SAP SQL connector conversion routine performance issue

[Joseph_Musekura]

In Qlik SAP Connector, Conversion Routine (ConvRoutine) parameter, can be included in Qlik SAP connection string by checking an optional check box "ConvRoutine" available for some Qlik SAP connectors (SQL, InfoProvider etc...).

When, ConvRoutine is switched on in the connection string, the connector sends the formatted values of the extracted fields to Qlik (if they have a Conversion Routine defined)  instead of the unformatted values from the database. But using "ConvRoutine switched on i.e. ConvRoutine=1" may result in a performance issue.

Example formatted vs unformatted values

• Unformatted: 000000000000020338 
• Formatted: 2033-8

Environment

• Qlik SAP Connector (all versions)

Cause 

Setting  ConvRoutine to 1 affect data extraction performance because Conversion Routine is an SAP program which is executed for every value of a field. Conversion Routine can contain complicated code for some fields which could take time to execute.

Example

If you extract 100 000 rows for example, the Conversion Routine for one field is executed 100 000 times on SAP side. This extra code is only executed if the "Conversion Routine property" is checked when creating a connection to SAP system. Thus, if many fields of the extraction have Conversion Routines (not all fields have Conversion Routines), then each of those fields will also execute a Conversion Routine. So if in total 10 fields have Conversion Routines, there will be 1 000 000 extra executions of code for the example above.

Conclusion

As conclusion,  "Conversion Routine" parameter should be used with precaution. The possible performance issue should be related to SAP conversion routine feature rather than Qlik SAP Connector settings