Technical Articles
SAP Datasphere, SAP BW Bridge: Overview and Technical Deep Dive
Abstract
This blog post is about a strategic feature of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, namely the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge. SAP offers its customers through RISE with SAP, the opportunity to move with a business transformation as a service (BTaaS) to the cloud. For BW customers, this means SAP BW to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. SAP positions SAP Data Warehouse Cloud as the strategic target solution for Data Warehousing in the public cloud, with SAP BW/4HANA Private Cloud Edition (PCE) as an option to start the transition. In this context, SAP BW bridge offers customers the opportunity to implement their new data warehousing use cases directly in the cloud environment while protecting, and retaining their existing on-premises investments. The blog provides an overview about SAP BW bridge, explains how to move from an existing SAP BW system to the cloud, and gives insights with a complete end-to-end greenfield scenario including a system demo in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud.
Overview
SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is SAP’s offering for all data warehousing use cases. This SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) is based on SAP HANA Cloud. It combines data, and analytics in a cloud solution that offers data integration, database, data warehouse, and analytics services. This enables customers to realize the full potential of a data-driven business. As a way to improve the integration with SAP ERP systems, the SAP BW bridge enables ABAP-based data extraction and staging capabilities within SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (see figure 1).
Figure 1: SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge. Overview of data integration
In the future, a tool-based transfer of existing SAP BW and SAP BW/4HANA staging scenarios will be enabled. Then the SAP BW bridge will enable a seamless transfer of existing ETL processes in a dedicated SAP BW bridge Space in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Here, the extensive functions of ODP extractors, and ABAP code within the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) ABAP environment can be adopted in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud using the Cross-Space-Sharing approach.
SAP BW to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
Within SAP BW bridge, customers are able to implement data extraction and staging scenarios up to the CompositeProvider level. In other words, it is not possible to create new queries within the SAP BW bridge environment. In this regard, within the SAP BW bridge, there is no support for OLAP engine, and functionality dependent on OLAP (e.g., analysis authorizations, query as info provider, query execution). Front-End tools do not have the possibility to access SAP BW bridge artefacts directly.
Figure 2: Future Modeling Capabilities in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
The SAP BW bridge environment is primarily intended for ODP-based source systems, which means that the connection scenarios only become available via Operational Data Provisioning (ODP). Non-SAP sources will be connected directly to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (see figure 2). Objects from source SAP BW system(s) will be converted to the SAP BW bridge environment using Conversion Tools, including the SAP BW queries.
To take the full advantage of SAP’s data warehousing offerings, customers today need to deploy both SAP BW/4HANA, and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. In the future, the SAP BW bridge will enable customers to merge these offerings into a single data warehouse solution in the cloud. With SAP BW bridge, SAP addresses BW customers that are looking for a way forward from SAP BW NetWeaver, and SAP BW/4HANA (See figure 3).
Figure 3: Future Modeling Capabilities in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
SAP BW Customers will have the option in 2022 to convert their existing on-premises investments to the cloud via remote, and shell conversion. First, the SAP BW bridge conversion will be offered for SAP BW 7.4, and SAP BW 7.5 systems (initially as shell conversion, followed as remote conversion), subsequently the conversion for SAP BW 7.3 systems (shell and remote conversion) will be available. Additionally, the conversion will be available for SAP BW/4HANA 2021 (shell and remote conversion). Regarding release coverage, please consider the details in the roadmap. Customers with lower SAP BW releases will need to upgrade their system(s) first, and then convert the required scope to SAP BW bridge in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Please note that SAP BW systems 7.40, and lower are already out of maintenance (see figure 4). A dedicated blog post is available, see Conversion to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud: Conversion Paths and Cloud Transformation Steps.
Figure 4: SAP BW bridge. SAP BW to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
The SAP BW bridge artefacts out of the Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) ABAP environment are available via remote tables using SAP HANA Cloud Smart-Data-Access (SDA) in a dedicated SAP BW bridge Space in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. The remote tables in the SAP BW bridge Space can then be used in the regular SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Spaces via the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud cross-space sharing approach.
Add-ons are not supported in SAP BW bridge. Therefore, planning is not available within SAP BW bridge. In this regard, SAP positions SAP Analytics Cloud Planning as the planning application, and in the future (earliest end of 2022) SAP Data Warehouse Cloud as the planning foundation for the data. Application development is not supported in SAP BW bridge. Any app development should be done via the Business Technology Platform App Building on SAP HANA, for which customers need to license, and use the stand-alone version of SAP Business Technology Platform ABAP Environment.
Target Scenarios for SAP BW bridge
Greenfield with SAP Legacy Sources
Customers building a new data warehouse in the cloud with SAP Legacy systems as data sources that will only be migrated to a cloud-based system in the future. Expecting the same level of data integration, and convenience functions as known from SAP BW/4HANA.
Conversion with SAP BW NetWeaver & SAP BW/4HANA 2021
Customers with an SAP BW (SAP BW 7.3 and upwards, any DB) moving their data warehouse to the cloud expecting to retain their data, and their legacy data flows, but renovating their data consumption layer with SAP Analytics Cloud or 3rd party clients on top, and expanding their data footprint to cloud, and non-SAP sources.
Hybrid with SAP BW/4HANA
Customers with an on-premise SAP BW/4HANA looking for a path into the cloud for their data warehouse workload. Starting with hybrid scenarios for consumption to combine SAP BW/4HANA data, and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud data, and then easily moving more and more of the SAP BW/4HANA data flows to the cloud, and successively transition them to modern SAP Data Warehouse Cloud data ingestion approaches.
End-To-End Greenfield Scenario
As an example, the Greenfield approach is demonstrated in the following use case (See Figure 5). This means when the customer operates SAP Data Warehouse Cloud together with SAP BW bridge to connect SAP on-premises systems. This provides proven SAP BW-based data integration technology for ABAP-based SAP systems, and enables the rich feature set of extractors in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud.
Figure 5: Architecture of End-To-End Greenfield Scenario
The SAP BW bridge data, and processes are administered, and managed via an SAP UI5 environment called SAP BW bridge Cockpit. The implementation of new objects is done within Eclipse via SAP BW Modeling Tools, and ABAP Development Tools. Within the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, the SAP BW bridge artefacts are available via remote tables, and can be used via the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud cross-space sharing approach. An SAP GUI is not required to access the SAP BW bridge environment.
SAP BW bridge: Development-Environment
In the following data flow (see figure 6) it can be seen, that the Eclipse environment with SAP BW Modeling Tools, and ABAP Development Tools are used. The well-known SAP flight data model is the foundation for this use case.
Figure 6: Eclipse Environment for SAP BW bridge
In this scenario, the tables “Flight” for transaction data, and “Airline carrier” for master data are considered. The left branch of the data model handles transaction data, the data is loaded from an SAP ECC system respectively a classic ABAP extractor. The right branch of the data model handles master data, the data is loaded from a CDS view. As it can be seen, there is still the subdivision into master data texts, and master data attributes. Within the data flow, transformations, and data transfer processes are used to load data into the advanced DataStore Object, and the master data-bearing InfoObject. Within the Composite Provider, the data is then combined with a join.
The SAP BW bridge component is primarily intended for ODP-based source systems. In this regard, customers have the option to create source systems in the context of ODP. This means that ODP-BW, ODP-SAP, ODP-CDS, and ODP-SLT based source systems can be connected. This offers the additional benefits of the Operational Data Provisioning Framework, such as Extract Once Deploy Many, data compression, and more.
Figure 7: SAP UI5 Environment for SAP BW bridge
Dedicated process chains are created for both branches in order to load data into the InfoProviders. The process chains are modelled in the SAP UI5 environment for SAP BW bridge called SAP BW bridge Cockpit (see figure 7).
SAP BW bridge Space in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
If a customer wants to use SAP BW bridge, a provisioning process is triggered by SAP. With that, there will be a dedicated Space for SAP BW bridge in the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Tenant itself, generated by the provisioning process. This space then has a specific type “SAP BW bridge” (see figure 8).
Figure 8: Space Type: SAP BW bridge
In the generated SAP BW bridge Space, a connection (see figure 9a) to the SAP BW bridge environment, within the SAP Business Technology Platform, will be generated that contains an SAP HANA Cloud Smart Data Access endpoint, and a HTTP ABAP endpoint. It is possible to connect only one SAP BW bridge System to an SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Tenant.
Figure 9a: Connection to SAP BW bridge
The SAP HANA Cloud Smart Data Access endpoint is used to connect to the external schema of SAP BW bridge’s SAP HANA Cloud Database that contains the read-only views to the data tables, for moving over the data. The HTTP ABAP endpoint is used to be able to call Monitor UIs via Single Sign on with a named user, and to get Meta Data e.g., for a value help or import of SAP BW bridge Objects (see figure 9b).
Figure 9b: Connection to SAP BW bridge
The new connection type cannot be edited by a user in the SAP BW bridge Space, as this connection will be generated by the SAP BW bridge provisioning process automatically. The credentials for the SAP HANA Cloud Smart Data Access connection are provided when the connection is generated. The data tables of the Business Technology Platform environment for SAP BW bridge are exposed as remote tables in the SAP BW bridge Space.
Important: The SAP BW Service Key should be copied, as this needs to be entered when an SAP BW bridge project is set up in Eclipse.
Figure 9c: Connection to SAP BW bridge
Inside the SAP BW bridge Space, the Create-Button for new connections is disabled, as this Space is restricted to the SAP BW bridge only. The Real-Time Replication Status is inactive for this connection, as it only allows Remote Tables (see figure 9c).
SAP BW bridge Space: Data Builder for importing remote tables
The main purpose of the Data Builder regarding the SAP BW bridge Space (see figure 10) is to import, and share the remote tables for other Spaces, using the Cross-Space Sharing Approach of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Unlike the regular Spaces of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, it is not possible to create Tables, Graphical Views, SQL Views, Entity Relationship Models, or Data Flows within the Data Builder of a SAP BW bridge Space. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud artefacts using the SAP BW bridge remote tables can only be created in other spaces based on the shared remote tables.
Figure 10: SAP BW bridge Space: Data Builder
Using the Import button in the Data Builder, then via “Import Remote Tables”, the tables of SAP BW bridge InfoProvider can be accessed via the underlying connection (see figure 11).
Figure 11: Import Remote Tables
In the “Import Remote Tables” wizard there is only one connection available, the connection to the SAP BW bridge System (see figure 12). By selecting the defined connection, the connection gets validated. If the validation process is successful, the next step is available.
Figure 12: Connection to SAP BW bridge
The wizard for the data tables of SAP BW bridge InfoProvider contain the following data tables, which are then available as Remote Tables in SAP BW bridge Space in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud itself.
- Advanced DataStore Object (Reporting View)
- Composite Provider
- Master Data Tables
- Attributes
- Texts
The data tables are displayed by InfoAreas (see figure 13). It is possible to multi select tables to support a mass take over. It is also possible to select an entire InfoArea, then all the tables underneath the objects are selected. Afterwards it is possible to deselect some tables (then the InfoArea can be deselected).
Figure 13: Select SAP BW bridge InfoProvider
The last step displays the list of objects which are ready for import. There is one more section for Remote Tables, which are already in the repository of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. The user can also change the technical name, and the business name of the appropriate object. Via “Import and Deploy” the remote tables will be generated with Semantic Usage as Relational Dataset. The Master Data Text tables can be generated as either Dimension or Text (see figure 14).
Figure 14: Import and Deploy Remote Tables
Next, the remote tables located in the SAP BW bridge Space in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud need to be shared with the regular SAP Data Warehouse Spaces. As already outlined before, the main functionality here is to import, and share the remote tables for other spaces. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud artefacts using the remote tables can only be created in other spaces, based on the shared remote tables.
In my example, I have created a standard SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Space “DENIZBWBRIDGE”, which consumes the artefacts, and allows further implementation within the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (see figure 15).
Figure 15: Share Remote Tables
SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Space: Consuming Shared SAP BW bridge Artefacts
Within standard SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Spaces, the shared SAP BW bridge Remote Tables can be accessed, and other SAP Data Warehouse Cloud functionality can be applied accordingly (see figure 16).
Figure 16: Graphical View in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
The following SQL code of the previous graphical view (see figure 17) states that the view within the standard SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Space accesses the remote tables of the SAP BW bridge Space in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud.
SELECT *
FROM (("BWBRIDGEDEMO.ZDOFLIGHTREPORTING" AS "ZDOFLIGHTREPORTING"
INNER JOIN "BWBRIDGEDEMO.ZDO_AIRLATTRIBUTES" AS "ZDO_AIRLATTRIBUTES"
ON "ZDOFLIGHTREPORTING"."CARRID" = "ZDO_AIRLATTRIBUTES"."ZDO_AIRL")
INNER JOIN "BWBRIDGEDEMO.ZDO_AIRLTEXT" AS "ZDO_AIRLTEXT"
ON "ZDO_AIRLATTRIBUTES"."ZDO_AIRL" = "ZDO_AIRLTEXT"."ZDO_AIRL");Figure 17: SQL-Code of Graphical View
SAP Analytics Cloud: Story based on SAP BW bridge data
Finally, based on the analytical data set of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, which in this case processes SAP BW bridge data, a visualisation of the data can be done via SAP Analytics Cloud (see figure 18) or any other 3rd party front end solution.
Figure 18: Story in SAP Analytics Cloud
Like for other data models in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud you can use SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Live Data Connection of SAP Analytics Cloud. However, SAP Analytics Cloud generally has certain limitations with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Live Data Connection, detailed information is available in SAP Note 2832606.
SAP BW bridge Space: Data Integration Monitor
Figure 19: Data Integration Monitor for SAP BW bridge Space
Within the SAP BW bridge Space only Remote Tables are available. For the Data Integration Monitor of the SAP BW bridge Space that means, that the View Persistency Monitor, and Data Flow Monitor are not visible (see figure 19).The available functionalities here are the Remote Table Monitor, and Remote Query Monitor. In addition, access to the SAP BW bridge Cockpit is possible via the Data Integration Monitor of the SAP BW bridge Space.
Limitations of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge
- Application development is not supported in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge. Any app building should be done “natively” using the SAP BTP app building on SAP HANA, for that customers need to license and use the stand-alone version of SAP BTP.
- Customer do not have the option to connect with SAP GUI to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge.
- Connection scenarios are limited to ODP source systems only.
- Queries are not supported.
- No support for the OLAP engine and functionality dependent on the OLAP engine, e.g., analysis authorizations, query as InfoProvider, query execution.
- The generation of External SAP HANA Views is not supported.
- Planning is not available in SAP BW bridge. Therefore, SAP positions SAP Analytics Cloud Planning as the SAP Planning Application and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud as the Planning foundation for the data. SAP Analytics Cloud Planning is the strategic direction for planning. Also, as highlighted already at SAP SAPPHIRE NOW 2021, future releases will make SAP Data Warehouse Cloud the foundation for SAP’s planning solutions.
- In SAP BW bridge, add-ons (such as BCS, DSiM, TPM, …) are not supported. The use of SEM-BCS or BCS/4HANA is not supported in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud – explore other solutions like SAP Group Reporting instead.
- For DataStore objects, cold store and DTO handling are not supported.
- For CompositeProviders, temporal joins are not supported.
- For DTPs, variables as selection criteria are not supported.
- The following process types are not supported in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge:
ABAP, ADSOOLR, ARCHIVE, BDHTASKWF, BDHVFLOW, BOBJDSJOB, BOBJEVENT, CL_ARCHIVE, COMMAND, CPS_EVENT, CPS_JOB, DTO_EXEC, HAAP, OHD_NOTIFY, PLSEQ, PLSWITCHL, PLSWITCHP, REMOTE, RS2HANA, RSDASYB_PM, RSSDA_STAT, SDI_INIT, WORKFLOW
End-to-End Demo for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge
The following video demonstrates the steps for an entire end-to-end greenfield scenario in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud using SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge. Finally, the data is visualised in SAP Analytics Cloud. The video is also available on the official SAP Technology YouTube Channel.
Summary
The value of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is clearly recognized by many of SAP’s existing data warehousing customers. However, they want a seamless migration path, and do not want to implement their existing data warehousing logic from scratch. At the same time, the market wants a single-target solution to reduce the system landscape complexity, and costs. This is where SAP BW bridge helps to accelerate the transition to cloud data warehousing while protecting previous, and new implementation investments in the cloud. This enables the integration of on-premises SAP Business Suite data with trusted connectivity, and semantic richness (business content). It also enables organizations to rapidly innovate on SAP BW data with an open, unified, data and analytics service in the cloud.
Find further information to get started with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud and check out the Best Practices on the Community for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Please also check out this blog post regarding this topic. Additionally, this brochure provides an overview of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge. It is also recommended to check the SAP Note 3117800 – Information/Restrictions for SAP DWC, SAP BW bridge. You will find more information about what is new or changed with SAP BW bridge on the SAP Help Portal: New Features and Changes in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge.
Please let me know, if you have any specific question. SAP’s Experts from SAP Data Warehouse Product Management & Strategy, and SAP Data Warehouse Development are involved in this topic.
Thanks to my colleagues Klaus-Peter, Gordon, Dirk, and Udo for their support.
Best regards,
Deniz
Great blog Deniz! Thank you very much. Very valuable and innovative for our customers.
Hi Deniz,
great blog providing deep insight into the interrelation of the BW Bridge space and the native DWC spaces within DWC. One question please: You mention the ODP source system types which are leveraged to consume onprem sources for BW Bridge. What about other source system types which customer BW landscapes use as well, e.g. DBConnect, UDConnect, WebService etc... Can you also provision data into BW Bridge based on these interfaces?
Thanks a lot - Frank
No, this is not possible. The BW Bridge is the BW/4HANA Codeline and only supports ODP data sources.
Hi Frank,
thank you for your feedback!
As my colleague Glen has already answered, SAP BW bridge is only intended for ODP-based source systems (ODP-SAP, ODP-BW, ODP-CDS, and ODP-SLT). The source system must support ODP 1.0 (see SAP Note 1521883) or ODP 2.0 (see SAP Note 1931427). A Cloud Connector serves as a link between the on-premise source system and the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge tenant which is technically based on an ABAP Platform in SAP BTP. RFC is used as a protocol for data exchange between on-premise source systems and SAP BW bridge.
Other source system types such as DBConnect, and UDConnect have to be converted to SAP Smart Data Integration (SDI) and then have to be connected directly to the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (Core) environment.
Best regards,
Deniz
Excellent Blog
Excellent blog, will it allow also to access BW Planning data model and enable to do planning through remote table, without moving data in to DWC or in sap analytics cloud.
Regards,
Arvind kumar
Hi Arvind,
Many thanks for your feedback!
Add-ons are not supported in SAP BW bridge. Therefore, planning is not available within SAP BW bridge. In this regard, SAP positions SAP Analytics Cloud Planning as the planning application, and in the future (earliest end of 2022) SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (Core) as the planning foundation for the data.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hello Deniz,
Great to see the detailed write up about Bridge! Very nicely articulated!
Best Regards, Bhavani
Hi Deniz,
very valuable content, thanks for that!
Regards
-Seb.
Hi Deniz,
you can use a Calculation View generated from BW/4HANA to build an SAP DWC data model.
The Calculation Views can be found as runtime object in the SAP HANA schema SYS_BIC.
If it is a Calculation View based on a SAP BW/4HANA Composite Provider, you get automatically the master data (Nav. Attributes, Texts) delivered with it.
This saves the repeated construction of a star schema in the SAP DWC.
Otherwise, the BW/4HANA connections between the transaction data and master data in the SAP DWC would have to be reconstructed manually.
BW/4 CompositeProvider
SAP DWC Analytical Dataset
Hello Andreas,
Thank you for your input. This point is in fact just a current weakness. Here, however, it is planned that this "star schema" will also be made known to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (Core). For this purpose, SAP will probably already create associations on the remote tables, which will then also remain in place during the "Share" step. Stay tuned for the coming releases, and check out the roadmap.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Could you please elaborate on the process of Transporting/sharing New Replication flow into other SPACE within the same tenant?
Regards,
Venu.
Hi Venu,
thanks for your interest and your question.
The holistic transport management is currently planned for Q1/2024 (See Roadmap-Item). This allows than also for replication flows to use transport management between spaces to establish a single-tier landscape and ease the go-live of models.
Best regards,
Deniz
Thanks for the blog.
Does that mean BW/4HANA 1.0 and 2.0 customers have to upgrade to BW/4HANA 2021 first? I did not find anything about lower BW/4 releases in the roadmap.
Hello Daniel,
current state of planning is that we deliver the Tool supported conversion in Q1/2022 affecting BW 7.4/7.5. With Q2/2022 we plan to deliver the tool supported conversion for BW 7.3.
Please be aware that these dates are supject to change. Please check the Roadmap regular.
Thanks and Regards
-Seb.
Hello Daniel,
Thank you very much for your feedback. I hope my effort is effective and it goes down well.
Exactly, you got it right out of the blog post. This means that customers with an SAP BW/4HANA 1.0 & 2.0 will have to upgrade to SAP BW/4HANA 2021. So the prerequisite for SAP BW/4HANA migration to SAP BW bridge is SAP BW/4HANA 2021.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
thanks for this very comprehensive blog - good work!
Good work, thanks for share with us
Deniz, excellent work!
Thanks a lot for sharing this with the community.
Hi Deniz,
this is a great blog post!
Very valuable and nice to have a youtube video with the end-to-end-scenario, too.
Best wishes, Tim
Hi Deniz,
Is BW Bridge is going to replace the existing on solution BW/4 HANA in Future.
As we already have BW/4 HANA which was integrated with SAC and the BW/4 HANA can connect to Non sap sources as well.
On which type of scenarios the Business needs to go with the BW Bridge integration with DWC instead of BW/4 HANA.
Would like to understand what are the benefits of using this BW Bridge except the cloud experience.
Hi Seshupraveen,
No, the SAP BW bridge is not replacing SAP BW/4HANA. It is offering a bridge to the public cloud for our SAP BW NetWeaver or SAP BW/4HANA customers, as SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is the strategic public cloud solution. SAP BW/4HANA is the strategic offering for private cloud or on premises deployments, which is also underlined with the long-term support commitment until 2040.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz!
Thanks for a wonderful post!
And thanks for your answer about DWC vs. on-premise, it's good to know that.
I would like to discuss this further if it is possible for you. As we can see, SAP BW Bridge opens more data staging scenarios for DWC and it is actually getting closer to on-premises BW/4HANA in terms of staging capabilities, does it sound right? And having such upsides as user-driven design for data flows (among many others), I think DWC is now becoming more attractive in situations where only BW/4HANA was capable before. And as you mentioned, DWC is not a replacement for BW/4HANA, but with the BW Bridge, I think these two solutions may have similar offerings and start to compete in the sense that customers will now start to see it as a cloud vs. on-premise choice rather than DWC vs BW/4HANA choice. I guess DWC will now cover much more scenarios than DWC alone, possibly covering what was available only as a part of BW/4HANA before. Maybe I missed the point here and I'm not a marketing expert, but for SAP BW consultants it would be great to understand what companies could potentially use DWC in the coming years and what companies may migrate to the DWC to better choose the next skills to upgrade. Could you share your thoughts on that, please? For example, I imagine that maybe the banking industry will not be so quick to adopt DWC as it is a cloud solution, but many other industries would consider migration to DWC in the coming years, given the pros that DWC offers. Sorry for a bit longer question, but do you think it is something that you could comment on, please?
I would be happy if you could reply to me, but given that the question is so complicated and probably already has been answered elsewhere, I will totally understand if it will be not possible for you to answer.
Thanks & Best Regards,
Andrei
Hi Andrei,
Thank you for your feedback, and your interest.
All in all, you correctly understand the concept of SAP BW bridge. Regarding your question: SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is industry-independent, specific industries do not really stand out. Companies decide individually, whether they want to start their transformation journey towards the cloud.
Best regards,
Deniz
Excellent Blog
Great blog post Deniz, good information for all involved with DWC and our customers!
Hi Deniz,
It's a great blog about new feature in the SAP Data Warehouse world (cloud). Good content Especially the end-to-end scenario on YouTube, very helpful.
Thanks for the sharing.
Best Regards,
Zubair
Hi Deniz
thanks for your blog!
Am I interpreting figures 4 and 5 correctly, that the BW bridge is based on a separate HANA cloud instance and is not "just a space / schema" of DWC?
I have the fear that this might cause some unnecessary latency due to temporary data transfers over the network during the story execution...
Thanks and best regards
Paul
Hello Paul,
Thank you very much for your feedback. I hope the blog is helpful.
That is correct, SAP BW bridge is running on SAP HANA Cloud in a separate ABAP tenant. SAP BW bridge will be deployed to the main SAP Data Warehouse Cloud tenant, thereby enabling to access ingested data via cross-space sharing with regular SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Spaces and data.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
thanks for you blog.
I am interesting how an integration of a composite provider is working? In your demo you are using a ADSO and info-objekt data. This join is typically allready done in a composite provider.
Is there also an automatic integration? If you designed a complex data model, e.g. a composite provider with 40 part providers, 500 attributes (approx 300 nav-attributes) and 200 key figures. How should the be managed?
As you mentioned the OLAP and authorization part will be dumped. Will the OLAP and authorization part of the DWC enhanced to manage such complex scenarios as in BWMT-query designer and BW data authorizations?
Best regards, Dirk
Hello Dirk,
Thank you for your feedback and your interest.
In general, it will also be possible to access the Composite Provider of the SAP BW bridge environment. At the moment, it is not known whether and what restrictions there will be. Basically, we have included the CompositeProvider (HCPR) as a staging object in the SAP BW bridge environment for the time being. Therefore, extraction from the HCPR via remote tables will also be possible. In future, we will map the join from ADSO to the InfoObjects by declaring associations in the remote tables.
OLAP engine and OLAP-dependent functionality (e.g. analysis authorizations, query as info provider, query execution) is not supported within SAP BW bridge. This needs to be adopted within the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (Core). The functionality within SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is constantly being enhanced. Queries that are available as metadata in the SAP BW bridge environment, become available in SAP Data Warehouse by a transfer mechanism. For the next releases, keep up to date and have a look at the roadmap.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
I understand the BW Bridge is a SAP BW/4HANA system on an ABAP stack in the public cloud.
What release is it? And will it be upgraded regularly when a new SP is released for the standard onprem release?
Thanks - Frank
Hello Frank,
Thank you for your question, and your interest.
The SAP BW bridge environment is actually not just an SAP BW/4HANA system in the cloud. It is a different product, with an independent release cycle. As it is a cloud product, it regularly receives updates.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Can a Traditional DSO in BW 7.5 be migrated to SAP BW Bridge as an Advanced DSO which is then rendered as Remote Table in DWC.
Assuming we don't need to convert Traditional DSO as a ADSO as a prerequisite to start using SAP BW Bridge.
Regards,
Wayeez
Hello Wayeez,
Thank you for your question, and your interest.
SAP BW Customers will have the option in 2022 to convert their existing on-premises investments to the cloud via remote, and shell conversion. In Q1/2022 the SAP BW bridge conversion will be offered for SAP BW 7.4, and SAP BW 7.5 systems (initially as shell conversion, followed as remote conversion). With this, it is possible to convert SAP BW objects into the SAP BW bridge environment via Conversion Tools. (The classic DSO is also included).
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
a bit out of context question - Hopefully you still able to answer 🙂
I am asking myself if it is possible to write Data back from SAP DWC to a SAP BW/4HANA.
I can see pulling data from tables of the SAP DWC HANA DB via SDA, or?
And what about Pushing data from SAP DWC to the SAP BW/4HANa ...via Data Flows?
Best Regards,
Max
Hello Max,
this question isn't directly related to SAP BW bridge. But of course, I can also answer this one.
It is possible to generate a technical SAP HANA Cloud User (Space Database User) for the relevant SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Space. While creating this technical user, the authorisations of this user are also defined (Enable Read Access (SQL), Enable Write Access (SQL, DDL, & DML), etc.). The data can then be consumed via this technical user within SAP BW/4HANA using SAP Smart Data Access, or SAP Smart Data Integration. SAP Smart Data Access, and SAP Smart Data Integration utilize virtual tables so that the current status of the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud tables can be accessed within SAP BW/4HANA. The data can then be used within SAP BW/4HANA either completely virtually via an OpenODS View or persistently stored in an advanced Data Store Object.
The DataFlow object of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is not relevant for this scenario.
If you have more detailed architecture-related questions, feel free to call me. Just send me an email.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz:
Thanks for your blog.
I want to ask you about Hierarchy support in BW Bridge and DWC.
All the solutions that I have reviewed about implementing hierarchies in DWC so far, are based on importing external file as CSV or mapping CDS views, or BW Hierarchy tables. But to obtain the required structure of parent-child columns, according to the DWC design, you need to manipulate those tables and create a hierarchy view to be able to associate it to the Attributes. And in S4 and in BW4 these structures are standards.
I was hoping BW Bridge will support Infoobjects Hierarchies automatically, but I don't see it.
Is there any standard solution now or in the future for consuming BW hierarchies directly in DWC without additional modeling or importing?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Ibrahim,
thank you for your feedback and your interest.
It is possible to maintain hierarchies within the SAP BW bridge environment. We plan to make these hierarchies available via import functionality within the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Core. This means that, in addition to master data attributes, and master data texts, an InfoObject would also offer remote tables for the hierarchies in order to import them. The foundation for this is currently in development for hierarchy handling in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Stay tuned for the coming releases, and check out the roadmap.
Best regards,
Deniz
Thank you for the great video you recorded and this blog.
I am currently working at a customer implementing DWC on SAP ECC systems in combination with group reporting in S/4HANA private cloud (RISE).
Is BW bridge the only solution to make use of the delta mechanism of BW extractors on SAP Source systems? I have been looking in blogs, but found little or nothing on this matter. I can access the BW Datasources without a problem when they are activated (and ODP enabled), but I guess this only supports full loads. As an example we need Datasource 0FI_GL_4.
When is BW Bridge available and is it installed by SAP?
Hello Koen Van Dijck,
Thank you for your feedback. I'm glad you like the blog post and the video.
Data Flows in SAP Data Warehouse Core do not support deltas from ODP extractors. If remote tables are used, you can use RealTime Replication for the ODP extractor sources to achieve something similar. You can also have a look at the First Guidance Document Data Integration for ABAP Source Systems.
SAP BW bridge is already available as a greenfield approach. If a customer wants to use SAP BW bridge, a provisioning process can be triggered by SAP sales. The customer contacts Sales and the order form with the (additional) CUs then triggers the installation.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Great blog with attention to details!
With respect to greenfield approach (S/4 HANA On Premise being ERP), is there a clear documentation that addresses the dilemma "To bridge or Not to bridge"? As I understand from the first guidance document, most UPSERT compatible ODP S-API extractors and CDC based CDS extractors should work for delta extraction without a need for BW bridge. It is also stated that DWC only allows "Real-Time" delta extraction (an equivalent of streaming process chain in BW). What is the harm of relying entirely on this approach especially when SAP has made it clear that eventually all extractors will be CDS based?
Secondly, is BW bridge a stop-gap arrangement for greenfield scenario while SAP is simultaneously working on enriching the core DWC to allow seamless delta extraction of everything extractable from S/4 HANA system? If this is the case, doesn't it make sense to wait until DWC matures rather than investing in the bridge? I do understand that standalone DWC will not support ABAP runtime but apart from that, is there any benefit of investing in the bridge when DWC is maturing day by day?
Thirdly, what's the future of BW bridge, is this a temporary tool? do we see it as strategic tool that goes hand-in-hand with DWC?
Thanks,
Anup
Hi Anup,
thank you for your feedback, and your great question!
Extraction-enabled CDS views can be used directly as a source for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Core environment as an alternative to SAP BW bridge. Here it is possible to use the Real-Time Replication feature to implicitly map a delta. For CDS views in SAP S/4HANA on-premise environment, this is done via the SAP SDI ABAP adapter, and for CDS views in SAP S/4HANA Cloud environment, this is done via the SAP SDI CloudDataIntegration adapter.
If customers have extensive ODP S-API extractors in use, the recommendation here is clearly to connect them to the SAP BW bridge environment. Most ODP S-API extractors cannot be connected to the DWC using the delta procedure. The reason for this is that primary key definitions are missing. For the highly demanded extractors 0FI_ACDOCA_10 and 0FI_ACDOCA_20, it has been confirmed that a modification to the key fields RLDNR, RBUKRS, PERIV, FISCYEARPER, BELNR, DOCLN is possible (See SAP Note 2341038). In addition to the delta processing, SAP BW bridge offers SAP BW functionality directly in the public cloud, such as ABAP logic, business content, partitioning, currency conversion, aDSO-Changelog functionality, etc. SAP BW bridge also has a key role, when customers want to protect their existing investments, keep them, and convert them to the public cloud.
SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is SAP’s strategic target solution for all data warehousing use cases, and SAP BW bridge is a SAP Data Warehouse Cloud feature that provides a path to the public cloud for SAP BW NetWeaver & SAP BW/4HANA customers. SAP BW bridge will be available as long as customers integrate on-premises SAP Business Suite data in their SAP Data Warehouse.
Best regards,
Deniz
Really informative blog. Thanks
Hello Deniz
it is really helpful and informative for BW consultants.
what is the scope of ABAP in DWC?
how do we transition the ABAP customisations to DWC from BW?
Do we have predefined logics in DWC?
Hi Chiranjeevi,
thank you for your interest and feedback.
ABAP is not supported in the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Core environment. Here it is possible to develop in Python, SAP HANA SQL, and SAP HANA SQLScript.
ABAP is supported within the SAP BW bridge environment. In the future, it will be possible to convert existing ABAP coding into the SAP BW bridge environment. Customers can create ABAP code according to SAP BTP ABAP environment coding conventions for custom-logic transformations in SAP BW bridge. Application development is not supported in SAP BW bridge. Any app building should be done “natively” using the SAP BTP app development.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Really very nice blog which gives overall picture of SAP BW Bridge .
I was wondering if there is any Trial version to play with it? In Datawarehouse cloud I cannot create a space with space type ''SAP Bridge" as it seems it can be only provisioned by SAP.
Is there anything planned for BW Bridge Trial version? I wanted to connect with BW Trial (on Amazon cloud) . Pls. suggest.
Thanks,
Umesh
Hi Umesh,
Thank you for your positive feedback, and your interest.
When using the trial version of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, there are some product limitations at the moment. The SAP BW bridge feature is not available in the Low Touch Trial. This is one of the limitations, see SAP Note 3007887.
Please reach out to your account manager and request a High Touch Trial (former known as PoC), or licensed tenant to test, and execute the SAP BW bridge feature.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Excellent blog - explains this subject very well and in a very clear way. Great job
Hi Deniz,
thank you for explaining the BW Bridge concept.
Some additional questions:
Hi Bartlomiej,
thank you for your interest and your feedback.
Best regards,
Deniz
.
Hi Deniz,
Great and very informative blog here. I have the following questions after reading the whole blog if you could perhaps comment on the same.
Thanks
Best Regards
Shoaib
Hi Shoaib,
thanks for your feedback, and your interest.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Thanks Deniz for the clarity. Appreciate it
hi Deniz Osoy
regarding 1: Embedded BWs are BW 7.5x where x is > 0 - so e.g. 7.55 or 7.54.
As far as I know they are not supported for the conversion tools into BW/4 so I would be surprised if this would have changed. Could you maybe recheck this?
Thanks and best regards
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thank you for your remark. Any SAP BW system that exists "inside" an SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA system is considered an Embedded SAP BW, regardless of the version (This is valid since release 7.0). Therefore if you have software component SAP_BW installed along with SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA, it is an Embedded SAP BW no matter its version. The difference here is that versions 7.51+ have specific functionalities to be used along with SAP ECC or SAP S/4HANA, which older versions do not. See SAP Note 2773651 for details.
An embedded SAP BW system Release 7.50 & 7.51 can be used as a sender system for a conversion towards SAP BW bridge.
If the embedded SAP BW has a release > 7.51, then there are no coding fixes provided by the SAP support team. This means that the existing conversion tasklists in the sender system are no longer updated after delivery (SP0). A conversion towards SAP BW bridge with an embedded BW system > 7.51 is not possible, as the corresponding functionality is not available. If the embedded BW system is Release > 7.51, a possible recommendation would be to transfer the objects to a standalone sandbox SAP BW 7.50 system via a transport request, and to use this system as the sender system.
Best regards,
Deniz
Thanks for your detailed reply, Deniz!
Hi Deniz!
Excellent blog, and very clear information. I would like to ask you some questions, hopefully is not lat for it 🙂
Today, we are currently in BW (7.5) on HANA (2) on promise. with low performance because of size, complexity and not fully LSA++ development (we still have some 3.x objects). The idea is to get more than an simple 1:1 migration (using BW4 conversion tool), so basically we need optimization and re-engineering of most of our flows, so the conclusion is that we would like to go green fields, ...so the question are:
1- With the BW Bridge, it is possible to migrate some flows, in order to save at least the staging area, MD, etc.?
2- If not, it is possible to create a high complexity dataflows using SAP DWC, or because of this complexity, is better to re-build the solution in BW4 cloud instance?
3- If (once SAP release the migration option) we move some flows to SAP DWC, what would happens with the security around it? (roles/analytical privileges already created)
Thank you very much for all the information, and thank you in advance for answering the questions 😉
Best regards,
Lucas
Hi Lucas,
thanks for your feedback and your interest.
Attention regarding your 3.X objects: The Transfer Cockpit is not able to convert legacy 3.x data flows (originating in SAP BW systems before release 7.0). Such 3.x data flows must be migrated to corresponding 7.x data flows before a conversion to objects compatible with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, SAP BW bridge is possible. As soon as 3.X objects are in use in any way, these objects must be converted (RSMIGRATE) to 7.X objects, and can then be converted to the SAP BW bridge environment.
Regarding strategic positioning, we would have to analyze your system to see whether SAP Data Warehouse Cloud or SAP BW/4HANA Private Cloud Edition (PCE) makes sense. A general recommendation is not possible.
https://blogs.sap.com/2021/09/23/introducing-remote-authorizations-from-sap-bw-4hana-for-sap-data-warehouse-cloud/
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz!
Excellent blog!
I was wondering when remote conversion will be available for 7.4/7.5BW system. At the moment I see only shell conversion is available.
Finally, I have searched thoroughly but have not found any precise instruction about the stesp to follow for a shell conversion and for a remote one, in case of migration from 7.5BW environment to DWC.
Any answer would be apreciated.
Regards,
Stefano
Hello Stefano,
Thank you for your feedback and interest.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hello Deniz,
thanks a lot for this great blog!
Best regards
Stephan
Hello,
I have a couple of doubts,
Does it possible to do extractions filtered from bw to dwc? for example, extract data dynamically (current_date -1 or other kind of rules)
Does it possible use delta extractions?
Regards
Ramón Sánchez.
Hi Ramón,
thanks for your question and your interest.
Attention: Customers can select existing values only. No dynamic filtering such as "last 3 years" is supported at the moment. (See SAP Help). As a workaround, you could create an SQL view within SAP DWC Core that includes an expression "CURRENT_DATE - 1" in your case.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz
Thanks for such a fantastic blog. I have a couple of questions and confirmation from your and community expertise.
Thanks
Lakshmi
Hi Lakshmi,
thanks for your feedback and your interest.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Thanks for sharing the information.
How do we address below issues :-
Regards
PA
Hi Prafful,
thanks for your feedback and your interest.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz ,
Thanks for your quick response .
Regarding Point-2 --> While reviewing the BW bridge here , I can view multiple BW bridge space available in same tenant .how is it possible? Are these referring it to same source connection ? Refer snapshot :-
Customer may have scenario like :-
(A) Source connection -- > S4HANA , ERP & BW
(B) Each source Connection have 3 tier landscape - DEV , QAS , PROD
How the above scenario can be handed with single/Multiple BW Bridge space ?
Regards
PA
Hi Prafful,
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Thanks for your help.
Based on your reply on Point-2, I have follow-up queries & sought clarification as follows :-
Regards
PA
Hi Prafful,
If you have more detailed landscape-related questions, feel free to call me. Just send me an email.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Great Blog.
I have couple of doubts. I really appreciate if you can help me here.
BW bridge means, customers have to have BW and DWC licenses at the same time ?
Bridge is a middleware which helps to expose your existing BW investments to public cloud DWC ?
Is there anyway to convert existing BW system to DWC completely so that customers need not pay for BW anymore ? Something like a system conversion with SAP supported tool sets.
Regards
Githen
Hi Githen,
thanks for your feedback and your interest.
A dedicated blog post is now available, see Conversion to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud: Conversion Paths and Cloud Transformation Steps.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
First of all thanks for sharing the valuable information. I have few questions please:
Regards
Hi Kamal,
thanks for your feedback and your interest. If you have conversion-related topics, check out also SAP blog post Conversion to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud: Conversion Paths and Cloud Transformation Steps.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz Osoy
Could you please tell me if the ABAP Pipeline Engine extension should be by default installed in BW/4?
I noticed that some of the FMs listed for the BW (RFC based) connection which are a part of the ABAP Pipeline Engine are not available in BW4.
Kind regards,
Sebastian
Hi Sebastian,
the ABAP Pipeline Engine (APE) component is delivered via the DMIS add-on. For SAP BW/4HANA, DMIS 2018 SP06 or higher is required. So no, it is not available by default. In fact, there are APE components in SAP_ABA, but they are already technically outdated. For more information, check out this blog post by my colleagues: ABAP Integration – Software Delivery & Installation Aspects.
Best regards,
Deniz
Thanks!
Hi
Is there any sap basis technical prerequisite in term of minimal supported SAP ECC release and Sap support packadge for SAP ECC on premise system for connection and integration to SAP DWC/BW BRIDGE? ( For use sap ECC extractor and so on in bw bridge dwc) . If yes there is a sap help or sap oss note with this prerequisites?
Thanks in advance
Best regards
Hi Antonio,
thanks for your interest and your question.
You can use Operational Data Provisioning (ODP) to connect an SAP system as the source system to SAP BW Bridge. The DataSources must be released for data provisioning using Operational Data Provisioning. For information about releasing SAP DataSources and customer-defined DataSources for Operational Data Provisioning, see SAP Note 2232584.
SAP systems that provide DataSources for SAP BW Bridge using the Operational Data Provisioning Framework must have at least one of the following release levels:
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi
in our BW on premise system we use BW OPEN HUB daily to exract files for data integration with thirdy party system (CCH Tagetik) , we extract a CSV file and then a thirdy party system connector load the file to the thirdy party system.
or in SAP BW BRIDGE ?
2. Another question : in term of licensing implication extraction from bw to thirdy party system the BW open hub license cover this type of access... from SAP DWC or BW BRIDGE the possibility to extract file to integrate thirdy party system ( non SAP ) is included in licensing ? I hope yes
Best regards
Hi Claudio,
thanks for your question and your interest.
In SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, it is not possible to proactively write the data automatically to a CSV file, however, this can be done manually. As an automated workaround it is possible to generate a technical SAP HANA Cloud User (Space Database User) for the relevant SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Space. While creating this technical user, the authorisations of this user are also defined (Enable Read Access (SQL), Enable Write Access (SQL, DDL, & DML), etc.). The data can then be consumed via this technical user within any 3rd party tool. SAP BW Bridge data, on the other hand, cannot be accessed directly and has to be accessed via SAP DWC Core. In terms of licensing, this is simply fine.
Kind regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Can you confirm that you are talking about ODBC data protocol and the related help is this --> Consume Data in a Third-Party BI Client
I see that DWC can also expose data trought ODATA but i'm not sure that this protocol is usable for thirdy party systems, because in this forum Using the Data Warehouse Cloud OData API with SAP Analytics Cloud it is written that
this possiblity is in roadmap but I don't know if today there is this possibility. I see also this SAP help and is not clear if ODATA is only limited to Sap Analitycs cloud.
Can you explain me ?
Can you confirm that there aren't other way to expose data at now ?
Best regards!
Hi Claudio,
Correct. With the technical SAP HANA Cloud User (Space Database User) I refer to the ODBC data protocol option.
In general, an alternative the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud OData APIs can be used to search and replicate data via APIs following the OData version 4 standard. For detailed information, see API Business Hub for SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Attention: This approach requires that the target application can handle OData V4 with authentication type: OAuth Authorization Code. This blog post by my colleague Olaf Fischer shows as an example how Microsoft Power BI can process SAP Data Warehouse Cloud data using the APIs.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi,
so as I understood from your answer , today the ODATA APIs ,(described in this SAP Help --> Browse Data via the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Public APIs ) , can be used not only from Sap Analitycs cloud system but also from thirdy party systems ?
Best regards
Hi Claudio,
Yes, you got it right. Of course, under the condition that the target application can handle OData version 4 standard.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Very informative. Thank you for sharing.
Regards,
Gnana Sri Durga Paruchuri
Hi Deniz,
I reckon in your post you seem to have mentioned that BW 7.4 is not supported for conversion to SAP Data Warehouse cloud. The Conversion Guide from SAP does not state the same. Would you please be able to confirm.
Also, may you please be able to confirm that if we move using Shell conversion from SAP BW 7.4 SP16 to SAP Data Warehouse cloud latest version would we lose all our BW queries and will have to rework on them by making use of SAC stories.
Lastly, apparently simplification list and conversion guide using Remote conversion seems to be unavailable at the moment. Are you aware by when these documents will be available?
Regards
Saket
Hi Saket,
thank you for your interest and questions. We have a dedicated conversion blog post, regarding your questions, you might be interested in that too: Conversion to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud: Conversion Paths and Cloud Transformation Steps.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Thanks for your prompt response!
There is a wealth of information in your point 2. I will appreciate if you could clarify my below written doubts:-
In point 2 you have mentioned 'This needs to be adopted within the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (Core)' - Do you mean here the adoption at SAP Data Warehouse cloud(Core) as mentioned in the attachment below? Also let me know if it is mandatory to be at BW/4HANA to have such adoption possible or even being at BW 7.4 is okay.
Getting Started with SAP Data Warehouse Cloud | SAP Help Portal
In point 2 you have mentioned 'It is planned that Queries that are available as metadata in the SAP BW bridge environment, become available in SAP Data Warehouse by a transfer mechanism'
Could you again confirm that this is applicable to BW 7.4 as well and not just BW/4HANA.
I am asking these question for both scenarios mentioned in your point 2 because I want to ensure that when we migrate from BW 7.4 -> DWC we are able to make use of BW queries that are already created.
Regards
Saket
Hi Saket,
technically, the query import of transferred queries from the SAP BW Bridge environment to SAP DWC Core will have no relation to the SAP BW/4HANA Model Transfer, so an SAP BW/4HANA is not essential for this. Conceptually, however, the two features are very similar. We will provide more detailed information on the procedure soon. Yes, queries that have been transferred from an SAP BW 7.4 system via the conversion tool to SAP BW Bridge can then also be used as a foundation. However, as already mentioned, there will be a few limitations. Regarding the limitations for the query import, you can orientate yourself on the limitations for the SAP BW/4HANA model transfer, see SAP Note 2932647. The functionality of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is constantly being expanded, so we aim to reduce the limitations in the future.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Saket,
just for your info. We have now published a dedicated blog post on this topic, see Entity Import & Model transfer for single query – SAP BW bridge.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi
Is there any sap basis technical prerequisite in term of minimal supported SAP ECC release and Sap support package for SAP ECC on premise system for direct connection and integration to SAP DWC ( without using BW BRIDGE ) ? Example for consuming ECC remote table
Thanks in advance
Hi Claudio,
thanks for your question and your interest.
To connect Remote Tables to ABAP based systems with DWC Core, currently SAP HANA Smart Data Integration and the Data Provisioning Agent are used. Please find more information here. The ABAP adapter retrieves data from virtual tables through RFC for ABAP tables and ODP extractors. The SAP ABAP Adapter is a client to functions delivered via modules that are delivered via PI_BASIS. Extra coding was required in order for these functions to support RAW and/or STRING data types. The valid PI_BASIS releases are listed in the Support Packages and Patches section of SAP Note 2166986. (Please note that these functions were originally developed for SAP Data Services. Ignore references to the SAP Data Services version; all references in this SAP Note relevant to PI_BASIS apply to all SAP HANA smart data integration versions.)
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Thank you very muck for your answer, very clear
Another question:
I See that is possible to connect one or more Microsoft SQL server Database instance ( thirdi party productS - not SAP instance ) located in my internal network to SAP Data wharehouse Cloud for read and import some table from this SQL DBs to SAP Data wharehouse cloud using SAP DP agent .
Actually i have connected this MS SQL databases ( that are MS SQL SERVER EXPRESS EDITION ) to our SAP BW on premise with DB connect in RSA1 tcode and it work fine.
My question is : does DP agent support SQL SERVER EXPRESS EDITION or only enterprise edition as source DB system ? in my searches i found that only real-time replication probably is not supported without enterprise version of MS SQL server, but the other way of read data from SQL SERVER EXPRESS EDITION for import in SAP DWC seems are possible because not denied.
Can you confirm this for sure is technically possible ?
I also undestand that if i don't want to expose my SQL DB directly to internet i can use SAP CLOUD CONNECTOR in the middle between SAP DWC and my SQL SERVER DATABASEs.
Can you confirm is possible ?
thanks in advance
Best regards!
Hello Claudio,
Thank you for your question and your interest. Actually, I am not an expert regarding MS SQL Server, but from my side I can give you the following answers:
#1 As far as I know, SAP does not support MS SQL Server Express edition in general via SDI. We do not test and certify the connection to MS SQL Server Express edition. In the SDI PAM documentation there is nothing specifically mentioned about the Express edition. So, please log an incident via SAP Support Portal and request information on support of MS SQL Server Express edition via SDI.
#2 Regarding the Cloud Connector, you are not completely right. If the DP Agent is installed in the same private corporate network as the MS SQL Server, there is no need to expose the MS SQL Server to the Internet.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi
Thank you vm for your answer.
Looking in SAC and DWC tenant i see that there is no the possibility to customize user password policy, i mean i see that SAC an DWC use SAP cloud Identity porvider to authenticate users. ... so i search for any documentation for password policy in SAC and DWC but i only found OSS note 2856530 that write that password policy are not configurable and , the worst thing, is that user password never expire !!! I think this is not compliance with international password policy rules... so please can you tell me if i'm wrong or if there is any possibility to configure these policies for SAC and DWC ?
thank you
Best regards
Hi Claudio,
thanks for your interest in our solutions.
By default, SAP Cloud Identity Authentication is used by SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud also supports single sign-on (SSO), using your identity provider (IdP). In your custom IdP you can configure of course whatever you want. A custom identity provider is a separate solution, like for example Azure AD, and is not part of SAP Analytics Cloud or SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Therefore the change in configuration is to be applied directly in the solution, not within SAP Analytics Cloud or SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. Also no access to SAP Analytics Cloud or SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is required to make the change, only an access to the Identity Provider, eg Azure AD.
Best regards,
Deniz
HI
thank you for your rensponse.
I'm really amazed by this lack of sap security aspect..
Do you know why SAP has chosen this password non-expiration policy since it is insecure as indicated in all the international guidelines? Do you know if SAP has a roadmap to implement it in the near future?
thank you
best regards
Hello Claudio,
Thank you for the hint. There is an option for DB users to set a validity period, see this video. Indeed, not yet for the general SAP DWC user. However, we have this as a requirement on our feature list.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Your blogs and videos are very informative, thank you for that. I have a question on greenfield scenario.
In Figure 5- Architecture of End-to-End Greenfield scenario, there is mention of SAP BW Bridge. Is it mandatory to have SAP BW Bridge for end-to-end greenfield scenarios? If not, please share link/diagram where I can go through the architecture for the greenfield scenario? My understanding so far- SAP BW Bridge is required when we migrate meta/transactional data from BW 7.5 and higher to DWC.
Regards
Ajay
Hi Ajay,
Thank you for your feedback and your interest.
Figure 5 is indeed about the greenfield scenario with regards to SAP BW Bridge. This offers our customers to leverage their existing SAP BW (On-Premises) skills and to build new use cases in the Public Cloud. Here we are providing e.g. Enterprise-ready staging layers of SAP BW for managing data loading with partitioning, monitoring, error handling or Connectivity & Business Content via proven SAP BW-based data integration (Extractors) from SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA.
Of course, it is possible to implement a greenfield use case in SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Core context without SAP BW Bridge.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Great to see tons of your patience to answer single handedly all the questions asked above. Appreciate your efforts.
We are planning to initiate DWC remote conversion approach from 7.4 Oracle to DWC Bridge soon. Currently we are in prepare phase. For one of the scenarios we need your help
Post migrating BW objects to DWC bridge, do we need to maintain all the data(migrated from BW 7.4 and daily loads) for ADSOs both in BW bridge and DWC spaces?
Also, when source system is connected to ECC, how to replicate daily deltas from BW bridge space to DWC core space. Can you please elaborate little?
Thanks
Poshan
Hi Poshan,
thanks for your feedback and your question.
In general, the SAP BW Bridge data is accessed from SAP DWC Core via remote tables, which means that there is initially no need to replicate the data. If required, however, a snapshot procedure (Data Replication) can currently be scheduled (like a full load). For the future, we are also planning a delta load including real-time replication between SAP DWC Core and SAP BW Bridge. See this Blog Post by my colleague for more information about the modelling approach between SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Core and SAP BW bridge.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi Deniz,
Another question do we have to buy separate license or spin new tenant for Dev or Q environments or will SAP provide DEV/Q environment with minimum storage and compute capacities?
Please advise
Thanks
Poshan
Hi Poshan,
thanks for your interest in our strategic data warehousing offering in the public cloud.
Non-productive tenants for Dev or Q environments have to be licensed separately and are available at attractive conditions. Please reach out to your SAP account team for assistance and more detail.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi
is there a guide or a best practice to integrate SAP DWC with SAP C4C ?
I suppose via odata ( c4c expose data - dwc read and load data - sac expose data for end users ) but i can't find a SAP help/guide or SAP note or a SAP forum that explain the various steps to do in SAP C4C and in SAP DWC to integrate data.
Thank you in advance
regards
Hi Claudio,
thanks for your interest.
I don't have a guide for this. On the C4C side, a technical user needs to be provided and OData needs to be activated. For the OData API V2 documentation - here is something (I'm not a C4C expert, so I can't describe the procedure there). On the DWC side, the connection can generally be established via the generic OData connection. To do so, I use version V2 at my customer and as Authentication Type User Name And Password.
Best regards,
Deniz
The data warehouse cloud becomes a sphere, a data sphere. Next step crystal ball? I like meatballs. Remember: only a Fosbury Flop is a Fosbury Flop.
Hi Marcus,
SAP Datasphere, the next generation of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, is a comprehensive data service. So, existing SAP Data Warehouse Cloud tenants transitioned to SAP Datasphere. We’ve kept all the powerful capabilities of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud and added newly available data integration, data cataloging, and semantic modeling features, and plan to deliver enhancements and new features as part of the product roadmap.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi
I'm searching for officially backup/restore policy and procedure used By SAP for SAP Analytics cloud and SAP DATASPHERE ; while i found for SAP Analytics cloud the OSS note "3026603 - Backup Process for SAP Analytics Cloud" , instead i found nothing about the SAP DATASPHERE !
Can you give me detail or reference regarding SAP DATASPHERE Backup/restore SAP policy and procedure ?
Thnak you in advance
Best regards,
Hi Claudio Rossi
As far as i'm aware High Availability, as well as Disaster Recovery, and Backup / Restore requests (inc. rollback ) are not supported yet, and are not offered as part of the standard service.
So Datasphere doesn't explicitly offer HA or DR, but it is a capability of the underlying infrastructure.
Usual principles likely apply like: Full snapshot taken daily, change logs backed-up every hour, with a retention period of 30 days.
In the event of a disaster, the recovery point and time objective is usually termed as 'best commercially-reasonable effort'.
As always, SAP will refer back to its SLA guarantees specified in the cloud contract (99.75%). Any emergency cloud ops request should be handled through Product Support with a P1 Very High ticket.
Kind regards,
Henry
p.s. Deniz Osoy please keep me honest here!
Hi Claudio,
Thank you for the interesting question. I agree with what my colleague Henry already wrote. Thank you Henry Banks.
The SLAs specified in the contract are guaranteed and applied by SAP centrally. Please check the SAP Cloud Service Level Agreements. High Availability with SLA of 99,9% or 99,95% as well as Disaster Recovery and Backup and Restore are not supported yet. This is also outlined in the Service Repository However, since the underlying technology is SAP HANA Cloud, see also this SAP-Help page. So, we should be able to get back to a state within 15 minutes of the error occurring. You can also get information about the backup of the tenant in the SAP HANA Cloud Cockpit of it. We cannot see the SAP Datasphere repository database backup and recovery, we still have this information split over two systems. Which is also why a rollback request by a specific customer for a SAP Datasphere tenant is at the moment not a standard service.
Best regards,
Deniz
Roberto
Hello Roberto,
Thank you for your interest.
I can confirm your research and understanding of shell and remote conversion. All correct. However, there is no general answer to your question. The type of conversion depends very much on the number of objects, the organisational structure, the need for optimisation and the effort required. Please contact our SAP service colleagues or send me an email (deniz.osoy@sap.com) so that we can analyse your system and advise you on the best type of conversion. You might also want to check out our Conversion blog post.
Best regards,
Deniz
Hi
we are planning a shell conversion of our SAP BW 7.4 to SAP Datasphere.
As mentioned in oss note 3141688, the execution of SAP BW Note Analyzer in SAP BW (sending system for shell conversion) is a prerequisites for installing the Transfer Cockpit for a transfer scenarios because a set of SAP Notes must be applied in the system.
The same procedure (execution SAP BW Note Analyzer and installation of all required SAP Notes) must be done also in SAP ECC (source systems of SAP BW) ? Or is it not necessary because this checks in the source system are executed by the program SAP BW Note Analyzer executed (se38) only in SAP BW that reach ERP source system via RFC?
Thanks in advance.
Best regards.
Hi Claudio,
thanks for your interest and your question.
Yes, you have to install the SAP BW Note Analyzer also in the source systems. The tool does not do any checks in the source systems via RFC. For detailed information see SAP Note 3141688. Here you need to download the attachment "SAP_Bridge_Transfer_Note_Analyzer_YYYY-MM-DD.zip" and install Source_System_for_SAP_BW4HANA_[last_update].xml
Feel free to check out also our Conversion Blog Post.
Best regards,
Deniz