SAP BI/BW Interview Question and Answers

1. Why we have only 16 Dimension tables in a cube. Is there any reason. Is it a limitation (Asked in Enteg-Technologies)? A: Because Cube is nothing but Fact Table and in sap for each table we will have 16 Composite key or Primary Key so Dimension is nothing but primary key for Cube or fact Table. OR A: Database Table can have maximum of 16 key fields only. So we cannot create more than 16 dimensions. Three is sap provided and we create only 13 dimensions. 2. Why we are going for customization? Give me a scenario (Asked in HP)? A: If there is not business content objects then we go for creating or customizing. 3. WHERE DO YOU STORE THE MASTER DATA IN BI 7.0? A: In characteristics. For this in info provider tab under modeling right click on Info area and press INSERT CHARACTERISTIC AS INFO POVIDER OPTION.THEN this characteristic enable to store Master Data. 4. What are the common Transport errors in SAP BW (Asked in IBM)? A: 1. NOT CORRECT USAGE. Reason: When we change the structure of any cube which has Business Warehouse Accelerator Indexes created for it. Change in structure could mean a change as simple as adding a navigational attribute. Solution: Delete the Indexes (BWA Indexes) first then transport and then rebuild the indexes 2. Info Object not available in active version. Reason: We get this error when we try to transport the Info Object Catalogs without transporting the info objects. Solution: As a prerequisite first transport the info objects then transport info object catalogs. 3. Navigational attribute does not exist Reason: If we mark an object in the cube as navigational attribute and navigational attribute does not exist as navigational in the target system. Solution: Transport the info object with navigational attribute and then reimport this transport. 5. What are the advantages of info cube with aggregates (Asked in Patni)? A: The main advantage of infocube with aggregates will increase the performance. If we create aggregates on infocube then query performance will be improved if our query

accessing attributes data frequently. The sequence when we execute the query is: 1. Query first goes into cache if it finds relevant data in cache will fetch data otherwise 2. It goes into BI ACCELERATOR (BIA) 3. Aggregates 4. Finally it goes into IC if the data is not available in above 3 stages. If we maintain aggregates or BIA OLAP no needs to come up to Info Cube. So time will be reduced. Query performances will be improved. 6. Can we load delta load directly without full load? How? What are the steps? A: Yes we can. Because of for capturing deltas we need to do something before load the deltas. Before going to set the delta mode. You should initialize delta process without data transfer process. After finishing this initialization keep the delta mode. And execute the info package. Before going to execute info package check weather data source is ready to capture deltas or not. By using the t-code rsa7. 7. What is the technical name for dimensions in a cube (Asked in IBM)? A: The technical name of the dimension table is 1. If customer created cube /BIC/DXXX1 /BIC/DXXX2 /BIC/DXXX9 -CHAR DIM And /BIC/DXXXA /BIC/DXXXB /BIC/DXXXC /BIC/DXXXD /BIC/DXXXP-DATAPACKAGE DIM /BIC/DXXXT-TIME DIM /BIC/DXXXU-UNIT DIM One IC can contain 16 dimensions but we can create only 13 dimensions, rest of 3 dimensions (P, T, and U) system will create. 2. IF IT IS BI CONTENT IC Same as above but naming convention is /BIO/Dxxxx1 like that. 8. If someone interviewer ask me briefly explain your sales flow in your project (Asked in IBM)? A: Depending on how your sales flow method was. Example was it business content (delivered) or was it Custom from the scratch?

Sales Order - Delivery - AR Invoice - Incoming Payment the steps? A: First we check any Routines are available in Flow. i.e., transfer routine / update routine / start routine in BW 3.x No routines are there right click on Data Source select option Migrate>Create Transformation. Suppose any routines are available in Update Rules follow Steps 1) Right Click on Update Rules select Migrate 2) Right Click on Data Source select Migrate 3) Create Transformations 4) Create DTP 10. Why u r creating custom cube. What is scenario to creating the custom cube? A: Normally when we are not satisfied with business content cube we go for creating custom cube for business analysis to analysis the reports Scenario: we extract data from multiple tables. Ex: customer data, sales data we go for creating cube based on requirement creating the info objects, info source and assign data source to info source activate transfer structure & communication structure and create the update rules & activate and create the info package & schedule it. 11. Can anybody explain what OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) is and "OLAP"(Online Analytical Processing) in SAP BW/BI? And also please explain what the differences between those two are? A: OLTP -- example for OLTP is sap r/3. It is optimized by data storage. Read, write access is possible. Contains limited historical data. Data base size is finite. OLAP--- example for OLAP is sap BW/BI. It is optimized by reporting. Only read access is possible. Contains lots of historical data. Data base size in infinite 12. AFTER A PURCHASE ORDER HAS BEEN APPROVED, AND PRINTED, AND THERE IS NEED TO MAKE CHANGES ON THE P O, DO I CANCEL THE OLD P O OR DO I JUST EDIT AND SEND FOR APPROVAL? A: You cannot update Purchase order after approval. Create new PO and send it to approval again. 13. What is the difference between canceling the sales order and closing the sales order? A: Canceling the sales order would be if a Business Partner had placed an order for a certain Item but wants to withdraw the order. If a Business Partner has placed an order for a certain Item and if it has been delivered then the
9. How to migrate the cube data from BW to BI? Explain and give me

Sales order is said to be closed. How many types of Routines in SAP BI (7.0) (Asked in TCS)? A: Actually routine is the ABAP CODE where ever we can write in BI. We can write the ABAP CODE at the following cases. 1. Info Package routine, where even we can get the file information also. 2. Start Routine, This will trigger before Transformations. Generally used for filtering records. 3. End Routine, this will trigger before Transformations. Generally used for updating data based on existing data. 4. Expert Routine, this will trigger without any transformation Rule. Whenever we try to write expert routine, all existing rules are deleted. This is used generally for customizing rules. 5. Ty Routine, this will trigger inside the Rule based on the char. or KF. If rule for Char, then Char Transformation Routine will trigger. If rule for KF, then KF Transformation Routine will trigger. 15. What is UI and DI objects (Asked in Nastek)? A: UI - User Interface API We use it to extend the SAP B1 user interface. DI - Data Interface API We use it to extend the SAP B1 database (UDF, UDT) 16. What is concept behind incoming payment and outgoing payment (Asked in Wipro)? A: In SAP B1, Basically when we raise Accounts Payable (A/P) Invoice means we are crediting the Vendor and Debit the Expenses. And when we are paying to that Particular Vendor or General Ledger account, we use Outgoing Payment and Select the Payment means through which we are Paying and raise the Outgoing Payment. Similarly when an Account Receivable (A/R) invoice is raised us to the Customer Account and when we receive the Amount from that, then we will raise Incoming Payment. 17. What is the difference between PSA and IDoc? A: >> In IDOC there is no error handling facility and it is used for small data load as the data load performance for larger data is not good when compared to PSA and it is mostly used for hierarchy loading. >> IDOC method is very slow and data is not staged and cannot be edited. PSA method is faster, staging is possible, editing is possible and is the most widely used. 18. What is table partition? A: SAP is using fact table partitioning to improve the performance. You can partition only on
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0CALMONTH or 0FISCPER. How would you convert an info package group into a process chain? A: Double Click on the info package group, click on the Process Chain Maintain button and type in the name and description; the individual info packages are inserted automatically. 20. How do you replace a query result from a master query to a child query? A: If you select characteristic value with replacement path then it used the results from previous query; for ex: let us assume that u have query Q1 which displays the top 10 customers, we have query Q2 which gets the top 10 customers for info object 0customer with as a variable with replacement path and display detailed report on the customers list passed from Q1. 21. What are the extractor types? A: Application Specific BW Content FI, HR, CO, SAP CRM, LO Cockpit Customer-Generated Extractors LIS, FI-SL, CO-PA Cross Application (Generic Extractors) DB View, Info Set, Function Module 22. What are the steps involved in LO Extraction? A: The steps are: RSA5 Select the Data Sources LBWE Maintain Data Sources and Activate Extract Structures LBWG Delete Setup Tables 0LI*BW Setup tables RSA3 Check extraction and the data in Setup tables LBWQ Check the extraction queue LBWF Log for LO Extract Structures RSA7 BW Delta Queue Monitor 23. What is the difference between ODS and Info Cube and Multi Provider? A: ODS: Provides granular data, allows overwrite and data is in transparent tables, ideal for drilldown and RRI. CUBE: Follows the extended star schema, we can only append data, ideal for primary reporting. Multi Provider: Does not have physical data. It allows to access data from different Info Providers (Cube, ODS, Info Object). It is also preferred for reporting. 24. What are Start routines, Transfer routines and Update routines? A: Start Routines: The start routine is run for each Data Package after the data has been written to the PSA and before the transfer rules have been executed. It allows complex computations for a
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key figure or a characteristic. It has no return value. Its purpose is to execute preliminary calculations and to store them in global Data Structures. This structure or table can be accessed in the other routines. The entire Data Package in the transfer structure format is used as a parameter for the routine. Transfer / Update Routines: They are defined at the Info Object level. It is like the Start Routine. It is independent of the Data Source. We can use this to define Global Data and Global Checks. 25. What is the difference between start routine and update routine, when, how and why are they called? A: Start routine can be used to access Info Package while update routines are used while updating the Data Targets. 26. What is the table that is used in start routines? A: Always the table structure will be the structure of an ODS or Info Cube. For example if it is an ODS then active table structure will be the table. 27. Explain how you used Start routines in your project? A: Start routines are used for mass processing of records. In start routine all the records of Data Package is available for processing. So we can process all these records together in start routine. In one of scenario, we wanted to apply size % to the forecast data. For example if material M1 is forecasted to say 100 in May. Then after applying size %( Small 20%, Medium 40%, Large 20%, Extra Large 20%), we wanted to have 4 records against one single record that is coming in the info package. This is achieved in start routine. 28. What are Return Tables? A: When we want to return multiple records, instead of single value, we use the return table in the Update Routine. Example: If we have total telephone expense for a CostCenter, using a return table we can get expense per employee. 29. How do start routine and return table synchronize with each other? A: Return table is used to return the Value following the execution of start routine 30. What is table partition? A: SAP is using fact table partitioning to improve the performance. you can partition only on 0CALMONTH or 0FISCPER 31. How would you convert an info package group into a process chain? A: Double Click on the info package group, click on the Process Chain Maintain button and type in

the name and description the individual info packages are inserted automatically. 32. How do you replace a query result from a master query to a child query? A: If you select characteristic value with replacement path then it used the results from previous query; for ex: let us assume that u have query Q1 which displays the top 10 customers, we have query Q2 which gets the top 10 customers for info object 0customer with as a variable with replacement path and display detailed report on the customers list passed from Q1. 33. What is modeling? A: It is an art of designing the data base. The design of DB depends on the schema and the schema is defined as representation of tables and their relationships. 34. What is an info cube? A: Info cube is structured as star schema (extended) where a fact table is surrounded by different dim table that are linked with DIM ids. And the data wise, you will have aggregated data in the cubes. 35. What is extended star schema? A: In Extended Star Schema, under the BW star schema model, the dimension table does not contain master data. But it is stored externally in the master data tables (texts, attributes, hierarchies). The characteristic in the dimensional table points to the relevant master data by the use of SID table. The SID table points to characteristics attribute texts and hierarchies. This multistep navigational task adds extra overhead when executing a query. However the benefit of this model is that all fact tables (info cubes) share common master data tables between several info cubes. Moreover the SID table concept allows users to implement multi languages and multi hierarchy OLAP environments. And also it supports slowly changing dimension. 36. Delete a BEx query that is in Production system through request. A: Using the RSZDELETE transaction 37. How would you optimize the dimensions? A: We should define as many dimensions as possible and we have to take care that no single dimension crosses more than 20% of the fact table size. 38. What are Conversion Routines for units and currencies in the update rule?

A: Using this option we can write ABAP code for Units / Currencies conversion. If we enable this flag then unit of Key Figure appears in the ABAP code as an additional parameter. For example, we can convert units in Pounds to Kilos. 39. Can an InfoObject be an InfoProvider, how and why? A: Yes, when we want to report on Characteristics or Master Data. We have to right click on the InfoArea and select Insert characteristic as data target. For example, we can make 0CUSTOMER as an InfoProvider and report on it. 40. What is Open Hub Service? A: The Open Hub Service enables us to distribute data from an SAP BW system into external Data Marts, analytical applications, and other applications. We can ensure controlled distribution using several systems. The central object for exporting data is the InfoSpoke. We can define the source and the target object for the data. BW becomes a hub of an enterprise data warehouse. The distribution of data becomes clear through central monitoring from the distribution status in the BW system. 41. How do you transform Open Hub Data? A: Using BADI we can transform Open Hub Data according to the destination requirement. 42. What is ODS? A: Operational DataSource is used for detailed storage of data. We can overwrite data in the ODS. The data is stored in transparent tables. 43. What is BW Statistics and what is its use? A: They are group of Business Content InfoCubes which are used to measure performance for Query and Load Monitoring. It also shows the usage of aggregates, OLAP and Warehouse management. 44. What are the steps to extract data from R/3? A: Replicate DataSources Assign InfoSources Maintain Communication Structure and Transfer rules Create and InfoPackage Load Data 45. What are the delta options available when you load from flat file? A: The 3 options for Delta Management with Flat Files: Full Upload New Status for Changed records (ODS Object only) Additive Delta (ODS Object & InfoCube)

46. What are the extractor types?

A: Application Specific BW Content FI, HR, CO, SAP CRM, LO Cockpit Customer-Generated Extractors LIS, FI-SL, CO-PA Cross Application (Generic Extractors) DB View, InfoSet, Function Module 47. What are the steps involved in LO Extraction? A: The steps are: RSA5 Select the DataSources LBWE Maintain DataSources and Activate Extract Structures LBWG Delete Setup Tables 0LI*BW Setup tables RSA3 Check extraction and the data in Setup tables LBWQ Check the extraction queue LBWF Log for LO Extract Structures RSA7 BW Delta Queue Monitor 48. How to create a connection with LIS InfoStructures? A: LBW0 Connecting LIS InfoStructures to BW 49. What is the difference between ODS and InfoCube and MultiProvider? A: ODS: Provides granular data, allows overwrite and data is in transparent tables, ideal for drilldown and RRI. CUBE: Follows the star schema, we can only append data, ideal for primary reporting. MultiProvider: Does not have physical data. It allows to access data from different InfoProviders (Cube, ODS, InfoObject). It is also preferred for reporting. 50. What are Start routines, Transfer routines and Update routines? A: Start Routines: The start routine is run for each DataPackage after the data has been written to the PSA and before the transfer rules have been executed. It allows complex computations for a key figure or a characteristic. It has no return value. Its purpose is to execute preliminary calculations and to store them in global DataStructures. This structure or table can be accessed in the other routines. The entire DataPackage in the transfer structure format is used as a parameter for the routine. Transfer / Update Routines: They are defined at the InfoObject level. It is like the Start Routine. It is independent of the DataSource. We can use this to define Global Data and Global Checks. 51. What is the difference between start routine and update routine, when, how and why are they called?

A: Start routine can be used to access InfoPackage while update routines are used while updating the Data Targets. 52. What is Star Schema? A: In Star Schema model, Fact table is surrounded by dimensional tables. Fact table is usually very large, that means it contains millions to billions of records. On the other hand dimensional tables are very small. Hence they contain a few thousands to few million records. In practice, Fact table holds transactional data and dimensional table holds master data. The dimensional tables are specific to a fact table. This means that dimensional tables are not shared to across other fact tables. When other fact table such as a product needs the same product dimension data another dimension table that is specific to a new fact table is needed. This situation creates data management problems such as master data redundancy because the very same product is duplicated in several dimensional tables instead of sharing from one single master data table. This problem can be solved in extended star schema. 53. What is slowly changing dimension? A: Dimensions those changes with time are called slowly changing dimension. 54. What is fact table? A: Fact table is the collection if facts and relations that means foreign keys with the dimension. Actually fact table holds transactional data. 55. What is dimension table? A: Dimension table is a collection of logically related descriptive attributes that means characteristics. 56. How many tables does info cube contain? A: Actually info cube contains two tables E table and F (fact) table. 57. What is the maximum no. of dimensions in info cube? A: 16(3 are sap defines and 13 are customer defined)

58. What are the minimum no of dimensions in info cube?

A: 4(3 Sap defined and 1 customer defined). 59. What are the 3SAP defined dimensions? A: The 3 SAP defined dimensions are.. 1. Data packet dimension (P)..it contains 3characteristics.a) request Id (b) Record type (c) Change run id 2. Time dimension (T).it contains time characteristics such as 0calmonth,

0calday etc 3. Unit Dimension (U)it contains basically amount and quantity related units. 60. What is the maximum no. of key figures? A: 233 61. What is the maximum no. of characteristics? A: 248 62. What is the model of the info cube? A: Info cube model is extended star schema. 63. What are the data types for the characteristic info object? A: There are 4types: 1. CHAR 2. NUMC 3. DATS 4. TIMS 64. How youll write date in BW? A: YYYYMMDD 65. What are the differences between an OLAP and OLTP applications? A: OLAP a. Summarized data b. Read only c. Not Optimized d. Lot of historical data OLTP a. Detailed b. Read writ c. Optimized for data applications d. Not much old data 66. What is a star schema? A: A fact table at the center and surrounded (linked) by dimension tables 67. What are the advantages of Extended star schema of BW vs. the star schema? A: a. use of generated keys (numeric) for faster access b. external hierarchy c. multi language support d. master data common to all cubes e. slowly changing dimensions supported f. aggregates in its own tables for faster access 68. What is the namespace for BW? A: All SAP objects start with 0 and customer is A-Z; all tables begin with /BIO for SAP and /BIC for customers; All generated objects start with 1-8 (like export data source); prefix 9A is used in APO. 69. What is an info object? A: Business object like customer, product, etc; they are divided into characteristics and key figures;

characteristics are evaluation objects like customer and key figures are measurable objects like sales quantity, etc; characteristics also include special objects like unit and time. 70. What are the data types supported by characteristics? A: NUMC, CHAR (up to 60), DATS and TIMS 71. What is an external hierarchy? A: Presentation hierarchies are stored in its own tables (hierarchy tables) for characteristic values 72. What are time dependent text / attribute of characteristics? A: If the text (for example a name of the product /person over time) or if the attribute changes over time (for example job title) then these must be marked as time dependent. 73. Can you create your own time characteristics? A: No 74. What are the types of attributes? A: Display only and navigational; display only attributes are only for display and no analysis can be done; navigational attributes behave like regular characteristics; for example assume that we have a customer characteristics with country as a navigational attribute; you can analyze the data using customer and country. 75. What is Alpha conversion? A: Alpha conversion is used to store data consistently by storing any numeric values with prefixing with Os; for example if you defined material as 6 Numeric then number 1 is stored as 000001 but displayed as 1; this removes inconsistencies between 01 vs. 001. 76. What is the alpha check execution program? A: This is used to check consistency for BW 2.x before upgrading the system to 3.x; the transaction is RSMDCNVEXIT 77. What is the attributes only flag? A: If the flag is set, no master data is stored; this is only used as attribute for other characteristics; for example comments on an AR document. 78. What is compounding? A: This defines the superior info object which must be combined to define an object; for example when you define cost center then controlling area is the compounding (superior) object. 79. What is the BEx option for characteristics like F4 help for query definition and execution? A: This defines how the data is displayed in query definition screen or when query is executed; options are from the data displayed, from master data table (all data) and from dimension data;

for example let us assume that you have 100 products in all, 10 products in a cube; in BEx you display the query for 2 products; the following options for product will display different data a. selective data only - will display 2 products b. dimension data - will display 10 products c. from master data - will display all 100 products. 80. What are the data types allowed for key figures? A: Amount, number, integer, date and time. 81. What is the difference between amount/quantity and number? A: Amount/quantity always comes with units; for example sales will be amount and inventory quantity. 82. What are the aggregation options for key figures? A: If you are defining prices then you may want to set "no aggregation" or you can define max, min, sum; you can also define exception aggregation like first, last, etc; this is helpful in getting headcount; for example if you define a monthly inventory count key figure you want the count as of last day of the month. 83. What are the nine decision points of data warehousing? A: a. Identify fact table b. Identify dimension tables c. Define attributes of entities d. Define granularity of the fact table (how often e. Pre calculated key figures f. Slowly changing dimensions g. Aggregates h. How long data will be kept i. How often data is extracted 84. What is a SID table and advantages? A: The SID table (Surrogate ID table) is the interface between master data and the dimension tables; advantages:a. uses numeric as indexes for faster access b. master data independent of info cubes c. language support d. slowly changing dimension support 85. What are the other tables created for master data? A: a. P table - Time independent master data attributes b. Q table - Time dependent master data attributes c. M view - Combines P and Q d. X table - Interface between master data SIDs and time independent navigational attributes SIDs (P is linked to the X table) e. Y table - Interface between master data SIDs and time dependent navigational attributes SIDs (Q is linked to the Y table)

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