Data Modeling Essentials for SAP BW/4HANA

Data modeling is the process of designing and managing the data structures and relationships that form the basis of your data warehouse. Data modeling is essential for ensuring the quality, consistency, and performance of your data analysis and reporting.

SAP BW/4HANA is the next-generation data warehouse solution from SAP that leverages the power and flexibility of SAP HANA. SAP BW/4HANA provides a simplified and modern data modeling approach that allows you to create and manage your data warehouse architecture in an agile and efficient way.

In this blog post, we will cover some of the key concepts and best practices for data modeling with SAP BW/4HANA, such as:

The main objects and purposes of data modeling in SAP BW/4HANA
The scalable layer architecture (LSA++) for designing and implementing your data warehouse layers
The graphical modeling tools and editors for creating and editing your data models
The open and flexible options for integrating data from various sources and types

Main Objects and Purposes of Data Modeling in SAP BW/4HANA

SAP BW/4HANA supports four main objects for data modeling, each with a specific purpose and function:

InfoObjects: These are the smallest metadata units in SAP BW/4HANA that represent the attributes, characteristics, or key figures of your data. InfoObjects are used to define the structure and semantics of your data models, such as data types, hierarchies, units, or aggregations. InfoObjects are also used to store master data, such as customer names, product descriptions, or currency rates.
Open ODS Views: These are virtual objects that allow you to integrate data from various sources into SAP BW/4HANA without persisting or transforming the data. Open ODS Views are based on SAP HANA views or tables that provide data models on top of the source data. Open ODS Views can be used to access data from SAP or non-SAP systems, such as databases, files, or web services.
Advanced DataStore Objects (ADSOs): These are physical objects that allow you to store and manage transactional or analytical data in SAP BW/4HANA. ADSOs are based on columnar tables that leverage the performance and compression features of SAP HANA. ADSOs can be used to store data in different degrees of granularity and quality in various layers of your data warehouse architecture.
CompositeProviders: These are logical objects that allow you to combine data from different physical or virtual objects into a single query view. CompositeProviders are based on join or union operations that merge data from ADSOs, Open ODS Views, InfoObjects, or other CompositeProviders. CompositeProviders can be used to provide a consistent and integrated view of your data across different sources and types.

The following table summarizes the main objects and purposes of data modeling in SAP BW/4HANA:

Object	Purpose
InfoObject	Define structure and semantics of data models; store master data
Open ODS View	Integrate data from various sources without persisting or transforming
ADSO	Store and manage transactional or analytical data in different layers
CompositeProvider	Combine data from different objects into a single query view

Scalable Layer Architecture (LSA++)

SAP BW/4HANA follows the scalable layer architecture (LSA++) as a best practice for designing and implementing your data warehouse layers. LSA++ helps you to organize your data models according to different aspects, such as:

Data source: This aspect refers to the origin and type of your source data, such as SAP systems, non-SAP systems, databases, files, or web services.
Data acquisition: This aspect refers to the method and frequency of extracting and loading your source data into SAP BW/4HANA, such as batch loading, real-time replication, or streaming ingestion.
Data quality: This aspect refers to the level of cleansing, integration, and harmonization of your source data, such as raw, harmonized, or consolidated.
Data temperature: This aspect refers to the relevance and importance of your source data for analysis and reporting, such as hot, warm, or cold.
Data usage: This aspect refers to the purpose and function of your source data for analysis and reporting, such as staging, corporate memory, distribution, or reporting.

LSA++ defines four main layers for your data warehouse architecture:

Source Layer: This layer contains the source systems that provide the source data for your data warehouse. The source layer can include various types of sources, such as SAP systems (ODP_SAP), SAP S/4HANA systems (ODP_CDS), databases (ODP_SLT), SAP BW systems (ODP_BW), SAP HANA systems (ODP_HANA), files (FILE), or web services (WEB_SERVICE).
Acquisition Layer: This layer contains the DataSources and transformations that extract and load the source data into SAP BW/4HANA. The acquisition layer can use various methods and tools for data acquisition, such as Data Transfer Processes (DTPs), Process Chains, DataFlows, or BW Modeling Tools.
Enterprise Data Warehouse Layer: This layer contains the ADSOs that store and manage the transactional or analytical data in SAP BW/4HANA. The enterprise data warehouse layer can be divided into sub-layers according to the data quality and temperature aspects, such as:
Staging Area: This sub-layer contains the ADSOs that store the raw data as close as possible to the source format and structure. The staging area can be used for data validation, error handling, or delta management.
Harmonization Layer: This sub-layer contains the ADSOs that store the harmonized data that has been cleansed, integrated, and standardized across different sources. The harmonization layer can be used for data quality improvement, master data management, or data governance.
Corporate Memory: This sub-layer contains the ADSOs that store the consolidated data that has been aggregated, enriched, and historized for long-term retention. The corporate memory can be used for data archiving, audit compliance, or trend analysis.
Reporting Layer: This layer contains the CompositeProviders and Open ODS Views that provide a consistent and integrated view of the data for analysis and reporting. The reporting layer can be divided into sub-layers according to the data usage aspect, such as:
Distribution Layer: This sub-layer contains the CompositeProviders and Open ODS Views that distribute the data to different target systems or applications, such as SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, or SAP Data Intelligence.
Reporting Layer: This sub-layer contains the CompositeProviders and Open ODS Views that provide the data for query design and execution, such as SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office, SAP Analytics Cloud, or SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform.

The following diagram illustrates an example of a scalable layer architecture in SAP BW/4HANA:

Graphical Modeling Tools and Editors

SAP BW/4HANA provides graphical modeling tools and editors that allow you to create and edit your data models in an intuitive and user-friendly way. The graphical modeling tools and editors are integrated in SAP HANA Studio or Eclipse platform. Some of the graphical modeling tools and editors are:

InfoObject Editor: This editor allows you to create and edit InfoObjects that define the structure and semantics of your data models. You can use this editor to specify the properties of your InfoObjects, such as data type, length, aggregation, unit, hierarchy, or texts.
Open ODS View Editor: This editor allows you to create and edit Open ODS Views that integrate data from various sources without persisting or transforming the data. You can use this editor to specify the source of your Open ODS Views, such as SAP HANA views or tables, and define the fields and semantics of your Open ODS Views.
ADSO Editor: This editor allows you to create and edit ADSOs that store and manage transactional or analytical data in SAP BW/4HANA. You can use this editor to specify the properties of your ADSOs, such as type, key fields, partitions, indexes, or settings.
CompositeProvider Editor: This editor allows you to create and edit CompositeProviders that combine data from different objects into a single query view. You can use this editor to specify the source objects of your CompositeProviders, such as ADSOs, Open ODS Views, InfoObjects, or other CompositeProviders, and define the join or union operations between them.
DataFlow Editor: This editor allows you to design and manage your data flow in a graphical way. You can use this editor to create a set of objects that represent your source systems, DataSources, transformations, InfoProviders, and DTPs. You can also use this editor to generate process chains automatically based on the dependencies between the objects.

Open and Flexible Options for Data Integration

SAP BW/4HANA also supports open and flexible options for data integration that allow you to access and integrate data from various sources and types, such as:

SAP HANA Views: These are native objects that allow you to create data models on top of SAP HANA tables or views using SQL or graphical editors. SAP HANA views can be used to access and integrate data from SAP or non-SAP systems, such as databases, files, or web services, using Smart Data Access (SDA) or Smart Data Integration (SDI) technologies.
Core Data Services (CDS) Views: These are native objects that allow you to create data models on top of SAP HANA tables or views using SQL-like syntax and annotations. CDS views can be used to access and integrate data from SAP S/4HANA systems using Operational Data Provisioning (ODP) framework.
Calculation Views: These are native objects that allow you to create data models on top of SAP HANA tables or views using graphical editors or scripting languages. Calculation views can be used to perform complex calculations, aggregations, or transformations on the data.
ABAP Managed Database Procedures (AMDPs): These are native objects that allow you to create database procedures on SAP HANA using ABAP syntax and annotations. AMDPs can be used to perform complex logic or operations on the data using SQLScript language.

The following table summarizes the open and flexible options for data integration in SAP BW/4HANA:

Option	Description
SAP HANA View	Create data models on top of SAP HANA tables or views using SQL or graphical editors
CDS View	Create data models on top of SAP HANA tables or views using SQL-like syntax and annotations
Calculation View	Create data models on top of SAP HANA tables or views using graphical editors or scripting languages
AMDP	Create database procedures on SAP HANA using ABAP syntax and annotations

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