INFOSETS

BI InfoSets describes data sources that are normally defined as joins of DataStore objects, standard
InfoCubes and/or InfoObjects. If one of the InfoObjects contained in the join is a time-dependent
characteristic, the join is a time-dependent or temporal join. Other types of joins are Inner Joins and
Left Outer Joins.
For all other BI objects, the data is determined for the key date of the query. For InfoSets with a
temporal join, data can be evaluated for a particular time chosen by you. The key date of the query
is not taken into account in the InfoSet.
SUPPORTED INFOPROVIDERS:

Characteristic InfoObjects (with master data)

DSOs

InfoCubes (not more than 2)

If an InfoSet is formed of several characteristics you can map transitive attributes (an attribute's
attribute) and report using this master data.

RESTRICTIONS:

For performance reasons, it is not possible to define an InfoCube as a right operand of a left
outer join.

SAP no longer supports more than two InfoCubes in one InfoSet.

STRUCTURE:
Each InfoProvider that is contained in the join and is of the type DataStore or the type Master Data
Bearing Characteristic represents two separate dimensions (key and attribute) in the BEx Query
Designer. For InfoCubes, the dimensions of the InfoCubes are mapped. If the join is temporal, there
is also a separate dimension "Valid Time Interval" in the Query Designer.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MODELING INFOSETS

To avoid problems caused by duplicated key figure values (see SAP Note 592785), we
recommend that you only stage the key figures of one DataStore object or InfoCube of the

InfoSet for the query. To achieve this, set the indicator in the first column of the InfoSet
maintenance.

We recommend that you use only one object of the InfoSet (DataStore object, InfoCube or
master data table) for ambiguous characteristic values. This means that for the join of a
DataStore object with an InfoCube, provided that the InfoCube has the visible key figures, all
key characteristics for the DataStore object should be used in the join condition for the
InfoCube. In addition, for the join of a master data table with compounding with an
InfoCube, all key characteristcs of the master data table should be joined with characteristics
of the InfoCube.

Do not use many InfoProviders in one InfoSet. Instead, define several InfoSets.

Only use a small number of Joins in one InfoSet, in particular if you load a lot of data.

Use left outer joins in InfoSets only if it is really necessary. The performance for left outer
joins is poorer than for inner joins.

Do not make any calculations before the aggregation because this may cause incorrect query
results.

For time-dependent InfoSets in the query definition, do not use the fields "Valid from"
(0DATEFROM) and "Valid to" (0DATETO), instead use the "Valid Time Interval" dimension
(VALIDTIMEINTERVAL) that is only visible in the Query Designer and is used for time
selection.