Metadata modeling: Metadata modeling
component is the main entry point for defining the core metadata objects used to
support reporting and analysis. This includes everything from defining the
extraction process and implementing transformations to defining flat or
multidimensional objects for storage of information.
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Metadata modeling provides a Metadata Repository where
all the metadata is stored and a Metadata Manager that handles all the
requests for retrieving, adding, changing, or deleting metadata.
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Reporting and scheduling mechanism: Reporting and
scheduling are the processes required for the smooth functioning of SAP BW.
The various batch processes in the SAP BW need to be planned to provide
timely results, avoid resource conflicts by running too many jobs at a time
and to take care of logical dependencies between different jobs. These
processes are controlled in the scheduler component of AWB. This is achieved
by either scheduling single processes independently or defining process
chains for complex network of jobs required to update the information
available in the SAP BW system. Reporting Agent controls execution of
queries in a batch mode to print reports, identify exception conditions and
notify users and pre compute results for web templates.
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Administering ETL service layer in multi- tier level:
SAP�s ETL service layer provides services for data extraction, data
transformation and loading of data. It also serves as the staging area for
intermediate data storage for quality assurance purposes. The extraction
technology of SAP BW is supported by database management systems of mySAP
technology and does not allow extraction from other database systems like
IBM, IMS and Sybase. It does not support dBase, MS Access and MS Excel file
formats. However, it provides all the functionality required for loading
data from non- SAP systems as the ETL services layer provide open interfaces
for loading non-SAP data.
