Step-by-Step tutorial to upload Master Data from Flat File
(SourceSystem) to InfoObjects (Master data table)
Step-by-Step tutorial to upload Master Data from Flat File
(SourceSystem) to InfoObjects (Master data table)
By Lakshmi MP, Perot Systems
Basic Steps of Data Flow (ETL process): 1. Determine the Source
System (Flat File/SAP R3/WebServices etc) 2. Establish an interface
w.r.t the Source system used 3. Create a Data Source which has a
structure similar to the Source structure. Consider two factors :
Name of file and Structure same as Source. 4. Create Info Provider
to transfer data from Data Source to PSA (Persistent staging Area)
5. Create a Target (Info Provider : InfoObjects/Info Cubes/DSO etc)
6. Create a Transformation rule to map Source & Target fields.
7. Create DTP (Data Transfer Process) to transport data stored
within PSA , to the final Data Target. Transaction Code RSA1 : Data
Warehouse Workbench Source/Input: Create a Flat File of type CSV,
with the following structure: Customer Language Land City Name
260 EN US SEATTLE JOHN
261 DE DE HAMBURG SAM
262 DE DE WALDORF MICHEAL
Right click on the InfoProvider column header. Select Create
InfoArea Enter the details InfoArea name and Description The
InfoArea IA for Customer appears on the InfoProvider list. Right
click on the created InfoArea and create InfoObject Catalog
Enter a suitable Name and Description for InfoObject Catalog.
Select Char. or Key Figure based on the type of data (Master data/
Trans. Data) needs to be created. In this case, we are creating
Master data. Hence, we need to create Characteristics InfoObject.
Select Char. Click on Create. The InfoObject Catalog appears right
under the InfoArea created earlier. Now, right click on the
InfoObject Catalog and create Info Object.
In the pop-up for InfoObject enter Characteristic name and
description. The first Characteristic InfoObject created can be
treated as a key value in the Master table to be created. On the
right window, the properties of the Characteristic CUSTNO are
visible. In the General Tab, enter the Data Type and Length. Note:
the Attribute Only field is not checked. This means that this
Characteristic is a primary key field in the Master Data table. If
the box is checked, then it becomes an attribute of this
Characteristic Key field or just another normal field in the Master
data Table. In the Business Explorer tab, no changes to be
done.
Save + Activate => P tables gets created In the Master
data/texts tab, - Check With Master data, to create a Master Data
table, having naming convention /BIC/P - Check With Texts, to
create a corresponding Text table for this Master Data table with
two default fields Language & Description. Select
short/medium/long texts, also texts language dependent. - Select
Char is InfoProvider (as our InfoObject is our target in this
scenario). - Enter the InfoArea in the box below.
In the Attribute tab, enter the fields (non-key fields) that
need to be maintained within the Master Data table. Ex: Customer Id
primary key field Land City
On entry of each field, hit [Enter] and in the pop-up box,
select the 1st option Create Attribute as Characteristic.
Enter the Data type and the Length. [Enter] Repeat the same for
other fields too.
[Activate ] - Activate all dependent InfoObjects. Create File
Interface: Source Systems ( File ( Create( Or Use the existing file
source system
Data Source creation/selection: On the Navigator tab, select
Data Source. Click on the [X] button to Choose the Source
System.
Choose the Source System ( File (
Right click on the header and Create Application Component.
Enter the name and description for Application Component. Ex: Name:
APC_CUSTOMER Click ok. The technical name of Application component
APC_CUSTOMER now gets saved as => ZAPC_CUSTOMER Right click on
the Application component and create DataSource Enter a suitable
DataSource name : DS_Cust Source System : Flatfile Select Data Type
of DataSource : Master Data attributes ( as we are creating master
data table. Note: Select Master Data Attributes, while you are
uploading Master Data from file (DS1) Select Master Data Text,
while you are uploading Text Descriptions for the Master Data
records (DS2)
In the right Window, you can view the Data Source properties.
General Info tab provides information on the Data Source created
Extraction tab provides details of file to be extracted. In a Data
source, we need to mention 2 details: - Name of Flat File (ASCII or
CSV) to be uploaded - Structure (Layout) of the input file,
mentioning the fields. Therefore, make the following changes: -
Select name of file using F4, search for the file on you local
desktop - Header rows to be ignored = 1 (if file has a header row
as column titles) = 0 (if file has no header row) - Select Data
Format as Separated with Separator (for ex CSV). Enter the Data
Separator as , .
Proposal tab provides a quick view of the data in the flat file
to be uploaded Click on the Load Example tab. The details can be
viewed in the below pane.
Fields tab provides details of all fields used to create a data
structure, to map with the fields from Source file. - In the
Template Info field, enter the field names
(characteristics/attributes). - [Enter] or [Save] - [Copy] : all
properties of the characteristics ( ex: data types, length etc) are
copied here.
Note: the fields 0LANGU and 0TXTSH are the standard SAP defined
characteristics InfoObjects. [Save] [Activate] Preview tab gives a
preview of data on flat file loaded onto a structure. - Click on
Read Preview Data
Info Package: An InfoPackage helps to transport data from the
Data Source structures into the PSA tables. (This is similar to
transfer of data from Work areas to Internal Tables in R/3 ABAP).
Rt. Click on the Data Source and Create InfoPackage.
Enter the InfoPackage name : IP_Cust Enter a suitable
Description Select the corresponding DataSource from the list below
and [Save]. On the right window, we have the InfoPackage
properties: Data Selection tab to initiate loading of data into the
infopackage - Select Start Data Load Immediately - Click on
[Start]. - Then click on the [Monitor]button next to Process Chain
Mgmt Or [ F6].
In the next screen, we can view the status of the data loading
to PSA. Click on the [PSA Maintenance] or [Ctrl + F8] to maintain
the PSA table with the flat file values. In the pop-up, defining
the number of records per request, click OK. This leads to the PSA
display screen, with the table and the respective data in them.
Click on [Back] and come back to the DataSource screen.
Transformation: This is a rule that is defined, for mapping the
source fields in the DataSource to the final Target (basically, the
Info Providers from where BI extracts the reports). In this case,
our target is the InfoObject (Master data table), which has been
already created. Note: Normally, the Transformation can be created
on the Data Source or the Target. Here, we are creating a
Transformation on the DataSource. Right click on DataSource (
Create Transformation
In the pop-up, For the Target of Transformation, - Enter Object
Type: InfoObject (this is our target in this scenario) - Enter
subtype of Object: Attributes (as were considering Master data
only. Not transactional data) - Enter the name of the InfoObject we
created. For the Source of Transformation, - Enter Object Type:
DataSource (this is our source structure) - Enter name of Data
Source used - Enter the Source System used. Click on OK Note: While
uploading Master Data, select Sub-type of Object : Attributes (IP1
for DS1) While uploading Text desc. For this Master Data, select
Subtype of Object : Texts (IP2 for DS2)
In the next screen pop-up, we get the no. of proposals (rules)
generated to map source fields with target fields. Click on Ok. On
the next window we can see a graphical representation of the
mapping of Source fields to Target fields. Save and Activate, if
the mapping if done correctly.
Data Transfer Process (DTP): The DTP is a process used to
transfer data from the PSA tables, into the data Targets, based on
the Transformation (mapping) rules. DataSource ( right click (
Create Data Transfer Process.
In the pop-up, - The DTP name is described as : <
DataSrc/SourceSys -> InfoObject > - DTP type : standard -
Target of DTP : Object Type : InfoObject (in this case) Subtype of
Object : Attribute Name : < name of InfoObject > - Source of
DTP: Object Type : Data Source DataSource : Source System: Flat
file Click on OK.
In the DTP properties window, Extraction tab, - Select
Extraction Mode as Full. [Save] [Activate]
Update tab no changes to be made Execute tab, - Click on
[Execute] button
Click on [Refresh] until the icons in Yellow, turn Green. Incase
a Red icon appears, we need to track the error and rectify it. Go
Back. To view the contents of the Target (Info Object), there are 2
ways: 1. Go to the InfoObject CUSTNO ( MasterData/Texts tab ( Dbl
click on the Master data table created : /BIC/P ( Table display (
Execute
On Transformation/DTP ( Attribute ( rt.click ( Manage ( rt windw
Contents tab ( [Contents] ( F8. Text table Data Display is Language
Dependent: For Lang = EN, display corresponding Short Desc. For
Lang = DE, display corresponding Short Desc. Observations: In the
above Master data table display, The fields Customer Name, Customer
Land, Customer City : have been created and loaded with data as per
the file. These 3 fields have been created as a result of checking
the With Master data for the Characteristic. The contents of the
Master data are stored in the newly created transparent table
/BIC/P Ex: The fields Language , Description : have been created
and loaded with data as per the file. These 2 fields have been
created by default, as a result of checking the With Text data for
the Characteristic. The contents of the Text data are stored in the
newly created transparent table /BIC/T Ex: