Paul Murphy, marketing and sales director for Sagent SA, sees this as the first step in Sagent's long-term strategy to support SAP customers' business intelligence needs. "Sagent DirectLink for R/3 removes the complex processes and programming previously required to extract SAP R/3 data for reporting and data analysis. Users can easily map, extract and transform business data from SAP R/3 into the Sagent Solution. With easy access and greater control, SAP R/3 data can be integrated into business intelligence systems, supporting informed decision making processes."
On a recent visit to South Africa, data warehousing guru Ralph Kimball, president of Ralph Kimball Associates, said that it was imperative for SAP sites to provide ready access to SAP R/3 data. "From my experience, SAP users often feel that their data is locked away. They want to be able to get their data out of the system and perform query, analysis and reporting. Until now, the alternatives for getting access to SAP R/3 data have required special programming resources, and pose a performance hit. Sagent DirectLink for R/3 will really help users leverage the data in their SAP systems for decision support."
Sagent DirectLink for R/3 consists of a graphical metadata browser coupled with advanced data transformation technology, enabling customers to penetrate the complexity of R/3. By automatically translating the underlying R/3 table structure, the metadata browser demystifies R/3 for both technical and business users. Table names can be instantly "toggled" from physical code names to English. With the structure of the R/3 database represented in business terms, SAP R/3 data can be readily exploited with the Sagent Solution.
In addition, Sagent DirectLink for SAP R/3 enables organisations with heterogeneous computing environments to combine data from SAP and non-SAP systems and consolidate it across the enterprise, providing a single, integrated decision support environment.