Subject: SAP-BW/4HANA
InfoObjects are the fundamental building blocks of SAP BW and BW/4HANA data modeling. They represent key business entities and characteristics—such as customers, products, or dates—and serve as dimensions, key figures, or attributes within BW data models. In SAP BW/4HANA, InfoObjects have been enhanced and optimized to align with the platform’s simplified and high-performance architecture.
This article explores the concepts, types, and best practices for modeling InfoObjects in SAP BW/4HANA, helping organizations leverage their full potential in modern data warehousing.
¶ Understanding InfoObjects
An InfoObject in BW/4HANA encapsulates metadata and semantic information for a business concept. InfoObjects fall into two broad categories:
- Characteristics: Represent descriptive data or dimensions, e.g., Customer ID, Product, Region, or Date.
- Key Figures: Represent measurable, numeric data such as revenue, quantity, or cost.
Additional types include units, time characteristics, and navigational attributes.
- Define master data characteristics like Customer, Material, or Sales Organization.
- Support attributes, texts, hierarchies, and time-dependent data.
- Serve as the backbone for dimensional modeling in ADSOs and CompositeProviders.
- Represent quantitative data used in calculations and reporting.
- Include basic data types like integers, decimals, and currency values.
- Can be associated with units of measure and currencies.
¶ 3. Units and Currency InfoObjects
- Handle units of measure and currency conversions for key figures.
- Enable consistent interpretation of data across different measurement standards.
SAP BW/4HANA leverages BW Modeling Tools within the Eclipse environment for InfoObject development:
- Define technical properties like data type, length, and number range.
- Specify attributes, texts, and hierarchies linked to the InfoObject.
- Set time dependency if the attribute values can change over time.
¶ Step 2: Configure Master Data and Text Maintenance
- Master data stores the actual business values for characteristics.
- Texts provide language-specific descriptions for better user understanding.
- Set up hierarchies to organize master data in meaningful groupings for reporting.
- InfoObjects are used in ADSOs as key fields and in CompositeProviders for joins and unions.
- Key Figures InfoObjects are used in ADSOs and queries for numerical analysis.
- Attributes and navigational attributes enhance filtering and drill-down capabilities in reports.
- Reuse Existing InfoObjects: Whenever possible, use standard SAP-delivered InfoObjects to maintain consistency.
- Keep It Simple: Avoid overly complex attribute structures that can impact performance.
- Time Dependency: Implement time-dependent master data only when business requirements demand it.
- Maintain Data Quality: Ensure master data completeness and accuracy to support reliable reporting.
- Use Navigational Attributes Wisely: Enable drill-down and reporting flexibility without adding unnecessary joins.
- Improved integration with SAP HANA features, enabling push-down of operations.
- Simplified master data modeling with fewer redundant layers.
- Better support for real-time and virtual data scenarios via Open ODS Views linking to InfoObjects.
Modeling InfoObjects effectively in SAP BW/4HANA is vital for creating robust, flexible, and performant data warehouse solutions. By understanding the types, development process, and best practices, organizations can ensure that their data models accurately represent business realities and support insightful analytics.