SAP BW Class

Guidelines
On
User Information Gathering
ASAP Methodology®
1 SAP BW Class – Guidelines on ASAP Methodology® Guidance
Consulting

Contents:
Disclaimer
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……….. 2
Contents
………………………………………………………………………………
…………. 3
The BW Project Guidelines …………………… ……………………... 4
1) Project Preparation / Requirement Gathering …………………….. 4
2) Business Blueprint …………………………………………………… 4
3) Realization ………… ………………………………………………… 5
4) Final Preparation …………………………………………………….. 5
5) GO Live & Support ………………………..………………………….. 6
Questionnaire for Initial Business Blueprint
……………………………………………………. 6
Question to be considered for DATA SOURCES
………………………………………………. 7
Data Input Requirement
…………………………………………………………………………. 7
Authorization/Roles Queries
…………………………………………………………………….. 7
Monitoring and Tracking Process
……………………………………………………………….. 8 Reporting /
Outbound Interfaces
………………………………………………………………… 8
A summary of above listed questions
…………………………………………………………… 8
References
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……….. 9
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_______ Copyright© 2007 by Guidance Consulting Instructor:
Touseefuddin Syed Page 3SAP BW Class – Guidelines on ASAP
Methodology® Guidance Consulting
The BW Project Guidelines Stages in BW project 1 Project Preparation /
Requirement Gathering 2 Business Blueprint 3 Realization 4 Final
Preparation 5 GO Live & Support
1) Project Preparation / Requirement Gathering
a) Collect requirement thru interviews with Business teams /Core
users / Information Leaders.
b) Study & analyze KPI’s (key figures) of Business process.
c) Identify the measurement criteria's (Characteristics).
d) Understand the Drill down requirements if any.
e) Understand the Business process data flow if any.
f) Identify the needs for data staging layers in BW – (i.e. need for
ODS if any)
g) Understand the system landscape.

Prepare Final Requirements Documents in the form of Functional

Specifications containing:
a) Report Owners,
b) Data flow ,
c) KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) ,
d) Measurement criteria’s,
e) Report format along with drilldown requirements .

2) Business Blueprint
a) Check Business content against the requirements
b) Check for appropriate Info Objects - Key figures & Characters
c) Check for Info cubes / ODS
d) Check for data sources & identify fields in source system
e) Identify Master data
f) Document all the information in a file – follow standard templates

Prepare final solution

a) Identify differences (Gaps) between Business Content &
Functional specification.
b) Propose new solutions/Developments & changes if required at
different levels such as Info Objects, Info cube, Data source
etc.
c) Document the gaps & respective solutions proposed– follow
standard templates
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_______ Copyright© 2007 by Guidance Consulting Instructor:
Touseefuddin Syed Page 4SAP BW Class – Guidelines on ASAP
Methodology® Guidance Consulting
 Design & Documentation
a) Design the ERD & MDM diagrams for each cube & related
objects
b) Design the primary keys/data fields for intermediate Storage in
ODS
c) Design the Data flow charts right from data source up to Cube.
d) Consider the performance parameters while designing data
models
e) Prepare High level / Low level design documents for each data
model. --- Follow standard templates

Identify the Roles & Authorizations required and Document it –

follow standard templates final review of design with core BW users.
Sign off the BBP documents
3) Realization
a) Check & Apply Latest Patches/Packages ...in BW & R/3 systems.
b) Activate/Build & enhance the cubes/ODS as per data model
designs...maintain the version documents.
c) Identify & activate Info objects / Master data info sources /
attributes, prepare update rules
d) Assign data sources .prepare transfer rules, prepare multi
providers. Prepare Info packages.
e) Perform the unit testing for data loads….both for master data &
transaction data.
f) Develop & test the end user queries.
g) Design the process chains, schedule & test
h) Create authorizations / Roles …assign to users...And test
i) Apply necessary patches & Notes if any.
j) Freeze & release the final objects to quality systems
k) Perform quality tests.
l) Re-design if required. (Document changes, maintain versions)
4) Final Preparation
a) Prepare the final check list of objects to be released .identify the
dependencies & sequence of release
b) Perform Go Live checks as recommended by SAP in production
system
c) Keep up to date Patch Levels in Production system
d) Test for production scenarios in a pre-production system which is a
replica of production system. Do not encourage the changes at
this stage. Freeze the objects.
5) GO Live & Support
a) Keep up to date Patch Levels
b) Release the objects to production system
c) Run the set ups in R/3 source system & Initialize Loads in BW
d) Schedule Batch jobs in R/3 system (Delta loads)
e) Schedule the process chains in BW.
f) Performance tuning – on going activity
g) Enhancements - if any

Questionnaire for Initial Business Blueprint.

Q) What is the current systems environment, which exists today, in support
of the Planning Process?

- Please include all primary source systems / interfaces currently in use as

well as any outbound interfaces / systems which receive data from the
planning Process.

- If systems documentation exists please provide.

Q) What changes to the above process are expected as a result of the

current implementation and/or other projects currently underway?

Q) Does the Company have SAP-BW installed and if so which version?

- For what purpose is the BW currently being used?

Q) Is there existing content within the Business Warehouse, which would

potentially be utilized in the Planning Process (i.e. Actual Data / Master and
Meta-Data)?

Q) If BW is currently in place, what are the primary data sources for that
Master / Transactional data which will be utilized in the Planning Process?

Q) Is the intent to develop a global template for rollout across the

organization?

Q) What is the key business benefits which it is expected the

implementation will deliver?
Q) What is the current organizational structure of the Business Units, in
which planning is to be implemented?

Q) What are the key characteristics or dimensions by which planning will be

performed?

Q) Approximately how many characteristic values would exist for each of

these key dimensions/characteristics (i.e. Number of accounts, cost
centers, product masters etc.)?

Q) What is the source for Master Data and Meta-Data (i.e.

Hierarchies) for these characteristics? Q) What is the planning period
(annual, monthly, weekly etc.)?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______ Copyright© 2007 by Guidance Consulting Instructor:
Touseefuddin Syed Page 6SAP BW Class – Guidelines on ASAP
Methodology® Guidance Consulting
Q) How many different plan/budget versions are created by the Company
and what is the purpose of each?
Question to be considered for DATA SOURCES.
Q) What source data is required to support the planning process (i.e. Actual
results)? Q) Where this data would be sourced? Q) Does an existing
interface currently exist to extract this information from the source system?
Q) Can this data be obtained via the use of SAP BW Data Extraction from
R/3? Data Input Requirement. Q) How do users currently input / process
plan data?
Q) Are input templates/models available for analysis?
Q) How many different data input templates/models currently exist?
Q) What changes to the input process are expected?
Q) Is WEB enabled input of data a requirement?
Q) Approximately how many users currently provide input into the planning
process?
Q) How many users are expected subsequent to introduction of the new
system?
Q) Where Excel templates/models are currently used, would the
intent be to integrate these models into the core BPS functionality or
alternately to maintain the existing Excel spreadsheets and link to
SEM-BPS?
Q) Are centralized templates to be developed or will different users within
the organization require the ability to create their own business models
locally? Authorization/Roles Queries. Q) Is control over access to either
plan and / or reported data required?
Q) By which characteristics does plan access need to be restricted.
Q) What are the primary roles within the Planning Process?
(Obtain a brief overview of functions and any required restrictions on
the ability to either plan and/or view data.)
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_______ Copyright© 2007 by Guidance Consulting Instructor:
Touseefuddin Syed Page 7SAP BW Class – Guidelines on ASAP
Methodology® Guidance Consulting
Monitoring and Tracking Process Q) Is there a requirement to monitor
the current status of the Planning Process?
Q) Does this monitoring include the requirement for plan data to be
submitted for review and approval at different levels within the
organization?
Q) If monitoring and approval is required please define the current
review and approval process, additionally highlight any desired
changes to this process. Reporting / Outbound Interfaces.
Q) What Plan Reports are generated today?
Q) What new and or additional reports are desired?
Q) What is the current process for report distribution?
Q) Are there desired changes to this process?
Q) Is WEB Based Reporting Required?
Q) Are third Party Reporting Products currently utilized if so which ones?
Q) Is it expected that they will continue to be going forward?
Q) Are Published Quality Reports required (I.E. Requirement to utilize
Crystal)?
Q) Will Reports / Queries be defined centrally or is the desire to allow end-
users full ad-hoc query capability?
Q) Are there any requirements to provide for Outbound Interfaces
passing plan data from BPS to other Systems? If so what data needs
to be passed, to which system and how often?
Q) Is there a requirement to retract the plan data back to SAP R/3? Is so
what data needs to be passed and to which modules within R/3?
A summary of above listed questions.
Step 1> Interview Mode to get KPI's Step 2> Convert KPI's to Basic Key
Figures Step 3> Define each Basic Key Figure with Business Objects like
Material, Customer. Step 4> Cluster the Key Figures based on common
Business Objects Step 5> Convert this cluster to Bubble Model Step 6>
Convert Bubble Model to Star Schema Step 7> Star Schema to BW Model
Step 8> Compare the Model with Business Content
References:
1) References from Vinay Karna’s class of RD Data Solutions which he
took for Enterprise Logic.
2) Detailed information gathered from the following link
http://sap.ittoolbox.com/documents/document.asp?i=3581 3) References
from ASAP implementation roadmap, URL link: https://websmp103.sap-
ag.de/~form/sapnet?
_SHORTKEY=01100035870000420636&_SCENARIO=011000358700000
00202 4) Brief overview of the above steps service.sap.com:
https://websmp201.sap-ag.de/asap, https://websmp104.sap-ag.de/bi,
https://service.sap.com/roadmaps 5) Some details from Santosh Karkhanis
website: http://www.geocities.com/santosh_karkhanis/ASAP/
6) References from SAP SDN forum search:
https://forums.sdn.sap.com/thread.jspa?
forumID=131&threadID=183452&messageID=2051779#2051779 -----
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_______ Copyright© 2007 by Guidance Consulting Instructor:
Touseefuddin Syed Page 9