For a ABAPer , It's an added advantage to shift to BW because basically he will be writing ABAP Routines in BW.

In BW , the maximum part is desgining (Infocubes ....). There r lots of oppurtinities in BW.Hence it wil be good for u'r career growth. I had provided excellent websites on BW/BI (contain PDF & PPT Presentations) which wil definetly help u gain confidence on BI. SAP Business Information Warehouse SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is the name of the Business Intelligence, analytical, reporting and Data Warehousing (DW) solution which is one of the major enterprise software applications produced by SAP AG. It was originally named SAP BIW, (Business Information Warehouse), but is now known as "SAP NetWeaver BI". SAP BW consists among other things of components for data management (Data Warehousing Workbench), extensive data modeling capabilities, an embedded analytical engine, a suite of rich front-end analytical tools refererred to as Business Explorer (BEx), and operational tools used for importing the most current transactional data into the system. It may be helpful to consider layers that make up the structure of SAP's BI solution: Extraction, Transformation and Load (ETL) layer - responsible for extracting data from a specific source, applying transformation rules, and loading it into SAP BW system. Data warehouse area - responsible for storing the information in various types of structures, including multidimensional structures called InfoCubes. Reporting - responsible for accessing the information in data warehouse area and presenting it in a user-friendly manner to the analyst or business user. Planning - Provides capabilities for the user to run simulations and perform tasks such as budget calculations. SAP's BI application is a very pervasively employed data warehouse / analytical enterprise software solution, often utilized heavily by companies that essentially run their business on SAP operational systems such as SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP ERP, traditionally known as SAP R/3). SAP's BI solution contains a large number of predefined "extractors", a very significant amount of predefined business content in the form of InfoCubes, master data (i.e. objects representing the entity for "Customer", or "Material"), authorization roles, query views and reports all delivered in the software by SAP. Some of the significant benefits of this approach include the ability to leverage SAP's substantial business knowledge from many years of developing extremely sophisticated software systems for the world's largest companies, typically shortening project development cycles in the process. The pre-defined business content can be modified to meet an organization's specific requirements, while at the same time taking advantage of general aspects of these delivered data models and reports that are somewhat foundational and have broad application in business, government, and education. SAP BW is now part of a suite of SAP applications called SAP NetWeaver. Other components of SAP NetWeaver include SAP Enterprise Portal (EP, called SAP NetWeaver Portal as of Release 7.0), Web Application Server (WAS), SAP Process Integration (PI, or previously XI, i.e. eXchange Infrastructure) and Master Data Management (MDM). The 7.0 version of SAP BW was released in June 2006 as part of the SAP NetWeaver 7.0 (aka 2004s). This new release includes many new features, such

as next-generation reporting and analytical features, major data warehousing enhancements, and possibility to use innovative techology for query performance optimization called "BI Accelerator". BI Accelerator (or BIa) comes as an external applicance, i.e. complete hardware with pre-installed software. BIa requires separate licence fee. From SAP NetWeaver 7.0 on, the term SAP BW is obsolete, and instead it is referred simply as "SAP NetWeaver BI" - i.e. "SAP NetWeaver 7.0 BI". According to SAP, more than 12,000 installations of SAP's BI solution exist. SAP Business Information Warehouse (BW) is SAPs Data Warehouse solution. It has been specially developed to allow you to gather and analyze all kinds of statistical information in the best possible way. The SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) is a core element of mySAP.com. SAP BW is an enterprise-wide information hub that enables data analysis from R/3 and other business application, including external data sources such as databases and the Internet. SAP BW also offers easy integration with other mySAP solutions, such as mySAP Supply Chain Management (mySAP SCM), mySAP Strategic Enterprise Management (mySAP SEM), and mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM). SAP BW is a comprehensive end-to-end data warehouse solution with optimized structures for reporting and analysis. To help knowledge workers quickly mine an enterprises business data, SAP BW is equipped with preconfigured information models and reports, as well as automatic data extraction and loading methods. With an easy-to-use Microsoft Excel-based user interface, you can create, format, and analyze reports, and publish those reports to the web. Built for high performance, SAP BW resides on its own dedicated server. Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and reporting activities are therefore separated, and system performance is not compromised. COMPONENTS & TOOLS OF SAP NetWeaver:SAP NetWeaver BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE Timely access to relevant information has always been critical to business success. Now, with the widespread use of the Internet, wired and wireless data collection technologies such as RFID, and the subsequent increase in new data sources, it's even more important. SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence (SAP NetWeaver BI) paints a complete picture of your business to satisfy the diverse needs of end users, IT professionals, and senior management. It brings together a powerful business intelligence infrastructure, a comprehensive set of tools, planning and simulation capabilities, and data-warehousing functionality delivered through enterprise portal technology. With SAP NetWeaver BI, you can integrate data from across the enterprise and beyond, and then transform it into practical, timely information to drive sound decision-making, targeted action, and solid business results. It supports: Data warehousing Data warehouse management; business modeling; and extraction, transformation, and loading enable you to build data warehouses, model information architecture according to business structure, and manage data from multiple sources. Business intelligence Online analytical processing, data mining, and alerts provide a foundation for accessing and presenting data, searching for patterns, and identifying exceptions. Business planning A BI planning framework with secure workflow capabilities supports Microsoft Excel or Web-based planning and budgeting based on consolidated corporate data for bottom-up or top-down planning. Business insights Query design, reporting and analysis, and Web application design allow you to create analysis reports, support decisions at every level, and present business intelligence applications on the Web. Measurement and management Business-content

management, metadata management, and collaborative business intelligence monitor progress, provide reporting templates, ensure consistent data, and help decision-makers work together. Open hub services Open hub services features enable the delivery of high-quality, audited enterprise information through Web services to applications. Bulk data exchange, change data capture (CDC), and modeling features streamline deployment and enable cost-effective operations. Information broadcasting Information broadcasting features support the distribution of mass information to large audiences in a personalized and secure manner. You can broadcast information as an offline document or live report through personalized e-mail or the Internet, according to a schedule or based on key events. Accelerated business intelligence Based on compressions, parallel in-memory processing, and search technologies, the SAP NetWeaver BI Accelerator functionality improves the performance of queries, reduces administration tasks, and shortens batch processes. Developed as an appliance on Intel processors, the accelerator provides consistently fast response times, even as data volumes, number of users, and analytics increase. Business Intelligence : Getting Started with Business Intelligence ,Reporting, Analysis, and Planning , Data Warehousing, BI Accelerator Embedded and Process-Centric BI https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/nw-bi The Home of SAP Business Warehouse (BW) http://www.erpgenie.com/sap/sapfunc/bw.htm SAP Business Information Warehouse http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/b2/e50138fede083de10000009b38f8cf/co ntent.htm Business Intelligence : Programming in BW https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki?path=/display/BI/Programming+in+BW& BW and Portals 2005 https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bi-and-portals2005 SAP Business Warehouse (BW) Overview http://gleez.com/sap/bw/overview Business Intelligence : Steps to get started with SAP BW https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/wiki? path=/display/BI/Steps+to+get+started+with+SAP+BW& SAP Business Information Warehouse Scenarios http://help.sap.com/bp_biv335/BI_EN/html/Bw.htm SAP BW Learning Guide http://searchsap.techtarget.com/general/0,295582,sid21_gci1077480,00.html SAP BW Business Warehouse - Introduction http://www.thespot4sap.com/Articles/SAP_BW_Introduction.asp Business Content Frontend Design Guidelines (NW04) https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/bda556e9-0c010010-83b0-d519d6deb9e9 How ToCreate and Maintain UI Patterns of BI Content https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/ad214fe9-0c01-00104291-a629e5ba5f90 SAP NetWeaver BI Integrated Planning for Finance http://www.sappress.de/katalog/buecher/htmlleseproben/gp/htmlprobID-113 Info object,infocube,infosource,datasource,commn structure,extract structure ..etc.. http://www.erpgenie.com/sapgenie/docs/MySAP%20BW%20Cookbook%20Vol %201.pdf https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/01b9395c0e01-0010-6786-c4ee5e5d2154 BI Performance Tuning https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bi-performance-tuning Business Intelligence Journal Improving Query Performance in Data Warehouses http://www.tdwi.org/Publications/BIJournal/display.aspx?ID=7891 Achieving BI Query Performance Building Business Intelligence http://www.dmreview.com/issues/20051001/1038109-1.html SAP Business Intelligence

Accelerator : A High - Performance Analytic Engine for SAP Ne tWeaver Business Intelligence http://www.sap.com/platform/netweaver/pdf/BWP_AR_IDC_BI_Accelerator.pdf BI Performance Audit http://www.xtivia.com/downloads/Xtivia_BIT_Performance %20Audit.pdf https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/10564d5c-cf00-2a107b87-c94e38267742 Enhancements in SAP BW https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/59069d90-02010010-fd81-d5e11994d8b5 Customer Enhancements in SAP NetWeaver BI (Exits, BAdIs and ABAP in the SAP NetWeaver BI Back End) http://www.sap.com/community/pub/showdetail.epx?itemID=5257 cheers! gyanaraj ****Pls reward points if u find this helpful