In some situations, it could be necessary to transform BPC standard models (sitting within a specific namespace, named /CPMB/) into BW standard Objects and Models, InfoObjects and InfoProvider, to use them in standard reporting scenarios or as a foundation for a general migration to SAP BPC embedded.
This is exactly what was needed by one of our long-time SAP BPC customer. This customer is using SAP BPC standard model for its own customers’ planning and was requested by its subsidiaries to enable BW standard reporting on top of the existing BPC data to benefit of the available OLAP query features in BW.
Because of the specific /CPMB/ namespace used by BPC standard, this requirement was unfortunately not achievable without modifying the way in which the objects are made available in BW and transforming the existing models. Additionally, using a virtual InfoProvider as a workaround to reach that goal was not an option as well: the size of the applications (40+ models) and data volume would certainly hit the capacity limitation of this scenario.
Therefore we, at SAP, had to come up with a creative solution to support such transformation scenarios and decided to provide this customer with a custom set of ABAP reports, allowing transformation of BPC standard Models, Dimensions and Attributes to BW standard/BPC embedded InfoCubes and Characteristics (with Text, Attributes and Hierarchies), as well as generating the needed Transformation Rules and Data Transfer Processes on the BW side.
To generate those new objects in BW, it is necessary to define mapping rules describing the dependency between BPC standard Objects and BW Objects. However, given the existing differences between BPC standard and BPC embedded planning models, it is mandatory to define an adjusted BW model on which queries and reports will be built to match what is provided by BPC standard reports. In general, the following design decisions have to be made prior to creating the mapping specification document to ensure its efficiency:
- Reuse of the existing BW master data Objects?
- Keyfigure- or Account-based model?
- Usage of standard currency and/or unit conversion?
- Usage of BW standard time dimension?
Based on the decisions taken by the customer, we were then able to deliver the needed BW objects to fulfill its expectations. In the coming weeks, my colleagues will elaborate further on some of the above design choices and what they imply.
Even though we cannot release this set of ABAP reports to a public audience yet, we are still working on the topic and are looking to standardize this approach.
