BW Project Plan

A Simplified BW Project Plan

An ideal project team would include the following personnel:

• A data warehouse architect who oversees the entire project with focus on architecture design and system integration

• Business analysts who understand the business requirements and know data models in source systems, particularly in the R/3 systems

• Technical developers who know BW, ABAP, ALE/IDoc, and Visual Basic and are able to create BW objects and user-friendly reports

• Basis and database administrators who install and maintain BW systems, the system landscape, and communications between BW systems and their source systems

A simplified BW project plan appears next.

Phase I. Design

Number	Task	Resource
1	Define enterprise reporting and OLAP requirements, including technical requirements, such as the expected response time	Data warehouse architect, business analysts, technical developers
2	Design enterprise reporting and OLAP architecture, considering the use of data marts, multi-provider, InfoCubes, ODS objects, and R/3 reporting functionality
3	Check how much Business Content can be used
4	Define user authorization requirements
5	Develop BW object naming conventions
6	Conduct design walkthrough

Phase II. Development

Number	Task	Resource
1	Install a BW sandbox with minimum hardware requirements as given by the BW installation guide	Basis and database administrators
2	Use the sandbox for proof-of-concept testing and project team training	All team members
3	Size a development system using the sandbox as a baseline and the ASAP sizing document as a reference	Data warehouse architect, Basis and database administrators
4	Install the BW development system	Basis and database administrators
5	Create BW objects and build the data warehouse in the development system	Technical developers
6	Load OLTP data, including R/3 data, into the system
7	Tune data loading performance	All team members
8	Create, test, and tune queries
9	Check the built data warehouse against the design document	Data warehouse architect, business analysts, technical developers

Phase III. Test

Number	Task	Resource
1	Size a quality assurance system using the development system as a baseline and the ASAP sizing document as a reference	Data warehouse architect, Basis and database administrators
2	Install the quality assurance system	Basis and database administrators
3	Transport the BW objects to the quality assurance system	Technical developers, Basis and database administrators
4	Conduct function testing and performance testing; tools such as LoadRunner and WinRunner from Mercury Interactive can be very helpful.	All team members
5	If necessary, modify BW objects in the development system and transport them to the quality assurance system	Technical developers
6	Verify the test result against the design document	All team members

Phase IV. Training

Number	Task	Resource
1	Develop end-user training materials based on the design document	Business analysts
2	If the production system has not been built yet, build a training system as a copy of the quality assurance system; otherwise, build a training system as a copy of the production system	Basis and database administrators
3	Tune query performance in the training system during training sessions	All team members
4	Test authorizations created for user roles

Phase V. Production

Number	Task	Resource
1	Size a production system using the training system as a baseline and the ASAP sizing document as a reference	Data warehouse architect, Basis and database administrators
2	Install the production system	Basis and database administrators
3	Transport the BW objects from the development system to the production system Load production OLTP data, including R/3 data, into the production system	Technical developers, Basis and database administrators Technical developers
4	Tune query and load performance based on the experience from the quality assurance and training systems	All team members
5	Set up a help desk to provide end-user support
6	Go live
7	Monitor production operation and identify hot spots

Repeat the development -> test  -> (training)  -> production cycle when needed.