BPC 410 Notes

1. Key Terms

Dimensions: Master Data such as companies and accounts.

Models: Transaction data eg. Expense value and exchange rate
Environment: Contains dimensions and models
BW: SAP Business Information Warehouse
Properties: related fields eg Account Type
Dimension member: Eg Co code
Base Level Members: Members with no children

2. Previous Version versus 10.0 version

Previous Term
Applications
AppSets
Owner
Data Source (Type of dimension)
Group (Type of dimension)
Live Reports
Dynamic Hierarchy Editor
Current view
Member Access Profile
AppShell
Validations

10.0 Term
Models
Environment
Performer
Audit Trail
Scope
Web Reports/ Input forms
Ownership Manager
Context
Data Access Profile
Environment shell
Controls

Planning and Consolidation is a part of Enterprise Performance Management

3. The data is stored in InfoCubes for each model. The info Cube is a star schema and comprises of fact
tables and dimension tables
4. Interface of EPM Add in:

Excel Interface
Powerpoint Interface
Word Interface
Web Interface

5. The Excel Interface of EPm ADD in can be used to access data from multiple sources such as BPC,
PCM
6. Data Manager is used to import data and run planning functions such as copy, delete
7. Workbook Collection refers to distribution and collection feature that can be used to distribute reports
via email, or to collect planning data entered in Excel templates
8. The data in BPC is stored in central database and not in local spreadsheets.

9. BPF provide the customer with a web based Launchpad,guided navigation,email and visibility of
process status.BPF can be used to improve the coordination aspect of a process.
10. BPF ensures consistency and visibility.It Ensures policies and procedures
10. Actions that are Open have an Action required of To Perform.An Action can only be performed if its
preceding action is complete.
11. The Home tab provides a very convenient entry point and includes the following components:

Start Page: Includes links to create reports and launch the EPM Add in
Activities: BPF activities that the user is involved in
Process Monitor: Includes the status of the process. Provides a monitoring interface for Business
Process Flows (processes).
Library includes Public and private reports, input forms, workspaces and dashboards
Documents: this is a central storage location for imp attachment. Provides information about
using the Documents view to post, share, and retrieve files, and to manage the display of
content. The Documents view contains documents that users have uploaded manually
Consolidation Central : The all in one interface comprises of
1. Consolidation Monitor : Generate and monitor consolidated data from data reported by
Group and Entity members (only available in SAP BusinessObjects Planning and
Consolidation, version for SAP NetWeaver)
2. Controls Monitor: execute and monitor controls used to validate the reported data (only
available in SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation, version for SAP
NetWeaver)
3. Journals: create and manage journal entries containing adjustments used for correcting
collected and consolidated data.
4. Ownership Manager: create and manage ownership-based hierarchies used for
performing statutory consolidations
Audit
12. Types of EPM Connections:

Planning & Consolidation

SAP Business object BI Platform
Local
You can use the EPM ADD-in to read data from both SAP BPC & BW Info provider
simultaneously.

13. Report Groups

Open: Open reports or input forms from Local folder or Server folder
Save: Save reports or input forms from Local folder or Server folder
Edit Report: Calls up the EPM Report Editor
New Report: Creates a new report on the active connection
Report Actions: Delete, copy or paste report and manage connection
View Format
Refresh

14. Data Analysis Group

Expand
Collapse
Keep
Exclude

15. Undo: Upto 5 most recent activities incl:

Expand (Excel Only)

Collapse (Excel Only)
Keep Member (Excel Only)
Exclude Member (Excel Only)
Member Recognition
Row and Column Axis switch
EPM Pane changes
Report Editor changes
Member selector changes
Data refresh

16. You can specify the display settings for the context by selecting
EPM

Options

Context Options

The following options are available on the Context Display Option tab

Hiding Dimension: This is helpful if you have locked a dimension on the worksheet or if
you decide to filter using the page axis and want to hide it from EPM Context bar
Dimension and Member Name Display
Dimension Color: Colors are displayed by default in the EPM Context Bar
Dimension Order

17. The Highlight Current Report option will color code the report based on the page, row and column
axis and current connection to the EPM solution. Useful where the worksheet are complex with reports
from multiple data sources.
18. Factors to be considered while implementing a project:

Project Objectives
Scope
Strategy
Timeline
Sequence
Resources

19. ASAP 7.1 Technology

Project Preparation: Initial Project planning, project procedures, landscape strategy
Business Blue print: Project planning, architecture
Realization- Configure the initial solution
Final Preparation- Test the solution, conduct training
Go Live and Support- Cut over to the new system, follow up on possible GO Live issues

20. Prototyping is a key for early user involvement and to prove designs.It reduces change management
efforts during Go-Live Preparation
21. Information Gathering Process
Preparation
o Identification of interview/workshop team as well as Interviewees/attendees
Requirements Analysis
o Use SAP Delivered business content as a first step to structure the analysis
Matching
o Check user requirements against the business content
Presentation
o Prepare and publish the results
22. EnvironmentShell Contains the following:

Dimensions
Models
Report templates and input form templates
Data Manager packages

23. EnvironmentShell includes the following models:

Planning
Consolidation
Rates
Ownership
24. Rates and Ownership models are supporting models to the planning and consolidation models.
They contain the currency rates and the group structure

25. in Microsoft , you can also take backup from front end webserver
26. Dimension types define the behavior and the required properties of a dimension. Each dimension
must be assigned to one of the following dimension types:
Dimension Type
A
C
D
E
G
I
R
S
T
U

Description
Account
Category
Audit
Entity
Group
Intercompany
Currency
Subtable
Time
User Defined

A model must contain the following dimension types:

Account
Category
Entity
Time

The Intercompany Dimension type is required to perform intercompany elimination

Subtable is typically used in consolidation to disclose movement, like increase, decrease and trfr to
b/sheet accounts
Audit is used to classify data according to the origin, such as input, calculations and adjustments.
The Measure is a special case dimension created by the system to determine the periodic or YTD view of
the data.
Dimension Properties: You use dimension properties to evaluate or select members in different context
like calculation, reports and input forms.You can also display property values in reports and input forms

For the entity type dimension, the properties Owner & Reviewer are not required.However they are
mandatory if you want to use the Work status and Process features
Dimension Hierarchy: You can use hierarchies to roll up values from base members to parent members.
Since each hierarchy is treated as a separate dimension in the database,you should limit the number of
hierarchy.
Reference Dimension: it is used for some specific dimension types. The reference dimension is used to
check the values of a property against a separate dimension. For eg, The entity dimension is defined with
a reference to the currency dimension. The currency defined for one entity is therefore checked in the
currency dimension.
Processing a dimension is used to save the changes in the database. It also validates the hierarchies and
the dimension formula.

27. Model Types:

Reporting models typically store and process financial data.
Drivers and rates models store data to support reporting models. Such models store data like currency
rates or consolidation %tages

FINANCIAL MODEL IN MODEL TYPES, used for reporting, planning and management consolidation.

Required dimension in model

Secured Dimension: You can define security restrictions using dimension

Model Optimization in MS Version.
Data is stored in models on the following level;

Real Time (Write Back table): corresponds to the most current data sent to the system using the
input forms
Short term (FAc2 tables) : corresponds to the data created or loaded using the Data Manager
packages.
Long term (FACT Table): corresponds to the FACT table, which offers better performance.

Light Optimization: Closes the open request,

compresses without Zero-Elimination and indexes the cube, and
updates database statistics for the BW InfoCube.
Full Optimization: Will perform the same operations as Light Optimization, but will also check the
NetWeaver BW data model. If the data model can be improved, Full Optimization will do so, and this
could take a long time to run (for cubes with large data volumes).
Full Optimization will check whether the data model of the BW Cube is built appropriately. Specifically, it
will check:

 Dimension tables have < 20% size of fact table

As many line item dimensions are used whenever possible If the cube structure can be optimized,
then it will:
Take Environment Offline
Create a Shadow Cube with Optimal Data Model
Move data to shadow cube, delete original cube
Close Open Request, Compress and Index the Cube, Update Database Statistics
Bring Environment back online.
Because this is technically going to be new cube, any changes that had been made to (or surrounding)
the underlying InfoCubes will be lost, which means that:
Data Transfer Processes (DTPs) to/from the Cube
Aggregates or Business Intelligence Accelerator (BIA) Indexes will be lost.
Both optimization options require that the environment is offline.
Be careful running a Full Optimization, since significant system resources are used in the process.
You can choose to perform either a light optimization or a full optimization.
It is possible to execute the optimization online or via Data Management Package

28. You cannot delete a member for which journal entries exist.You need to unpost the journal, and
change the member in the journal before deleting the member.
Data Manager:
Copying is only possible within the same model.To copy data from one model to another model, you need
to set up script.
Transformation File:
Options: Here, You set the general parameters of the file to be imported, as well as differnet options for
the import process.

Mapping: Here, you define how to feed the dimension members in your models
29. When you use the import package and the copy package, you can select the following modes to
update the data. Update Modes
Merge data values
New records and existing records are merged.
Existing records are not changed
Replace and clear data values
Existing records are cleared and replaced by the
new records
Append data values
New records are added to the existing records

30. MakeDim Package

You use this package to create dimension members from an SQL table
31. 4 Types of calculation Logics:

Worksheet Logics: Local calculations with Excel functions or EPM functions

Dimension formulas
Script Logics
Business Rules: Calculation is done based on predefined parameters such as Conversion rules,
intercompany eliminations
Business Add Inn (BAADI) in case of NW

In Case of member formula, the member must contain a dimension name. The only exception is account
type dimension, for which you do not need to enter the dimension name.

32. Solve Order Parameter:

When a report or an input form contains multiple dimension member formulas, the order of the calculation
is significant. The Solve Order parameter controls the calculation sequence.The lower the Solve Order
value, the sooner it will be calculated.
Pros:

Real Time calculation

Consistency, formula is the same for all models

Cons:

Affects report performance

Calculation also applies to parent members
Not flexible since any changes in the formula would affect all models

33. Script logic calculations are stored in 2 different fields:

LGF File: An ASCII file where you create the calculation logic. You edit this file from BPC
Administration.
LGX File: The compiled logic file. The system creates this file when you validate and save your
logic.This is the executable version of script logic.
34. Logic files to run real-time calculations:

Default.LGF: The system creates his file automatically when you create a model.The system will
execute any logic included in this file after every data send.
Journal.LGF: In this file, you define calculations that must be processed only when journals are
posted.The file will overwrite the default logic file.

35. Script Logic Components

Scoping: On which data do you run the logic?

Calculations: Which actions do you perform on the scoped members?

Commit: Writing the results to the database

You can use // characters to deactivate a line in the script logic.This line is not executed when the
logic is run. You can also use this logic to comment the logic.

*DESTINATION_MODEL: Writes the data to a different model.

36. MDX Syntax in Script Logic:

Dimension members and dimension name are in uppercase

Member IDs must be enclosed by square brackets
Dimension members must be preceded by the dimension name.For the account type dimension,
this is not required.

37. There are two types of Syntax options in SAP BPC Script Logic. They are:

SQL based syntax

(Choose this option for better performance)
MDX based syntax
(Choose this option for specific record level calculations). Here the
calculated member is prefixed with a #

38. You typically run calculations using batch mode when:

Calculations is not required real time

The volume of data to calculate requires batch mode
The data required for calculations is not complete from the beginning.

39. Allocation Script Logic: You use allocation to distribute values over dimension members using
drivers. You typically use allocation to :

Allocate the HeadOffice exps to the operating entities manually, according to a % input
Allocating building cost to the cost center according to respective head count
Allocate annual Plan amounts to months according to the actual weighting of the previous year.

Allocation is used to define complex allocations using a limited number of instructions.

For BPC 10.0 MS, You can use logic debugger to test the logic and analyse the result from front end.

39. Business Rules: are parameter driven functions that perform financial calculations.
40. Account Based Calculations: to create data records from existing data using simple calculations .
It is used to calculate:

Cash Flow statement

Reclassification of Account balances
Calculation of retained Earnings account

41. Security: It is defined using the following components

Users
Teams: Group of users
Data Access profile: Set of models and dimension members the user can access

Task profiles: A set of functions the user can use.You can assign several data access profiles but
only 1 task profile to the team

42. Only the secure dimension is available in the data access profile definition
43. Security Principles:
When a user is assigned to several task profiles (directly or through a team) all the task included
in the assigned field is assigned.
If a user has conflicting member access profiles, the user is granted the less restricted access
User assignment have priority over team assignments
A member assignment has priority over a hierqarchy node assignment
44. Work Status:
Reasons to use Work Status:

To prevent data update and assign data a status such as In process , submitted,
rejected,approved or locked
Users must be able to submit a set of data , asnd the person responsible must be able to reject or
approve data
The status must be capable to behaving differently depending upon the function used to update
data

WorkStatus Components:
When you set up the work status, you define the following:

Work State: the different status the data can be assigned to for eg, submitted, rejected, approved
Security Level: Who can update the data for the work status
Data update function: which function can be used (for eg input form , data upload, journals,)
Relevant dimension for the work status settings

The Workstatus definition includes settings at environment level and model level.
In BPC work status are used along with BPF to enforce that appropriate locks are placed on the data
during the process.
Under Work status : It can be controlled by

Owner
Manager
Owner & Manager
The owner of Parent Dimension member is manager of child dimension member.

Work Status Setup:

This function allows you to lock a region (or slice) of data in a model. The work status setting
overrides the member access privileges of a user to write to a given region. A region of data is
defined by three to five dimensions per model, one with property called Owner.

When you set up work status, you define the following:

Work Status - The codes that refer to a physical status of data (such as Unlocked, Submitted &
Approved)
Level of security - The users or teams who can change the work status, which is Owner, Manager,
or Owner and Manager.
Method of data update - The manner in which the customer updates data. Permitted Data Entry
Methods for Data Manager, Journal, Manual Entry, Comments & Documents
Push - Equivalent to the check box Include all children when setting work statuses, the option
allows you to set one work status code to all children of a member. This does not set the selected
parent member.
Owner / Manager Determination:
Parent member owners act as an owner for that specific parent member ID
Parent member owners act as a manager for their direct children - the parent owner can
change any specific direct child work status; can be both parent and base members
When using Include all children - the owner of a parent can update all children (all levels) below
Base (leaf) members owners act as owner only
Members (top of a hierarchy) that have no parent but have children act as their own manager
in addition to owner
Controlled By Rule:

An owner is defined by only one dimension hierarchy, the OWNER dimension

A work status can be set on a specific single member ID, where the manager does not
use Include All Children
A work status can be set on a series of member IDs, where the manager uses Include All
Children

Setting the Work Status:

If the user is acting as an owner, they can select a work status controlled by Owner or Owner and
Manager.
If the user is acting as an owner and the selected member has no parent, the user also acts as a
manager (top of the hierarchy) and they can select a work status controlled by Owner, Manager
or Owner and Manager.
If the user is the parent owner in the role of Manager, then they can use the Include All Children
option (to push the work status to children). This option is not valid for a base member, the Owner
role.
Consecutive Work Status Rules

You can set work status in a forward direction (progressive) or in a backward direction
(regressive)
For a user acting as an Owner, the order matters

The user can only select the next (forward) work status that is controlled by either Owner or
Owner and Manager
The user can select the previous (backward) work status that is controlled by either Owner or
Owner and Manager
The user cannot select a work status that skips a work status controlled by Manager, either
forward or backward
For a user acting as a Manager, the order does not matter
The user can only select a work status that is controlled by either Manager or Owner and
Manager, either forward or backward
The user can select a work status that skips a work status controlled by Owner, either forward
or backward.
If you expand all records on the non-OWNER dimensions only, and find the current work
status on each record, the model checks each and every expanded record for the rules. If
one record fails, the whole request is ignored

Bottom-Up Rule

A parent work status cannot be higher than its children (order matters)
o The order of work statuses is determined top to bottom in the work status code
screen. The first code is 0, the next code is 1, and so on.
o A child can have a work status that is greater than or equal to its parent
For a user acting as owner:
o If a child is set to Submit, it parent cannot be set to Approve.
o If one or more children have a work status that is lower than the work status being set
for a parent (forward), then an error appears
o If the parent's work status has a higher work status, an error appears if you attempt
to regress a child's work status (backward)
The rules above also apply when the user is acting as a Manager (where Include All Children
is selected or the Manager sets a specific child work status)
For all expanded records (non-OWNER dimensions), the immediate parent is checked to
verify that it has a work status that is less than or equal to its children. If one child fails this
rule, all fail.

Method of Update
The areas of Planning and Consolidation for which you can control the level of security are as follows:

Data Manager ( DM) - Controls data input from running a Copy, Import, or Move package

Journal ( JRN) - Controls data input from posting journal entries

Manual Entry ( MAN) - Controls data input manually

Comments ( COM) - Controls data input from posting comments (unstructured data)

Documents ( DOCS) - Controls posting documents with model context to the Document view
(unstructured data)

Defining Work Statuses

Work statuses (or work status "codes") are defined for the entire environment (not per model). There is
no limit to the number of codes you can create, but there is a practical limit.
There is a default work status that must be first and cannot be changed. It has an internal code of 0 and
is controlled by the Manager and Owner ( Controlledby is set to Owner and Manager). You can change
the method of update for this code, but not the order or the Controlledby value. You can change the text
description.
The default code allows you to have a customized behavior for the environment. For example:
LOCKED for all methods is equivalent to preventing any data update until the work status is advanced to
the next status (1)
ALL for all methods is equivalent to having all data open for update - this is the current and default
behavior
SETUP applies to ALL of the models in the environment
WRITEBACK always checks for locks; if there are no locks in the lock table, the system behaves based
on the setup of status (0)
Work status codes must be 20 characters or less, and their descriptions are limited to 40 characters (this
is the same as a member ID).
You can change the order of work status, but once you change it, the system deletes all locks for all
models in the environment. Deleting codes also deletes all locks. Adding codes to the bottom of the list,
changing a code definition, does not impact existing locks, but may impact business users. We
recommend this only during the testing phase.
Work Status Rules

The following rules describe work status behavior:

The default method for managing work status is bottom-up. That is, the status of a parent cannot
be higher than the status of its children. (NetWeaver does not support top-down)

The maximum status a parent can be set to is the lowest status of its immediate children.

If the status of a parent is set to Locked, you cannot unlock the children.

The minimum status a child can be set to is the status of its immediate parent. For example, if the
parent status is Submitted, the child status must be at least Submitted.

The owner of an entity can set the work status to any status designated as an Owner status.

The manager of an entity can set the work status to any status designated as a Manager status.

A manager is the owner of a parent-level member. The owner of a parent level member is the
manager of all its descendants.

When setting a lock on the parent members of multiple dimensions, locks are set for all members
under all parents (specifically, the Cartesian product is stored as locked).

If you reorder work status codes in the Admin client, all locks are deleted. This also applies
deleting a work status.

A parent value for a non-OWNER dimension is not stored. When the user selects a parent for
a non-OWNER dimension, it is expanded to all base members, and only stores the base
members.

A parent value for the OWNER dimension is stored.

45. Multi Posting Journal Entry: You use this feature to post a single journal entry to multiple
dimension members
Two options are available:
o
o

Multiple Headers: A journal is required to be posted to two different categories ie Budgets and
forecast
Multiple Values: A journal must be repeated on different periods, but the amounts are not the
same for each period.

Journal Validation Rules: You define journal validation rules to prevent incorrect member combination
across dimensions.
Reopening Journals: You can reopen one or more journal entries from a previous period
46. Document Type & Subtype:
The Document type (under Admin) is only used to define different type & subtype which can used while adding files
in Document (under Home). Document types and subtypes allows users to classify the documents they share on the
documents view.

47. Setting up and Using Audits: System Reports

This function allows you to prepare reports that contain system information and a history of administration
and business user activities.

48. Configuring Drill Through:

Drill-through displays the source data in another system or another table

Drilldown displays the child members in the same report
Drill through in BPC 10.0 NW only supports drill through to URL, nothing more.
Example of Drill through:
Example 1

When SAP BusinessObjects Financial Information Management (FIM) is used to load data into
Planning and Consolidation from external data sources (flat files, tables, 3rd party applications, or
other EPM applications), this data is often transformed and aggregated. Planning and
Consolidation only stores the final data, and users may want to drill-through into the details of the
data that is stored in a FIM repository (staging area). A URL-based drill-through makes this
possible.
Example 2
The user would like to select a cell within a SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation,
version for Netweaver (BPC) report and drill through to a SAP Netweaver Business Warehouse
(BW) Business Explorer (BEx) Report or to an ECC transaction.
Drill Down Display:
Drill down functionality in BPC is standard and does not need programming.

Drill Through Options:

Drill through to a data base table:
Eg: You define a drill through to display the journals from the corresponding SQL table
You define a drill through to a specific SQL table that contains a sales with invoice numbers
Drill through a URL:
You define a drill through to display the account balance in the source accounting system
You define a drill through to a BW query

49. Visualization Types

You can visualize ad hoc analysis and KPI analysis using the following visualization types:
1. Status indicator: It shows the overall variance resulting from period or category comparison, with a
graphical rating based on performance indexes.
2. Variance Analysis: shows the top contributors, and the graphical contribution for dimension
3. Child performance : It shows the variance along a dimension hierarchy with a status indicator
4. Contribution Analysis: shows the top contributors to a variance across two dimension.
50. Processing a Dimension also validates the hierarchies and dimension formulas.
51. Each User defined dimension is assigned to a unique index.

In addition, you can select the following content to be copied:

Database records
Business process flows
Document attachment
Web reports

52. The Driver dimension must contain the owner property that contains the user ID,
53. We can upload a function to copy a file from your local machine to the server.
54. We can define a default value for a dimension member when this dimension is not contained in the
file.

Traversal Dimension is the dimension displayed in the colums in the Contribution Analysis

Using Work Status to Control Journals: You can use the work status feature to allow the user to post
journals when the data is already submitted. Combining work status with journal security enables
collaboration scenerio like the following:

Status Unlocked: User A can import DATA or input data manually

Status Submitted: User A can only input journals to existing data but cannot post them.
Status Is Approved: User A & B both cannot input or post journals.

You can reopen one or more journal entries from a previous period and post them to another set of
accounts for the following period.
The members selected on the axes of the report override the members selected in the context

You can Audit the following data change events:

EPM Add-In
Data manager
Logic Script Execution
Web Input
Journal Input
Business Rule Execution
FIM Import

Dimension members that are selected in the axis of a report override the members
selected in the EPM Context and subsequent context pane changes will not be used to
select data. Therefore, it might be prudent to hide or lock dimension.

Allocation Engine : You use the allocation engine to define complex allocations using a limited number
of instructions. The allocation engine uses standard script logic, with a simplified syntax.
UJKT is kind of a debugger. In the MS version, we have a script debugger in the BPC Admin. However, in NW, we
dont have that. Instead, we use UJKT.
Using UJKT, we can simulate the script for a data region and see how it works.

Conversion file is used to map the member names from the file to the member name in your model.

Final Preparation in Road Map?

Test the solution

Conduct training

EPM Add-In can be used to read data from both SAP Business Objects Planning & Consolidation
as well as a BW INfoprovider simulataneously.

Adding a New Dimension to an existing model : You can add a new dimension to an existing
model.The dimension member must contain at least one member, since the existing transaction data of
the model will be assigned to the first member of the added dimension.You can distribute values to the
correct markets as required.
When you add a property and select the InApp option to store this property in the database, you need to
process the dimension.

WEB CLIENT: It Consist of :

Protyping is a key for early user involvement and to prove designs.It reduces change management efforts
during Go-LIVE Preparation (lean implementataion model)

The first time you use the EPM Add-In , you must click the Show Pane & Context button on the EPM
Ribbon to see the EPM Context Bar and EPM Pane. By Default, the EPM Context Bar is displayed
horizontally, below the ribbon.The EPM Pane is displayed vertically on the right side of the window by
default.

Do Not Store Environment allows you to save a report without storing the connection with the report.
Then, you will be able to use this report with other connections provided that the models have similar
structures.

Workspace allows users to store content (document), reports, and input forms in a single place.
When you add an environment , a new database is created on the Microsoft SQL Server.The database
includes tables for master data (dimension) , data, and meta data (configuration).You can visualize your
environment on the Microsoft SQL server using SQL Server Management Studio.
Member ID can have upto 20 character.You cannot use a space or special character for ids.
Descriptions can have upto 50 characters.You cannot use double quote.
Each hierarchy is treated as a separate dimension in the database, you should limit the number of
hierarchies.
Concurrent Lock: To prevent concurrent data submission , you can define the lock level for your model.
Copying function is only possible within the same model.To copy data from one model to another , you
need to set up script logic.