Business Trends
The Road to SAP BW/4HANA – Part 1
(Updated January 2019)
One of the most frequently asked questions is how you can get from your current data warehouse landscape to SAP BW/4HANA. At SAP, we realize each of our customers are starting their journey to a modern data warehouse from various places. That’s why we have created distinct paths, complete with distinct services and tools, to help you achieve your goals in the most direct fashion, with the least disruption.
But first, let’s look at the different implementation paths. In part two of this blog, we will take your starting point into consideration and show which is the recommended path or a viable alternative. For now, keep in mind that all three paths are applicable for mostly any existing landscape.
Path 1 – New Installation
Also referred to as “greenfield approach”, this path starts by installing a brand-new SAP BW/4HANA system. Get the SAP BW/4HANA Master Guide and follow the steps to check prerequisites, plan and prepare your landscape and installation. Then start the installation using the SAP Software Provisioning Manager. There is a new automated task list available to simplify the basic system setup tasks, like creating and configuring the SAP BW/4HANA background user, setting the SAP BW/4HANA client and installing the essential technical content.
Now there are two basic options for configuring your new SAP BW/4HANA system. Either you begin from scratch, connect any data sources – that could be a legacy data warehouse or any other data source available in your enterprise – and start modeling your data warehouse. We highly recommend following our layer scalable architecture framework (LSA++). Within minutes you can create your first queries and show data in a dashboard. Yes, it’s that simple now thanks to so called “HANA source systems”, field-based modeling, and a modern user experience for designers in Eclipse.
If you run already a SAP Business Warehouse (BW) system today and want a fresh start, you can get a head start by transporting certain configuration and data models from your existing landscape to SAP BW/4HANA. Please note that this is only supported for the initial system setup, not for continuously updating the new landscape. And, of course, it’s only supported for objects that are fully compatible with SAP BW/4HANA. If you are, for example, running already SAP BW powered by SAP HANA 7.4 and have used Advanced DataStore Objects and CompositeProviders, you could transport these to your new SAP BW/4HANA system.
Since March 2018, we offer another alternative, the so-called Shell Conversion for an accelerated greenfield approach. More on that later.
Path 2 – System Conversion
Following very much the strategy for data warehousing and recommendations we laid out for SAP BW customers in the past years, your intermediate target is to get to SAP BW powered by SAP HANA and transition to data models that are fully optimized for SAP HANA. That means, for example, no more InfoCubes and MultiProviders but using Advanced DataStore Objects for persistency and CompositeProviders for modeling joins and unions of your persisted or even remote data.
Side note: The time of logical data warehousing is here and thanks for SAP HANA smart data integration it’s easier than ever to integrate many data sources without having the load the data. This approach can get you started quickly but does not overcome limitations in terms of performance of the source system, network capacity, or latency connecting to the source. If your source is however on SAP HANA and in the same data center (or just in another tenant in the same SAP HANA database that SAP BW/4HANA is running on), then please give it a go. Create an Open ODS View on top of the source data and use it in your data warehouse models. For maximum performance, you can always generate a Data Flow and Advanced DataStore Object to persistent the data in SAP BW/4HANA. Piece of cake!
As stated at the beginning, we want to make the transition as seamless as possible. For that reason, SAP is providing three distinct paths from SAP BW to SAP BW/4HANA: In-place, Remote, and Shell Conversion. The in-place conversion takes your existing SAP BW landscape through a transition process that transfers step-by-step data models and flows to objects compatible with SAP BW/4HANA. Prerequisite is SAP BW 7.5 powered by SAP HANA, the last major release of SAP BW.
Don’t worry if your system isn’t there yet. We have options. First, you could migration to SAP HANA and do a release upgrade to SAP BW 7.5 as a precursor to the in-place conversion project. These can be combined – as we have done for several years now – using the Database Migration Option (DMO) of SAP Software Update Manager.
Alternatively, you could go for a Remote Conversion instead. We refer to it as well as brownfield approach. You can use any SAP BW system with release 7.3 to 7.5 on any supported database platform as a starting point. The caveat is that you will need additional hardware for a new SAP BW/4HANA system that will be the target of the Remote Conversion. One the other hand, this provides some benefits like minimal impact to the existing SAP BW landscape, the ability to test old and new systems in parallel, and the option to carve out the models and flows you deem relevant for your new SAP BW/4HANA data warehouse. Remote Conversion includes the transfer of existing master and transaction data.
If you want a fresh start i.e. preferring a greenfield approach, a Shell Conversion might be what best for you. It is available for release 7.0 to 7.5 and works like a Remote Conversion using a parallel SAP BW/4HANA landscape. Shell Conversion does not include the transfer and synchronization of existing data sets. Instead at your convenience, you can choose to load data from original sources, load data from original SAP BW system, or simply ignore historical data and start fresh. How about we call it “accelerated greenfield”?
To support the transition in all three paths, we developed the SAP BW/4HANA Transfer Cockpit. The cockpit is generally available for customers and partners who want to perform an In-Place or Shell Conversion and can be installed on any SAP BW system with releases between 7.0 and 7.5. The SAP BW/4HANA Transfer Cockpit is the single point of entry for tools required for transitioning SAP BW systems to SAP BW/4HANA. It collects and displays of essential statistics of transfer processes and groups tools according to preparation and realization phases of your project.
The Remote Conversion (and related SAP BW/4HANA conversion cockpit) is still in Early Adopter Care. General availability is planned for end of Q1/2019.
During the preparation time, you will use the Pre-Check Tool to analyze the meta data repository of your SAP BW system and lay out a to-do list for the transition process, run the Sizing Report to determine the required size of hardware for SAP BW/4HANA, and use the Code Scan Tool to analyze your custom developments – including code embedded in various SAP BW objects like transformations – for compatibility with SAP BW/4HANA.
When you get to the realization phase, you will spend most time using the Scope Transfer Tool, which allows you to create SAP HANA-optimized objects for all your classic SAP BW data models and flows. Pick a data target, like a MultiProvider and the tool will determine all dependent object like InfoCubes, classic DataStore Objects, transformations, and DTPs and allow you to quickly create equivalent CompositeProviders and Advanced DataStore Objects including matching transformations and DTPs. During an In-place Conversion, the transfer happens inside your SAP BW on SAP HANA system. For Remote as well as Shell Conversions the new objects are created in the target SAP BW/4HANA system. From InfoCube to Advanced DSO, from MultiProvider to CompositeProvider. Like magic!
For In-place Conversion, several sprints using the Scope Transfer Tool will lead to a system that runs only data model and flows that are compatible with SAP BW/4HANA… but still in SAP BW (along the way you use another cool tool to adjust user roles and authorizations, which will be much appreciated by your security team). The ultimate step is therefore a technical system conversion that removes the old SAP BW code and replaces it with SAP BW/4HANA. This is when you finally get to use the goodies like Data Tiering Optimization and the SAP BW/4HANA Web Administration Cockpit.
Remote and Shell Conversion already use SAP BW/4HANA as a target. Your sprints will have to cover only models and flows you want to keep. The transfer and synchronization of data in the Remote Conversion is done using the SAP BW/4HANA Conversion Cockpit shipped as part of SAP Landscape Transformation. But there’s no need to wait until the conversion is completed. As soon as one scope transfer is done, you will benefit from the new functionality of SAP BW/4HANA.
Path 3 – Landscape Transformation
The third and final option is to optimize more complex data warehousing landscapes resulting in a single, global SAP BW/4HANA system. One reason could be that you are running multiple legacy or SAP BW systems, which you want to consolidate on the mighty SAP HANA platform. Typically, a combination of one In-place Conversion and one or more Remote Conversions will be used. Another could be to carve out selected data models or flows into an existing SAP BW/4HANA system. In any case, the Data Management & Landscape Transformation team at SAP can help with a customer-specific migration project built around well-defined methodology and re-using standard tools.
One of the innovative tools is the “System Comparison Workbench” which can show you, for example, differences between several regional SAP BW systems and help define a strategy to integrating these into a global data model.
For a presentation style version of this blog (“The Road to SAP BW/4HANA”) and many more details on SAP BW/4HANA, please visit the SAP Community Network and check out the FAQ document.
A complete end-to-end documentation of the transition process from SAP BW to SAP BW/4HANA is already available in the SAP BW/4HANA Conversion Guide.
Continue reading “The Road to SAP BW/4HANA – Part 2“.
Best,
Marc Bernard
@marcfbe
Hello Marc, This link does not work - "SAP BW/4HANA master guide"
Thanks for the feedback. The link is correct now.
Dear Marc....Thanks for the info for the customers actively seeking their buisness to upgrade SAP on BW/4HANA...any idea about licence costs?
Please contact your SAP Account Executive for licensing information.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Marc
We are working on BW 75 on HANA and used the HANA optimized datamodels but we als kicked off the first embedded BPC, this is still using the old datamodels, cubes, multiproviders, aggegation levels. So BPC is a key product in the future roadmap it can not be applied on BW/4HANA and it will block our migration even what would be a pitty. Do you have a view on how BPC embedded will develop further so we can profit from the BW/4HANA
Kris
Hello Kris,
BPC is currently not available for SAP BW/4HANA. It's planned for second half of 2017 and we plan to support both BPC embedded as well as BPC standard versions (both using advanced DSO obviously). Until then, simply stay on SAP BW 7.5.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hello Marc,
Thank you very much for this article. We are on a new project but We need to use BPC as well. So I need to Install SAP NW 7.5 on HANA and install BW4HANA add-on with DW4CORE is right installation path for me, right?
Hi Ilke,
BPC is not available for SAP BW/4HANA yet. Until then, you can installed SAP BW 7.5 powered by SAP HANA which includes BPC (BPC license required).
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc, thank you so much for blog on BW/4 HANA.
Like BPC, How About Inegated Planning? And how about BPS models are they still supported in BW/4 HANA?
Hello Suresh,
Integrated Planning has been added to BPC (it required anyway the BPC license on SAP HANA) so it will become available with the planned BPC add-on again. BPS is not included in BW/4HANA.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
Will IP be available from day 1, or is it going to take some time before it will be delivered? Is there any documentation on the technical aspects available (like, are there aggregation levels, and so forth...).
My concern is - if a customer uses IP on the existing BW, can they migrate?
best regards, Thomas
Hello Thomas,
integrated planning is not available currently. IP on SAP HANA (PAK) requires the BPC license and will therefore become available again together with BPC (next year).
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc
I read that BPC 11.0 is specifically meant for BW4HANA but couldn't find any information on support for IP, can you please provide some information about the usage of IP on BW4HANA ?
Thanks & Regards
Ashish
Hello Ashish,
BW-IP is part of BPC Embedded. Your BW-IP scenarios will work with SAP BPC 11.0, version for SAP BW/4HANA.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
Thanks a lot for this useful article. Its really informative.
One question - if we already are on BW 7.5 SP04, and then install BW4 HANA Add-on (formerly known as Edition for SAP HANA Add-on), by default we are on compatibility mode. Post that using Transfer Tool, we can transform Non Compliant Objects to BW4HANA Compliant Objects. Post this we can switch to B4H Mode. Once we are on B4H Mode, doesnt that mean we are already on BW4 HANA ? Or after switching to B4H Mode, we have to do System Conversion Process using SUM to move to BW4 HANA ?
Regards
Pankaj
Hello Pankaj,
the later. The system conversion will replace SAP_BW + BW4HANA add-on with DW4CORE component and result in a SAP BW/4HANA system.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
Functionality wise, what is difference between Edition for SAP HANA and BW/4 HANA ? The Driving Goals of BW/4 HANA - Simplicity, Openness, Modern Interface and High Performance are also available in Edition for HANA. Can you share Highlighting Differences between the Two ?
Regards
Pankaj
There are already differences today (request management, multi temperature data management, etc) but you should take the next months of innovation rollout also into consideration. Please see the Roadmap presentation on SCN. http://www.tinyurl.com/bw4hana
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Thanks Marc for all the Information
Regards
Pankaj
Hello Marc,
Do you have some imputs regarding the conversion options that will be integrated in SUM to jump from BW 7.5 Edition for SAP HANA to BW/4HANA ? Do you know when this option will be available ?
Regards,
Christian
We plan to have it available by end of the year. Just remember that you can start already by preparing the current system with migration, release upgrade and data model simplification.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
will that Transfer Tool work also on a Content Development System?
will it work also for 3.x-Objects?
we are now on BW 7.50 SP04, where do I find the Transfer Tool?
Regards,
Samir
Hi Samir,
the current version of the transfer tool does not support content (d-versions). We are looking into this. It also does not work with 3.x objects. These will have to be converted to 7.x versions first with transaction RSMIGRATE.
The transfer tools are enabled with the SAP BW/4HANA Starter Add-on. After you install BW4HANA add-on using SAINT, you can use the tools with transaction RSB4HTRF.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
How about standard BI Content. If we install BW/4HANA from fresh, is there any standard content, like aDSO, CompositeProvider, InfoObject (for each modules: FI, MM, etc) we can activate to make development much easier?
Regards,
Arif
Not yet, Arif. The first round of content for SAP BW/4HANA is planned for November.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc! We just started a PoC in a brand new BW4HANA install and are eagerly waiting for this business content. Is still planned for this month? How will we know when it is released? Is there an SAP note about the content itself and its delivery date?
Thanks in advance,
Sebastien
In case you haven't noticed, first release of content for SAP BW/4HANA is available now (since Dec 5).
Best,
Marc,
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc.
We are seeing the roadmap of BW/4HANA on one of our customers, this customer use SAP BW as EDW and use Microstrategy for Reporting, If the "Transfer Tool" will migrate the BW Dataflow, and Bex will not be supported anymore, so all deployed queries on microstrategy and BOE that use a Bex query as a source, must be recreated?
Hello Sebastian,
that's a misunderstanding. BW queries are backend objects and will not be impacted when transitioning to SAP BW/4HANA. The only difference is that you will create and maintain BW Queries using the BW Modeling Tools (and not BEx Query Designer). Therefore BOE or third party tools that consume BW Queries will continue to work just fine.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc
Regarding you point on BEX Queries, what about BEX Analyzer? Can Queries modelled via BWMT still be executed using this tool?
Hi Sarb,
BEx Analyzer is not supported. Please see https://blogs.sap.com/2016/10/13/sap-business-explorer-maintenance-support-policy/
Best,
Marc,
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
thanks a lot! We try to start with the BW/4 HANA Starter Addon on our BW7.5 SP04 system, but we are wondering about the source system connections. Currently we have plenty of SAP and DB connect sources in use. The proposed way for BW/4 HANA is to use ODP and HANA Source System (with an extra EIM licence) instead. From a strategic view this is quite clear, but from a technical perspective, do we have to migrate the source systems or can we still work with the existing source system connections in B4H mode? If yes, what happens if we want to take the next step to BW/4 HANA?
Best regards,
Michael
Hello Michael,
we are working on a tool to convert the source systems to ODP and HANA Source Systems. For a small system you could do it manually. Otherwise, it's better to wait (and not go to strict mode).
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
thanks for the Explanation, I was just wondering why the B4H check tool does not check the source System connections.
Our BW system is connected to 20 SAP systems and some of them are very old ;-). If a SAP source is not supported in strict mode, then we have to ensure that all of these SAP systems are ODP enabled (check the support packages and the PI_BASIS Addons, install ODP API 1.0/2.0, prepare Business Content / generic extractors for ODP usage, ...). Hence we should start a ODP project in our source systems before we go to strict mode?
In addition there are some DB connect sources. If we replace these by HANA source system (manually or later on tool based), does that mean that we need the EIM licence? I could not get any information on that - for sure e.g. streaming is possible with EIM only, but how about a simple DB connection to Oracle, MS SQL Server, etc.?
Best regards,
Michael
Hi Michael,
indeed, if your source systems are older then please check if they support ODP (SAP Notes 1521883 and 1931427).
DB connect replacement with HANA source system is based on smart data access. No additional license required. For other connections it depends on the type of license for SAP BW/4HANA. Please check with your account executive.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
If source systems aren't checked, then please implement SAP Note 2384110 which will update the check program to the most recent version.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Great! Some more checks have been added noew (e.g. SAP source Systems, OpenHub destinations, ...)
Hi Marc,
Would you happen to have a link to the slide "SAP BW/4HANA - removed legacy functionality" that was presented by Klaus presented at the EDW roundtable?
Thanks
Jay
Hi Marc, excellent blog! Thanks for providing good clarity on Bex Analyzer in BW/4HANA.
Hi Marc ,
I have a few questions:
1. Has the BI content specific for BW/4HANA been released since the deadline seems to have passed?
2. If yes, is there any available documentation already?
3. Would the old BI content be no longer available for installation?
Please let me know. Thanks.
Shyam Uthaman
Hello Shyam,
new content has been released in December last year. Documentation: http://help.sap.com/bw4content?current=bw4hana10
The old BI Content cannot be installed. You can however transfer content object that are already used in an existing BW system (as active objects) to a SAP BW/4HANA system.
Best,
Marc,
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Thanks Marc for your quick reply.
Marc, Can you please comment on Content availability in SAP BW/4HANA with source as S/4HANA. Is this available?
Hi Marc,
Just wanted to make sure this is correct assumption. We cannot install BI CONT 757 on a BW4HANA system even with manual adjustments afterwards?
Thank you.
Andrei
Marc,
One of our client is in the process of implementing Planning & Forecasting, they in BPC 10.1 Embedded with SAP BW 7.5 SP2. The input ready option is not supported for Advance DSO for SP2 and this is support only from SP4, with BW 7.5 SP2 we have to use input ready info cubes , please confirm this correct.
Do we have conversion tool for moving input ready cubes from SAP BW 7.5 to B4/ HANA?
Hi Pugal,
We too are working on similar conditions, would like to add something in here.
1: input ready option is available for Advance DSO for SP2 as well, the only thing we lack is , we are not able to use Comment functionality.
2: It will be great if you vould share your BEx screenshot, we can further analyze the issue.
3: would be great , if we can have some understanding on, Considering migrations to bw/4hana , how one shall plan to utilize Virtual Providers for actual ?
Also, if you can see this note.
https://launchpad.support.sap.com/services/pdf/notes/2189829/E
Hello Pugal,
Input-ready InfoCubes are replaced by "Advanced DSO for Planning". The conversion tools will make the required changes. However, as noted in several other places BPC is not yet available for SAP BW/4HANA. It's planned for later this year (including solution for VirtualProvider replacements).
Best,
Marc,
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hello Marc, we are currently using native HANA as a DW. We are exploring our options to use BW/4HANA instead. Can all HANA modelling capabilities like Graphical calculation views can also be done on BW/4HANA? What are the advantages of BW/4HANA over using native HANA as a DW?
Hello Karthikeyan,
yes, SAP BW/4HANA can integrate with SAP HANA Calculation Views by using a CompositeProvider. Please refer to sap.com/bw4hana10 for more details about the SAP Data Warehouse Strategy.
Best,
Marc,
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hello Marc,
We have some customers who use BPC 10.1 Classic on BW for Hana. Some of them are planning to start projects on BW/4Hana. So the question they ask is, will it be possible to migrate BPC solutions from BW or BW for Hana machines to BW/4Hana machines?
Thank you in advance,
Mert.
Hello Mert,
yes, it's planned to have this possibility. More details will become available, once BPC becomes available for SAP BW/4HANA later this year.
Best,
Marc,
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Marc,
Thanks again for the quick response, we are waiting for further details.
Mert.
Hi Marc ,
Do we have any plans for Certification for BW/4HANA ?!!
Curious to know .. any documents available for the same?!!
Regards,
Ramky.
Hello Ramky,
what kind of certification? If it's about skills, then the plan is to provide two new training courses (core and conversion) and most likely there will be a certification as well. Check training.sap.com for announcements.
If it's about third party software, please check https://blogs.sap.com/2016/11/11/bw4hana-certification-opportunities-for-third-party-applications/
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
if we already are on BW 7.5 SP05 using BPC, and then install the add-on for SAP BW hana edition. how would that affect the integration with bpc is it possible to still work with bpc?
Hi Samuel,
you can continue to use BPC with the add-on. Please see SAP Note 2189708 (https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2189708).
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
I want to know and want to present the same to my customer regarding the differences between BW 7.4 on Hana and BW/4 Hana. Can you please help me by providing any link which explains some key differences between these two and the advantages of BW/4 Hana.
Hello Anil,
please check the technical roadmap and FAQ available at http://sap.com/bw4hana.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
I will be installing greenfield BW/4HANA 1.0 SP01 on HANA 1.0 SPS12. Now for that can you provide me the link for the complete installation guide> What I am getting is the master guide but that doesn't explains all steps. I need an installation guide which will help me with step by step installation.
Kindly help.
Thanks
Debolina
Hello Debolina,
the install is very similar to SAP NetWeaver 7.5. Just with different media. Please see the NW installation guide http://service.sap.com/instguidesnw75.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Mark,
I am also confused about the installation for BW4Hana Greenfield based Hana 2.0
I am familiar with the NW7.5 installation but still not sure what the correct steps are please clarify.
In SWDC I don’t see any specific section for BW4 Hana
Thank You
Herman
Hello Herman,
please see the Complete Functional Scope document:
https://www.sap.com/documents/2016/09/b001a9de-8a7c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.html
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hey Marc,
I need your input on below questions:
1- What is the ECC version pre-requisite for enabling SLT-ODP to transfer data to BW4HANA in real-time? I couldn’t find anything specific on ECC versions whereas everywhere it says DMIS version add-on.
2- I have to implement FI_GL_4 and UC_SALES_STATS utility extractor in BW4HANA but we have existing BW version as well where currently delta queue is through RSA7. I found the blogs where it says both extractors will have problem while sending delta to 2 diff BW systems. Scenario – ECC 7 EHP 2 SPS7 and existing BW 7.3
Can you share something on this?
Thanks
Hello Abhinav,
please post questions like these to http://answers.sap.com.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hey Marc,
I did and even sent an email to odp@ email id.
Thanks for the response.
Hi.
When upgrading from NW 7.31 to NW/4HANA. Should we upgrade directly or need to Upgrade to NW 750 and then install BW4HANA Addon?
Hello Vladimir,
there's no direct upgrade. With in-place conversion, you first go to SAP BW 7.5 powered by SAP HANA. Then install the add-on.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
I didnt get any responses on other thread and even through email.
Hey Marc, We installed the BW/4HANA Starter Add-on and the system is currently in "Compatibility" Mode using the report RS_B4HANA_CONVERSION_CONTROL . is the transfer tools "RSB4HTRF" supposed to work in the Compatibility mode or "B4H" mode? The Compatibility Mode doesn't seem to be supporting the transfer tool.
Thanks,
Sundeep
Never mind - The issue was with namespace settings. The Transfer tools seem to be working in the Compatibility mode
Hi Marc,
I am working on new implementation BW4HANA, Could you please tell me how to do modeling with SAP Extractors(odp)
Hi Mohammed,
this is not the right place for such q&a. Please post to http://answers.sap.com/.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc, Do you know where to look for the licensing cost for BW/4 Openhub? We plan to extract data using OpenHub and send it to Vendavo. Currently we have HANA runtime license? Thanks.
Hello Jasminder,
the runtime license will require licensing Open Hub separately. Please check with your SAP Account Executive for details (if you don't know who that is call your local office https://www.sap.com/corporate/en/company/office-locations.html).
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hello Marc,
With the announcement of BPC 11, i have searched for information about BPC 10.1 Classic migration/transportation from BW to BW4HANA. Unfortunately there are no information on that issue yet.
We have a customer who is going to upgrade his system to BW4Hana but they also wish to continue using their BPC solution. Is it possible to transport BPC componnents in a similar way as we transport BW components to BW/4HANA.
Thanks in advance,
Mert
Hello Mert,
we are in the process of updating the material regarding system conversion of BPC to BPC 11. For the most part, the conversion will become available Q3/Q4. As far as I know, transporting will not work properly (since the target system is different for example using ADSO instead of InfoCubes).
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hello Marc, We have NW7.5 with B4H addon running in compatibility mode. Is it possible install BPC 11 in this scenario. Im just confused as BPC11 is for B4H system and not for NW7.5. However our B4H is installed as addon on NW7.5, we may run in compatibility mode for some time.
Hello Vishal,
The SAP BW/4HANA Starter Add-on enables only functionality to facilitates the conversion of your system to SAP BW/4HANA. Your system is still SAP BW 7.5 and therefore, you can't use BPC 11. You can install BPC 11 after the system is converted.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Thanks Marc for quick response, one last question, so if we decide to implment BPC 10.1 on NW7.5 (which has B4H in compatibility mode running), after conversion to B4H in future, what happens to 10.1, does it gets uninstalled as part of conversion? Or we can keep on old BPC using it without any problems? and How can we implement BPC11 in that case?
BPC 10.1 will get automatically converted to BPC 11.
Good Stuff Marc - thanks.
Hello Marc,
it has been 5 months since you wrote the post, so I want to know if the system conversion path is already available and, if not, if there is a date already defined
Hello Fernando,
yes, the tools are available. See SAP Note 2383530 for details.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
up to now I have seen no document which is describing the way from BW + IP to BW/4. BPC covers the functionality of IP via Embedded model which meens basically the planning functionality is working out of the box if it worked with PAK and deep HANA Integration on BW7.5 before. But if I understand it right BW/4 has no planning without the addon. What happens to the planning objects within a migration process? Is there a special migration option if planning is used? Otherwise I'm not sure what happens to the planning objects (are they deleted without BPC addon in migration or simply not available until the addon is installed)?
Is there a blog / document which is describing the migration process if planning is used?
Regards
Torsten
Hi Torsten,
migration for BPC is on the roadmap for Q1/2018. That's why there has been little communication about this so far. You can find a few slides in the Conversion deck.
BW-IP objects are compatible with SAP BW/4HANA. Therefore no conversion is required (in a remote conversion simply transport them). However, these objects can be used only if the BPC 11 add-on is installed.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP HANA DW
Hi Marc,
Thank you for a very informative article. We are in the middle of a brownfield implementation. We recently upgraded to BW7.5 and are in the process of remediating our data Mary layer from infocube/multiprovider to either ADSO/composite provider. Since some of the data flows also have multiple layer of data staging including classic DSOs do you see that as a concern before any future upgrade to BW4HANA? Is SAP going to provide the standard conversion tool to migrate classic
DSO to ADSO anytime in future ? Do you think the reporting performance is better from an advanced DSO compared to a classic DSO ?
Look forward to hear from you.
Thanks
Kewal
Hi Kewal,
the transfer tool is already available for BW 7.5 (must be on HANA). See SAP Note 2383530. All your classic DSO and InfoCubes must be converted to ADSOs before you can go to SAP BW/4HANA. The tool will do that for you.
Performance of SAP BW/4HANA is similar to SAP BW powered by SAP HANA. However, some improvements were made and continue to be made for example in BW/4HANA 1.0 SP 8 (see roadmap). It depends on your use case, if this will make a difference.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP DW
Hi Marc,
My customer is on BW 7.4 and he no longer wants to use his legacy BW System. He is willing to go for new BW Installation. Would it be wise to go to BW 7.5 on HANA and upgrade to SAP BW/4 HANA at a later point when the product becomes more stable and we have some success stories from Customer who have implemented BW/4 HANA? Also let us know where to start if we were to go with SAP BW 7.5 on HANA. We want to have both of the worlds so that the bugs and issues will not hamper our developments.
Hi Kranthi,
that's an easy answer. SAP BW/4HANA is the go-to solution. It's very stable already since the code is based to a large degree to on SAP BW powered by SAP HANA.
Sure we have references. Please check with your SAP account executive, who can get you in touch.
Best,
Marc
Product Management SAP DW
Marc,
We are on BW 7.3 with 3.5 flows.We also have BW4HANA box and we are palnning for greenfield approach.Now can I transport only my infoobjects from old BW system to BW4HANA system ? If yes is that recommended ?
Thanks,
Dharma
Hi Dharma,
none of the 3.x objects can be transported to SAP BW/4HANA. You will have to migrate to 7.x objects/data flows before using transaction RSMIGRATE. Then you can transport directly but the better way is to use the shell conversion method (see Conversion Guide v1.2).
Best,
Marc
SAP HANA Competency Center
Marc, thanks for writing this out and especially your comments on BPC, we are long time planning users (back to BPS) and this has been useful as we plan for the BW/4HANA conversion. We are currently on NW 7.4, BW on HANA.
On another subject can you point to a writeup that talks in detail about logical data warehousing and potential S/4 sources, especially CDS Views? Once we implement S/4 we'd like get out of the ETL business as much as possible. Appreciate the help.
Hi Bill,
there's actually a chapter about logical data warehousing in the SAP BW/4HANA documentation: https://help.sap.com/viewer/107a6e8a38b74ede94c833ca3b7b6f51/1.0.8/en-US/e94dfa03052e4698a5c700abced00afa.html
The key design object is the Open ODS view: https://help.sap.com/viewer/107a6e8a38b74ede94c833ca3b7b6f51/1.0.8/en-US/3c2501f075cb42b1aef74b6b4e5fa9de.html
Finally, the how-to guide should help to understand and implement scenarios based on
CDS: https://www.sap.com/documents/2017/06/50b7535e-bf7c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.html
Best,
Marc
SAP HANA Competency Center
Hello Mark, trust you are doing well. Could you please share details of System Comparison Workbench? Thanks.
Hello Vikash,
it's documented here: https://help.sap.com/viewer/product/SAP_LANDSCAPE_TRANSFORMATION/2.0.14/en-US (unfortunately seems to be broken; should get fixed soon).
Best,
Marc
SAP HANA Competency Center
Hello, one question? Is it possible to connect a BW4/hana Green field to a ECC 6.0 EHP 4? Is it compatible?
Hello Gloria,
yes, but it depends on the SAP NetWeaver release and support package for your ECC. See Conversion Guide at https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/SAP_BW4HANA > Chapter 3.5 Supported Source Systems.
Best,
Marc
SAP HANA Competency Center
Thank You Marc
Hello Marc is there any ECC 6.0 EHP version to consider for Remote conversion in BW4HANA?
Hello Joan,
all ECC 6.0 Enhancement Packages are supported. However, there are minimum requirements for support package level (and SAP Notes to be installed). See chapter 3 in the Conversion Guide on https://help.sap.com/viewer/p/SAP_BW4HANA.
Best,
Marc
SAP HANA Competence Center
Thank you Marc!
Hello Mark,
I want to convert from NW7.4 + BW-IP to BW/4 using remote conversion.
I think that remote conversion is supported for direct conversion from 7.4. Is it the same for BW-IP?
Thanks.