IFS Analysis Models

This page provides information on how to configure IFS Analysis Models with respect to executing user, security, basic data, Access Views and data tranasfer.

To make the transfer of information from IFS Applications to the Analysis Models specific Data Warehouse in SQL Server successful, it is important to consider the available configuration options.

The information can be used both before performing the first load of the Data Warehouse in SQL Server as well as to supply general configuration guidelines for subsequent loads.

Some general issues as e.g. translations are also handled.

Contents

 

Executing User

Transferring information from IFS Applications to SQL Server requires a user in IFS Applications with necessary permissions and access rights. This version of IFS Analysis Models strongly suggests the <IFSINFO> user as the executing user.

Note: The <IFSINFO> user will have all necessary views available in his own schema in the database and the user will also have full data access to all views with security filters. The <IFSINFO> user also needs to have access to some packages in the <appowner> schema and this is handled by creating private synonyms for the <IFSINFO> user.

 The executing user also controls the language that will be used. The following is important to configure before extracting any data:

  1. Access of data in IFS Applications. Also see Security.
  2. Default user language. Also see Translations.

Security

This section deals with data object access and data access related to IFS Applications and also provides some information about security handling in SQL Server. Please refer to:

Translations

More about how translations are handled can be found here >>

Basic Data in IFS Applications

IFS Analysis Models requires that basic data has been set up properly in IFS Applications. 

Access Views

Extracting data from IFS Applications to the Data Warehouse in SQL Server is done by accessing Access Views. These views represent the read interface in IFS Applications, acting as a view layer on top of the Information Source related views.

Note: Access Views are not available by default. It is necessary to generate these views via the IFS EE client.

Learn more about Access Views:

Configuration of Lookup Data

The ETL process in SQL Server is dependent on so called Lookup Data, stored in a set of lookup tables in the SQL Server database. It must be made sure that these tables are correctly defined. Please refer to Basic Data in IFS Applications. Learn more about lookup tables >>

Configuration of Data Volume

The loading of the stage area in the Data Warehouse can be handled in different ways. More information about the ETL process can be found here.

IFS Analysis Models supplies possibilities to configure the load volumes. This is especially important for the initial load of fact related data but also for the subsequent loads in order to be able to reduce the load time. Learn more >>

Setting up E-Mail for ETL Process

If the ETL process related to IFS Analysis Models is scheduled, it can be of great interest to know when the job has finalized and what the status was. One way of handling this is to configure a an E-mail to be sent when the SQL Server Agent Job finalizes.

Read more here.

Excel Dashboards

To learn more about Excel Dashboards, please refer to >>

Customizations

Customization of Analysis Models is not supported by any modeling tools. If changes are made in existing Fact or Dimension access views (online/data mart) it will be necessary to generate new Access Views and to update tables, procedures, SSIS packages and SSAS models manually.

If the customer versions of the staging SSIS packages contain calls to PL/SQL packages in the IFS Applications database, packages that are not used by the core versions of the SSIS packages, then it is necessary to make sure that the <IFSINFO> user has access to these packages. There are two things to consider here:

  1. Granting access on the package(s) to the <IFSINFO> user. This is normally handled automatically if the ordinary installation method is used, i.e. running the IFS Installer. Else it is possible to grant access via the security administration tools in Solution Manager.
  2. Creating a synonym in the <IFSINFO> schema for each <appowner> package. This is handled in the following way:
    1. First check if the package is available in the table BIBASE_REF_PKGS_TAB in the <appowner> schema
    2. If the package exists, no more actios are needed
    3. If the package does not exit, then add it to the table as e.g.
      INSERT INTO BIBASE_REF_PKGS_TAB 
      (PACKAGE_NAME, INSTALL_DT, CORE_DEFINED)
      VALUES (<pkg_name>, SYSDATE, 0)
    4. Important to use CORE_DEFINED=0 since this defines that the package is used by the customer project and not as part of the core delivery
    5. Now either make sure that a new IFS Applications installation is performed, e.g. as part of other customizations or perform the following call in the <appowner> schema:
      BEGIN BIAXSV_INSTALLATION_API.BI_POST_INSTALLATION_OBJECT; END;
    6. Logon to the <IFSINFO> schema and via the USER_OBJECTS table makes sure that the user has a synonym with the same name as the added package