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Five Good Reasons for Keeping BW on HANA

When considering SAP HANA implementation you may have several options for deployment scenarios
depending on the project status, data volumes, configuration complexity, and migration needs: a
greenfield native SAP HANA implementation, a migration to / implementation of SAP BW on SAP HANA
platform, or a dedicated SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA system for a selected business
process next to the core SAP Business Suite system. Also it is common to consider implementing a mix
of the above scenarios.
Note:
In this article we are not going to focus on
benefits of SAP HANA or advantages of
migrating to HANA. We assume the reader
knows why HANA is important and what
benefits it brings. We will talk instead about
benefits of having SAP BW on HANA for
Business Analytics reporting and planning
applications.

A possibility of multiple HANA deployment scenarios is described in the SAP documentation and should
be taken into account when considering BW on HANA: http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-3477
The following chart outlines SAP HANA extended system landscape that can be used in a deployment
scenario (http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-4385 ):

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Considering multiple options for HANA deployment scenarios we need to assess the most efficient ways
HANA can be deployed in an organization for reporting and planning purposes.
Besides an obvious reason of having a common datawarehousing platform where data from multiple
sources is consolidated we have a few specific points where SAP BW is unique.
I can see at least five good reasons for keeping (or implementing) BW on HANA:
1.

Comprehensive BI Content delivered with BW

2. Complex reporting scenarios using BW master data

3. Data Load Scheduling and Monitoring Capabilities
4. Non-cumulative key figures based models (inventory, headcount)
5. Planning Tools (BPC, IP) are using BW infocubes and input ready queries

Further in this article we will review these reasons from an application point of view through practical
examples of unique BW capabilities. We will also see how BW on HANA can save time and
implementation efforts in reporting and planning applications.
The following generic high level technical design can be used specifically for BW on HANA deployments
together with SAP Business Objects front end tools:

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1. Comprehensive BI Content delivered in BW

SAP Business Content and extractors (also called SAP BI Content) is a set of predefined objects
(Infocubes, Relational Data Store objects, datasources, queries) that help implementing a certain
reporting solution faster.
Obviously SAP has worked on Business Content for the last 15 years or so giving business meaning to the
complex technical configuration of the ERP. With the business content we get numerous benefits
including the following:

Delta capabilities of standard extractors processing huge datasets

Multiple tables extracted in one datasource
Master data enrichment with attributes, text, hierarchies

In the last few years SAP has invested substantial efforts in delivering HANA-Optimized BI Content. SAP
HANA-optimized BI Content combines enterprise data warehouse capabilities of SAP NetWeaver BW
running on SAP HANA with explorative and interactive real-time analytics using the SAP HANA inmemory database. The new data model follows the recommendations for the layered scalable
architecture LSA++, which is optimized for BW running on SAP HANA.
More on SAP BI Content for HANA see SAP Help portal:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73ehp1/helpdata/en/63/090651de86d406e10000000a44176d/frameset.h
tm

2. Complex reporting scenarios using BW master data

SAP BW has built in capabilities that make it easy designing complex reporting scenarios for historical
data analysis. For example, we may want to analyze sales for a changing organization structure
(Company Department Sales Rep) or Goods Received values by changing vendor relationships
(Vendor - Supplier).
For the same KPIs we may want producing reports from a current master data point of view, historical,
or at a point in time. Standard BW functionality of navigational master data attributes or time
dependent attributes allows building these reporting solutions in an easy flexible way.
Here is an example of reporting by Vendor V1 moving between suppliers A, C, D:

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Using time dependent navigational attributes and BEx query execution by Key Date makes it easy to
deliver current and as of certain date reporting solutions. The truly historical view can be
delivered by introducing Supplier object in the BW data flow.

3. Data Load Scheduling and Monitoring Capabilities

Open Hubs
SAP BW has built in Open Hub functionality that allows you distributing data from a BI system to nonSAP data marts, analytical applications, and other applications. It ensures controlled distribution across
multiple systems.
Open Hub functionality is described in detail on SAP Help portal:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/43/58e1cdbed430d9e10000000a11466f/content.htm
Process chains
SAP BW has a powerful process scheduling and control capability: process chains. A process chain is a
sequence of processes that are scheduled to wait in the background for an event. Some of these
processes trigger a separate event that can, in turn, start other processes.
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Process Chains functionality is described in detail on SAP Help portal:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw70/helpdata/en/8f/c08b3baaa59649e10000000a11402f/content.htm
Monitoring and Statistical capabilities
SAP BW has a series of process loading, statistical, and monitoring capabilities, including technical
content for statistics, system tables, and Process Chain Runtime Analysis. The following screenshot
shows how the sequence of process chain executions can be monitored (Tcode ST13):

4. Non-cumulative key figures based models (inventory, headcount)

A number of functional reporting areas require non-cumulative solutions. SAP BW has built in noncumulative key figures and data flows which are usually used in inventory management and HCM
headcount reporting. This functionality has certain pros and cons.
Advantages of this Solution:

The fact table is kept smaller (by factors)

The history remains (e.g. all inventory movements)
Ability to report by both level at a point in time and movements for a certain period

Disadvantages of this Solution:

More administrative effort is required (for example, the InfoCube has to be compressed more
often to keep the marker current).
The query runtime can be affected by the calculation of the non-cumulative.
Deletion of transaction data for material that is no longer current is not possible because
deletion cannot be restricted by time.
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Here is a link to the SAP Help page that describes the non-cumulative concept in detail:
https://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/8f/da1640dc88e769e10000000a155106/content.ht
m
Here is a link to an article on the BI Portal describing how to model inventory reporting in SAP BW using
a non-cumulative approach:
http://www.biportal.org/sap_bi_blog/72222

5. Planning Tools (BPC, IP) are using BW infocubes and input ready
queries
SAP BusinessObjects Planning and Consolidation (BPC) provides capabilities for bottom-up and topdown financial and operational planning requirements, as well as complete consolidation and reporting
through a single application and user interface.
Technical structure for SAP BPC Netweaver version may involve BW on HANA. Please find more details in
the slides from ASUG SAP BO Conference:
http://events.asug.com/2013BOUC/Financials%20Enterprise%20Performance%20Management/9_5_13/1002
%20Exploring%20the%20Synergistic%20Relationships%20Between%20BPC%20BW%20and%20SAP%20HANA.
pdf

More information on SAP BPC you may find on SAP Help portal:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_bpc10_nw/helpdata/en/a1/532226947c49a5b2e2bd32450cb2d1/frameset.ht
m
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BW Integrated Planning is another tool that enables making planning decisions and increase efficiency.
It is closely connected with SAP BW via real-time infocubes and input ready queries.
More information on SAP Integrated Planning you may find on SAP Help portal:
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw73/helpdata/en/46/fdfe8f1aaa2ecbe10000000a11466f/content.htm
Besides that in the recent version of Business Objects BO Design Studio applications can be used as a
frontend for Integrated Planning applications on top of SAP BW.
Here is some additional information on SAP Planning Applications (IP and BPC) in relation to HANA:
http://www.saphana.com/docs/DOC-2144

Summary
Even though native HANA development tools are getting more powerful and robust there are a number
of important capabilities in SAP BW on HANA for corporate reporting and planning purposes that we
have to take into consideration. Not only we gain substantially in data processing power, we can also
save on implementation efforts and benefit from the unique capabilities available in SAP BW.
If the reasons for keeping BW on HANA described in the article are not crucial for your organization or
you address them with alternative solutions you may want proceeding with a native SAP HANA
implementation. You should also take into account licensing restrictions, as maintaining BW licenses
may give you an extra benefit with SAP HANA, or on the contrary may incur extra costs.

Sergei Peleshuk has more than 15 years of experience implementing BI technologies for
global clients in retail, distribution, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), oil, and gas
industries. He has helped clients to design robust BI reporting and planning capabilities,
leading them through all project phases: from analysis of requirements to building BI
roadmaps, technical architecture, and efficient BI teams. Sergei is an expert in modern BI
tools and technologies available on the market, including SAP Business Warehouse (SAP
BW), SAP HANA, BusinessObjects, and SAP Lumira. You may contact Sergei at
peleshuk@biportal.org