PBS Software GmbH

Dolphin Customer Archiving Day

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:29:00 +0200

Before the SAP TechEd starts in Las Vegas, the PBS partner Dolphin organizes together with PBS Software a Customer Archiving Day at the Westin Casuarina Hotel on October 18, 2010 from 12 pm to 5 am. Professor Dr. Detlev Steinbinder, CTO of PBS Software, among others, will hold a lecture on how the index generations and response times can be accelerated enormously when using column-based database technology in the nearline storage environment. This is of special interest for SAP systems with very huge data amounts. Nearline Storage with the column-based Sybase IQ database that was developed originally for the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehousing can now also be used in SAP ERP or other operative SAP systems. As a consultancy company for SAP archiving, Dolphin has already convinced well-known companies to benefit from the innovative PBS products and has supported a lot of successful projects. Some of their satisfied customers will give a report on their experiences from the practice on the Customer Archiving Day. The participation fee for this event is US$ 250 including business lunch. Since the number of participants is limited, a reservation is necessary. You can register here.

Radeberger's Case Study at CBW Workshop

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:29:00 +0200

The 2nd PBS Information Day that focuses solely on the SAP Business Warehouse is becoming more and more popular. Whereas in the first few years, the number of interested experts in attendance in comparison with day 1, traditionally called the Archiving Day, was considerably lower, now roughly the same number of people are attending. The use of column-based technology has been a reality in the SAP BW environment for much longer than it has in the SAP ERP area. PBS has been developing products in the SAP BW archiving and nearline area for over six years and offers a wide variety of different solutions. In addition to pure ADK solutions that do not require a separate database, these also include the PBS Nearline Solution under the column-based Sybase IQ Analytics Server. For the first time ever, a customer held a presentation on this and spoke about his positive experiences.

Project results

Sebastian Smolkiewicz from Radeberger Gruppe KG held what can be considered a rather refreshing presentation in the truest sense of the word and thus loosened up the BW expert topic of �Nearline Storage� somewhat. The good mood he was in can undoubtedly be traced back to how well the project has been developing and the positive results. He concluded that the use of the PBS Nearline Storage Solution in conjunction with Sybase IQ offers Radeberger immense potential for savings with respect to hard disc space and therefore costs too, of course. This means the investment in the PBS solution can be recovered rather quickly. Despite the archiving, the response times are still faster than with the conventional BW database. The BW database server is relieved to a large degree by sharing the load between the BW and the nearline database. Thanks to the fact that there are no more BW database aggregates, this has definitely reduced the level of administrative effort. The new PBS snapshot technology also made it possible to avoid the limitations caused by the time frame-based archiving. Many of the people in the audience couldn�t believe what they had just heard and were visibly impressed by the optimization potential that the column-based PBS Nearline Solution CBW NLS IQ offers.

External references

In addition, other external experts on SAP BW and nearline also held presentations. As in past years, Dr. Peter Zimmerer from SAP AG also took part in the event, this time together with his colleague Rainer Schlachter, to report on the latest expansions to the SAP BW Nearline Storage Interface that forms the basis for PBS solutions. Dr. Michael Hahne, who now works as an independent consultant, spoke on the chances and challenges related to nearline storage in general, while Matthias Stemmler from Sybase GmbH explicitly explained the advantages that Sybase IQ offers, especially in SAP applications. Dr. Werner Hopf from Dolphin concluded the event on the 2nd PBS Info Day by reporting on the use of PBS Nearline Storage together with Sybase IQ in an international project.

PBS development

As on day 1 of the PBS Info Days, PBS employees paved the way for the presentations of external speakers. For instance, Prof. Dr. Steinbinder gave an overview of the PBS portfolio in the area of SAP BW immediately after our Managing Director G�nther Reichling greeted our guests. Then, two PBS software architects who have been instrumental in developing CBW, Dr. Christoph Bedau and Stefan Weickum, reported solely on the new and further developments to the PBS Nearline Solution under Sybase IQ. All of the presentations met with positive feedback.

Innovative and successful PBS Info Days 2010

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:15:00 +0200

PBS Software GmbH held their 10th Information Days on June 8 and 9, 2010 on the topic of Information Lifecycle Management in SAP applications. In addition to the PBS staff more than one hundred external visitors attended this year's event at the Dorint Hotel in Mannheim. Customers, prospects, and a large number of PBS partners were impressed by the volume and wide variety of both new and further developments and customer projects.

Column-based technology in the SAP ERP environment

This topic, which in the meantime is also causing a lot of excitement at SAP, was a central theme during the two-day event. Right at the start during his welcome speech, the managing director G�nther Reichling asked who knew how a column-based database works. As only a few hands raised upon this question he explained it using a comprehensible example from which everybody quickly learned that fast response times is one of the decisive advantages of column-based technology. In contrast to SAP, whose vision is to reduce response times by applying column-based technology in the main memory, PBS Software already developed a product some time ago that together with the column-based Sybase IQ database also enables the usage of nearline storage in SAP ERP applications in addition to the SAP Business Warehouse. This revolutionizes indexing, response times, and data compression. Prof. Dr. Steinbinder, head of development at PBS, already presented the product last year and gave a lecture, among others, about its remarkable further developments.

Hornbach's experiences with PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure

In addition to Dr. Klaus Zimmer's lecture, which was very structured and informative regarding the basic advantages of PBS NAI, attendees were particularly interested in how it fared in practice. Bernd Reichel, expert for SAP data archiving, ILM, and ECM in IT Retail Development at Hornbach presented these advantages. The attendees were amazed about the key figures and results that this PBS pilot customer presented, such as a degree of data compression of up to 90 percent and huge administrative improvements which we report upon in detail later on.

Archiving as a basis of Information Lifecycle Management

This was the presentation topic of Tanja Kaufmann from SAP, in which she presented the functions, advantages, and further developments of the corresponding SAP ILM component. Anh-Tuan Pham and Frank St�ckel of ComSol AG, a PBS partner company, also explained the setting of retention times with PBS ContentLink using the example of a customer project. Ulf Kr�ger, responsible developer and product manager for this product, introduced their lecture presenting a large number of further developments.

GDPdU and system decommissioning

Both topics determine the everyday life of many PBS customers. Consequently, the audience followed the presentation of expert Walter Steffen with great interest as he explained the new developments that PBS also provides in this area. The final lecture of the first Info Day was held by Dr. Werner Hopf, CEO of Dolphin, a PBS partner company resident in Florida. He presented the ILM strategy for the migration and archiving of old systems in the SAP environment.

Good mixture

The majority of attendees praised the wide variety of topics and the high quality of lectures that had them fixed to their seats until the last one was over. Finally, participants were able to enjoy a cold refreshment at the hotel bar after a hot summer�s day and had the opportunity to reflect with others on the wealth of information and impressions they had gathered during the event.

PBS Image Brochure - The History behind the Software

Thu, 27 May 2010 09:02:00 +0200

	What is PBS Software GmbH and how can it help you to implement an efficient Information Lifecycle Management strategy? The PBS Image Brochure will provide answers to these questions. It highlights the history and people behind the software of the nearly twenty-year-old company. Click on the Thumbnail to download the brochure as a pdf file or order a free copy by mail at info@pbs-software.com.

Brand new: PBS NAI White Paper

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:52:00 +0200

It is possible to make use of all advantages and savings of column-based technology in your operative SAP systems such as ERP, CRM, and others using our new product, PBS Nearline Analytic Infrastructure (NAI). You can find more details about how this works from our current NAI White Paper which is available free of charge and without registration. Just click on the thumbnail to download it.

Using PBS NAI you can ensure the management of your mass data. The first customers report compression rates of their data of over 90 percent as well as extremely accelerated response times during the access. We will be presenting current user reports at our PBS information days that take place on June 8 and 9 Mannheim/
Germany as in previous years. The presentations will be held in German. After the event, we will also make available information and presentations in English.

New Functions in SE16_PERSONAL

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:23:00 +0100

Master Variants

We decided to develop further helpful functions after receiving positive feedback from our customers with regards to SE16_PERSONAL, an enhancement of the corresponding SAP transaction. Due to the large number of transparent SAP tables and views we would like to enable you to access a broad table basis and support the customizing. The objective is the automatic generation of a so-called master variant for each relevant table. PBS has summarized standard tables that might be of interest for end users in SAP industry solutions in a template and integrated this into the product delivery. The administrator can use this template as a basis for a customer-specific table pool that can be changed and extended as required. Afterwards, a master variant is generated for each table. This master variant displays all table fields as a standard. This functionality simplifies the administration work and represents a comfortable and effective option for creating rapidly table variants for end users during the productive operation. The new functions with the two transactions /PBS/SE16_TPOOL_A and /PBS/SE16_TPOOL_G are available for use from Final Release 2. The transactions are included in the menu option "Configure master variants".

Snapshots

Now you can also access archive data. For this, the administrator can create so-called "snapshots" or "instantaneous shots" that can consist of database and/or archive data. The data volume of a snapshot depends on the assignment of the archiving runs if the processing of archive data is requested and the creation time, in particular, for the processing of database data. You can then evaluate the data in the usual way in SE16_PERSONAL.

PBS Website in an Updated Layout

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:07:00 +0100

As you will have noticed the PBS website has a new layout. We hope that the adaptations will help you to navigate better. Therefore, all "action" buttons have been grouped in one row. The side map has not changed very much, only the items Product Availability and Archiving Objects are now under the section Support. Find more information on our new product PBS NAI in Products/PBS Nearline for ERP. If you have problems with the display, we recommend clearing the browser cache. As ever, we look forward to your comments, proposals and criticism under info@pbs-software.com.

New Transactions in the PBS archive add on CPS

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:52:00 +0100

The project information system of the PBS archive add on CPS enables the analysis of operative and organizational data from database and the archives PS_PROJECT, CO_ORDER, PM_ORDER, PP_ORDER and SD_VBAK on the basis of the logical database /PBS/PSI. From the new SAP ERP 6.0 Final Release 5 the user can apply the user-friendly project structure overview (transaction code CN41N) in addition to the structure overview (transaction code /PBS/CN41). From the profile for the structure overview the project structure overview only takes into account the data in the subscreens "Filter criteria" and "Objects to be Shown". Due to the selection of data from different archives that could often be very extensive, it is advisable to use selection versions for a better performance. You can save the evaluation during the selection in an internal table by means of the selection versions. Then later on, the data can be retrieved again. Furthermore, new individual overviews for the list display of selected object types are provided in SAP ERP 5.0 and 6.0. In contrast to the SAP standard transactions, deleted objects are always displayed and archived objects are marked with an asterisk. The transactions below can be called directly or from the structure overview (transaction /PBS/CN41).

PBS	SAP	Description/ Overview:
/PBS/CN47N	CN47N	Activities Elements
/PBS/CN52N	CN52N	Components
/PBS/CN45N	CN45N	Orders
/PBS/CN55N	CN55N	Sales Document Items
/PBS/CN49N	CN49N	Relationships
/PBS/CN53N	CN53N	Milestones
/PBS/CN51N	CN51N	Production Resources/Tools
/PBS/CN48N	CN48N	Confirmations

PBS archive add ons certified for SAP NetWeaver 7.0

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:58:00 +0100

The PBS archive add ons have now also been certified for the integration under SAP NetWeaver 7.0 under the integration scenario "ABAP add-on for SAP NetWeaver". SAP ICC tested the PBS archive add on functions below for the certification:

PBS index creation for SAP ADK archive files for a direct access to archive data.
Access to SAP application data independent of the data source (ADK archive files and/or SAP database).
Simultaneous display of archive and database data within a transaction selection.
Execution ability and integration under the SAP Solution Manager.

As was already the case with previous SAP versions, the PBS archive add ons also passed this test successfully. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the certification:

Download current White Paper free of charge

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:55:00 +0100

Find out from our latest PBS Enterprise Content Store White Paper how SAP customers can keep their old data available and access easily data of decommissioned systems.
You can download the White Paper free of charge and without registration: Upon request we would be pleased to send you a free hardcopy by mail which can be ordered via: info@pbs-software.com