20 Uses for ABAP on BW Projects

by Ned Falk, Senior Education Consultant, SAP America

BW reduces the need for ABAP for most reporting tasks, but most BW projects could benefit from having an experienced ABAPer available. This is particularly true for data preparation and preprocessing functions. The author shows how an ABAP programmer would be useful in 20 different areas.

Categories: ABAP, Data Extraction, Event and Process Chains, Open Hub Service, Reporting, Security, Update and Transfer Rules

If you ask a CIO why his or her company implemented BW, the answer might include a desire to do away with custom ABAP reports. It's true that BW can eliminate the need to create ABAP reports. In addition, BW's new Transformation Library, which writes ABAP code for you, further reduces dependency on ABAP, as do alternatives such as XML/SOAP, Java, and external ETL tools. But does BW totally eliminate the need for ABAP coding?

No. So, don't send the ABAP programmers home so quickly!

ABAP programmers who are familiar with BW will be assets to most projects. However, their focus, with a few exceptions, will move from report creation to data preparation and preprocessing functions. Figure 1 (below) shows areas within the standard BW architecture where you might use ABAP:

Six places during extraction, including creating custom DataSources, enhancing DataSources, and data selection in InfoPackages
Six places during staging, including currency/units of measure conversions, transfer routines, and update rules
Four places during reporting, including generating system-entered variables and the report/report interface

You also have four other opportunities in BW to use ABAP: Open Hub Service transformations, building authorization values, process chains, and virtual InfoCubes with services.





Figure 1	20 ways to enhance your BW system with ABAP

That's a total of 20 ways you can use ABAP to enhance the operation and utility of your BW system. This article introduces you to each of them.

Would you like to see the full version of this article?

If you are an electronic license holder to BI Expert, please click here to log in.

If you would like information about becoming an electronic license holder — and having 24/7 unrestricted access to all articles and content in the BI Expert online knowledgebase — click here to see the available subscription options.

Or call 1-781-751-8799 to speak directly with a subscription and licensing specialist about customized access for you and your team.

Isn't your SAP implementation worth world-class information support?

Copyright © 2010 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved. Email: customer.service@bi-expertonline.com.
BI Expert, 20 Carematrix Drive, Dedham, MA 02026, USA.
Sales and Customer Service: 1-781-751-8799
SAP and the SAP logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and several other countries.