Learn The SAP BW BEX Analyser

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November 14, 2013 by Pete Comments are off

Introduction
When I was first putting this book together, I was wondering what the best sequence would be to teach you about BW reporting. I
say that because there are two elements involved: creating queries and running these queries in order to analyse your data.
First of all, this article will introduce the BEX Analyser and have a quick look at how reports are run, followed by a look at some
of the basic functionality within it. Then I will swap over to Designing Queries using the Query design tools. After I have
completed this run through, I will then come back into the BEX Analyser, run some of the queries we have created, and also
show how to build a Workbook application that combines multiple reports together and makes it possible to build a unique user
interface for your reports.

The BEx Analyser

Lets begin by introducing the main functions of the BEx Analyzer and show you how to get started running queries.
To open the BEX Analyser, from the Start button click All Programs and then select Business Explorer followed by the first
option, Analyzer. This will launch Microsoft Excel and the BEx Analyzer add-in.

Click on the Add-in tab to find the BEx Analyzer toolbar. On the left, you can see the Menu Commands, which brings up a dropdown menu with various options. These can also be found under the Custom Toolbars section on the right as icons.
Before I go into detail about what these options do, the next section will show how a report runs, so you can see what we are
going to be working with straight away.

Logging In
Before you can open a Query, you need to log in to the system. To do this, you have two options.

The Connection icon brings up the Login box and allows you to log in, but will not give you an option to open a query.

The Open icon will allow you to log in and it will also give you a dialog box where you can choose a query to execute.
The Open Query menu command will also do this. (Of the two options, I recommend this one.)

When clicking either of these icons, the Login dialog box will appear.

Enter your client number (which your system administrator will have given to you), username and password. The language box is
optional. Finally, press OK.

Selecting and Executing Queries with the Open dialog

In this section, I will go through how to select your first query. You do this using the Open dialog box, so lets have a look at this
in a bit more detail.
There are five ways to search for a query: Find, History, Favourites, Rolesand Info Areas.

History

As soon as the dialog opens, it shows a History of some of the reports that Ive selected previously, as shown in the screenshot
above.

Favourites

Specific reports can be added as Favourites so that they can be referred back to, perhaps on a regular basis (for instance if you
need to run a report every month.) As you can see I have got a few listed as favourites already.

Roles

Then we have Roles. In this example, I have not been assigned to any Roles but a BW User is usually assigned to a certain
number of BW reporting Roles, which are set up in relation to the tasks that the user carries out. For instance, a sales manager
would belong to a sales reporting Role and would see a number of reports listed here that he could run.
Users can be assigned to multiple Roles. A sales manager who has employees that work for them would potentially be assigned to
both a sales reporting and HR Roles, for example.

Info Areas

Then we have Info Areas, which allows you to see the entire BW System. Because of this, some users may not see this option. In
this section you can click on the systems InfoProviders and from there it is possible to select all types of reports on any type of
data that is set up in your system.
The screenshot above shows the initial screen when you click on the Info Areas icon. Think of each Info Area as a folder
containing sub-folders, which contain other sub-folders for the different sections of an organisation, for example. It could be HR,
finance data, procurement data or anything like that.

Find

Finally, there is the Find option. Because there can be many reports and folders within a BW System, it can be confusing trying
to find reports that youd like to use. With this in mind, SAP have built in a find function for your queries, views and workbooks.
When you click Find, you will get a search box. Type in the text you wish to search and click Find. The system will then return a
list of matching queries and views in the lower section of the search. From there, double click the required entry and your report
will be executed.
Another way to search is through the Info Areas section. Here, the Name input box also acts as a search function. For instance, if
you type employee into the Name input field and press Enter, a list of results will be displayed. If there is just one result it will
execute the query straight away.
This is a useful shortcut and I tend to always key my search phrases in here because normally you always get presented with
more than one result.

Executing the Query

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In this example above, I have searched for employee in the Find section and selected the query I want to execute.
Once you have found the query you wish to execute, double click on it (or single click and select Open) and the report will be
executed.

Here, we can see a report that has finished executing and has been transferred to Excel, where we can do with it as we please.

The Default Query Output

The above example shows the default Table display. There are two columns: one for Organisational Unit and another for
Number of Employees.
A querys default output is initially very simple, and it is at first; you can customise the look of the report like any other Excel
worksheet. There are several functions available within the report: Chart, Filter and Information.

The Chart button converts the table into a chart, which while basic in functionality is useful for getting a quick visual
representation of the data. The chart can be customised like any generated in Excel.

If the report contains a large number of records and you only want a Chart of a select few, then you can use the Filter button.
The Filter function brings up another table which contains free characteristics. Any field that does not belong to the body of the
report resides here. In BW, if a field contains a numeric value then it is a key figure, whereas anything that can be drilled down
is a characteristic. The fields in the Filter table are free characteristics because they have not been added to the report, although
they can be dragged and dropped into the report at any time.

To filter a report, right click on a field, select Select Filter Value and a dialog box will appear. Select the values you wish to
filter from the history list, and the report will be filtered accordingly.
The third button is Information, which displays extra rows within the Worksheet that contain technical and descriptive
information about the report.

This table gives us information about the author, current user and which user last modified the data, with the querys technical
name description on the left column. The right column gives timestamps which show the last time the data was refreshed, as well
as the key date for the query (which will be explained later in this book).
This information is useful because it can help with troubleshooting any problems with your data. For example, if the data for a
query is refreshed every day, or during the night, and a user notices that something is wrong, the Last Refreshed entry can help
determine whether the data just needs to be refreshed, or if there is another problem, for instance with the back-end SAP system.

The BEX Analyser Toolbar

There are two rows of icons that make up the Custom Toolbars, as seen above.
The first row is used for designing analysis applications, for when the user wants to create a unique interface for their reports.
These will be focused on later in the book when detailing how to build a custom analysis application.
The bottom row is where queries, workbooks and query views are opened and saved, as well as the functions for connecting the
system and refreshing the queries, and it is this row that this section will focus on.

Open Folder allows you to open a Query that has already been defined. It also allows us to open an Excel Workbook.
(Workbooks can be saved into BW, which allows it to be used by other users, as well as being another place to back-up a
Workbook.)

Save allows you to save a query View or a Workbook. Saving the query view doesnt save the entire workbook, but instead saves
the query as the View that the user has customised (for instance, if they have specified a certain part of the data to drill down
into). When the query is re-opened, it will open the View as previously saved.

Refresh refreshes all the data in the Workbook. By default, this option is enabled, signifying that the Automatic Refresh
is turned on. This means that whenever a user drills down into a query, the data is updated straight away. If clicked, and turned
off, then drilling down into a field will not cause a refresh and you will have to refresh the data manually.
One thing to remember is that when working with multiple Queries in one Workbook, this icon will force a refresh of every
single report at once.

Change Variable Values allows you to define an interface for the end-user to preselect data, when it isnt necessary to
bring back all the data in a report, instead retrieving data for only the selected values. A selection screen needs to be set up for
this to function, which will be explained later in the book.

Tools offers a series of tools to choose from. We can create a new query, and access other software. There is also an option to
Copy Sheet, which duplicates sheets in the same manner as a non-BEX workbook.
BEX Broadcaster is a separate piece of software that sends reports to staff in an organisation, as long as its configured properly
and the necessary SAP licences have been purchased. Planning Monitor is used to save data inside a Cube, instead of reporting on
them. Both are separate and arent covered in this book.
BEX Report Designer is for those who wish to create pixel-perfect layout designs for reports, if you require them to be printready.

The BEX Web Analyser option links to the web interface version of the Analyser. When part of an active Query selected, an Edit
option appears in the Tools menu. Clicking this will open the BEX Query Designer tool.

Global Settings: clicking this will open up a dialog box which contains all manner of settings, divided into four tabs
(Behaviour, Select Default Workbook, Trace and Statistics) which you can edit to your own personal preference. For instance,
there are preferences that control whether you want the BEX Analyser to open whenever you open Excel. I recommend that you
play around with the settings and see which suits your way of working.

System Information is where you connect and disconnect from the System. Clicking it while connected provides
information about the connection (the client, username and language, as well as the Application Server), as well as the option to
Disconnect without quitting the BEX Analyser. Clicking Connect brings up the Connect dialog box.

Help opens Application Help in your web browser.

Data Analysis Functions

This section will explain how to use some of the BEx Analyzers powerful data analysis tools, focusing on Filters and Navigation
options.

Using Filters

We have already touched upon the Filter button previously in this article, so you should be familiar that it produces a list of free
characteristics, which are called as such because they are not being used within the Query. (The above example shows one
characteristic being used, Organisational Unit. Every other characteristic is free to be added into the query as required.)
At the bottom of the Filter table, there is a field named Structure. Any key figures, numeric values in a query, are contained
within a structure. This will be covered in detail when we begin designing Queries, but the thing to remember now is that when
Structure appears here; it will contain all the fields that are key figures within the Query.

Drilldowns and Navigations

We will now look into how fields can be used, and added to a Query.
Double click on a field in the Filter table to refresh the Query and add that field to the table.

In this example, the Age in Years field was added. This was a Hierarchical Field, which means that different age bands have
been split into different hierarchies, allowing us to breakdown all the employees in the Hamburg Production Plant into age
categories.

Double clicking on a fields arrow will then expand the hierarchy to a lower level, showing the individual groupings of
employees by their age.

If you want to remove a drilldown column from the table, there are several options.
Right click on the field you wish to remove, and select Remove Drilldownfrom the context menu, which will clear the column.
There are also Back and Back to Start options when you click on any field in the Query. Clicking Back will take the Query
back one step, like clicking Back in a web browser, whereas Back to Start will take the Query to the beginning, taking away all
filters and changes.

Adding Fields
Now, we are going to have a look at adding fields to the Table, but using different techniques.
As well as double clicking on a field, we can drag and drop fields into the table. Click on the field you wish to add, and hold the
left mouse button down while dragging across.

A cursor with a no-entry sign will appear as you begin dragging, which will change to a square with an arrow pointing
downwards, which means Drill Down. Releasing the mouse button over the first column of the table will add the field and drill
down the report.

Dragging a field to the header of a column will change the cursor to one with a refresh symbol. This means that if you drop the
field here, it will replace that field with the one you are adding. Dragging the other way around, or dragging a header to a field,
will replace the field in the same way.

In addition, dragging a field over key figures will change the cursor to a square with the arrow facing to the right, which
means Drill Across. Dropping the field here will split the field into two columns.

The above example shows the result of dragging a Gender field into the Number of Employees column, giving a different type
of layout to the report: there is now one column for male and another for female, whereas drilling down would have given two
rows for each Organisational Unit.
We dont just end there: we can click on a field within the Table and drag it to another part of the Table, and change the report
view. For instance, dragging Male to the Hamburg Prod field changes the view like this:

If you are familiar with Microsoft Excel, think of this as acting in a similar way to the Pivot Table or Transpose Copy/Paste
functions (in that it takes all the records going down, and Transpose Paste makes them go across).

To remove a field from the Query altogether, drag the header row to an area outside any tables until the cursor shows the squarewithin-a-square icon above. Drop, and the field will be removed from the Result Set.
Once users become familiar with the similarities with Excel, it can really turn light bulbs on as to how much time can be saved
using BWs BEx functionality!
In BW, and SAP in general, there is always more than one way to do things. For instance, right clicking on a field and choosing
Drill Down or Drill Across from the context menu does the same as dragging and dropping, and right clicking within the Tables
header row shows options to Exchange and Add Drilldowns According To, which again act in exactly the same way as before.

Filtering Data
There are a variety of different options for filtering data in a Query, using the Select Values dialog box. To access it, right-click on
a field in the Filter table and select Select Filter Value.
When there are no filters in place, it will only show one window with Recent Selections. Click More >> to expand the dialog to
give us a two-window view, which will show us what has been selected.

Select the drop-down menu at the top of the window, and it will initially show the History, a list of fields that have been used as
filters in the past.

Filters can also be saved as Favourites. These can be added by clicking on a Filter, moving them across to Selection (either by
using the right-hand arrow button or just double clicking it) and clicking the floppy disk Save icon. A dialog box will appear;
type a name for the selection and click OK. The filters will then appear under Favourites as a folder icon, which you can highlight
and select all at once, or click on the + icon to view and individually select filters within.

Single Values allows us to go back into the underlying database and bring back all the records we have in our InfoProvider.
Individual values can be selected to the selection in this way, again either by clicking the Move to Selection button (the blue,
right-facing arrow) or just double clicking the value itself. A highlighted range of values can also be added at once.

Direct Input can also be used to find values, once you are familiar with the underlying Keys of records in a SAP system. In the
screenshot above, we can see that each record is given a text value, but it is also possible to show them as Keys, which display
each Unit as a numerical Key. Selecting Text [Key] displays both.

Entering the Key number into the Direct Input field and clicking on the Move to Selection button adds it to the Selection, and the
system will recognise the value from the code as a record, pick up its associated text and brings that across as well.

There is also a Search option, which provides options for searching through the master data of your system and saves you from
scrolling through a large list of values. You can search both by Text and by Key, as well as different Attributes which are
associated with the field we are filtering. There are three search boxes; the second and third allow you to select from the History,
Favourites or Value Range sections, giving you as many ways as possible to find Master Data to add to the Filter list. Access this
by clicking the two squares icon to the right of the second and third search fields.

Finally, Value Ranges is similar to many other search options that exist within SAP systems. Before, we have selected individual
values, but this allows us to specify a range. The screenshot above shows the range set between Keys 1,000 to 2,000. There are
several logical operators you can use: between, less equal, greater equal, less than and greater than. Again, there is the Select
Values dialog available, to search through Favourites, History and so on.
Clicking the Move to Selection button adds the Value Range to the bottom of the Selection list.

All of the values that have been chosen for the Filter are collected in the Selection side of the window. This contains various
options of its own.
Everything that has been selected in this screenshot is a positive selection, which means that they are values we wish to include.
If you wish to exclude a value or range from inclusion, then right click the value and select Exclude Selections from the context
menu. The icon will change from a green to a red background, denoting its exclusion from the Selection range.
Remember that once you have compiled a list of values, you can save them to the Favourites section.
Once you have compiled all the values you wish to filter the report with, click OK and the Query will contain the reports that
match the Selections made.

Filtering Data in a Table Group

Sometimes, it is necessary to apply filters using the data in the Table view. For example, in an HR Gender field, we may have
entries for Male, Female, and Unknown for employees that there is no data for this field, and we want to filter out the Unknown
data.

To select the fields, hold Shift and click on the fields to select a range. (If the rows are not next to each other, hold Ctrl and click
on each value until all are selected.) Right click, and select Keep Filter Value from the context menu, and the filter will be
applied.

Here, you can see that the Table has been filtered, and the Filter grid shows that Gender has been filtered on Male and Female.
At the same time, it removed the Gender field from the Table view, which may not be the desired action. Selecting Keep Filter
Value on Axis from the context menu instead will filter the values but leaves the field in place. Select Filter Value is also
available, and brings up the same dialog box as before.

Below these options, there is Filter and Drill Down. This tries to do two steps in one. Where we had selected a field previously
to drill down a report with, we would drag or double click to apply it to the report. This option, on the other hand, allows us to
apply a filter (such as only Male and Female) and then choose another filter to add to the report.

Here, we have selected Nationality from the list, which has filtered the report by Male and Female and then drilled down into
different Nationalities.
As well as using the filter options in the context menu, it is possible to filter using one individual value simply by double clicking
on it, which is a fast way to filter data in a report.
After filtering in this way, you can continue working however you want, including changing the filter values as described in the
previous section. You can also Drill Across using one of the existing columns; you dont have to use a field from the Filter table.

The Remove Drilldown option works in the same way as dragging a field outside of the Table area. Swap Axes changes a field
so that it Drills Across with the fields, instead of Drilling Down, changing a vertical column into a row with the key values
underneath.

This Report is the result of using the Swap Axes function on the Nationality field, drilling it across so that there is only one row
underneath, showing the Number of Employees. If there are too many columns it can become somewhat unwieldy.

This Report, on the other hand, shows the Number of employees first, and then the data is drilled down by Nationality, and
then across by Gender.
These demonstrate that it is possible to quickly swap over axes on a table so that the report changes view, so in certain situations
it can look a lot better.
What these examples show is that you can modify the layout of your report, and try lots of different settings; the tool is designed
for you to play around and analyse your data however you like, and really find the useful information by looking at it in different
ways. If your report starts to look messy or you make a mistake, the Back and Back to Start functions allow you to return to a
previous state and try something else.

The Sort menu allows you to sort the fields by their Text value, and also their underlying Key value. Every field within a SAP
system has a Text value and a Key value.

Characteristic Properties

Clicking on Properties brings up a dialog box which allows you to choose the Presentation of a particular field, and if you
change this to Key, the report will re-run and the Key values will be displayed instead of Text values (so, 1 instead of Male).
You can also set it to show both at once.

Sometimes, when displaying fields as Keys, some may display as a # symbol. This means that no values exist for these records,
hence the Text value unknown.
Knowing Key values may be more useful for some characteristics than others. For instance, Gender would only have 2 values
(for Male and Female), but Organisational Unit may have hundreds. From my own personal experience, users start to remember
the Key codes for characteristics, sometimes knowing the code before they can remember the Text.

The above Table shows both Text and Key values, and should be familiar with those who use the SAP back-end system. If you
are familiar with the HR system, you will be very familiar with the above codes, having used them on a daily basis.

Presentation options are remembered for each characteristic. In the example above, the system has remembered that Genders
presentation option was Key and Text and has built the report accordingly.

It is also possible to sort from the Properties dialog box. Select whether to sort by Text, Key or Selection, choose the field we
want to sort by, and then choose the direction.
Another setting in Properties is Suppress Result Rows. Normally when you build a BEx Query, the characteristics that you use
in your Query nearly always generate a subtotal for you. What this means, is do you want to remove the subtotal for this field.
Usually this is set to always.

When this is changed to never, an extra Result, or subtotal, row appears for every field. The above report shows subtotals for
Gender (drilled across) and Organisational Unit (drilled down). With larger reports, you may see that subtotals can become a
pain, and you may start to turn them off for specific fields.

There is also a conditional option, which displays subtotals for all records apart from those which only have one unique value,
in which case a subtotal would not be displayed. In the above report, because there is only one row of data for the Austrian and
Australian Nationalities, there is no subtotal, unlike Canadian where the data has been broken down into two rows (Male and
Female).

Attributes

Attributes are a list of related fields that can be added into a Report. These are in addition to the list of characteristics in the
Filter table, and can also be added into the Report, but they are linked to each individual characteristic.
Some characteristics have Attributes, some dont. For instance, in our HR example, Nationality has no additional attributes,
whereas Employee has several, including Organisational Unit, Personnel Area/Subarea and so on. These fields may already
exist as free characteristics, but attributes help to describe a characteristic. In the back-end of BW, where the relationships
between Fields are set up, the Employee characteristic would have been given a range of attribute fields to help give additional
information for the Employee field, even when it is not explicitly added as a characteristic.
All will become clear.

When a characteristic has additional Attributes, an extra tab will appear in the Properties dialog box. Clicking on this tab reveals
a list of fields that are associated with the characteristic (Employee in this example) within the SAP system. Some will match
the characteristic fields in the Filter table, some wont, but either way, every field in the Available Attributes box is there to
provide additional information. If a characteristic is available, then always use that instead, as the Queries will be faster and the
drilling down functions will be available as well (Attributes do not have this capability, and exist for display purposes only).
To add Attributes, transfer them over to the Selected Attributes area by selecting them and clicking the blue right-facing arrow
button.
Double clicking on an Attribute will open a Display Properties window. There are only a couple of properties that can be set for
Attributes.
Text determines whether the Default, Short or Middle Text is displayed. (For those new to SAP, fields can have various Text
descriptions in addition to their Text and Key. There may be Long, Medium and Short Text, or no alternatives at all.)
Presentation sets whether to display the Text, Key or both, as in the Characteristic Properties

Clicking OK will close the window and add the Attributes to the report. They will be inserted into the report, right next to the
characteristic field, causing a lot more information to appear that can be used to reference and use as you wish.

In the above screenshot, we have Employee Group as both an Attribute (to the left), and a Characteristic (to the right) within the
same report. The characteristic has the additional functionality of being able to display subtotals (and can also be drilled down or
across), but otherwise the data is the same.
Do not worry if the idea of having the same data as an Attribute and a Characteristic doesnt make sense; it all relates to how the
BW system is built in the back-end. Again, if a Characteristic is available then always use that over an Attribute, but if you do not
have one available look into a Characteristics Properties and see if the Attribute is available there to add to the report.

Structure
Before looking at the Query Properties, we will look at Structure, which represents the key figures, the numeric values in the
report. Right-click on Structure and choose Select Filter Value.

Instead of individual values, this is representing the key figure fields we have available. In this example, there is only one figure
field available (Number of employees). Removing this figure field from the Selection window removes the column from the
report; adding it back will restore the column.

Double clicking on Structure brings up the Local Formula window. This option allows the creation of brand new fields based on
Key Figure Fields that already exist in the report. Formulas are created by choosing a Field, and creating a mathematical formula
around it. This will create a new field in the Query with the formula applied to each record. There are also some basic
mathematical functions (EXP, LOG, NODIM, and SQRT) that can be added into the formula.
If the formula is incorrect, the text in the Use Formulas box will turn red which signifies that the system does not recognise the
formula.
Clicking OK will cause the report to run and the field will be output to the right hand side of the existing fields.

Key Figure Properties

To access the Key Figure Properties, right-click the header row and select Properties from the context menu. Because we are only
talking about numbers, the options are a little different.
The Number Format tab contains simple options to determine the scaling factor, amount of decimal places, and whether the field
should be highlighted.
The Calculate tab contains options to Calculate Result (for when there is a Result for a characteristic) and Calculate Single Values
(for individual values), which can be used to determine how to calculate count all values, show an average, the minimum or

maximum, and many more. Youre not just stuck with summation. The Cumulated check-box can be turned on to cumulatively
add figures down the field and it can be determined where the cumulative function calculates (along the Columns or the Rows).
The Sorting tab contains an option to either leave the sorting alone, or to sort by ascending or descending values.
As ever, play around with the settings to see how they work.

Fields that have been created with the Local Formula window have slightly different options in the context menu. Add Local
Formula adds a new one to the Query, and Change brings up the Local Formula window so that the formula can be edited.
There is also a Delete option.
Convert to Formula appears in both types of Key Figures fields. I dont want to cover this right now; it is a very powerful
option that allows you to create an Excel formula, but once this is clicked a Query cannot be converted back to a standard Query.
An example of why this feature would be used: when designing a fixed layout for a report, with for instance Calendar Year on
the left hand side, and a sum of annual salaries broken down by month along the top row, and this setup would never change, you
could Convert to Formula and then apply your own formula calculation, retrieve data from the BW system to be displayed in the
report, and execute your own formula which will not be overridden every time the Query is refreshed.
By a static report that never changes, this is because the OLAF functionality (drilling down, etc.) will not work and the Query
will only remember the drilled down setup in place as you click the Convert command.
While this function is very useful, it is not used very often, and so I will not go into detail in this point. Later in the book, when
covering Designing Queries, there will see Cell Definitions, an option where formulas can be embedded into cell definitions, that
personally I find a better option for this. I would only use Convert to Formula for when Microsoft Excels functions are required
in a report or if a formula has to be updated on a regular basis using external data (not from an SAP system).

Query Properties

This window can be brought up using any context menus Query Propertiesoption; it will always be the same no matter what
has been right-clicked.
As can be seen above, there are lots of tabs and quite a lot of functionality. What the window shows first is the current view of the
Query. The three boxes under the Navigation State tab show the Columns (which is showing Structure, where Key Figures are
kept), Row (in this example, Employee) and Free Characteristics (those listed in the Filter table) that can be dragged across
each box as we please.
Double clicking on a Characteristic in the Columns and Rows sections brings up the Characteristic Properties window, with the
same options as when selected in the Report.
The Query Properties window is very handy because Queries can be restructured, for instance when several Fields need to be
added, without refreshing each time (which if it takes thirty seconds to refresh the Query, could soon add up with large reports)
the Query is altered.

The Data Formatting tab provides options that determine how the Query is presented. By default, reports are presented
in Multidimensional View, which means that it is possible to drill down/across to get a different view, and see different
dimensions of our data. There is also Tabular View, which takes the multidimensional functionality away and gives a basic
listing report. Also, Attributes do not have to be directly next to a Characteristic when a report is structured.
Under the Multidimensional View option, there are two similar options calledDisplay the Columns/Rows Hierarchically and
Explain Till. If these are ticked in a Query with multiple Key Figures, then this option is used to choose how much of a local
hierarchy for those figures is displayed.

The above example shows the user selecting Organisational Unit as the only expanded part of the hierarchy, hiding the lower
three levels of the report. Clicking on the arrows next to each field in the report expands the report, showing the next level down
(Employee group).

The Presentation Options tab provides options for how the results are formatted, including where the results are positioned, and
the amount of zeros to be displayed.

Display Options includes options to determine how to display Scaling Factors, Document Links and whether to Suppress
Repeated Key Valueswhen the same figure is repeated multiple times in one report.
Documents can be created against Data, Characteristics & Key Figures, and are used to explain parts of a report. They are stored
alongside the Objects in a BW system, although I must say they are rarely used, with companies preferring to use Word or other
outside software.
The Currency Conversion tab, if there are currency values in a report and currency translations are set up in the BW system,
provides a conversion tool (for example, to convert into $.)
Zero Suppression contains an option to suppress (hide) zeros in a report.Properties contains general information about the
Query, and finally theConditions tab would show any conditions that have shown up in the Query. When we start to create
Queries later in the book, there will be more about Conditions.

Saving Workbooks and Query Views

BEx Queries are embedded into Excel Workbooks, and so we have the option of saving the workbook wherever we like such as
the desktop, a documents folder, or a network drive. Saving a workbook with a BEx Query is identical to saving any other Excel
file.
One thing to note is that when reopening a workbook, it is disconnected from the BW system. Right-clicking while disconnected
will only bring a Refresh option. Clicking this will bring up a window asking for your username and password, which will
connect the workbook to the BW system, refreshing the data and making all options available once again.

Saving Workbooks on a BW System

To save a workbook onto the BW system, click on the Save icon in the toolbar, and select Save Workbook, which will prompt
you to enter a name for the workbook and whether it should be saved within a Role for other staff and/or departments to access.
There is also the option to Save View. A View is the current view of the Query as it is embedded in the workbook, and this gives
the option of saving the layout without also saving the Querys data or workbook. Other sheets with other views would not be
saved with this option.

Clicking Save View brings up the above window. Type a description and a technical name for the view, and click Save. The view
will then appear when selecting Open, and this will bring up the Query report with all customisations intact.

Creating Our First SAP BW BEx Query

You are here: Home SAP Training Blog Creating Our First SAP BW BEx Query
May 9, 2013 by Pete 1 Comment

If you have not created a query in the SAP BEx Query Designer before, then this article is for you; here you will learn
step by step how to create your first query in your BW system that you can run in the BEx Analyzer.
F UL L CO URSE CL I CK HER E

How to create a query?

To create a new query, click on the create New Query button from either the Query menu or from the toolbar buttons.
A dialog box will then appear where you have to select an InfoProvider to base your query on. The InfoAreas button
will display the InfoProvider hierarchy for navigating and finding out the information that your BW system contains.
The InfoAreas contains different types of infoProviders such as InfoCubes, DSOs etc. Select the one that you want.
In this example I will choose the Headcount and Personnel Actions (0PA_C01) infocube.
Tip: Turn on the Technical Names setting to help differentiate between InfoProviders that have the same description.

InfoProvider inside the Query Designer

Once the query designer loads the InfoProvider structure into the BEx query designer as shown below, you will see it
contains three folders. These are structures, key figures and the dimensions folders. The dimension folder is the
name that is given to high level folders in the InfoProvider. It contains the characteristics of an InfoProvider. The
contents of the Dimensions and key figures structures are what we use to build our reports.

To add a characteristic to your report drag the characteristic from the InfoProvider and drop it to the rows/columns
section. The preview section shows you how the query will look in the BEx Analyzer once it is saved and the
properties section shows the description and the technical name of the characteristic.

Saving the Query

To save the query click on the Save As button on the toolbar in the Query Designer application. As you are about to
save your first query a Save Query As dialog box appears and requires you to fill in the Description and
theTechnical Name fields to save the query.
Tip: You can use spaces in the query description field but not in the query technical name field.
When you hit the save button your report will be saved.

Running the saved query in the BEx Analyzer

You can run the query that you saved in the BEx Query Designer to see what it looks like in the BEx Analyzer. Just
click the execute button.

Making changes to your query

Once you have run your query for the first time you will most likely want to edit the design to add more fields or adjust
some specific field and query properties.
You have the option of using the BEx Query Designer application again, alternatively call the query designer from the
BEx Analyzer toolbar.

Once you click the edit query option, it opens up the Query Designer and automatically loads to query that you had
open in the BEx Analyzer. One draw back of using this way of editing you queries is you can not switch to Analyzer
unless you close the Query Designer first. A bit of a pain!

SAP BW BEx Query Designer Menus And Toolbar

You are here: Home SAP Training Blog SAP BW BEx Query Designer Menus And Toolbar
May 8, 2013 by Pete Comments are off

This article covers the BEx Query Designer Menus and Toolbar and their functions.
F UL L COURS E C LI CK HE RE

The BEx Query Designer contains the following Menu items: Query ~ Edit ~ View ~ Tools ~ Help

BEx Query Designer Menus

The Query Menu
The BEx Query Designers Query menu is like a File menu in MS Excel or Word. You can
create New queries, Open queries, Check queries, Savequeries and so on.
The Publish option in the lets you publish your queries to a specific role that has been set up for your users You also have the
option to use the BEx broadcaster to distribute your reports either by email or other Broadcast mechanism that you have set up
for publishing your reports.

The Edit Menu

The Edit menu is very simple. You have the option to Cut, Copy, Paste, or Remove your queries using the Edit menu options.
You can also change or display your queries by the Display/Change option.

The View Menu

The View menu in the BEx Query Designer allows you to customize the look of your Query Designers interface. You can select
the Standard View or SAP BW 3.5 View through the Predefined option. Technical Names opens up a sub menu to let you
choose to show the technical names of characteristics and key figures in our queries. For example the characteristic employee
has the same description as its characteristic name but by choosing the see the technical name PERNR, we can differentiate the
field easily.
The View menu can also be used as way of turning window elements of the screen on or off.

The Tools Menu

The Tools menu is a small menu, it allows you save every object that you have added within your query by clicking Save
All option.

The Help Menu

Through the help menu option you can learn everything that you may need to know about the BEx Query Designer. You can
access SAP help articles there and online support as well.

BEx Query Designer Toolbar

The BEx Query Designers toolbar is an alternative way of selecting the various options from the Menus. It includes every
function that the Menu has except the Cell Definitions option. You can perform the same menu functions with the toolbar options
such as creating a new query, opening a query, saving the query, and all the other option that are described above.

Starting The SAP BW BEx Query Designer And Screen

Layout
You are here: Home SAP Training Blog Starting The SAP BW BEx Query Designer And Screen Layout
May 7, 2013 by Pete Comments are off

You probably know how to start the BEx Query Designer, but having a short explanation of it and its layout, can help
you better understand the BEx Query Designers functional areas and the other details that you need to know before
working on the BEx Query Designer.
F UL L CO URSE CL I CK HER E

How to start the BEx Query Designer?

To start the BEx Query Designer, click on the start menu button on your computer screen, click All Programs and go
to Business Explorer menu and select Query Designer. A log in box appears for logging into your BW system; type
your username and password then press the okay button to log in. Thats it! The BEx Query Designer opens up.
To get quick access to the BEx Query Designer you can add it as a shortcut on your desktop screen or task bar menu
or pin it to start menu.

BEx Query Designer Screen Layout

When you log on to the BEx Query Designer, you are presented with an interface like this:

You can see there are seven sections in the screenshot above, which make up the components of the BEx Query
Designer screen layout. These seven sections are as follows:
1.

InfoProvider Section

2.

Characteristic Restrictions (Filter Section)

3.

Default Values (Filter Section)

4.

Columns (Rows/Column Section)

5.

Rows (Rows/Column Section)

6.

Properties/Tasks Section

7.

Messages Section

Here is the brief overview of these sections:

InfoProvider Section
The InfoProvider area of the screen is the first section in the BEx Query Designer. It lists all the available fields that
can be added to our query, such as characteristics, key figures, attributes and calculated figures and so on.

Filter Section
Characteristic Restrictions
The Characteristic Restrictions section is part of the filter section in the BEx Query Designer interface. It is used
whenever you want to restrict your query to a certain number of records based on specific characteristic values. All
you do is drag and drop your characteristics into this are and then add a filter.

Default Values
The Default Values section lists the characteristics and their associated default values that you can assign.

Rows/Columns Section
The Rows/Column section includes the following areas:

Free Characteristics
This area is a container in which you add fields addition fields that a user can choose to add into their query at runtime.

Columns
This area contains fields selected from the InfoProvider section that you want to add to your query. Fields added here
will display as Columns in your query output.

Rows
This area is similar to the Columns area in that you add fields selected from the InfoProvider section that you want to
add to your query, but it differs in the way the data is presented when the query is executed. Fields added to this
section will display as Columns in your query output.

Preview
This area just shows a representation how your query will look when it runs in the BEx Analyzer.

Properties Section
Properties
Every component that you add to your query, contains properties. In the properties section you can make specific
changes such as descriptions, display settings, characteristic aggregation, show/hide result rows etc.

Tasks

Tasks is a tab in the properties section. This areas shows changes (depending on the query objects) that are
highlighted in the Filter or the Rows/Columns section. It highlights the errors in your query and suggest different
actions to fix those errors.

Messages Section
This final area of the screen is used to provide feedback to us while we are creating our queries. It checks our query
on the fly and tells us if we have any errors in our queries as well as displaying warning messages. It can show
messages about any error that your query contains.
There is also a Where Used List tab which is a very handy referencing tool. When you select an object in your query
the Where Used List can show you where that object is being used or reference in you query.

Overview Of The SAP BW Reporting Tools Landscape

You are here: Home SAP Training Blog Overview Of The SAP BW Reporting Tools Landscape
May 3, 2013 by Pete Comments are off

The purpose of the overview of the SAP BW Reporting tools landscape is to look deep into the BEx Query Designer
to help us understand how we create our reports and where they can be used. The SAP BW Reporting tools
landscape consist of the following structure:

InfoProvider,

InfoCubes

InfoObjetcs

DSOs

InfoSets

Virtual InfoProviders

MultiProviders
BEx Query Designer

BEx Web Application Designer

BEx Web Analyzer

BEx Report Designer

BEx Analyzer

Here is the brief explanation of some components in the SAP BW Reporting Tools Landscape.

InfoProviders:
An InfoProvider is like a database that is used when building queries. InfoProviders are have specific names such as
InfoCubes which is a multidimensional set of tables, Data Store Object (DSOs) and InfoObject (characteristics).
InfoProviders can also be classed as Logical InfoProviders. These are defined as InfoProviders but do not actually
hold any data. They hold the mapping rules to where the data actually sits. For example a MultiProvider combines
multiple InfoCubes or DSO Objects all in one place and helps us access the data in the Query Designer as if it is just
one InfoProvider . Logical InfoProviders are classed as under:

InfoSets,

Virtual InfoProviders,

MultiProviders

Virtual InfoProviders
Virtual InforProviders map the rules to allow us to actually connect to our data source. For example, in your normal
SAP ERP system you do not need to bring the data into a BW system, instead you can set up the mapping rules that
will allow you to connect to the source system where the data actually sits and that enables direct reporting from that
system.

BEx Query Designer

The BEx Query Designer is used to build queries with the help of an InfoProvider. When we create our reports, we
select the infoProvider that is to be used to provide data to our query. After defining the query by using drag and drop
techniques and calculations then it can be used in different BEx Query Designer applications such as BEx Analyzer
and the BEx Web Application Designer. The BEx Analyzer tends to use the query more frequently than any other BEx
application tool.

BEx Web Application Designer

The BEx Web Application Designer is used for creating web applications based on our queries.

BEx Web Analyzer

The BEx Web Analyzer is the same as the BEx Analyzer in MS Excel. The only difference is that it is a web based
version.

BEx Report Designer

The BEx Report Designer is used for creating printed reports. You can create a printed report in a PDF document
through this tool, but the BEx Report Designer is no longer being actively developed by SAP. SAP have replaced it
with Business Object Reporting Tool which is the preferred method for web reporting now.

BEx Analyzer
The Business Explorer Analyzer (BEx Analyzer) is the analysis and reporting tool that is embedded in Microsoft
Excel.

We have two different platforms to carry out our reporting activities. MS Excel which has just been discussed and the
other is a web based interface most commonly the SAP Portal.

So now we can see the full flow of data which starts with the InfoProviders, onto the BEx Query Designer which is
used to design our queries, then those queries are used by BEx Analyzer (MS Excel) or BEx Web Analyzer (Web
Portal) then our data is pushed through either the portal or MS Excel down to our users.
Here you can see the full process flow:

Business Analytics With The BEx Analyzer

You are here: Home SAP Training Blog Business Analytics With The BEx Analyzer
February 27, 2013 by Pete 3 Comments

The term Business Analytics (BA) is used in many different contexts. Be it specific skills, software applications or
business practices they all share a common theme which is being able to analyse and explore data in an iterative
fashion by using drill down, filters and often measuring against specific key performance indicator (KPIs).
We are not just talking about static reporting here, BA is the process that we use to really dig deep into a datasets to
find new trends by investigating historical information and in some cases applying statistical methods to drive out
possible future projections.
It is this type of reporting that help some of the best companies in the world to understand their own market trends
and plan strategic goals for the future to enable them to stay ahead of their competitors.
SAP has a rich software tool set that businesses use to carry out their business analytic processes of which the SAP
BEx Analyzer is still the most popular.
You may argue that Business Objects if the preferred tool now and while I agree that BO has an excellent track
record and feature richer tool set, it is stillBEx queries that underpin the majority of SAP data driven reporting. BO
more often than not uses BEx queries as the data source for its reporting.

Business Analytics BEx Analyzer Style

For years the BEx Analyzer has received a mixed response from businesses that have implemented SAP BW as their
data warehouse. Now I know I am a little bias here because I specialise in SAP BI but my own personal view is that
the BEx Analyzer tool is massively underused and this is mainly down to business users not been trained properly in
how to use it.

BEx Analyzer Toolbar

You see, the BEx Analyzer is a very powerful reporting tool that lets you create unlimited reports and analytical
applications inside Microsoft Excel which as we all know is probably the most popular data analysis tool used in the
world.
SAP BEx Analyzer is built on top of Microsoft Excel to allow anybody with SAP BW system access to run queries to
produce reports which allow them to carry out analytical business reporting against huge datasets. When a user
becomes proficient in using the BEx Analyzer the speed in which they can produce reports in my opinion is
unprecedented.
Once you know where your data is you can produce brand-new reports in less than a minute which are not just static
reports, but have full drill-down capability and built-in analysis tools to allow any other user to use the query, format
exactly how they want and make use of the data.

Analysis Applications
You are not just limited to having a tool that can produce one-off reports for ad-hoc reporting; you can produce
complete business analysis applications because the BEx Analyzer has a feature rich design element that allows you
to combine multiple reports into one spreadsheet workbook to create comprehensive reporting dashboards with their
own unique design and interface. You can add tabular data and charts and at the press of a button turn a table into a
chart and vice-versa.
You have the options of adding drop-down boxes for data selection along with check-boxes and radio buttons for fast
user interaction as well as a whole host of other options to make your business analysis applications look slick and
professional, and most importantly allow you to analyse your data with ease.
Here is a list of some of the design tools available:

BEx Analyzer Report

Button

Drop-down Box

Check-box Group

Radio Button Group

List of Conditions

List of Exceptions

Text Boxes

System Messages

Workbook Settings

As you can see from the brief descriptions above, the BEx analyser is extremely flexible and most users will feel
comfortable using it because it sits within Microsoft Excel. So with a little training and understanding businesses can
easily turn their data into information delivering analytical reports.

Companies that have SAP BW really need to spend a bit more time and effort looking at this excellent analytics tool
in more detail and start to reap the benefits it can give.
It is not only companies that have SAP BW that need to make better use of the BEx analyzer Over the years I have
seen a countless number of functional consultants and business analysts analyse business requirements and
recommend expensive and time-consuming development work within ERP systems, when if they have the knowledge
to understand what the BEx analyzer can produce they would be able to offer a better, cheaper and faster solution by
making use of the business analytic tools the company already has.
Addressing the situation
Ill be creating a series of posts and videos to help explain what the BEx analyzer is capable of and how easy it is to
learn. In the meantime take a look at some of the existing articles I have already created to give you an insight into
the various BW and BEx analyzer tool set.

Introduction To The SAP BW Bex Analyzer

You are here: Home SAP Training Blog Introduction To The SAP BW Bex Analyzer
May 2, 2012 by Pete 3 Comments

The Business Explorer Analyzer (BEx Analyzer) is the analysis and reporting tool of the Business Explorer that is
embedded in Microsoft Excel. You can call up the BEx Query Designer in theBEx Analyzer, in order to define queries.
F UL L CO URSE CL I CK HER E

Subsequently, you can analyze the selected Info Provider data by navigating to the query created in the Query
Designer and create different query views of the data. You can add the different query views for a query or add
multiple queries to a workbook and save them there.
You can save the workbook in your favorites or in your role on the BW Server. You can also save the workbook locally
on your computer. Beyond that you can distribute the workbook by e-mail to recipients.
In this document we will learn how to access and run BEx queries in additionto introducing some reporting
functionalities used within BEx.
Access BEx Analyzer
To start the BEx Analyzer, choose Start All Programs Business ExplorerAnalyze. This will open Microsoft
Excel with the SAP BEx plugins enabled.
Login
Click on the Add-ins tab

Add-Ins Tab

Choose the Open Icon in the BEX Analysis toolbox

Open Icon In The BEX Analysis Toolbox

In the Opened menu click on Open Query

Open Query

A window will pop up asking you to log on to the BW system. Insert your SAP BW username and password?Note that
the User for BW client is different from the user in ERP client.

BW Log In System

Run a SAP BW Query

Well take a Fulfillment Rate Query as an example:
Choose InfoAreas (from the menu on the left or through the search drop down menu) Choose Customer
Relationship Management double click to enter the CRM InfoArea

How To Log In CRM Info Area

Double Click on the ERP Analytics

ERP Analytics

Double Click on Sales and Distribution Analysis

Sales And Distribution Analysis

Double Click on Sales Overview Cube

Sales Overview Cube

Choose Fulfilment Rate: Values Report

Values Report

A Selection Screen appears, click on OK button to run the query

Selection Screen

Input Variables for Reports

TIP: The variable input boxes throughout BEx Analyzer often show only the key or text. To view the key and text such
as the fund center and fund center name, click on the Display Object button that looks like a wrench and select
[Key]Text.

Display Object Button

Selecting Multiple Variables

Many times, you will want to choose multiple customers or a range of customers. What do you do? Well, Click on the
Select From List button to enter multiple variables.

How To Enter Multiple Variables

In the drop down box for Show, you can select Single Values or Value Ranges. Just select Single Values for this
example.

Single Values

You can select multiple Customers by highlighting and then clicking the right arrow button to move them to the
Selection box. Click OK.

Selecting Multiple Customers To Selection Box

To enter a Sold-To Party range, select Value Ranges in the Show drop down box. Select Between in the next drop down box and enter your beginning
and ending Sold-To Party values. Click OK.

Entering Sold-To Party Range

3 Personalization of Selection Screen

Query with Variables:
If you select a query that has variables, you can personalize variables settings according to your need, and so you do
not need to select them every time you run the query. You can delete personalization of a variable any time.

There are 2 methods for personalizing your selection screen:

Personalize Variables:
Open Query that has a Selection Screen. Well take here as an example the Fulfillment rate report. To Personalize a
variable click on icon
, the Personalize Variable Screen appears.

To Personalize A Variable

Select the Variable that we want to personalize, bring it to personalized variable area, select it there and click on
Modify Selections button.

Modify Selections Button

Choose a value for your variable, and click on the OK button.

Variable Value

Check Variable Entries:

After you enter the variable values, you can click Check button to validate the values entered. If the query was
defined with mandatory variables to enter before running the query and you didnt define them in the selection screen
then youll have error messages on top of the variables screen.

Variable Entries

Create a Variant

Open Query that has a Selection Screen. Well take the example of the Fulfillment rate report. To create a new
Variant Selection, click on the Save as New Variant button

To Create A Variant

Specify a description and Save

Specify A Description

Choose your selection and save them to the variant.

Choosing Your Selection

A pop up appears asking you if you want to overwrite your variant with the current settings, Click OK.

Overwrite Existing Variant Pop Up

Reporting Functionality

Remember: Although BEx Analyzer runs within Excel, the functionality for items such as moving columns, sorting,
adding rows, and using formulas is handled differently. Rather than using the Excel commands you must use the
Analyzer functions, described below, for these types of operations.
Change the Order of Columns
Right-click on the column you want to move. Select Swap With and choose the column you want to move to.

Order Of Columns

Order Of Columns Results

Change Display Options (Key and Text)

Right-click on the column you want to change and select Properties from the
pop-up menu. In the Presentation drop down box, select how you want to
display the data.
Key and Text is the most common choice, but if you do not need to see both,
selecting one or the other can help minimize the number of columns displayed
and saving viewing space.

Change Display Options

Right click on the column that you want to change and select Properties from the pop-up menu.

In the Suppress Result Rows drop down menu select one of the following:

Always Suppress = Hide Results/Subtotals

Always Display = Never Suppress = Always Show
Display if more than 1 value = Results show unless there is only one item

Change Results Rows

Hide a Column
Right-click on the column you want to hide Choose Remove Drill-down.

Hide A Column

Unhide a Column
Select the Filter button. Right-click on the name of the column that you want to un-hide and choose Drill down
according to a characteristic in Rows.

Unhide A Column

Filter by Available Figures

In the Filter box, right-click on the column name to be filtered. Choose Select
Filter Value.

Filter By Available Figures

Select single values or value ranges, move to the right box, and click OK.

Select Values Or Value Ranges

Change Report Variable Values

In the BEx toolbar, select Change Variable Values.

Change Report Variable Values

Choose the desired new variables

Variable Values

Save Report as a Favourite

You can add a frequently used report to your Favorites folder by right-clicking
and selecting Add to Favorites.

Save Report As Favorite

The Wrap Up
The Bex Analyzer is the main front end tool used to check and analyze
reports. This document was intended to introduce and familiarize mainly end
users with some of the many functionalities of the Bex Analyzer.
If you found this article useful I would really appreciate you leaving a
comment. If you want more articles on SAP BW, just let me know in the
comments box too.

How To Create Exceptions In The SAP BW Query Designer

You are here: Home SAP Training Blog How To Create Exceptions In The SAP BW Query Designer
March 20, 2012 by Pete 1 Comment

[quote style=boxed]How do you highlight unusual deviations of key figure values in a SAP BW BEx Query? This
question is often asked by concerned managers, marketing and sales people who want to spot these deviations as
early as possible so they can act fast to changes in their business. One technique is by creating Exceptions in the
SAP BW Query Designer.[/quote]Exceptions are used to identify deviations from pre-defined threshold values or
intervals. Any data in your BW query that varies from these thresholds are marked with different colors in the query
result. That way you can spot any extraordinary variations from expected results straightaway.

Step By Step Creation Of Exceptions

Log in to query designer and choose the query for which you want to create the exception and click on
the Exceptions button
followed by New Exception.

SAP BW - Query Designer

SAP BW - New Exception

Press the Edit button in the properties area on the right of the window. The
properties screen of the exception will then appear.

SAP BW - Properties Window

Insert the name of the exception in the description area. The check
boxException Is Active is used to turn on/off the exception in the query result.
It is set to Active by default.
Create the definition value by pressing on the NEW button. This will then
enable the alert level drop down menu, the Operator and the Value fields.

Enter your corresponding values and press the Transfer button to add your
restriction to the list.
Note that you can create several exceptions for a query. If the values of the
defined exceptions happen to overlap, the worst case scenario alert is the one
that is activated.

SAP BW - Change Exception

Go to the definition tab on the Change Exceptions screen. Here you can
determine if you want to use the exception on one or all the key figures of your
query definition. In case you want to use an exception on a specific key figure
you should define and assign it to that key figure.
If you want to specify an exception that affects a specific cell restriction per
characteristic of the report go to Cell Restrictions tab, select the NEW button
then the Characteristic, Operator and Value fields are enabled.
Choose:
1.

The characteristic for which you want to define the restriction. You can choose any of the
characteristics from the rows or the columns that are used in the query.
2.
The value of the operator:
Everything: the exception is valid for every drill-down status of the characteristic.
Totals only: the exception is valid only for aggregate values of the characteristic.
Everything except totals: the exception is valid for only one particular value of the
characteristic. You can also use characteristic value variables.
Level: the exception is valid only for a particular hierarchy level in the characteristic. Specify
the hierarchy level you want to use as a number in the Value field.
3.
The value field is enabled if you choose your operator to be a fixed value. Enter a fixed value
or select a variable for the characteristic.

Choose OK and you return to the query definition window. Press

the Savebutton.

Change Exceptions
To change your existing Exceptions select the exception that you want to
change, choose Tasks highlighted in the picture below. You can see
theEDIT link under Possible Corrections. By pressing it, you can change
your exception or you can choose Edit from the context menu of the
exception.

SAP BW Query Designer - Change Exception

Delete Exceptions
When you need to delete an Exception select the exception that you want to
delete, choose Tasks highlighted in the picture below. You can see
the Deletelink under Possible Corrections. By pressing it, the exception is
deleted. Alternatively you can choose remove from the context menu of the
exception.

Summary

Key persons (Managers, Sales people etc..) need to be able to understand

and act fast on the data presented to them through BW reports at any time.
There lies the importance of Exceptions as they provide early spotting of
deviations making it possible for prompt and effective action.

SAP BW Tip 1 How to identify the R/3 source for a SAP

BW Extractor
You are here: Home SAP Training Blog SAP BW Tip 1 How to identify the R/3 source for a SAP BW Extractor

March 21, 2011 by Pete Comments are off

To resolve problems and answer queries, it is often necessary to compare R/3 data with the data reported through
BW. Just identifying the datasource for an extractor can sometimes be a challenge.

Here is some help For Master Data, Text and Hierarchies take a look at table RODCHABAS. This table contains
entries of InfoObject/Basic Characteristics together with various entries detailing the source of the object,
e.g. Function Module (field MSDFNAME) and View (field MSDVIEWNM for Master Data objects based on a view).
The table also contains indicators such as Object is Time Dependant and Object has Attributes.
If it is a Transaction datasource you are investigating, take a look at the ROIS table. This table lists all the function
modules used to generate the data. Select the function module you require and enter the name into transaction
SE37.