Advanced Analysis in Business Warehouse: Using the APD Workbench

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Advanced Analysis in Business Warehouse: Using the APD Workbench

Anurag succinctly summarizes ways in which you can pull data from your SAP R/3 system, APO,
CRM, BW, non-SAP systems, databases, & even flat files into the user-friendly APD GUI
Workbench for maximum data usability. Anurag focuses the scope of this white paper exclusively
on preparation & transformation of data. Specifically, he takes us through aggregation
transformation, sort transformation, hide or projection transformation, & the join transformation in
APD with detailed steps & supporting screen shots. He then illustrates the filter process & various
data mining methods. Finally, he describes the use of ABAP routines to create transfer rules &
update rules for the APD Workbench.

Click here to read this Snippet

 Advanced Analysis in the Business Warehouse:
Using the Analysis Process Designer (APD) Workbench

By Anurag Barua, The Washington Post

Editor’s Note: Ever vigilant, our “man in Washington”, Anurag Barua has the scoop on the
Analyses Process Designer (APD) Workbench in BW (Business Warehouse). Anurag succinctly
summarizes ways in which you can pull data from your SAP® R/3 system, APO, CRM, BW, non-
SAP systems, databases, and even flat files into the user-friendly APD GUI Workbench for
maximum data usability. While the APD serves many functions, recognizing the limitations of time
and space, Anurag focuses the scope of this white paper exclusively on preparation and
transformation of data. Specifically, he takes us through aggregation transformation, sort
transformation, hide or projection transformation, and the join transformation in APD with detailed
steps and supporting screen shots. He then illustrates the filter process and various data mining
methods. Finally, he describes the use of ABAP routines to create transfer rules and update rules
for the APD Workbench, which, according to Anurag, ultimately facilitates meaningful analyses
and mining in order to explore hidden relationships.

Introduction

The Analysis Process Designer (APD) enables collection and consolidation of data in SAP BW
from disparate sources, and their transformation and deployment to data targets for advanced
analysis. The APD uses data that are delivered by all systems (both SAP and non-SAP) into the
BW. Since it sits atop the BW system, the source of the data is immaterial to the APD. In other
words, any source system (SAP R/3 system, APO, CRM, BW, non-SAP systems, databases, and
flat files) that a BW system (3.5 & above) can extract data from can provide data to the APD. The
APD was introduced for the first time with SAP BW Release 3.5 and provides a user-friendly
environment for data mining. Like the Administrator Workbench in BW, the APD has its own
workbench, and you can use it by running transaction RSANWB. This workbench provides users
with a very user-friendly GUI that allows users to create processes using simple drag-and-drop
technology, and run and monitor them. In terms of the workbench, the APD facilitates the
following processes: selection of data, preparation and transformation, storage (in the same
system) or transfer (to another system), and display and usage of this data. Since each of these
is a big area, this white paper will focus exclusively on one area, preparation and transformation
of data.

There are various transformations that you can carry out with the data that is loaded into your
data targets. Using these transformations, you can slice-and-dice this data in a way that it reveals
meaningful information, such as trends and patterns and other complex relationships that are not
apparent otherwise. Transformations give you the ability to scrub and cleanse the data, making it
easier for you to focus on the parts that are relevant to your analyses.

The APD provides you with a rich set of transformation functions. I will take you through the ones
that are most commonly used:

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 Advanced Analysis in the Business Warehouse:
Using the Analysis Process Designer (APD) Workbench

1) Aggregation – This transformation enables you to perform aggregation operations (and

more than just plain-vanilla summation, as we will find out in a minute) on numeric fields, and
group them according to non-numeric fields. The various aggregation-type functions that are
available to you are: sum, average, no aggregation, minimum, and maximum. Of course, not
all options are available to each type of field you are grouping by.

Figure 1 depicts an aggregation process in the workbench. After you drag-and-drop your
aggregation icon onto the process designer, you need to transfer one or more fields from the
field list (on the right) to the “Selected Grouping Fields”. The selected fields will be the fields
on which aggregation will be performed. In the case of the example shown in Figure 1, the
basis for aggregation will be the GL Account field.

The key figures that will be aggregated also need to be selected in a similar fashion from the
list on the right. This time you need to transfer them to the “Selected Aggregation Fields” box.
When you do a drop-down on the “Aggregation” field, you will be presented with the various
aggregation options. In this example, the amount, and credit and debit amount in local
currency, will be aggregated for each unique GL account (because I have selected the “SUM”
option).

Figure 1: An Aggregation Transformation Process in the APD

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