Introduction
So you may ask what is constant selection. Basically, this functionality has existed since BW 3.0 and allows you to do left outer joins on underlying infocubes within queries built on multiproviders.Scenario
Infocube 1| Plant | Material | Price ($/CS) |
| 101 | A | 0.12 |
| 101 | B | 0.14 |
| 102 | A | 0.11 |
| 102 | C | 0.24 |
| 103 | C | 0.23 |
| 104 | D | 0.15 |
InfoCube 2
| Plant | Material | Customer | Qty (CS) |
| 101 | A | Costco | 100 CS |
| 101 | B | Walmart | 110 CS |
| 102 | A | Albertsons | 105 CS |
| 103 | C | Sams | 115 CS |
| 104 | D | Food 4 Less | 110 CS |
Query on Multiprovider based off InfoCube 1 and InfoCube 2
| Plant | Material | Customer | Qty (CS) | Price ($/CS) | Value ($) |
| 101 | A | Costco | 100 CS | 0.12 | $12.00 |
| 101 | B | Walmart | 110 CS | 0.14 | $15.40 |
| 102 | A | Albertsons | 105 CS | 0.11 | $11.55 |
| 103 | C | Sams | 115 CS | 0.23 | $26.45 |
| 104 | D | Food 4 Less | 110 CS | 0.15 | $16.50 |
How do we do this?
Constant Selection can be specified in 2 areas: on a characteristic or on a key figure. Constant Selection on a Characteristic allows you to ignore a particular characteristic or characteristic filter in your data model.Example above:
InfoCube 1 – Plant, Material, Price
InfoCube 2 – Plant, Material, Customer, Stock Qty
MultiProvider 1 – Plant, Material, Customer, Price, Stock Qty
Constant Selection on “Customer” in this data model allows you to report Stock Value by Plant, Material, Customer
Constant Selection on a Key Figure allows your key figure value to become independent of all filter values on all characteristics in your cube. This is used in rare cases when you want to report the sum of a particular key figure value to show the complete value of a key figure.
Setting Constant on Material
Constant Selection vs Infosets
- InfoSets are very dynamic
- InfoSets are defined in the data model
- Constant Selection is defined in a query built on a MultiProvider
- Constant Selection is more flexible than InfoSets as your join conditions can be specified differently per query
- InfoSets within SAP NetWeaver 2004s allow you to join based on InfoCubes instead of just ODS. An InfoCube must be the left side of your join. With Constant Selection, you can specify any join condition on any particular characteristic
Summary
Now you should be able to work with constant selection!
21 Comments