Simplified: SAP BW 7.4 and 7.5 Release Notes

Setup your own one click search:

1. Go to https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/mynotes?tab=Search
2. Show filter
3. Enter the following filter criteria:
   
4. Save filter with name “SAPBWNews”

Hello Fans of BW,

it has been a bit of a challenge to find out what has changed with a new SAP BW release or what features were introduced with certain support packages. In general, the most essential changes are described in the solution and product roadmap and corresponding webinar sessions at http://service.sap.com/saproadmaps (SAP BW is under “Database & Technology”).

On a more detailed level, you will always find the changes completely documented in our online documentation “What’s New – Release Notes” page at http://help.sap.com/nw74 or http://help.sap.com/nw75. This area describes all new features, enhancements to existing features, changes to existing features, and – in some cases – also features that have been deleted. When we publish a new support package, then the online documentation will be updated accordingly. Naturally, the higher the support package, the less changes will be included.

If you ever tried to get a complete overview – for example for SAP BW 7.4 from SP 0 to the current SP – then you will quickly have noticed that it’s quite cumbersome to browse though all the pages, click, click, click.

We often get the question, which features are just available with SAP BW powered by SAP HANA and which also work on other platforms. Did you know for example that about 60% of the new features and enhancements are also relevant for non-HANA systems (as of 7.4 SP 11, the count was 87 of 149). So there are plenty of reasons for all customers to upgrade to 7.4 or 7.5!

Or you would like to know what exactly was changed for a particular component in SAP BW like Business Planning. Or you need to know the differences between two support package levels…

And this is where I have come up with a simplified solution: Drum roll… A consolidated spreadsheet!

The spreadsheet contains all release notes for 7.4 and 7.5

• By support package
• By component
• With links to the documentation
• A short description (so you don’t even have to click the links)
• An indicator whether a feature is new, changed, deleted, or an enhancement
• A flag for HANA
• Of course you can filter, sort, and search quickly (no problem for you Excel Wizards, right?)

The magic of spreadsheets makes it possible to answer all those questions in a matter of seconds. For example, if you want to know what’s new for OLAP but does not require HANA, just filter component on “BW-BEX-OT-OLAP” and HANA-only on “No”. Or you can find out quickly the difference between for example SP 6 and SP 8. It’s simple and easy and should be a great help for you, customers, partners, and of course our own field organization.

The first version of the spreadsheet has been published as an attachment to the “SAPBWNews” for BW 7.40 SP 11 which you can find in SAP Note 2100895. Going forward, an update spreadsheet will be included with the corresponding SAP Note for each support package.

I hope you like the new format but nothing is perfect. Please let me know any feedback or if you have ideas on how to make it better.

Best,
Marc Bernard
@marcfbe