What's New in SAS Data Surveyor 4.3 for SAP
Overview
SAS Data
Surveyor 4.3 for SAP has the following new features and enhancements:
role-based access to the SAS Data
Surveyor for SAP software in SAS Management Console
-
scheduling the extract of SAP metadata
enhanced authorization checks
enhanced CallRFC transformation
change data capture for extracting
data from SAP
SAS RFC server changes
For information
about changes to SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3, see the What's New section
of
SAS/ACCESS Interface to R/3: User's Guide.
New Role-Based Access to SAS Data Surveyor for SAP
SAS Data
Surveyor for SAP consists of a series of plug-ins to SAS Management
Console and SAS Data Integration Studio. In this release, access to
SAS Management Console data extraction plug-ins is granted by associating
the ExtractionTool capability with a role and then associating the
role with users and groups.
Use SAS
Management Console to access the Plug-In Manager so that you can associate
the ExtractionTool capability with a role. Then, use SAS Management
Console to access the User Manager and associate the role with users
and groups. For SAS Data Integration Studio, access to the plug-ins
is not restricted.
Scheduling the Extract of SAP Metadata
When performing
an initial metadata extact from an SAP R/3 or SAP Business Information
Warehouse (BW) System with SAS Management Console, you can save the
generated SAS program. You can then use the SAS program in a job to
schedule the extraction of SAP metadata.
Enhanced Authorization Checks
SAS provides
a set of Business Add-Ins (BAdI) that perform authorization checks
for BW and business intelligence (BI) objects. The authorization checks
are enabled or disabled by activating or deactivating the BAdIs. The
authorization check implementation depends on the SAP release:
For SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 and later,
authorization checks are performed using the analysis authorization
method. This provides an authorization check for the following items:
-
the infoProvider (infoCube,
infoObject, DSO)
-
column-level restrictions
on master data attributes and key figures
-
row-level restrictions
on attributes
-
For SAP Systems older than SAP
NetWeaver BI 7.0, SAS supports checking user authorization with the
reporting authorization method. User authorization is checked at the
InfoCubes, InfoObject, and ODS levels.
Enhanced CallRFC Transformation
You can
use the SAP CallRFC transformation wizard to select and configure
a function or Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI) from
SAP RFC-enabled function modules. You can create jobs that use this
transformation to extract data from SAP systems. You can then import
that SAP data into SAS files, combine the SAP data with other data,
or load it into an SAP System. In this release, the SAP CallRFC transformation
wizard is enhanced to initialize the ports on the transform according
to the expected parameters and tables that the selected function module
uses. This enhancement makes the transform easier to use.
Schedule InfoPackage Transformation
This transformation
was available in previous releases, but was not available on the Transformations
tree. The transformation is now available under the SAP Transformations
node. This transform can be added to a job, but it is used most often
with the New SAP BW wizard. When the New SAP BW wizard is used and
the infoPackage can be scheduled, the wizard includes the Schedule
InfoPackage transformation automatically in the generated job.
Change Data Capture Options
The SAP
BW Register Tables wizard generates SAS code for extracting data from
your SAP System. Change data capture processing enables you to extract
only the data that has changed since your last extraction. When the
wizard generates loader jobs that use one of the following transformations,
you can edit the Options tab on the properties for the transformation
and enable change data capture:
-
Load dimension table
Loading fact table
Loading ODS
SAS RFC Server Changes
A SAS RFC Server was needed in previous releases to enable communication
between the SAP LIBNAME engine provided by SAS/ACCESS Interface to
R/3 and the SAP System. The SAS RFC Server required administration
to start and stop, as well as configuration.
In SAS/ACCESS
4.3 Interface to R/3 software, the SAP LIBNAME engine communicates
directly with the SAP System. This change eliminates the need for
a SAS RFC Server in all operating environments except z/OS. A SAS
RFC Server is needed for the z/OS operating environment.