I created my first SCN document on topic of Complete deletion of SPO object data here:
Complete deletion of SPO object data
It is about enhancement (see note 1864773) that enables to delete the data within all objects involved in particular SPO object.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
InfoCube Utilities
This blog is originally posted on SCN:
InfoCube Utilities
4.
Analyze Infocube – This is just a simple call of TA RSRV - Analysis
and Repair of BW Objects.
InfoCube Utilities
Recently I found infocube
related functionalities which are not so obvious within the standard transactions
like RSA1. Within this blog post I’d like to share them to others. May it
happen that someone benefit from it. One of them is mass copy cube a like
function. This function usually every customer tries to do by self-creating
some Z* report. And moreover there are other functions…
So how I found it? I
needed to change an name space for one of my cubes and I was browsing
service.sap.com/notes to find out how to do that. I ran into the SAP Note 1708553 - InfoCube
creation enforces BW application selection where I saw transaction RSDCUBEM mentioned. BTW there in the BW
systems there are also transactions RSDCUBED
and RSDCUBE. As they all point to
same ABAP report SAPMRSD0 and screen 1000 I cannot really say what is the
difference between them.
As I was exploring TA RSDCUBEM
I found interesting items in menu Edit->
InfoCube Utilities->
From the pop-up following function are available:
1.
Make
Copies – Allows copying one info cube to new ones with
different names. You can specify start and end suffix of 2 characters for new
infocubes names. Function is implemented by calling ABAP report RSDG_CUBE_COPY.
2. Activate
Infocubes – Enables mass activation of cubes per chosen cube type
or cubes in particular InfoArea or selection. ABAP report RSDG_CUBE_ACTIVATE is
behind this function.
3.
Delete
Infocubes – This is mass deletion of infocubes per cube type or specified
InfoArea or selection. Implemented via call of ABAP report RSDG_CUBE_DELETE.
5.
Reorganize Texts – Within the call of report RSDG_CUBE_REORG_TEXTS
another report is called RSDG_MPRO_REORG_TEXTS. Report is dealing with texts (table
RSDCUBET) of cubes/MultiProviders and is trying to insert the text of e.g.
business content objects if text is not present in its active version. At least
that is my impression based on what I see in the report’s source code. I’m not
really sure what this function would be useful for. If someone has experience
with this report can you share it in comments?
6.
Change Validity Slice – This function is useful while having
non-cumulative key figures (like SAP ECC Inventory management) in cube. As per
by standard behavior Validity period of stocks is determined by the oldest and
the most recent material movement. If you need to display data in your report
that lies further in past you can run this function to change the validity
period. Function is implemented by calling ABAP report RSDG_CUBE_VALT_MODIFY.
How to get rid of clients 001 and 066 ?
With the advent of Solution
Manager some of basis functionalities in NetWeaver
based SAP system became obsolete. However this is not very known by SAP Basis
people. Knowing this you can save a database space used by your system. Needless
to say having slim system may even lead to better performance of your system.
This is especially valid if you run your own installation on laptop as IDES or
similar demo system.
So what are
functionalities that were replaced by SOLMAN (Solution
Manager)? These are available in special clients which were installed to
you system long time ago when Solman wasn't around.
Client
066
– was a special client used by SAP
Active Global Support to deliver their services. It was the client so called
EarlyWatch. The client is not used anymore. You can safely remove it from your
system via TA SCC5.
Client
001
– was usually created during initial installation of SAP system as copy of
client 000. If your system is actually Solman its productive client is 001 so
you must not deleted it! In other system it is used as production preparation
client. Otherwise it is not needed.
Further details can be found:
1897372 -
EarlyWatch Mandant 066 - Can Client 066 be deleted?
7312 - Client 066 for
EarlyWatch
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Number of records in the InfoProvider
Sometime ago I blogged
about usage of output
number of hits which is functionality available on Display Data’s screen of
Manage InfoProvider section within TA RSA1. While try to get know no of records
in InfoProvider via above mentioned “Output number of hits” you may face a
short dump because your InfoProvider has simply so much data.
To solve this I was looking
for some other options how to find out number of records on very large cubes. Luckily
there is a way how to do it. A database table called RSMDATASTATE_EXT is available
in BW system. The table holds information of actual number of entries per InfoProvider.
All you need to do is browse the RSMDATASTATE_EXT in TA
SE11 or SE16 or similar. Into field Data Target Type (DTA_TYPE) enter
following:
CUBE if your InfoProvider is cube
MPRO MultiProvider
ODSO ODS
Object
TFSTRU PSA
Table
IOBJ_T Text
table of IO
IOBJ_M Master
Data Table of IO
IOBJ_H Hierarchy
FLEX_M Flexible Master Data
FLEX_T Flexible Texts
FLEX_H Flexible Hierarchies
QUELL Source
System
DTASRC New PSA
ISET InfoSet
QUERY Query
DEST Open
Hub Destination
INSP Inspection
Plan
Once you run your selection in the field RECORDS_ALL you
will get number of all the records in specified InfoProvider.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Oracle DB versioning
Oracle
as database is quite popular within SAP customers. It is fact for many years. The
reason why customers are running their SAP system on Oracle database is that
Oracle is quite stable, scalable and SAP is really optimized for Oracle. Although
both companies do not
like each other very much when it comes to database SAP is really taking a lot
of effort to optimize their software for Oracle. Not sure how long this will be
true as SAP will certainly shift its focus on their own homegrown HANA
database but for time being it is valid.
Speaking
of BW there are many features that are optimized for BW running on Oracle DB.
You can find a lot of SAP Notes discussing those features. There are many RSADMIN
parameters just for Oracle as DB. Once you want to use some of these
features you may need to check first fi you have valid version of Oracle DB for
which feature is valid. This here comes the tricky part. Oracle DB versioning is
different from its DB’s marketing names. You can see in the particular note
(e.g. 1287382) that you need Oracle DB 11g. What you see in your SAP system under
menu System-> Status is that you have 11.2.0.3.0. So is 11.2.0.3.0 really
11g? Well version number starts with 11 but what about g?
Unfortunately
I haven’t found any official material on how to match between real version
number and its marketing name. But speaking very high level we can match those
two as follows:
name
|
number
|
Oracle v2
|
2.3
|
Oracle v3
|
3.1.3
|
Oracle v4
|
4.1.4.0-4.1.4.4
|
Oracle
v5
|
5.0.22,
5.1.17, 5.1.22
|
Oracle
v6
|
6.0.17-6.0.36
|
Oracle7
|
7.0.12–7.3.4
|
Oracle8
|
8.0.3–8.0.6
|
Oracle8i rel 1
|
8.1.5.0–8.1.5.1
|
Oracle8i rel 2
|
8.1.6.0–8.1.6.3
|
Oracle8i rel 3
|
8.1.7.0–8.1.7.4
|
Oracle9i rel 1
|
9.0.1.0–9.0.1.5
|
Oracle9i rel
2
|
9.2.0.1–9.2.0.8
|
Oracle
Database 10g Rel 1
|
10.1.0.2–10.1.0.5
|
Oracle
Database 10g Rel 2
|
10.2.0.1–10.2.0.5
|
Oracle
Database 11g Rel 1
|
11.1.0.6–11.1.0.7
|
Oracle
Database 11g Rel 2
|
11.2.0.1–11.2.0.4
|
Oracle
Database 12c Rel 1
|
12.1.*
|
Source
of information: Wikipedia
page.
How to access BW objects don’t belong to name space you are authorized to access
A disclaimer at first
place: Notice that this blog post discusses activities done
in debugger while changing the values of variables. Such activities are usually
not supposed to be executed. Bear in the mind that you may cause serious harm
into your system. If you decide to proceed with it do it only after real
understanding of all consequences and only on development and/or test system.
Sometimes BW developer can
face following situation. You need to do prototype of new functionality (let’s
say data flow) in development system. However as per your developer
authorization you get the aces to to customer namespace let say ZZ*. You do not
want to create your prototype objects in ZZ* namespace. For time being and for
prototyping purposes you would like to use YY* namespace. However once you are
authorized to use ZZ* only every attempt to create any objects will be denied
by system throwing error message (let’s say in dace of transformation):
You have no authorization for the transformation rule
Message no. RSM904
Diagnosis
TLogo type of source:
ODSO
Name of source: ZZ_DABC
TLogo type of target:
CUBE
Name of target: ZZ_CBCD
Procedure
For the transformation
you require authorization for the authorization object Data Warehousing
Workbench - Transformation Rules with the field values stated above and
activities 03, 16, or 23.
There is a one function
module (FM) checking your authorization. It is the FM RSSB_AUTHORITY_ADMWB_TR.
By simply putting breakpoint after authorization check was called (in BE
version SAP NetWeaver 7.3 SP08 it is line no 69) and changing value of sy-subrc to
zero you can obey this error message.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
How to remove unused items in cube dimension?
As BW developer you may
need to remove some characteristics from cube’s dimension. This is needed in
case e.g. you do remodel of your cube. You may even need to remove whole dimension(s)
in same case. While you remove all characteristics from the dimension issue
with while reactivating the cube can happen. In such a rare case you simply won’t
be able to activate the cube. There will be error message asking to input some characteristics
into the dimension.
Usually we turn to TA RSRT for help. While running test called
"Entries Not Used in the Dimension of an InfoCube" in the RSRT you
will get same message asking to input characteristics. Running the RSRT in
repair mode will not help again. Fortunately there is a ABAP report which
solves situation like this. The report is called ZSAP_DIM_CLEANER and is provided by SAP Note: 1622324 - Cleaning
up BW Infocube Dimension Tables. For all the details how to use the tool refer
to above mentioned note and also to following one: 1978286 - Cleaning
up BW InfoCube dimension tables.
Who imported Transport Request into system?
In case SAP developer (BW
including) is interested who created/released/unlocked/imported particular transport
request (TR) into the target system there are a ways how to get to know this
information:
- TA SE10 or SE09 -> display particular TR via Display Individually icon (F5) on tool bar. Once TR displayed select Action Log form Goto menu. Here you will see all workflow of the TR. When/who: has created it, deleted subtasks, changed owner and released it.
- TA STMS or STMS_IMPORT -> if you start with STMS first you need to go into Import Overview (F5) from the toolbar and choose import queues of particular target system. Once you there click on Import History button (CTRL+F7) on the toolbar. On next screen choose Display More from Edit menu. Column User has the name of the user who imported the TR into target system.
- Tables:
E070 - Headers of
Requests/Tasks
TPALOG – TR import history
TPALOGHDR - Header Table
for TPALOG
Monday, March 3, 2014
How to influence SAP
This blog is originally posted on SCN:
How to influence SAP
How to influence SAP
Over
the years SAP developed a few channels of how outside world can reach out to
SAP. Through these channels we can potentially influence the SAP world. Here's one
example. Imagine that you have a great idea of how to improve particular
functionality in SAP's software. You'd like to let the SAP know about it. And surprisingly
there are chances how to do it – how to pass the message. Below I list and
briefly describe those channels. The motivation for this blog is to basically gather
basic information on those channels into one place.
1. IdeaPlace ideas.sap.com
introduced in 2010 enables you to post idea for new feature or product
enhancement of SAP software, solution etc. You can also browser already posted
ideas by others, vote for ideas which promote them and subscribe to the ideas
to be updated about its further developments. See ideaplace site and following
SAP Note for more details. To use the site you need you Service Marketplace
(SMP) account although you can browse ideas without login.
For more information follow this SAP Note:
1515837 - How To:
Enhancement Request Process - "Idea Place" - BI solutions
Also
notice that while posting new ideas you need to assign it to existing
directory. The directory represents area of SAP software/product. At the moment
all Business Analytics (BA) – covering BI as well, Enterprise Performance
Management (EPM), Data Warehousing, Human Capital Management (HCM), Mobility,
on-demand, NetWeaver solutions are now available in Idea Place.
2. SAP Influence
Program service.sap.com/influence and influence.sap.com (SMP login required). Apart
of IdeaPlace there is a program called Customer Influence. In general you need
to be really SAP customer to participate in SAP influence. This means you need
to have either license or support contract from SAP. Generally speaking via SAP
Influence you can participate with SAP on development of products. There are
two flavors of this program:
- Customer
Connection
- Customer
Engagement Initiative and get involved
Below I
describe those two plus the others.
3. Customer Connection service.sap.com/customer-connection
(SMP login required) or sap.com/cc - SAP customer
with maintenance contracts and SAP User Groups can suggest improvement of SAP software.
These so called Improvement Requests are gathered into so called Focus Topic cycles.
Once particular request scores by significant customers it is being review by
SAP development teams. Once developed by them customer can implement it in form
of either SAP Notes or SAP Support Packages (SP).
There is
actually more within Customer Connection initiative. All improvements which
were delivered can be found on dedicated sites:
sapimprovementfinder.com –
public access
service.sap.com/findinnovation
- SMP login required
You
can search for improvements and get to know how to implement them.
As
my background is mostly Data Warehousing I'm very glad to see improvements from
this area like:
BI Content
Migration of BW 3.x based data flows - SAP Note 1601140
Customer
Connection: (NW 730SP11): Complete deletion of data - SAP Note 1864773
To learn
more details of Customer Connection following links:
For both
above links SMP login required.
4. Customer Engagement
Initiative (CEI) -
Within this initiative again you as SAP customer or partner can get hands on
early development and by this to influence innovations in SAP planned products
releases.
To
learn more about CEI go to following link:
cw.sdn.sap.com/cw/community/influence/cei
- SMP login required
5. SAP Mentors group - Mentors are selected individuals
from community of the SAP Ecosystem. To become member of mentors you need to be
nominated by community like SCN. Basically it is extra league of experts into variety
of SAP topics.
For more
info on Mentors follow links:
1559276 - What are
the SAP Mentors, what is Mentoring?
6. SAP customer/user
groups - SAP is
exchanging knowledge in technical and functional areas within its user groups.
Also within this channel user can share experience of SAP products, knowledge
and ideas. There are regional SAP user groups across all continents. Just to
name few biggest: ASUG — Americas' SAP Users' Group - www.asug.com, DSAG — German-Speaking SAP User
Group – Germany www.dsag.de. There are several types
of membership available. You can basically join as individual or as a company. Check
particular user group sire for details. Above regional groups there is also SAP
User Group Executive Network (SUGEN). The SUGEN consists of leaders from multiple
regional groups. By this all regional groups are united within dialog with SAP.
To
learn more about customer/user group use following link:
service.sap.com/usergroups (SMP
login required)
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