Bus Matrix in SAP suite

Has anyone implemented the BUS Matrix using the SAP suite? I got a customer where SAP is their core BI element at the moment, so I would like to know any tips about how to implement the BUS Matrix in SAP BI suite

Thanks,
kpsota

Maintaining a matix may help in keeping track of how things fit together, but I don't know what you mean by "implementing" in the BW sense. The only dimensional aspects of BW are the InfoCubes, which are almost always aggregates and are MDX based which doesn't allow multiple Infocubes to be combined in a query... which kind of defeats the purpose of conforming dimensions.

Second thought... I am assuming by "SAP BI Suite" you mean BW. If you are actually referring to Business Objects/Crystal Reports then, yes, these products work well against a dimensionally designed relational data warehouse.

Thanks for your quick response ngalemmo. You got it right, I meant to say, how to implement conformed dimensions as per the bus matrix definition. Im actually wondering of how to enforce Conformed dimensiones in SAP BI... if not SAP BI, SAP BO could be an option as well.

Im a newbie in SAP BI world, but from what I learned, SAP BI (or SAP BW, or actually SAP NetWeaver BI) has InfoProviders as the key element to query against the DW. However InfoProviders could be Infocubes (as you mentioned) or DataStores or Infosets. From all of these, I cant find any of them which embraces the concept of the Bus Matrix or Conformed Dimensions.

Thanks,
Kpsota

kpsota wrote:From all of these, I cant find any of them which embraces the concept of the Bus Matrix or Conformed Dimensions.

... and you won't. BW is pretty much it's own beast. SAP, either by intent or ignorance (or a bit of both) developed an environment, terminology and methodology that is unique in the DW/BI space. It's great for consultants as it has managed to keep large numbers employed for long periods of time.

Ngalemmo,

SAP BW allows querying across multiiple InfoCubes using a MultiProvider - Cross-fact analysis/reporting.

Bus Matrix and Conformed dimensions are indeed implemented in SAP BW - We call them InfoObjects.

Remember BW is an extended star schema, the "dimension" that Kimble refers to is not the same as the dimension in BI. In BI the traditional dimension is represented by the InfoObjects.

Thanks. I'm familar with the terminology but SAP tends to use terminology to their advance their view of the world rather than what is generally accepted practice. Case in point, when BW was first introduced (around the turn of the century... gee...seems so long ago), SAP touted how it provides many thousands of KPI's. Given that a typical business may have less than 10, one wonders how SAP, in its collective mind, defines the term. Dig a little further and data elements such as "Operator's Name" appears in their list of "KPI's", so in the SAP/BW world, KPI = data element... not exactly what the real world regards as a KPI. They no longer make such a claim (or at least I havn't dealt with their sales people in a long time).

So, when they say they have an "extended star schema" what they mean is "we have a really complex fully normalized schema that, if you heap a similarly complex and proprietary metadata layer over it, then you can sort of make it look as if we have a dimensional model, and the only reason we call it that is because customers like to think we are 'in the know' about these things". Which, by the way is also why they are pushing their $250M+ space heater: the BWA (Business Warehouse Accelerator) because the only way they can get any performance out of their schema is to put the whole thing in memory.

I was only pointing 2 things -

1. BI can do cross fact analysis, which you clearly stated it cannot.
2. Answered the poster's original question regarding Bus Matrix in SAP BI.


What exactly are you banging on about now?

Ok... I ran off a bit.

It gets down to language. SAP has a tendancy to invent terms to create an appearance of conforming to an accepted standard. "Extended star schema" is one such term. There is no such thing in accepted literature on the subject. A snowflake schema would be a polite description of what they have. A blizzard schema would be more appropriate.