PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure (PBS NAI) For ... - Dolphin

Introduction
At a time when data volumes are experiencing enormous
growth at the same time that regulatory requirements are
on the rise, SAP users find themselves caught up in a dilemma:
the costs of storing data continue to increase, databases
are getting larger and larger, the share of archived
data continues to grow, and the runtimes for archiving
data are getting longer and longer. At the same time, being
able to access archive data in an extremely fast and integrated
manner has become quite normal in many applications.
For instance, many international companies often
need to archive up to 500 million documents from SAP
profit center accounting each month.
As a result, users will need to spend more time looking to
find innovative integrated solutions for multi-terabyte systems
that are capable of satisfying a multitude of different
commercial and legislative requirements. PBS has risen
to these challenges by introducing a new solution that is
based on a rather innovative approach: PBS Nearline Analytic
Infrastructure (PBS NAI).
PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure addresses customers
who use SAP standard data archiving as well as those
who use SAP data archiving in combination with our PBS
archive add ons.
PBS NAI is a new add-on solution for operative SAP systems,
like ERP, IS, CRM, etc. The important thing about PBS
NAI is that column-based analytics technology that has
mainly been used in data warehouse environments in the
past can now be immediately put to use in operative SAP
systems to process application data. Here, PBS Nearline
Analytic Infrastructure can be operated and administrated
from out of one’s familiar SAP environment. PBS NAI represents
an extension of the SAP Archive Information System
and includes its own tool transferring data from SAP
archives and SAP databases. A DART Viewer for evaluating
data extracts that are generated with the SAP Data Retention
Tool is yet another component of the solution. Furthermore,
PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure also includes an
ad hoc reporting tool for operative SAP application data.
Initial results obtained with pilot customers confirm:
With PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure
• a multiple of the existing data volumes can be
processed in data archives,
• archives can be indexed much more quickly:
50 million line items from SAP profit center accounting
can be indexed in 30 minutes using parallel
processing,
• access to archived line items is many times faster,
• operative reporting can be performed much more
quickly,
• ad hoc reporting from the SAP system can be performed
much more easily and with greater flexibility,
• considerably more expensive space in databases
can be saved,
• the database servers used with SAP systems can
be effectively relieved,
• the TCO of SAP systems can be reduced rather
substantially.
As an integrated solution, PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure
supports the classic PBS archive add ons. Archived
documents from profit center accounting or profitability
analysis can be indexed using PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure.
Access to archived documents takes place using
the appropriate NAI-compatible PBS archive add ons.
PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure leverages all of the
advantages that the column-based database Sybase IQ
offers for running operative SAP systems. These include,
for instance, high data compression of as high as 90 percent
or more, and, on the other hand, much shorter response
times for database queries on mass data.
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