APO and BW

[Former Member]

Hi Group

We have BW 2.1 installed at the moment just for reporting purposes. We are in the process of migrating the reporting to another software. In 3 months we will fully complete the migration to the new reporting software. Thus we will not be using BW anymore.

At the same time, we are going to implement APO. I understand APO comes with BW also.

1) My question is, can we expire the existing BW and not use the BW that comes with APO?

2) I also hearing that APO needs BW engine? Is this true?

Our intention is to expire the BW completely and use the new reporting software. Also want to use APO for VMI.

Kindly advice.

Thanks

Yuva

[Former Member]

Hi,

You get BW along with SAP SCM-APO system and cannot be separated. The SAP BW system is fully integrated in APO and can be installed on the same server. The version of BW depends on version of SCM. It can be used to store data but cannot be so performance effective for reporting. You may use the external BW system to report but not needed. You can use BW in APO system to use for all purposes such as storing history from other systems, get the data from APO and store etc. If you dont want an independent SAP BW system, you can still workout. You can store the required data in APO-BW and using reporting tools such as cognos and report on them. SAP BW has a technology named OPEN HUB that lets it send the data from cubes to other systems.

Finally:

1) My question is, can we expire the existing BW and not use the BW that comes with APO?

A: Yes you can expire your independent BW system but cannot live without APO_BW as BW in APO is not separately. You have to use BW atleast the one that comes with APO.

2) I also hearing that APO needs BW engine? Is this true?

A: Not completely true. As I said, if you don't want to report using BW, leave the independent BW system and use an external reporting tool to report in BW in APO.

In V5.0, there is more flexibility. You can load data to planning area from flat file directly bypassing BW. But if you want to avoid BW all together, you life could be miserable!

For more information see service.sap.com/scm.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[Former Member]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

To add on, we have purchased a new reporting tool which will get the data directly from ECC6.0. As soon as we have fully install and configure this software, we are planning to expire the currentl BW system.

Few months later we will be installing the APO5.0 system. The APO will be just for VMI.

My question is does the APO requires BW configurations for any purposes?

Our plan is expire the current BW system, not to configure the BW that comes with APO and implement the new reporting software which will extract the data directly from ECC6.0.

Is this possibble?

Kindly advice

Thanks

Yuva

[Former Member]

Hai Yuva,

I don't know the kind of reporting tool you are planning to use. But the main use of BW is OLAP(Online Analytical processing), which means its read optimized And ECC is OLTP(Online Transaction Processing), which is write optimized. Now, storing all data in ECC and using a reporting tool increases load on your ECC system and may effect performance. I am not saying there are way to still work efficiently.

So, in your case, you need not maintain a separate BW system but the BW system that's inbuilt in APO is unavoidable. You get BI 7.0 with ECC 5.0. You actually need to have the APO-BW as your planning object structure and Planning area you use, the interactive planning book you make all use BW chars. and Key figures. You just can't use anything else. That's how APO is made. It's a good idea to just install complete APO in which BI installation is part and can be done on the same server as APO.

That's to my knowledge. There must be some kind of FAQs in service.sap.com about this topic. Try searching there.

Thanks.