{"id":132343,"date":"2020-12-18T15:40:08","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/?page_id=132343"},"modified":"2023-04-10T15:45:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T19:45:37","slug":"hana-views-getting-started","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/support\/buworks\/help\/bw\/hana-views-getting-started\/","title":{"rendered":"Power BI &#038; HANA Views &#8211; Getting Started"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This page outlines the steps required to access SAP HANA Views so authorized Boston University employees <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">with the Report Writer role<\/span> can build flexible reports and dashboards.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SAP HANA Views<\/strong> are custom data frameworks based on SAP Business Warehouse (BW) tables available via the HANA Database. These Views are provided in read-only mode and can be accessed using reporting tools like Power BI to enable self-service reporting. Users\u2019 existing SAP roles and authorizations will apply when accessing data via HANA Views.<\/p>\n<p>The instructions below assume you are already familiar with Power BI, at least to the extent that you have decided to explore using it. It is further assumed that you are familiar with BW data. The following steps describe: how to request report writer access; what is required to connect to a HANA View; how to load View data; and how to share your results with other Boston University employees who have security permissions sufficient to allow them to view the data in your results.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get started using Power BI with HANA Views by answering these questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do I access HANA Views so I can develop custom reports?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">Request the Report Writer role by completing and submitting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/support\/buworks\/help\/bw\/hana-views-getting-started\/hana-report-writer-role-request\/\">this form<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do I find the data I need to answer my questions?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">Once you have completed the prerequisite steps and your security permissions are in place, you can access the HANA Views that are available to you based on your business role(s). This comprehensive Help Guide describes how to connect to the HANA database, how to select a View and how to use Power BI to load View data:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 120px;\"><a href=\"\/tech\/files\/2023\/03\/SAP-HANA-Views-and-Power-BI-\u2013-Connecting-Selecting-and-Loading-Data.pdf\">SAP HANA Views and Power BI \u2013 Connecting Selecting and Loading Data<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/files\/2021\/07\/SAP-HANA-Views-and-Power-BI-%E2%80%93-Connecting-to-the-HANA-Database.pdf\"aria-label=\"Link opens the pdf for HANA database\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Important<\/span>: when developing a Power BI application based on a HANA View, make sure you understand how to avoid overloading the Business Warehouse reporting environment, as described in this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/files\/2021\/07\/SAP-HANA-Views-and-Power-BI-%E2%80%93-Steps-to-Follow-to-Avoid-Overloading-the-Business-Warehouse.pdf\">Help Guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do I work with (analyze &amp; visualize) the data?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">Learning Power BI is an individual\u2019s responsibility. There are no instructor-led training sessions for this tool offered at Boston University. However, a diverse range of resources are available to help with this task and include web pages, Help Guides, Whitepapers, Power BI community groups, and YouTube videos. The Resources section below offers a few suggestions to help you get started.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>How do I share my results?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">Once you have developed a report or dashboard, a logical next step is to determine how best to share those results.\u00a0The <a href=\"https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/file\/080429EA-5C34-48E8-9EA4-B7B818D09BB2?tenantId=d57d32cc-c121-488f-b07b-dfe705680c71&amp;fileType=docx&amp;objectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbushare.sharepoint.com%2Fsites%2FGRP-BU-PowerBICommunity%2FShared%20Documents%2FGeneral%2FPower%20BI%20Best%20Practices%20at%20BU.docx&amp;baseUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbushare.sharepoint.com%2Fsites%2FGRP-BU-PowerBICommunity&amp;serviceName=teams&amp;threadId=19:22186ffa191f4b41bb1edefe2b20e1ca@thread.skype&amp;groupId=7119119b-3a60-453c-af2e-c0ec24b3d2fd\">Power BI Best Practices document<\/a>, published on the BU Power BI Community Teams site, provides an overview of sharing options (refer to <strong>Sharing Reports at BU<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 80px;\">When deciding <em>how <\/em>sharing will be accomplished, careful thought must also be given to <em>what<\/em> will be shared and <em>with whom<\/em>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/file\/080429EA-5C34-48E8-9EA4-B7B818D09BB2?tenantId=d57d32cc-c121-488f-b07b-dfe705680c71&amp;fileType=docx&amp;objectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbushare.sharepoint.com%2Fsites%2FGRP-BU-PowerBICommunity%2FShared%20Documents%2FGeneral%2FPower%20BI%20Best%20Practices%20at%20BU.docx&amp;baseUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fbushare.sharepoint.com%2Fsites%2FGRP-BU-PowerBICommunity&amp;serviceName=teams&amp;threadId=19:22186ffa191f4b41bb1edefe2b20e1ca@thread.skype&amp;groupId=7119119b-3a60-453c-af2e-c0ec24b3d2fd\">Best Practices<\/a> <strong>Security Considerations<\/strong> section includes a look at what to keep in mind regarding data security.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Resources<\/strong><\/h4>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h2 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><strong>HANA View Resources<\/strong><\/h2><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bushare.sharepoint.com\/:x:\/r\/sites\/SAP-HANA-Views\/_layouts\/15\/Doc.aspx?sourcedoc=%7BA37E3BD1-AD68-443C-98CE-FEC12240D791%7D&amp;file=1.%20HANA%20View%20Index.xlsx&amp;action=default&amp;mobileredirect=true\">HANA View Index<\/a> &#8211; provides a list of Views that have been published and are available to authorized users<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bushare.sharepoint.com\/sites\/SAP-HANA-Views\">Detailed Design Documents<\/a> &#8211; describes the field contents of published Views<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/tech\/files\/2023\/03\/SAP-HANA-Views-and-Power-BI-\u2013-Connecting-Selecting-and-Loading-Data.pdf\">SAP HANA Views and Power BI \u2013 Connecting Selecting and Loading Data<\/a><\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/bushare.sharepoint.com\/sites\/SAP-HANA-Views\">SAP HANA View Sharepoint Site<\/a> contains all public-facing documents related to Views<\/li>\n<li>Join the BW team in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/support\/buworks\/help\/bw\/request-for-sap-hana-view-consultation\/\">SAP HANA Q&amp;A working session<\/a><\/li>\n<li>This <a href=\"https:\/\/bushare.sharepoint.com\/:w:\/r\/sites\/SAP-HANA-Views\/docs\/3.%20Power%20BI%20-%20Tips%20and%20Tricks.docx?d=w07ecf444e0ea4747898fae7fec35c4fb&amp;csf=1&amp;web=1&amp;e=xdnwan\">Tips &amp; Tricks Help Guide<\/a> provides tips for using Power BI with the HANA Database<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h2 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><strong>Power BI Resources<\/strong><\/h2><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<p>A huge number of online resources exist to help you learn more about Power BI. Here are a few:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u><span><a href=\"https:\/\/teams.microsoft.com\/l\/team\/19%3a22186ffa191f4b41bb1edefe2b20e1ca%40thread.skype\/conversations?groupId=7119119b-3a60-453c-af2e-c0ec24b3d2fd&amp;tenantId=d57d32cc-c121-488f-b07b-dfe705680c71\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BU Power BI Community<i class=\"icon-external-link external\"><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/u><span>\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 this Microsoft Teams-based Boston University community offers an opportunity to share what you have learned, post questions, and read or watch helpful documents and tutorials<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/services\/cccs\/desktop\/distribution\/power-bi\/\">Learn Power BI<\/a> &#8211; the <em>Learn More<\/em> section of this page provides a list of resources to help you get started<\/li>\n<li>The Microsoft YouTube channel <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL1N57mwBHtN0JFoKSR0n-tBkUJHeMP2cP\">Analyze &amp; Visualize Data with Power BI<\/a> provides a broad look at understanding and using Power BI by covering a range of topics from basic to advanced. Highly recommended<\/li>\n<li>Microsoft&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/power-bi\/create-reports\/\">Create reports and dashboards in Power BI<\/a> site includes tutorials, sample data (useful when exploring\/experimenting), how-to guides and a detailed look at a range of specific topics<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/learn\/powerplatform\/power-bi?WT.mc_id=powerbi_landingpage-docs-link\">Microsoft Power BI tutorials<\/a><\/li>\n<li>DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) references among many online:\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/dax\/dax-overview\">DAX Overview<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/dax\/all-function-dax\">DAX Function List<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/dax\/dax-operator-reference\">DAX Operators<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h2 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><strong>Questions?<\/strong><\/h2><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Who may access HANA Views?<\/em><\/span> Access is restricted to authorized users who have been granted the &#8220;report writer&#8221; role<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em>Is the data in a HANA View real-time?<\/em><\/span> No. HANA Views are based on Business Warehouse data, which lags behind the SAP transactional system by one day<\/li>\n<li>Don&#8217;t see your question listed? For questions regarding SAP HANA Views: send email to <a href=\"mailto:buw-hana.bu.edu\">buw-hana.bu.edu<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This page outlines the steps required to access SAP HANA Views so authorized Boston University employees with the Report Writer role can build flexible reports and dashboards. SAP HANA Views are custom data frameworks based on SAP Business Warehouse (BW) tables available via the HANA Database. These Views are provided in read-only mode and can&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1467,"featured_media":0,"parent":94088,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132343"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144916,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/132343\/revisions\/144916"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/94088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}