Definition
Generic term for BI objects into which data is loaded or that display views of data. You analyze this data in BEx queries.
Use
InfoProviders are different metaobjects in the data basis that can be seen within query definition as uniform data providers. Their data can be analyzed in a uniform way. The type of data staging and the degree of detail or "proximity" to the source system in the data flow diagram differs from InfoProvider to InfoProvider. However, in the BEx Query Designer, they are seen as uniform objects.
The following graphic shows how InfoProviders are integrated in the dataflow:
Structure
The term InfoProvider encompasses objects that physically contain data:
Staging is used to load data into these InfoProviders.
InfoProviders can also be objects that do not physically store data but which display logical views of data, such as:
The following figure gives an overview of the BI objects that can be used in analysis and reporting. They are divided into InfoProviders that contain data and InfoProviders that only display logical views and do not contain any data. In BEx, the system accesses an InfoProvider; it is not important how the data is modeled.
