R/3 Product Hierarchy in BW data model.

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Hi all,

We have been told by our implementation partner that the scenario described below is not feasible to design in our BW 3.5 system and if we were to implement this scenario there would be a significant amount of user maintenance to maintain the hierarchy structure in BW.

I was a query user in previous BW versions and my datawarehouse modeling experience is mostly in Cognos and Business Objects. The scenario described below is very easily implemented in these other datawarehouse software packages and I would be suprised if SAP does not have a standard solution to address the problem.

I would like to understand if:

(1) Yes this solution can be easily implemented in BW 3.5

(2) A brief explanation on the design approach, implementation, and considerations

I am already familiar with the link on http://sap.help.com that explains BW hierarchy design and considerations, but I would like to get a "real world" understanding of an approach and design and if you experienced this requirement.

Thank You in advance for your input.

Regards,

-Anthony

Scenario:

In R/3 we have modified the standard delivered product hierarchy structure for material master from 5,5,8 to be 5,5,4,4.

The 4 levels represent: BRAND --> PRODUCT LINE --> PRODUCT CATEGORY --> PRODUCT SUBCATEGORY

Our intent is to use this structure to satisfy current BW reporting requirements for COPA and R/3 Billing infocubes.

In BEx Explorer we would like to perform product analysis using the following dimension paths:

BRAND --> PRODUCT LINE --> PRODUCT CATEGORY --> PRODUCT SUBCATEGORY

PRODUCT LINE --> PRODUCT CATEGORY --> PRODUCT SUBCATEGORY

PRODUCT CATEGORY --> PRODUCT SUBCATEGORY

We are told that since we have multiple values at the BRAND node we will not be able to perform grouped reporting the starts at PRODUCT LINE node(which would be independent of the BRAND node). For example:

BRAND, PRODUCT LINE, PRODUCT CATEGORY

-

HONDA, AUTOMOBILE, CIVIC

HONDA, AUTOMOBILE, ACCURA

HONDA, BLOWER, CIVIC

HONDA, MOTORCYCLE, ODESSY

FORD, AUTOMOBILE, EXPLORER

FORD, BLOWER, EXPLORER

FORD, MOTORCYCLE, CHAMPION

So for example we would like to start our dimensional anaylsis to show all AUTOMOBILE or BLOWER sales independent of the fact they were for HONDA or FORD.

In other datawarehouse systems I have either: (1) created 3 dimensions called: BRAND, PRODUCT LINE, and PRODUCT CATEGORY or (2) created one dimension called BRAND with alternate dimension paths for PRODUCT LINE and PRODUCT CATEGORY. I am not sure if this is feasible in BW.

We were also told in order to achieve this design a structure would have to be maintained in BW every time we introduce a new material master and the material master would need to be manually entered into the structure so that reporting can be achieved for both the standard structure and the alternate structure(s).