SAP BW Business Content Variables

SAP BW Business Content Variables are delivered for all the variable types. These Business Content Variables help you to build complex queries with ease and within less time.

For time characteristics, there are a lot of SAP BW Business Content variables that are delivered by SAP to replace frequently-used time periods.

Let us take a look at some of the Calendar Month (0CALMONTH) based variables:

Time Characteristic	Business Content Variable	Description
0CALMONTH	0CMCMLY	Previous year’s current month
0CALMONTH	0CMLMLY	Previous year’s last month
0CALMONTH	0CMLMON	Last Month
0CALMONTH	0CML12CM	Last 12 months (which includes current month)
0CALMONTH	0CML12LM	Last 12 months (which excludes current month)
0CALMONTH	0CML3CM	Last 3 months (which includes current month)
0CALMONTH	0CML3LM	Last 3 months (which excludes current month)
0CALMONTH	0CMCQUAR	Current Quarter

The purpose of each of the business content variables has also been mentioned in the last column of the above table.

Now, let us take a look at some of the Calendar Date (0CALDAY) based variables:

Time Characteristic	Business Content Variable	Description
0CALDAY	0DAT	Current Calendar Day
0CALDAY	0L_DATE	Last Calendar Date
0CALDAY	0P_LY_R	Comparative Period for Last Year
0CALDAY	0CYTCD	Cumulated to Current Day
0CALDAY	0LYTCLD	Previous Year Cumulated to Current Day

Below given are some of the other Calendar Week (0CALWEEK), Calendar Quarter (0CALQUARTER), and Calendar Year (0CALYEAR) based variables:

Time Characteristic	Business Content Variable	Description
0CALWEEK	0CWEEK	Current Calendar Week
0CALWEEK	0PREVWK	Previous Week
0CALQUARTER	0CQUART	Current Quarter
0CALYEAR	0CYEAR	Current Calendar Year

Based on the list of SAP BW Business Content Variables mentioned so far, don’t run into the conclusion that we have Business Content Variables just for time characteristics. The following is the list of some of the Business Content Variables for characteristics that are non-time related:

Characteristic	Business Content Variable
Actual/Plan Version (Single Value Entry, Optional)	0P_VERSN
Admission Category	0S_ADMCG
Admission Date	0P_ADMDA
Activity Status	0S_ACSTA
Account Number	0S_ACC
Business Partner Group	0S_BPGRP
Company Code (Single Value Entry, Required)	0P_COCD
Cost Center	0P_CCT
Cost Center (Single Value Entry, Required)	0P_CCTR
Region	0P_REGN
WBS Element (Selection Options, Mandatory)	0S_WBSEX
Storage Location	0S_STLOC
Sold-to Party	0I_CUSTO
Sales Document (Optional)	0P_DOCNU

Demo of SAP BW Business Content Variables

Next, let us take the Deliveries Report as an example. The Query definition is given below:

As can be seen from the above Query Definition, the report has Division and Ship-To Party in the rows, whereas it has Delivered quantity in the columns. The following screen shows the ‘Filters’ section of the Query. The report basically has restriction on ‘Division’.

Requirement

The requirement is to show the Delivered quantity for the current calendar year and previous calendar year respectively for Division and Ship-To Party. For instance, as the current calendar year is 2017, the report should display the Delivered Quantity values for the years 2017 and 2016 respectively. The users should not be given the option/flexibility to input the year.

Though the requirement for this tutorial is fairly similar to that of SAP BW Offset Variables Tutorial, it should be kept in mind that the approach is different. Also, the SAP BW Offset Tutorial allows user to choose the year based on which Current Year Delivered Quantity and Previous Year Delivered Quantity Values get calculated. However, in this tutorial, as mentioned above, the requirement is to always show Current Year Delivered Quantity and Previous Year Delivered Quantity Values based on the current calendar year.

This tutorial is divided into the following three sections:

• Modification of the Query to include SAP BW Business Content Variables
• Saving the Query
• Executing the Query

Modification the Query to Include SAP BW Business Content Variables

Let us first create Current Year Delivered Quantity and Prior Year Delivered Quantity Selections.

Current Year Delivered Quantity

Right-click on Key Figures to create a new selection. The screenshot is given below:

Let us now click on “New Selection” highlighted in the above screen. The following screen appears:

Let’s remove the key figure ‘Delivered Quantity’ highlighted in the above screen. The screenshot is given below:

Double click on ‘Selection 1’ and enter description of the Selection as ‘CY Delivered quantity’. The screenshot is given below:

Now, drag and drop ‘0QUANT_B’ key figure. The screenshot is given below:

As this selection corresponds to Current Year Delivered Quantity, we will add the Business Content Variable (0CYEAR) restriction. The screenshot is given below:

Let us now click on ‘OK’ button highlighted in the below screen to continue:

Prior Year Delivered Quantity

Let us right-click on Key Figures to create one more new selection. The screenshot is given below:

Let us now click on “New Selection” highlighted in the above screen. The following screen appears:

Double click on ‘Selection 2’ and enter description of the Selection as ‘PY Delivered quantity’. The screenshot is given below:

Now, drag and drop ‘0QUANT_B’ key figure. The screenshot is given below:

As this selection corresponds to Prior Year Delivered Quantity, we will add the Business Content Variable (0CYEAR-1) restriction. The screenshot is given below:

Now click on ‘OK’ button highlighted in the below screen to proceed.

Saving the Query

Click on highlighted in the below screen to save the Query.

The Query got saved successfully without any errors. The screenshot is given below:

Executing the Query

Let us now run the Query through BEx Analyzer. The variable screen is given below:

Select values for Division as per the following screen:

Click on ‘OK’ button highlighted in the below screen to execute the query.

As can be seen from the above output, Current Year Delivered Quantity and Prior Year Delivered Quantity shows the data for the years 2017 and 2016 respectively.

This can be tallied with the underlying BW InfoProvider Data for the years 2017 and 2016 respectively.

SAP BW Business Content Variables can be used in specific contexts readily without the need to create new variables. It is a best practice to use SAP BW Business Content Variables whenever possible without creating new variables when the Business Content Variables serve your purpose.

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Did you like this tutorial? Have any questions or comments? We would love to hear your feedback in the comments section below. It’d be a big help for us, and hopefully it’s something we can address for you in improvement of our free SAP BW tutorials.