Benefits of Transitioning from SAP BW to BW/4HANA

As companies look to migrate from SAP BW to BW/4HANA, they’re faced with a variety of options. Selecting the right one can reduce project risk, streamline timelines and eliminate long-standing technical debt.

The most common approach is an in-place conversion, which translates classic BW data models and flows to their new SAP BW/4HANA counterparts. It allows users only to transition the necessary data models and eliminate the rest.

Security

If you are migrating from SAP BW to BW/4HANA, you can take advantage of the security advantages of the new system. The new solution is designed to be secure, and the LSA++ data flow architecture simplifies existing data flows to maximize performance (Figure 2).

SAP BW/4HANA also provides additional security by storing all user and access details of individual data sources and allowing them to be accessed only through their correct user ID. It prevents unauthorized access and protects sensitive information.

The centralized data storage also allows creating of an enterprise-wide database, ensuring that every department has full access to relevant information at any time. It helps ensure the business is informed of critical events and provides a valuable data source for analyzing future trends and patterns.

In addition, you can benefit from the latest user interfaces for end users, modelers, and administrators, as well as the powerful in-memory platform SAP HANA with SAPinsider. It allows you to work faster and more efficiently. With these tools, you can make the most of your data and discover more value from your business intelligence investments.

Scalability

Migrating from SAP BW to BW/4HANA offers several advantages in terms of performance. With HANA, you can quickly analyze data with in-memory databases and calculation engines for faster reporting and analysis. You also have the option to use HANA-optimized objects for data tiering, compression and aggregations.

Moreover, a BW/4HANA system is highly flexible and easily integrates with new and existing source systems. It allows you to work with structured and unstructured data from social media, cloud, and third-party databases.

It makes creating virtual data models and embedded analytics possible based on the entire range of technologies and content available. The result is a flexible, high-performance, real-time system that can handle many scenarios and workloads.

Another scalability benefit of migrating from SAP BW to BW/4HANA is that it can be done in a hyper-scale cloud environment. Microsoft Azure, for example, has a wide selection of HANA-certified SKUs suited to a broad range of workloads and environments.

Flexibility

Migrating from SAP BW to BW/4HANA significantly benefits various users, from administrators and developers to end-users. For example, new data models allow easier integration of external data sources (via field-based modeling), and standard reports can be redesigned to take advantage of SAP HANA’s in-memory capabilities.

However, it’s essential to remember that the conversion process from BW 7.5 to BW/4HANA is not automatic. For example, if you’ve used a lot of custom ABAP programming in your dataflows, you may need to make minor adjustments to ensure your code works correctly in BW/4HANA.

Moreover, if you’ve built your models on SAP’s Object Relational Mapping (ORM) technology, the new BW/4HANA code must conform to the latest coding paradigm. In addition, if you have old ABAP interfaces no longer supported in BW/4HANA, you’ll need to make manual changes.

You can use an in-place system conversion for the Explore / Realization phase of your migration. It involves transforming your current BW system into a BW/4HANA one, leveraging the transfer toolbox provided by SAP.

Analytics

Regarding analytics, SAP BW and HANA are both powerful platforms. But the critical difference is that BW runs on hard drives, which can slow down a business warehouse when it’s trying to process large volumes of data.

The new HANA platform runs entirely in memory–one of many design innovations that dramatically improve performance and reporting. It means that reports that took days to run can now be completed in minutes from a production landscape–all while using up-to-date, accurate data.

Several options are available for migrating from a legacy BW system. One is the in-place conversion option, which will convert all classic objects to newer HANA-optimized ones.

Another option is a small conversion involving a fresh installation of SAP BW/4HANA and transferring existing scenarios into the new system. This approach eliminates the need for an entire migration project and can save you time and money in the long run. With the correct methodology, you can reduce risk and streamline your timeline. 

Integration

Migrating to BW/4HANA brings with it a range of integration benefits. Its open nature allows integration with various sources, including Hadoop and cloud data.

Depending on the source systems involved, data can be integrated into SAP BW in real-time through replication technology or directly into the system. In the case of cloud-based or significant data sources, it can be pushed down to HANA in a form that supports query calculations and planning functions on the level of detail.

The new business intelligence tools can access the data. In addition, the new system also supports a range of third-party tools for analytics. 

A company can quickly design and deploy complex solutions with these integration capabilities. It can result in more effective business analytics, faster time to market, and a lower cost of ownership over time.