SAP HANA BI Development Interview Question & Answers

1. What Are the Different Sap Business objects Reporting and Dashboard Tools?

Answer:

o       Web Intelligence

o       Dashboard Designer (Earlier known as XCelsius)

o       Universe Designer (For Semantic Layer)

o       SAP Crystal Reports

o       SAP Lumira

o       SAP Design Studio

o       Business Objects Explorer

o       Analysis for OLAP

2. What Is the Use of Sap Bi Launch pad?

Answer:

BI Launch pad has the following important options:

Home: Displays the recent messages, alerts, documents, and applications that can be run.

Documents: Displays the available documents and folders, making it easier to view, organize, and manage the documents.

Any Open Document: Displays each open document.

3. What Is The Use Of Relational Connection And An Olap Connection?

Answer:

Relational Connection: A Relational connection is used to connect to the Database layer in HANA. You can connect to database objects - tables, views, and design Data Foundation layer in the Information Design tool. You can also import tables and joins from the data source.

OLAP Connection: OLAP is a multidimensional connection that directly points to the business layer in a data model. It allows to connect to multidimensional schema directly and later, they can be used with SAP Business Objects reporting tools.

4. What Is the Difference Between .cns And .cnx Connection?

Answer:

.cns − Secured Repository connection

.cnx-local unsecured − If you use this connection, it will not allow you to publish anything to the repository.

5. What Are The Different Types Of HANA Information Views?

Answer:

SAP HANA provides the following three types of Information Views :

o   Attribute View

o   Analytic View

o   Calculation View

6. What Are The Different Input Parameters Types In Sap HANA?

Answer:

Direct: Using this parameter type, you can pass any value for the parameter.

Column: This parameter type allows you to select any value from the list of distinct values available in a column in HANA view.

Derived From Table: It is also possible to create dynamic values in a table. This allows you to select any of the available values from the list.

Static List:It is also possible to create a static list of values and provide user input during execution.

7. What Are The Different Features Of Analytic Views In Sap HANA?

Answer:

Following are the properties of SAP HANA Analytic View:

o    Analytic Views are used to perform complex calculations and Aggregate functions such as Sum, Count, Min, Max, etc.

o    Analytic Views are designed to run Start schema queries.

o    Each Analytic View has one Fact table surrounded by multiple dimension tables. Fact table contains a primary key for each Dim table and measures.

o    Analytic Views are similar to Info Objects and Info sets of SAP BW.

o    SAP Business Objects reporting tools can connect to Analytic view using an OLAP connection for reporting and dashboard.

8. Which Bo Tools Can Connect To HANA System Using A Universe?

Answer:

All Business Objects tool - Webi, Dashboard Designer, Lumira, Crystal Reports, Design Studio that provide Universe connectivity as data source can be used to connect to HANA system.

9. Which Version Of Sap Business objects Provide Direct Connectivity Of Web Intelligence To HANA System?

Answer:

Business Objects 4.2

10. In Business objects 4.2, What Are the Different Ways to Connect Webi to HANA Views?

Answer:

o    Using Universe on top of HANA Modeling views

o    Direct Webi connection with HANA Modeling views

o    SAP HANA Online connectivity

o    Using Free-Hand SQL

11. How Do You Connect Dashboard Designer To HANA Database For Dashboard Creation?

Answer:

You can connect to SAP HANA using Universe connectivity from the Dashboard. SAP Dashboard supports SAP HANA backed with Universe created on top of HANA views and tables. You can consume Universe Designer .unx files using the Query Browser option to develop the dashboard.

12. What Are The Different Data Sources Option Available Under Crystal Reports?

Answer:

Crystal Reports can connect to multiple data sources that include:

o    Universe

o    SAP BEx Query

o    HANA view

o    Excel Spreadsheets

13. While Using Sap HANA Bi Development, Which HANA View Can Be Used To Implement Star Queries?

Answer:

Analytic View

14. What Are The Different Ways To Create Calculation Views To Be Used In Bi Reporting?

Answer:

o    Using GUI option

o    Using SQL Script

15. What Are The Different Geographic Chart Types Available Under Sap Lumira?

Answer:

o    Geo Bubble Chart

o    Geo Choropleth Chart

o    Geo Pie Chart

o    Geo Map

16. How Do You Connect Sap HANA Views To Ms Excel For Creating Interactive Pivots And Charts?

Answer:

Using MDX Provider option

17. Is It Possible To Publish Datasets From Lumira To HANA Platform?

Answer:

Yes, you can publish SAP Lumira dataset and stories to HANA platform for sharing with other users.

18. How Do You Connect Sap Design Studio To HANA Views For Bi Reporting And Dashboard Development?

Answer:

Using Universe option - add as data source

Using direct backend connection to HANA

19. What Are The Other Bi Tools That Can Be Connected To HANA For Reporting?

Answer:

Tableau, MS Excel, Cognos and SSRS

20. How Do You Create An Olap Connection To Provide Direct Connectivity To HANA Views?

Answer:

OLAP connection can be created in CMC or IDT

21. Is It Possible To Expose Only A Particular Cube/HANA View To Bo Reporting Tool And Not The Entire Repository?

Answer:

Yes, while creating an OLAP connection you have an option to select if you want the connection to point to a particular view or to the entire repository.

22. A Crystal Report Developer Uses Sap Crystal Report For Enterprise. To Connect HANA Which Connection Type Is Preferred?

Answer:

If Universe is available, you can use Universe Connectivity.

23. What Are The Advantages Of Using Sap HANA Db Over Other Traditional Database For Bi Reporting?

Answer:

SAP HANA in-memory concept: SAP HANA in-memory database services provide the capability of processing high-speed transactions and analytics. It helps in managing large database volumes using multitenant database containers and dynamic tiering across multi-tier storage.

Analytics Processing: Using HANA in-memory processing capability - text, predictive, spatial, graph, streaming, and time series - you can get answers to any business  and make smart decisions in real time.

App Development : Using SAP HANA, you can develop next-generation applications that combine analytics and transactions, and deploy them on any device.

Data Access:SAP HANA helps organizations in getting accurate and complete view of business by accessing data from different sources. HANA provides real-time data replication and data quality to improve decision making from internal and external data sources.

Administration:SAP HANA ensures application availability and tools to monitor the processes along with data and application security.

Security :SAP HANA provides a dashboard to monitor all KPIs related to security. It helps in keeping communications, data storage, and application services secure with robust identity and access management controls.