Re: SAP Data Modeling

Subject: SAP Data Modeling
From: R-J- Bornhofen, rjborn_at_cybernetics.net Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 09:08:51
In article <rjborn.5.00092606_at_cybernetics.net> R-J- Bornhofen, rjborn_at_cybernetics.net writes:
>As it relates to SAP, assume a given company has a corporate strategy
 for the
>need to do data modeling as part of the Applications Development
 Process.
>Hence, the company feels it is imperative to be able to identify
 business data
>needs and relationships, as well as establishing business rules.
 However,
>when using SAP, which has it's own data model, the company is not sure
 what
>impact this would have on its proposed policy/strategy. Some people say
 that
>you need to go through the exercise to see where SAP has gaps and some
 say it
>is a waste of time. Any thoughts/opinions? Thanks.

We've been looking at the overall SAP development environment for similar reasons. We do a lot of data modeling now using Silverrun. We wanted to see what SAP provided and determine if we could standardize on a common tool set.

The bottom line appears to be that we'll need to maintain two tool sets. The SAP data model, as provided with the 2.2 release, is read only. It has the ability to export to an ADW format file, but it has no mechanism to import any information.

With the 3.0 release we've been told that the model will be read-write, but there will still be no automated links to the data dictionary (meaning that updates must be entered manually in both places). There will also still be no mechanism to import data from external sources into the model, and none is currently planned.

We've heard, through CSA (the Silverrun folks) that Apple is pursuing linkages between Silverrun and SAP. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Dennis Weatherly
Mentor Graphics Corp
dennis_weatherly_at_mentorg.com Received on Fri Mar 10 1995 - 17:50:27 CET