50 BW Interview questions

1) Please describe your experience with BEx (Business Explorer)

A) Rate your level of experience with BEx and the rationale for you’re self-
rating

B) How many queries have you developed? :

C) How many reports have you written?

D) How many workbooks have you developed?

E) Experience with jump targets (OLTP, use jump target)

F) Describe experience with BW-compatible ETL tools (e.g. Ascential)

2) Describe your experience with 3rd party report tools (Crystal Decisions,
Business Objects a plus)

3) Describe your experience with the design and implementation of

standard & custom InfoCubes.

1. How many InfoCubes have you implemented from start to end by

yourself (not with a team)?

2. Of these Cubes, how many characteristics (including attributes) did the

largest one have.

3. How much customization was done on the InfoCubes have you

implemented?

4) Describe your experience with requirements definition/gathering.

5) What experience have you had creating Functional and Technical

specifications?

6) Describe any testing experience you have:

7) Describe your experience with BW extractors

1. How many standard BW extractors have you implemented?

2. How many custom BW extractors have you implemented?

8) Describe how you have used Excel as a compliment to BEx

A) Describe your level of expertise and the rationale for your self-rating
(experience with macros, pivot tables and formatting)
B)

9) Describe experience with ABAP

10) Describe any hands on experience with ASAP Methodology.

11) Identify SAP functional areas (SEM, CRM, etc.) you have experience in.
Describe that experience.

12) What is partitioning and what are the benefits of partitioning in an

InfoCube?

A) Partitioning is the method of dividing a table (either column wise or row

wise) based on the fields available which would enable a quick reference
for the intended values of the fields in the table. By partitioning an
infocube, the reporting performance is enhanced because it is easier to
search in smaller tables. Also table maintenance becomes easier.

13) What does Rollup do?

A) Rollup creates aggregates in an infocube whenever new data is loaded.

14) What are the inputs for an infoset?

A) The inputs for an infoset are ODS objects and InfoObjects (with master
data or text).

15) What internally happens when BW objects like Info Object, Info Cube or
ODS are created and activated?

A) When an InfoObject, InfoCube or ODS object is created, BW maintains a

saved version of that object but does not make it available for use. Once
the object is activated, BW creates an active version that is available for
use.

16) What is the maximum number of key fields that you can have in an ODS
object?

A) 16.

17) What is the specific advantage of LO extraction over LIS extraction?

A) The load performance of LO extraction is better than that of LIS. In LIS
two tables are used for delta management that is cumbersome. In LO only
one delta queue is used for delta management.

18) What is the importance of 0REQUID?

A) It is the InfoObject for Request id. OREQUID enables BW to distinguish

between different data records.

19) Can you add programs in the scheduler?

A) Yes. Through event handling.

20) What is the importance of the table ROIDOCPRMS?

A) It is an IDOC parameter source system. This table contains the details of

the data transfer like the source system of the data, data packet size,
maximum number of lines in a data packet, etc. The data packet size can be
changed through the control parameters option on SBIW i.e., the contents
of this table can be changed.

21) What is the importance of 'start routine' in update rules?

A) A Start routine is a user exit that can be executed before the update rule
starts to allow more complex computations for a key figure or a
characteristic. The start routine has no return value. Its purpose is to
execute preliminary calculations and to store them in a global data
structure. You can access this structure or table in the other routines.
22) When is IDOC data transfer used?

A) IDOCs are used for communication between logical systems like SAP
R/3, R/2 and non-SAP systems using ALE and for communication between
an SAP R/3 system and a non-SAP system. In BW, an IDOC is a data
container for data exchange between SAP systems or between SAP
systems and external systems based on an EDI interface. IDOCs support
limited file size of 1000 bytes. So IDOCs are not used when loading data
into PSA since data there is more detailed. It is used when the file size is
lesser than 1000 bytes.

23) What is partitioning characteristic in CO-PA used for?

A) For easier parallel search and load of data.

24) What is the advantage of BW reporting on CO-PA data compared with

directly running the queries on CO-PA?
A) BW has a better performance advantage over reporting in R/3. For a
huge amount of data, the R/3 reporting tool is at a serious disadvantage
because R/3 is modeled as an OLTP system and is good for transaction
processing rather than analytical processing.

25) What is the function of BW statistics cube?

A) BW statistics cube contains the data related to the reporting

performance and the data loads of all the InfoCubes in the BW system.

26) When an ODS is in 'overwrite' mode, does uploading the same data
again and again create new entries in the change log each time data is
uploaded?
A) No.

27) What is the function of 'selective deletion' tab in the manage->contents

of an infocube?

A) It allows us to select a particular value of a particular field and delete its

contents.

28) When we collapse an infocube, is the consolidated data stored in the

same infocubeinfocube? or is it stored in the new

A) Data is stored in the same cube.

29) What is the effect of aggregation on the performance? Are there any
negative effects on the performance?

A) Aggregation improves the performance in reporting.

30) What happens when you load transaction data without loading master
data?

A) The transaction data gets loaded and the master data fields remain
blank.

31) When given a choice between a single infocube and multiple InfoCubes
with a multiprovider, what factors does one need to consider before
making a decision?

A) One would have to see if the InfoCubes are used individually. If these
cubes are often used individually, then it is better to go for a multiprovider
with many cubes since the reporting would be faster for an individual cube
query rather than for a big cube with lot of data.
32) How many hierarchy levels can be created for a characteristic info
object?

A) Maximum of 98 levels.

33) What is open hub service?

A) The open hub service enables you to distribute data from an SAP BW
system into external data marts, analytical applications, and other
applications. With this, you can ensure controlled distribution using
several systems. The central object for the export of data is the Infospoke.
Using this, you can define the object from which the data comes and into
which target it is transferred. Through the open hub service, SAP BW
becomes a hub of an enterprise data warehouse. The distribution of data
becomes clear through central monitoring from the distribution status in
the BW system.

34) What is the function of 'reconstruction' tab in an infocube?

A) It reconstructs the deleted requests from the infocube. If a request has

been deleted and later someone wants the data records of that request to
be added to the infocube, one can use the reconstruction tab to add those
records. It goes to the PSA and brings the data to the infocube.

35) What are secondary indexes with respect to InfoCubes?

A) Index created in addition to the primary index of the infocube. When you
activate a table in the ABAP Dictionary, an index is created on the primary
key fields of the table. Further indexes created for the table are called
secondary indexes.

36) What is DB connect and where is it used?

A) DB connect is database connecting piece of program. It is used in

connecting third party tools with BW for reporting purpose.

37) Can we extract hierarchies from R/3 for CO-PA?

A) No We cannot, “NO hierarchies in CO/PA�?.

38) Explain ‘field name for partitioning’ in CO-PA

A) The CO/PA partitioning is used to decrease package size (eg: company

code)

39) What is V3 update method ?

A) It is a program in R/3 source system that schedules batch jobs to update
extract structure to data source collectively.

40) Differences between serialized and non-serialized V3 updates

41) What is the common method of finding the tables used in any R/3
extraction

A) By using the transaction LISTSCHEMA we can navigate the tables.

42) Differences between table view and infoset query

A) An InfoSet Query is a query using flat tables.

43) How to load data from one InfoCube to another InfoCube ?

A) Thro DataMarts data can be loaded from one InfoCube to another

InfoCube.

44) What is the significance of setup tables in LO extractions ?

A) It adds the Selection Criteria to the LO extraction.

45) Difference between extract structure and datasource

A) In Datasource we define the data from diff source sys,where as in

extract struct it contains the replicated data of datasource n where in we
can define extract rules, n transfer rules
B) Extract Structure is a record layout of InfoObjects.
C) Extract Structure is created on SAP BW system.

46) What happens internally when Delta is Initialized

47) What is referential integrity mechanism ?

A) Referential integrity is the property that guarantees that values from one
column depend on values from another column.This property is enforced
through integrity constraints.
48) What is activation of extract structure in LO ?

49) What is the difference between Info IDoc and data IDoc ?

50) What is D-Management in LO ?

A) It is a method used in delta update methods, which is based on change
log in LO.
--
Prashanth.K
BW Consultant