Direct Query to SAP BW

[AparnaJ]

Hello,

We have a use case where we are connecting to SAP BW via direct query. We see few values coming in as compounded into Power BI, ([0FISCYEAR].[MC2025] instead of just 2025). Can you guide us if there are any settings from Power BI side to enable to jsut get the values? This is just one example and we do have several columns of the same. Visual level calculations can help but we need that to add to slicers as well. Also performance is degraded with many visual level calculations. Any help would be appreciated.

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @AparnaJ 

May I ask if this issue has been resolved? If not, Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thank you

[pankajnamekar25 · Accepted solution]

Hello @AparnaJ 

When connecting Power BI to SAP BW via DirectQuery, compounded key values like [0FISCYEAR].[MC2025] appear because SAP BW uses compounding keys. To get cleaner values like 2025, select the display text fields (e.g., 0FISCYEAR__TXT) during the initial connection. Power BI doesn’t allow switching between key and text fields in DirectQuery mode after import.

If a text version isn’t available, you can create a calculated column using string functions like RIGHT, but this can degrade performance in DirectQuery. The recommended solution is to request your SAP BW team to expose display fields in the InfoProvider or query.

For better performance, consider importing small dimension tables (like fiscal year) while keeping larger fact tables in DirectQuery. This hybrid approach allows cleaner slicers and avoids excessive visual-level calculations.

Thanks

 Pankaj Namekar | LinkedIn

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