How to Migrate to the New DataSource Concept in SAP NetWeaver 2004s

A new data flow concept has been introduced in SAP NetWeaver 2004s. SAP still supports the existing classic 3.x data flow, which allows customers to migrate as their needs warrant. Although the migration is not required, it presents a host of new capabilities.

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Key Concept

A DataSource can only exist in one of two states: emulation and migration. An emulated DataSource technically remains a 3.x DataSource. A migrated DataSource is an emulated DataSource that has been technically migrated to SAP NetWeaver 2004s, which allows it greater functionality and data staging mechanisms.

The new BI capabilities of SAP NetWeaver 2004s contain a tremendous amount of new functionality. SAP introduced a series of major changes in the data staging area, changing extensively the way it maps, transforms, and physically loads data into the SAP NetWeaver system. It rearchitected this area and frequently refers to it as SAP NetWeaver 2004s’s new data flow.

Included in this new data flow is a new DataSource concept, changes in InfoPackages, a new data agent called the data transfer process (DTP), the removal of the InfoSource as a mandatory data staging layer, and the consolidation of all data transformations into a single object called BI transformations. While this one topic area certainly contains a lot of material to cover, I’m going to focus on the new DataSource concept in this article and how to migrate to it.

Compared to the classic approach in 3.x, I summarize the changes to DataSources in the BI capabilities of SAP NetWeaver 2004s as follows: The Persistent Staging Area (PSA) is now mandatory for all data loads and is also tied to the DataSource. The two terms are now virtually interchangeable.