Data is the new currency in the ever-changing business landscape. A 2024 Statista report found that approximately 402.74 million terabytes of data are generated each day—and the number keeps growing. Businesses worldwide struggle to store and transform this staggering amount of data received from diverse sources into actionable insights. However, data-driven companies have a distinct competitive edge than their competitors. Their customer acquisition and profitability increased by 23 times and 19 times, respectively.
The current digital sphere drives businesses to undergo rapid transformation. When leveraged correctly, digital records enable informed decision-making and operational efficiency, provide deeper customer insights, and predict revenue growth. SAP BW/BI makes all of this possible. However, understanding SAP BW/BI in its entirety is essential to leveraging data effectively.
Read on to discover the diverse aspects of SAP BW/BI, along with its advantages and benefits for driving business efficiency. Explore the potential of this tool to implement processed data in strategic decision-making and drive innovation at scale.
What is SAP BW/BI?
SAP BW/BI (SAP Business Warehouse/Business Intelligence) is a powerful software system that enables companies to perform detailed business analysis with enhanced data management and business intelligence. It helps companies gather data from multiple sources, transforming and storing it in a format that is easy to locate and analyze.
With robust tools, SAP BW/BI allows companies to gain real-time value from stored and processed data, functioning as more than just a unified storage system. It offers an extensive solution for data integration, enabling businesses to combine and analyze collected data while maintaining coherence.
Furthermore, its process automation tools reduce the time needed to extract relevant insights. Additionally, unlike other database models, it provides permanent storage, making it easier for businesses to access important historical information for analysis. As a result, companies with the SAP BW/BI system gain a competitive advantage, enabling them to make quick decisions and address problems and opportunities in real-time.
Types of Reports
SAP BW/BI lets you create multiple tailored reports as per business requirements, ensuring you receive the information you want. A few of these are:
- Stock Overview Report
- Stock in Transit
- Sales Order Report
- Cash Flow Report
- GL Balance Report
- Purchase Analysis Report
- Purchase Order Report
How Do SAP BW/BI Function?
Consider SAP BW/BI as a data pipeline that collects, cleans, and arranges it for easy analysis.
SAP BW design features a multilayered architecture. Its data architecture is the core of the system that keeps all the essential information available for business use.
Types of SAP BW architectures are:
Data Sources: It collects data from several places like external databases and systems, web services and ERP systems. It draws data based on companies’ requirements.
Data Transmission: It helps to transform the data from sources to SAP BW.
Data Modeling: This process helps to structure and organize the data necessary for businesses to use the data effectively.
Data Analysis: This process lets you implement advanced tools for data analysis and gain insights.
Data Storage: This is the place where the final data is stored.
Extraction:
SAP BW/BI performs three steps to acquire, and store refined and filtered data for use. The first step is extraction.
SAP BW/BI extract data from various places like SAP ECC, relational databases, flat files, multidimensional source systems, and web services using diverse types of connectors. Following extraction, data is delivered to SAP BW through different methods, these include direct input, Info Package and DTP.
Look at the image below for better understanding:
Transform:
SAP BW/BI transforms the data for analysis purposes. It implements routines or pieces of code on data during distinct phases of transformation to modify data. This makes the data suitable for analysis purposes, enabling decision-making and accurate reporting.
Distinct kinds of routines or codes are present in SAP BW to modify data at diverse levels.
Transfer Routine: This routine is available at the InfoObject level, used to refine data as it enters SAP BW.
Start Routine: This routine is used to modify source data before it reaches the Info providers, e.g., deleting unwanted records.
End Routine: This routine is used to modify target data once data is processed in transformation and ready to store in Infoproviders.
Expert Routine: This routine is used to handle complex requirements in requirements where the start and end routines are not sufficient.
Field Routine: This routine is used to modify individual field values
Storage:
Following data transformation, SAP BW primarily uses Infoproviders and InfoObjects to store clean/analyzed data for reporting.
The available types of Infoproviders are:
Data Store Objects (DSO): It is like a main storehouse where organized data or master data are stored.
Cubes: It is a multidimensional data storage space where data is kept in a way that makes it easy for users to analyze data from multiple angles using the star schema concept.
Multiproviders: It blends and combines differently sourced data, giving a single unified view.
Virtual Infoproviders: These are used to display real-time data, but they are used rarely, as most of the data sources do not provide real-time data.
Advantages of SAP BW/BI
The current business market demands quick decision-making supported by concrete data. Businesses equipped with SAP BW/BI gain that competitive advantage over their counterparts. The benefits of SAP BW/BI are:
Achieve Full Overview: SAP BW/BI gives you a complete overview of all business operations. This helps to assess trends, data patterns, trends, and anomalies in real time.
Enhance Decision-Making and Operational Efficiency: SAP BW/BI helps businesses quickly get access to data and extract relevant insights. This enhances the decision-making process and assists businesses to act on it effectively. The advanced analytical tools ensure high data accuracy and relevance. This, in turn, streamlines the operations and raises productivity as businesses now can quickly address the issues.
Updated Information: SAP BW/BI gives access to updated information in real-time. This enables businesses to quickly respond to changes and opportunities, enhancing business agility in the process.
Innovation: Incorporating SAP BW/BI within the company’s technological ecosystem helps in actualizing innovation like better products, enhanced services and so on.
Cost Efficiency: SAP BW/BI significantly helps in reducing operational costs, which is a major factor for organizations. It streamlines and automates processes that ensure error-prone and streamlined operations, thus reducing costs significantly.
Experience High Profits: A major benefit of the software system is effective decision-making that ensures high profits. The software system gives a clear picture of the processes generating revenue. Additionally, it also helps in modifying and improving services/ products based on consumer trends.
Why SAP BW/BI is For You
To conclude, the SAP BW/BI is a powerful tool that enhances decision-making processes through quality data, reports, and insights. From data duplication to process inefficiencies, SAP BW/BI does it all for you. This, in turn, empowers you to take prompt action that positively impacts your business trajectory, ensuring you stay ahead in an ever-evolving industry.
Connect with our experts at Evoke Technologies to learn how you can maximize the benefits of SAP BW/BI and transform data insights into strategic advantages for your business.
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