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Sokon
Advocate V
Advocate V

SAP BW connector parameter input: How?

I want to connect to a SAP BW Query and define parameters. But how?

 

The April 2017 feature summary for PBI Desktop talks about "enhancements to parameter input experience for SAP HANA & BW". However, theres no live demo in the video and the screenshots are like this one:

SAP_Parameters.jpg

 

When I open my PBI desktop version (april 2017), connect to a BW and select objects similar to the situation in the screenshot above, it looks like this:

 

SAP_Parameters2.png

 

How do I switch to the parameter input view?

12 REPLIES 12
gtavo_07
New Member

Hi, 

 

Do you find any solution to this problem? I have the same case with a BEx Query right now. 

We tested BW query and cube support again just a week ago and found great improvements. In fact, we decided now to suggest our users to move away from the Excel workaround and try the connector instead. The improvements are:

  • Parameter dialog is showing and works as expected
  • We couldn't find wrong query results any more
  • Faster query results than before
  • Support for Windows Authentication
  • Support for Additional Member Properties
  • Direct Query on BW ist now GA

However, one major requirement can't be met so far:

  • Single Sign On for Direct Query still not availlable.

So no problems on our side any more - to what issue do you refer?

I tell you step by step the detected error.

 

1) Power BI requests a mandatory parameter for my BEx Query. I expected this.

2) I select two fields of the query to show them in Power BI.

3) I set the mandatory parameter (Seller) and pulse apply.

4) The preview does not filter according to the parameter, it shows all the sellers and that's wrong.

5) However I press to load to detect if there if it filters but neither does it.

 

Note: I can not attach the images to this platform, it does not recognize the file's path.

 

Do you know how to solve this error or is it a limitation of Power BI currently?

 

Best regards.

That corresponds to my earlier finding when the amout of data returned was different from the BW Query output in Excel. That was the reason we recommended to our users to use the intermediate step and loading data from Excel instead...

Quite disturbing if that issue still occurs...

v-yuezhe-msft
Employee
Employee

Hi @Sokon,

Firstly, do you connect to SAP BW cube in Power BI Desktop? I would recommend you select dimension and key figures to combine a valid table in Bex Query Designer, then choose the same dimension and key figures in Power BI Desktop navigator.

Secondly, have you defined variables or parameters in your SAP BW model? Once you have created variables or parameters in SAP model as described in the following similar blog, you will be able to get parameter input view in Power BI Desktop.

https://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/ac/789b3c4d4d8d15e10000000a114084/content.htm

Thanks,
Lydia Zhang

Community Support Team _ Lydia Zhang
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it more quickly.

Hi @Lydia,

 

Thanks for your answer! Ok, this is getting confusing. 🙂 This is what I found out together with one of our BW guys:

  • In Power BI Desktop you can use then SAP BW connector to connect to both BW Cubes and BEx Queries.
  • The PBI Desktop navigator shows all available cubes below a folder called $INFOCUBES
  • On the other hand, BEx queries, are found below a folder with the name of the corresponding cube.
  • We followed the steps decribed in this documentation to connect to a BEx query. That BEx query has optional and mandatory fields that we want to use. No parameter input view is shown.
  • Then, following your suggestion, we connected to a cube. We were able to query data that is shown in preview- ok!
  • The BW guy wasn't sure what is meant by "variables or parameters in SAP BW model", so we tried to reproduce a BEx query. At this point he missed a lot of BW objects that were not shown in the navigator, including "restricted key figures" that are most probably the variables you are talking about:
    BW2.png

 To avoid getting too much into detail, all I need to know at this point is:

  • Does Power BI Desktop support query parameter editing for BEx queries (not cubes)?
  • If not, do you know if that feature is on the roadmap?

 Thanks a lot in advance!

Anonymous
Not applicable

hi,

 

I know this is an old post but were you able to resolve this?

No solution so far, I'm sorry.

I stopped trying to connect directly to BW Queries altogether and import Workbooks instead (the Excel files that contain the results given back by Analyzer) That way works with parameters, is faster, gives back the desired fields and the correct amounts of rows. In my experience, the problems only start when you try to connect to SAP and get worse when you want to use it in production. Additionaly, as you can see, there's not much help to be found on this subject. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

Sorry, I do not understand what you meant by SAP workbook - is it the same as BW workbooks?

Sorry i'm not used to SAP teminology - are there other types of workbooks? 🙂 I mean the excel files that contain the results from the Analyzer query. Does that answer your question?

Anonymous
Not applicable

Okay, got it 🙂 But that means you lose the advantage of having 'live' data since you will have the excel dump taken a while ago, correct?

Yes, that's true. The method requires refreshing the workbook manually or with techniques that are not Power BI. That's a drawback, but provides reliable data quality.

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