Association of Info Object in BW4HANA

Problem Statement

For the Business User to execute the BW report in a reporting tool, selection parameters / filters need to be entered. When user looks up the value for these parameters, value help consumes a lot of time in displaying the list of values. This search is so slow that value help takes loads of time that even for fetching 5 records it takes 10 mins. With increased complex logic, the execution time would increase to display list of values for selection screen. Apart from value help, report also takes lots of time to display the report output.

Solution Overview

Calculation Views and Composite provider helps us implement Mixed modelling in BW4HANA where a model from Native HANA (Calculation views) is exposed to BW object (Composite provider).

Calculation views aids in implementing logic directly on data base layer, thereby reducing execution time by eliminating the need to push the data to application layer. It helps calculate data on the fly to cut down unload and reload phases to zero when it comes to business-related changes in data staging or extension/reduction in a data model. Unlike Classical BW systems there is no need to clear delta queues whenever there is a change in logic which facilitates zero downtimes during go live.

Composite Provider helps us combines data from several analytic indexes (Calculation Views in our Scenario) or from other Info Providers (by Join or Union – Info objects in our Scenario) and makes this data available for reporting and analysis. UNION and JOIN operations are executed in HANA and not on application server. CP also help us implement complex logic such as Key and Text display for field, Attributes of Info object.

Benefits

• If field-based approach is used in the query definition, the OLAP cache cannot be used that helps in faster data retrieval
• If fields from InfoObject are used as navigation attributes based on an SAP HANA view in Composite Providers, performance will be impaired when processing the query filter on them in SAP HANA
• If fields are used in the query, the Info Providers can only be read sequentially
• Info object-based approach we can leverage the Info object Hierarchies, Text, Display and Navigational attributes that enhances the existing raw information
• Restricted KPIs, Calculated KPIs which plays important role in Key figure information requires Info object filtering. With info object association this data search would be faster
• Data prompted for User Selection is fast as it gets all data from SID table of Info object
• Dynamic join is improved as Info object association can help us process complex OLAP operations and larger volumes of data

Accomplishments and Lessons Learnt

• Ability to prompt user selection with much lesser execution and loading time
• Enhanced User Experience
• Improved performance in executing complex process and larger volumes of data
• By implementing this solution, we have reduced total loading time from 6-8 mins (with minimal filters) to 5-10 seconds (with medium or high filters) ~98% time reduction
• Dynamic Join, Restricted KPIs, Calculated KPIs filter time reduced from minutes to seconds
• Since the data is pulled from SID table of InfoObject and not sequentially from CP, the data dumping and execution time is improved with greater extent. As a result, Query display list of values in value help in seconds even for thousands of records
• Reduced User Maintenance – There is no need to associate fields with Info Object at CP & re-create Variables, Restricted KPIs, Calculated KPIs Query level
• Use Custom Info object wherever Standard SAP Info objects can not suffice the requirement to achieve improved performance results
  
  
• When operating in a shared environment, clear communication between different project teams and a governance model around enhancing standard Info objects is key to maintaining the integrity of the existing reports. In situations like this, existing reports that consume these enhanced standard Info objects would also need to be enhanced and regenerated before they are operational

Sponsors:

Rob Willis – CS Managing Director | Consulting Enterprise Performance-robwillis@deloitte.com

Bill Schregardus – Specialist Leader | Consulting Enterprise Performance-wschregardus@deloitte.com

Gaurav Tyagi – Senior Manager | Consulting Enterprise Performance-gtyagi@deloitte.com

Authors:

Sanjeev Kumar - Consultant | Consulting Enterprise Performance- sanjeevkumar24@deloitte.com

Sumeet Gupta - Senior Consultant | Consulting Enterprise Performance- sumgupta@deloitte.com