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keithwright
Advisor
Advisor

Introduction


SAP Datasphere has emerged as an industry-leading, cloud-based data management platform that offers a host of functionalities to transform and simplify the way businesses handle data. One such innovative feature is the Intelligent Lookup functionality, designed to streamline and enrich data processing workflows. In this blog post, we'll delve into what Intelligent Lookup is, its benefits, and how businesses can leverage it to enhance their data management practices.


 

Understanding Intelligent Lookup


Intelligent Lookup in SAP Datasphere is a data processing function that extends beyond the capabilities of traditional lookup operations. It is designed to locate and retrieve relevant data from a reference dataset based on a set of input values. However, unlike standard lookups, Intelligent Lookup can handle 'fuzzy' matches, accommodate inconsistencies in data, and even learn from previous lookup operations to improve future data matching accuracy.

Benefits of Intelligent Lookup



  • Data Enrichment: By retrieving relevant information from reference datasets, Intelligent Lookup can enrich the input data, providing additional context and insights.

  • Improved Accuracy: Even when faced with discrepancies such as spelling errors or slight differences in input values, Intelligent Lookup can correctly match and retrieve data, ensuring high accuracy.

  • Enhanced Efficiency: Through machine learning capabilities, Intelligent Lookup learns from past operations, thereby improving the efficiency and accuracy of future lookups.

  • Reduced Data Preparation Time: By automating data matching and retrieval, Intelligent Lookup reduces the time and effort required for data preparation.

  • Visual Enablement: Enables the Business User by providing direct visual feedback to the modeling via the percentages of matched and unmatched records.


Implementing Intelligent Lookup in SAP Datasphere



  1. Defining the Reference Dataset: The first step involves identifying and defining the reference dataset. This is the dataset from which Intelligent Lookup will retrieve relevant data.

  2. Setting Up the Lookup Parameters: You need to specify the lookup parameters, which are the input values that the function will use to match and retrieve data from the reference dataset.

  3. Configuring Match Scoring: SAP Datasphere allows you to configure the scoring thresholds for matches, which dictate how closely an input value must match the reference data to be considered a valid match.

  4. Running the Intelligent Lookup Function: Once the setup is complete, run the Intelligent Lookup function. Datasphere will scan the reference dataset, locate matches based on the input values, and retrieve the relevant data.

  5. Review and Confirm: The final step involves reviewing the retrieved data to ensure it meets your requirements. Once confirmed, the enriched data can then be utilized in your data processing workflows.


Conclusion


Intelligent Lookup in SAP Datasphere is a powerful feature that can significantly enhance your data management capabilities. By leveraging its advanced matching and learning capabilities, businesses can ensure data accuracy, enrich their data, and improve overall data management efficiency. As the world continues to become more data-driven, understanding and utilizing functionalities like Intelligent Lookup will be pivotal for enterprises to stay ahead in the game.



For more information about the intelligent lookup, check out this help page. For more information concerning the Intelligent Lookup functionality, check out the blog for Intelligent Lookup Series.

Interested in seeing course material? Check out the Introduction to SAP Datasphere course. Find more information and related blog posts on the topic page for SAP Datasphere. You will find further product information on our Community with various subpages about Getting Started, Business Content, the SAP BW Bridge as well as content for Best Practices & Troubleshooting and the FAQ for SAP Datasphere.

 
4 Comments
BenedictV
Active Contributor
0 Kudos
Hello Keith,

Is the intelligent lookup a standalone artefact or can be included in Data Builder views? OR should the looked up data be stored first and used as a table in my views.
keithwright
Advisor
Advisor
Hey Benedict,

Great question. Your intelligent lookup outputs a view that can be used as a source for other views. The view is available for use as soon as the intelligent lookup is run.

You can use the output of your intelligent lookup as a source for a view or data flow, where it will be listed in the Source Browser on the Repository tab in the Intelligent Lookups category.

I hope this answers your question!

 

Regards,

Keith
rajeshps
Participant
0 Kudos
kwright
Is this available in DI Cloud?
keithwright
Advisor
Advisor
0 Kudos
Hey Rajesh,

Great question!

This feature is not available in DI Cloud.


 

Regards,

Keith