Workbook Best Practices and Learning

1. Keep workbook size as low as possible

We can see the workbook size from the properties. The more the size the more the time to load the workbook via network.

Best Practice: Ensure less data saved in the workbook. So when ever we are saving a workbook make sure that the data set which will be retained is minimum If you use pivot table, Remove Pivot table data to reduce size (standard excel functionality)

2. Macros in workbook should be optimized Events - We can add additional VBA macros in BW Workbooks. The macro logic is owned by the owner from Business. These macros should be optimized to handle event pooling. Bex Analyzer always pool the application for events. So a change brought by a macro should deactivate the event pooling before managing data cells. Later the event pooling has to be activated to enable the context menu functions/SAP VBA control functions in the Bex Analyzer SAP note: Note 1468633 - Exit Macro, Performance

3. Avoid the Graph Sheet in a workbook - The Graph sheet can increase the size of the workbook. If graph sheet is not used in the workbook, then it is better to delete the sheet.

The workbooks which are broadcasted with Graphs sheet will have bigger size like multiplied by 5 times than the workbook without graph sheet

4. Avoid user prompts in VBA for Broadcasting Workbooks - If we are targeting a macro to be executed after the precalculation of a workbook, then we have to avoid giving messages or prompts in VBA macro solution. If we have user prompts, the pre-calculation will fail. We also need efficient error handling to avoid any error prompts to have the complete workbook pre-calculated.

5. Customer Exit variables in Workbook - Customer Exit type variables can work in workbook provided, there is no default value saved in the workbook. This can be achieved by making those variable not available for Ready for input. So better make separate query whenever a predefined selection criteria is set based on some dynamic selection criteria. Eg: current month, last 3 months etc