BEx query on SBO Explorer, BWA or Universe (.UNV)

[Former Member]

I decided to write something on this topic long time ago but no time.

Fortunately, I got some time to say something on this recently

This blog is not only used for sharing what I understand on this topic also a good chance

to look back what I know for the BEx query connection.

As the title already mentions, .UNX and HANA is not in the scope

We all know that SBO Explorer could connect with BEx query

There are two main selections we could use. One is BWA and another is Universe.

Considering cost for BWA, Universe (.UNV) will be 1^st option for some companies.

Suppose you are in the company which could use two options, which one will be your 1^st option.

I will compare these two connections via below 5 factors

1. Data Volume
2. Index speed
3. Front-end response time
4. Flexibility
5. Security

- Data Volume

This is very obvious and no doubt. BWA wins.

Just comparing the same simple structure BEx query, BWA could reach around 7 million

records which universe cannot.

If you are talking about connection about BW single cube, BWA will be your ONLY option.

We have try to run one InfoSpace on around 80 million records.

The performance gives us a very deep impression.

69 secs loading whole data in InfoSpace and navigation speed is quick.

So when someone told you that he wants to see BIG DATA in Explorer, BWA is your 1^st option

- Index Speed

Still BWA wins. For data size around 1 million data within 8 mins and Query structure

is around 8 Rows and 8 columns.

I cannot image how long universe will need to index this kind of data.

Generally, for large data volume situation, you will see index failure only.

For small data size which is around 10 thousand, there is not too much gap between these two.

But one thing you need to note is that in current SBO Explorer, you only could schedule time

for Index which means if you have a BEx query and there is data loading delay in system,

the universe based Infospace result might be wrong

- Front-end response time

I cannot see too much difference. But we noted that for BWA based InfoSpace,

it encounters some performance issues for multi-dimension chart or multi-line chart

like taking 5 mins to generate chart. We do not see similar situation in universe based.

So I cast a vote for Universe

- Flexibility

This is very large a topic. There is lots of area which could be included in flexibility.

So I change my mind to think which could support more functionality in SAP BEx query.

When you create Infospace on Bex query, you will hop it could bring new inside-value
So you do not want lose any information during this creation.

There are some issue which already known for BEx query

1. Display attribute
2. Complex mathematics
3. Exception aggregation
4. Different aggregation behavior for measure
5. Data format
6. Text description change

I would like to say except issue 2, most of them could be done in universe in a very simple way.

So this time, Universe wins. From my perspective, it is acceptable that some mathematics

like multiple/division cannot be used for BWA due to its index method.

But we still hope SAP could improve this kind of situation. We fully understand that

this is not an easy way but this is the behavior we want SAP’s product to do

- Security

Except the personalization, BWA and Universe has its own control as well.

For Universe, you could design the security directly.

For BWA, it might be more flexible. SAP provide user group and BW authorization objects to control.

In other words, if the user is not in the group, they cannot access the data which assigned to that group only.

Even the user is in the group, they could only access the data which assigned to authorization object.

Considered the personalization, I think BWA has more strong security design than Universe.

As conclusion, below is the final result

1. Data Volume (BWA)
2. Index speed (BWA)
3. Front-end response time (Universe)
4. Flexibility (Universe)
5. Security (BWA)

So does this mean, we only use BWA is enough?

I should say No. because in your daily working, user will not touch very large data.

So if you want to keep more function from BEx query, Universe will still be a good choice.

As I said in the beginning, I have no  chance to touch Explorer on HANA.

So I am not sure how these situations are going on HANA.

It would be perfect if someone could tell us the situation on HANA

Best regards

Alex yang