Using Table Functions in SAP HANA for custom calendars

It is a common case that every company have different projects and some of them needs custom calendar implementation for their project. A default approach would be to create a persistent table and populate it with the required custom calendar data. But, this will need continuous maintenance/Updates as the years pass through.  Also, it might need some type of procedure or data procurement methods to populate the data.

This one is particularly interesting as this approach eradicates the need for continuous maintenance or update of calendar tables. neither will it be based on a persistent table. I will move on in explaining the approach using an example.

Generation of QR code in SAP S/4 HANA

Significance of QR code in SAP industry

Nowadays QR codes are everywhere, from products to websites and their marketing. Many businesses and applications have increased the use of QR readers and scanners. Smartphones and tabs come with built-in QR readers these days. Unlike barcodes which are vertical stripes, QR codes are made up of square-shaped patterns. Barcodes are read in one direction from top to bottom hence only a small amount of information can be stored. QR codes are read in two directions which makes it two -dimensional from top to bottom and right to left. This means it can store more data. When compared to bar codes, QR codes are protected against duplication and less error-prone. Consumer-facing marketing campaigns have increased usage as smartphones and tabs with digital cameras can easily read and interpret using this technology. It is also because of the major advantage of QR code that it can be scanned from both papers and from a screen, unlike barcode which can be only scanned from paper.

Blending Models with SAP Analytics Cloud

What is Blending?

Blending models lets you join a primary data source (such as ‘travel expenses’) with secondary data sources (such as ‘employee headcount’) that contain common linked dimensions (such as ’employee’). A new model is not created when you blend models, and the original models are not modified. Links between models that are blended only occur within a story. Blending can be done within individual tables and charts.

Some common uses for blending

◉ Comparing data of actuals from a corporate SAP source with plans stored from a non-SAP source.

◉ Comparing sales results against market benchmarks, or marketing campaign results available in .csv files, or data provided by a 3rd party consulting firm.

◉ Creating custom calculations based on key performance indicators from different data models like public census data.

◉ Using Smart Predict to output predictions in a dataset, and blend these predictions with other data sources, in the context of a story.

Run Modes of SAP BW Streaming Process Chains

This blog post will focus on the streaming process chain run modes and provides URLs to additional sources in the end. I use the general term “SAP BW” which refers to both SAP BW 7.5 and SAP BW/4HANA (any release).

In general, acquiring data as fast as possible should not be regarded as first choice. Instead, SAP recommends leveraging virtualization and data federation wherever possible. In combination with SAP HANA, BW provides multiple suitable modeling options, mainly based on SAP HANA integration services (SDA, SDI), SAP HANA modeling options (Calculation Views), and Open ODS Views or CompositeProviders as virtual InfoProviders on the BW application side.

Connect Client systems to the “Solution Manager”: Easier, faster and better – Via Outside Discovery with saphostctrl

Introduction

Why should I configure the hostagent, secure and with Outside Discovery enabled?

Because it is easy and It only takes a little to connect correctly the satellite systems to the LMDB with all data suppliers.

And least but not last: to get better Landscape Data in your LMDB to make better Upgrades! (see further Information, at the bottom)

Overview of SAP HANA Operators in SAP Data Intelligence

Prerequisite

Your SAP HANA database must be connected to your DI system via the connection management of DI.

1. Standard SAP HANA Operators in DI

The following section lists standard operators for integration with SAP HANA. The list is based on the categories in which the operators are grouped in DI. The focus is on the categories “Connectivity” and “SAP HANA“, as these are probably the most relevant for newcomer scenarios.

7 Reasons to Run SAP HANA on Azure

There is a growing trend to migrate SAP HANA databases to the cloud. In particular, many users are preferring Microsoft Azure, due to its strong security and compliance features, and its tight integration with SAP solutions. Azure provides a Tailored Datacenter Integration (TDI) capable of running heavy-duty SAP workloads, and also provides a range of VM sizes certified to run SAP HANA and other SAP applications.

Connect from SAP HANA Cloud trial to SAP HANA, express edition, in AWS via the Cloud Connector

My case

…was slightly different. I have a few instances of SAP HANA, express edition, deployed to cloud vendors. Let’s focus on the one example, where it is deployed to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

SAP XSA: Basics and how to create synonyms

Making applications for SAP in the past, has always been rooted in proprietary tools and frameworks. However, with the onset of the “cloud” movement, SAP is providing its customers and developers, a completely new services-oriented application model, that leverages containers and the latest open source standards, for cloud-based applications.

More Info: C_HANAIMP_16 Certification

Developers have been able to provide web-based SAP applications, through the use of WebDynpro for a long time. However, that came with its own set of drawbacks. Newer alternatives now use Fiori-based UI, with an OData service from the backend, that transports data back and forth. This approach provides us with ample amount of flexibility on the UI side, but for the backend, we are still dependent on ABAP and the NetWeaver application server, to execute the business and processing logic for us and the database server to perform queries and send data to the Netweaver AS. We also know this as the SAP R3 architecture, where we divide things into the presentation layer, application layer and the database layer.

Visualise HANA Spatial Clusters with an SAC Choropleth Map

In this blogpost I will describe how you can use the SAP Analytics Cloud choropleth layers to visualise HANA spatial clusters, such as grid, k-means or hexagons.

With that in place the steps are pretty easy

1. Create database view (or table) to encapsulate spatial clustering

2. Expose database view as Dimension Calculation View

3. Update SAC Custom Regions Metadata

4. Visualise with SAP Analytics Cloud

5. Other Possibilities, Voronoi Regions

1. Create database view (or table) to encapsulate spatial clustering

The spatial clustering require spatial data with an ST_POINT datatype, this can be calculated from longitude and latitude if necessary.

Figure 1.1: Database Explorer data preview

Figure 1.2: Database view with Hexagon Clustering

VIEW "view::LAD_2019_HEX15" AS

    SELECT COUNT(*) AS LAD_COUNT, ST_ClusterID() AS ID, ST_ClusterCell() AS SHAPE_HEX 

    FROM LAD2019_ST

    GROUP CLUSTER BY ST_POINT USING HEXAGON X CELLS 15

2. Expose database view as Dimension Calculation View

SAP Analytics Cloud requires a dimensional calculation view with 4 fields exposed

◉ NAME

◉ ID

◉ SHAPE

◉ IS_LEAF

The output of the Calculation view should contain these fields.  ID and IS_LEAF are required as column names

Figure 2.1 Calculation View

Figure 2.2: Data Preview

3. Update SAC Custom Regions Metadata

You need to update the metadata to tell SAC that a new choropleth layer is available.

INSERT INTO "SAP_FPA_SPATIAL_CUSTOM_REGIONS"."sap.fpa.services.spatial::custom_hierarchy.CHOROPLETH_CUSTOM_HIERARCHY" VALUES (

'Hexagons', 5, 'CLUSTER_NAME', 'name', 13, 1, 'Hexagons 15', 'SHAPE_HEX', 'cv::ENGLAND_HEX_15', '', 'COVID', '0');

SELECT * FROM "SAP_FPA_SPATIAL_CUSTOM_REGIONS"."sap.fpa.services.spatial::custom_hierarchy.CHOROPLETH_CUSTOM_HIERARCHY";

You can check the metadata looks as expected

Figure 3.1: Preview SAC Custom Spatial Regions

4. Visualise with SAP Analytics Cloud

Within SAC you can create a Geo Map with a Choropleth / Drill Layer and you should see the newly exposed view as a hierarchy.

Figure 4.1: Create Choropleth / Drill Layer

Figure 4.2: Hexagon Spatial Clustering in SAP Analytics Cloud

5. Other Possibilities, Voronoi Regions

Using exactly the same techniques you can access other spatial techniques such as Voronoi regions, as suggested by a colleague James Giffin Voronoi regions/cells sound more like a beer or wine to me, makes for an interesting visual.

VIEW "view::LAD_VORONOI" AS

SELECT "objectid" AS ID, "lad19nm" AS NAME, ST_VoronoiCell(ST_POINT, -1.0) OVER () AS VORONOI_SHAPE FROM "LAD2019_ST"

Figure 5: Voronoi Cells / Regions

Source: sap.com