Architecture and Characteristics of SAP BI

The Architecture of SAP BI System is a three tier system. They are,

Database Server

This is area where the data is physically stored in the BI system. (ODS, PSA, Infocube and metadata repository).

Application Server

This area in the SAP BI architecture is mostly based on the OLAP processor. It is used to retrieve data stored in the database server.

Presentation Server: Manages reporting and data access.

1. Data is extracted from the Source Systems.
2. Data is staged at the Persistent Storage Area(PSA). This holds Source like data.
3. Data is cleansed, loaded and stored in Data Store Object.
4. Data is viewed at multiple dimensions in the Infocube.
5. Data is available by the OLAP processor to the Business Explorer to display data as per Analysis requirements of the Business.
6. Data can be made available to SAP/Non-SAP, Data Marts by the Open Hub Service.( InfoSpoke).

SAP Business Intelligence (BI) means analyzing and reporting of data from different heterogeneous data sources. SAP Business Warehouse (BW) integrates data from different sources, transforms and consolidates the data, does data cleansing, and storing of data as well. It also includes data modeling, administration and staging area.

The data in SAP BW is managed with the help of a centralized tool known as SAP BI Administration Workbench. The BI platform provides infrastructure and functions which include −

OLAP Processor

Metadata Repository,

Process designer and other functions.

The Business Explorer (BEx) is a reporting and analysis tool that supports query, analysis and reporting functions in BI. Using BEx, you can analyze historical and current data to different degree of analysis.

SAP BW is known as an open, standard tool which allows you to extract the data from different systems and then send it to the BI system. It also evaluates the data with different reporting tools and you can distribute this to other systems.

Components of SAP BI Architecture

Data warehousing 

This is mainly to Extract, Transform and Load data from Source systems.

BI platform

The BI platform layer contains BI services to support complex analysis tasks and functions. It contains the Analytic Engine, which processes the data requested through BEx analysis navigations. Its interface allows entry and manipulation of data as part of BI Integrated Planning. It also has special analysis tools such as the Analysis Process Designer (APD) and the Data Mining which provide analysts at your company with the tools to merge, mine, pre-process, store, and analyse data.

BI Suite

These tools helps in creating reports for analysis purpose.It contains the Business Explorer (BEx) which provides flexible reporting and analysis tools.

       The following areas in the Business Explorer can be used for Data Analyses:

1. BEx Analyser (Microsoft Excel-based analysis tool with pivot-table-like features)
2. BEx Web Analyser (Web-based analysis tool with pivot-table-like features)
3. BEx Web Application Designer (customer-defined and SAP BI Content provided)
4. BEx Report Designer (highly formatted Web output)