Subject: SAP-HANA-Live | SAP Domain
Core Data Services (CDS) Views are a cornerstone of SAP’s data modeling approach within the SAP HANA Live framework. CDS Views enable real-time analytics by defining semantic layers on top of raw transactional data. However, CDS Views are not all the same — they come in different types based on their purpose and complexity: Basic, Composite, and Consumption CDS Views.
This article explores these three types, their roles, and how they integrate within SAP HANA Live to deliver effective real-time analytics.
Basic CDS Views are the foundational building blocks of data modeling. They directly access database tables or views and expose fields with minimal transformation.
A Basic CDS View could expose data from the SFLIGHT table representing flight details like flight date, flight number, and price.
Composite CDS Views combine multiple Basic CDS Views or other Composite Views to build more complex data models. They implement business logic by joining, unioning, or aggregating data from multiple sources.
A Composite CDS View might join flight details from a Basic CDS View with carrier information from another Basic CDS View to present enriched flight schedules including airline names and flight times.
Consumption CDS Views are tailored for consumption by front-end applications, reports, or analytical tools. They provide a simplified, business-friendly representation of data and include annotations for UI behavior and analytics.
A Consumption CDS View could provide sales overview data annotated for SAP Fiori Elements to display interactive charts and tables on a dashboard.
| Type | Purpose | Data Source | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic CDS View | Data foundation | Database tables/views | Raw entity data |
| Composite CDS View | Business logic & enrichment | Basic or other Composite Views | Integrated/enriched datasets |
| Consumption CDS View | User-centric presentation | Composite or Basic Views | UI-ready, annotated data models |
This layered approach ensures modularity, reuse, and clear separation of concerns from raw data extraction to user-friendly presentation.
Mastering the different types of CDS Views — Basic, Composite, and Consumption — is essential to leveraging the full power of SAP HANA Live. These layers collectively enable efficient, flexible, and real-time data modeling, fueling robust analytics and operational reporting. Understanding when and how to use each type helps developers and architects design scalable and maintainable solutions within the SAP landscape.