TOOLS
new Data wizard
For my work I use several tools that allow me to reliably transform data into the target format.
In addition, I use standard “general-purpose” tools that many users are familiar with from their daily practice.
MS EXCEL
The most used M Office application, which is, for data migration purposes, a very used tool, especially for data validation. MS Excel can, with some effort, be used to create the data file itself. But in this case, it belongs in the hands of an expert and really only in an emergency situation on a project.
MS ACCESS
Here we come to a universal database system that allows advanced work with data. MS Access is included in some editions of MS Office and its use requires users with knowledge of relational databases, data table design, queries, etc. It is an excellent tool and can be used to build an entire data migration.
TALEND (TOS)
Talend is a representative of the family of ETL tools (Extract, Transform, Load). This tool is technically used for field-to-field mapping and value to value mapping. Talend is very flexible, allowing you to load almost any data format, join multiple source tables into one target table, perform value to value mapping to values in SAP R/3 and save data in the structure of individual infotypes for final transformation into a data format.
The migration data file could be generated from the Talend application directly. But my workflow is set up for a two-step processing of the source data in the Talend -> NDWS tandem for several practical reasons.
PSPAD
If I want to look at the “raw” data itself, I use this tool. An ordinary notepad from MS Windows can also be used, but PSPad offers a number of features that a classic windows notepad does not provide when viewing the contents of a data file and other activities.
DW STUDIO (DWS)
DWS is the ultimate tool for the final transformation of the data “raw” after output from the Talend application (or other data source) into the target format. And not only that. It provides a number of control functions designed to validate data before importing it into SAP R/3. DWS is built on MS Access and was developed based on my 16 years of experience with data migrations in G2 format (ADP proprietary format) to SAP R/3.
PYTHON
Nowadays an absolutely essential tool for universal use when working with data.
