InfoObjects and InfoCubes

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

SAP BW Star Schema

• The main distinction between a

classic start schema and SAP BW

star schema is that in the SAP BW

star schema the dimension tables

do not contain master data

information. This master data

information is stored in separate

tables, called master data

tables. We can think of the SAP

BW star schema as two self-

contained areas:

• InfoCube

• Master Data Tables/Surrogate ID

(SID-) Tables

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

InfoObjects

• InfoObjects in SAP BW are the smallest available information modules • InfoObject is a generic term for SAP BW business evaluation objects. • They describe the properties (technical definition and business logic) of the application field.

• The InfoObjects are divided into 2 types viz. • Characteristics: - Characteristic InfoObjects are business reference objects, which are used to

analyze key figures E.g. Plant (0PLANT), Country (0COUNTRY), Material (0MATERIAL), Product (MYPRODUCT). Characteristics provide different views for analyzing the facts. The dimensions are formed using Characteristic InfoObjects. Type of Characteristics InfoObjects include

Time CharacteristicsUnits Technical Characteristics

• Key figures Quantitative information, e.g., amount, count, quantity

• SAP provides various InfoObjects as a part of its Business Content. The technical names of these InfoObjects begin with 0.

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

Characteristics InfoObjects

• Characteristics InfoObjects are the business reference objects using which we analyze the

facts. While creating such characteristics in SAP BW, the following tab pages are available in

the maintenance menu.

•General

•Business Explorer

•Master data/texts

•Attributes

•Hierarchy

•Compounding

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

Key Figure InfoObjects

• Key figure InfoObjects represent the business facts such as quantity, amount, count and so

on

• Maintain the tab pages

• Type / Unit

• Aggregation

• Additional Properties

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

Master Data InfoObjects

• Master Data Tables

• When a master data-carrying characteristic is

activated, master data tables (attributes, text,

hierarchies) are generated in the characteristic

maintenance depending on the settings in the

respective tab strip

• Text Table

• A text table is created if the ‘With texts’ checkbox is

flagged prior to the creation and subsequent

activation of the InfoObject. You can select the

following properties here:

• Short text

• Medium-length text

• Long text

• Texts are language-dependent

• Texts are Time-dependent

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

InfoCubes

• InfoCubes are the central objects of the multi-dimensional model in SAP BW. Reports and analyses are based on these. From a reporting perspective, an InfoCube describes a self-contained data set within a business area, for which you can define queries.

• An InfoCube (Basis Cube) consists of a number of relational tables- a central fact table surrounded by several dimension tables- combined on a multi-dimensional basis.

• the facts in the fact table are referred to as key figures and the dimension attributes as characteristics.

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

InfoCubes

• Fact

• A Basis Cube consists of one fact table, in which key figure values are stored. A fact table can

contain a maximum of 233 key figures.

• The star schema is based on facts and fact tables. Facts are data elements from a fact table.

• A fact is a measure that is normally (cumulative) and answers the question “how much?” or “how

many?” A fact is referred to as a key figure in the SAP BW extended star schema. Revenues and

expenses are examples of typical facts. Examples of non-cumulative facts include closing stock

price, daily movements, or inventory levels.

• Dimension

• A dimension is a textual description of the dimensions/features of the business. The dimension

answers the questions “who? what? when?” For example, the dimensions of a product may include

product name, brand name, size, and packaging type. Dimensions are stored in dimension tables.

Copyright © 2007 by Patni

InfoCubes

• Units dimension table – This dimension exists if at least one key figure is of type ‘amount’ or

‘quantity’. Key figures of type Unit need to access the Unit dimension table during queries, which

may cause degradation in system performance. Therefore, for query performance, key figure

InfoObjects of type Number or Integer should be used whenever possible (unless you really plan to

do currency/unit conversions in the queries).

• Data package dimension table – This dimension is always present in a BasisCube. To identify

discrete packets of information loaded into the InfoCube (this is needed to delete, reload, or maintain

packets individually)

• Time dimension Table - This dimension is always present in a BasisCube. Holds the time

characteristics needed for analysis

• A user-defined dimension for example material dimension table

• It is important to note that the SAP BW InfoCube/star schema is limited to a minimum of 4 and a

maximum of 16 dimension tables