Resources for customizing SAP Universe objects with MDX

[Former Member]

Hello,

Are there any recommended documents out there that provide a comprehensive resource regarding MDX syntax? We are customizing objects in our SAP Universe using MDX, however the "customizing" chapter in the pdf..."Using SAP BW in Universe Designer" is not that thorough.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Kevin

[IngoH]

Hi Kevin,

when you talk about "customizing" what exactly are you trying to do ?

Ingo

[Former Member]

Ingo...here is an example from one of my team members....

We are able to create simple calculated measures such as:
<EXPRESSION>(@SELECT(path\ObjectA)) + (@SELECT(path\ObjectB))</EXPRESSION>
<EXPRESSION>(@SELECT(path\ObjectA)) - (@SELECT(path\ObjectB))</EXPRESSION>
<EXPRESSION>(@SELECT(path\ObjectA)) * (@SELECT(path\ObjectB))</EXPRESSION>
<EXPRESSION>(@SELECT(path\ObjectA)) / (@SELECT(path\ObjectB))</EXPRESSION>
No problem.  Anything more complex than that does not work, e.g. 
<EXPRESSION>Sum(YTD(), @SELECT(path\ObjectA))</EXPRESSION>
or even 
<EXPRESSION>Sum(@SELECT(path\ObjectA))</EXPRESSION> 
gets me an error when I try to include it in a Webi report at query execution time. It gives me an error: 
A database error occurred.  The database error text is: the MDX query ... failed to execute with error Unknown error. (WIS 10901)
Ideally, I would like to get something like <EXPRESSION>IFF(period = this period, amount, 0)</EXPRESSION> to work.  Without this kind of control, either the number of BEx queries, BO connections and universes that will be required will grow to an unmanageable number or Webi reports will become very complex with all kinds of formulas and will not be be suitable for any end user modification.  I think that resolving this is critical to having further success with BO implementations on top of EDW.
I am not sure if there is some patch level in EDW that is required or if I should be including some kind of specific date or time characteristic in my queries for this to work.  Any help is greatly appreciated. 

[IngoH]

Hi Kevin,

lets first of all clarify what the scenario is that you are trying to do here.

because some items make more sense in the BI query to be executed.

there are some examples in this paper:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/c0a45246-ce76-2b10-e688-f5c82062...

Ingo

[Former Member]

Hello Ingo...sorry for the delayed response as I have been working on some other issues.

But...the basic syntax we are trying to get working on this Measure is...

<EXPRESSION>IIF([Measures].[Month Number]=12, [Measures].[Amount], 0)</EXPRESSION>

Our consultant keeps getting WIS 10901 errors when using this syntax.