(DV-2111) Drill Down Definition

Owned by SNP
Nov 09, 2021
10 min read

Drill Down Test Case Definition

Drill Down Variants selection screen allows you to create new or add existing Drill Down Variants into a Drill Down Test Case. All functions are accessible from the toolbar menu. After you click on the 'Variants' button a screen for ListCube Variants selection is displayed. 


Creation of Drill Down Test Case


Drill Down Test Case variants selection

Create New Drill Down Variant 

The Screen for creating a new Drill Down variant is displayed after clicking on the 'Create New Drill Down Variant' button (SHIFT + F11).


Create a new Drill Down Variant screen


In this screen you can specify the following variant details:

  1. Description – Add a description of the new Drill Down Variant.
  2. RFC Destination A – Is the RFC Destination of the system where InfoProvider A is to be read. When the RFC destination is specified in the InfoProvider A field, the F4 help is available.
  3. InfoProvider A – The technical name for InfoProvider A. F4 help is available for this field.
  4. Data Access Type A:
    1. Read Online Data – option to read the only online data in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider A.
    2. Read Online + NLS Data – option to read both the online and the NLS Data in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider A. This option is ignored for releases below 7.3 (i.e. only the online data will be read for lower releases).
    3. Read Only NLS Data – option to read only the NLS data in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider A. InfoProviders that are to be read needs to have an active DAP created.
  5. Read NLS Data – Gives you the option to use NLS Data in the ListCube for InfoProvider A.
  6. Use mat. aggregates – To choose if mat. aggregates should be used in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider A.
  7. Use Conversion Exit –  If enabled, on writing into the cluster step the info objects conversion exit will be applied to the data for InfoProvider A. Important Note: In the current version of Validate the Automated Root Cause Analysis doesn't support this.
  8. RFC Destination B – Is the RFC Destination the system where InfoProvider B is to be read. When the RFC destination is specified in the InfoProvider B field, the F4 help is available.
  9. InfoProvider B – The technical name of InfoProvider B. F4 help is available for this field.
  10. Data Access Type B:
    1. Read Online Data – option to only read the online data in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider B.
    2. Read Online + NLS Data – option to read the NLS Data in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider B. This option is ignored for releases below 7.3 (i.e. only online data will be read for such releases).
    3. Read Only NLS Data – option to read only the NLS data for the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider B. InfoProviders that are to be read needs to have an active DAP created.
  11. Use mat. aggregates – To choose if mat. aggregates are to be used in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider B.
  12. Use Conversion Exit – If enabled, on writing into the cluster step the info objects conversion exit will be applied to the data for InfoProvider B. Important Note: In the current version of Validate the Automated Root Cause Analysis doesn't support this.
  13. Drill Down Characteristics – List of characteristics that are going to be used during Drill Down execution for the two specified InfoProviders. F4 help for this select option, but only displays characteristics that exist in both of the InfoProviders. The Order of characteristics is an important select option because it needs to define the order of how they are to be added to the ListCube execution in case errors are found.
  14. No BWA Characteristics – You can define the selection of characteristics (as a subset of Drill Down Characteristics) because when added to the ListCube read during Drill Down execution the use of BWA is excluded.
  15. Display Number of Hits – Gives the option to choose if the column 'ROWCOUNT' is to be added to the output of ListCube for both of the InfoProviders.
  16. InfoProvider A Referenced Time point – Is a date and time setting that is used in the following way: When a Drill Down Variant references a time point for InfoProvider A, a check is performed before the execution for a load request ID from all of the requests in the system that has an update time equal or lower than the specified referenced time point. This request ID is then used in the ListCube read during the Drill Down execution as a filter on the 0REQUID field. Please refer to ('Create new ListCube Variant') section for more information regarding the Reference Time point behavior.
  17. InfoProvider B Referenced Time point – Performs the same check but for InfoProvider B. Please refer to ('Create new ListCube Variant') section for more information.
  18. Exclude InfoProvider A old data – changes the behavior of A InfoProvider referenced time point setting, so only the records newer than specified time point would be read.
  19. Exclude InfoProvider B old data – changes the behavior of B InfoProvider referenced time point setting, so only records newer than specified time point would be read.
  20. Excluded Key Figures – Key figures that will be excluded from the selection of both InfoProviders. If the excluded key figure uses a unit and no other non-excluded key figure depends on the unit it is also excluded from selection.
  21. Excluded Units – Units that will be excluded from the selection of both InfoProviders. For all excluded units the appropriate key figures are as well excluded.

To save the Drill Down Variant click the 'Continue' button (Enter), various checks are done to ensure the correctness of variant definition before saving
*Important Notes:

  • If any 'No BWA Characteristic' is specified, then the ListCube read in the Drill Down scenario stops to use the BWA immediately after any of these characteristics are added to output during the test cycle.
The requirement for Drill Down testing InfoProviders A and B is that both should contain all of the specified Drill Down Characteristics and use the same number of unit/currency InfoObjects. If the Number of Key Figures differs, the missing Key Figure columns are ignored during the comparison.

Add Existing Drill Down Variant 

Displays the existing Drill Down variants in the system and you can select one or more variants to be added into the current test case.

Add Drill Down Variants of Run 

Select a specific backend testing run. Drill Down Variants of the selected run will be added into the current Drill Down Test Case.

Copy Drill Down Variants of Run 

Select a specific backend testing run. Drill Down Variants of the selected run will be added into the current Drill Down Test Case as copies.

Generate Drill Down Variants 

The Screen for the generation of Drill Down variants is displayed after clicking on 'Generate Drill Down Variants' (SHIFT + F9). 


Generate Drill Down Variants screen


From this screen you can define:

  1. Drill Down Characteristics – The list of characteristics that are used during the Drill Down execution for the two specified InfoProviders. F4 help for this but only displays the characteristics that exist in both InfoProviders because only these can be used. The order of characteristics as a select option is important because it needs to define the order of how they are added to the ListCube execution in case errors are found.
  2. No BWA Characteristics – Defines the selection of characteristics (as a subset of Drill Down Characteristics) because when these are added to ListCube read during Drill Down execution the use of BWA is excluded.
  3. Description suffix – The suffix to be added in the description of the generated variants. The Description of variants that are generated in the form 'Gen. variant: $INFOPROVIDER_A_NAME <> $INFOPROVIDER_B_NAME'. If a description suffix is specified then the string '- $SUFFIX' is added to the description.
  4. Data Access Type A:
    1. Read Online Data – option to only read the online data in all the generated ListCube variants for InfoProviders A.
    2. Read Online + NLS Data – option to read the NLS Data in all of the generated ListCube variants for InfoProviders A. This option is ignored for releases below 7.3 (i.e. only the online data will be read in lower releases).
    3. Read Only NLS Data – option to only read the NLS data in all of the generated ListCube variants for InfoProviders A. InfoProviders are to be read needs to have an active DAP created.
  5. Data Access Type B:
    1. Read Online Data – option to only read the online data in all of the generated ListCube variants for InfoProviders B.
    2. Read Online + NLS Data – option to read the online and NLS Data in all of the generated ListCube variants for InfoProviders B. This option is ignored for releases below 7.3 (i.e. only online data will be read for lower releases).
    3. Read Only NLS Data – option to only read the NLS data in all of the generated ListCube variants for InfoProviders B. InfoProviders that are to be read need to have an active DAP created. This option is not release-dependent as the previous one.
  6. Use mat. aggregates A – To choose if the mat. aggregates should be used in all the generated ListCube variants for A InfoProviders.
  7. Use mat. aggregates B – To choose if the mat. aggregates should be used in all the generated ListCube variants for B InfoProviders.
  8. Use Conversion Exit – To choose if conversion exits are to be used in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider A.
  9. Use Conversion Exit – To choose if conversion exits are to be used in the generated ListCube variant for InfoProvider B.
  10. Excluded Key Figures – Defines the selection of key figures that will be excluded for all generated variants.
  11. Excluded Units – Defines the selection of units that will be excluded for all generated variants.
  12. InfoProviders Selection – In this table, you can specify the pairs of A and B InfoProviders together with their RFC Destinations. For each pair, a new Drill Down Variant is generated with all of the settings specified in the header of the screen. It is possible to display the Referenced Time point columns for InfoProviders by changing ALV Layout. These Referenced Time point settings are then used also in generated Drill Down Variants.

Generation of Drill Down variants is executed by clicking on the 'Continue' (Enter) button.

Add Variants of Test Case 

Select a specific DrillDown Test Case. Drill Down Variants of selected Test Case will be added into the current Drill Down Test Case.

Copy Variants of Test Case 

Select a specific DrillDown Test Case. Drill Down Variants of selected Test Case will be added into the current Drill Down Test Case as copies.

Copy Variants

You can create copies of DrillDown variants by selecting multiple variants in the selection table and then clicking on  'Copy DrillDown Variants' toolbar button. For each of the selected variants, a new variant is created with exactly the same settings as the source variant. 


Copy Variants

Edit Drill Down Variant

You can only edit existing Drill Down variants if they are not yet used in Test Runs. If a Drill Down Variant is already used in the Test Runs, then its details can be reviewed but not changed.

Mass Edit Variants

You can edit more Drill Down variants at once. Mass edit is performed by selecting the variants in the list and clicking on 'Mass Edit Variants'  button, a dialog for mass editing of the selected variants is displayed. 


Mass Edit Of Drill Down Variants


You can define new values for the before image, the after image, the RFC destination, referenced time point and exclude old data settings. By marking the 'Edit' checkbox only the values, which you want to be changed will be replaced in selected variants. Only variants that are not yet used in test runs can be changed by mass edit.


Additional options available from (DV-2111) Variant Editor:

Variant editor

(DV-2111) Variant Editor provides a central location where you can manage all the backend-testing variants.

Delete Drill Down Variants

To delete existing Drill Down Variants, select the rows and click on the delete button in the ALV table toolbar.

Any Drill Down Variants that are still used in the Backend Testing will be locked and are not deleted. It is necessary to delete these first from the test runs and then proceed in deletion in the Drill Down Variant Editor.

Transport Drill Down Variants

It is possible to select and add the Drill Down Variants to a transport to be transferred into another system (with Validate installed). To specify which Drill Down Variants should be transported you need to select them. There are options for filtering and sorting in the ALV table to select the ListCube Variants more easily. 


Selecting Drill Down Variants to be transported


After selecting the Drill Down Variants and clicking the on  'Transport Drill Down Variants' button, choose the transport request and confirm the transport of selected Drill Down Variants. 
It is important to note that the Drill Down Variants carry information only related to Validate and not about InfoProvider structures themselves so these should only be imported to systems where Validate is installed and where the same InfoProviders with the same structure exist.

Cleanup DrillDown Variants

You can delete all unused DrillDown variants by clicking on  'Cleanup DrillDown Variants' button. The First screen with preselection filters of variants is displayed and here you can restrict which variants should be checked for deletion. After you confirm this screen, a check is done to find all unused variants. A variant is classed unused if it is not assigned to any Test Case or Test Run. 


DrillDown Variant Cleanup Preselection