First Steps in SAP Business Warehouse (BW)

2.1   InfoProviders

InfoProviders are objects that provide data for a query. They can be persistent (data is stored physically and persistently) or non-persistent (they provide only data stored in other objects such as data targets).

<p class="BoxTipText"><img alt="Tip" class="BoxImage" height="90" src="%%ATTACHMENT:121098%%" width="90" loading="lazy">A query can only be based on a single InfoProvider. The non-persistent InfoProviders are often used to combine data from various persistent InfoProviders and present the results as if they were one source.</p>

2.1.1   The InfoProviders list

The persistent InfoProviders (also called data targets) are mainly the InfoObject, DataStore Object (DSO), and the InfoCube. The non-persistent InfoProviders are the MultiProvider, InfoSet, and the VirtualProvider (see Figure 2.1). From SAP BW 7.3 on, new advanced InfoProviders are available to respond to new technologies (e.g., in-memory database), including: BWA only InfoCube, semantically partitioned objects (SPO), Hybrid Provider, analytical index, Composite Provider, and TransientProvider.