Creating DataSources for UD Connect SAP BI Modeling

Use

To transfer data from UD Connect sources into BI, metadata (the information about the source object and source object elements) has to be available in BI in the form of a DataSource.

Prerequisites

You have connected a UD Connect source system.

Note the following background information:

Using InfoObjects with UD Connect

Data Types and Their Conversion

Using SAP Namespace for Generated Objects

Procedure

You are in the DataSource tree in the Data Warehousing Workbench.

...

1. Select the application components in which the DataSource is to be created and choose Create DataSource.

2. In the next screen, enter a technical name for the DataSource, select the type of the DataSource and choose Copy.

The DataSource maintenance screen appears.

3. Go to the General tab page.

a. Enter descriptions for the DataSource (short, medium, long).

b. If necessary, specify if the DataSource builds an initial non-cumulative and supplies potentially duplicate data records within a request.

4. Go to the Extraction tab page.

a. Define the delta method for the DataSource.

b. Specify whether you want the DataSource to support direct access to data.

c. UD Connect does not support real-time data acquisition.

d. The system displays Universal Data Connect (Binary Transfer) as the adapter for the DataSource.

Choose Properties if you want to display the general adapter properties.

e. Select the UD Connect source object.

The connection to the UD Connect source is established. All source objects that are available in the selected UD Connect source can be selected using input help. Source objects can be multi-dimensional storage or relational objects.

5. Go to the Proposal tab page.

The system displays the elements of the source object (for JDBC for example fields, or for XMLA and ODBO characteristics and key figures) and creates a mapping proposal for DataSource fields. The mapping proposal is based on the similarity of the names of the source object element and DataSource field and the compatibility of the respective data types.

Note that source object elements can have a maximum of 90 characters. Both upper and lower case are supported.

a. Check the mapping and change the proposed mapping as required. Assign the non-assigned source object elements to free DataSource fields.

You cannot map elements to fields if the types are incompatible. The system produces an error message in this case.

b. Under Copy to Field List, select the fields that you want to transfer to the field list for the DataSource. All fields are selected by default.

6. Maintain the Fields tab page.

Here you edit the fields that you transferred to the field list of the DataSource from the Proposal tab page.

a. Under Transfer, specify the decision-relevant DataSource fields that should be available for extraction and transferred to BI.

b. If required, change the values for the key fields of the source.

These fields are generated as a secondary index in the PSA. This is important in ensuring good performance for data transfer process selections, in particular with semantic grouping.

c. If required, change the data type for a field.

d. Specify whether the source provides the data in the internal or external format.

e. If you choose an External Format, ensure that the output length of the field (external length) is correct. Change the entries, as required.

f. If required, specify a conversion routine that converts data from an external format into an internal format.

g. Select the fields for which you want to be able to set selection criteria when you schedule a data request using an InfoPackage. Data for this type of field is transferred in accordance with the selection criteria specified in the InfoPackage.

h. Choose the selection options (such as EQ, BT) that you want to be available for selection in the InfoPackage.

i. Under Field Type, specify whether the data to be selected is language-dependent or time-dependent, as required.

If you did not transfer the field list from a proposal, you can define the fields of the DataSource directly. Choose Insert Row and enter a field name. You can specify InfoObjects in order to define the DataSource fields. Under Template InfoObject, specify InfoObjects for the fields of the DataSource. This allows you to transfer the technical properties of the InfoObjects into the DataSource field.

Entering InfoObjects here does not equate to assigning them to DataSource fields. Assignments are made in the transformation. When you define the transformation, the system proposes the InfoObjects you entered here as InfoObjects that you might want to assign to a field.

7. Check, save and activate the DataSource.

8. Go to the Preview tab page.

If you select Read Preview Data, the number of data records you specified in your field selection is displayed in a preview.

This function allows you to check whether the data formats and data are correct.

Result

The DataSource is created and added to the DataSource overview for the UD Connect source system in the application component in the Data Warehousing Workbench. When you activate the DataSource, the system generates a PSA table and a transfer program.

You can now create an InfoPackage. You define the selections for the data request in the InfoPackage. The data can be loaded into the entry layer of the BI system, the PSA. Alternatively you can access the data directly if the DataSource allows direct access and you have a VirtualProvider in the definition of the data flow.