Semantic Groups in DTP

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Introduction

From SAP BI 7.0 onwards, in DTP we have an option for semantic groups. We have different
perception about Semantic Groups in DTP and its usage. Here I am summarizing specific usage of
semantic group with examples.

Case 1. Calculation on group of records

Example: I would like to provide discount to each customer based on total sales value of Customer
No, Country and Product category.

Discount should be assigned to each row i.e. for each product. I am having below sample records.

Product No Customer No Country Product Category Sale Value

(In US $)

P001 C001 US Home 5000

P002 C002 UK Electronics 3000

P003 C003 Germany Kids 2000

P004 C004 India Home 4000

P005 C001 US Electronics 1000

P006 C003 Germany Kids 6000

P007 C005 France Home 5000

P008 C004 India Electronics 3000

P009 C002 UK Kids 2000

P010 C001 US Home 1000

Discount Criteria based on Sales value as per grouping (Customer No + Country + Product
Category)

Total Sales (In US $) Discount

%

>=1000 AND <5000 5

>=5000 AND <10000 10

>=10000 20
Data Upload from PSA to Standard DSO.

DTP Package size is 5 Records.

End routine is calculating total sales which are used for discount calculation of each
customer based on Sales value and assigning it to each product row.

Without Semantic Group Data Upload

Total sales value and Discount amount when data loaded without semantic group is as below

Product Customer Country Product SaleValue Total Discount

No No Category (In US $) Sales (In Amount
US $) (In US $)

P001 C001 US Home 5000 5000 500

P002 C002 UK Electronics 3000 3000 150

P003 C003 Germany Kids 2000 2000 100

P004 C004 India Home 4000 4000 200

P005 C001 US Electronics 1000 1000 50

P006 C003 Germany Kids 6000 6000 600

P007 C005 France Home 5000 5000 500

P008 C004 India Electronics 3000 3000 150

P009 C002 UK Kids 2000 2000 100

P010 C001 US Home 1000 1000 50

Here if you notice about Customer C001 having same country and product category but Total sale is
assigned as 5000 and 1000 respectively.

In such case for Product P010, customer received only 5% discount where as actually he/she should
get 10%.

Similar case is for Customer C003 and product P003.

This is because Data uploaded into 2 equal packages of 5 records each, first 5 records into 1st
package and rest 5 records in 2nd package.

Since in First package 5 records are as below,

Product No Customer No Country Product Sale Value (In US

Category $)

P001 C001 US Home 5000

P002 C002 UK Electronics 3000

P003 C003 Germany Kids 2000

P004 C004 India Home 4000

P005 C001 US Electronics 1000

Total Sales Value is calculated as below

Produc Custome Country Product Sale Total

t No r No Category Value Sale
(In US (In US
$) $)

P001 C001 US Home 5000 5000

P002 C002 UK Electronic 3000 3000

s

P003 C003 German Kids 2000 2000

y

P004 C004 India Home 4000 4000

P005 C001 US Electronic 1000 1000

s

So Discount values for first 5 rows are stored into Target DSO as below

Product Customer Country Product SaleValue Total Sale Discount

No No Category (In US $) (In US $) Amount
(In US $)

P001 C001 US Home 5000 5000 500

P002 C002 UK Electronics 3000 3000 150

P003 C003 Germany Kids 2000 2000 100

P004 C004 India Home 4000 4000 200

P005 C001 US Electronics 1000 1000 50

For next 5 rows as below

Product Customer Country Product SaleValue Total Sale Discount

No No Category (In US $) (In US $) Amount
(In US $)

P006 C003 Germany Kids 6000 6000 600

P007 C005 France Home 5000 5000 500

P008 C004 India Electronics 3000 3000 150

P009 C002 UK Kids 2000 2000 100

P010 C001 US Home 1000 1000 50

With Semantic Group Data Upload

Key fields are Customer no, Country and Product category

Total sales value and Discount amount when data loaded with semantic group are as below

Product No Custom Country Product Sale Value Total Sale Discou

er No Category (In US $) (In US $) nt
Amount
(In US
$)

P001 C001 US Home 5000 6000 500

P002 C002 UK Electronic 3000 3000 150

s

P003 C003 Germany Kids 2000 8000 200

P004 C004 India Home 4000 4000 200

P005 C001 US Electronic 1000 1000 50

s

P006 C003 Germany Kids 6000 8000 600

P007 C005 France Home 5000 5000 500

P008 C004 India Electronic 3000 3000 150

s

P009 C002 UK Kids 2000 2000 100

P010 C001 US Home 1000 6000 100

In this case records will be grouped based on Semantic key definition and even if there are 2
packages each will have records as below.

Records in First package grouped based on are Customer No, Country and Product Category

Product Customer Country Product SaleValue Total Sale Discount

No No Category (In US $) (In US $) Amount (In
US $)

P001 C001 US Home 5000 6000 500

P002 C002 UK Electronics 3000 3000 150

P005 C001 US Electronics 1000 1000 50

P009 C002 UK Kids 2000 2000 100

P010 C001 US Home 1000 6000 100

Records in Second package

Product Customer Country Product SaleValue Total Sale Discount

No No Category (In US $) (In US $) Amount (In
US $)

P003 C003 Germany Kids 2000 8000 200

P004 C004 India Home 4000 4000 200

P006 C003 Germany Kids 6000 8000 600

P007 C005 France Home 5000 5000 500

P008 C004 India Electronics 3000 3000 150

Due to this semantic grouping we have correct values for the Total Sales and our discount values are
also calculated as expected.

Please note to accommodate records as per semantic group, package size will be automatically
adjusted. Hence, it will not be constant through out the load.

Case 2. Error handling

Similarly if Error handling is enabled and error DTP is available, error handling functionality will work
as below based on semantic group.

Without Semantic Group Data Upload

In case there is an error in the record having product no P001 then it will go into error stack and rest
of the records will be uploaded. In such case for Product P010, total sales value will be 1000 and
hence discount will be 5% i.e. 50$.

Even later if we will correct first record (P001) into error stack and upload it through error DTP,
Discount value will not change for record P010.
With Semantic Group Data Upload

In case there is an error in the record having product no P001 then it will go into error stack along
with record having product id P010 and rest of records will be

uploaded into target. It is due to semantic definition, so even one record is having error, both records
are transferred into error stack to maintain semantic grouping.

In such case, when product P001 will be corrected into error stack and error DTP will run, it will
upload both records with correct total sales and discount value.

Additional Note

Here I have used only 2 cases for illustration purpose. In real life there can be more use cases as
per specific needs.

Please note above example is to explain the concept of semantic groups. There can also be other
ways to achieve this calculation.

Hope it will help to get better insight about semantic groups into DTP for beginners.