SAP BW Query Requirements

For the remainder of this section, we assume that an SAP BW query is being used as the basis for externalizing the data, not as the basis for reporting, and not with the intent of exceeding the memory and time limitations associated with extracting data directly from an InfoCube.

It is not possible to externalize an arbitrary SAP BW query. An SAP BW query must adhere to the following restrictions if you want to externalize it:

  • Set the characteristic display to Key. Setting the display to anything else may result in incorrect data.

    To change what appears for a characteristic, right-click the characteristic and click Properties. In the Properties of Characteristic dialog box, change the Display As value to Key.

    We strongly recommend that you use Key.

  • To reduce data volumes, as well as the amount of aggregation performed by the SAP BW server, we strongly recommend that summarization for all characteristics in the query be disabled in its property sheet.

    To disable summarization for a characteristic, right-click the characteristic along the edge of the SAP BW query and click Properties. In the Properties dialog box, set the Suppress Results Rows value to Always.

  • If at least one characteristic in an SAP BW query is displayed as something other than Key, then summarization for all characteristics must be suppressed.
  • The query must not contain the Currency/Unit characteristic.
  • None of the characteristics may be assigned a display hierarchy, either explicitly or by a variable.
  • If a characteristic is included in an SAP BW query as a free characteristic, no values will appear for that characteristic in the key figures extract.

    A filter on a free characteristic acts as a filter on the data returned by SAP BW. It is an efficient mechanism for defining a subset of an InfoCube.

    Such a filter may also be applied to a characteristic along an axis of an SAP BW query, in which case the filtered values appear in the key figures extract.

  • All key figures in the SAP BW query must be numeric.
  • The values of each key figure should be in a single currency. A variable should not be used to drive the assignment of a target currency.
  • Include in the SAP BW query only those characteristics which are to be extracted using Framework Manager. Including unnecessary characteristics increases the volume of data transferred from SAP BW, thus affecting performance.