Steps to read data from SAP BW source via DataServices XI 3.2

Setup BW - DataServices communication

As seen from BW, our DataServices tool will be an "External Source System" that has to be defined first. So you start the Data Warehousing Workbench........

.... go to "Modeling", "Source Systems" and under the node "External System" create a new one.

In the next dialog you get asked about the name and description of this system. As this will represent Data Services, I named it "DI_Source".

DataServices will start an RFC Server program and tell BW that it would be ready to receive RFC calls. To identify itself as the RFC server representing this BW Source system a keyword is exchanged, in the screen shot below it is "DI_SOURCE". And it is a Registered Server Program, the DI RFC Server will register itself at SAP.

Be Careful The Program ID provided here is case sensitive, so it is DI_SOURCE, not DI_Source or similar.

Configuring SAP BW Open Hub Destination

The first step, after setting up a SAP BW external source system and configuring the DataServices RFCServer, is creating the Open Hub Destination (OHD). This is a "table" with a structure and will act as the interface between SAP BW and DataServices.

For this structure we have to define all the columns later but usually our goal will be to read the data from an existing object and therefore using the same columns. In the dialog below you can choose a template for the structure, as we want to read the data from the InfoCube ZDS_SALES we use it as the template and hence get all the InfoCube's columns in the Open Hub Destination.

We need a "3rd Party" OHD with RFC Destination being DataServices, the one we created, as in step Setup BW DataServices Communication.

As we have used the InfoCube as a template when creating the OHD, we do not start with an empty list of columns but all columns of this template object. We could refine that list but as we want to copy all the data 1:1, there is no need for that.

As last step we activate the OHD by clicking on the Activation button in the tool bar.

The OpenHub Destination exists now but is completely disconnected; we create a Transformation to tell where the data should come from.

In our case, the InfoCube ZDS_SALES is the source.

By default, all columns are mapped directly which is exactly what we need in our case, nothing to do hence.

Now we need a DTP which does execute the OHD loading.

At the end, all is to be saved and activated.

Configuring SAP BW Open Hub ProcessChain

Unfortunately it is not possible to execute a DataTransferProcess (DTP) directly, at least not remote via BAPIs, so we have to use create a ProcessChain for that. Very often the ProcessChain will just start the DTP and that's it, but this is not mandatory.

In the modeling view there is the button for ProcessChains.

This button brings you to the Planning View and allows you to create new ProcessChains.

A ProcessChain gets a name...

...and requires us to create a new Process Variant.

A Variant that is started via an API.

From the Process Types view we drag'n drop the "Data Transfer Process" node over to the right side view...

...and will get asked which DTP in particular should be taken. Usually the list is too long, so a click on the Filter icon....

...allows us to search for all DTPs we have created for the target Open Hub Destination ZWDCUBE.

As a result we have two steps, which need to be made dependent. By taking the Data Transfer Process and dragging it over the Start process...

...the screen changes to a hierarchy.

Finally we activate the ProcessChain as well and can import the Open Hub Destination into the datastore using DataServices Designer.

Be Careful You can import the OHD even when no ProcessChain was created or activated at that time. The imported object will hence show none. But without, you can't really execute it. Or in other words, whenever the OHD changed or a new ProcessChain got created, re-import it.

Reading from an Open Hub Destination

The dataflow itself is very trivial with all the preparation done already. We simply build one with the Open Hub Destination (OHD) as source and process the data further.

The only important setting is to tell the OHD Reader the ProcessChain should be executed and what its name is. Keep in mind, all SAP BW objects have to be activated including the OHD and its ProcessChain, only then the OHD should be imported. Otherwise in the dataflow the ProcessChain setting is grayed out as not available.