Enterprise SOA

SAP NetWeaver Business intelligence

SAP NetWeaver BI comprises a vast area of functionality that serves many different business needs. A large part of SAP NetWeaver BI is devoted to extracting data from many different sources, cleaning it, and normalizing it so that it can be used to model and analyze a business. This sounds similar to the role of SAP NetWeaver MDM, but SAP NetWeaver BI focuses primarily on transactional data—that is, the data that keeps track of every transaction, every purchase order, every invoice, and so on. Every instance of any activity that goes into a business may find its way into the data warehouse that is at the center of SAP NetWeaver BI, which can make for huge data volumes. Searching through such vast databases can require massive computing power.

Explaining all of what SAP NetWeaver BI can do could fill several books. Our purpose in this chapter is to look at the way that SAP NetWeaver BI is being used to help make composite applications work better.

What are the core functions of SAP NetWeaver BI?

The core functions of SAP NetWeaver BI include solutions and technologies that cover all of the following IT scenarios.

Enterprise data warehousing

Enterprise data warehousing (EDW) enables customers to create and operate a data warehouse that works enterprisewide. This methodology encompasses integration of heterogeneous systems, supports various system topologies and their development, and describes a layering methodology for highly flexible information access. ...