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PURPOSE

This series of articles will guide you through the implementation of BW workspaces, provide an overview of the different steps, people to involve in your organisation, as well as step-by-step instructions on the back end configuration.

OVERVIEW

BW Workspaces are dedicated areas in a BW system where new models can be created based on central BW and local data files (i.e. flat files).  The BW Workspace environment itself needs to be created, maintained, and controlled by IT.  Once IT setup the BW Workspace, then the business users can subsequently use the BW Workspace to combine data from BW with data in flat files in order to react quickly to new and changing requirements.  Table

1 summarizes the responsibilities of IT and the business. BW Workspaces do not need to be transported.  Therefore, they bridge the gap between the need for central governance and flexibility.

Part 2 in the series will provide the step-by-step details related to the IT responsibilities; whereas, Parts 3a and 3b in the series will provide the step-by-step details related to the Business Power User responsibilities.

GENERAL BEST PRACTICES

The following should be considered when setting up BW Workspaces, CompositeProviders,
and Queries:

  • The technical names of BW Workspaces should start with the same prefix as used for the associated InfoArea that owns the BW Workspace.  This will make it easier to identify which BW Workspace belongs to which InfoArea.

Figure 1: Naming the BW Workspace

  • Leave the Workspace Prefix field blank when creating the BW Workspace (see Figure 2).  When it is set, all objects in the Workspace will start with that
    prefix, which will reduce the number of characters available for naming the objects.  This property cannot be changed after the BW Workspace has been saved.  It can only be changed at the time that the BW Workspace is being created.

Figure 2: Prefix for Workspace Provider Field

  • As BW Workspaces always involve the Business perspective and the IT perspective, use the Contact 1 and Contact 2 fields when setting up the BW Workspace to identify the userIDs for the Business Contact and the IT Contact, respectively.  This will allow transparency on who to contact with questions/issues about the BW Workspace or its contents.
  • The CompositeProvider technical name should start with the same prefix as used for naming the Providers used for reporting (e.g. MultiProvider prefix specified in the analysis authorizations).  This will make for easier management of the analysis authorization so that users can see data returned from the CompositeProviders.
  • CSV files uploaded to the BW Workspace should also start with the same prefix in order for the authorizations  to be easily managed.
  • The Expiry Date for a BW Workspace should be set to expire at a fixed date after it has been created (e.g. 6 – 18 months after the creation date).  The Expiry Date can always be extended if required by the business. As part of the housekeeping to maintain the BW environment, IT can then maintain
    the system by deleting all expired BW Workspaces and the associated objects (e.g. CompositeProviders, queries, analytical indexes) after a set time has elapsed.  This will avoid having too many unused/obsolete/junk BW Workspaces and objects in the BW system.  The section “Settings Tab” covers the behavior users can expect when a BW workspace expires.
  • Instead of creating queries via the Workspace web-based interface, create queries on top of the CompositeProviders via the BEx Query Designer.  This will allow for:
    1. Greater control over the query (e.g. access to all BEx functions and capabilities)
    2. Further editing of the query definition
    3. Allow for the query to be consumed by other frontend products once the “Allow External Access” option is set on the query property

Next Articles in the Series

To get the step-by-step details with screenshots for the configuration setup, the security setup, and the setup of the BW Workspace shell, see part 2 in the series.  To get the step-by-step details, including screenshots, for creating the local providers and CompositeProviders, see part 3a in the series.  To get the step-by-step details, including screenshots, for switching between different BW Workspaces, editing BW Workspaces, notifying users of changes, and queries, see part 3b in the series.

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