ME on Oracle - Synonyms and custom table names

[Former Member]

This is really two related questions about SAP ME (6.1) on Oracle:

(1)  There is a large number of synonyms created by the core CTC procedures to point 'across' to tables in the ODS (and some in the opposite direction).  Why are these created as PRIVATE synonyms under the WIP and ODS schema-owner user names?  If they were public, they would be easier for us to use.  We don't want to give any users direct rights to log into Oracle as the WIP and ODS schema-owner users, and the synonyms are of no use to any other Oracle user accounts.  Would it be possible to make these PUBLIC?  Or is there some other suggestion that would make the synonyms visible to more Oracle users?

(2)  An obvious problem with PUBLIC synonyms is that they create a higher risk of name collisions.  This got us thinking about a marginally-related question:  When we create custom tables, should we:

•    (2a)  Create whole separate Oracle schemas for them?  OR
•    (2b)  Create them in the existing WIP and ODS schemas, but using some 'reserved' prefix to avoid future name collisions?   OR
•    (2c)   ... something else ...?

Thanks for any suggestsions or experiences.

Regards,

Barry S.

[sergiy_katerinich]

Hi Barry,

I really doubt that during design anyone wanted other user to access ME databases directly. So, SAP ME or BusinessObjects are the only official "users". Of course, if you have some other reporting tool or a machine interface which works with those databases directly, then it is quite OK to give them WIP/ODS schema-owner credentails.

Do you have other users whom you do not want to give schema-owner credentails?

Regards,

Sergiy

[Former Member]

Sergiy,

To your question:

   "Do you have other users whom you do not want to give schema-owner credentails?"

Yes ... me.    I do some detailed technical support for our customizations, and for the application in general.  So I need to be able to run complex queries.  But Medtronic is perhaps more 'structured' than some companies.  Since I am not in Basis, they would prefer not to give me the WIP and ODS credentials for the production and last-level testing systems.

We've created a read-only Oracle role and a read-only Oracle user for queries like this, and some informal data extractions.  But there are some limitations to this -- especially the problem with the synonyms.

Thanks,

Barry

[sergiy_katerinich]

You?!... Hmmm, I would have strongly pondered on giving even a read-only access Just kidding.

Maybe it's a kind of conservative position, but I would rather limit my tests to use a copy of prod data or prefer to have a full-control access to live prod database if there is a justification.

Keeping the synonyms private is a kind of security also. So, to gain some additional security in one place it seems we need to loose it somewhere else.

Regards,
Sergiy