Web Intelligence on HANA Best

Practices

Applies to:
Web Intelligence BI 4.0 SP4 Rich Client
Information Design Tool 4.0 SP4
SAP HANA revision 34

Summary
The goal of this document is to present report design best practice use cases for SAP BI4 Web Intelligence
connecting to SAP HANA for optimal performance.
In this best practice we will use a simple Web Intelligence report that will connect to an HANA Analytic View
through a Universe.
We will also demonstrate how design mistakes can lead to performance degradations. This use case
assumes that you already created your HANA Analytic Views and we will work only from Information Design
Tool and Web Intelligence.

Authors:

Romaric Sokhan, David Francois Gonzalez

Company: SAP
Created on: 27 July 2012

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Table of Contents
Goal of this document ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Target audience .............................................................................................................................................. 3
Prerequisites ................................................................................................................................................... 3
Structure of the HANA Analytical View and Universe ........................................................................................ 4
Analytic View modeled from VBRK table (Billing data) ................................................................................... 4
Universe modeled from the Analytic View ...................................................................................................... 4
Web Intelligence reporting on top of the Universe and Analytic View ................................................................ 6
Typical Web Intelligence Reporting using local microcube............................................................................. 6
Comments on this use case ............................................................................................................................ 8
Optimization of the Web Intelligence report for SAP HANA ............................................................................... 9
Stripping the query .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Implementing a drill solution to leverage HANA on-the-fly fast aggregation .................................................... 11
Comments on this use case .......................................................................................................................... 15
Recommendations for optimal WebIntelligence reporting on SAP HANA ....................................................... 15
Related Content ................................................................................................................................................ 16
Copyright........................................................................................................................................................... 17

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Goal of this document

Summary
The goal of this document is to present report design best practice use cases for SAP BI4 Web
Intelligence connecting to SAP HANA for optimal performance.
In this best practice we will use a simple Web Intelligence report that will connect to an HANA
Analytic View through a Universe. We will also show how design mistakes can lead to performance
degradations. This use case assumes that you already created your HANA Analytic Views and we will work
only from Information Design Tool and Web Intelligence.

Target audience
The targeted audience is BI analysts, BI Project Managers, Report and Universe developers who
need to understand how to get the most of SAP HANA with Web Intelligence 4.0.
The reader must read the prerequisites below first, have at least a basic understanding of the
universe technology and how to use Information Design Tool as well as how to create a simple Analytic View
in SAP HANA Studio.

Prerequisites
FrequentlyAsked Questions about Web Intelligence on SAP HANA

http://scn.sap.com/community/businessobjects-web-intelligence/blog/2012/07/23/faq--sap-bi4webintelligence-on-hana
Universes on SAP HANA : Best practices

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-23256
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-20569
HANA modeling Best practices

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-22475

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Structure of the HANA Analytical View and Universe

Analytic View modeled from VBRK table (Billing data)
The most optimal way to have good performance with SAP HANA is to create Analytic or Calculation
View. In this use case, we will consume an Analytic View called AN_BILLING_LIST that refers to the VBRK
table.
Please refer to the Universes and HANA modeling: Best practices if you need more details about
HANA views (see prerequisites or related content).

Universe modeled from the Analytic View

The Universe designer simply drags and drops the Analytic View (AN_BILLING_LIST) from the _SYS_BIC
schema into the Master view on the right hand side.

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Once the Data Foundation is created, you need to create a Business Layer. We will to need to create one
Measure based on the NETWR field that we will rename to Net Revenue. This measure will use a SUM
aggregation (in the SELECT statement) and aggregation function (for local cube calculation)

You can now export your Business Layer; this will convert your project into the UNX format that will be
consumable by DSL-based client tools (Web Intelligence, Dashboards, Crystal for Enterprise).

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Web Intelligence reporting on top of the Universe and Analytic View

Typical Web Intelligence Reporting using local microcube

Start Web Intelligence and select the Universe you just exported. You will be prompt by the Query Panel.
Now select the Billing folder from the left hand pane, and drag and drop it into the Result Objects Pane as in
the screenshot below

Click on Run Query to generate the report with your query selection.

In the next page, we are showing the SQL statement sent by WebIntelligence to HANA:

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

SELECT SUM("_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."NETWR"),
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."WAERK",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."VTWEG",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKART",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKTYP",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."KUNNR",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."NAME1",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."CITY1",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."POST_CODE1",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_YEAR",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_QUARTER",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_MONTH",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_WEEK",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_TIME_CALQUARTER",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_TIME_CALMONTH",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_TIME_CALWEEK",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."DATE_SAP",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."DATE_SQL",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_DIVISION_SPART",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_DIVISION_SPART.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_DIVISION_MANDT",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_VKORG",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_VKORG.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_MANDT",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_WAERS",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_WAERS.description",
_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."BUKRS",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."BUKRS.description"
FROM "_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"
GROUP BY "_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."WAERK",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."VTWEG",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKART",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKTYP",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."KUNNR",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."NAME1",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."CITY1",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."POST_CODE1",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_YEAR",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_QUARTER",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_MONTH",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."FKDAT_WEEK",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_TIME_CALQUARTER",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_TIME_CALMONTH",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_TIME_CALWEEK",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."DATE_SAP",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."DATE_SQL",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_DIVISION_SPART",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_DIVISION_SPART.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_DIVISION_MANDT",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_VKORG",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_VKORG.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_MANDT",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_WAERS",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."AT_SALES_ORG_WAERS.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."BUKRS",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."BUKRS.description"

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Comments on this use case

As you can see in this use case, the amount of data retrieved in the local cube is 8911 rows and the time
spent to execute and fetch data into the cube is 13 seconds (as a result of the large SQL statement sent to
HANA).
Although the report displays with acceptable performance, that could worsen with other type of queries if the
amount of rows is significantly higher. The benefit of this workflow is that as the data is now local, the user
can perform further offline local analysis, offline calculation (see Webi on HANA FAQ for more details). By
avoiding sending queries, you remove some load off the HANA server.
The report above is NOT optimized for HANA. The report only displays Country and Revenue, which
represents only 3 rows. We want to push all the calculation and aggregation down to HANA and retrieve only
those 3 rows (next section)

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Optimization of the Web Intelligence report for SAP HANA

Stripping the query
From the same report, go back to the Query Panel and remove all the dimensions that are not involved in the
report, which means everything but Country Description and Net Revenue

Here we simulated the Query Stripping feature that is currently available only for OLAP data sources. We
simply removed the objects that were not involved in the initial report display.

The Query Panel should now look like this:

The generated SQL is now as follows:

SELECT
SUM("_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."NETWR"),
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",

count(*)

FROM
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"
GROUP BY
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description"

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Click on Run Query again

The report now returns in 1 second and only 3 rows have been retrieved in the local microcube with the
same exact results. All the aggregations have been pushed down to HANA and just the result set has been
fetched (SQL statement is much smaller).
But now what if the user needs to analyze and see more data? We need to implement a drill down solution,
in the next section.

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Implementing a drill solution to leverage HANA on-the-fly fast aggregation

Go back into your Business Layer in IDT and select Navigation Path.
In the screenshot below, we created 2 customs Navigation Path that will define the direction of the user drill.

Once you defined your Navigation Path, export your Universe again and go back to the Web Intelligence
report.
In your Webi report Properties, select the option Use Query Drill (for more information about this function
please refer to the FAQ about Web Intelligence on SAP HANA)

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

In the Analysis tab, activate the Drill.

Note that only 1 dimension and 2 measures are available in the query

Drill down on USA , you will notice that the dimension Region has been added to the query

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Lets have a look at the SQL. will notice that REGION has been added to the SELECT and a WHERE
CLAUSE has been also added
SELECT SUM("_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."NETWR"),
_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description"
FROM
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"
WHERE
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description"

'USA'

GROUP BY
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description"

A further click on Region now adds the City dimension into the query

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

The query has now been updated as in the below screenshot

And translates into the following SQL:

SELECT SUM("_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."NETWR"),
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."CITY1"
FROM
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"
WHERE
("_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description"

'USA'

AND
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description"

'California')

GROUP BY
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."COUNTRY.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."REGION.description",
"_SYS_BIC"."i059086/AN_BILLING_LIST"."CITY1"

Note: With Query on Drill activated, if the user drills up, he will notice that the dimension not needed anymore will be
removed from the left panel, thus from the query

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Comments on this use case

As you can see with the above screenshots, by drilling down or up into the data, WebIntelligence narrows
down the amount of data to be analyzed by HANA and queries only the data needed for the report. Each
user drill action results to a sub-second response time query. In a scenario with hundreds of millions of
records, the performance is even more obvious compared to traditional databases, which would need the
creation of materialized tables in order to achieve good performance.

Recommendations for optimal WebIntelligence reporting on SAP HANA

Always retrieve the least possible quantity of data in your client tool using filters or restricted list of
values. Query only the data that is needed.

Use the Web Intelligence local microcube if you need to perform offline analysis and calculations but
be aware that this could impact performance depending on the volume of data retrieved.

Retrieve aggregate data, not detailed, whenever possible

Retrieve only the columns you need: HANA being a columnar database, if you don't ask for a
column, the system will not spend any time on it

Build your universe to avoid the need of multiple queries on the same schema from the client tool.
'Query on query' sub-query functionality could be avoided by table joins.

In Web Intelligence prefer to use the query-drill mode (drill online) rather than to retrieve all columns
in the document (also called Scope of analysis). Youll be able to drill down and up in the document
and retrieve the needed amount of data by automatically filtering the query when drilling.

Make sure the SQL query sent by Web Intelligence is executing fast in HANA studio. If not, rework
your HANA models.

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Related Content
Frequently Asked Questions about Web Intelligence on SAP HANA

http://scn.sap.com/community/businessobjects-web-intelligence/blog/2012/07/23/faq--sap-bi4webintelligence-on-hana
Universes on SAP HANA : Best practices

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-23256
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-20569
HANA modeling Best practices

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-22475

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Web Intelligence on HANA Best Practices

Copyright
Copyright 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG.
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