Generate SAP BO Data Services dataflows from csv

[freekmenger]

Why:

When implementing SAP BO Data Services (BODS) it can be a very time-consuming task to create all the jobs, workflows and dataflows. Usually, the design and naming convention is already clear and creating these objects can be a repetitive task that will use up unnecessary time. I’ve created a basic open source program that can do this job for you: bods-generator.

What:

The python program will generate an SAP BODS XML file that can be imported into BODS and create the objects there. The program is still basic as it can only generate jobs, workflows, and dataflows. However, you can include dependencies: either that the dataflow is contained in a workflow, or the workflow is part of a job. The input for the program is an excel file that contains the name of the objects, the type and finally dependencies.

The output of the program is a .xml file that can be imported into BODS.

How:

Download the files from the GitHub page: https://github.com/freekmenger/bods-generator

Follow the instructions:

• Create a CSV according to the sample.csv format. Provide type (job, workflow or dataflow), name and subobjects (optional) Make sure objects are given hierarchical with the lowest object first - if they are dependent. E.g. workflow that is involved in a job: the first line in the CSV is the workflow, the second line is the job


• Run the program with parameters:

1. the input CSV file (with directory if in another directory)


2. output XML file (with directory if in another directory)

• Load the output XML file into data services

Extend:

The program is open-source, so you are free to take the source code and extend it. There are some limitations, see terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 license.