InfoPackages

InfoPackages are a fundamental concept in SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW) used to define how data is loaded from a source system into an InfoProvider. They act as containers for the data transfer process, specifying the source, target, and the method of extraction.

An InfoPackage is created in the SAP BW modeling environment and consists of several key components. The source system is identified, which could be an SAP system or a non-SAP system. The data target, typically an InfoCube, DataStore Object, or InfoObject, is also specified. Crucially, the InfoPackage defines the extraction mode, such as full load or delta load, which determines whether all data or only changes since the last load are transferred.

Additional settings within an InfoPackage include filters to select specific data ranges, update rules to map source fields to target fields, and scheduling options for automatic execution. These parameters ensure that data is loaded accurately and efficiently according to business requirements.

InfoPackages are integral to the Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) process in SAP BW. They initiate the data loading, allowing for the extraction of raw data from operational systems, its transformation into a format suitable for analysis, and its subsequent loading into the BW data warehouse for reporting and business intelligence purposes. They are a prerequisite for any data load into an InfoProvider.