Subject: SAP Data Warehouse Cloud
SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (DWC) and SAP BW/4HANA are two pivotal components in SAP’s modern data management and analytics portfolio. While SAP BW/4HANA provides a robust, on-premise or cloud-based enterprise data warehouse optimized for complex data processing, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud offers a flexible, cloud-native solution designed for agile data modeling, integration, and self-service analytics.
Integrating these two platforms allows organizations to leverage the strengths of both systems — combining SAP BW/4HANA’s mature, trusted data models and data governance with SAP DWC’s agility, scalability, and advanced analytics capabilities.
This article explores the approaches, benefits, and best practices for integrating SAP Data Warehouse Cloud with SAP BW/4HANA.
- Leverage Existing Investments: Reuse BW/4HANA data models and business logic without reengineering.
- Extend Analytics: Use SAP DWC’s self-service tools and cloud agility to complement BW/4HANA.
- Unified Data Landscape: Provide a single source of truth by integrating governed data with cloud-based analytics.
- Flexibility and Scalability: Handle diverse and growing data sources with DWC’s cloud platform.
- Accelerate Innovation: Quickly prototype and deploy new data models and use cases.
- Use SAP BW Open ODS Views or CompositeProviders exposed via OData or remote tables.
- Connect SAP DWC to BW/4HANA using Remote Data Connection.
- Consume BW queries or views directly in SAP DWC, enabling real-time or near-real-time access.
- Advantages: No data duplication, real-time insights, governed BW data.
- Extract and replicate data from BW/4HANA InfoProviders or ADSO objects into SAP DWC storage.
- Use SAP Landscape Transformation (SLT) or SAP Data Services for replication.
- Allows for transformation and modeling in SAP DWC on replicated data.
- Benefits: Improved performance for complex analytics, decoupling from BW system load.
- Combine BW/4HANA models with additional data sources inside SAP DWC.
- Use SAP DWC’s graphical and SQL modeling tools to enrich BW data with third-party or cloud data.
- Provide a unified semantic layer for business users.
- Configure Remote Data Connections in SAP DWC pointing to BW/4HANA systems.
- Ensure appropriate authentication and authorization mechanisms (e.g., SAML, OAuth).
- Use SAP Cloud Connector if connecting to on-premise BW/4HANA.
- Publish BW InfoProviders or CompositeProviders as OData services.
- Create Open ODS Views for flexible data exposure.
- Define and activate BW queries intended for consumption.
- Create remote tables or remote views in SAP DWC referencing BW models.
- Model additional business logic or combine with other sources.
- Use SAP Analytics Cloud or other BI tools on SAP DWC for visualization.
¶ Step 4: Monitor and Optimize
- Monitor connection performance and data freshness.
- Tune queries and replication jobs.
- Manage roles and permissions across systems for governance.
¶ Benefits of SAP DWC and BW/4HANA Integration
- Consistent Data Governance: Leverage BW’s enterprise-grade data governance with DWC’s agile modeling.
- Flexible Analytics: Empower business users with self-service data exploration.
- Reduced Complexity: Avoid duplicating complex BW logic by consuming data directly.
- Cloud Scalability: Scale analytics workloads elastically with SAP DWC.
- Faster Time-to-Insight: Combine governed BW data with new sources quickly in DWC.
- Plan the integration architecture based on use case complexity and performance needs.
- Use remote consumption for frequently updated data requiring real-time access.
- Use replication for heavy analytical workloads or when decoupling BW system load.
- Implement robust security policies across both platforms.
- Document data lineage and transformation steps for auditability.
Integrating SAP Data Warehouse Cloud with SAP BW/4HANA offers a powerful approach to modernizing enterprise data warehousing. It enables organizations to retain their trusted BW investments while embracing the flexibility and innovation of cloud-native analytics.
By carefully selecting the right integration approach and following best practices, enterprises can create a unified, governed, and agile data environment that drives smarter business decisions.