Section A.2. A Simplified BW Project Plan
A 2 A Simplified BW Project Plan
An ideal project team would include the following personnel:
- A data warehouse architect who oversees the entire project with focus on architecture design and system integration
- Business analysts who understand the business requirements and know data models in source systems, particularly in the R/3 systems
- Technical developers who know BW, ABAP, ALE/IDoc, and Visual Basic and are able to create BW objects and user-friendly reports
- Basis and database administrators who install and maintain BW systems, the system landscape, and communications between BW systems and their source systems
A simplified BW project plan appears next.
Phase I. Design
| Number | Task | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Define enterprise reporting and OLAP requirements, including technical requirements, such as the expected response time | Data warehouse architect, business analysts, technical developers |
| 2 | Design enterprise reporting and OLAP architecture, considering the use of data marts, multi-cubes, InfoCubes, ODS objects, and R/3 reporting functionality | |
| 3 | Check how much Business Content can be used | |
| 4 | Define user authorization requirements | |
| 5 | Develop BW object naming conventions | |
| 6 | Conduct design walkthrough |
Phase II. Development
| Number | Task | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Install a BW sandbox with minimum hardware requirements as given by the BW installation guide | Basis and database administrators |
| 2 | Use the sandbox for proof-of-concept testing and project team training | All team members |
| 3 | Size a development system using the sandbox as a baseline and the ASAP sizing document as a reference | Data warehouse architect, Basis and database administrators |
| 4 | Install the BW development system | Basis and database administrators |
| 5 | Create BW objects and build the data warehouse in the development system | Technical developers |
| 6 | Load OLTP data, including R/3 data, into the system | |
| 7 | Tune data loading performance | All team members |
| 8 | Create, test, and tune queries | |
| 9 | Check the built data warehouse against the design document | Data warehouse architect, business analysts, technical developers |
Phase III. Test
| Number | Task | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Size a quality assurance system using the development system as a baseline and the ASAP sizing document as a reference | Data warehouse architect, Basis and database administrators |
| 2 | Install the quality assurance system | Basis and database administrators |
| 3 | Transport the BW objects to the quality assurance system | Technical developers, Basis and database administrators |
| 4 | Conduct function testing and performance testing; tools such as LoadRunner and WinRunner from Mercury Interactive can be very helpful. | All team members |
| 5 | If necessary, modify BW objects in the development system and transport them to the quality assurance system | Technical developers |
| 6 | Verify the test result against the design document | All team members |
Phase IV. Training
| Number | Task | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Develop end-user training materials based on the design document | Business analysts |
| 2 | If the production system has not been built yet, build a training system as a copy of the quality assurance system; otherwise, build a training system as a copy of the production system | Basis and database administrators |
| 3 | Tune query performance in the training system during training sessions | All team members |
| 4 | Test authorizations created for user roles |
Phase V. Production
| Number | Task | Resource |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Size a production system using the training system as a baseline and the ASAP sizing document as a reference | Data warehouse architect, Basis and database administrators |
| 2 | Install the production system | Basis and database administrators |
| 3 |
Transport the BW objects from the development system to the production system Load production OLTP data, including R/3 data, into the production system |
Technical developers, Basis and database administrators Technical developers |
| 4 | Tune query and load performance based on the experience from the quality assurance and training systems | All team members |
| 5 | Set up a help desk to provide end-user support | |
| 6 | Go live | |
| 7 | Monitor production operation and identify hot spots | |
Repeat the development