SAP BI Developer Interview Questions And Answers
1. Explain the categorization of SAP Business object client tools?
Answer:
SAP BO client tools are divided into two parts:
Business object desktop tools: These are also called as window-based tools. They can be launched from the windows environment. Let’s say, we have IDT (Information design tool), UDT (Universe design tool), live office, etc. We cannot launch them from web/ BI launch pad. For example, if you need to launch UDT, you will open it through windows like this:
Business object desktop tools (BI Developer Interview Questions)
Business object web client tools: These are the tools which can be launched from BI launch pad. They are browser based tools. For example, Business objects explorer, analysis edition for OLAP, etc.
Important Note: Webi is a web based as well as a window-based tool.
2. What is theta join?
Answer: A join is a relational operation that causes two or more tables with a common domain to be combined into a single table. The purpose of joins is to restrict the result set of a query run against multiple tables.
3. How do you determine that you are working on the latest edition of the Universe?
Answer: Each time you export a universe to a universe domain, DESIGNER increments the revision number of the universe. In this way, you can determine which is the latest version of the universe.
4. What are the linked universe?
Answer: Linked universes are universes that share common components such as parameters, classes, objects, or joins. Among linked universes, one universe is said to be the kernel or master universe while the others are the derived universes.
5. What are two modes for importing users & groups from a supervisor?
Answer:
Batch Mode: The purpose of batch mode is to automate user and group import operations with no intervention from the interface.
Interactive Mode : Dialog boxes will appear as the file is imported to allow you to confirm the information. This is the default mode.
6. What is the difference between ROLAP and molap?
Answer: ROLAP (Relational OLAP): Users see their data organized in cubes and dimensions but the data is really stored in RDBMS. The performance is slow. A storage mode that uses tables in a relational database to store multidimensional structures.
MOLAP (Multidimensional OLAP): Users see their data organized in cubes and dimensions but the data is really stored in MDBMS. Query performance is fast.
7. What is a category in a supervisor?
Answer: A category is a keyword or phrase end-users can assign to documents when they send them to users, groups, or BROADCAST AGENT.
8. What is LOV?
Answer: A list of values is a file that contains the data values associated with an object. Lists of values can reveal information about the contents of a database.
9. What is the use of Check integrity?
Answer:
Check Integrity can detect:
Invalid syntax in the SQL definition of an object, condition, or join.
Loops
Isolated tables
Isolated joins
Loops within contexts
Missing or incorrect cardinalities
10. How many types of join are available?
Answer:
Designer supports the following types of joins :
equi joins
outer joins
theta joins
shortcut joins
11. Write the different products linked with Business Objects?
Answer:
There are various products related to business objects
- Broadcast Agent
- Info View
- Supervisor
- Auditor
- Designer
- Set Analyzer
- User module
12. What is the context?
Answer: A context is a rule by which determines which of two paths can be chosen when more than one path is possible in the database.
13. What are data integration tools?
Answer: Data integration tools are used to extract data from existing databases, carry out the necessary transformations and load the data into the target database using a GUI.
14. What is a Business Objects Repository?
Answer: The Business Objects repository is a centralized set of relational data structures stored in a database. This relational device enables Business objects and Web intelligence users to share resources in a controlled and secured environment.
15. What is a BI platform?
Answer: This platform provides a set of common services to deploy, use and manage the tools and applications. These services are security, broadcasting, collaboration, metadata and developer services.
16. What are the features of BCA?
Answer: Automated document scheduling and publishing
On the server-side, CORBA–enabled features such as load balancing and server optimization using caches
Tracing BROADCAST AGENT activity
Access and security Company
17. What is a chasm trap?
Answer: Many to one join from two fact tables converge on a single lookup table. This type of join convergence is called a Chasm trap.
18. How is a fan trap solved?
Answer:
A Fan trap is solved in the following way:
Creating an Alias and applying Aggregate Aware function.
Using Multiple SQL statements for each Measure.
19. What are the various Business Objects products?
Answer:
- User Module
- Designer
- Supervisor
- Auditor
- Set Analyzer
- Info View (Web Intelligence)
- Business Objects Software Development Kit (SDK)
- Broadcast Agent
20. Business Objects Characteristics?
Answer:
Criteria
Querying and Data analysis Ad-hoc querying & complex data analysis
The total cost of ownership Low due to integrated, scalable, highly available, BI enterprise platform
Ease of use Extremely user-friendly, with quick up time
21. What do you understand by Business objects?
Answer: Business object detects the solutions for business professionals which could be beneficial to gain data from the corporate database directly from the desktop.
22. What are the types of users in Business Objects?
Answer:
General Supervisor
Supervisor
Designer
Supervisor Designer
End-User
Versatile User
23. What is Web Intelligence?
Answer: Web Intelligence is a decision support solution designed to meet critical query, reporting and analysis needs over the World Wide Web and has features very similar to Business Objects.
24. What are the master/detail reports?
Answer: Master/detail reports enable you to split large blocks of data into sections. This type of presentation allows you to avoid repeating values and also to display subtotals.
25. What are calculation contexts?
Answer:
By default, BusinessObjects determines the result of a measure based on the dimension or dimensions in the part of the report in which the measure is inserted. These sets of dimensions are called calculation contexts. Calculation contexts are dynamic in BusinessObjects.
26. What are the types of dimensions?
Answer:
There are four types of dimensions are:
- Informational Dimension
- Structural Dimension
- Categorical Dimension
- Partitioning Dimension
27. What are the tasks of the universe designer?
Answer:
The responsibilities that the universe designer has
Designing, Creating and maintaining the Universe
Distributing the Created Universes.
28. What are the strategies?
Answer: Strategies are used for extracting automatically structural data from a database or from a flat-file.
29. Define universe?
Answer: Universe is a group of objects and classes. These objects and classes will be projected for an application or a set of users.
30. Define a list of values?
Answer: It is a file that has the data values linked with an object.
31. When do u use Multiple Universes?
Answer: You can use multiple universes to solve a Chasm trap in a WEB INTELLIGENCE universe when Multiple SQL for Measures cannot be used as there are dimension objects defined for one or both of the fact tables.
32. Define custom hierarchies?
Answer: The custom hierarchies can be used for defining the universe for facilitating drill down that is customized and can happen between objects from different or same classes considering the user requirements.
33. Define a context in the universe?
Answer: Context can be defined as the particular path of the join between a specific group of joins or the tables for the purpose of a particular query. A particular object that can be found inside the column of a table, belonging to particular context is supposed to be compatible with all the various kinds of objects belonging to the same context. In the case of objects that are from various kinds of context, different kinds of SQL can be generated, and the results can be merged inside the micro cube. This is for making sure that there is no incorrect result associated with a loop or any other kind of issue related to join path.
34. How can Contexts be created?
Answer: Context can be created by making use of features associated with context or by manual procedures. The context are usually created by making use of logical calculation or based on the business requirements. The detect context may not be much useful in this case and so it should be done by making use of the manual procedure.
35. What is aggregate awareness?
Answer: Aggregate awareness is a feature of DESIGNER that makes use of aggregate tables in a database. These are tables that contain pre-calculated data. The purpose of these tables is to enhance the performance of SQL transactions; they are thus used to speed up the execution of queries.
36. What are Lookup and Fact Tables?
Answer: A lookup (Dimension) table contains information about the entities. In general, the Dimension and details of objects are derived from lookup tables. A fact table contains statistical information about transactions.
37. What are the main components of the Designer Interface?
Answer: The main components that interact in the designing of the universe are
Table browser: The table browser is used to choose the tables and columns.
Structure pane: Structure pane refers to the database structure of the universe.
The Universe pane: The Universe pane refers to the components in which it is going to use in BO or WEBI documents.
38. What are new in BO 5.1?
Answer: Save business objects documents in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).
Add hyperlinks to reports such as mail addresses and web site addresses. These hyperlinks are maintained when you save the report in HTML or PDF.
Zero Administration: Only the business objects client software installed on the windows pc; all middleware is stored and administered on the web intelligence web server and the server-side processing is handled by the web intelligence system.
39. What is Drill up/down/by/through?
Answer: Drill mode allows you to analyze data from different angles and on different levels of detail.
Drill down displays the next level of detail in the hierarchy.
Drill up goes back up through the hierarchy to display data on less detailed levels.
By using Drill by option you can move to another hierarchy to analyze other data that belongs to a different hierarchy.
Drill Through – If the lowest level of detail you need is not currently available in the report, you can drill through to the database directly from drill mode and get the data you need. You do not have to edit the query in the Query Panel.
40. What are enterprise and workgroup modes?
Answer: Enterprise mode means that you are working in an environment with a repository. Workgroup mode means that you are working without a repository. The mode in which you save your universe determines whether other designers are able to access them. By default, a universe is saved in the mode in which you are already working. For example, if you launched a session in enterprise mode, any universe you save is automatically in that mode.
41. What is a macro?
Answer: A macro is a series of commands and functions that are stored in a Visual Basic for Applications module and can be run whenever you need to perform the task. If you perform a task repeatedly, you can automate the task with a macro. You create macros using the Visual Basic Editor.
42. Why a website is called a business user tool as well as a designer tool at the same time?
Answer: The reason behind this is that a business user can log into web intelligence and view reports and if they want to create simple reports on an ad-hoc basis then that is also possible.
Website is a very simple tool to use. A business user can open a report from the BO repository and can also generate the report by just selecting the universe, run a query on top of it and getting their final report as a result.
43. What are the different types of connections available?
Answer:
There are three different kinds of connections available:
Personal connection
Shared connection
Secured connection
Personal connection is the one that can be used by you only i.e. this connection is available to only the user who creates it. No other user has access to use this connection. We have a PDAC.LSI file where the connection details are kept in case of a personal connection.
Next, comes is the shared connection where all the users can access the connection. We have a shared server in this case and the connection details are kept in SDAC.LSI file.
The limitation of the shared connection is that we can’t establish rights & permissions over the objects. Also, we cannot export the universe to a central repository in case we are using a shared connection.
The last type of connection available is secured connection which can be shared between the users and we can also set rights & permissions in CMS (central management server). in this case.
Additionally, we can export the universe to a central repository in case we are using a secured connection. Secure connections are saved in the repository.
44. Does Cardinality have any effect on the generation of the query?
Answer: Cardinality has no effect on the generation of SQL. Its sole purpose is to provide enough information to DESIGNER so that it can detect and resolve loops.
45. Which of the connection did you use in your project and why?
Answer: In my project, we were using the secured connection as we were working in a team and also the reports had to be shared between the cross-functional team.
We had to create BO reports over the IDT universe and publish these reports. When it comes to a live project, the secured connection is the best kind of connection to use because here we can limit access to different users. Also, a secured connection can be accessed from different servers.
The last and main reason for using a secured connection is that since it is saved in a repository, so if your requirement is to publish the reports over repository, you will have to use a secured connection.
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