Hello reader, Thank you for buying this book. It is not merely a Q&A book and the questions are not just How do you do this! or "hat is the transa#tion #ode for doing that! Ha$ing been on both sides of the inter$iewer%inter$iewee di$ide, I #anattest to the sense of frustration you feel when su#h an inter$iew ends u& being an e'er#ise in memori(ing. As an inter$iewer, there is no guarantee that you ha$e found the right fit! and as inter$iewee, you do not want to start workingona &roje#t without a strong gras& of the fundamentals. The questions in this book are therefore intended totes your #on#e&tual understanding of the )". *ou will also find se$eral questions that test your hands%on &rofi#ien#y. The answers will &ro$ide you with a good o$erall understanding of the te#hnology. +egardless of your le$el of &rofi#ien#y, you will find reading this book a worthwhile e'&erien#e. Ha$ing said that, I would like to stress that this book is by no means #om&rehensi$e guide to ,A- )". It is not a substitute for training and.or e'&erien#e but will #ertainly ser$e as a handy referen#e. A large &er#entage of the questions in this book are based on features in the latest ,A- )" releases/in#luding )" 0.12. Indeed, all the s#reenshots are based on a )" 0.1 system. Howe$er, the #on#e&ts generally hold true for the earlier $ersions also and whene$er there are signifi#ant de&artures from earlier $ersions, I ha$e made e$ery attem&t to &oint out the differen#es.The book is s&lit into fi$e se#tionsand ea#h se#tion #o$ers one or more areas in )".This book is di$ided into fi$e &arts. It #ontains questions on3 /425'tra#tion/627odeling and 8onfiguration/02Transformations and Administration/92-resentation and Analysis/12-erforman#e and 7is#ellaneous5a#h inter$iew question has a question and an answer : that is &retty straightforward : but when you see the guru i#on : this is information that re&resents the highest degreeof knowledge in a &arti#ular area. ,o if you!re looking for a guru, be sure to listen for an answer similar to those gi$en under the guru i#on. Part I: Extraction ;or any sour#e system running "eb A, 1?,A-I?)A@I /in transa#tion ,54A2. *ou will ha$e to #reate your own im&lementation and enhan#e method @ATA?T+AB,;C+7 /for all non%hierar#hy @ata ,our#es2 and HI5+?T+AB,;C+7 /for all hierar#hy @ata ,our#es2.Question 1: Enhance Data sourceHow do you enhance a Data source? A:;irstly, you need to #reate an a&&end stru#ture to the e'tra#t stru#ture of a @ata ,our#e. *ou #an do this by running transa#tion +,A< or by running transa#tion,)I" and then e'e#uting the following #onfigurationste&s3 -ost&ro#essing of @ata,our#es5dit@ata,our#es and A&&li#ation 8om&onent Hierar#hy.This will take you to the s#reen with all the a&&li#ationnodes. *ouwill ha$e to e'&and ea#h node until you getto the @ata,our#e that needs to be enhan#ed. -la#eyour #ursor on this @ata,our#e and #li#k on the 5nhan#e 5'tra#tion ,tru#ture! button and #reate thea&&end stru#ture. Add the desired fields : sa$e anda#ti$ate the a&&end stru#ture. In order to &o&ulate thenew fields, you need to add logi# to ,A-enhan#ement.#ustomer e'it +,A-===4 /in transa#tion,7C@2. This e'it.enhan#ement has 9 /fun#tion module2#om&onents3 42 5DIT?,A-E+,A-?==4 for transa#tion@ata,our#es, 62 5DIT?,A-E+,A-?==6 for /master data2attribute @ata,our#es, 02 5DIT?,A-E+,A-?==0 for/master data2 te't @ata,our#es and 925DIT?,A-E+,A-?==9 for hierar#hy @ata,our#es. *ouwill &ut your logi#.#ode into an in#lude!. ,in#e thissingle enhan#ement.e'it is used for all @ata,our#es,you will first need to #he#k for the @ata ,our#e in your#ode /by using a 8A,5! : "H5B! or I;! #onditionality2. AnuragBarua- 1 2 -;or any sour#e system running "eb A, 1?,A-I?)A@I /in transa#tion ,54A2. *ou will ha$eto #reate your own im&lementation and enhan#emethod @ATA?T+AB,;C+7 /for all non%hierar#hy@ata,our#es2 and HI5+?T+AB,;C+7 /for all hierar#hy@ata,our#es2. Question 2: Data Extraction ModesWhat are the 2 major modes o data extractionrom an !AP source system? A:This is a little tri#ky to answer : most #andidates seem to treat this as a question on the 6 major u&date modes3 full and delta. "ith a little &rodding, you #an#oa' a good #andidate into talking about the &ush! and &ull! modes. In the &ush! mode, data are &osted tointermediate tables or adelta queue by the a&&li#ationin the CET- system without any initiation on the &art of the )" system. The EC, ;I%FE, ;I%A- e'tra#tors use the &ush! #on#e&t. In the &ull! mode, the )" systemtriggers the e'tra#tion from the CET-system. ;or delta%enabled &ull!mode e'tra#tors, a delta queue or atimestam& /or any monotonously in#reasing numeri#$alue2 a&&roa#h &ro$ides the deltas. All generi#e'tra#tors that do full loads use the &ull mode. It isim&ortant to kee& in mind that &ush or &ull, thee'tra#tion job takes &la#e only when an Info-a#kage isrun from the )" system. AnuragBarua- 1 4 -Question ": #$ %oc&'itWhat is the #o(istics )#$* Extraction %oc&'it?How do you set u' the #$ %oc&'it or extraction? A:It &ro$ides you with one #ommon entry &oint toenhan#e, s#hedule, e'tra#t and transfer logisti#s datafrom your ,A- CET- system to your ,A- )" system. Itwas first introdu#ed with -lug%In /-I2 6===.4 and wasmeant to su&er#ede the old a&&roa#h that was basedon EI, /Eogisti#sInformation ,ystem2. The #o#k&itdis&lays $arious e'tra#t stru#tures grou&ed bya&&li#ation area /=63 -ur#hasingG =03 In$entory8ontrolingG 443 ,@ ,alesG 403 ,@ )illing et#.2 Thetransa#tion #ode to a##ess the #o#k&it is E)"5 or $ia#ustomi(ing.I7F menu by first running transa#tion,)I"and then ,ettings for A&&li#ation ,&e#ifi#@ata,our#esEogisti#s7anaging 5'tra#t,tru#turesEogisti#s 5'tra#tion ,tru#ture 8ustomi(ing8o#k&it. It holds some ad$antages o$er the traditionalEI, method SAP BW Ultimate Interview Q&A - 1 5 -interested in line item information, it would be6EI,?=6?IT7.62 +e&li#ate the @ata,our#e in )".02 Hook u& the @ata,our#e to the #orres&ondingInfo,our#e in the)" system92 7aintain the e'tra#t e'tru#ture /by #li#king on the&en#il i#on on the #o#k&it s#reen for the rele$ante'tra#t stru#ture2.12 A#ti$ate the e'tra#t stru#turesing ;ile Interfa#eL o&tion.92 In the resulting &o&%u&, enter a logi#al system nameand a sour#e system name for the file sour#esystem and sa$e this information.If you ha$e se$eral files that you want to e'tra#tse&arately from, you do not need se&arate file sour#esystems : one will suffi#e. This is be#ause the a#tuallo#ation of the file is entered in an Info-a#kage. SAP BW Ultimate Interview Q&A - 5 1 -mat#hes that of an e'isting re#ord is &art of asubsequent load, the &ro#ess aborts be#ause itassumes that it is a du&li#ate. *ou #an toggle withthis swit#h after data are loaded.92 %hec& ta4-e or Ino$4ject ;This is really adis&lay%only field and shows you the InfoCbje#t forwhi#h this C@, Cbje#t is a #he#k table, if that!s the#ase.12 Automatica--y !ettin( Qua-ity !tatus to $< ;As the name suggests, when data are loaded intoan C@, Cbje#t, the quality status /traffi# light2automati#ally turns to green. *ou do not need to doa manual quality #he#k and #hange the status. It isad$isable to always kee& this flag turned on unlessyou ha$e some strong reason to sus&e#t the qualityof the data being loaded.&date ,ubsequently in @ata Targets! #he#kbo' isturned on, the subsequent data target is u&datedautomati#ally in serial fashion, &a#kage by &a#kageand work &ro#ess by work &ro#ess.92 Data @ar(ets $n-y ;This o&tion ensures that the-,A is by&assed and data are loaded dire#tly to thedata target. Cb$iously, this method minimi(es theusage of system resour#es but the trade%off is thatyou do not get an o&tion for #he#king datain#onsisten#ies and errors and &ossibly #orre#tingthem. This method is re#ommended only for flat fileloads and generally if there is #om&lete #onfiden#ein the #om&leteness and #ontents of the @ata,our#e.JOHNDOEOptions for updating data targets+i(ure 12: Data tar(et u'date o'tions inInoPac&a(e SAP BW Ultimate Interview Q&A - 61 -Question 2A: Ino%u4e @y'esWhat are the dierent ty'es o Ino%u4es?Ex'-aineach ty'e 1 A:Info8ubes #ome in two major fla$ors : )asi#Info8ubes or )asi#8ubes and remote Info8ubes or Jirtual8ubes342 :asic%u4es: These are &hysi#ally a$ailable in thesame )" system in whi#h they are s&e#ified or theirmetadata e'ist. They #an be further sub%di$idedinto3a2 !tandard Ino%u4es: This is the most#ommon fla$or. 7ost of the standard )usiness8ontent Info8ubes are standard ones. ,u#hInfo8ubes are o&timi(ed for read a##ess, ha$eu&date rules that enable transformation of sour#e data and loads #anbe s#heduled.b2 @ransactiona- Ino%u4es: These are notfrequently used and used only by #ertaina&&li#ations su#h as ,57 and A-C. @ata arewritten dire#tly into su#h #ubes by&assingu&date rules. "hile )asi# Info8ubes areo&timi(ed for read a##ess, transa#tionalInfo8ubes are o&timi(ed for write a##ess. )asedon the database on whi#h these are built, theydiffer from standard #ubes in the way they areinde'ed and &artitioned.62 8emote%u4es ;"hile )asi#8ubes &hysi#allyreside on the same database as their metadata,+emote8ubes reside on a remote system. ;rom the AnuragBarua- 62-&oint of $iew of their definition or metadata in a#ertain )" system, they #an be #onsidered $irtual.They #ome in 0 different fla$ors3a2 !AP 8emote%u4e: The #ube resides inanother ,A- +.0 system and #ommuni#ation is$ia the ,er$i#e A-I /,A-I2b2 7enera- 8emote%u4e: The #ube resides in anon%,A- +.0 sour#e system and is a$ailable $iathe remote Info8ube )A-I.#2 8emote Ino%u4e with !er=ices: The #uberesides in any remote system /,A- or non%,A-2and is a$ailable $ia a user%defined fun#tionmodule. SAP BW Ultimate Interview Q&A - 79-412 +CC,-+7,; : 8ontrol &arameters &er @ata,our#ebut withsome different fields than +CC,-+7,.4,TC7IO3 These are authori(ations rele$antto all system a#ti$ities.