Hello. This is Steve George with you once again, and it's great to have you here! The previous videos in this series have focused on sharing some Gold Client fundamentals that have led us up to this point, but in this video, we transition to sharing actual how-to content so that you can begin using one of Gold Client's most important and useful functions known as Data Snap.
The agenda will focus on these areas; first, an introduction to Data Snap with a focus on its purpose and use cases; how to use Data Snap to initiate data exports; we'll conclude the session with some Useful Content, Configuration, and where to locate additional resources.
Data Snap is a vital part of the larger Gold Client component known as Data Echo. It is one of only two Gold Client functions that can be used to initiate a data export. Data Snap is likely to be the most frequently used function within Gold Client and a key reason why is because of its ease-of-use.
Its targeted user group is that of "data experts" -- those users who typically have a functional or perhaps a developmental job role.
Data Snap has two principal purposes: to enable users to initiate data exports, and to create data scenarios. You can think of these scenarios as a variant that can be saved off and then reused. Scenarios will be discussed in detail in a later video.
Generally speaking, Data Snap is suitable for whenever a user needs to quickly copy a practical amount of data from one client to another. A few examples are listed on this slide, but this is certainly not a complete list.
An example would be for a user who needs to provide production support and therefore must copy business data from Prod to any lower-level system where they have wider access and would be able to sufficiently troubleshoot the issue. Another example would be for a developer that is writing a new program and needs real data in their DEV system to perform meaningful testing against their code. One more example would be when a team needs to deploy user training and wants to use business data from Production because they feel the training is more affective.
There are a few basic steps that need to be performed to use the Data Snap function: The function must be selected from the main Gold Client screen; the user must input - whether by typing or by searching - the data type they want to use as the basis of the data export; once the user is on the Data Snap screen, they are required to input a description and their selection criteria; they can the execute the process.
Let's now walk through this process using the Gold Client user interface.
To reach the Gold Client solution, use t-code ZGOLD (Z-G-O-L-D).
From the Gold Client screen, select the Data Snap function. I'm going to input data type SD - SALES DOCUMENTS (and just a quick reminder that the previous video shared content about searching for data types so I'm skipping that step here).
Next, select the Execute button. On the next screen, input an export description; this is a mandatory entry. It's advised that the description be something meaningful or recognizable to the user as this will be helpful when importing the data set into the target client.
Next, input the selection criteria. Notice that the Sales Document field is mandatory and so this input must be fulfilled. I'm going to input a small range of sales docs (5111 to 5120).
Select the Schedule Job button to initiate the export. The job name is defaulted from the export description but can be modified by the user. The default option is to start the job immediately, but the Date/Time option allows for future scheduling when useful.
Select the Accept button and then close any subsequent messaging. The export job can be monitored via t-code SM37. This t-code can also be accessed by selecting the Job Monitor shortcut which opens SM37 in a new SAPGUI session. An alternative to SM37 is to use the Export Dashboard function for monitoring purposes. For this example, I will rely on calling SM37 directly.
Now it's just a matter of waiting for the export process to complete. Once done, the user can sign into the target client and initiate the import; this activity's content is shared in a separate video.
Please be aware that there is no option for foreground processing in Data Snap; all exports are background only.
Data Snap contains a function named 'Show Count'. This takes the selection criteria and qualifies it to determine how many records are found in the database as this may be useful information prior to exporting the data set. Although this step is optional, it is recommended.
The Parallel Processing option allows the user to initiate their export using multiple jobs versus just one which is useful for accelerating the completion of the export, particularly for larger data sets. Please be aware that Gold Client has configuration that will dictate the maximum number jobs that can be initiated.
The selection criteria fields for Data Snap are configurable. Gold Client is delivered with many data types already having some of this config defined by default, but there are some which are delivered without it. This slide shows two captures where the configuration on the right defines those fields on the left which appear on the Data Snap screen.
For additional information, including How-to content, please reference these user guides which are located on the Qlik Help website.
I hope this content was useful as an introduction for using the Data Snap functionality. With a bit of practice, you should be able to initiate some data exports of your own in no time. A separate video will cover the next process which is to perform the import of data into the target client.
