Analytical Views are a key modeling artifact in SAP HANA Studio used to represent multidimensional data structures optimized for analytical queries. They enable combining fact tables with related dimensions to provide business users with meaningful insights into transactional data.
This article guides you through the basics of creating simple analytical views using SAP HANA Studio, providing a foundation for SAP developers and analysts working in the SAP HANA environment.
An Analytical View models data in a star schema by combining a central fact table with multiple attribute views representing dimensions. This structure supports OLAP-like queries, aggregations, and slicing and dicing of data.
- Fact Table: Contains key business measures (e.g., sales amount, quantity).
- Attribute Views: Represent descriptive data such as customer, product, or region details.
Before creating an analytical view, ensure you have:
- Access to SAP HANA Studio with modeling rights.
- Required fact and dimension tables loaded into your SAP HANA system.
- At least one attribute view created for dimensions.
¶ Step 1: Open SAP HANA Studio and Switch to the Modeler Perspective
- Launch SAP HANA Studio.
- Navigate to Window > Open Perspective > Other > Modeler.
- Right-click your desired package in the Project Explorer.
- Select New > Analytical View.
- Enter a name (e.g.,
AN_SalesOverview) and click Next.
- Choose the primary fact table that contains your measures (e.g.,
SALES_FACT).
- Click Next.
- Add existing attribute views to enrich your fact data.
- These dimensions could be
Customer, Product, or Region attribute views.
- Join conditions are usually automatically detected; verify correctness.
- Click Next.
¶ Step 5: Define Measures and Attributes
- Select which columns from the fact table should be treated as measures (e.g.,
SALES_AMOUNT, QUANTITY).
- Define attributes from dimension tables for slicing the data.
- Set aggregation types such as
SUM, AVG, or COUNT for measures.
- Assign key columns.
- Set data types and column labels.
- Review join types and cardinalities.
¶ Step 7: Save and Activate the Analytical View
- Click Finish.
- Save your view and activate it to make it available in the HANA repository.
- Right-click the activated analytical view.
- Select Data Preview to validate the data and aggregation results.
- Ensure attribute views are well-designed and reusable.
- Keep your fact tables as lean as possible to optimize performance.
- Use meaningful naming conventions for views and columns.
- Test your view thoroughly with sample queries before deploying.
- Analytical views can be consumed directly in reporting tools like SAP Analytics Cloud or SAP BusinessObjects.
Creating simple analytical views in SAP HANA Studio is a straightforward process that allows you to model and analyze business-critical data efficiently. By mastering this fundamental skill, SAP HANA developers can build robust data models that power dynamic and real-time analytics across various SAP applications.