Do we still need BW with Suite on Hana?

[Former Member]

So, we are a small company, 500 users, with a single ECC 6.0 instance and SAP BW, Enterprise Portal 7.3.1 for several years and recently BI 4.1,

We are planning to start project for Suite on Hana.  And the question, like many, is will we still need BW?  Our ECC system is 1.3TB with data back to 2007 and BW is about 500GB.

If we were directed to report directly on ECC, what would be the trade offs?  We currently use bex web, some webi, dashboards(excelcius) and starting to work with Design Studio 1.3.  We don't have BPC and have considered BW Integrated Planning to allow for better what if scenarios in analytics.

How do others plan to answer this question? I know... it depends, but I am looking for others that can provide their experience and thoughts on how to answer this question to our executives.

Sincere Thanks!

Lee Lewis

[henrique_pinto · Accepted solution]

Hi Lee,

the point is what you're using BW for.

If your primary use of BW was just as a operational report repository for your SAP applications  (ERP, CRM, SRM, APO etc.), then you're right, BW is not needed anymore, since with native HANA Live delivering real time operation reports on top of the transactional data, that's a much better design.

However, if you're really talking about your enterprise-wide data warehouse strategy, where you might have data coming from several sources and where you're going to maintain your corporate historic data for legal & financial reports for longs period of time, then yes, BW (even more, HANA BW) is the way to go.

Best,
Henrique.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Henrique

I think you are right on point with operational reporting in Hana Live and historic, and consolidated data in BW.  Like many, we have leaned on BW to provide operational reporting because it could not be executed and presented effectively in ECC before Hana.  Our business is SD centric and we are typically only concerned about the current year and maybe last year.  We just started using SAP CRM and do not have other external datasources, yet.

But what I hope to avoid is creating a Z program and Z table quasi data warehouse in ECC on Hana.  We have cases of that now in ECC before BW and it requires lots of  ABAP and reliance on Sapgui to present it which we are trying to move away from desktop clients. Of course, now we can use Design Studio to Hana which gives us more options.

Anyway, I guess the only way to know is to go through it.

Lastly, this is the kind of article I get from our CEO and CIO questioning why we need BW if we buy Suite on Hana. http://www.news-sap.com/memory-created-equal/

I realize that there is salesmanship involved and competition with other vendors, but we continue to get mixed messages on the future of BW.  Key points in this SAP article from Steve Lucas

“In-memory technology, specifically SAP HANA, is about three things:

• Consolidating transactional processing (OLTP) and analytics (OLAP) into one data model (eliminating unnecessary copies of data)
• Dramatically reducing the number of server products required to build enterprise applications (down to one in most instances (e.g. SAP HANA)
• Removing complexity from enterprise IT architectures to run existing applications more efficiently and yes, faster

Why would you want to consolidate transactional and analytic data/processing into one data store? Because it’s more efficient and doesn’t need the same level of administration and support …. “

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

SAP offering HANA Live training classes starting Aug 04, 2 day virtual.

HA900 - SAP HANA Live | SAP Training and Certification Shop

[henrique_pinto · Accepted solution]

Hi Lee,

I think the best proof that BW as a tool for SAP's Data Warehousing strategy is alive and will be there for a long time is that it is still being leveraged on SAP's newest application architecture which is sFIN (Smart Financials, introduced by Hasso's Key Note at SAPPHIRE this year).

Notice for instance the new Smart Cash Management application.

It's completely based on BW-modeled objects.

The difference is that BW here is not a separate box but rather embedded in the same ERP instance (embedded BW architecture), but from a modeling perspective, it's a normal BW implementation like any other, following the LSA++ architectural paradigm.

You can find the list of BW objects present in SFIN's Smart Cash Management in help.sap.com.

Here are some examples (and you can browse the others):

Cash Position - BI Content for SAP Smart Cash Management - SAP Library

Cash Position Line Item - BI Content for SAP Smart Cash Management - SAP Library

SAP stating that OLAP+OLTP is the way to go and that data replication is not necessary anymore by no means is equivalent to saying that BW is dead. BW as a separate box is probably not gonna exist anymore in a while, but BW modeling capabilities & tools are still the de-facto SAP's DW tooling that is still being leveraged even in our newest applications. BW 7.4 virtual modeling capabilities (OpenODS, Composite Providers, ODP-SLT new data sources bypassing PSAs etc.) are just a hint on what's coming and what's BW's future direction.

Best,

Henrique.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thanks Henrique,

Exciting times for sure.

I also found this excellent presentation from a few months ago by Lothar Henkes of SAP and it will really help us in our discussions. 

Thanks again!

Lee Lewis

[henrique_pinto · Accepted solution]

And, what's even better, you can leverage both strategies in the HANA EDW (BW on HANA) architecture. No matter which data acquisition / modeling paradigm you use (you're gonna use whatever fits better the business requirements), you can leverage the virtual modeling layer and user authorizations from BW which, in runtime, add no overhead and simplify the maintenance of query definitions and user authorizations to a single place. This document discusses technically some of the possible integration scenarios:

A very classical case: a typical plan x actuals comparison report, but for which your business area requires real time updates of the actuals. You can have your master data coming from ERP into a InfoObject in BW for better data governance, the planned data coming from a BPC cube in BW and the actuals coming from a HANA Live view. You can combine the 3 sources in a Composite provider in BW and consume it through any visualization tool (e.g. BO) on top of a BEx query built over the Composite Provider.

BW on HANA is about giving options, and to be able to model whatever requirement you have in the same platform is exactly what HANA EDW is all about. Another good reading: Blog: The HANA EDW | SAP HANA. Albeit a bit outdated, the concept and future direction remains fresh.

[Former Member]

Henrique's points and links are great.

BW and HANA fulfill different needs and purposes. HANA is a database designed to run in-memory with good integration to the SAP suite. However it doesn't provide an efficient framework handle the modelling, management and consumption of an enterprise data warehouse. When it provides these capabilities, well then it's become BW on HANA.

I would suggest taking a step back and understand your business needs for enterprise data warehousing and analytics. Then let that guide you to the best blend of technologies that fits your business case.

[Former Member]

Hi Lee,

Here is also an article on the future of SAP BW (see end of article), that I wrote with Brian Wood, SAP VP and Product Strategist, that was published last month by SAP Insider that you might find useful/amusing 🙂

http://sapinsider.wispubs.com/Assets/Articles/2014/May/Dr-Berg-Brian-Wood-BW-is-Dead

( see end of article on setion called "Do We Need BW 7.4?")

[Former Member]

My answer is - it's depends on you requirements.

[Former Member]

Hi Lee Lewis,

      please go through one of my document which will help you out

http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-53711

even after going through the document if you still have doubt post your sepcific question here.

Thanks & Regards

   A.Dinesh

[TammyPowlas]

Hi Lee -

See Blog: Does SAP HANA Replace BW? (Hint: No.) | SAP HANA

Please see http://www.saphana.com/community/blogs/blog/2014/04/17/does-sap-hana-replace-bw-hint-still-no

It depends...