Info Objects

Info objects are the fields in BI system. These are divided into two types:

1. Characteristics: Used to refer key figure

Ex: Material, Customer

The characteristics are divided into three types. They are:

1. Time Characteristics
2. Unit Characteristics
3. Technical Characteristics

1. Time Characteristics include day, month, year, and half-yearly, quarterly. They are generated by the system.

Note: Info objects are of two types,

1. System generated (0)
2. Customer generated (Z)

     b.  Unit Characteristics include currency, unit. (0Currency, 0Unit)

They are always assigned to key figures type amount and quantity (as shown in the above example).

     c.  Technical Characteristics include 0requestID, 0changeID, 0recordID.

     2.  Key Figures: Used for calculation purpose

Ex: Amount, Quantity

The key figures are divided into two types. They are:

1. Cumulative key figures
2. Non-cumulative key figures

1. Cumulative key figures are used when the data in the key figure field need to be added.

    b.  Non-cumulative key figures are used in MM and HR related reports

Records in the ‘Stock Value’ field are not added.

Steps to create info objects of type characteristics and key figures:

               Part 1:

1. Go to RSA1
2. Go to ‘Info Object’ selection
3. Right click on the context menu > Select ‘Create Info Area’
4. Give the technical name (Always unique)
5. Give description
6. Click on Continue

Part 2:

1. Right click on Info Area > Select create ‘Info Object Catalog’
2. Give technical name
3. Give description
4. Select Info object type ‘Character’
5. Click on Activate button

Part 3:

1. Right click on Info area > Select create ‘Info Object Catalog’
2. Give technical name and description
3. Select info object type ‘Key Figure’
4. Click on Activate button

Part 4:

1. Right click on Info Object Catalog for characteristics
2. Select create Info Object
3. Give technical name (length between 3 to 8)
4. Give description
5. Click on Continue
6. Give mandatory options in the ‘General’ tab page (like Data type, length .. )
7. Click on Activate button

Part 5:

1. Right click on the Info Object Catalog for key figures
2. Select create Info Object
3. Give technical name (length between 3 to 8)
4. Give description
5. Click on Continue
6. For key figure of type ‘Amount’ and ‘Quantity’ we have to give ‘Unit Characteristic’ (0Currency/ 0Unit)
7. Click on Activate button)

There are two types of data in SAP (ERP). They are:

1. Master Data
2. Transaction Data

1. Master Data: It is always assigned to characteristic. From SAP BI point of view, master data doesn’t change frequently

  Note: Master Data is always assigned to a characteristic. A characteristic is called master data characteristic if it has attributes, text and hierarchies.

1. Attributes: These are info objects which explain a characteristic in detail. These are divided into two types:

          a. Navigational attributes

          b. Display attributes

Steps to create Attributes (type characteristic):

                                       Part 1:

1. Go to Info object of type characteristic
2. Go to ‘Display/Change’
3. In the ‘Master data text’ tab page, check the ‘With Master Data’ checkbox
4. Go to the Attribute tab page
5. Give technical name of attribute
6. Click Enter
7. Give description
8. Give data type, length
9. Click on continue
10. Activate the info object

                                       Part 2:

1. If the info object is already in the system, copy the technical name of the info object
2. Go to attribute tab page of char
3. Paste the technical name of the info object
4. Click on Activate button

Note: Key Figure can be an attribute to a characteristic and it can only be a display attribute

Steps to enable Texts:

1. Right click on the info object, select change, go to Master Data Text tab page, select the check box Text

                                       Navigational Attribute: We can drill down using navigational attribute. It acts as characteristic in the report.

                                       Display Attribute: We cannot drill down using display attribute

                                       Note:

1. Attribute Only: If you mark the characteristic as exclusive attribute, it can only be used as display attribute but not as navigational attribute.
2. The characteristic cannot be transferred into info cube directly.

                                       Steps to change attributes from navigational to display:

1. Go to ‘Attribute’ tab page, in column ‘Navigation On/Off’, select the pencil like structure.
2. When changing display to navigation, give a description, click on activate button.

Steps to create attribute (type Key Figure):

1. Go to info object, go to ‘Attribute’ tab page
2. Give technical name
3. Click on Enter, Select radio button ‘Create attribute as key figure’
4. Click on Continue
5. Give description and data type
6. Click on continue
7. Click on activate button

                                       Tab Pages of Characteristic:

1. General tab page:
2. Data Element: Naming convention of data element (technical name of info object). It is like a field on database level
3. Data Type: Here we have Char (1-60), string, Numeric (1-60), Date (8), Time (6)
4. Lower Case Letters: If the characteristic is having lower case letters, select lower case allowed option
5. SID Tables: Surrogate ID or Master Data ID
6. Business Explorer: The selections which are in the Business Explorer tab page are by default displayed at report level
7. Master Data/Text tab page: Info object has the following tables

P -> Time Independent display attributes

Q -> Time dependent display attributes

X -> Time Independent navigational attributes

Y -> Time dependent navigational attributes

Text: If we select this option, we can have text for the characteristic

Hierarchy: To enable hierarchies, we have to select the hierarchies

Attribute: In this, we give the attributes for a characteristic          

     ii. Text: The same report can be selected in different language in different country. This is because of the ‘Text’ functionality    

     iii. Hierarchy