Loading Transaction Data From Flat Files

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Loading transaction data from a flat file is no different than loading from SAP R/3. When you schedule an InfoPackage for a transaction data InfoSource, you are asked to provide the file name that contains the transaction data, as shown in Figure 10-12.

Figure 10-12: Loading Transaction Data via Flat Files.

After providing the data file name, select the InfoCube to load data into by clicking the InfoCubes tabstrip, as shown in Figure 10-13. Submit the data load job to populate the InfoCube.

Figure 10-13: Selecting InfoCubes to Load Data into From External Data Flat Files.

After data loads have been scheduled, you can monitor the progress of individual data load job requests and resolve data load issues accordingly. Often, data in the flat file does not map properly with the transfer structure, and the data load job fails. Make sure that the file definitions map correctly with the metadata defined in SAP BW.

Caution 

Often, not all fields in a data file have values assigned. For missing values in CSV-type data files, SAP BW sets a blank for a character field and zero for numeric fields. This may lead to some erroneous results when data is fetched back from the InfoCubes. From a data quality perspective, define your flat file values in a way that will identify missing values as something that you can report on. For example, for character type fields with no values, set the default value to MISSING. This way you can filter out records from your analysis that have incomplete data.

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