db views_how to guide

SAP NetWeaverHow-To Guide

How-To Install and Use DB Views

Applicable Releases:

SAP MDM NetWeaver 5.5 SP6

Version 1.0

February 2008

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction and Background Information.....................................................................1

2. Business Scenarios.........................................................................................................2

3. Technical Data.................................................................................................................2

4. Prerequisites....................................................................................................................2

5. Step-by-Step Procedure..................................................................................................3

5.1 Prepare the Environment ..........................................................................................3

5.2 Edit the GenerateViews.cmd Configuration Options File............................................3

5.3 Execute ....................................................................................................................4

6. Appendix..........................................................................................................................5

6.1 Appendix A – DB Views Naming Convention.............................................................5

6.2 Appendix B - Presentation Rules for MDM Field Types..............................................7


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1. Introduction and Background InformationDatabase Views (DB Views) are used to view a snapshot of data stored in a particular database. TheMDM DB Views utility generates database views which are saved database queries representingMDM Data.

The created views retrieve data that is stored in the MDM repository and present it in a comprehensiveway, similarly to the way data is displayed in SAP MDM Data Manager. The view is generatedaccording to the underlying database schema.

MDM DB Views behave as follows:

Use a joint set of operations to combine related tables and present a single view per main table.

Use a set of presentation rules for each MDM field type in order to get a consistentrepresentation across different DB vendors.

Create a separate view for each multi-value main table lookup field.

The generated DB views are read-only views. They are not designed to write data intothe MDM repository.

Overview


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2. Business ScenariosThe following are possible scenarios for using SAP MDM DB Views:...

Data Warehouse Interfaces (Analytical MDM)

MDM is the only technology that can successfully deal with the fundamental root cause of dataquality problems impacting BI across-the-board.MDM, with the aid of DB Views, can provide consolidated, consistent, and accurate master datadimensions (for example, Customer, Supplier, Product and Location) for any BI application inreal time without involving data replication or file exchange between applications.

Reporting

Data is consolidated for reporting. MDM DB Views make master data accessible to anyreporting tool and are able to create formatted reports against the MDM repository.

Data Profiling Analysis

Master data and metadata can be exposed to any data profiling application.

External Matching

Master data is made accessible to any external matching tool.

3. Technical Data The DB Views utility runs on any Windows platform.

Only MDM version 5.5 SP5 and SP6 are supported.

Supported databases are:

Oracle v9 and up

MSSQL 2005

IBM DB2 LUW v9 and up

4. Prerequisites MDM Java API version which corresponds to the MDM Server version

Java Runtime Environment, JRE 1.5.x

Type 2 JDBC Drivers according to the MDM database server type

MSSQL – Version 1.1

Oracle – Oracle client

IBM DB2 – DB2 client

MDM and the database server can be on any supported platform. Only the DB Viewsutility requires a Windows platform for the creation process.


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5. Step-by-Step Procedure

5.1 Prepare the Environment1. Install the Java Runtime Environment.

2. Install the relevant JDBC Driver.

3. Unzip the DB Views execution package.Recommended Folder location: C:\Program Files\SAP MDM 5.5\DB Views

4. Install MDM Java API and make sure that the MDM Server and the MDM Java API are of thesame version.

5.2 Edit the GenerateViews.cmd Configuration Options FileParameters Description

MDMDbV_HOME Folder location of the unzipped DB Views execution package

Database home Folder location of the database client directory (SQL_HOME, DB2_HOME,ORA_HOME)

MDM JAVA API(API_DIR) Folder location of the MDM Java API

MDM Server The server on which the MDM repository is mounted

MDM Repository The repository for which you would like to generate and maintain views

MDM ServerPassword Optional – User password for performing any server-level functions

MDM User Name Optional – Name of user who is connecting to the MDM repository andperforming any repository-level functions

MDM UserPassword

Optional – User password for connecting to the MDM repository and performingany repository-level functions

MDM region

The regions for which the views are created

To specify 2 or more regions use ‘ : ‘ as a delimiter

To specify all regions, remove variable and instances

Database type Type of database

MDM DBMS name The database server on which the MDM repository is stored

Database UserName Optional – The user connecting to the database server

Database Password Optional – The database user’s password

Display FieldDelimiter The delimiter for concatenation of the table’s display fields

Hierarchy Full PathDelimiter The delimiter for the full path of the hierarchy


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Parameters Description

IS_LOG Optional – To produce a log file, set to "-LOG"

IS_OVERRIDE

Optional – To override existing views, set to “-override"

This option is preferable due to schema changes that may disable views.

IS_DELETE_ALL Optional – To delete All DB views mode, set to "-D"

...

5.3 ExecuteExecute the GenerateViews.cmd file.


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6. Appendix

6.1 Appendix A – DB Views Naming ConventionThe views are named according to the following naming convention. Underscore is the delimiterbetween tokens.

Main Table

[1st token] – ‘M’ constant string, stands for main table view

[2nd token] – Main table code

[3rd token] – Language Id

If the resulting view name exceeds the maximum length allowed by the DB, the 2nd tokenwill be truncated and a table id will be appended, within the maximum length allowed.

For example, the main table is Products and the language is English (Language Id =1).

The resulting View name is: ‘M_PRODUCTS_1’

Lookup Table

[1st token] – ‘F’ for Flat , ‘H’ for Hierarchy and Taxonomy

[2nd token] – Lookup table code


For example, flat lookup table name is MDM_NUMBER_RANGES_ACCOUNT_GROUPS inEnglish [US] and its Id is 38, stored in Oracle DB (maximum view length is 30).

The resulting view name is: ‘F_MDM_NUMBER_RANGE_38_1’

Multivalue and Large text Fields

[1st token] – ‘M’ for multivalue, qualified

[2nd token] – Table code concatenated with lookup field code, underscore as delimiter


For example, the flat lookup table name is MDM_NUMBER_RANGES_ACCOUNT_GROUPS inEnglish [US], and the lookup field is “RANGES.

The resulting view name is:‘M_ MDM_NUMBER_RANGES_ACCOUNT_GROUPS _RANGES_1’

Relationship Fields

[1st token] – ‘REL’ constant prefix, stands for relationship view

[2nd token] – CodeName



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Taxonomy Attributes

[1st token] – ‘T_Taxonomy’ constant prefix, stands for relationship view

[2nd token] – CodeName


Table’s Remote Keys

[1st token] – M’ constant string, stands for main table view

[2nd token] – Table CodeName

[3rd token] –‘ Keys’ constant postfix, stands for Remote keys view


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6.2 Appendix B - Presentation Rules for MDM FieldTypes

A presentation rule for each MDM field type is applied in order to determine how it is formatted in theviews. There are differences between the way MDS presents and formats the data, and the way it isstored in the DB.

Simple Lookup Fields

Field Type Presentation rule

Text According to DB variable-length, Unicode data field format, and the selectedlanguage.

Text Normalized According to DB variable-length, Unicode data field format, and the selectedlanguage.

Text Large

According to DB variable-length, Unicode data field format, and the selectedlanguage.

Contains square characters as a delimiter between log entries

Integer According to DB field format

Real Decimal places according to field parameter

Boolean TRUE/FALSE values according to field parameter

Literal Date Date field data type with time portion truncated (12:00:00)

Literal Time Date field data type with date portion truncated (01-01-1970)

Lookup [Flat] According to the display field definition, a text field should be presented according tothe selected language.

Lookup[Hierarchy/

Taxonomy]

According to the hierarchy table primary display field definition. The hierarchy nodename should be fully visible with a user defined separator between each node nameof the full hierarchy path.

For example, Tools Hand Tools Hammer

Lookup[Text Block]

According to the TextStart field concatenated with the TextRest field ofA2i_Data_Ex_# table, within a text field size limitation of the DB vendor

Lookup[Text HTML]

According to the TextStart field concatenated with the TextRest field ofA2i_Data_Ex_# table, within a text field size limitation of the DB vendor

Auto ID According to DB field format

Time Stamp Date field data type

Create Stamp mm-dd-yy hh-mm-ss AM (or PM) in datetime data type

User Stamp According to DB field format

Currency Symbol and Decimal places according to field parameter

GM Time Date field data type


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Field Type Presentation rule

LogConverted to text, within the text field size limitation of the DB in use

Contains square characters as a delimiter between log entries

Measurement Decimal places according to field parameter, postfix value with UOM name

If the field is a display field in a lookup table, the field will be converted to a text stringand will be formatted the same as in the default setting of the Data Manager.

Multivalue Field Types:Each of the following multivalue field types is implemented as a separate view. In order to preservethe reference, each view includes the internal record ID of the referencing table.

Flat Lookup

Hierarchy Lookup

Lookup Text Block

Lookup Text HTML

Measurement

Qualified Lookup

The views definition follows the underlying qualified table definition, considering the presentationrules of simple field types, and including the internal record ID of the referencing table.

Any multivalue qualifier of the following field types (lookup flat, lookup hierarchy, andmeasurement), will be joined to the qualified lookup field view.

Taxonomy Lookup:The view is defined according to the following format, including the internal record ID of the main table.

Attribute Name

Attribute name is concatenated from the tokens identified below for each attribute type. Theseparator is a space between each token. The attribute name includes its ratings in brackets.Valid values for ratings are (Min), (Max) and (Nom).

Text

[1st token] – AttrName

Numeric


[2nd token] – AttrType(Ratings)

Coupled


[2nd token] – AttrType(Ratings)

[3rd token] – CoupledDelimiter


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[4th token] – CoupledAttrName

[5th token] – CoupledAttrtType

Attribute Value

Attribute value of each attribute type is concatenated from the tokens identified below. Theseparator is a space between each token. The attribute value includes unit of measure using itssuffix notation.

Text

[1st token] – FeatureName in the chosen language

Numeric – Value

[1st token] – Value, including the decimal places defined for the attribute in MDM

[2nd token] – Units

Coupled

[1st token] – Value, including the decimal places defined for the attribute in MDM

[2nd token] – Units

[3rd token] – CoupledDelimiter

[4th token] – CoupledValue, including the decimal places defined for the attributein MDM

[5th token] – CoupledUnits

For example, View format

ID Attribute Name Attribute Value

1 Length 13.000 mm2 Length @ Size 12 mm @ 1 cm

Product RelationshipA view is created for each relationship.

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