Accessing SAP BW from OWC.

#1

Is it possible to access SAP BW cubes from OWC ? Or even BW ODS
objects from OWC ? Has anyone done that ? Any experiences ? Insights ?
Pointers ? Please share.
(I had posted this in OWC group also; but there was no response)

#2

SAP implements its own version of OLE DB for OLAP, but not quite the same
one that Microsoft implements in Analysis Services. OLE DB for OLAP client
tools have to be specially adapted for BW or they will work badly, or not at
all, with it. Obviously OWC is designed only for Analysis Services, so I
doubt that it would work with BW.

Some other OLE DB for OLAP consumers have been modified to work with BW, for
example, from Business Objects.

"mangaraju venuturupalli" <mangaraju (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Quote:

Thanks a lot Joerg, for the valueble info.
OWC is Office Web Components, a product from Microsoft, that's a web
based front-end. The most popular use of this is in creating
pivottable, spreadsheet and chart interfaces to cubes created using
the SQL Analysis Services and tables created using SQL relational
databases. We are evaluating this versus the Business Explorer that
SAP provides.
You had mentioned that, OLE DB for OLAP is one of the officially
certified frontends. Could you give me more info on this ? Have you
used this before ? Where can I find more info on this ? Pointers on
the net or contacts ? Or any products that are already in use ? Any of
this info will be tremondously useful.

"Joerg Narr" <n_o_s_p_a_m_joerg_narr (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

"mangaraju venuturupalli" <mangaraju (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:784bfe81.0307280606.a09f454 (AT) posting (DOT) google.com...
Is it possible to access SAP BW cubes from OWC ? Or even BW ODS
objects from OWC ? Has anyone done that ? Any experiences ? Insights ?
Pointers ? Please share.
(I had posted this in OWC group also; but there was no response)

Hello Mangaraju,

it is in fact possible to access SAP BW cubes using OWB. You have two
options:

1. The official and expensive way: You license SAP BW Open Hub Services
and
extract your BW data from BW Administrator Workbench in a textfile or
directly into your Oracle data warehouse.
2. You use the inofficial, reasonable and maybe (depending on your
contract
with BW) "illegal" way and access the BW data by accessing it on the
underlying data base system. The star scheme BW implements is different
from
a "normal" or generic star scheme but if you investigate it a short time
you
will easily discover the structures and joins you need.
3. You are talking about Oracle Warehouse Builder (OWC?) aren't you?
Anyway
if OWC is a front end I don't know yet it is most probably not certified
for
accessing SAP BW through an "open" interface. SAP BW offers three
official
interfaces for certified front ends: OLE DB for OLAP, a proprietary
interface called OLAP BAPI (Business API) and XMLA. All three are
implemented using MDX but in SAP's interpretion of the standard and with
modifications preventing any "normal" ODBO consumer to run without
modifications.

If you have further questions regarding BW please don't hesitate to
contact
me.

Kind regards,

Joerg

#3

"Nigel Pendse" <nigelp.nospam (AT) compuserve (DOT) com> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:1060025953.14369.0 (AT) lotis (DOT) uk.clara.net...

Quote:

SAP implements its own version of OLE DB for OLAP, but not quite the same
one that Microsoft implements in Analysis Services. OLE DB for OLAP client
tools have to be specially adapted for BW or they will work badly, or not
at
all, with it. Obviously OWC is designed only for Analysis Services, so I
doubt that it would work with BW.

Some other OLE DB for OLAP consumers have been modified to work with BW,
for
example, from Business Objects.

Hello Mangaraju,

OWC: bad mistake! Maybe caused by the 37 degrees we Germans are not used to.
In fact ODBO (OLE DB for OLAP) is SAP's implementation and interpretation of
the interface an NO front-end which isn't certified by SAP will most
probably work with it since it differs significantly from Microsoft's
implementation. They will rather crash than work at all.

You will find a full list on all certified front-ends for SAP here:
http://www.sap.com/partners/software...y.asp?advanced. Just
select the interface "Business Information Warehouse - OLE DB for OLAP
(BW-ODB" or even better the "Business Information Warehouse - OLAP BAPIs (BW
OBI)" interface to see who is certified. The BAPI interface is SAP's native
interface - with all its negative attributes, but it is the interface the
front-ends work with, ODBO gives big problems even with certified front-ends
though. It is not impossible but hard to have it in a productive
environment.

My colleagues and I have done tests on most certified front-ends for SAP BW
and have writen a report on it. The report is not for free but it might give
you additional information since it covers the software's behaviour on SAP
BW as a data provider. Unfortunately we don't have much information in
English language on our Web page since we have just translated this report
into English language. You might also be able to find some more information
on what you are looking for at the SAP Info-Pages (http://www.sap.info/en/)
or in the printed version if you have it. We contributed two articles on
that topic in the February and March issues where you will find freely
available information. You will find information about the report here:
http://www.barc.de/english/index.php.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Joerg

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Accessing SAP BW from OWC.

comp.databases.olap comp.databases.olap

Accessing SAP BW from OWC. - 07-28-2003 , 09:06 AM

Re: Accessing SAP BW from OWC. - 08-04-2003 , 02:37 PM

Re: Accessing SAP BW from OWC. - 08-05-2003 , 09:51 AM