SAP ABAP on HANA

The SAP HANA ABAP consultant draws an average salary from $90,000 per annum to $150,000 per annum based on seniority level. Since ABAP programmers are in high demand in the industry and with the efficiencies and benefits of HANA infrastructure the SAP ABAP on HANA consultants and developers command high growth potential.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interview Questions

1) What is SAP HANA?

HANA is defined as High Performance Analytical Appliance, a​​ full transactional​​ RDBMS system given by SAP consisting of IMCE (In-Memory Computing Engine) which combine row based and column-based architecture. It​​ can do both OLTP and OLAP in a single box​​ which includes both Hardware and Software Innovations. ​​ It is also known as Hybrid Database System.

2) Points to be considered when Migrating to HANA?

·       Native SQL statements​​ will not work​​ –​​ it will result into​​ Runtime error – Dumps

·       If you have some indication to Database – not showstopper.

·       If you are doing a search based on non-pk columns in data based and you have not used ORDER BY clause in SQL statement, it can produce problems.

·       Direct access to database cluster/pool tables

3)      What are​​ the​​ Guidelines to be followed for SQL performance on ABAP on HANA?

·       Keep result set small

·       Minimize the number of data transfers

·       Minimize the amount of data transfer

·       Minimize the search overhead on database

·       Don’t overhead db with unnecessary operations

·       Discard the rows based on check, exit statements in a loop

·       Use proper ‘where’ clause to minimize the dataset

·       Make use of joins and sub-queries

·       Never do select *. Instead use specific column names mainly during aggregation such as sum, count, etc.

·       Try to read db tables based on index

·       Avoid redundant storage

·       Sort data in program

·       Use buffering

4)  What is Normalization in ABAP on HANA?

Normalization concept means to reduce the redundancy of data.

5) What is ABAP Test Cockpit in ABAP on HANA?

Code inspector/ATC checks are static code findings against guidelines. These findings won’t help you to prioritize your list of improvements. You need real-time performance data to find which is the first program to fix.

6) Class to calculate runtime in ABAP on HANA?

CL_ABAP_RUNTIME

7) How to specify client field in Native Query?

Using SELECT DISTINCT​​ / CLIENT SPECIFIED / USING CLIENT​​

9) What is the Tcode for EPM scenario?

SEPM_DG – Data Generator

10)   What are​​ different​​ Code-pushdown techniques in ABAP on HANA?

-- SQL Queries​​ _ imperative and declarative logic​​ (use literals, arithmetic, logical expression inside the queries​​ and using expressions like CEIL, FLOOR, ABS, TRUNC, FRAC can be part of Open SQL statements)

-- CDS Views

-- AMDP: ABAP Managed Data Procedures​​

-- Information Models​​ and consuming those in ABAP using proxy​​ object techniques

11) What are Entry points in SAP ABAP on HANA?

Different ways in which an SQL query is getting called are called Entry points. E.g., Program, Background job, Function Module, etc.

12) What are inline declarations in ABAP on HANA?

Inline declarations​​ is a​​ new way of declaring variables and field symbols at operand positions.

Examples:

·       DATA(text) = `…`.

·       LOOP AT itab INTO DATA(wa).

·       FIND … IN … MATCH COUNT DATA(cnt).

·       CALL TRANSFORMATION … RESULT XML DATA(xml).

13) When do you use​​ “GROUP BY” ​clause in HANA SQL statements?

While using aggregate functions in a SELECT QUERY, all the columns that do not belong to aggregate-functions should be put in GROUP BY Clause.

14)   What is the transaction code to check​​ Schema name?

DBACOCKPIT

15)   Can multiple ABAP systems connect to ABAP Database?

Yes. ​​ HANA 1.0​​ SP09 onwards.

16)   What is a Catalog in SAP HANA?

A Catalog is a collection of Database Schemas in HANA. ​​ Schema: grouping of all database objects, Schema is a mandatory database object allows companies to use same database keeping data from multiple system​​ where​​ DCL and​​ DB​​ constraints can be managed at schema level.

17)   What is AMDP (ABAP Managed Data Procedures)? ​​ 

This approach is called​​ top-down approach​​ where a procedure is created in ABAP stack​​ NW 7.4 SP05​​ which acts like Master for editing, activating and transporting ( life-cycle) for the procedure object.​​ When it is called for the 1st​​ time corresponding HANA DB procedure gets created to support code-to-data paradigm or code-pushdown to HANA DB.

18)   What is CDS View?

CDS view is basically an abstraction of ABAP to Database layer which allows you to model semantic rich data models (like Information views on HANA DB )​​ on ABAP Stack and on activation it leads to creation of corresponding Database View in DB.​​ It​​ is an enhancement of SQL which provides us DDL for defining semantically rich data models (table/view) and user define types in Database.​​ It is an extension of SQL : i.e. DDL DQL and DCL. The objective behind creating​​ CDS Data Model is that , it will be​​ understood by​​ all SAP products​​ viz​​ SAP Fiori,​​ KPI modeler,​​ BO/BI,​​ BOPF, FPM, IDA​​ Native HANA Apps. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------