Composite Provider in the Virtualization Layer

Simplification with SAP BW/4 Hana 2.0: Simplifications in Data (Flow) Modeling

Thanks to many new BW components, the possibilities of the underlying Hana database can be optimally exploited with increasing release status. Compared to conventional relational databases, the in-memory computing DB Hana supports significantly faster and more performance-intensive computing operations in many places. While data management and data flows in the classic SAP BW were relatively complicated, the changes in BW/4 have led to a simplification in this respect. The latter, i.e. "simplification", is SAP's declared goal.

In BW/4 Hana there is a new virtual object, the composite provider. In the data flow, the composite provider is used in the virtualization layer of the Layered Scalable Architecture (LSA). Queries should by default access the data in the underlying layers via the composite provider as an interface object. This is how the decoupling of data presentation from data provisioning is implemented. This approach is intended to prevent queries from having to be adapted every time the data model is changed. The new composite provider replaces the classic objects for virtualization in BW/4, above all the multi-provider and the info set, but also the old composite provider object, the virtual provider and the transient provider.

In the classic multi-provider, the data was merged via "union". For the implementation of a "join", developers had to resort to info sets and carefully keep performance in mind during modeling. The composite provider offers both options - as well as combinations of both. In the composite provider, data can be joined from both BW info providers and Hana views. It is also possible to generate a Hana view from a composite provider. Technically, the union and join operations are executed directly on the Hana database, which can lead to significantly improved performance.

With BW/4 Hana 2.0, some existing restrictions such as the specification of certain sequences of unions and joins or the use of only certain join types have been removed. The composite provider is thus a versatile, flexible object. In addition, the creation of dimensions and the assignment of characteristics to the dimensions, which was known from multi-providers, is no longer necessary, which could have a great influence on query performance in the past. Thus, when modeling in BW/4 Hana 2.0, the info providers are simply added to the composite provider through a search window or by drag-and-drop. In this way, modeling of the virtualization layer is significantly simplified compared to classic SAP BW, without performance suffering. In addition, the composite provider offers more options than its predecessor objects. Modeling of the composite provider takes place entirely in Hana Studio.

The figure shows an overview of the classic BW modeling objects in the left column. The one on the right is reserved for the modeling objects in BW/4. The arrows between the objects show which new objects have taken over tasks from the classic objects. An exception is Info-Objects, which remained largely untouched by changes. In conclusion, the reduction of modeling object types significantly simplifies the structure of data flows and data management for developers.

Book Tip:

SAP BW/4Hana
Marlene Knigge, Ruth Heselhaus

Get to know the new standard solution for data warehousing, SAP BW/4HANA. This comprehensive guide shows you step-by-step how to set up modeling tools, connect source systems, and build applications in SAP BW/4HANA 2.0. You will learn how to provide data for analysis and planning scenarios and how to process Big Data via the SAP Data Intelligence connection. In addition, the authors introduce you to the extension with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud.