1. Making the Business Case for an Upgrade to SAP BW 3.0B
Dr. Bjarne Berg,
Lenoir-Rhyne College

2. What We’ll Cover
Understanding the organizational effort required to complete a BW upgrade
Discovering the changes you can expect from a business and a technical perspective
Top 10 value drivers from a user's perspective
Top 15 value drivers from a developer's perspective
Value drivers from a manager's perspective
Nine practical tips that will help you develop an SAP BW upgrade strategy

3. The Organizational Effort
Item 1: BW 3.0 has many new features, and this might be the time to upgrade. First, plan for the effort.
BUSINESS CASE
Conduct a one-day workshop reviewing the business case for an upgrade
Include a review of BW’s new technical and functional features
The benefit of a business-case review is an early assessment of whether you really need to upgrade or if you can wait for the next release

4. The Organizational Effort
Make sure you are ready to make the right resource commitment before you start
SCOPE THE UPGRADE EFFORT
In a complex environment, consider conducting a two-day session with a technical review of your BW implementation from an upgrade perspective
At the end, plan to have detailed project and staffing plans, scope, and a solid budget estimate
A key driver for the duration of the effort is how much BW content is in place and how critical BW is to the ongoing business
Some projects may be as short as a week, others as long as a few months depending on the content in production and the testing needs.

5. Basis and functional R/3 support
The Organizational Effort
Item 1: The roles used for an upgrade effort include a project manager (may be part time), a technical leader, a BW specialist, a Basis person and a tester
On smaller projects, more than one role may be filled by one individual, while larger efforts may require several Basis people; network, DBA, and BW specialists; and testers
Basis and functional R/3 support
One person may perform
more than one role!!

6. What We’ll Cover
Understanding the organizational effort required to complete a BW upgrade
Discovering the changes you can expect from a business and a technical perspective
Top 10 value drivers from a user's perspective
Top 15 value drivers from a developer's perspective
Value drivers from a manager's perspective
Nine practical tips that will help you develop an SAP BW upgrade strategy

7. The Value Drivers
Discover the changes you can expect from a business and a technical perspective, and learn about limitations and their impact
Top 11 value drivers from a user's perspective
Top 15 value drivers from a developer's perspective
Value drivers from a manager's perspective
- The following discussion is business focused, but will cover some technical features in an overview manner. It is not intended to be a technical discussion, but will cover enough for you to gain some insight into the new features so you can assess how it might impact your business

8. User Value Driver #1: Flexible Hierarchy & Interactive Web Charts
The reporting views are now more flexible.
The interactive Web charts have been greatly enhanced from earlier versions.
BW reports have become
more user friendly!

9. Automatic filter by clicking Automatic menu to select drill down
User Value Driver #1: Flexible Hierarchy & Interactive Web Charts (example)
Country
Turnover
Overall Result
Country
Region
City
Turnover
Result
Automatic filter by clicking
Automatic menu to select drill down
Source: SAP

10. User Value Drivers #2-4: More Flexibility in Report Navigation
The last 10 executed queries are displayed in the open dialog (BEx). This makes it easier for users to find frequently used workbooks and queries.
Bookmarks in 3.0B remember all filter values, conditions, and exceptions, and can be used to always open a query at the preferred level.
The user can enter a value in the variable popups and have all queries filtered by their region, organization, or profit center in the future (they don’t have to re-enter again and again).
In 3.0B, more of the user navigation is kept at the
personalized level, which makes BW more user-friendly

11. User Value Drivers #5-7: Mobile Reporting Features
BW can generate reports based on the front-end device requesting them, such as WAP or Windows-CE (can also be made to include others such as Palm).
The queries can be used online, or in an offline mode for lookup of important information.
Alerts through SMS and queries can be used, as well as charts through WBMP.
BW can now be used more flexibly over the
Web through the most used mobile protocols
Source: SAP

12. User Value Drivers #8-9: Better Web Reporting
Users can also define their exception and conditions on the Web, and show them in Web reports.
BW 3.0B has “stateless Web reporting.” This means that after each click on the Web report, the session to the server is closed and you can the reports directly (it automatically remembers the steps done by building the URL).
BW report usage is more flexible and
Web features are improved

13. User Value Drivers #10-11: Increased Flexibility in Reporting
You can also attach documents stored in Web Content Management to the reports and make them context sensitive (e.g., help screens and explanations).
The InfoProvider is a generic term for all objects you can report from (e.g., ODS, InfoCubes). Users can now use a MultiProvider to report from any combination of these objects.
Content Management and access to data is substantially improved. The benefit is increased access to user help and support.

14. Developer Value Driver #1: Easier to Publish Reports on the Web
Developers do not need to know the Internet publishing process. After saving a query view in the BEx Analyzer, the view can be immediately published.
Web publishing is substantially simplified, which may reduce development time.

15. Any Internet authoring tool Publish views and execute queries
Developer Value Driver #1: Easier to Publish Reports on the Web (Example)
BW Charting Engine
Save as
templates
(HTML)
BW Web
Service
Any Internet authoring tool
Publish views and execute queries
BEx Analyzer
OLAP
Processor BW
Data Base
AppServer
Templates
Web Browser
Source: SAP

16. Developer Value Driver #2: Easier Loads from Non-SAP DBs
You can now access other non-SAP databases without having to write complex files and scheduling routines
Staging
BW 3.0B
InfoCube
Scheduling
BW Cust table
Generic Extractor
e.g., Oracle
Database
Customer Table
DDIC structure BW Cust table
(Deleted afterwards)
DB Link
“DB Link” adds flexibility to loading data from other databases, and you can avoid substantial custom coding on the extract side.
Source: SAP

17. Developer Value Driver #3: Open Access to BW
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is the standard format for structured documents and data on the Internet. Now BW developers can use it to access metadata
Tip for Techies!
To see all InfoCubes in your system: Internet request sent to BW via the URL BW:1080://bw/xml/cwm... The result is a Web page in XML with InfoCubes.
To see the metadata of one InfoCube: Internet request the metadata for the InfoCube to BW.. the result is a page in XML with the metadata of the cube in the CWM format
SAP BW 3.0b
Metadata Repository
Semantics: CWM, XMI
Transport layer: HTTP
Format: XML
Other Metadata Repositories
External Applications
DWs
& marts
Applications
The structure of SAP BW can be read by other applications and Web tools, which makes BW more open to future applications.

18. Developer Value Driver #4: Better Integration with Other Tools
Through the metadata exchange, BW can receive metadata from other applications and load tools
Tip for Techies!
Sending metadata to BW is a 3-step process. First, the metadata
is stored in a queue inside BW. The XML parser will read the
queue and then call the BAPI to load it to BW.
SAP BW 3.0b
Other Metadata Repositories
External Applications
Data warehouses
and data marts
Applications
Semantics: CWM, XMI
Transport layer: HTTP
Format: XML
BAPI Info-Cube Create
CWM
XML parser
Queue
We have more flexibility, and other tools can be used to create BW structures

19. Developer Value Driver #5: Loading Transactions from the Web
BW can now load transactions from the Web
in a "push" mode.
Tip for Techies!
You can “push” XML data packages from a provider as a
DataSource (with request handling) or “push“ document
data into the delta queue (without request handling)
Comm. layer, xCBL
XML Parsing
Generic Staging
ODS, InfoCubes, Master Data
PSA
Country: US
City: Charlotte
BW XML
Transformation (XSL)
Internet Marketplaces
<Country>US
</Country><City>
Charlotte</City>
New transactions can be pushed from the web or 3rd party directly into BW, thereby reducing middleware integration time.

20. Developer Value Driver #6-9: Increased Error Handling Capability
The BW logs provide more details on the errors and why they occur. In version 3.0B, you can also monitor the errors that occur in the transfer and updates rules.
When loading BW, you can now skip duplicate records in the master data and define rules (if the last or the first record is the valid one).
It is now easier to monitor loads and perform simple data cleansing tasks

21. Developer Value Driver #6-9: Increased Error Handling Capability (cont’d.)
Based on your error routines, you may cleanse the data through your own routines and see the errors in the PSA (problem records are marked). The errors found in the PSA can be corrected there and you can then load the data though the monitoring menu.
You can also provide load information to the users over the Web through mini-apps in a portal.
With BW 3.0, it is easier to manage the data loads and fix errors without having to start over again.

22. Developer Value Driver #10-15: "Near-Time" Data Warehousing
You can now create reporting ODS objects with no other data targets. You do not need a separate table for new records (as in BW 2.0B and 2.1C) and you don’t need a change log.
The data can also be loaded in parallel to an ODS object, which can dramatically increase the load performance
You can also use Application Programming Interfaces (API) to access the ODS for external application, including add and overwrite APIs.
The new features of the ODS provides a system that comes very close to “real time data warehousing.”

23. Developer Value Driver #10-15: "Near-Time" Data Warehousing (cont’d.)
In 3.0B you can use master data ODS(s) for cleansing and staging
You can rollback any request that has already been updated and even delete selected records in the change log and the ODS.
Data downloads from the ODS objects are supported and you can test your load logic through simulated updates from the ODS to other data targets (e.g., Infocubes).
The new ODS has become much more flexible than the ODS in previous versions. The master data ODS lends itself to high volume processing through reduced table joins.

24. Manager Value Drivers: The Archiving Development Kit (ADK)
ADK provides indexing (including SAP-AS), compression, and data stats
ADK is open to partner solutions for storage and archiving
ADK handles structural changes, is platform independent, and has logs.
ADK is managed through on-line transactions (Sara), the standard for SAP products.
“The Archive Development Kit (ADK), a service of mySAP Technology, is the software layer that encapsulates the technical aspects of data archiving programs. ADK provides an application programming interface, also used by SAP, that customers and partners can use to develop their own archiving solutions.” SAP-Mike Eacrett, SAP Portals (see: OSS note 71930)

25. Manager Value Drivers: The Archiving Development Kit (ADK), cont’d.
Access to archived data from BW queries is not available (yet), nor is
Archiving of master data or PSA. Protection of archived data ranges
against changes has to be ensured organizationally. Scheduling is
available via the standard archiving administrator.
SAP plans to support ‘relational’ archiving and access to archived data
through DB Connect, which will improve the access to archived data.

26. Manager Value Drivers: Stronger Report Integration with Microsoft
When using NT as the application server and Microsoft's SQL-Server as the
database server, InfoCubes can now be stored as MOLAP cubes (same
technology as Oracle Express, Cognos PowerPlay and others)
Data can also be cached on the application server and thereby increase the performance through the near-linear scalability through the deployment of multiple application servers
For Microsoft-oriented businesses
BW 3.0B, has increased capabilities

27. Manager Value Drivers: Stronger Report Integration with Microsoft, cont’d.
ROLAP cubes
MOLAP cubes
ODS
Cache
Application
Servers
Database Server

28. What We’ll Cover
Understanding the organizational effort required to complete a BW upgrade
Discovering the changes you can expect from a business and a technical perspective
Top 10 value drivers from a user's perspective
Top 15 value drivers from a developer's perspective
Value drivers from a manager's perspective
Nine practical tips that will help you develop an SAP BW upgrade strategy

29. 9 Tips for Those Considering an Upgrade
Upgrades should be scheduled together with the R/3 Basis team, as they will be involved with shared components (e.g., GUI and extractors). Involve this team early in the planning effort.
The database version for BW should ideally be the same as used by the rest of the company. This reduces the maintenance costs by sharing resources.
The hardware should be in place before an upgrade effort is started. You will need an dedicated testing environment.

30. 9 Tips for Those Considering an Upgrade, cont’d.
If you have ongoing development, get that team on the new version as soon as possible to avoid rework and work-arounds.
Upgrade your sandbox and/or development environment first after your have tested the upgrade on your system. Do not make the first upgrade on your production environment.
In large companies, it is an advantage to have all BW environments on the same version.

31. 9 Tips for Those Considering an Upgrade, cont’d.
Make sure you know when end-of-support is scheduled for your version (v2.0B end of support is August 2003).
If you are upgrading to a “C" release, you are upgrading mostly content, while a “B" upgrade is usually a significant technical upgrade. Determine in advance what you upgrade path is.
It is not unusual for companies to not perform a “C" release unless there are specific features and content they want.
End-of-support products have fewer resources available

32. 9 Tips for Those Considering an Upgrade, cont’d.
Evaluate the development cost on older versions against using the new features provided.
In general, payback for a BW 3.x upgrade appears to be most easily quantified by organizations that have on-going development (cost of development savings).
Companies in a "running mode" appears to justify their upgrade based on volume and performance issues (mostly on load side).
Be prepared to justify why you need the upgrade!!

33. 5 Key Points to Take Home!
In these tight economic times, an upgrade must be justified by demonstrating true value drivers:
BW has significantly closed the gap between custom data warehouses and now has many of the features and functions needed to service high-volume and complex reporting environments.
The use of open protocols allows developers to more easily integrate their applications and other non-R/3 systems directly into BW.
The new ODS features increase the flexibility and the capabilities of the reporting system (the influence of Bill Inmon on the “real- time data warehousing” approach is noteworthy).

34. 5 Key Points to Take Home!, cont’d.
The Web front-end is becoming “best-of-breed” and the influence of the acquired portal company is making tangible results on the reporting and mobile capabilities of BW beyond the portal product itself.
Regardless of motivation, the upgrade effort should be planned. Companies that have customized their BW environment should plan time for testing.

35. Your Turn! (to launch Q&A)