Attributes -- Attributes -- Attributes

Attributes are InfoObjects that exist already, and that are assigned logically to the new characteristic

Navigational Attributes

A Navigational Attibute is any attribute of a Characteristic which is treated in very similar way as we treat as Characteristic while Query Designer. Means one can perform drilldowns, filters etc on the same while Query designing.

Imp Note:

• While Creating the Info Object -- Attributes Tab Page -- Nav Attri butes to be switched on .
• While Designign the Cube we need to Check mark for the Nav. Attributes to make use of them.

Features / Advantages

• Nav. Attr. acts like a Char while Reporting. All navigation functions in the OLAP processor are also possible
• Filters, Drilldowns, Variables are possible while Reporting.
• It always hold the Present Truth Data .
• Historic Data is not possible through Nav. Attributes.
• As the data is fetching from Master Data Tables and Not from Info Cube.

Disadvantages:

• Leads to less Query Performance.
• In the enhanced star schema of an InfoCube, navigation attributes lie one join further out than characteristics. This means that a query with a navigation attribute has to run an additional join
• If a navigation attribute is used in an aggregate, the aggregate has to be adjusted using a change run as soon as new values are loaded for the navigation attribute. http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/EN/80/1a63e7e07211d2acb80000e829fbfe/frameset.htm

Transitive Attributes

A Navigational attribute of a Navigational Attributes is called Transitive Attribute. Tricky right Let me explain

• If a Nav Attr Has the further more Nav. Attributes ( as its Attributes ) in it those are called Transitive Attributes .
• For Example Consider there exists a characteristic ‘Material’ .It has ‘Plant’ as its navigational attribute. ‘Plant’ further has a navigational attribute ‘Material group’. Thus ‘Material group’ is the transitive attribute. A drilldown is needed on both ‘Plant’ and ‘Material group’.
• And again we need to have both Material & Plant in your Info Cube to Drill down. (To fetch the data through Nav. Attrs. we need Master Data tables hence, we need to check mark/select both of them in the Cube ) http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/EN/6f/c7553bb1c0b562e10000000a11402f/frameset.htm

If Cube contains both ‘Material’ and ‘Plant’

Dimension table having both ‘Material’ and ‘Plant’ will have Dim ID, Sid of Material, and Sid of Plant. Since both the Sids exists reference of each navigational attribute is made correctly.

• If Cube contains only 'Material’

Dimension table having only ‘Material’ will have Dim ID, Sid of Material. Since Sid for first level navigational attribute (Plant) does not exists, reference to navigational attribute is not made correctly.

Exclusive Attributes / Attributes Only/ Display Attribute

If you set the Attribute Only Indicator(General Tab page for Chars / Addl Properties tabpage for Key Figs) for Characteristic while creating, it can only be used as Display Attribute for another Characteristic and not as a Nav. Attr.

Features:

• And it cannot be included in Info Cubes
• It can be used in DSO, Infoset and Char as InfoProviders. In this Info Provider , the char is not visible during read access (at run time)
• This means, it is not available in the query. If the Info Provider is being used as source of Transformation or DTP the characteristic is not visible.
• It is just for Display at Query and cannot be used for Drill downs while reporting.

Exclusive attributes:

If you choose exclusively attribute, then the created key figure can only be used as an attribute for another characteristic, but cannot be used as a dedicated key figure in the InfoCube.

• While Creating A Key Figure -- The Tabpage:Additional Properties -- Check Box for Attributies Only

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04s/helpdata/en/a0/eddc370be9d977e10000009b38f8cf/frameset.htm

What is the Difference between SAP BI and SAP BIW

Normally, we will get a question why the SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is now called SAP Business Intelligence (SAP BI ) Well, the answer is .. changed over time as SAP's strategy has evolved. In the beginning, we had SAP BW .. shortly after that, SAP BW was bundled with other components such as SAP workplace (EP now) to form a licensed product that was named mySAP Business Intelligence (mySAPBI) to distinguish between the overall solution and the underlying SAP BW component. With the development of the SAP NetWeaver, it was determined that the Business Intelligence component should become part of this platform. A decision was made to retain ''Business Intelligence" as the name of the underlying component, because this name is more descriptive of the scope of the product, the name itself talks about the product.... Including as it does Data Warehouse Management, Extraction, Transformation and Loading (ETL) Capabilities with Business Modelling, Business Content, OLAP analysis, Data Mining, Business insights via Alerts and Reporting features and finally Planning functionalities with the new BW - BPS. So within SAPBI, SAP BW remains the core product, providing the ability to Control, Monitor and Maintain all Processes connected with the Data Staging and Processing. However, this is Technical Distinction that is expected to end with SAP BW 3.5 the Business Intelligence Component of SAP NWs'04. Future releases are planned to have only the Business Intelligence designation. Such as SAP NW BI 7.0 which is expected to be the name of the component at that time for the next release. Now what .... of course ... our turn to know SAP BI ... Start knowing it properly... hands on experience by making mistake / error bundles / Posting in SDN .. etc. etc... and finally ...We are also SAP NW BI 7.0 Consultant... Humm ... I agree that it would be bit tough to adjust with new releases every time... like SAP BW 3.1 Content or SAP3.5 functionalities still there ... but once, it goes away the term 'SAPBW' then we need to at least try to learn SAP NW BI 7.0

NWS 2004s

What is Neatweaver NetWeaver is an application builder from SAP for integrating business processes and databases from a number of sources while exploiting the leading Web services technologies. Part of the company's mySAP product group, NetWeaver is getting a lot of industry attention as the first fully interoperable Web-based cross-application platform that can be used to develop not only SAP applications but others as well. NetWeaver allows a developer to integrate information and processes from geographically dispersed locations using diverse technologies, including Microsoft's .NET IBM's WebSphere and Sun's Java technologies. NetWeaver has been tagged as a product that could help spur industry adoption of Web services. Although Web services are often seen as the development model of the future, the implementation rate has not been high, often because of competition and incompatibility between enabling products. At a January 2003 press conference, Microsoft's Bill Gates anticipated that NetWeaver would increase the adoption rate of Web services. NWs 2004 is the Version Number, Netweaver 2004s is now know as Netweaver 7.0. The newest release will be Netweaver 7.1 and should be available soon. What is BI The Purpose of Business Intelligence During all business activities, companies create data. In all departments of the company, employees at all levels use this data as a basis for making decisions. Business Intelligence (BI) collates and prepares the large set of enterprise data. By analyzing the data using BI tools, you can gain insights that support the decision-making process within your company. BI makes it possible to quickly create reports about business processes and their results and to analyze and interpret data about customers, suppliers, and internal activities. Dynamic planning is also possible. Business Intelligence therefore helps optimize business processes and enables you to act quickly and in line with the market, creating decisive competitive advantages for your company. Key Areas of Business Intelligence A complete Business Intelligence solution is subdivided into various areas. SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI) provides comprehensive tools, functions, and processes for all these areas: A data warehouse integrates, stores, and manages company data from all sources. If you have an integrated view on the relevant data in the data warehouse, you can start the analysis and planning steps. To obtain decisive insights for improving your business processes from the data, SAP NetWeaver BI provides methods for multidimensional analysis. Business key figures, such as sales quantities or revenue, can be analyzed using different reference objects, such as Product, Customer or Time. Methods for pattern recognition in the data set (data mining) are also available. SAP NetWeaver BI also allows you to perform planning based on the data in the data warehouse. Tools for accessing and for visualization allow you to display the insights you have gained and to analyze and plan the data at different levels of detail and in various working environments (Web, Microsoft Excel). By publishing content from BI, you can flexibly broadcast the information to all employees involved in your company's decision-making processes, for example by e-mail or using an enterprise portal. Performance and security also play an important role when it comes to providing the information that is relevant for decision-making to the right employees at the right time. Preconfigured information models in the form of BI Content make it possible to efficiently and cost-effectively introduce SAP NetWeaver BI.

Source : As usual help.sap.com (trust me this is a great Source to learn )

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/EN/46/8c635be4c70ad3e10000000a11466f/frameset.htm