1) SAP NW (Netweaver):
SAP Netweaver is a simply a platform that supports SAP applications such as ERP, CRM. It provides usage types for analytics and integration, such as BW and PI. It can also operate independently.
2) InfoProviders:
These are objects that provide data for a query. Infoproviders can be persistent (in which case data is stored physically and persistently) or non-persistent (where they provide only data stored in other objects). InfoProviders include, InfoObjects, DSO (DataStore Objects) and Infocube, all known as persistent infoproviders. Also the non-persistent infoproviders include MultiProvider, InfoSet and VirtualProviders.
3) Transformation:
BI data transformation process enables you to consolidate, cleanse and integrate data. You can semantically synchronize the data flow from heterogeneous sources. When you load data from one BI object into further BI object, the data is passed through BI data transformation, which converts the fields of the source into the format of the target.
There are 3 major usages for data transformation in SAP Netweaver BI:
- Modifications, enhancements or grouping of the loaded records before writing them into the Infoprovider which will be used for reporting afterwards.
- Conditional Updates to the Infoprovider in order to make sure that only needed records will be written to the Infoprovider.
- Transformation of unit, time or currency-code related to a uniform entity, which allows for integrative reporting on all these records.
4) Rule Type:
Rule type refers to the method/mode of file transfer. There are two types of rules namely;
- Transfer Rules which specify how data is transferred to the infoSources from the transfer structure of a DataSource, simply connecting a DataSource with an InfoSource.
- Update Rules specify ow the data is updated to the data targets (InfoProviders) from the communication structure of an InfoSource. You are therefore connecting an InfoSource with an InfoProvider.