Best practices for the SAP BW connector

When you work with SAP BW data in Spotfire, there are certain restrictions in SAP BW that you should keep in mind. The following sections contain information describing common SAP BW limitations and suggestions for how you can work around them.

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Default cell limit: Maximum 1M cells

By default, there is a limit to how many cells of data can be returned in a single query from Spotfire to SAP BW. The MDX interface of SAP BW can generate a result set containing a maximum of 1M cells.

There is a preference setting, that a Spotfire administrator can enable, to make Spotfire use a special set of functions to query SAP BW data sources. Enabling the preference UseNativeSapFunctionsAllowingMoreThanOneMillionCells will allow you to work with larger amounts of data from SAP BW. For more information, see SAP Note 1232751.

Note: For this preference setting to have any effect, you must have installed the BAPI driver (SAP NetWeaver RFC SDK) on your computer.

Working within the default SAP BW cell limit

If you are running the SAP BW connector with the ODBO driver (SAP BW OLE DB for OLAP provider), or if you have not enabled the preference setting for working with SAP BW data that exceeds 1M cells, consider the following recommendations for working within the restrictions of the SAP BW 1M cell limit.

Tips to avoid exceeding the SAP BW cell limit for in-database data

Use filters to limit the data in your analysis.
Include a key figure (measure) when you set up a visualization.
Note: If a query to an SAP BW data source includes no key figure (measure), more data than intended might be returned from the data source.

Tips avoid exceeding the cell limit when you import SAP BW data

Import the data in smaller pieces. See Importing SAP BW data in pieces.
In the Data Selection in Connection dialog, reduce your data selection as much as possible. Only include columns and hierarchies that are relevant to your analysis. Define BEx variables and limit characteristics to only include data for values of interest.
Click Estimate Import Size to evaluate whether the selected data can be imported.
Include a key figure (measure) in the data selection.
Note: If a query to an SAP BW data source includes no key figure (measure), more data than intended might be returned from the data source.

Limitation: Multiple hierarchies or columns from the same characteristic

SAP BW does not support mixing hierarchies or columns that are based on the same characteristic. If more than one hierarchy or column is based on the same characteristic in your data source, make sure you only include one of those columns or hierarchies.

In the Data Selection in Connection dialog, select the data you want to analyze.
In the Data selection in connection list, expand each characteristic to inspect associated hierarchies and columns.
If any characteristic contains more than one hierarchy or column, make sure you only include one, by selecting the redundant hierarchies or columns and then clicking <Remove.

Other tips for using the SAP BW connector

The following tips are useful suggestions to keep in mind when you use the Spotfire connector for SAP BW.

Navigational attributes: To use navigational attributes in Spotfire, the attributes must be exposed in a BEx query.

Do not limit BEx variable characteristics: If you are connecting to an SAP BW BEx query with variables, avoid limiting characteristics in the Limit Data dialog. If you both limit a characteristic and define a BEx variable that filters out values for that characteristic, you might get unpredictable results when loading and analyzing data.