In the rapidly evolving landscape of SAP technology, Core Data Services (CDS) Views have become central to delivering real-time insights and streamlined data modeling. Particularly within the scope of SAP HANA Live, CDS Views are reshaping the way organizations extract, analyze, and act on data. As SAP continues to advance its S/4HANA strategy and steer users toward more intelligent enterprise capabilities, understanding the future direction of CDS Views is critical for SAP professionals.
CDS (Core Data Services) Views are a key component of the SAP HANA data modeling framework. They allow developers and analysts to define semantically rich data models directly on the database layer. These models are written using the CDS language, an extension of SQL that supports annotations, associations, and other advanced features to make data models more meaningful and reusable.
CDS Views are categorized into:
SAP HANA Live is a solution that provides real-time operational reporting directly on transactional data in SAP HANA. Traditionally, it relied on Calculation Views and SAP-delivered content, but with the shift towards S/4HANA and modern development paradigms, CDS Views have become the new standard for virtual data models (VDMs).
Key benefits of using CDS Views in SAP HANA Live:
SAP has signaled a strategic preference for CDS Views over traditional HANA-native artifacts such as Calculation Views, especially in the context of S/4HANA and SAP HANA Cloud.
Why the shift?
SAP S/4HANA comes with pre-delivered CDS Views for Embedded Analytics. This means:
CDS Views will continue to be the foundation for:
As more organizations migrate to SAP HANA Cloud or RISE with SAP, the relevance of CDS Views grows. The cloud environment demands standardized, scalable, and API-friendly data models—criteria that CDS Views are built to meet.
CDS Views are evolving with features like:
This opens the door to building intelligent data-driven applications directly on SAP platforms without heavy ETL processes.
SAP is gradually phasing out classic HANA Live content in favor of CDS-based VDMs. Customers are encouraged to migrate to CDS-based analytics to align with SAP’s strategic direction.
CDS Views represent the future of data modeling and real-time analytics in the SAP ecosystem, especially within the context of SAP HANA Live. Their tight integration with S/4HANA, cloud readiness, and semantic richness make them indispensable for any enterprise aiming to build an intelligent data strategy.
As SAP shifts towards a cloud-first, intelligent ERP paradigm, organizations that adapt to CDS-based modeling will be better positioned to unlock real-time insights, reduce complexity, and future-proof their SAP landscapes.