. Routines can be
field level, start or end routine. Along with this you will need knowledge
about of PSA, all modeling objects, DTP, transformation. Process chains,
- Reporting:
This part of BW deals
with actual reporting skills where you actually build queries using BEx or BI,
BO and use it to display reports for end users.
SAP BW uses BEx tool
(Business explore) for reporting purpose. The Business Explorer is the SAP
Business Information Warehouse component that provides flexible reporting and
analysis tools for strategic analyses and decision-making support within a
company. These tools include query, reporting, and analysis functions. You can
use BEx Information Broadcasting to distribute Business Intelligence content
from SAP BW by e-mail either as precalculated documents with past data, or as
links with live data. You can also publish it to the Enterprise Portal.
The Business Explorer
gives a large spectrum of users access to the information in SAP BW: Using the
Enterprise Portal, using the Intranet (Web Application Design) or using mobile
devices (WAP or iMode-enabled mobile telephones, Personal Digital Assistants).
Now a days BI and BO is also in market which many companies are considering for
advance anlysis and many new advance fetures:
Some more good links:
Good books for SAP BW:
A Practical Guide to SAP
NetWeaver Business Warehouse 7.0
By Bharat Patel, Amol
Palekar, and Shreekant Shiralkar
Data Modeling in SAP
NetWeaver BW
by Frank K. Wolf, Stefan
Yamada
SAP Certified
Application Associate — Business Intelligence with SAP NetWeaver 7.
By Lisette Bellissimo
Inside SAP
BusinessObjects Advanced Analysis
by Ingo Hilgefort
SAP BW: A Step by Step
Guide for BW 2.0 (Paperback)
by Biao Fu, Henry Fu
SAP BW Data Modeling
by Norbert Egger,
Jean-Marie Fiechter, and Jens Rohlf
Data Modeling in SAP
NetWeaver BW
By Frank K. Wolf, Stefan
Yamada
You can use following
SAP Press link to look for latest books on BW.
That’s it for this
blog. Happy Learning.