BI For ABAPer.

Question

Hi all,
Can anybody suggest me if its appropriate to switch into BI after one and half years of ABAP experience.This is in context of monetory gains.I mean does it make good diffrence in salary for an ABAPer to learn BI as well as will it give more onsite opportunities.
Is ABAP skill extensively used in BI or its appropriate to move to SD techno functional or SRM/CRM functional side.
Thanks.
Edited by: sandeep pande on Jun 10, 2008 9:30 AM

Answer 1

Hi sandeep pande ,
1) First if you shift your career from ABAP to BI, then it is better for you as u r updating yourself with advanced technologies i.e upcoming technologies(Netweaver) like BI(BW), PI(XI), EP, MDM,....
2) Now Netweaver technolgies r hot in the market i.e either of the Netwaever technolgies i.e it helps in money wise as well as career wise.
3) for BI we require ABAP knowledge. i.e if u check the BI at infopackage level , U see that ABAP coding is there 2 extract data.
4) BI with ABAP is preferable.
These r the details of BI which will gain u confidence in it:
SAP Business Information Warehouse
SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is the name of the Business Intelligence, analytical, reporting and Data Warehousing (DW) solution which is one of the major enterprise software applications produced by SAP AG. It was originally named SAP BIW, (Business Information Warehouse), but is now known as "SAP NetWeaver BI".
SAP BW consists among other things of components for data management (Data Warehousing Workbench), extensive data modeling capabilities, an embedded analytical engine, a suite of rich front-end analytical tools refererred to as Business Explorer (BEx), and operational tools used for importing the most current transactional data into the system. It may be helpful to consider layers that make up the structure of SAP's BI solution:
Extraction, Transformation and Load (ETL) layer - responsible for extracting data from a specific source, applying transformation rules, and loading it into SAP BW system.
Data warehouse area - responsible for storing the information in various types of structures, including multidimensional structures called InfoCubes.
Reporting - responsible for accessing the information in data warehouse area and presenting it in a user-friendly manner to the analyst or business user.
Planning - Provides capabilities for the user to run simulations and perform tasks such as budget calculations.
SAP's BI application is a very pervasively employed data warehouse / analytical enterprise software solution, often utilized heavily by companies that essentially run their business on SAP operational systems such as SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP ERP, traditionally known as SAP R/3). SAP's BI solution contains a large number of predefined "extractors", a very significant amount of pre-defined business content in the form of InfoCubes, master data (i.e. objects representing the entity for "Customer", or "Material"), authorization roles, query views and reports all delivered in the software by SAP. Some of the significant benefits of this approach include the ability to leverage SAP's substantial business knowledge from many years of developing extremely sophisticated software systems for the world's largest companies, typically shortening project development cycles in the process. The pre-defined business content can be modified to meet an organization's specific requirements, while at the same time taking advantage of general aspects of these delivered data models and reports that are somewhat foundational and have broad application in business, government, and education.
SAP BW is now part of a suite of SAP applications called SAP NetWeaver. Other components of SAP NetWeaver include SAP Enterprise Portal (EP, called SAP NetWeaver Portal as of Release 7.0), Web Application Server (WAS), SAP Process Integration (PI, or previously XI, i.e. eXchange Infrastructure) and Master Data Management (MDM).
The 7.0 version of SAP BW was released in June 2006 as part of the SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (aka 2004s). This new release includes many new features, such as next-generation reporting and analytical features, major data warehousing enhancements, and possibility to use innovative techology for query performance optimization called "BI Accelerator". BI Accelerator (or BIa) comes as an external applicance, i.e. complete hardware with pre-installed software. BIa requires separate licence fee.
From SAP NetWeaver 7.0 on, the term SAP BW is obsolete, and instead it is referred simply as "SAP NetWeaver BI" - i.e. "SAP NetWeaver 7.0 BI".
According to SAP, more than 12,000 installations of SAP's BI solution exist.
SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) is SAP´s Data Warehouse solution. It has been specially developed to allow you to gather and analyze all kinds of statistical information in the best possible way. 
The SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is a core element of mySAP.com. SAP BW is an enterprise-wide information hub that enables data analysis from R/3 and other business application, including external data sources such as databases and the Internet. SAP BW also offers easy integration with other mySAP solutions, such as mySAP Supply Chain
Management (mySAP SCM), mySAP Strategic Enterprise Management (mySAP SEM), and mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM).
SAP BW is a comprehensive end-to-end data warehouse solution with optimized structures for reporting and analysis. To help knowledge workers quickly mine an enterpriseu2019s business data, SAP BW is equipped with preconfigured information models and reports, as well as automatic data extraction and loading methods. 
With an easy-to-use Microsoft Excel-based user interface, you can create, format, and analyze reports, and publish those reports to the web. Built for high performance, SAP BW resides on its own dedicated server. Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and reporting activities are therefore separated, and system performance is not compromised.
COMPONENTS & TOOLS OF SAP NetWeaver:SAP NetWeaver BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Timely access to relevant information has always been critical to business success. Now, with the widespread use of the Internet, wired and wireless data collection technologies such as RFID, and the subsequent increase in new data sources, it's even more important.
SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI) paints a complete picture of your business to satisfy the diverse needs of end users, IT professionals, and senior management. It brings together a powerful business intelligence infrastructure, a comprehensive set of tools, planning and simulation capabilities, and data-warehousing functionality u2013 delivered through enterprise portal technology.
With SAP NetWeaver BI, you can integrate data from across the enterprise and beyond, and then transform it into practical, timely information to drive sound decision-making, targeted action, and solid business results. It supports:
Data warehousing u2013 Data warehouse management; business modeling; and extraction, transformation, and loading enable you to build data warehouses, model information architecture according to business structure, and manage data from multiple sources.
Business intelligence u2013 Online analytical processing, data mining, and alerts provide a foundation for accessing and presenting data, searching for patterns, and identifying exceptions.
Business planning u2013 A BI planning framework with secure workflow capabilities supports Microsoft Excel or Web-based planning and budgeting based on consolidated corporate data for bottom-up or top-down planning.
Business insights u2013 Query design, reporting and analysis, and Web application design allow you to create analysis reports, support decisions at every level, and present business intelligence applications on the Web.
Measurement and management u2013 Business-content management, metadata management, and collaborative business intelligence monitor progress, provide reporting templates, ensure consistent data, and help decision-makers work together.
Open hub services u2013 Open hub services features enable the delivery of high-quality, audited enterprise information through Web services to applications. Bulk data exchange, change data capture (CDC), and modeling features streamline deployment and enable cost-effective operations.
Information broadcasting u2013 Information broadcasting features support the distribution of mass information to large audiences in a personalized and secure manner. You can broadcast information as an offline document or live report through personalized e-mail or the Internet, according to a schedule or based on key events.
Accelerated business intelligence u2013 Based on compressions, parallel in-memory processing, and search technologies, the SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator functionality improves the performance of queries, reduces administration tasks, and shortens batch processes. Developed as an appliance on Intel processors, the accelerator provides consistently fast response times, even as data volumes, number of users, and analytics increase.
Business Intelligence : Getting Started with Business Intelligence ,Reporting, Analysis, and Planning , Data Warehousing,   BI Accelerator  Embedded and Process-Centric BI 
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-bi
The Home of SAP Business Warehouse (BW)
http://www.erpgenie.com/sap/sapfunc/bw.htm
SAP Business Information Warehouse
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/b2/e50138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/content.htm
Business Intelligence : Programming in BW 
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki?path=/display/bi/programminginBW&
BW and Portals 2005
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bi-and-portals2005
SAP Business Warehouse (BW) Overview
http://gleez.com/sap/bw/overview
Business Intelligence : Steps to get started with SAP BW
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki?path=/display/bi/stepstogetstartedwithSAPBW&
SAP Business Information Warehouse Scenarios
http://help.sap.com/bp_biv335/BI_EN/html/Bw.htm
SAP BW Learning Guide
http://searchsap.techtarget.com/general/0,295582,sid21_gci1077480,00.html
SAP BW Business Warehouse - Introduction
http://www.thespot4sap.com/Articles/SAP_BW_Introduction.asp
Business Content Frontend Design Guidelines (NW04)
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/bda556e9-0c01-0010-83b0-d519d6deb9e9
How Tou2026Create and Maintain UI Patterns of BI Content
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/ad214fe9-0c01-0010-4291-a629e5ba5f90
SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning for Finance
http://www.sap-press.de/katalog/buecher/htmlleseproben/gp/htmlprobID-113
Info object,infocube,infosource,datasource,commn structure,extract structure ..etc..
http://www.erpgenie.com/sapgenie/docs/MySAP%20BW%20Cookbook%20Vol%201.pdf
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/01b9395c-0e01-0010-6786-c4ee5e5d2154
BI Performance Tuning
Business Intelligence Journal Improving Query Performance in Data Warehouses
http://www.tdwi.org/Publications/BIJournal/display.aspx?ID=7891
Achieving BI Query Performance Building Business Intelligence
http://www.dmreview.com/issues/20051001/1038109-1.html
SAP Business  Intelligence Accelerator : A High - Performance Analytic  Engine  for SAP  Ne tWeaver  Business  Intelligence
http://www.sap.com/platform/netweaver/pdf/BWP_AR_IDC_BI_Accelerator.pdf
BI Performance Audit
http://www.xtivia.com/downloads/Xtivia_BIT_Performance%20Audit.pdf
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/10564d5c-cf00-2a10-7b87-c94e38267742
Enhancements in SAP BW
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/59069d90-0201-0010-fd81-d5e11994d8b5
Customer Enhancements in SAP NetWeaver BI (Exits, BAdIs and ABAPu2122 in the SAP NetWeaver BI Back End)
http://www.sap.com/community/pub/showdetail.epx?itemID=5257
BW 3.x and 3.5 "How To" Guides List
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/docs?rid=/webcontent/uuid/ee14e25d-0501-0010-11ad-8eb2861a7ec0
How to Connect to BW System through Enterprise Portal 7.0 Using an IView.
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki?path=/display/ep/howtoConnecttoBWSystemthroughEnterprisePortal7.0UsinganIView.&
cheers!
gyanaraj
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