First off, we are on 4.3 SP04 Patch 7.
I have BIGINT (SQL Server) column in a UNX universe.
This note about the handling of numbers larger than 15 digits is 8.5 years old…
1201081 - Cannot display a numeric value greater than 15 digits (SAP login required)
Symptom
In SAP BusinessObjects (as well as many other applications) there appears to be a limit of 15 digits that can be displayed.
Digits after the 15th position will be returned as ‘0’ i.e: 12345678901234567890 will be displayed 12345678901234500000.
Result of a calculation can be incorrect when working with more than 15 digits.
Today is the first time I have run into this issue. For example, 41630410616109727 is being displayed as 41630410616109700. Interestingly enough, the number is displayed correctly in queries within IDT.
It seems this situation was addressed in 4.2 with introduction of the data type of Decimal. I do not see that as an option in IDT or Web Intelligence in our 4.3 instance referenced above.
Sure, I can convert the number to a string. But I think that would diminish the effectiveness of the affected column in any indexes. As things are now I intend to work with our DBA team to create an VARCHAR column on the source table.
Any other recommendations?
Thanks,
Noel