Adding business rules (SAP BW)

Business rules that were created in SAP BW are imported into IBM® Cognos® Framework Manager. You can add more business rules to your model to refine the retrieved data and to ensure that the right information is available for your users.

Creating business rules and storing them in the model instead of in reports has many advantages. You save time because you and your users do not have to re-create the business rules every time they are needed. The business rules ensure consistency because your users all use the same definitions. For example, Low Margin means the same thing throughout the organization. They are easy to update because you maintain the business rules centrally so that all reports are updated automatically as the rules evolve. For example, if the definition for Low Margin changes, all reports that use the Low Margin calculation are updated automatically. The business rules enhance security.

Procedure

  1. Add calculations so that your users can include calculated data in their reports Creating a calculation (SAP BW).
  2. Create and apply filters so that you can limit the data that a query subject retrieves Creating a filter (SAP BW).
  3. Add prompts that will automatically display whenever a dimension or query subject is used in a report; report consumers are then prompted to filter data Defining a prompt control (SAP BW).
  4. Use session parameters Creating a session parameter (SAP BW) and parameter maps Creating a parameter map (SAP BW) to dynamically resolve expressions.
  5. Create a security filter to control the data that is shown to your users when they set up their reports Adding data security.