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Create an SAP BusinessObjects Universe on the CData ODBC Driver for SAP
Provide connectivity to SAP data through an SAP BusinessObjects universe.
This article shows how to create and publish an SAP BusinessObjects universe on the CData ODBC Driver for SAP. You will connect to SAP data from the Information Design Tool as well as the Web Intelligence tool.
About SAP Data Integration
CData provides the easiest way to access and integrate live data from SAP. Customers use CData connectivity to:
- Access every edition of SAP, including SAP R/3, SAP NetWeaver, SAP ERP / ECC 6.0, and SAP S/4 HANA on premises data that is exposed by the RFC.
- Perform actions like sending IDoc or IDoc XML files to the server and creating schemas for functions or queries through SQL stored procedures.
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Connect optimally depending on where a customer's SAP instance is hosted.
- Customers using SAP S/4HANA cloud public edition will use SAP NetWeaver Gateway connectivity
- Customers using SAP S/4HANA private edition will use either SAP ERP or SAP NetWeaver Gateway connectivity.
While most users leverage our tools to replicate SAP data to databases or data warehouses, many also integrate live SAP data with analytics tools such as Tableau, Power BI, and Excel.
Getting Started
Connect to SAP as an ODBC Data Source
If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.
You can connect to SAP systems using either librfc32.dll, librfc32u.dll, NetWeaver, or Web Services (SOAP). Set the ConnectionType connection property to CLASSIC (librfc32.dll), CLASSIC_UNICODE (librfc32u.dll), NETWEAVER, or SOAP.
If you are using the SOAP interface, set the Client, RFCUrl, SystemNumber, User, and Password properties, under the Authentication section.
Otherwise, set Host, User, Password, Client, and SystemNumber.
Note: We do not distribute the librfc32.dll or other SAP assemblies. You must find them from your SAP installation and install them on your machine.
For more information, see this guide on obtaining the connection properties needed to connect to any SAP system.
When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.
Create an ODBC Connection to SAP Data
This section shows how to create a connection to the SAP ODBC data source in the Information Design Tool. After you create a connection, you can analyze data or create a BusinessObjects universe.
Right-click your project and click New -> New Relational Connection.
- In the wizard that is displayed, enter a name for the connection.
Select Generic -> Generic ODBC datasource -> ODBC Drivers and select the DSN.
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Finish the wizard with the default values for connection pooling and custom parameters.
Analyze SAP Data in the Information Design Tool
In the Information Design Tool, you can use both published and local ODBC connections to browse and query data.
In the Local Projects view, double-click the connection (the .cnx file) to open the SAP data source.
On the Show Values tab, you can load table data and enter SQL queries. To view table data, expand the node for the table, right-click the table, and click Show Values. Values will be displayed in the Raw Data tab.
On the Analysis tab, you can drag and drop columns onto the axes of a chart.
Publish the Local Connection
To publish the universe to the CMS, you additionally need to publish the connection.
In the Local Projects view, right-click the connection and click Publish Connection to a Repository.
Enter the host and port of the repository and connection credentials.
Select the folder where the connection will be published.
In the success dialog that results, click Yes to create a connection shortcut.
Create a Universe on the ODBC Driver for SAP
You can follow the steps below to create a universe on the ODBC driver for SAP. The universe in this example will be published to a repository, so it uses the published connection created in the previous step.
In the Information Design Tool, click File->New Universe.
Select your project.
Select the option to create the universe on a relational data source.
Select the shortcut to the published connection.
Enter a name for the Data Foundation.
Import tables and columns that you want to access as objects.
Enter a name for the Business Layer.
Publish the Universe
You can follow the steps below to publish the universe to the CMS.
In the Local Projects view, right-click the business layer and click Publish -> To a Repository.
In the Publish Universe dialog, enter any integrity checks before importing.
Select or create a folder on the repository where the universe will be published.
Query SAP Data in Web Intelligence
You can use the published universe to connect to SAP in Web Intelligence.
Open Web Intelligence from the BusinessObjects launchpad and create a new document.
Select the Universe option for the data source.
Select the SAP universe. This opens a Query Panel. Drag objects to the Result Objects pane to use them in the query.
Ready to get started?
Download a free trial of the SAP ERP ODBC Driver to get started:
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SAP ERP ODBC Driver
The SAP ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live SAP ERP, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.
With the SAP ODBC Driver, accessing SAP R/3 and SAP ERP is as easy as querying a database.
