SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is the name of the Business Intelligence, Analytical, Reporting and Data Warehousing (DW) solution which is one of the major enterprise software applications produced by SAP AG. It was originally named SAP BIW, (Business Information Warehouse), but is now known as "SAP NetWeaver BI".
Source: Wikipedia
1. Can I learn SAP Business Intelligence (SAP BI)?
This is the question buzzing in the mind of new and experienced consultants from different stream. The simple answer is YES. But I need to justify that.So, read on.
2. Who can learn SAP BI?
Since BI is the blend of technical areas such as ABAP, WebDynpro, XI, BASIS, Business Objects(now an SAP Company) etc and functional areas such as CRM, SRM, SCM, HCM etc. A consultant from these areas can easily migrate to SAP BI. Consultants from other ETL tools like Ascential, Ab Initio can also migrate to SAP BI.
3. Does it mean a person from non-SAP background can’t learn BI?
Absolutely No. Anybody who has got functional or technical experience in any domain can learn BI and there are no hard and fast rules for this. The only thing they should know is the fundamentals of SAP BI or any Data Warehousing tool.
4. What is the basic requirement for learning BI?
As mentioned earlier. the minimal requirement is the basic knowledge of Data Warehousing, which is mandatory in nature. Knowledge in any functional areas viz. Sales and Distribution (SD), Material Management (MM), Finance & Controlling (FI-CO), Logistics (LO), Plant Maintenance (PM) and so on is necessary and if you have more than one domain knowledge then it’s definitely an added advantage.
Consultants from technical areas such as ABAP, BASIS, and XI can easily learn BW-Technical areas such as Configuration, DB Maintenance, Portal Settings, Idoc Management etc.
5. What will be the nature of work for migrated consultants?
Here I’m just giving the nature of work they may get, but finally it all depends on the Company they work for.
ABAP Consultants: They can be involved in writing routines (Update, transfer, conversion etc), SAP and User Exits, DataSource enhancement, BAdi, tables, function modules etc
Functional Consultants: Creating reports for relevant areas, data validation, functional review etc.
Other than these you may also be involved in the following:
Implementation Activities: Creating new data models, DataSource, reports etc.
Support Activities: Monitoring the data loads, data reconciliation, and other maintenance activities.
If you are a senior consultant then you may be involved in gathering the User Requirements, Creating Functional and Technical specifications, GAP Analysis etc.
If you have knowledge in Web technologies, you may work in Enterprises Portal(EP), Web Application Designer(WAD) etc.
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http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-bi
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-70
https://websmp107.sap-ag.de/bi
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bi-elearning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_Business_Information_Warehouse
Use of BW in ESA World
BW - Functions in Detail
SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW)
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