#BW/4HANA – What, When, Why & Whow !
Greetings,
On August 31st , a new BW Avatar is born:
This is not BW on HANA….rather, this is BW especially and exclusively 4 HANA.
A great deal of ink has already been spilled enumerating its might and bright..but I still feel that there are lot of questions people are asking which warrants for a perusal over multiple sets of documents to kind of have an overall picture and although there are umpteen resources available in terms of great documents such as SCN FAQs, SAP Guides etc, a one-stop-shop kind of a document might help provide a consolidated reference point.
All I have tried to do, in my humble effort here, is to go through the myriad sites and documents (BIG DATA..for me) related to BW/4HANA, and have given a consolidated picture…similar to what a Datawarehousing tool, such as BW/4HANA, intends to do..
So, here we go…
| Discussion Points | Insights | Comments | |
|---|---|---|
| What is it | Just like S/4HANA, it’s a new DataWarehousing product, created only to work with SAP HANA | |
| What it’s not | It’s not the next version of BW on HANA | |
| Launch Date |
31 August’ 2016 https://news.sap.com/sap-modernizes-data-warehousing-with-the-launch-of-sap-bw4hana |
|
| General Availability |
7th September’ 2016 Keynote: |
|
| Central SAP note |
SAP Note: 2347382 |
|
| Minimum HANA Version required |
SAP HANA SPS12 SAP Note: 2347382 |
|
| Is this separate from NetWeaver Stack | Yes, SAP BW/4HANA is a separate product which is not part of and does not depend on a NetWeaver delivery. The underlying platform consists of the ABAP application server and SAP HANA. | |
| Old Versioning |
BW 3.x, 7.x. Latest being 7.5, Edition for SAP HANA (BW 7.5, SP04)
|
|
| New versioning |
BW/4HANA 1.x Latest being BW/4HANA 1.0 |
|
| The Journey so far |
|
|
| Software Components |
BW/4HANA is built on Application Server for ABAP and comprises only the following software components: SAP_BASIS SAP_GWFND SAP_UI DW4CORE |
|
| What happened to the BI Content |
Traditional BI Content will not be supported (software components BI_CONT and BI_CONT_XT). New SAP BW/4HANA business content on top of the Business Content DataSources will be delivered in Q4 2016. Also, all Business Content Datasources (extractors) that are released for Operational Data Provisioning (ODP) will be supported (the ODP Source System is replacing the SAP Source System in SAP BW/4HANA).
SAP Note: 2232584 https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/0002232584 FAQ http://go.sap.com/documents/2016/08/c4458a08-877c-0010-82c7-eda71af511fa.html |
|
| Clients required |
SAP GUI SAP NetWeaver Business Client ABAP Development Tools for SAP NetWeaver (ADT) – for HANA Studio Modeling Tools for SAP BW∕4HANA (BW Modeling Tools) – for HANA Studio SAP BusinessObjects Analysis, Edition for Microsoft Office (Sep License) SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio(Sep License) |
|
| Any pictorial depiction of the landscape |  |
|
| Is it only on-premise or Cloud-based |
Both. Cloud Providers: HEC | AWS (as of now). |
|
| Any change in Modeling |
A big change. No more RSA1 ! The new modeling paradigm is…Data Flow Modeler |
|
| Do I still need to have SAP GUI installed and use Datawarehouse workbench |
Yes. SAP GUI is still required. Datawarehouse Workbench will be used for the following activities
Note: Web-based administration & monitoring is already work-in-progress and will soon be delivered in next few quarters. |
|
| What happens to BW on HANA versions (7.x on HANA) |
SAP BW 7.5 powered by and edition for SAP HANA will still be supported release options and will move into maintenance, receiving little development or new functionality moving forward. SAP BW/4HANA will receive the majority of the new innovation being developed moving forward. |
|
| Difference between 7.5, edition for HANA and BW/4HANA |
|
|
| How long will BW 7.3, 7.4 and 7.5 on HANA be supported |
It follows the NW 7.x release timelines. Therefore: BW 7.0 -> Maintenance ends on 31.12.2017 BW 7.3 -> Maintenance ends on 31.12.2020 BW 7.4 -> Maintenance ends on 31.12.2020 BW 7.5 -> Maintenance ends on 31.12.2022
PAM: |
|
| What happens to Bex | The SAP Business Explorer (BEx) are not supported any more. | |
| How will I create my Query now | Queries are now defined in BW/4HANA in the BW Modeling tools (HANA Studio) via the perspective – ‘BW Modeling’. | |
| What about front-end |
Here’s the mapping:
|
|
| What are new objects corresponding to old ones |
Here’s the mapping:
|
|
| Any changes in process chain monitoring |
Process chains can be monitored via the traditional ABAP Workbench. However, now the new UI5 based monitoring capabilities can be leveraged: |
|
| What about Openhubs |
They are still relevant and will be supported in BW/4HANA. No separate license required. |
|
| How to migrate |
For greenfield:
For brownfield: The process goes something like this:
For consolidation brownfield: This is a scenario wherein, several local BW datawarehouses and legacy warehousing systems needed to be consolidated to BW/4HANA.
https://blogs.saphana.com/2016/09/07/the-road-to-sap-bw4hana-part-1/ |
|
| Which option is best for my case, any recommendations from SAP |
https://blogs.saphana.com/2016/09/18/the-road-to-sap-bw4hana-part-2/ |
|
| How about going from BW on xDB (Oracle, DB2 etc) directly to BW/4HANA | Not supported | |
| Transfer tool |
SAP Note: 2238220 Tcode: RSB4HTRF
|
|
| I hear terms like compatibility mode and B4H mode..what’s the deal |
To move to BW/4HANA, first BW has to be upgraded to BW 7.5, edition for SAP HANA (7.50 SP04 or higher) – Then you need to use the “Transfer tool” to convert all your old object types to new objects types (aDSO, Composite Provider etc.) Then you move to BW/4HANA using SUM –
|
|
| Still confused between BW on HANA, BW, Edition for HANA and BW/4HANA |
Answers here: Difference between BW on HANA, BW, Edition for HANA and BW/4HANA |
|
| How will virtual access be designed now |
Using EIM – SDI (Smart Data Integration) framework Using Open ODS Views |
|
| How will LSA++ look like in BW4HANA |
Report at any layer of the Data Warehouse with speed and flexibility
|
|
| What about 3.x flow | No more supported and must be migrated. | |
| Any new sizing exercise introduced |
No, the same sizing process used for SAP BW powered by SAP HANA applies to SAP BW/4HANA. SAP Note 2363248 SAP Note 2296290 |
|
| What are the changes in Archiving and hot, warm and cold data |
With BW/4HANA, relocate cold data, based on extended time slice partitions per persistence object, either to SAP IQ Near-line Storage (near-online) OR to SAP Hadoop NLS (near-offline) – using tool called DLM (DataLifecycleManagement) |
|
| What about automatic HANA view generation |  |
|
| Any changes in SAP source systems Vs non-sap source system integration |
Number of Source System Types reduced from 7 to 3.
|
|
| Change in Load Administration |
BW/4HANA will have a new request ID concept: tsn Manage loads by a unique ID, called request TSN (transaction sequence number)
More details here…#TSN – The new face of BW Request ID |
|
| What about BPC |
BPC 10.1 is supported with BW/4HANA. However, only Embedded model is supported. Standard model not supported.
SAP Note: 2189708: List of supported and Not supported Add-Ons |
|
| Any customer tried this |
3 of them so far:
Faifax early adoption of BW/4HANA: http://www.asugnews.com/article/early-adopter-fairfax-media-on-running-sap-bw-4hana-on-aws |
|
| What’s the Licensing framework for BW/4HANA |
Licensing will be driven by the factor that how is BW/4HANA deployed. We have 2 options: 1. Cloud-based: Licensing will be based on subscription and Instance type selected (AWS/CAL) 2. On-premise: Licensing will remain as the existing stnd process for SAP Applications. Excerpt from BW/4HANA Master Guide:
BW/4HANA Master Guide: http://help.sap.com/download/bw4hana10/SAP_BW4HANA_Master_Guide_en.pdf |
|
| Can I get a look and feel |
Couple of “Try Now” versions are available on AWS:
XL Edition: Developer Edition |
|
| Any online demo I can see this product in action |
SAP BW/4HANA Demo by Ian Kimbell and Ulrich Christ http://events.sap.com/sap-amazon-web-services/en/home -> Video Highlights -> SAP BW/4HANA Demo by Ian Kimbell and Ulrich Christ |
|
| Does it have Early Adopter Pgm to help transition to this brand new product? |
Yes. SAP provides an Early Adopter Pgm. Salient features of this pgm:
How to register:
|
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| Planned features |
|
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How is Big Data & IoT supported |
IoT is supported in BW/4HANA via Smart Data Streaming (part of EIM) Big data is supported in BW/4HANA via Smart Data Integration (part of EIM) |
|
| Certification for BW/4HANA | Not yet available | |
| Pictorial Summary |  |
|
| How does it fit together with S4HANA |
Firstly, SAP BW/4HANA is completely independent of and not a prerequisite for SAP S/4HANA and vice versa. S4HANA – Primary use case is operational reporting on current data from single SAP system. BW/4HANA – Primary use case is Datawarehousing which provides consolidation (SAP + non-SAP + Big Data) and historical analysis |
|
| What about Stnd extractors from S/4HANA flowing into BW/4HANA |
The following will apply :
|
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| The future |
Behold !
|
|
It would be a good idea to follow the BW/4HANA SCN Space for all the future updates and Information:
http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-74554
Happy Learning !
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Source|Referenced Links:
Thank you for this informative and clear overview and compilation. Great work!
Many Thanks Debanshu for your appreciated inputs on BW/4HANA
Thanks for collating all queries 🙂
Exceptional work Debanshu.. 3 cheers for BW/4HANA and for you to put this article togather.
A request.. Keep it updated and and when things change.
Regards
Raj
Thank you all for the acknowledgment.
Will try to keep this updated
Great Job!
Great work. Complete Info at a single place.
Thanks Luis & Javeed..I will try my best to keep it a one-place reference by updating it on a regular basis.
Just appended information regarding the Licensing framework for BW/4HANA.
Nice work Debanshu. Thanks for sharing
Regards,
Krishna Tangudu
Very Informative Debanshu.
Regards,
Kiran.
Thanks for sharing this all in one article & answers to FAQ's.
-Raj
Thank you Krishna/Kiran/Raj,
Please feel free to comment with any additional info you have which w.r.t BW/4HANA, which can help our BW community.
Thanks for this valuable informations.
A very informative, precise and detail oriented article. Very easy to understand too
A very detailed blog with very good information . It is like a ready reckoner on BW/4HANA !!
Thanks for the compliments on the article.
Just appended the information with a pictorial depiction of the landscape.
Greetings,
Just appended the details on the new face of BW Req ID, called TSN.
Thanks Debanshu for sharing such an excellent information in the blog. Very useful one.
Regards,
Lakshmi
Hi,
ist that mapping of new objects corresponding to old ones and the mapping of the frontends concerning the differnce between an old version of BW and BW 7.5 or the difference between BW 7.5 and BW/4 HANA
Hi,
Good question.
Actually, it's the mapping between the old way of designing Vs new way of designing.
Until the BW on HANA versions, both old and new objects are supported (including creation)
On compatibility mode version (formerly known as BW, edition for HANA), both old and new objects are supported, with an exception that old objects can no longer be created. Only existing old ones are tolerated to be there and continue functioning.
BW/4HANA version - Existing old objects not tolerated at all. You have to first transfer old object to new ones and then switch to BW/4HANA.
Hope that answers your question.
Thank you Debanshu, for very informative and collective information at one place.
Thanks Lakshmi, Madhu for the compliments.
Glad that this gave you some primer.
Thanks Debanshu for sharing this very informative blog. Indeed a great
effort. This is certainly a one stop shop for BW/4HANA information.
Thanks Makarand.
Really Excellent Debanshu. Thankyou. Very Good Work
Thanks Mahesh.
Hi Team,
Just update the info from Marc's part 2 of the migration routes and recommendations article.
This is so helpful! Thanks so much!
Great Stuff Debanshu. I think BPC is currently not supported on BW4HANA neither Standard nor Embedded but there might be plans for it. There is no NW footprint in BW4HANA so if ever BPC is supported it will be a new product.Also BW4HANA is a new product and hence it has no predecessors.
Cheers
Nikhil
Very detailed and Informative Article Debanshu. This is very exiting time for us SAP Folks, with so many new products like S/4, BW on HANA and now BW4/HANA being launched.
So It's always helpful to get such detailed overview articles. Please keep up the good work by updating it whenever you can.
Thanks,
Devjeet Hensh
Very fist statement:
Just like S/4HANA, it's a new DataWarehousing product, created only to work with SAP HANA
What does this created only to work with SAP HANA means? It could be read as BW/4 HANA created only to work with S/4HANA. I understand it can have both sources: SAP ECC Netweaver and S/4HANA, but more aligned to work with S/4HANA.
Hi Trinath,
Good point. It can definitely be read from umpteeen point of views.
However, by - created only to work with SAP HANA - what I meant was that BW/4HANA software can only sit on top of HANA Database. It doesn't support other databases, such as Oracle, DB2 etc, to be it's primary persistence layer.
W.r.t the source systems, I already mentioned that it can talk to both SAP and non-SAP sources.
Hope that answers your question.
Reg
Deb
Where is the previous blog:
"BW/4HANA – What, When, Why & Whow! "?
It was very good!!
Hi Andrea,
I believe due to the transition to new SCN, this blog got a little messed up but now it's restored now.
Really nice piece of writing , where is the rating button in new SCN ?
Excellent Document Debanshu, The document is very informative and helpful.
Nice document Debanshu !!!
All the information available at one place.
Great work.
All I need in one single place ! Great job
Excellent bro...now on wards i will follow you...great work...!
Hi Debanshu,
Really helpful document. Can you throw some light on the following:
--> Is there a need for a customer in SAP BW 7.5 on HANA to move to SAP BW/4HANA (What are the key factors why he should move)
--> What are enhanced Infoobjects ?
Hi Ashwin,
Firstly, apologies for such a late response...actually, I haven't been able to attend to my blogs recently due to travel and other committments.
So let's tackle your questions:
–> Is there a need for a customer in SAP BW 7.5 on HANA to move to SAP BW/4HANA (What are the key factors why he should move)
Key Factors:
1. Integration with Big Data (Hadoop) natively. Trust me, in coming years, everyone will need to handle big data..so sooner the better.
2. Plugged in for all latest innovations in BW world. The old world will be supported but till certain time and will very minimal innovations.
3. Integration with Fiori and Mobile applications natively.
4. Integration with IoT.
5. Automated data lifecycle management
6. Web enabled administration and monitoring user interface.
–> What are enhanced Infoobjects ?
By enhanced means that now Infoobjects will have additional properties such as XXL. These can store additional information for a characteristic as data type STRING or XSTRING.
Hope that helps.
Reg
Deb
very useful debanshu..all in one place.
-> if a customer is using EP for accessing reports , what would be the possible migration approach when they move from 7.x to BW4HANA as the B4H has no JAVA stack?
Hi Prasad,
This is a great question and to tackle this one, let's break it down;
If a customer uses EP, then they must have enabled iViews or similar templates to show reports in EP. Now, these reports must be created as Bex Queries in the backend.
If the above statement is true, then, unfortunately, Bex is no longer supported. However, migration might be supported. The replacement for Bex Web is Business Objects Cloud or Design Studio / Lumira 2.x and replacement for Information Broadcasting is Crystal reports.
Here's the clear-cut direction from SAP:
https://blogs.sap.com/2016/10/13/sap-business-explorer-maintenance-support-policy/
Hope that answers the question.
Reg
Deb
Another great place to get your questions answered is Marc's blog:
https://blogs.saphana.com/2016/09/18/the-road-to-sap-bw4hana-part-2/
Please read the Q&A at the end...some really good and relevant questions are answered..your's might be already answered there..
Reg
Deb
Excellent work.
Very curious how the customer base will take it, since it is still (maybe more than ever) confusing to draw a clear SAP BI analytics roadmap. Especially if you are more an SME and are not ready for experiments.
But following with greatest interesst 🙂
Best + Thx,
Marcus
Thank you Debanshu. Very informative presentation of data!
Hello,
Do you know if there are any dependencies or compatibility issues between BW/4HANA and ERP 6 versions?
Thanks,
Noe
Hi Noe,
Good question. Yes, there are certain prerequisites in ECC in order to work with BW/4HANA and this is because BW/4HANA uses ODP framework to transfer data from ECC extractors (datasources).
Additionally, these datasources also need to be released for ODP (after the release they'll be visible in table ROOSATTR).
Here are the prerequisites:
Regards
Debanshu
Hi Debanshu,
Really helpful document.
Can you please write a blog on how to create SAP HANA Analysis Process in BW4HANA system.
Regards,
Nagarjuna Reddy.