Hi Leo
Just to add what Juergen mentioned, find the comments:
- What is the difference between SPO and the "Partitioning" option on an InfoCube (additional functions -> repartitioning)?
Ans: SPO's are physically separated entities in database like if you have created SPO for 4 years then there will be 4 infocubes created in database.
Whereas partitioning of infocube is a logical partitioning of data in fact table base on Calmonth/Fiscal year period.
Advantage of SPO's is you can create partitions based on characteristics and the data flow can be automated too however the partitioning of infocube is based on only Time dimension.
In general they both are completely different entities.
- Pre SAP 7.3 I would have created different cubes under the multi-provider for each year. Then used a SAP user exit in the bex query to restrict to relevant infoprovider based on a selection from the user. Is this possible via SPO?
Ans: Yes, with SPO you can define/create individual cubes for the desired number of years and also identify them technically individually for reporting purpose.
- As I understand there is obviosuly and overhead on SPO and any partitioning. If I have partitoon the data by year for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. Then we get to 2015 a new partitoon will need to be created and setup. Correct?
Ans: Yes, a new partition is required before you expect data for new year to flow in, in general new data will not be loaded in SPO if the new partition is not available due to the restriction of partition value in DTP.
- What happens if I have only created partiton for 2011 - 2014 and we hit 2015 and new partition is not created. I am assuming I should create a catch all partiton?
Ans: As mentioned above you have to create partition before you expect the data however it is no problem as the new data will not be loaded to existing partitions due to filters in DTP selections.
- My understanding is that if use a number of InfoCubes under a multiprovider when the partitions a queried multiple "queries" are generated for each of the cubes and in turn speeding the reporting process ? Is this still the case using an SPO
Ans: In general yes the query will try to find the data from relevant cube based on partitions thus expediting the reporting. However performance of query depends on several factors thus it depends on the data and query setup too.
Hope it helps !!
Regards
Ashish