What is Changing While Moving to SAP BW/4HANA

October 28, 2019 | Mehmet Cekdemir

SAP BW/4HANA is SAP’s next generation data warehouse solution and it is a new product built entirely on SAP HANA. It provides a simple set of objects that is well suited for modelling an agile and flexible architecture of a modern warehouse.

SAP BW/4HANA reduces the number of data objects to be stored and maintained. Here are the some of the important simplifications:

  • SAP BW Accelerator
    • SAP BW Accelerator is not available for SAP BW/4HANA.
    • Local analytic indexes created in a BW Workspace are not affected from the in-place conversion. In order to replace an existing analytic index (created with BW 7.5 or earlier releases), you can create a new field-based DataStore object (advanced) manually using the BW Modelling Tools.
  • BI Ad-on for SAP GUI
    • SAP Business Explorer (BEx) is not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • Design perspective is replaced with Hana Studio Modelling Tools, front-end tools are replaced with SAP BusinessObjects and/or SAP Analytics Cloud.
  • BW Object Types
    • Classic DSO, Infocube, Infoset, Multiprovider, Virtual Provider, Hybrid Provider are not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • Classic DSOs and Infocubes are converted to Advanced DSO, Infosets and Multiproviders are converted to Composite Providers, there is no automatic conversion for Virtual Providers and Hybrid Providers; a manual redesign is necessary for these objects. Open ODS Views can be used for Virtual Providers.
  • Data load objects           
    • Infopackages and Persistent Staging Areas are not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • Data transfer process (DTP) is the only object to load data into the system. It can access all supported source system types directly without using a PSA. If the PSA has been used in SAP BW to distribute data to several target objects, then a write-optimized DataStore object (advanced) must be put in between the DataSource and the target DataStore object (advanced). Also, an aDSO is needed if you have full load infopackages with different filter conditions.
  • Transformations
    • Transformations with rule type “Read from DataStore (classic)” are not available in SAP BW/4HANA. Transformations containing non-conform ABAP objects (OO) Coding in SAP BW/4HANA have restricted usage. These transformations cannot be displayed with the BW Modelling Tools and new features are not available.
    • A transformation with a rule “Read from DataStore” can only be activated if all keys of the DataStore are specified in the rule, if not the rule has to be changed manually. Transformations that contain non-compatible ABAP coding can only be opened in SAP GUI and it is highly recommended to change the coding to make them ABAP OO compatible.
  • Source systems
    • The “Myself” sources system is not available in SAP BW/4HANA. SAP and BW source systems based on Service API (S-API), DB connect, UD connect, SAP Data Services, Web Service source systems types are not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • The Myself source system needs to be replaced by an ODP source system with BW context. To connect other SAP systems, you can configure an ODP source system with SAP context. DB connect, UD connect sources systems are replaced with source system type SAP HANA. With SAP BW/4HANA 2.0, there is a new capability “Write Interface” for DataStore Objects allowing to push data into DataStore Objects, this replaces the push capability of SAP Data Services and Web Services to send data to SAP BW.
  • Near-line Storage Partner Solutions
    • SAP BW Nearline Storage (NLS) Partner Solutions are not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • SAP NLS solution (SAP IQ) and Data Tiering Optimization (DTO) for managing hot, warm, and cold storage options are available.
  • Hierarchy/Attribute Change Run             
    • The Hierarchy/Attribute Change Run is not required in SAP BW/4HANA.
  • Planning Tools
    • SAP BW Business Planning & Simulation (BW-BPS), SAP BW Integrated Planning (BW-IP) are not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • To use planning functionality in SAP BW/4HANA, you need to install SAP BPC add-on for SAP BW/4HANA.
  • Analysis Process Designer
    • SAP BW Analysis Process Designer (APD) is not available in SAP BW/4HANA.
    • There is no 1-to-1 replacement for all features in APD, but there are different features (i.e. Data Flows, BW Workspaces) available in SAP BW/4HANA.

Get in touch for more information about SAP BW/4HANA conversion or any of SAP Analytics solutions: info@advisglobal.co.uk.