Working with Modeling Content in a Project

Two features are available in the Business Application Studio to analyze modeling content within a project. These are:

• Data lineage

• Impact analysis

They work in a symmetrical way. For any calculation view you choose, you can show the dependencies with other modeling content.

To use these features, right-click a calculation view file in the Explorer view and choose Show Data Lineage or Open Impact Analysis.

Data Lineage

Data lineage shows all the calculation views and source tables on which a given calculation view depends.

Impact Analysis

The purpose of impact analysis is to show all the chain of calculation views that depend on a given calculation view.

Hint

In the Data Lineage or Impact Analysis view, you can directly open a calculation view from the dependency tree by double-clicking it.

Another powerful auditing feature is available within a calculation view to show the origin of a column.

From the Semantics node, you can choose a column and trace its origin with Column Lineage.

The column lineage shows, within the scenario of the opened calculation view, all the nodes where this column exists. At the bottom of the calculation view scenario, you find the origin of the column. Opening the Mapping tab of this node allows you to identify the source column name in the data source.

Note

In a cube with star join calculation view, the Show Lineage feature only works for private columns, not shared columns from dimension calculation views.

Column Lineage

Column lineage is very useful when columns are renamed within the calculation scenario, or when you want to see quickly where a calculated or restricted column originates from.

It also helps you to avoid mixing up columns with the same name, but not necessarily the same data that are present in several nodes of a calculation view.

For example, the NODE_KEY column in an SAP ERP system is used in many tables to join the master data-defining attributes.

You might want to make sure that the NODE_KEY column in the output of a dimension calculation view originates from the correct table (for example, the table SNWD_BP containing business partners) and not from another table, also used in the calculation view, in which a NODE_KEY column is present but does not identify business partners (for example, the NODE_KEY in the table SNWD_AD containing Contact addresses).

Note

The Show Lineage feature stays active until you exit the Show Column Lineagemode by choosing Exit.

The Outline View

Watch this video to learn about the Outline View.

Note

Make sure you do not mix up the Outline feature of the calculation view editor with the general Outline view of SAP Business Application Studio, which displays structured code into a hierarchy.

In the Calculation View editor, you can quickly identify within a Calculation View where a particular object is used. It allows you to identify superfluous elements that can be deleted or to avoid modifying an object that is used in several places, in case it would break the consistency of your Calculation View.

The Where-Used feature supports the following objects:

• Input Parameters
• Calculated Columns
• Restricted Columns