Querying Data from 3rd Party System

Question

We would like to query data from a 3rd party (non-SAP) system.  Our BW is an MSSQL DB and the 3rd party is also an MSSQL DB.  We do not want to physically load the data from the external system we just want to use the BW query tools to display the data.
Is this possible?  I thought this is what a Remote Cube would be used for but SAP's instructions on Remote Cubes are vague and confusing.
       1.      In BW, create a source system for the external system that you want to use.
       2.      Define the required InfoObjects.
       3.      Load the master data:
·        Create a master data InfoSource for each characteristic
·        Load texts and attributes
       4.      Define the RemoteCube
       5.      Define the queries based on the RemoteCube

Answer 1

Hi Jon,
SAP RemoteCube is an InfoProvider. This is a special RemoteCube that allows
you to define queries with direct access to transaction data in other SAP systems. SAP RemoteCubes are defined on the basis of an InfoSource with flexible updating, and assume the characteristics and key figures of the InfoSource.
Use/Data Flow
Unlike with other RemoteCubes, it is not necessary to program extractors. The
same extractors are used to select data in the source system that are also used when replicating data into the BW. When executing a query, each navigation step sends a request to the extractors for the assigned source systems. In addition, characteristics selection and selection criteria for these characteristics are transformed to fields in the transfer structure, in accordance with the transfer rules. They are transferred to the  extractor in this form. The delivered datasets run through the transfer rules in BW and are filtered once again in the query.
In your case Remote cube can be an option .
Cheers
Raja