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SAP BI Source

The SAP BI source is the source component of the Microsoft Connector for SAP BI. Thus, the SAP BI source extracts data from an SAP NetWeaver BI version 7 system and makes this data available to the data flow in a Microsoft Integration Services package.

This source has one output and one error output.

Important

The documentation for the Microsoft Connector for SAP BI assumes familiarity with the SAP NetWeaver BI environment. For more information about SAP NetWeaver BI, or for information about how to configure SAP NetWeaver BI objects and processes, see your SAP documentation.

Important

Extracting data from SAP NetWeaver BI requires additional SAP licensing. Check with SAP to verify these requirements.

To use the SAP BI source, you have to do the following tasks:

  • Prepare the SAP NetWeaver BI objects
  • Connect to the SAP NetWeaver BI system
  • Configure the SAP BI source

Preparing the SAP NetWeaver BI Objects That the Source Requires

The SAP BI source requires that certain objects are in the SAP NetWeaver BI system before the source can function. If these objects do not already exist, you have to follow these steps to create and configure these objects in the SAP NetWeaver BI system.

Note

For additional details about these objects and these configuration steps, see the SAP NetWeaver BI documentation.

  1. Log on to SAP NetWeaver BI through the SAP GUI, enter transaction code SM59, and create an RFC destination:
    1. For Connection Type, select TCP/IP.
    2. For Activation Type, select Registered Server Program.
    3. For Communication Type with Target System, select Non-Unicode (Inactive MDMP Settings).
    4. Assign an appropriate Program ID.
  2. Create an Open Hub Destination:
    1. Go to the Administrator Workbench (transaction code RSA1) and, in the left pane, select Open Hub Destination.
    2. In the middle pane, right-click an InfoArea, and then select "Create Open Hub Destination".
    3. For Destination Type, select "Third Party Tool", and then enter the previously created RFC Destination.
    4. Save and activate the new Open Hub Destination.
  3. Create a Data Transfer Process (DTP):
    1. In the middle pane of the InfoArea, right-click the previously created destination, and then select "Create data transfer process".
    2. Configure, save, and activate the DTP.
    3. On the menu, click Goto, and then click Settings for Batch Manager.
    4. Update Number of processes to 1 for serial processing.
  4. Create a process chain:
    1. When configuring the process chain, select the Start Using Metadata Chain or API as the Scheduling Options of the Start Process, and then add the previously created DTP as the subsequent node.
    2. Save and activate the process chain.
      The SAP BI source can call the process chain to activate the data transfer process.

Connecting to the SAP NetWeaver BI System

To connect to the SAP NetWeaver BI version 7 system, the SAP BI source uses the SAP BI connection manager that is part of the Microsoft Connector for SAP BI package. The SAP BI connection manager is the only Integration Services connection manager that the SAP BI source can use.

For more information about the SAP BI connection manager, see SAP BI Connection Manager.

Configuring the SAP BI Source

You can configure the SAP BI source in the following ways:

  • Look up and select the Open Hub Service (OHS) destination to use to extract data.
  • Select one of the following methods for extracting data:
    • Trigger a process chain. In this case, the Integration Services package starts the extraction process.
    • Wait for notification from the SAP NetWeaver BI system to begin an extraction. In this case, the SAP NetWeaver BI system starts the extraction process.
    • Retrieve the data that is associated with a particular Request ID. In this case, the SAP NetWeaver BI system has already extracted the data to an internal table, and the Integration Services package just reads the data.
  • Depending on the method selected for extracting data, provide the following additional information:
    • For the P - Trigger Process Chain option, provide the gateway host name, gateway service name, program ID for the RFC destination, and name of the process chain.
    • For the W - Wait for Notify option, provide the gateway host name, the gateway server name, and the program ID for the RFC destination. You can also specify the timeout (in seconds). The timeout is the maximum period of time that the source will wait to be notified.
    • For the E - Extract Only option, provide the Request ID.
  • Specify rules for string conversion. (For example, convert all strings depending on whether the SAP NetWeaver BI system is Unicode or not, or convert all strings to varchar or nvarchar).
  • Use the options that you have selected to preview the data to be extracted.

You can also enable logging of RFC function calls by the source. (This logging is separate from the optional logging that you can enable on Integration Services packages.) You enable logging of RFC function calls when you configure the SAP BI connection manager that the source will use. For more information about how to configure the SAP BI connection manager, see SAP BI Connection Manager.

If you do not know all the values that are required to configure the source, you might have to ask your SAP administrator.

For a walkthrough that demonstrates how to configure and use the SAP BI connection manager, source, and destination, see the white paper, Using SQL Server 2008 Integration Services with SAP BI 7.0. This white paper also shows how to configure the required objects in SAP BI.

Using the SSIS Designer to Configure the Source

For more information about the properties of the SAP BI source that you can set in SSIS Designer, click one of the following topics:

While you are configuring the SAP BI source, you can also use various dialog boxes to look up SAP NetWeaver BI objects or to preview the source data. For more information about these dialog boxes, click one of the following topics: