Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Compared to the traditional data warehousing solutions, the SAP BI has a tremendous advan-
tage, because it can benefit from the simple fact that mySAP ERP itself is a repository-based appli-
cation environment. BI includes a number of components that permit it to perform many of its
tasks with a high degree of automation and to complete a fast implementation with minimal ongo-
ing maintenance. Usual data warehouse solutions are designed to extract and map at the level of the
individual database fields, because they do not recognize the context of the data. This information
on the context and meaning of data has to be established as a separate exercise. SAP BI is based
on the SAP business processes. Making use of SAP's integration and metadata concepts, SAP BI
extracts, loads, and aggregates data in accordance with the enterprise-wide business processes and
presents them in a flexible and user-friendly manner customized to the needs of the user.
Also, because of the fundamental integration of BI with mySAP ERP, the results of the BI
analysis can also be immediately integrated back into the SAP system, which is the powerful
sec-
ond loop
learning that we spoke about in Chapter 1's “The Learning Organization.” It represents
the capability of institutional learning that gives a tremendous advantage to companies in these
times of rapidly changing markets.
Business Explorer (BEx) is the component of SAP BI consisting of flexible reporting and analy-
sis tools for providing strategic, tactical, and operational analysis and decision support. These tools
include functionality for query, reporting, and analysis. Information can be disseminated via SAP
Enterprise Portal, an intranet (Web Application Design), or mobile presentation devices includ-
ing WAP or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Web Application Design provides the option of
implementing the generic OLAP navigation in both Web applications and BI cockpits for simple
or even highly customized scenarios (by using standard Web technologies or SAP BI technologies
like BI Java SDK, Open Analysis Interfaces, or Web Design APIs). BEx Web Analyzer provides an
independent Web application for data analysis that can be called via a URL or as an iView in the
SAP Enterprise Portal (EP). BEx Information Broadcasting allows precalculated documents with
historical data or links with live data to be disseminated via e-mail or published in the SAP EP.
SAP BI provides related analytical functions, technologies, and infrastructures like
◾
Metadata Repository
that enables maintenance and access to the metadata objects of
the BI system
◾
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
that enables multidimensional analyses according to
several different perspectives
◾
BI Business Planning and Simulation (BI-BPS) that enables planning applications
◾
Analysis Process Designer
(
APD
) that enables special analysis like data mining
SAP BI includes preconfigured role- and task-oriented information models based on
consistent metadata. These models include roles, workbooks, queries, InfoSources,
InfoCubes, ODS objects, key performance indicators, attributes, update rules, and
extractors for SAP and other selected applications.
10.4.2.2 Knowledge Management (KM)
SAP KM provides a generic framework for integrating and accessing unstructured information via
iViews of SAP Enterprise Portal (EP). SAP KM consists of two main components: SAP Content
Management (CM) and search, retrieval, and classification (TREX). Normally, information is
