Better Information,

         for Better Answers

                 and Better Decisions

SAP Business Information Warehouse is a robust and scalable data warehouse and forms the foundation of the mySAP Business Intelligence solution.

Key capabilities include:

• Online analytical processing (OLAP) -- Provides a foundation for accessing, presenting, and analyzing data simultaneously along multiple dimensions, such as time, place, and product. OLAP leverages business modeling capabilities and helps answer complex questions by mapping architectural concepts, such as multidimensional models and aggregates, to business requirements.
• Data mining -- Enables users to search for patterns in data and answer questions for which no queries have been defined. The capability supports clustering, customer segmentation, and decision-tree algorithms.
• Alerting -- Allows users to identify exceptions quickly and easily. A threshold-based intelligent agent runs in the background and pushes business-critical information to decision-makers, independent of location and device.
• Data warehouse management -- Allows you to create and control data warehouses and align technology infrastructure with business requirements. The capability enables the control, monitoring, and maintenance of all processes connected with data staging and processing, and supports the processing of large volumes of data within the data warehouse.
• Extraction, transformation, and loading -- Supports the extraction, integration, and transformation of data from multiple sources, including ERP systems, CRM systems, online marketplaces, click-stream data, XML data, and relational databases. The capability includes data cleansing and application of business rules to ensure data quality.
• Query design -- Equips users with the tools to create and deploy graphical, interactive analysis reports and applications quickly and easily. "Parameterization" allows the personalization of queries so that one query can serve multiple users. Query design is available on the desktop or via a Web interface for ad-hoc query design.
• Reporting and analysis -- Supports decisions at every level -- strategic, tactical, and operational -- for a range of users. The reporting and analysis capability scales from static, formatted management reports to graphical, interactive analysis applications. Users can access information at different levels of granularity, share and analyze data through a Web browser or Microsoft Excel, and interact with the application using predefined, intuitive navigation paths such as filtering, slicing and dicing, and drill-down.
• Web application design -- Supports the visualization of business intelligence applications on the Web and mobile devices. The capability enables the creation of Web-based reports, analytical applications, and "dashboards" for fast and easy dissemination of information to a broad community. Ready-to-use items such as chart, ticker, table, and map promote quick and intuitive Web design. Maps enable geographic analysis and show relationships between business and spatial information.
• Business performance management -- Enables you to visually represent business objectives, monitor progress toward goals, track performance of strategic success factors, improve business efficiency, and manage for maximum value. Predefined key performance indicators (KPIs) for various industries and business areas help you monitor and manage performance.
• Business content -- Data-flow models provide predefined templates for reporting and analysis, with corresponding technical and business definitions, such as extraction and transformation rules, queries, and Web applications.
• Metadata management -- Metadata management is handled throughout the business intelligence process, from extracting to querying data. A pre-configured, extensible metadata repository ensures consistent, accurate, and integrated data. The capability allows the reuse of metadata from applications throughout the enterprise and provides users with a better understanding of the information they're analyzing.
• Collaborative business intelligence -- Allows decision-makers to work together, add comments to reports and key figures, automate approval processes, and participate in decision-making in the wider context of the enterprise.