Refine BW Querying with Real-Time Data

Users often expect BW to provide up-to-the-minute information, forgetting that BW is accurate only according to the time of the most recent upload. Find out how to address this limitation by refining BW queries with real-time data.

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Key Concept

Standard function module RSFH_ GET_DATA_SIMPLE simulates the data extraction from a source system in transaction RSA3. The function module allows delta extraction for all DataSources available in Logistics (LO) Customizing Cockpit. In the article, I use this function module to add the latest delta data to my report.

Recently, a large public financial company I worked for needed a report providing real-time sales data for the current quarter. Its technical team updated BW InfoCubes daily, but this wasn’t often enough. The company manages its sales by quarter. At the end of the quarter, the online information is critical for the sales management. The required report should contain historical sales data for the last three months, including the most recent R/3 transactions for the past day, hour, and minute. Users need this information to make accurate and informed decisions based on data from the hectic end-of-quarter period.

This sounds like a complicated requirement, but the BW server already contained almost all relevant data. Therefore, I only needed to bring the latest (next) delta information into the report. This approach solves a range of reporting requirements. Here are a couple of additional business scenarios that you could address with this technique:

• A part of the production line in a manufacturing company includes complicated quality assurance (QA) equipment. The equipment updates the SAP R/3 system with online data regarding product testing. The company has a requirement from its QA manager to present last month’s testing results with current-day results to find relevant exceptions.
  
  
• A company must produce material requirements planning (MRP)-style reports to compare current stock with opened sales orders and production orders.
  
  
• A company just finished a marketing effort including TV and radio and the company needs to assess the impact on sales volume. It wants to use online information to get quick support from its back office.