SAND Technology, an international provider of intelligent enterprise information management software, today announced the availability of SAND/DNA Query Generator, a new software component for use with its SAND/DNA product for SAP NetWeaver BI. With this graphical tool, users of SAP BW 3.x and SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 will be able to issue queries that address all the data in the system in a single step, regardless of whether the data is in active use or has been moved to a nearline repository. 

In SAP BI environments, access to data in active ODS tables or DataStore Objects (DSOs) is typically achieved via direct SQL statements. This process is particularly important when attributes of target structures are derived from other information stored in ODS Objects or DSOs – for example, when sales information is expanded to include market classification or customer classification attributes. Until now, if the classifying ODS or DSOs were even partially stored nearline, the nearline part of the data would not be considered.

The Nearline Lookup API for SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 and SAP BW 3.x was developed to address this issue by enabling combined access to both actively used data and related nearline data. SAND/DNA Query Generator makes it much easier to develop query programs for specific ODS Objects or DSOs using the Nearline API for SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 and SAP BW 3.x.

SAND/DNA – Nearline Software for SAP BI

As data volumes grow and user demands increase, SAP NetWeaver® customers are facing significant data management challenges as well as heightened costs. To help with these issues, SAP recommends implementing an Information Life Cycle (ILM) architecture. In accordance with SAP’s ILM strategy, SAND Technology has teamed with SAP to integrate SAND/DNA as a nearline solution for SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 and SAP BW 3.x. 

In SAP BI systems, a nearline data repository is an intermediate step between the online database and an offline archive. The SAP BI NLS Interface makes it possible for less frequently used InfoCubes and DataStore Objects to be moved from the relational database into the nearline repository by means of data archiving processes (DAPs), then deleted from the relational database. SAP NetWeaver BI 7.0 can then provide fast, transparent access to nearline data when there is a need to rebuild old performance indicators or reports, or to perform on audit on earlier data. The relational database thus stores only the current data, while older information which might become relevant later on, or which cannot be deleted for legal reasons, is stored using a nearline software solution. 

Designed to relieve SAP BI from the need to keep large amounts of infrequently used data in the online repository, SAND/DNA stores this data in a tiny footprint while maintaining easy data accessibility. Data is stored in an easily searchable, but highly compressed format which significantly reduces overhead and costs associated with typically retaining considerable amounts of historical data.

SAND/DNA™ version 2.3 software has achieved “Certified for SAP NetWeaver®” status for its integration with Near Line Storage for SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI) Release 7.0, and SAND Nearline Integration Controller has been certified as “Powered by SAP NetWeaver®”.