Thursday, December 31, 2020

SAP TechEd 2020 Virtual event - my recap

Note: The blog is cross posted on my blog at SAP Community.

This year it was obviously very different experience. Due to pandemic situation mostly all over the world, SAP TechEd event was held virtually. That came with some advantages (it was for free) but some may miss face to face part of the TechEd experience. I think format of this year TechEd will prevail going forward however I think perhaps there will be some parts of it (like pre/after show events) that will not be organized virtually. What about gathering of few SAP aficionados and do the TechEd together at some location? Something like small SAP Inside Track – the TechEd edition? Yeah just an idea. Of course, only in case there is no pandemic :(

I liked a “channel 1”. Even when I had no session scheduled I just tuned in. There was a plenty of information available with regards other sessions that I was not aware of, talks/discussions with community members, guests, replays etc. In general, it served me good to get an overview on what is going on other TechEd topics that I wasn’t initially interested in.

In addition, I found a very useful to follow social media during the event. Especially a discord channel to get a tips what are good sessions to see its replays, see live comments from community or just simply hang out with other TechEd goers.

Naturally based on my job, I followed tracks like Analytics, Database and Data Management in detail and partially App Development and Integration. During the time of the TechEd I focused on session type Workshops and Expert Q&A’s because in these I could leverage the most e.g. while having an access to system, performing exercises, ask live experts etc. Most of regular sessions I watched / will watch on demand afterwards. Concerning the workshops, some of them were not really occupied by attendees – simple people did not show up. This I think had a multiple reasons. As the whole event was free, some people may signed up to just whatever workshop was available at the time they were building their agenda. Later on they either were busy with their daily jobs, they forgot about it because they weren’t notified or simply didn’t care. In future perhaps better notification process would need to be setup. In case of some workshops I attended I got the notification when it was about to start via email from SAP sometimes from zoom. I guess for some people it was confusing.

Most of sessions are available on demand. It creates a useful resource list to study for all attendees. There are many sessions I still want to go through. Thus, I highly appreciate this option to do it on demand.

One more highlight for me was a music theme of the TechEd. It was a song called Mysteries by Richard Lacy and Sarah Mac from album Big & Bold 80's. Great choice I admit.

As I tweeted after the event: ... certainly, a new experience as was all in virtual - but I liked it, good job! thanks #SAP

See you perhaps not virtually only on next year's TechEd :)

More information:

Summary

All TechEd news

Wrap up video

Replays

SAP TechEd in 2020 – A Guide

SAP Cheat Sheet, Special Edition: SAP TechEd in 2020

TechEd-2020 SAP Analytics Q/A Summary (SAP DWC, SAC, BW4HANA) - day 1

TechEd-2020 SAP Analytics Q/A Summary (SAP DWC, SAC, BW4HANA) - day 2

Developer Key Note replay

Developer Key Note samples

Monday, December 21, 2020

BW request types: RSSM vs RSPM

 Traditionally in SAP BW systems there are the BW request types of two kinds, representing a request and status management (RSSM):

1. Request ID (e.g. DTPR_59IOI42WSEVCH90JCT5TCKNZZ) or so called Data Transfer Process Request. It describes a list with calls that is generated from the template of a Data Transfer Process (DTP). In addition, there is information how data in a BW is loaded from a source object to a target object, and which data is transferred to the target object under these conditions.
Data element that represent the Request ID is RSREQUID and it is CHAR30 data type. The value can consists of up to 30 characters literal (numbers and strings).

 

2. SID (e.g. 395.609) or so called key number of a request is the internal encryption of the request number that is allocated by the scheduler. The SIDs are sorted into ascending order. They are used in this maintenance for rolling up and compressing the InfoCube.

Data element that represent the SID is RSBKREQUID and it is INT4 data type. The number can be from interval: -2.147.483.648 to +2.147.483.647

 

Each request has both representation Req ID and SID. They can be converted from one form to another and vice versa. These numbers can be seen in t-code like RSA1 where they represent particular data load. T-code RSRQ (Data Load Monitor for a Request) allows to enter both type of the request.

The Req ID and SID that are based on 0REQUID are referred as called classic request and status management.

In general, all these terms like Request ID, Data Transfer Process (DTP) Request, SID or key number of a request area more less synonyms. One may find all these terms mixed.

3. In BW 7.5 there is a 3rd type of BW request type available. It is called Process Transaction Sequence Number (TNS). It has a formal like below:

{2020-05-12 17:18:11 000001 CET} = 20201512151811000001000

Even t-code RSRQ is extended in BW 7.5 to include this type of the request. It is based on timestamps.  Data element that represent the SID is RSBMREQUID and it is DEC data type with length of 23 and 9 decimals.

More over in BW/4HANA based systems the classic request and status management is not available. It was replaced by the TNS (0REQTSN) and it is referred as request status and process management (RSPM). It is used not only for loading processes but also for data staging, distribution, streaming, and planning processes for InfoObjects, aDSO, and Open Hub Destinations.

Below is a picture how t-code RSRQ looks like in BW lower than BW 7.5 and in the BW 7.5 or in BW/4HANA.


More information:

2482164 - BW4SL - Request and Status Management

2462639 - BW4SL - Interfaces and Customer-Specific ABAP Development

 

Saturday, December 19, 2020

t-code RSPM_MONITOR - BW Process Monitor

Within highest SPs of BW version 7.4 (higher than SP08) in BW version 7.5  (higher than SP03) and in BW/4HANA there is a t-code RSPM_MONITOR available to support BW Process Monitoring in general. Its purpose is to manage load request of aDSO objects.

There is a handful of things can be achieved in this t-code:

1. Changing process status: Active data load request (process) can be forcefully set to red. There is an icon “Change status to red” available for this operation on toolbar. Technically done by ABAP program report RSPM_CLOSE_FAILED_PROCESSES.


2. Monitor the process: The BW process can be monitored. Directly here either in the t-code RSPM_MONITOR or user can jump to the particular DTP, Process Chain or to Manage screen of the involved InfoProvider. 

Notice that since BW 75 a terminology changed a little bit. Data load term is in high level referred as process. This t-code serves to handle all process regardless of what they are. By the process following operations in BW are considered:

·        DTP Load Data (DTP_LOAD)

·        API Load Data (DATA_LOAD)

·        Move Requests (MOV_REQ)

·        Delete Request (DEL_REQ)

·        Activate DSO (ADSO_ACT)

·        Integrated Planning (PLAN)

·        Selective Deletion (SELDEL)

·        Deletion of Master Data (MD_DEL)

·        Remodeling (ADSO_REMOD)

·        DSO Table Conversion (REORG)

·        Data Mart (DMART)

·        Set manually status of Load Request (DTPR_UST)

 

The t-code support regular BW data loads request in form of:

·        Request ID (e.g. DTPR_59IOI42WSEVCH90JCT5TCKNZZ)

·        SID (e.g. 395.609)

·        Process Transaction Sequence Number (TNS, e.g. {2020-12-15 17:52:27 000001 CET})

 

More information:

2574738 - aDSO: Data target &1 is locked by process &2

SAP Business Warehouse 7.5

Update: a successor of BW 7.5 is being replaced by SAP BW/4HANA as it is not a legal successor of the BW rather it should be seen as a new product.

BW of version 7.5 was released 12.10.2015 and it is last release of the BW on any DB. By this version, the BW as classic one was discontinued. The product remains in maintenance mode as aligned with the maintenance strategy of NetWeaver 7.5 with end of mainstream maintenance set to 31.12.2027.

Below are enhancements delivered with the BW version 7.5:

 

·        All existing Planning Add-On´s based on SAP BW 7.40 are merged into SAP BW 7.50

·        Co-Existence of the Standard and the Embedded Planning Model

·        Planning application kit (PAK) feature completeness with BW-IP

·        PAK enablement of external Aggregation Level

·        Enhanced FOX productivity, usability and modularization

·        Enable InfoObjects as reference data

·        Access to InfoProvider of type DSO and planning on aDSO

 

·        Composite Provider (ComPro):

·        ComPro based on planning InfoCubes

·        Easy creation process

·        Conversion of existing MultiProviderand “old” ComPro

·        InfoArea Assignment

·        Semantic grouping of output structures

 

·        New SAP (HANA) Source System available

• New ability to leverage SAP HANA Smart Data Integration as provisioning technology

• Using SDI Adapter in SAP BW

• Simplified and unified source system connection to SDI, SDA and local HANA sources with the HANA Source system in BW

 

·        SAP HANA Smart Data Integration for SAP BW

·        Adding real-time streaming for various sources

·        Extends SAP HANA‘s Smart Data Access capabilities with new source adapters (Twitter, OData, File)

·        Supports direct access, (real time) replication and ETL for nearly any source

·        NLS support for aDSO with active tables*

·        Reporting value help (F4) can display posted values from near-line storage for aDSO

·        ComPro can use aDSO Objects with NLS in specific join scenarios

·        BW process type to create Database Statistics for NLS accesses (via Virtual Tables)

 

·        Transition to new BW on HANA objects (tool to transfer ComPro and aDSO):

·        Transfer existing data flows with traditional models into new BW on HANA optimized objects

·        Object copy (1:1, no data) of InfoCubes and DSO into aDSO

·        MultiProvider transfer/copy into ComPro

·        Generating copies of data flow objects, DTPs and Transformations

·        Collecting all necessary objects to rebuild the data flow downwards from a starting object

 

·        BW-Modeling Tools in Eclipse - BW Query Designer in Eclipse

·        Compatible with existing BExQueries –no migration/conversion required

·        Covers all BExQuery Designer functionality –plus extensions

·        HANA View Generation

·        Integrated Query Preview

·        New HANA Exit Variable via AMDP available

·        New Simplified formula editor (IF Operator)

·        Separate editor for Restricted Key Figures, Calculated Key Figures, Global Structures and Global Filters (feature complete with BW 7.5 SP1)

 

·        BW-Modeling Tools in Eclipse – InfoObject Maintenance in Eclipse

·        Covers all InfoObject functionality in a simplified maintenance

·        Support for INT8 Key Figures (overcome 2 billion limitation for integer values)

·        Enhanced Master Data Preview

·        Time characteristics as attributes for 0DATE, 0FISCPER, etc.

·        Disable Display Attributes in reference InfoObject

 

·        Automated generation of HANA Models

·        Enhancements for BW Queries

o   Support of Display Hierarchies (Pilot)

o   Availability of new HANA exit variable as AMDP

o   Support of IF THEN ELSE Formula Operator

o   Support of SAP Exit variables: 0CMONTH, 0CWEEK, 0CYEAR, 0CQUART, 0DAT

·        Enhancements for InfoObjects

o   BW Hierarchies are now includedfor the master data and master data provider

o   HANA view the XXL Attributes included in generated master data view

·        Enhancement for ComPro/aDSO

o   Usage of BW pruning information (meta data based) in generated views

o   Near-Line Storage access optimization for SAP IQ

 

·        UI5 based Monitoring

o   T-code BW4WEB - BW/4 COCKPIT

 

·        New settings for aDSO objects:

·        Extended non cumulative handling

·        Additional HANA Dynamic Tiering support for aDSO with Activation and Change Log set

·        Planning support for aDSO with “all characteristics are key, reporting on union” property set

·        Tool support for transfer existing objects to aDSO

·        Near-Line Storage support for various aDSO types

 

·        New settings for BW Search

 

·        New SAP Source System types on SAP BW on HANA (ODP Data Replication, Big Data or SAP HANA source system, File System (Manual Metadata, Data Using File Interface))

 

As of BW 7.5 SAP makes migration to SAP BW/4HANA easier as in this version customers can start with converting BW system to BW/4HANA as the system enables switched to several modes (compatibility/B4H/Ready for conversion). See more details about converting the BW to bw4han SAP BW/4HANA here.

The SAP BW 7.5 since SP16 enables a large number of SAC (SAP Analytics Cloud) features via the BW-live-connection. This makes this SP a "go-to release" for the best BW-SAC integration.

 

More information:

Online docu

2715030 - Considerations when using SAP BW and SAP S/4HANA Live Connections in SAC

Converting BW system to BW/4HANA

Tools for migrating to SAP BW/4HANA (B4H)

BW/4HANA: Custom ABAP code in transformations

BW/4HANA Simplifications (BW4SL)

SAP BW/4HANA (B4H) versions

SAP BW/4HANA (B4H) – what is it?