Data modeling with CDS views

SAP’s focus is to create a VDM using Core Data Services to support operational reporting in the context of SAP S/4 HANA.

The key principle of the VDM is to build a semantic layer on top of the existing Suite database model hiding its technical details.

Technically, all views in the VDM are defined as ABAP CDS Views. The most important component in the VDM is the interface view layer. It consists of a consistent model of reusable entity views that focus on business semantics. Interface views are subdivided into two view types: Basic interface views and the composite interface views.

Basic views are further categorized into Core entity views, Text views, and Hierarchy views.

Core Entity Views: Carry the business semantics, along with all data that semantically belong to the core entity. Core entity views also contain the associations to all other business objects and to the other directly related BO nodes if existing.

Text Views: Contain language-dependent texts for a specific business entity.

Hierarchy Views: Contains hierarchy nodes for a specific business entity.

Data Model-Related Annotations

Dedicated annotations allow documenting the layering of the VDM right in the DDL sources. They also support the classification of CDS view as “private” with the consequence that they will not be visible for certain consumers.