SAP provides various ways for users to realize analytics and business intelligence that straddle the gamut of data warehouse types. They range from a small non-enterprise data warehouse footprint that focuses purely on highly aggregated key performance indicator (KPI)-based visualization to traditional data warehouse-based analytics using SAP BW 7.4 or 7.5 or SAP BW/4HANA. Embedded SAP BW lies within this spectrum. Anurag Barua explores the use cases for embedded SAP BW.

Data and solution integration is becoming one of the most important aspects in enterprise architecture. Robert Heidasch describes the functionalities provided by SAP data replication and transformation solutions and their proper use.

Before sending data across systems you need to ensure both systems are on the same page regarding the data type. George Chen explains that if it is a unique composite data type from the called system, then you first need to send the definition of this data type to the calling system and have it re-created. If it is a unique complex data type from the called system, you need to disassemble this complex data structure.

Joerg Boeke shows the use of SAP HANA calculation views and procedures as data providers for complex calculation views. He explains the concept of graphical joins versus SQL Script-based joins in procedures being fed to calculation views. Step by step he demonstrates the new modeling concept and its advantages to cut down load times as well as remodeling phases.

Pravin Datar shows how you can create flexible planning workbooks with measures, local calculations, and local hierarchies using the SAP Business Planning and Consolidation 11.0 embedded model and Analysis for Office.

Pravin Datar explains how you can create hybrid planning applications using models created in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (SAP BPC) and use them automatically in SAP Analytics Cloud. This functionality allows you not only to use SAP Analytics Cloud as a web front end of SAP BPC but also to provide functionality to extend corporate planning from SAP BPC, which can be on premise or private cloud to public cloud on SAP Analytics Cloud.

Said Belahbib shows you tips, tricks, and ABAP source code to output your employee agreement contracts in Microsoft Word format in four steps. He provides a template for an employee agreement contract and naming convention to adopt for your development to avoid error mapping parameters. In Recruitment, you can store information on an applicant's employment contract. You use infotype 0016 (Contract Elements) the same way as you do in Personnel Administration.

Before sending data across systems, George Chen advises that you need to ensure both systems are on the same page regarding the data type. If it is a unique composite data type from the called system, then you first need to send the definition of this data type to the calling system and have it recreated. Then when you send the data over, there is no surprise or dump.

Akash Kumar explains the concept of SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics for core data services (CDS) views and shows how to develop custom CDS views in SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics.

Vinayak Gole explores the connectivity to data stored in the Hadoop distributions (Cloudera and Hortonworks) through the discovery component of SAP Lumira 2.0. He shows how you can further transform and visualize data using SAP Lumira’s self-service capabilities demonstrating a full life cycle for Big Data analytics.

Big Data technologies offer a huge opportunity to organizations to consolidate data from a variety of data sources and derive meaningful insights from it that can help in achieving business growth. With this opportunity, there are also challenges with respect to information security. Database technologies offer a variety of ways to implement information security. SAP HANA uses analytic authorizations to implement row-level security ensuring the information is consumed only by its rightful users. However, SAP HANA does not offer a column-level security feature out of the box. Abhijit Ingale describes the process to implement column-level security in SAP HANA.

Joerg Boeke shows the SAP HANA parameter to self-protect the SAP HANA environment by using a safety belt for memory consumption using SAP HANA studio, Eclipse Studio, or even the SAP GUI.  He shows you how to set up SAP HANA parametrization to avoid queries or all other SAP HANA processes from using 100 percent of the available memory in a single process. Adopt the parameters to allow a maximum of your desired memory occupation by a single process.

With the exponential growth of data from multiple sources, using conventional methods for extracting it is time-consuming, costly, and resource intensive. SAP has simplified Multi-Source Universes in SAP BusinessObjects 4.0 as an answer to this issue. Created with the Information Design Tool (IDT), a Multi-Source Universe can combine data from SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) with other relational databases, such as Oracle and SQL Server. Abhijit Ingale and Vinayak Gole show how to create a Multi-Source Universe in this step-by-step guide.

Rehan Zaidi shows how to program an Object Value Selector (OVS) in Web Dynpro. That allows you to populate multiple fields or to carry out a custom search for one or more fields.

Anurag Barua explains how SAP Lumira 2.0’s new capabilities, such as data acquisition and visualization, enable users to use a single application for data design, discovery, and visualization processes.  

Rehan Zaidi describes the basics and advantages of the Integrated Data Access version of the ABAP List Viewer and the steps required to create simple reports using the standard classes provided for this purpose. See how to access the field catalog and functions and how to specify sort and grouping criteria for your report output.

The integration of data and processes among different SAP systems has always been challenging and expensive in development. George Chen explains how you can dramatically reduce the development effort in system integration by exploring the generic presentation of functions/methods and the generic presentation of parameters  in a generic Remote Function Call (RFC).

Joerg Boeke shows the difference between using DataStore object (DSO) active data tables and generating external SAP HANA views to avoid extra mapping and confusion when using SAP HANA studio or Eclipse Studio.  He shows how to automate the generation of external SAP HANA views by using a customer program to speed up project and implementation time. Another side effect of the use of external SAP HANA views is a better performance to any underlying SAP BW data provider.

Matt Vasey shows how to use native SAP HANA modelling techniques and enhancements to provide end users with a user-friendly, real-time variable selection process across massive amounts of data.