Semantic Groups in DTP

[Former Member]

Introduction

From SAP BI 7.0 onwards, in DTP we have an option for semantic groups.  We have different perception about Semantic Groups in DTP and its usage. Here I am summarizing specific usage of semantic group with examples.

Case 1. Calculation on group of records

Example: I would like to provide discount to each customer based on total sales value of Customer No, Country and Product category.

Discount should be assigned to each row i.e. for each product. I am having below sample records.

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000
P004	C004	India	Home	4000
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000
P006	C003	Germany	Kids	6000
P007	C005	France	Home	5000
P008	C004	India	Electronics	3000
P009	C002	UK	Kids	2000
P010	C001	US	Home	1000

Discount Criteria based on Sales value as per grouping (Customer No + Country + Product Category)

Total Sales (In US $)	Discount %
>=1000 AND <5000	5
>=5000 AND <10000	10
>=10000	20

Data Upload from PSA to Standard DSO.

DTP Package size is 5 Records.

End routine is calculating total sales which are used for discount calculation of each customer based on Sales value and assigning it to each product row.

Without Semantic Group Data Upload

Total sales value and Discount amount when data loaded without semantic group is as below

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sales (In US $)	Discount Amount (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000	5000	500
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000	2000	100
P004	C004	India	Home	4000	4000	200
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000	1000	50
P006	C003	Germany	Kids	6000	6000	600
P007	C005	France	Home	5000	5000	500
P008	C004	India	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P009	C002	UK	Kids	2000	2000	100
P010	C001	US	Home	1000	1000	50

Here if you notice about Customer C001 having same country and product category but Total sale is assigned as 5000 and 1000 respectively.

In such case for Product P010, customer received only 5% discount where as actually he/she should get 10%.

Similar case is for Customer C003 and product P003.

This is because Data uploaded into 2 equal packages of 5 records each, first 5 records into 1st package and rest 5 records in 2nd package.

Since in First package 5 records are as below,

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000
P004	C004	India	Home	4000
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000

Total Sales Value is calculated as below

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sale (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000	5000
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000	3000
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000	2000
P004	C004	India	Home	4000	4000
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000	1000

So Discount values for first 5 rows are stored into Target DSO as below

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sale (In US $)	Discount Amount (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000	5000	500
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000	2000	100
P004	C004	India	Home	4000	4000	200
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000	1000	50

For next 5 rows as below

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sale (In US $)	Discount Amount (In US $)
P006	C003	Germany	Kids	6000	6000	600
P007	C005	France	Home	5000	5000	500
P008	C004	India	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P009	C002	UK	Kids	2000	2000	100
P010	C001	US	Home	1000	1000	50

With Semantic Group Data Upload

Key fields are Customer no, Country and Product category

Total sales value and Discount amount when data loaded with semantic group are as below

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sale (In US $)	Discount Amount (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000	6000	500
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000	8000	200
P004	C004	India	Home	4000	4000	200
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000	1000	50
P006	C003	Germany	Kids	6000	8000	600
P007	C005	France	Home	5000	5000	500
P008	C004	India	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P009	C002	UK	Kids	2000	2000	100
P010	C001	US	Home	1000	6000	100

In this case records will be grouped based on Semantic key definition and even if there are 2 packages each will have records as below.

Records in First package grouped based on are Customer No, Country and Product Category

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sale (In US $)	Discount Amount (In US $)
P001	C001	US	Home	5000	6000	500
P002	C002	UK	Electronics	3000	3000	150
P005	C001	US	Electronics	1000	1000	50
P009	C002	UK	Kids	2000	2000	100
P010	C001	US	Home	1000	6000	100

Records in Second package

Product No	Customer No	Country	Product Category	Sale Value (In US $)	Total Sale (In US $)	Discount Amount (In US $)
P003	C003	Germany	Kids	2000	8000	200
P004	C004	India	Home	4000	4000	200
P006	C003	Germany	Kids	6000	8000	600
P007	C005	France	Home	5000	5000	500
P008	C004	India	Electronics	3000	3000	150

Due to this semantic grouping we have correct values for the Total Sales and our discount values are also calculated as expected.

Please note to accommodate records as per semantic group, package size will be automatically adjusted. Hence, it will not be constant through out the load.

Case 2. Error handling

Similarly if Error handling is enabled and error DTP is available, error handling functionality will work as below based on semantic group.

Without Semantic Group Data Upload

In case there is an error in the record having product no P001 then it will go into error stack and rest of the records will be uploaded. In such case for Product P010, total sales value will be 1000 and hence discount will be 5% i.e. 50$.

Even later if we will correct first record (P001) into error stack and upload it through error DTP, Discount value will not change for record P010.

With Semantic Group Data Upload

In case there is an error in the record having product no P001 then it will go into error stack along with record having product id P010 and rest of records will be

uploaded into target. It is due to semantic definition, so even one record is having error, both records are transferred into error stack to maintain semantic grouping.

In such case, when product P001 will be corrected into error stack and error DTP will run, it will upload both records with correct total sales and discount value.

Additional Note

Here I have used only 2 cases for illustration purpose. In real life there can be more use cases as per specific needs.

Please note above example is to explain the concept of semantic groups. There can also be other ways to achieve this calculation.

Hope it will help to get better insight about semantic groups into DTP for beginners.