Like any other enterprise applications, SAP is also made up of different programs that consist of data that are created and used by these programs. The data are organized in a meaningful way within in the database. SAP database structure is used for the benefits of the programmers as these are easy way of accessing and finding data that are needed for different purposes.
These are also used for creating a sales order and running a financial report. These data and programs are present in the same database as in the SAP component. Therefore you need to determine the databases that are supported by SAP and learning the disparity between the foreign and primary key. You should also find out the indexes that are capable of speeding up the process of data retrieval.
SAP database structure can also be called as an electronic warehouse where a large amount of information can be stored in an organized manner which enables the system to find the desired and required information very quickly. The database is comprised of columns called fields, tables, and rows called as data or records so that you can get information efficiently and quickly. Database plays a vital role in SAP system as it consist all the data that are used by the SAP component.
Checking the SAP database structure- there are two ways in which you can find the database structure which includes checking for selected tables and checking for all indexes and tables. This checking process of the database can take a long time and thus the checking should be done at times when the database load is very low. You should do the checking once during backup history.
Adjustment of the SAP database structure can be done with the help of ABAP programs so that you can access the database tables correctly as it is also very important that runtime objects of this table should correspond to structure of the table in database. If the table is changed in ABAP dictionary, you should also ensure that this database structure of this table should also be adjusted to the change in the ABAP dictionary.
There are certain changes in which the database structures need not be changed which includes change in field sequence as it gets activated automatically and the database structure is unchanged. The database structure of the table can also be adjusted to the change in the ABAP dictionary in three different ways which includes-
By recreating and deleting the database table- the table of the database is deleted and then the revised version of this table is activated in ABAP dictionary that is created again in database. But the previous data in this table is lost during the process.
By changing the database catalog. The definition of the table is only changed in the database but the data in this table is retained. The indexes in the table have to be rebuilt with the change in database catalog.
By converting the table- after renaming the database table, it acts as a temporary buffer for data. The revised version of this table is then activated in ABAP dictionary and is again created in the database. The data is again reloaded from temporary buffer to dictionary and created in database.