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© 2010 SAP AG 1

Open Hub Destination – Basics

Applies to:

SAP BI Consultants and for those who are dealing with OHD requirements of Customers. For more information, visit the Business Objects homepage.

Summary

The open hub destination is the object that allows you to distribute data from a BI system to non-SAP data marts, analytical applications, and other applications. It ensures controlled distribution across multiple systems. The open hub destination defines the target to which the data is transferred. It is the central object and contains all the important information about a target system for the data to be extracted.

Author: Naoman Daulatabad

Company: TCS, Kolkata

Created on: 21st September 2010

Author Bio

Naoman Daulatabad is Senior SAP BI consultant with four years of IT experience and mostly involved in implementing Business Intelligent system in Utility Industries for European Clients.

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc



© 2010 SAP AG 2

Table of Contents

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................. 1

Definition: ............................................................................................................................................................ 3

Destination type: ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Open Hub Data Source: ..................................................................................................................................... 4

Transformations: ................................................................................................................................................. 4

Data Transfer Process: ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Step By Step Procedure: .................................................................................................................................... 5 Third-Party Tools as Destinations: ............................................................................................................................. 14

Related Content: ............................................................................................................................................... 15

Disclaimer and Liability Notice .......................................................................................................................... 16



© 2010 SAP AG 3

Definition:

The open hub destination is the object that allows you to distribute data from a BI system to non-SAP data

marts, analytical applications, and other applications. It ensures controlled distribution across multiple

systems.

The open hub destination defines the target to which the data is transferred. It is the central object and

contains all the important information about a target system for the data to be extracted.

Destination type:

The destination type determines the target in which the extracted data is stored. You can choose between

the following two targets:

DB tables

During the extraction, the data can be stored in a DB table (on the database that supports the SAP

BI system). Many non-SAP systems and applications use standard database management systems

(such as DB2, Oracle and SQL Server). These platforms provide tools (that are also used by SAP in

the DB Connect methodology) that you can use for direct access to the third-party DB tables

generated by the open hub service. Likewise, you can use APIs from a third-party tool to extract data

from the database to a non-SAP system.

CSV files

When extracting data to flat files, the only format that is supported is .CSV. You can store the csv

files on the SAP BI application server or in a local directory. Note: If you save the file locally, its size



© 2010 SAP AG 4

must not exceed 0.5GB. You should therefore save the file to the application server when

transferring mass data.

Third-Party Tool

You can extract data to non-SAP systems using the open hub service. Different APIs enable you to

connect a third-party tool to the BI system to distribute data to other non-SAP systems. Name of the

DB Table or CSV file, this aspect will be dealt with in more detail in the following section.

Open Hub Data Source:

Open hub data sources are the BI objects from which data can be extracted:

Info Cubes

Data Store objects

Characteristic Info Objects (attributes/texts)

Transformations:

You can adapt or transform the data of the open hub data source in the data flow using the transformation

components before you transfer it to the open hub destination. The transformation connects the fields of the

data source with the fields of the destination.

Data Transfer Process:

Using the data transfer process, the data from an open hub data source is written to the target table or target

file. Within such a process, the following parameters are available to you (among others).

Extraction mode

Use extraction mode to determine whether to extract data in full or delta mode. The delta is

determined using the request ID for the relevant open hub data source. Delta extraction is possible

only for open hub data sources of the InfoCube, DataStore or object type.

Packaging

You use this parameter to determine the number of rows for each data package, in other words, the

size of the package for the data to be extracted.

Selection options

You can set filters (individual values, intervals and so on) to restrict the amount of data to be

extracted. This means that data is requested in accordance with the selection conditions from the

open hub data source.



© 2010 SAP AG 5

The open hub service is implemented in three steps. The first step is to define the open hub destination. The

second step is to determine the data flow from the source to the destination. This step mainly consists of

defining the transformation. To execute the extraction, the third step is to schedule a data transfer process. It

is also possible to schedule the extraction process using a process chain. These three steps are dealt with in

the following sections.

Following sections describes step by step procedure for open hub services for all three destination

type discussed above.

Step By Step Procedure:

CSV File :

Logon to SAP BI server and go to DWW (Data warehousing Workbench).

Go to Modeling Open Hub Destination as shown in the following figure.



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Go to the respective Info Area and select Create Open Hub Destination from the right context menu.

Give technical name and the description for the Open Hub Destination. Select DataStore Object as

ObjectType and give the DSO object name.



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In Destination tab select File as Destination Type.

We can select Application Server or Local Directory as a destination. Go to Destination Tab and give the

destination path in Directory and ‘;’ as Separator.



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Go to Field Def. tab where all the available fileds of selected DSO is listed. We can select the required fields

from the list by selecting respective check box. Check and activate the Open Hub Destination.

For the Local Directory can not be used in process chains.



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Now the Open Hub Destination is created under respective InfoArea.

Go to recently created Open Hub Destination and select Create Transformation from right context menu.

Select Datastore Object as Object Type and type the DSO name.



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Required transformation can be done in the following screen. Check and activate the transformation.

Go to Open Hub Destination and select Create Data Transfer Process from right context menu.



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Select Extraction Mode as Full. Data can be restricted using Filter.

Check and activate the DTP and Execute.



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Monitor the data.

Two .CSV files are created in the selected path. One for actual data (Open Hub Name) and another for

header and meta data (S_ <Open Hub Name>)

Observe the data in the following screens.

Meta Data and Header File.



© 2010 SAP AG 13

Actual Data

DataBase Table

Features

Generating Database Tables

When you activate the open hub destination, the system generates a database table. The generated

database table has the prefix /BIC/OHxxx (xxx is the technical name of the destination).

Deleting Data from the Table

With an extraction to a database table, you can either retain the history of the data or just store the new data

in the table. Choose Delete Data from Table when defining your destination if you want to overwrite the

fields. In this case, the table is completely deleted and regenerated before each extraction takes place. We

recommend that you use this mode if you do not want to store the history of the data in the table. If you do

not select this option, the system only generates the table once before the first extraction. We recommend

that you use this mode if you want to retain the history of the extracted data.

Note that if changes are made to the properties of the database table (for example, fields are added), the

table is always deleted and regenerated.

Table Key Fields

You can choose whether you want to use a technical key or a semantic key.

Technical key



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If you set the Technical Key indicator, a unique key is added that consists of the technical fields OHREQUID

(open hub request SID), DATAPAKID (data package ID), and RECORD (sequential number of a data record

to be added to the table within a data package). These fields display the individual key fields for the table.

Using a technical key with a target table is particularly useful if you want to extract into a table that is not

deleted before extraction. If an extracted record has the same key as a record that already exists, the

duplicate records cause a short dump.

Semantic key

If you set the Semantic Key indicator, the system selects all the fields in the field list as semantic keys, if they

are suitable. You can change this selection in the field list. However, note that duplicate records may result

from using a semantic key

Third-Party Tools as Destinations:

Extraction to the third-party tool can be executed as follows: ...

1. You define an open hub destination with Third-Party Tool as the destination type.

2. You create an RFC destination for your third-party tool and enter it in the definition of the open

hub destination.

3. You use API RSB_API_OHS_DEST_SETPARAMS to define the parameters for the third-party

tool that are required for the extraction.

4. You either start extraction immediately or include it in a process chain. You can also start this

process chain from the third-party tool using process chain API RSPC_API_CHAIN_START. The

extraction process then writes the data to a database table in the BI system.

5. When the extraction process is finished, the system sends a notification to the third-party tool

using API RSB_API_OHS_3RDPARTY_NOTIFY.

6. The extracted data is read by API RSB_API_OHS_DEST_READ_DATA.

The status of the extraction is transferred to the monitor by API RSB_API_OHS_REQUEST_SETSTATUS



© 2010 SAP AG 15

Related Content:

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/5092a542-350f-2d10-50bd-fc8cb3902e2e

http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Configuring+SAP+BW+Open+Hub+Destination

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/5092a542-350f-2d10-50bd-

fc8cb3902e2e?QuickLink=index&overridelayout=true

For more information, visit the Business Objects homepage.

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/5092a542-350f-2d10-50bd-fc8cb3902e2e

http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/BOBJ/Configuring+SAP+BW+Open+Hub+Destination

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/boc



© 2010 SAP AG 16

Disclaimer and Liability Notice

This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is not supported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade.

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open hub destination – basics - sap · open hub destination – basics ... oracle and sql...

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