If you have an SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator (BWA) attached to your SAP system, and if you use flat InfoCubes, you might have noticed that you cannot create a BWA index for a flat InfoCube. Only standard InfoCubes can be indexed in a BWA. The same applies to semantically partitioned objects (SPO) consisting of InfoCubes.
But what happens when you have a standard InfoCube with a BWA index, and you try to convert it to a flat InfoCube? The answer was, until recently, that it didn't work. The conversion would fail with an error during step ACTIVATE_CUBE. In order to successfully convert standard InfoCubes or SPOs to flat ones, you must manually delete their BWA indexes. (You can do so using transaction RSDDB.)
With the newest enhancement of program RSDU_IC_STARFLAT_MASSCONV - delivered with SAP Note 2972017 - you still can't have a BWA index for a flat InfoCube, but you won't run into an error anymore during the conversion from standard to flat.
When you generate the work list (button "(Re-)Generate Work List"), the existence of BWA indexes is checked as well. In case that such an index is found, the InfoProvider is still added to the "Convertible InfoProviders" tab page, but with a warning icon to make you aware of an issue with the InfoProvider. If you hover over it, a tooltip displays the warning message. If you click on it, the message comes up as a popup - so you can also access the long text of the message in case it has one.
When you start a new conversion to flat for such an InfoProvider (button "Schedule Conversion" on the "Convertible InfoProviders" tab page), the default setting is that a popup is shown, which asks whether the BWA index should be deleted.
If you don't want to be asked for every new conversion, you can change this behavior with the new option "For New Conversions to Flat Format: Delete BWA Index?", which is only visible if you have a BWA configured for your system.
The three possible answers are:
The options above are part of RSDU_IC_STARFLAT_MASSCONV and are only valid there. If you use program RSDU_REPART_UI to start a new conversion to flat for an InfoCube with a BWA index, you are always asked whether this BWA index should be deleted.
Now, if you have agreed to delete the BWA index, and a new conversion request is initialized, the conversion takes care of BWA indexes automatically.
There is a new first step in the conversion: DELETE_BWA_INDEX. In this step, existing BWA indexes are automatically deleted, so you don't have to do it manually anymore.
This step is always executed, even if there is no BWA attached to the SAP system. This ensures that any leftovers of obsolete BWA indexes are deleted and do not interfere with the conversion, in case that a BWA had been previously configured.
If you add or delete BWA indexes manually, RSDU_IC_STARFLAT_MASSCONV does not recognize this until the InfoProvider data is collected again. Such a collection is started automatically for the affected InfoProvider when you schedule a new conversion, or when you update the status of the conversions and the program finds that a running conversion has finished. If you want to trigger the collection manually, you can do so by selecting the button "(Re-)Generate Work List". In the case of an added or deleted BWA index you don't want to regenerate the entire worklist for updating just one InfoProvider result. Therefore, the button "Re-Collect InfoProvider Data" is now also available on the "Convertible InfoProviders" tab page.
Note: Links to the SAP Support portal (SAP Notes) require authorization.
But what happens when you have a standard InfoCube with a BWA index, and you try to convert it to a flat InfoCube? The answer was, until recently, that it didn't work. The conversion would fail with an error during step ACTIVATE_CUBE. In order to successfully convert standard InfoCubes or SPOs to flat ones, you must manually delete their BWA indexes. (You can do so using transaction RSDDB.)
With the newest enhancement of program RSDU_IC_STARFLAT_MASSCONV - delivered with SAP Note 2972017 - you still can't have a BWA index for a flat InfoCube, but you won't run into an error anymore during the conversion from standard to flat.
When you generate the work list (button "(Re-)Generate Work List"), the existence of BWA indexes is checked as well. In case that such an index is found, the InfoProvider is still added to the "Convertible InfoProviders" tab page, but with a warning icon to make you aware of an issue with the InfoProvider. If you hover over it, a tooltip displays the warning message. If you click on it, the message comes up as a popup - so you can also access the long text of the message in case it has one.
When you start a new conversion to flat for such an InfoProvider (button "Schedule Conversion" on the "Convertible InfoProviders" tab page), the default setting is that a popup is shown, which asks whether the BWA index should be deleted.
If you don't want to be asked for every new conversion, you can change this behavior with the new option "For New Conversions to Flat Format: Delete BWA Index?", which is only visible if you have a BWA configured for your system.
The three possible answers are:
- "Yes, Don't Ask": BWA indexes are automatically deleted during the conversion to flat, without a popup prompting to confirm the deletion.
- "Always Ask": Whenever a BWA index is found, you are asked whether it should be deleted. Depending on the answer, the index is then automatically deleted during the conversion, or the conversion is canceled.
- "No, Cancel Conversion": If an InfoProvider has a BWA index, it is left alone, and no new conversion request is created.
The options above are part of RSDU_IC_STARFLAT_MASSCONV and are only valid there. If you use program RSDU_REPART_UI to start a new conversion to flat for an InfoCube with a BWA index, you are always asked whether this BWA index should be deleted.
Now, if you have agreed to delete the BWA index, and a new conversion request is initialized, the conversion takes care of BWA indexes automatically.
There is a new first step in the conversion: DELETE_BWA_INDEX. In this step, existing BWA indexes are automatically deleted, so you don't have to do it manually anymore.
This step is always executed, even if there is no BWA attached to the SAP system. This ensures that any leftovers of obsolete BWA indexes are deleted and do not interfere with the conversion, in case that a BWA had been previously configured.
If you add or delete BWA indexes manually, RSDU_IC_STARFLAT_MASSCONV does not recognize this until the InfoProvider data is collected again. Such a collection is started automatically for the affected InfoProvider when you schedule a new conversion, or when you update the status of the conversions and the program finds that a running conversion has finished. If you want to trigger the collection manually, you can do so by selecting the button "(Re-)Generate Work List". In the case of an added or deleted BWA index you don't want to regenerate the entire worklist for updating just one InfoProvider result. Therefore, the button "Re-Collect InfoProvider Data" is now also available on the "Convertible InfoProviders" tab page.
Note: Links to the SAP Support portal (SAP Notes) require authorization.
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