SAP Data Services is an optimized software application used primarily to integrate and transform data. This helps users to extract SAP data from various sources, including data stores, databases, applications, and web services. This extracted data is later used by businesses to initiate cutting-edge analytics for quick decision making and to get ahead of the competition. 

Purpose of the SAP Extractor

The SAP extractor, previously known as the BW Extractor, is a feature in SAP that focuses on data management. It is used to extract SAP data from source systems to be stored in downstream data warehouses or in business data infrastructure systems. The SAP Extractor was mainly launched to extract SAP data for feeding BW applications of SAP. Even for an SAP client that does not use BW, the SAP Extractor can be used for integrating data. 

The Function Of The SAP Extractor

The SAP Extractor is a program in the SAP ERP. It is used to extract SAP data to be moved to SAP BW. The Extractor can be in two forms. The first is the standard Data Source, and the second is a customized Data Source that details a full load and delta load process of various types. 

The SAP BW controls the data transfer process of the Extractor, which populates the delta queue with new and changed records when it is of the delta type. A simple data transfer remote call is enough to transfer the extracted data to SAP BW.

To extract SAP data, the load process with an InfoPackage in the scheduler must be defined. The extracted data is then moved to the input layer of SAP Business Warehouse, also called the Persistent Staging Area (PSA). The data load process is started after a request IDoc to the source system for implementing the InfoPackage, with process chains being used for executions. 

There are various Extractors that can be used to extract SAP data that are specific to applications. These are hard-coded for the Data Source and can be delivered to the BI Content of the Business Warehouse. Further, these Extractors can be used to extract SAP data and move it to the BW. 

A user, whatever the application, can extract SAP data with an Extractor having specific functions. These include attributes consisting of master data attributes or texts, transaction data from all transparent tables, database views, or SAP query functional areas. For such types of data, the Data Source can generically read and transfer the data to the BW. 

Types of SAP Extractors

There are three types of Extractors that may be used to extract SAP data. 

1. Application-Specific Content Extractors that are used for the extraction of BW content, FI, HR, CO, SAP CRM, and LO cockpit. 

2. Application-Specific Customer-Generated Extractors that are primarily used for LIS, FI-SL, and CO-PA. 

3. Cross Application Generic Extractors that function on the DB View, Infoset, and Function Modules.

The SAP Extractor is unbeatable as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product.