Sunset of BEx Tools in SAP BW - What You Need to Know Before October 2025

[Tanuj_G]

Introduction: Sunset of BEx Tools - A Critical Milestone by October 2025

With the clock ticking toward October 14, 2025, the end of support for Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 also signals the end of support for Excel-based SAP BEx tools like BEx Analyzer, BEx Workbooks, and BEx Broadcaster (Pre-calculation) by SAP. While some BEx components (BEx Query Designer, BEx WAD) will continue in maintenance mode until 2027 or 2030, the Excel-dependent tools face a hard stop, leaving many customers exposed if no action is taken.

While many organizations are already moving forward with SAP Datasphere adoption or planning their SAP BW/4HANA conversion, those still operating on SAP BW 7.x must urgently assess their current BEx tool usage to avoid disruptions and ensure long-term supportability.

In this article, we break down:

• What BEx tools are affected and when
• How to check if your system still relies on BEx Tools approaching end of support
• Available replacements like SAP Analysis for Office and SAP Analytics Cloud
• SAP's mass conversion tools and services to ease your transition

For answers to the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the BEx tools sunset, check out the dedicated FAQ: 

👉 Sunset of BEx Tools – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (FAQ)

Whether you have already started migrating or are still evaluating your next steps, this article will help you understand the risks, available options with existing BEx tools usage.

BEx Solutions Overview

 SAP offers a range of BEx-related tools and components, each serving different roles in the reporting and analysis workflow. These solutions fall into two broad categories; those dependent on Microsoft Excel and those that are web-based or standalone.

BEx tools can be classified in two broader categories:

• Excel-Dependent (Impacted by both BEx sunset and Office lifecycle)

• BEx Analyzer
• BEx Workbooks
• BEx Broadcaster

• Standalone/Web-Based (Independent of Office support)

• BEx Query Designer
• BEx Queries
• BEx Web Application Designer

BEx tools that rely on Excel only work with specific versions of Microsoft Office. The last versions supported by BEx tools are Office 2016 and Office 2019. Since Microsoft's decision to stop supporting Office 2016 & 2019 versions by October 14, 2025, this poses a hard limit on the support timelines for the excel based BEx reporting tools as well, and after that BEx tools dependent on Excel will no longer be supported too by SAP.

BEx tools that don’t rely on Microsoft Office (i.e. BEx Query Designer, BEx Queries, BEx WAD) can still be used and supported until 2027 (standard support) or 2030 (extended support), in line with BW 7.50 maintenance timelines. These tools are now in maintenance-only mode, meaning SAP will only provide basic support for fixing issues in BW 7.5 with no new development, innovation or new features planned for these BEx tools. However, BEx Analyzer, BEx Workbooks, and BEx Broadcaster are dependent on Microsoft Office, so they can only be supported until October 14, 2025, when Microsoft stops supporting Office 2016 and 2019.

BEx Tools – Supportability Overview

Following table provides the End of Support for the BEx related products based on SAP NetWeaver or BEx End of Life timelines:

 Key References and Support Notes for BEx Transition

The End of support for BEx (excel based tools) is reinforced by external dependencies, such as Microsoft’s end of support for Office 2016 and 2019, which directly impacts the usability and security of BEx Analyzer and Workbooks and BEx Broadcaster.

SAP has formally communicated the BEx sunset through multiple channels, including official SAP Notes and blogs dating back as early as 2016. The references below serve as key evidence points supporting the urgency and inevitability of moving to modern alternatives like SAP Analysis for Office (AO) or SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC):

• Microsoft Support link - Microsoft will no longer provide technical support, bug fixes, or security fixes for Office 2016 and Office 2019 vulnerabilities which may be subsequently reported or discovered. This includes security updates which can help protect your PC from harmful viruses, spyware, and other malicious software
• Announcements for BEx sunset was announced through the blog -  Announced in 2016
• SAP Note 2609031 - Sunset of BW Business Explorer (BEx) – Announced in 2018

Additional References:

• SAP Note 1973324 - BEx support for Microsoft Office 365 - Client Excel 2013 and  2016
• SAP Note 3474912 – BEx Query Designer support for BW 7.50
• SAP Note 3590297 - SAP BW NetWeaver Cloud: Information about maintenance availability in private cloud editions
• SAP Note 1995532 - BI 7.x tools - HW\SW requirements and Compatibility of Microsoft Operating Systems and Office Products

BEx Sunset Adoption Gaps 

As part of SAP’s long-term strategy to modernize its business intelligence tooling landscape, the sunset of BEx (Business Explorer) tools has been formally announced, encouraging customers to transition to more advanced and supported alternatives such as SAP Analysis for Office (AO) and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC).

However, many SAP BW 7.x customers are at varying stages of adoption readiness, and significant gaps remain in fully realizing this transition. We observed these customers in following categories:

• Transition Planned but BEx Still in Use: BW 7.x customers who have already planned the transition from BEx tools to modern alternatives such as SAP Analysis for Office (AO) or SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
  • Users have been informed about the BEx sunset through communication efforts like end-user trainings, replacement solutions and awareness sessions
  • Despite these efforts, end users continue to use BEx tools (e.g., BEx Analyzer, BEx Workbooks) for their reporting activities
• Unaware of BEx Sunset: BW 7.x customers who are not aware of the sunset of BEx tools.
  • BEx continues to be the primary reporting tool for all business use cases, as users are not informed of alternative solutions or the transition roadmap

What SAP Products are impacted: 

• SAP BW 7.5 or lower: BEx Analyzer/Workbooks can be the primary reporting front-end for classic BW systems
• Embedded BW (in SAP ECC or ERP): Even though Embedded BW is typically used for operational reporting, BEx Analyzer/Workbooks can still used in some implementations
• SAP SCM (Supply Chain Management): SCM systems with APO or SNP modules often have their own BW instance or rely on Embedded BW

While BEx is closely associated with SAP BW, its footprint extends into nearly every corner of the SAP ecosystem i.e. from legacy CRM and SRM systems to industry-specific solutions like IS-U and IS-Retail. Any system with a BW component or an integration to BW for analytics could potentially be generating BEx usage worth monitoring.

How to identify the impact in SAP BW system:

There are few potential options to check it in the system or EWA if BEx Analyzer or BEx Broadcaster is still used in the SAP BW system:

Option 1:

The SAP EarlyWatch Alert (EWA) report is a proactive monitoring tool provided by SAP that delivers a comprehensive technical health check of your SAP system. It is part of SAP’s support offering and is typically generated weekly to help detect and prevent potential issues before they impact system performance or availability.

Check section “Frontend Distribution” in BW EarlyWatch Alert reports. This section provides an overview of BW query executions, segmented by frontend tools, for the period covered in the EarlyWatch Alert (EWA) report. The data is sourced from the RSDDSTAT_OLAP view in the BW system.

The availability and data for the section depends on the configuration of the EarlyWatch Alert report for BW system: e.g.

ACTION REQUIRED:  If there are any entries in BEx Analyzer 7.x and/or BEx Broadcaster, it is critical to initiate remediation steps to mitigate the impact of BEx End of support

Note: The statistics in EarlyWatch Alert report are extracted from the RSDDSTAT_OLAP view. Accuracy of the data relies on the proper enablement and execution of detailed statistics collection through transaction RSDDSTAT in SAP BW system, which must be activated for Workbooks, Queries, and InfoProviders to capture the statistics.

Option 2:

If EarlyWatch alert is not activated, you can login to the BW Production system, and manually check BEx tool usage accessing transaction SE16, and table RSDDSTAT_OLAP:

• For BEx Analyzer / Workbook usage:
  • Use selection “BEX” as STEPTP field and “3200”  as EVENTID.
  • Number of entries > 0 show the usage of BEx Analyzer / Workbooks in the system.
• For BEx Broadcaster usage:
  • Use “14601”, “14611” and “14671” as EVENTID.
  • Number of entries > 0 show the usage of BEx Broadcaster (Pre-calc server) in the system.

• The USERID field in the results will identify which users are actively using BEx tools

ACTION REQUIRED:  If there are any entries in either of the above cases, it is critical to initiate remediation steps to mitigate the impact of BEx end of support.

Additional Consideration: This analysis is not limited to standalone BW systems. You can also perform this check in SAP systems with the SAP_BW component, such as ECC, SCM, or CRM etc. While most customers leverage standalone BW for central reporting, embedded BW capabilities in source systems allow the creation and use of BEx queries locally; another area that must be assessed during BEx deprecation planning.

How can SAP Services help?

BEx Workbooks

To ensure continuity and supportability, all BEx Workbooks should be migrated to SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office (AO). For customers with only a few BEx Workbooks, a manual migration may be more practical.

For customers with a large number of BEx Workbooks, SAP offers a tool for Automated Mass Conversion Tool to accelerate and facilitate the conversion process from BEx (Analyzer) Workbooks to Analysis for Office Workbooks. The Automated Mass Conversion Tool is 6x to 8x faster than the manual conversion method, conversion of 100 Workbooks take around 5-6 Minutes, compared to at least 30 seconds per one workbook in case of manual conversion.

This service is available for both MaxAttention (Premium Engagement) and Professional Services customers, if you would like to request it or find out more about it please contact your Engagement Architect, Technical Quality Manager, Account Manager or you can reach out to us via the email:

• SAP PremiumHubCoE_BExtoAO_Migration

BEx Broadcaster (Pre-calculation)

Unlike BEx Workbooks, which benefit from SAP’s Mass Conversion Tool for migration to Analysis for Office, BEx Broadcaster (Pre-calculation) presents a different challenge. There are following replacement options available:

• SAP Analysis for Microsoft Office (AO) with Scheduling via BI Platform
• SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) Publication

There is no automated conversion tool available for migrating broadcasting scenarios to replacement alternatives. Customers must manually rebuild scheduling and distribution logic from scratch using supported replacement options.

Conclusion

The sunset of BEx tools marks the end of an era. While many customers have already transitioned to modern alternatives, there are customers who still rely on BEx tools particularly BEx Workbooks and Broadcaster for critical reporting and scheduling needs. With the hard deadline of October 14’ 2025 fast approaching, it is essential for customers to take care of their current BEx usage across the SAP ecosystem, especially within SAP BW environments.

Organizations with a significant footprint of BEx Workbooks should be aware that migrating to SAP Analysis for Office can require substantial time and manual effort. SAP offers a Mass Conversion Tool and expert services through SAP MaxAttention and the CoE teams to accelerate this process and reduce the operational burden. Please connect at SAP PremiumHubCoE_BExtoAO_Migration.

For those using BEx Broadcaster (Pre-Calculation Server), it is equally important to plan a transition to supported scheduling solutions using manual rebuild such as SAP BusinessObjects BI Scheduling or SAP Analytics Cloud Publications.

Taking proactive steps today will ensure business continuity, reduce security and compliance risks, and set your organization on a clear path toward a modern, supported, and future-ready analytics strategy beyond BEx.