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Saturday, September 30, 2017

Why LIS needs setup tables: A perspective

Ever wondered why LIS(Logistics) has setup tables for deltas? Why don't other modules such as HR/Finance have them? This is quite interesting to ponder on for a SAP BI consultant. SAP designers were quite quick in figuring out the need for a separate architecture for this for a fine reason.

Logistics has a slightly higher update rate. This makes it a bit difficult synchronize locks between BW requests and ECC update. An important point to note is that the setup tables come into play only when we do a init/full load(Full repair) on BW side. In other instances, the normal update methodology through delta queue is followed. Consider the following scenario:


The application tables are accessed nevertheless during the setup table is filled. This can, however be done during off business hours using selections as required. So this leads us to the question, why have setup tables when you are doing it off business hours anyway. The reason for this is some Logistics extractors are composed of many underlying base tables joined together. The application tables provide a unified structure which pulls data from all concerned tables based on the extractor.

Having explained the above, let me know your views on why other modules do not need setup tables.

NOTE: The basic nomenclature of the setup tables is MC*SETUP where * is the application component. For example, 02 is purchasing, 03 is inventory controlling, 05 is Quality Management, 11 is the SD Sales orders. An se11/se16 search would make the purpose and description of each of the objects clearer.