Applies to:
Denodo 8.0
,
Denodo 7.0
,
Denodo 6.0
Last modified on: 03 Aug 2020
Tags:
Multidimensional DB data sources
SAP
Goal
As an ERP software provider, SAP delivers software solutions that allow organizations to store data and records of different processes in a single unified system. Different ERP solutions based on diverse work areas such as human resources, financial accounting, payroll, and time management are developed by SAP.
Denodo offers different connectors to access the business components and the data managed by SAP. The goal of this document is to show the capabilities of this integration and best practices around them.
Denodo and SAP
Denodo offers two different connectors to access SAP business applications. Both connectors use JCo (SAP’s Java API) to connect with the SAP Server and provide the data to the Denodo Platform.
For details on how to install the JCo adapter, please refer to the Denodo Platform Installation Guide, section Installing the SAP JCo Connector.
In addition to these two adapters, there are also other options to directly access the underlying SAP database:
Accessing an ODS
ODS (Operational Data Stores) are persisted relational tables in the SAP underlying database. ODS Tables can be accessed using two different methods:
Adding conditions to an SAP BW cube: slicing vs filtering
SAP allows to add conditions on dimensional data using two different approaches, slicing the dimension and filtering by attributes. The behavior of SAP will be different depending on what technique is used, therefore it is important to understand how they work and how Denodo is using them.
Denodo, depending on what columns are used in the WHERE clause, generates an MDX “slice” or a “filter”:
Slicing has certain limitations on SAP. The internal key has to be used and it only supports the EQUAL operator. Denodo has some built-in logic to overcome these limitations:
These limitations do not apply for attributes and measures. Other operators like <, <=, >, >= work fine on these columns.