Customer Reviews

Business Information Warehouse for SAP (Prima Tech's SAP Book Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall this is a decent introduction to SAP Business Warehouse. However, one of the biggest flaws of the book is that trys to overview two different versions. It would be much better if it simply stuck with reviewing against one version of SAP BW (preferably the most recent). It makes some of the concepts and movement through the BW interface very confusing because of the way it switchs back and forth between the two versions.

The content on the accompanying CD is really useless. Nothing of any good informative nature. The best way to read the book is to skim through the first dozen chapters to get a feel for the environment, and then read the last chapters in depth for a good understanding of how to model in SAP BW.

As a BW consultant, I found the content to be untimely (mostly based on version 1.2B) and incomplete. I purchased this book when it first came out hoping for a resource that was more comprehensive and insightful. What I found was what appeared to be a collection of disconnected "whitepapers". In short, the need for a comprehensive 'How-to' guide to BW remains unfulfilled.

There aren't many books about SAP's business warehouse. I think this one is by far the best. It is also the first one to cover the latest versions 2a and a bit of 2b. The drawback is that it is spread out over 1.2b, 2a and 2b. This means you constantly have to filter information and consider what is relevant to your own system. This does not make a difficult topic any easier. The general availability version became available about the same time this book was published. Perhaps one reason it is noticeably short on 2.0b features, although it does briefly cover the new ODS (not to be confused with the old 1.2b ODS which has been renamed PSA).

One of the nice points about this book is a list of places to find more information, from third party tools, to performance benchmarks, useful websites and other interesting books.

Hashmi is very good at explaining the concept behind BW. This is important because just mastering the technical aspects of customizing is not enough. You have to have an idea how you should design everything, what makes sense and what doesn't. He does start to explain how you can actually implement your solutions, but I had been hoping for him to do this more extensively. Much more extensively. Ideally, I would have liked him to take a few fairly simple reports and - in each relevant chapter: data extraction, ODS, infocube, query, update and transformation rules, uploading data, etc., - show in detail how to customize the different parts of BW and discuss the pros and cons of different solutions. I realize that this would have made the book a lot thicker, but manuals covering Microsoft's office applications routinely fill a 1000 pages.

My advice: Read this book and then take a training course or two.

This book would have saved me a lot of late night head-scratching, and I hope it can for you.

I quickly scanned this book on my first reading. It's clearly organized and well-written. As a result, it's hard to imagine how hard Naeem worked to gain this knowledge, and incidentally get a system up. Early in the first few releases of BW, there was very little documentation of any sort. It was, and still is hard to tell what's supposed to work in the next patch, and what would work right now if only you were pushing the right buttons. All the early BW developers were pioneers, poring over cryptic OSS notes in the wee hours, reading code, and trying to map the landscape while building solutions.

Now Naeem has built a fine map. Any beginning user of BW, whether a manager, project lead or developer, can get an excellent overview of the BW landscape from this work. But there is something for the experienced developer, too. There are enough technical tips to ensure that any reader will find something new and valuable. The diagrams are very helpful for explaining concepts to others, and you can be sure every BW trainer/consultant will have this book hidden in their bag.

Drawbacks? This book is spread across three versions of BW from 1.2 to 2.0b. But then, so are the company, the customers, and the consultants. I would have liked to see more exit and transformation samples in the CD-ROM. The metamodel information was good, but I would like to see more. And don't think this is a BW step-by-step cookbook, because that doesn't exist. It's still hard.

Bottom line? If you're working with BW, buy this book, and save your late night time for something more calming, like Quake.

The book is outdated and based on BW 1.2B.

I agree with many of the otehr reviewers out there: there's no real cookbook for BW, and this one complicates matters by trying to cover two versions at once. But for me, it's proven to be a great book because it doesn't assume I'm an expert. As a new member of an existing BW Support team, I don't have to ask as many "stupid" questions now that I has this. And I got a great price on a used copy!

There are so few BW books out there so one has to kind of hope for the best on this one. As a Basis team member, this is a great referece book. It needs an update however to accomodate the 2.0b and higher features more thoughly. There is some good performance information but still leaves you wanting much more in the way of BW statistics. Again, its very good for explanations of concepts, overviews, and general reference. The TABW90 class should give this book as a freebie with the course.

This is a superb book from an author who knows his subject thoroughly both at the theoretical and practical level. Its coverage is detailed and yet comprehensive with some very helpful guidelines and tips. It covers versions 1.2B and 2.0A, referring also to changes in 2.0B as well as an Operational Data Store chapter and Appendix on 2.0B. I recommend this book to those who are thinking of implementing BW, going on a course and potential upgraders as well as a reference for existing users... The CD included contains useful examples, screen cams and information.

This book is the most complete reference for anybody who needs to know BW. Its coverage on Bex Analyzer, the query design, publishing and analytical interface, is too light. It also missed some of the 2.0b features. Nonetheless, I found the material coverage excellent and writing straightforward. I can safely say this book is a "must have" if you are implementing or learning BW. It will come in handy.