Importing Master Data

Watch this short video to take a close look at the next step in your integration project.

Import queries are created in the SAP Analytics Cloud dimension. SAP Business Warehouse query design impacts on import queries in the following ways:

• Filters and variables in the SAP Business Warehouse query are considered when importing master data. For example, if the query has a variable for profit center, a dialog prompts you for the profit center values before the Build SAP Business Warehouse Query dialog displays.
• Hierarchies can be imported, whether they are selected in the SAP Business Warehouse query or not.
• Selections in the SAP Business Warehouse query, such as key or key and text, are irrelevant.

SAP Analytics Cloud dimensions can use SAP Business Warehouse queries that are created directly against the SAP Business Warehouse characteristics.

When importing master data from SAP Business Warehouse, the members, text, and hierarchy data, can all be imported with one import query.

Only one hierarchy can be imported per import query.

Generic and organizational dimensions in SAP Analytics Cloud include an unassigned member with ID # as you can see in the following example of the Dimension Workspace.

However, unassigned members are not available for the account, date, and version dimensions.

When records are imported into models, irrelevant dimensions use the unassigned member. For example, when importing income statement data, revenue records do not contain a value for cost center (because cost center is only relevant for expense). In this case, as displayed in the following example, the unassigned member is used.

In the practice exercises in this lesson, you import master data into a generic and an account dimension as required for the integration project. However, there are a few dialogs that require more explanation and some additional steps that you can take in order to tailor the import query creation to suit your own business requirements.

When you create an import query, you select the SAP Business Warehouse query that includes the corresponding characteristic that you require. For example, if we are importing data into the SAP Analytics Cloud account dimension, then we must select an SAP Business Warehouse query that includes the account characteristic.

The dimensions that appear under Available Data are based on the SAP Business Warehouse query definition (filter, rows, and columns).

You can select as few or as many dimensions as you require for your data import.

If the characteristic has a hierarchy in SAP Business Warehouse, you can choose the hierarchy that you must import, and the drill level.

The lowest drill level will typically be selected so that you can import all leaf members.

Access the hierarchies and drill levels by selecting the Hierarchies icon in the Build SAP Business Warehouse Query dialog.

SAP Business Warehouse has several Member IDs and Descriptions to pick from. When selecting the presentations for an import query, you can select from the following options:

• Key (DISPLAY_KEY): Import the compounded member ID that is displayed in SAP Business Warehouse reports (no leading zeroes for numeric members). For example, if the compounded attribute is the YCOA chart of accounts and the account number is 411100, the system imports YCOA/411100. Use this option if you import accounts from multiple charts of accounts.
• Key (Internal_KEY): Import the compounded member ID that is stored internally in SAP Business Warehouse (with leading zeroes for numeric members). For example, if the compounded attribute is the YCOA chart of accounts and the internal account number is 0000411100, the system imports YCOA/0000411100. Use this option if you import internally stored accounts from multiple charts of accounts.
• Key (Internal, Not Compounded) (KEY NOT COMPOUNDED): Import the uncompounded member ID that is stored internally in SAP Business Warehouse. For example, if the internal account number is 0000411100, the system imports 0000411100. Use this option if you import internally stored accounts from only one chart of accounts.
• Key (Not Compounded) (DISPLAY KEY NOT COMPOUNDED): Import the uncompounded member ID that is displayed in SAP Business Warehouse reports. For example, if the account number displayed in SAP Business Warehouse is 411100, the system imports 411100. Use this option if you import accounts from only one chart of accounts.
• Key (Partially Compounded) (DISPLAY KEY MIXED COMPOUNDMENT): This option is undocumented.
• Short Text (SHORT_TEXT): Import the short description from SAP Business Warehouse.
• Text (TEXT): Import the medium description from SAP Business Warehouse.

Access the presentations by selecting the Select Parameters icon in the Build SAP BW Query dialog.

To apply a filter to that specific dimension, you can use filters to restrict the import. Drag the dimension into the Filters area. Variables in the SAP Business Warehouse query automatically appear in the filter when the Select Members icon is selected.

If you want to import all members, leave the filter blank.

When the import query is created, the data wrangling screen is used to transform the data, perform QA checks, and map the incoming columns to the target fields.

At this point in the import process, the data has not been committed to the database.

In the previous example, you can see that Account Type is not mapped. This is because SAP Business Warehouse has no suitable field to use as a source. It is possible to derive them in a transformation, based on the account numbers, when you are wrangling the data.

After you finish mapping, the data is written to the database and the import query appears in the Data Management Workspace.

When you select the import query, there are several steps that you can perform:

• Edit Query: Change the filter criteria for the import.
• Schedule Settings: Schedule the import to run periodically. Schedule settings are covered in detail later in the course.
• View Mapping and Transformations: Display the mapped columns and any transformations.
• Delete Source: Delete the import query (this does not delete the data).

To confirm the data, go to the Dimension Workspace to view the results. In the following example, an account dimension with hierarchy information is displayed.

You can also add the Account Type after importing to the dimension. It can be added manually, by using a file, or a data source. If dimension members do not contain postings in an SAP Analytics Cloud model, they can also be deleted.

You can view and drill down into the imported hierarchies by selecting Toggle Hierarchies in the Dimension Workspace.