HANA and Business Objects = Permanent Marriage?

[Former Member]

I need some feedback on what direction SAP is going. I do understand that HANA will kill BW slowly, it makes sense that the future is HANA.

I know reporting can't be don't in HANA (only can preview data).

3 Questions:

1. So does this mean Business Objects and HANA will have a permanent marraige? What I mean by marraige is that HANA won't replace or overlap with BO?

2. Whenever I see HANA job openings, 90% of the time Business Object experience is a required, why so?

3. Career-wise, will future jobs require developer to be responsible for HANA and BO? What I mean is, will companies want an individual with both HANA and BO experience? (future jobs require individual to be involved in both HANA and BO).

[former_member182277 · Accepted solution]

Hello Mic,

1. Today, if you want to do reporting on SAP HANA then you need the BI4.0 for  surely.

For HANA kill SAP BW,

Please find the below links:

http://scn.sap.com/thread/1959085

http://www.bluefinsolutions.com/insights/blog/is_netweaver_bw_really_dead_and_was_it_really_killed_b...

Hope it is useful.

Regards,Neha

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply Neha.

I'm trying to figure out if a HANA developer needs Business Objects experience for future job positions?

I'm currently getting HANA training, and also plan on getting Business Objects training, I was wondering if HANA experience if enough to get a job as a HANA developer or BO is vital to be a HANA developer?

[former_member182277 · Accepted solution]

Hello Mic,

See, its purely depend on you. If you are a HANA developer, value of your is not less in the market because there is lot many things that HANA developer know but BO folk don't know. If you are getting trained on the both then its good. See, knowing Database is different and knowing front end tool is different. Each technology has its own value but the point is you know the technology very well.

So, don' worry you will not lose your job...

Regards,Neha

[hai_murali_here · Accepted solution]

Hi Mic,

When you talk about HANA and BO,both are there for different purpose.

In HANA itself,there are different target jobs like

Data Provisioning,Data Modeling and DB Administration.Each one is again a vast area.When you learn about HANA,you will be trained in all these areas(based on the course you opted for).

BO is for reporting purpose.So if you know HANA with BO,its like an added advantage.If you know only HANA, you still have a huge market value.And learning BO is not a nightmare,it's just an other (front end) layer.

Rgds,Murali

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you Neha and Murali.

I do have couple of questions:

1) I want to be a HANA developer, that's my career choice. But should I learn BO or it's really not needed?

2) Is it practical for me to learn HANA and BO or is it too much and not necessary?

3) How hard is HANA compared to BW (much easier, easier, same, harder, very hard)?

4) How hard is BO compared to BW (much easier, easier, same, harder, very hard)?

5) Which is easier, HANA or BO?

[former_member184768 · Accepted solution]

Hi Mic,

It is also important to check how the HANA journey is progressing. It was mentioned that SAP is in process if merging SAP BW and HANA. Which means more and more feature of BW will be made available in HANA (like there could be an object like DSO). With this, there would be a need to retain the BW skills 🙂

Secondly SAP is really pushing hard for BO. In the HANA training, they mentioned BO as the primary reporting toolset, but also mentioned that other front end tools are supported.

Now depending on the reporting tools scenarios at different organizations, it will be decided on which front end tool skillset will be required. My feel is BO will be required as it will be tightly integrated with HANA so it is advisable to pick up BO skillset.

Secondly HANA and BO are two different tools. HANA is the data warehousing tool which contains the data (Data persistence) and BO are the front end tools (also the ETL tools).

In the nutshell, pick up both to boost up your career growth.

Ravi

[former_member182277 · Accepted solution]

Hello Mic,

1. See, Learning BO is not very tough, if you have knowledge about BO then it is really good as you will be able to see your report by using front end how your report look like. I you can validate also what you develop is as per requirement or not. So, if you don't know BO that doesn't impact but if you know that is the plus point in your career.

2. yes, it is practical. I also learn HANA and BO together.

3. According to my point of view, HANA is easier than BW.

4. According to my point of view, BO is easier than BW beacuse it is a front end tool.

5. I can rank both as a "same".

At last, this information is vary from person to person, how can they rate the technologies and moreover each technology has its over pros and cons. So, at the end its purely depend on you.

HANA is a Database, BW is the Data warehouse tool and BO is the front end tool So, you cannot compare them.

Regards,

Neha

[hai_murali_here · Accepted solution]

Ok, Here to go...

1) BO is not needed for an HANA Developer as its only about Reporting Tools(Universe,Dashboard,Crystal,WebI etc),but you can learn it later as its a widely used reporting layer for HANA

2.Learn HANA first as its new and upcoming technology,BO you can learn later also

3.From Data Modeling perspective HANA is more user friendly compare to BW

4.BO is for reporting and you can't compare BO with BW,but if you have BW knowledge the learning process of HANA will be quicker.

5.Both have their own difficulties to learn.

As a HANA trainer,my recommendation would be,learn HANA and learn how you can report on HANA using BO tools.

There are few tools which you can report on HANA like IDT,WebI,Explorer,Dashboard and CR.You can learn with the scope of how you can connect to HANA DB and create reports out of it.Because these tools are not only for HANA and they can be used even for other data bases as well.So you can learn these tools in a perspective of reporting only on HANA DB.

Rgds,Murali

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

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[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

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[Former Member]

Thanks everyone, you guys have been a great help! Few Questions.

Ravindra - Picking up both seems ideal but don't you feel it might be too much? I don't know how vast HANA and BO are but I'm worried I'll be overwhelmed. Should I be worried? (I have 4 years ABAP/4 and 1 year BI experience).

Neha - Can you please share your experience. Why did you learn both HANA and BO? Was it easy to learn or did you struggle? Can you tell me what your career goal is in the future...HANA Developer, BO Developer, or both?

Murali - Where do you train HANA (ex. online)? Everyday or weekends? HANA access available? Can you give me more info about the training, I might be interested because the one I'm taking now is not doing so well.

Rama - Thanks for post. It seems at this point BO is vital to improve a person chances as a HANA developer. I was hoping to stick to one technology and became a master at it and not overwhelm myself. Like HANA modeling & architect. I know we won't know now, I'm just curious if future companies will separate the HANA developers from BO developers?

[hai_murali_here]

Hi Mic,

I do train people in India and its on Weekdays(Two day training).This is a Classroom training and not Online.

For more details about training you can visit

https://training.sap.com/in/en/course/tzhana-sap-in-memory-appliance-sap-hana-10-classroom-096-in-en...

Rgds,Murali

[former_member182277]

Hello Mic,

I am interested in both backend and frontend. So, I learn the both.

I have attended the bootcamp in bangalore for three days. In that they cover both HANA and BO.

So, I am able to use both.

Regards,Neha

[former_member184768]

Hi Mic,

HANA is just coming up so I am sure there will be quite some time for you to pick up the HANA skills. So along with HANA learning, I think you should then focus on the BO front end.

This forum is a great place to learn HANA and as it is mentioned, you should attend the trainings (but don't expect much from it, I am HANA trained and certified by SAP, but still there is much to learn) as mentioned by Murali.

BO training will be helpful for you to pick up the basics and then you can learn on the job and the knowledge sharing options like this forum.

Hope this helps.

Ravi

[Former Member]

Hi Murali,

As you are a certified SAP HANA trainer, I am asking you this question

I am a Java developer having 2 years of experience and I would like to move into SAP HANA .

How about the job opportunities for HANA consultants in India ? ( Especially Bangalore).

Regards,

Vivek

[Former Member]

Hi All,

Reg. BO and HANA  :

Are you currently working on a project using both front/end tools ( BO and HANA) ? If yes, Could you please explain me how HANA is being used as ? I mean , are you using it for administration? or development tool or database tool ?

I am confused with SAP HANA because of its vast complexity structure.

[Former Member]

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[rama_shankar3]

Hi Mic:

Welcome to the SAP HANA World! You are not alone!

  Here are my thoughts on your question/s:

Also read my write-up@ http://www.sendspace.com/filegroup/u1AO5NidaMTYSD49JoHsjg

Q:  I need some feedback on what direction SAP is going. I do understand that HANA will kill BW slowly, it makes sense that the future is HANA.

Ans:  HANA is a data mart and BW will remain as an EDW. However, SAP HANA will replace / super cede (in your words - Kill)  BWA.

Q I know reporting can't be don't in HANA (only can preview data).

The basic reporting can be done using Microsoft Excel 2007 or later version or any ODBC or JDBC compliant front-end.

3 Questions:

1. 1. So does this mean Business Objects and HANA will have a permanent marraige? What I mean by marraige is that HANA won't replace or overlap with BO?  The SAP recommended front-end toolset other than excel for SAP HANA is SAP BI 4.x (aka BO). This does not mean that there is any direct dependencies between SAP HANA and SAP BI4x.

For i.e: SAP HANA can be independently deployed in a non-SAP customer site and can be used purely for high volume in-memory, MPP exploiting purposes. The front-end can be any ODBC / JDBC complaint front-end. Note: SAP will not officially support such implementations as of now. I do not recommend this because there are long-term implications when it comes to technical IT compliance and regulatory reasons.

1. 2. Whenever I see HANA job openings, 90% of the time Business Object experience is a required, why so?  SAP BI4x and 3.x customers are usually looking for performance improvements and tend to look at SAP HANA for performance boost to their existing reports. Most of the employers prefer to always have multi-skilled employee / contractor. Gone are the days when only one skill is good enough to work;retire...we are all challenged with learning newer marketable skills...so it is always good to know more tools .
2. 3. Career-wise, will future jobs require developer to be responsible for HANA and BO? What I mean is, will companies want an individual with both HANA and BO experience? (future jobs require individual to be involved in both HANA and BO). The SAP HANA market is in the process of maturing so we will have to wait and see...

   Cheers,

Rama