InfoCubes

An InfoCube is a fundamental object in SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) used for multidimensional data analysis. It represents a data structure that is optimized for querying and reporting, enabling users to slice and dice data from various perspectives. InfoCubes are designed to store historical data, typically from transactional systems, and are structured in a star schema. This star schema consists of a central fact table that contains key figures or measures, surrounded by several dimension tables that describe the context of these measures.

The fact table in an InfoCube holds numerical data that can be aggregated and analyzed, such as sales revenue, quantities, or costs. The dimension tables contain descriptive attributes that provide context, such as time, product, customer, or location. These dimensions allow users to analyze the fact data by drilling down into specific categories or rolling up to broader aggregations. The primary purpose of an InfoCube is to facilitate fast and efficient retrieval of data for business intelligence applications.

InfoCubes are typically populated through data loading processes from various source systems. SAP BW provides tools and processes to extract, transform, and load (ETL) data into InfoCubes. Once loaded, the data is aggregated and indexed to ensure optimal query performance. The multidimensional nature of InfoCubes makes them ideal for creating reports, dashboards, and analytical applications that provide insights into business performance. They are a cornerstone of SAP BW's data warehousing capabilities, supporting strategic decision-making through comprehensive data analysis.