Monday, November 2, 2020
Creating an Independent, Universal Semantic Layer
A semantic layer makes data and data sources user-friendly by removing the complexities of data connection, data structures, and data linking from the report creation experience. For example, your SAP BusinessObjects Universes simplify the process of querying your data to create SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence reports, enabling meaningful dissemination of business intelligence. SAP BusinessObjects Universes are a semantic layer designed to simplify ad hoc, self-serve Web Intelligence reporting.
An independent and universal approach to the semantic layer creates the same capabilities across your enterprise data sources. These are the capabilities provided by the APOS Live Data Gateway. It is a powerful data connection and data transformation solution that enables live data connectivity and modelling using a wide range of data sources to support Business Intelligence and analytics needs.

The APOS Live Data Gateway provides a single, common mechanism for connecting to your enterprise data sources and consuming data in a wide variety of enterprise and analytics solutions. This common mechanism ensures the long-term viability and stability of your data connectivity, data modelling, and data consumption strategy through:
- Unified Data Connectivity
The Live Data Gateway provides unified data connectivity, allowing you to access a vast range of data sources using a single connection mechanism, with a strong set of core relational, OLAP, Hadoop and Cloud data sources supported, and a broader set of extended data sources and applications also available. Generic JDBC support means that Live Data Gateway supports connection to any data source that has a JDBC driver.
- Governed Data Connectivity
The Live Data Gateway’s universal semantic layer is a layer of governance between your users and your data. It determines not only what data elements users can leverage in their reports, but also removes visibility and accessibility to other data elements that they should be restricted from.
- Democratized Self-Service BI & Analytics
The Live Data Gateway’s universal semantic layer consists of views on your data, which can be shared among your users, simplifying data access for all users, regardless of the depth of their database or IT knowledge. This expands the community of users who can perform the analytics they need to address the strategic or operational questions they are focused on.
- Self-Service Data Modelling
The Live Data Gateway allows you to generate and share views on your data easily, which enables agile data modelling – the ability to adapt your data modelling to the questions that need to be answered. This expands the data modelling community beyond just those with deep data expertise, which reduces the obligations on those resources and streamlines the analytics processes.
- Agile Data Discovery
The Live Data Gateway’s self-service data modelling enables agile data discovery – the ability to open up new lines of inquiry across a broad range of data sources and share your discoveries quickly and easily, without placing additional burdens on your IT resources.
View an explanation of how the the APOS Live Data Gateway enables connecting to your data sources and transforming data for consumption in your enterprise solutions:
APOS Live Data Gateway Architecture
Learn more about creating BI & analytics value through data connectivity and modelling: