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Semantic Enhancement for Third-Party OLAP Models

In addition to its own multidimensional models, the system also supports connecting to third-party multidimensional models and enhancing them semantically, enriching the information needed to create story dashboards.

Here, we take supporting SAP BW multidimensional models as an example.

SAP BWโ€‹

First, connect to the SAP BW system to create a semantic model for the BW multidimensional model you want to enhance.

Enhancing Dimensionsโ€‹

Enhancing the dimensions of the BW model can include the following attributes:

  • Caption: Text description of the dimension;
  • Default Hierarchy: Specifies the default hierarchy used by the dimension;
  • Semantic Type: Used to determine various uses of the dimension, such as Calendar indicating the dimension is related to the calendar, allowing calculations based on the current time when calculating members.
  • Formatting: When the semantic type is Calendar, the formatting field represents how to format the time;

Enhancing Hierarchiesโ€‹

If a dimension contains hierarchies, you can enhance them with the following attributes:

  • Caption: Text description of the hierarchy;
  • Default Member: The member used by default;

Enhancing Levelsโ€‹

Enhancing the level fields under a hierarchy includes the following attributes:

  • Caption: Text description of the dimension;
  • Semantic Type: Used to determine various uses of the dimension, such as Calendar indicating the dimension is related to the calendar, allowing calculations based on the current time when calculating members.
  • Formatting: When the semantic type is Calendar, the formatting field represents how to format the time;

Enhancing Calendar-Type Dimensionsโ€‹

Select the calendar dimension you want to enhance, and in the dimension editing interface on the right, you can enter:

  1. Dimension description
  2. Semantic Type: Calendar
  3. Default Hierarchy;

Here, specifying the semantic type as Calendar indicates that this dimension can be used as a time dimension for period calculations in financial reports. When there are multiple hierarchies under this dimension, you can also set a default hierarchy through Default Hierarchy.

Next, we need the time formatting formula for each time granularity.

  1. Select the time level field, and in the property setting interface on the right, enter the semantic type. If it is year granularity, select Calendar Year, and similarly for other time granularities.
  2. The Time Formatter property next to the semantic type Calendar indicates how to format the time value of specific time members. For example, the time format yyyy.'Q'Q'/XXXX/YYYYYY' will format the current time as 2022.Q1/XXXX/YYYYYY, which is the format of BW model dimension members generated by the BPC system, and we just need to adapt to it.

Enhancing Measuresโ€‹

Enhancing measures includes the following attributes:

  • Caption: Text description of the measure;
  • Data Format:
    • Abbreviated Numbers: Abbreviate numbers and add units such as thousand, ten thousand, billion;
    • Number Format: Format numbers with decimal places and thousand separators, such as 0.0-2;
    • Unit: The unit of measurement for the number;

Creating Calculated Membersโ€‹

In the Calculated Members area, click the add icon button to create a new calculated member. Select the member, and in the property setting interface on the right, enter the Name, Caption, and other attributes, and input the calculation formula in the Formula field. You can also click the edit button on the calculated member to go to the Calculation page of the calculated member and edit the formula in the editor.

You can also perform real-time data validation on calculated members in the Preview area.

Dimension Calculated Membersโ€‹

Refer to the document Custom Member Formulas for Dimensions.