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Real Time Analytics with SAP Hana
Real Time Analytics with SAP Hana

Real Time Analytics with SAP Hana: Enhance your SAP HANA skills using this step-by-step guide to creating and reporting data models for real-time analytics

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Real Time Analytics with SAP Hana

Chapter 2. SAP HANA Data Modeling Approach

This chapter gets you started with the modeling approach. We start with a discussion about row and column storage and their usage. Then, we move on to the architecture of the SAP HANA engine and understand how different views are processed. We will also discuss the different schemas available in SAP HANA. This chapter will introduce you to modeling principle and guidelines. We will perform a comparative study of different modeling artifacts in SAP HANA. We will close the chapter with a learning of the SAP HANA Studio and how to create packages and delivery units.

After completing this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Differentiate between row and column storage, and know when to use what
  • Understand basic architecture of the SAP HANA engine
  • Differentiate between modeling artifacts in SAP HANA
  • Know modeling principles
  • Learn to use the SAP HANA Studio
  • Differentiate schemas in SAP HANA
  • Create packages and delivery units

Row and column storage in SAP HANA

Relational databases typically use row-based data storage. SAP HANA uses both (row based and column based data storage)

  • The row storage: This stores records in a sequence of rows
  • The column storage: The column entries are stored in a continuous memory location

Before getting into a SAP HANA specific discussion, let's try to understand how different column storage is from row. The column-oriented database systems (in our case, SAP HANA) perform better than traditional row-oriented database systems on analytical tasks, in areas such as data warehouses, decision support, predictive analysis, and business intelligence applications.

The major reason behind this performance difference in these areas is that column stores are more I/O efficient for read-only queries as they only have to read the attributes accessed by a query from the disk or memory.

Let's see a few factors that optimize performance in the column storage:

  • Compression: The data stored in...

Basic architecture of the SAP HANA engine

SAP HANA has different engines to process different views. It has the following engines:

  • JOIN engine: This engine is for processing the JOINS (all type of joins)/attribute views
  • OLAP engine: This engine is used to process analytical view
  • CALCULATION engine: This engine is used to process complex calculation that cannot be processed by the JOIN or OLAP engine

It is the SQL optimizer, which sees the models and queries and decides which engine to call.

Any analytic view or attribute view with a calculate attribute will be processed as a calculation view. This should to be taken into consideration during modeling, because it can have a measurable impact on the performance of the data model. Different engines cooperate among themselves as well.

The following figure shows the SAP HANA engines processing different views:

Basic architecture of the SAP HANA engine

Other than the preceding illustrated engines, we do have a planning engine as well in SAP HANA. The planning engine, allows financial planning...

Different modeling artifacts in SAP HANA

Before creating a new SAP HANA modeling artifact it is of paramount importance to know which types of modeling artifacts will be suitable for our business need. Depending on the scenario you are working in, your choice might vary. Factors that should be taken into consideration are:

  • The write- or read-intensive scenario, so as to decide between column and row storage
  • Data access need and resources for the replication method available
  • The application or client to be supported with your information model as different clients expose/consume data differently
  • Performance and functionality, as not all views can give the same functionality or performance

The first thing we need to decide is do we need a column table or row store. Once we have decided, we can have a glance at the following table and choose the views, if our requirement can be fulfilled by any of these:

 

Column table

Analytical view

Calculation view (SQL)

Calculation view (CE function...

SAP HANA Studio

The SAP HANA Studio is a client tool to connect to the SAP HANA database. It is a Java-based application that runs on the Eclipse platform. It is delivered as part of the SAP HANA installation package, and provides an environment for administration, modeling, development, and data provisioning.

We will be primarily working with SAP HANA Studio for all our modeling needs in this book.

SAP HANA Studio

SAP HANA Studio

Perspectives in SAP HANA Studio

Perspectives are predefined user interface layouts with several views. We have the following perspectives:

Perspectives in SAP HANA Studio

Perspectives in SAP HANA Studio

Let's see a few of the perspectives and their usage in detail:

  • SAP HANA Administration Console: This perspective is used by SAP HANA administrators to administrate and monitor the whole SAP HANA system. We will use it to add our system to the SAP HANA instance into SAP HANA Studio.
  • SAP HANA Modeler: The SAP HANA Modeler perspective is used by data modeler to create information models and data artifacts, as a combination...

Different schemas in SAP HANA

Schemas are used to categorize database content according to customer defined groupings that have a particular meaning for users. Schemas also help to define access rights to the database objects. Schemas can help identify which tables to use when defining information models. But a model can incorporate tables from multiple schemas, which are:

  • System defined
  • User defined
  • SLT derived schemas

System defined schemas are delivered with the SAP HANA database and contain the HANA system's information. These are system schemas such as _SYS_BIC, _SYS_BI, _SYS_REPO, _SYS_STATISTICS, and so on.

Let's see more about these system defined schemas:

  • _SYS_BIC: This schema contains all the column views of activated objects. When the user activates any of the views, say the attribute view/analytical view / the calculation view, the respective runtime objects are created under the _SYS_BIC column view.
  • _SYS_REPO: This contains a list of activated objects, inactive objects...

Row and column storage in SAP HANA


Relational databases typically use row-based data storage. SAP HANA uses both (row based and column based data storage)

  • The row storage: This stores records in a sequence of rows

  • The column storage: The column entries are stored in a continuous memory location

Before getting into a SAP HANA specific discussion, let's try to understand how different column storage is from row. The column-oriented database systems (in our case, SAP HANA) perform better than traditional row-oriented database systems on analytical tasks, in areas such as data warehouses, decision support, predictive analysis, and business intelligence applications.

The major reason behind this performance difference in these areas is that column stores are more I/O efficient for read-only queries as they only have to read the attributes accessed by a query from the disk or memory.

Let's see a few factors that optimize performance in the column storage:

  • Compression: The data stored in columns is...

Basic architecture of the SAP HANA engine


SAP HANA has different engines to process different views. It has the following engines:

  • JOIN engine: This engine is for processing the JOINS (all type of joins)/attribute views

  • OLAP engine: This engine is used to process analytical view

  • CALCULATION engine: This engine is used to process complex calculation that cannot be processed by the JOIN or OLAP engine

It is the SQL optimizer, which sees the models and queries and decides which engine to call.

Any analytic view or attribute view with a calculate attribute will be processed as a calculation view. This should to be taken into consideration during modeling, because it can have a measurable impact on the performance of the data model. Different engines cooperate among themselves as well.

The following figure shows the SAP HANA engines processing different views:

Other than the preceding illustrated engines, we do have a planning engine as well in SAP HANA. The planning engine, allows financial planning...

Different modeling artifacts in SAP HANA


Before creating a new SAP HANA modeling artifact it is of paramount importance to know which types of modeling artifacts will be suitable for our business need. Depending on the scenario you are working in, your choice might vary. Factors that should be taken into consideration are:

  • The write- or read-intensive scenario, so as to decide between column and row storage

  • Data access need and resources for the replication method available

  • The application or client to be supported with your information model as different clients expose/consume data differently

  • Performance and functionality, as not all views can give the same functionality or performance

The first thing we need to decide is do we need a column table or row store. Once we have decided, we can have a glance at the following table and choose the views, if our requirement can be fulfilled by any of these:

 

Column table

Analytical view

Calculation view (SQL)

Calculation view (CE function )

Scenario...

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Key benefits

  • This book will help you to process analytical and transactional data in real time with the help of SAP HANA.
  • Walk through the steps of the data modeling process and build various data models and artifacts in SAP HANA Studio.
  • Packed with rich examples and use cases that are closely focused on developing real-time applications.

Description

SAP HANA is an in-memory database created by SAP. SAP HANA breaks traditional database barriers to simplify IT landscapes, eliminating data preparation, pre-aggregation, and tuning. SAP HANA and in-memory computing allow you to instantly access huge volumes of structured and unstructured data, including text data, from different sources. Starting with data modeling, this fast-paced guide shows you how to add a system to SAP HANA Studio, create a schema, packages, and delivery unit. Moving on, you’ll get an understanding of real-time replication via SLT and learn how to use SAP HANA Studio to perform this. We’ll also have a quick look at SAP Business Object DATA service and SAP Direct Extractor for Data Load. After that, you will learn to create HANA artifacts—Analytical Privileges and Calculation View. At the end of the book, we will explore the SMART DATA access option and AFL library, and finally deliver pre-packaged functionality that can be used to build information models faster and easier.

Who is this book for?

If you are a SAP HANA data modeler, developer, implementation/migration consultant, project manager, or architect who is responsible for implementing/migrating to SAP HANA, then this book is for you.

What you will learn

  • Get to grips with the basic building blocks of Analytics/Data models in the SAP HANA environment.
  • Discover various schemas, modeling principles, Joins, and the architecture of the SAP HANA engine.
  • Build data models and artifacts in Sap HANA Studio.
  • Design decision tables and understand the concept of transport management in the SAP HANA landscape.
  • Work with the different views in SAP HANA Studio.
  • Explore full-text search and fuzzy search in SAP HANA.
  • Create your own scenarios and use cases using sample data and code.

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Publication date : Oct 30, 2015
Length: 226 pages
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Publication date : Oct 30, 2015
Length: 226 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781782174127
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Table of Contents

10 Chapters
1. Kickoff – Before We Start Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. SAP HANA Data Modeling Approach Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Different Ways of SAP HANA Data Load Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Creating SAP HANA Artifacts Attribute Views and Analytical Views Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Creating SAP HANA Artifacts – Analytical Privileges and Calculation Views Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Understanding Text Search and Hierarchies in SAP HANA Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Using Decision Tables and Transporting SAP HANA Content Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Consuming SAP HANA Data Models Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
9. An Introduction to Application Function Library Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Top Reviews
Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.8
(13 Ratings)
5 star 92.3%
4 star 0%
3 star 7.7%
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1 star 0%
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George Nov 30, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Being a HANA Administrator I found this book to be quite useful , especially when you are looking for step by step information without depending on multiple sources when time comes for troubleshooting or performance improvement. Also, it goes into details which helped me to understanding how to play with tables.Finally, the book goes into detail advanced topics with solving.We expect you to write more books on different topics .Highly recommended for starters or intermediate developers/designers of a Data Warehouse
Amazon Verified review Amazon
SuJo Dec 25, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Buy this book, it's def 5/5 material. Right now Packt has it on sale for $5!!! You can't go wrong! I've used Elastic and Redis, but this was the first time I worked with SAP HANA. Absolutely brilliant model and it works well. This book guides you along the way the entire time, the author knows the subject matter extremely well and it really shines in the quality of this book. Seriously you can't beat this title for $5! Grab your copy today and learn how to utilize SAP HANA over the weekend.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Taha M. Mahmoud Nov 26, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Real Time analytic-es is one of the most attractive BI topics nowadays. This was impossible or very expensive at near past; but we can use advanced technologies like SAP HANA to achieve this dream.I was a student for the Author "Vinay Singh" by attending one of the Official SAP training. I have to say that Vinay is a very knowledgeable person who have a great skills to teach and being one whom working in SAP Labs and one of the early first people whom get the chance to see how SAP HANA started and evolved. So, I was very interested to read this book.The author did a really very good job here as he started with some introductory chapters to setup the basics which required to understand the remaining chapters. Topics like difference between traditional database and in-memory database, joins, union, procedures and scripts in SAP HANA are discussed in the first chapter. The author moves to explain SAP HANA Studio and and different modeling techniques like (attribute views, analytical views and calculation views). After that; the author start talking about data loading and how we can use replication techniques like SAP HANA SLT to instant data replication into SAP HANA.I really liked the self-study questions which added by end of each chapter; this is an amazing way to help understanding topics and do more re-search. Finally; I would like to thank the Author for his effort and looking for more great SAP HANA Books
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Tarek Assem Feb 04, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book is a gold mine, it has everything you might need to understand regarding real time analytics as well as the way HANA made the term "Real Time" even more realistic! Well written and easy to understand. Thanks Vinay!
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Amazon Customer Nov 15, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
One of the best.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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