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Unlock the Secrets of _________________________________
Query Management
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Using SAP NetWeaver BI
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Gary Nolan _________________________________
TekLink International
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© 2007 Wellesley Information Services. All rights reserved.

In This Session
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• Learn your options for creating and managing queries in _________________________________
SAP NetWeaver® BI _________________________________
• Gain insights into important query development and
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performance standards
• Get recommendations for establishing and enforcing _________________________________
query design standards _________________________________
• Learn the best ways to manage and roll out queries _________________________________
• Get guidelines to match complex query requirements _________________________________
with the right solutions in SAP NetWeaver BI
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What We’ll Cover …

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• Development strategy _________________________________
• Publishing strategy _________________________________
• Performance management strategy
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• Security strategy
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• Wrap-up
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2
Develop a Data Management Strategy
• Most of query management is about gathering the
proper requirements
• Develop a sound methodology to gather and track the
requirements from both:
Œ Top down — from the query, to the data sources
Œ Bottom up — from the data sources, to the query
• Developing a good methodology to gather the query
requirements allows for a sound data model
What Should Be in Your Functional Model Document?
• Business questions asked and answered by the data
model
• History requirements of information
• Data sources required to complete model
ΠVolume/system/frequency
• Dependencies/constraints/assumptions
• Transformation of data required
• Frequency and timing
• Functional model diagram to show flow and data model
What Should Be in Your Functional Model Document? (cont.)
• Presentation requirements
• Audience and distribution of presentation
• Security
• Sign-off
5
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Enforce Strong Query Governance to Ensure Consistency
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• Providing a coherent strategy for query development _________________________________
means keeping queries consistent on the following
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elements:
ΠNaming _________________________________
ΠLook and feel _________________________________
ΠSecurity _________________________________
ΠTools
ΠEase of use
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ΠPerformance _________________________________
ΠTemplates _________________________________
• Keep the queries consistent _________________________________
ΠDevelop a standards document to spell out the query strategy
and development, security, and naming standards 6

How Can You Ensure Standards Are Followed?

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• Establish a design steward for each functional area _________________________________
ΠThe steward
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f Is a member of the SAP NetWeaver BI development team
f Is not a consultant _________________________________
f Is responsible for current and future design in one
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functional area
f Can spot conflicts and scope creep into his/her area _________________________________
ΠEstablishes some ownership in the development team _________________________________
ΠAllows team members to focus on one functional area
f SAP is much too big to understand many areas
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ΠThe design steward works with the business, project _________________________________
manager, and overall SAP NetWeaver BI data architect
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• Have some redundancy in case team members leave or
are reassigned
7

Tool Strategy
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• Determine the right tool for the job _________________________________
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8
SAP NetWeaver BI Front-End Tool Tips
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• BEx Analyzer _________________________________
ΠExcel-based and typically requires a desktop GUI to be set up
for all users _________________________________
ΠCan be cumbersome when rolling out front-end patches _________________________________
ΠNice for users that are used to BEx Analyzer from 3.x or those
that prefer the data in Excel _________________________________
• BEx Web Analyzer _________________________________
ΠRuns on Java and does not require GUI on the user machine
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ΠMuch faster to roll out new users
ΠMemory intensive _________________________________
f Because it uses Java, it is typically much more memory
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intensive than BEx Analyzer
ΠNice for users who want integration of Java with limited _________________________________
footprint
9

More SAP NetWeaver BI Front-End Tool Tips

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• BEx Report Designer _________________________________
ΠFormatted report development tool _________________________________
ΠCan be used for a subset of reporting requirements
ΠAccommodates users that require a preformatted report
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ΠRobust in SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0, but is not a complete _________________________________
replacement for Crystal Reports
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f Crystal has much more functionality — but for many
implementations, Report Designer is enough _________________________________
ΠOverall nice toolset but should be limited to those reports that _________________________________
are flat and without drilldowns
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More SAP NetWeaver BI Front-End Tool Tips (cont.)

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• Web Applications Designer _________________________________
ΠWeb development tool
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ΠCan be used to create Web applications to be used with SAP
NetWeaver BI _________________________________
ΠMost commonly used to develop Web templates to be used _________________________________
with existing SAP NetWeaver BI reports
ΠRobust tool set, but not very intuitive for a new developer _________________________________
• SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer _________________________________
ΠRobust tool to allow integrated reporting from multiple areas _________________________________
ΠVery promising tool
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More SAP NetWeaver BI Front-End Tool Tips (cont.)
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• Third-party front-end tools such as Crystal, Cognos, etc. _________________________________
Œ A “Why not SAP?” approach should be followed
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f Any benefit should be heavily weighted against the cost of
integration of the third-party tool _________________________________
f No third-party tool is integrated as tightly as they tell you _________________________________
fMany times it’s difficult to determine where an issue
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resides – with SAP or with the third-party vendor
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Note
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12

What Is a Key Figure Matrix?

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• A universal document used to track and document the _________________________________
most common key figures and KPIs _________________________________
ΠEstablishes one place for all key figures and KPIs
ΠEnforces one vision and view of these values
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ΠAllows agreement on one formula and method for calculating _________________________________
a KPI
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ΠEstablishes one central repository for naming and change
management _________________________________
ΠSets common abbreviations, categories, granularity, etc. _________________________________
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What Is a Key Figure Matrix? (cont.)

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• A universal document used to track and document the _________________________________
most common key figures and KPIs (cont.)
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ΠAssigns one owner to a KPI
f It is quite common for one KPI to be measured quite _________________________________
differently by different audiences _________________________________
ƒ One customer I worked with had three different
definitions of a commonly used measure — who _________________________________
decides which measure is “right”? _________________________________
f This document keeps the Business Intelligence (BI) team
out of these decisions _________________________________
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How Do I Complete the KPI Matrix?
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• Most projects use a spreadsheet as their KPI matrix _________________________________
• The document must be a “living” document and owned _________________________________
by the business and process teams
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ΠThis should not be seen as a BI team deliverable
• Before any work can be done in SAP NetWeaver BI, _________________________________
insist that all key figures that are calculated be _________________________________
documented in the KPI matrix _________________________________
ΠThere should be no query formulas or InfoProvider
transformation calculations without the measure first _________________________________
documented in the KPI matrix _________________________________
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How Do I Complete the KPI Matrix? (cont.)

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• Some projects take short cuts and allow measures to be _________________________________
slipped in without documenting these on the KPI matrix _________________________________
ΠEventually this will come back to haunt them
ΠIf the KPI conflicts with other KPIs or the calculation is not
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clear, the BI team often has to go back and redo their work _________________________________
• This document helps get the calculations right the _________________________________
first time
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• Insist on sign-off of the KPI matrix once complete
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Query Development Strategy Tips

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• It is typically better to have fewer queries with many _________________________________
different free characteristics and key figure values in
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one query than many queries with very narrow scope
ΠThis strategy allows existing queries to answer many more _________________________________
business questions by simply using new filter criteria or _________________________________
drilling down differently in the report
ΠAlso allows for easier testing, documentation, and rollout _________________________________
• You can add many key figure values to one query by _________________________________
putting it in the query and hiding it with the ability to _________________________________
view when necessary
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 Hide (Can Be Shown)
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• Allows you to
have key figures _________________________________
that are in the _________________________________
query but not
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initially shown
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Utilize Key Figure Grouping in the InfoProvider

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• Key figure grouping can now be used … _________________________________
ΠFolders
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also appear
in BEx Query _________________________________
Designer
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ΠThese are like
dimensions _________________________________
for key
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figures
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Query Development Strategy Tips

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• Do not develop queries to match to existing legacy _________________________________
reports
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ΠThey reflect existing measurement criteria
ΠAs SAP ECC becomes more mature and users become more _________________________________
aware, there will be new measurements _________________________________
ΠFocus instead on the KPI or key figures that need to be
measured and build to them _________________________________
• Be careful of query requirements with many different _________________________________
levels of granularity _________________________________
ΠSome metrics only make sense at one level and cannot be
aggregated
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ΠMake sure you understand the metric _________________________________

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Query Development Strategy Tips (cont.)
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• Always develop queries using a MultiProvider, even if _________________________________
there is only data being read from one InfoProvider
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ΠAllows for growth, if needed, without moving or changing the
query drastically _________________________________
ΠAllows for logical partitioning to be added later to the data _________________________________
model without disrupting the query
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Develop Queries in Production?

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• Many customers develop queries directly in production _________________________________
ΠThis is a big debate among customers
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• Pros
ΠQuick deployment _________________________________
ΠReal production data can be used to test queries
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• Cons
ΠHard to enforce governance _________________________________
ΠPerformance issues may arise
ΠLack of understanding of the data leads to incorrect
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assumptions _________________________________
• The best way to achieve optimal performance and
standardize queries is to not allow query development in _________________________________
production _________________________________
ΠDevelop all queries in the development environment and
transport through the landscape (DEV ΠQA ΠPROD)
22

If You’re Developing Queries in Production

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• Keep query development in the hands of a few well- _________________________________
trained power users
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• Have a certification/training process for the power users
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If You’re Developing Queries in Production (cont.)
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• Make sure power users are _________________________________
ΠStrategic
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f They will steer the strategic vision of BI to the user
community; they need to understand the overall reporting _________________________________
strategy _________________________________
ΠDetail-oriented
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ΠNot renegades
f They need to adhere to standards and documentation _________________________________
rigorously
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ΠBusiness-oriented, yet technical
f This allows them to understand both sides: the
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development and the user community _________________________________

24

Production Query Development Tips

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• Have strict naming and development criteria _________________________________
Œ This is where many SAP NetWeaver BI projects fail — the _________________________________
query development becomes the “Wild West”
ΠThere is no common naming (i.e., Net Sales in two queries _________________________________
mean two different things) _________________________________
ΠProliferation of queries makes the solution difficult to manage
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ΠFilter criteria is not administered consistently
ΠBe mindful of data integrity _________________________________
ΠTry to keep queries with the same look and feel _________________________________
• Keep power users informed of the changing data model _________________________________
ΠFilters or selection criteria may not be clear
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Production Query Development Tips (cont.)

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• Make sure the query developers understand _________________________________
performance strategy and adhere to this strategy
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• Consider the security implications of development
ΠSometimes segmenting the data can make security
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implementation easier _________________________________
• Develop a publishing strategy to segregate different _________________________________
types of queries
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What We’ll Cover …
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• Development strategy _________________________________
• Publishing strategy _________________________________
• Performance management strategy _________________________________
• Security strategy
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• Wrap-up
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Query Publishing Strategy

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• Publishing refers to rolling out new queries to end users _________________________________
• Group new queries into three categories: _________________________________
ΠSanctioned Queries
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f These have been built by the development team, validated,
and published to the user base _________________________________
ΠPower User Queries _________________________________
f These have been created by a select group of the user
community _________________________________
ΠFavorites _________________________________
f Queries that have been created as a result of other queries
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and saved to be reused
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Sanctioned Queries
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• Published by the BI team _________________________________
• Follows strict standards _________________________________
• Transported from one environment to another
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ΠUse a naming standard Z_* prefix and set security so no user
can add new Z_* or change these queries at all _________________________________
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Power User Queries
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• Published by the BI power users _________________________________
• Typically developed in production _________________________________
ΠUse a naming standard Y_* prefix and set security so only
power users can change _________________________________
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Favorites
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• Created from another query in production _________________________________
• Filtered result set _________________________________
• Characteristic/key figure view _________________________________
ΠUse a naming standard X_* prefix and set security so only the
user that created it can change it _________________________________
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Build an Effective Query Change Control Strategy

• Understanding and communicating change control
helps to eliminate many issues with end users
• Determine how your changes to the data model will
affect existing queries or the existing user base
ΠSome query changes will break existing favorites built from
that query
ΠKnow what these changes are in order to prevent frustrated
users
• Develop a methodology for communicating change
• Link changes back to the original functional
requirements document and KPI matrix
• Periodically purge non-used queries
ΠPublish a list of these, wait for a few weeks, then delete
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Query Publishing Strategy Segmentation
• It may make sense to allow the power user queries to
exist in production for a limited time
• If these power user queries are useful, they could be
copied and transported by the BI team
Œ This would make them “Sanctioned”
• Before sanctioning, queries can be reviewed to make
sure they adhere to:
ΠDevelopment standards
ΠNaming standards
ΠPerformance standards
ΠSecurity standards
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Segment Queries on the Portal

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SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 and SAP Enterprise Portal

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• SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 is much more integrated with the _________________________________
SAP Enterprise Portal than SAP BW 3.x
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• A portal strategy needs to be developed in conjunction
with the BI team _________________________________
ΠTo federate or not to federate _________________________________
ΠNon-BI content _________________________________
ΠCustom Java
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• Organization of the SAP Enterprise Portal
ΠFunctional areas _________________________________
• Security _________________________________
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What We’ll Cover …
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• Development strategy _________________________________
• Publishing strategy _________________________________
• Performance management strategy _________________________________
• Security strategy
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• Wrap-up
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Query Performance Tips

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• Make sure the query developers understand the data _________________________________
model _________________________________
• Limit the initial query result set
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ΠMany queries try to show too much data on the initial view and
the users then “un-drill” the report to match what they need _________________________________
f This degrades performance _________________________________
ΠLimit the level of hierarchies on initial view
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f This can slow performance if showing multiple levels of
hierarchies _________________________________
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Query Performance Tips (cont.)

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• Always use mandatory variables _________________________________
ΠTypically this is, at minimum, created for the date criteria
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ΠUse variable settings to default values into mandatory
variables _________________________________
ΠHave mandatory variables appear as the first selection _________________________________
ΠMake sure mandatory variables are turned on for all large
queries _________________________________
• Utilize filters based on InfoProviders _________________________________
ΠIf a query is using data from only one InfoProvider, filter the _________________________________
query on that InfoProvider to speed performance
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• Suppress results rows if they’re not needed
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Query Performance Tips (cont.)
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• Eliminate or reduce “Not” logic in queries _________________________________
ΠWhen possible
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SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Performance Tips

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• There is significant performance work being done in _________________________________
SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 in each Java support package _________________________________
ΠDo your best to stay current with support packages
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• This is difficult because the Java is now tied to stacks
ΠThis means that the ABAP and SAP Basis sides need to be _________________________________
upgraded to the new patch at the same time as Java _________________________________
ΠThis typically requires some regression testing
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SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 Performance Tips (cont.)

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• New features are even being added to support packages _________________________________
ΠYou can find the list of features on the SAP Service
Marketplace
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• Many new features in Support Stack 12 _________________________________

ΠSAP did a lot of work to improve Java performance in this _________________________________
support stack
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ΠYou should be on this if you are using BI Java
• Plan for a great deal more memory in SAP NetWeaver BI _________________________________
7.0 if using Java _________________________________
• A good Basis resource is a must _________________________________
ΠGetting SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 tuned properly from an SAP
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Basis standpoint is quite challenging
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What We’ll Cover …
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• Development strategy _________________________________
• Publishing strategy _________________________________
• Performance management strategy _________________________________
• Security strategy
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• Wrap-up
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Security Options
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• SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 analysis authorizations _________________________________
ΠSAP highly recommends moving to this new method of
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security after upgrade
• Analysis authorization security can be set at almost _________________________________
any level _________________________________
ΠCharacteristic/key figure
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ΠCharacteristic value
ΠHierarchy node _________________________________
ΠInfoProvider _________________________________
ΠQuery
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• Plan a security strategy that will effectively secure
reports with the minimum amount of maintenance and _________________________________
ongoing support
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SAP Enterprise Portal Security

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• Adds another dimension of security _________________________________
ΠMake sure that this is coordinated and reconciled with SAP
NetWeaver BI security
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ΠCan be used in place of or in conjunction with the SAP _________________________________
NetWeaver BI security
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f This can cause conflicts
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Security Strategy
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• Group the users into logical groups _________________________________
ΠUse these roles to help develop the security roles
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• Do not forget how ad-hoc or power user development of
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queries in production affects security
ΠThis is a big hole in most security strategies _________________________________
ΠThere is often no check to make sure that a newly developed _________________________________
query follows security standards
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Security Strategy (cont.)

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• Plan for security during the requirement gathering _________________________________
process _________________________________
ΠDo not attempt to retrofit the security into the model after
development is complete _________________________________
ΠSome security can be handled or made easier with data _________________________________
modeling decisions
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• Plan adequate testing time
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• Test from end-to-end
ΠIncluding portal _________________________________
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What We’ll Cover …

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• Development strategy _________________________________
• Publishing strategy _________________________________
• Performance management strategy
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• Security strategy
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• Wrap-up
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Resources
• Gary Nolan, “Maximize Your Query Optimization Options
in BW” (BW Expert, July and August 2007).
• Catherine Roze “Best Practices for Allowing Power
Users to Develop Queries in BW” (BW Expert, March
2004).
• Gary Nolan, “Effectively Gather BW Functional
Requirements” (BW Expert, May 2007).
• Gary Nolan, Efficient SAP NetWeaver BI Implementation
and Project Management (SAP PRESS, 2007).
7 Key Points to Take Home
• Develop a strong requirements gathering methodology
• Establish and enforce query design standards to ensure
consistency
• Understand the advantages and disadvantages to
developing queries directly in production
• Develop a publishing strategy to segregate different
types of queries
• Be cognizant of performance during query development
• Have an end-to-end security strategy including the
portal
• Create a change control strategy to manage new and
changed queries and roll these out to the end user
Your Turn!
How to contact me:
Gary Nolan
Gary.nolan@tli-usa.com
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