Modernize your BW Landscape: SAP BW/4HANA and SAP Datasphere with SAP BW Bridge

[MinheeSung]

Introduction

As a current SAP BW customer, you're likely aware of the pressing need to modernize your BW landscape. With SAP BW reaching or nearing its End of Maintenance (EoM), it's crucial to modernize your systems to maintain operational efficiency and leverage the latest technological innovations. This article explores reasons for modernization and outlines key approaches to ensure a smooth and effective transition: SAP BW/4HANA and SAP Datasphere via SAP BW Bridge. Furthermore, we would like to introduce our service offerings.

About Us     

We SAP's Center of Expertise (COE) for Analytics, Data Warehousing, and Data Management are a proud part of the Premium Engagement and Advisory team. We're here to help customers make the most out of SAP Business Technology Platform technologies. We provide a strong foundation to transform your business into an Intelligent Enterprise. We work closely with MaxAttention or Premium Engagement (PE) customers, offering premium engagement services, and more.

Why Modernize your BW Landscape?

End of Maintenance Key Dates for SAP BW

SAP BW’s EoM marks a critical juncture for organizations relying on this system. Continuing with an unsupported system poses risks such as security issues, operational inefficiencies, and increased maintenance costs. By transitioning to SAP BW/4HANA or SAP Datasphere, you not only mitigate these risks but also unlock new capabilities to drive your business forward.

Modernization Approaches

1. Seamless Transition to SAP BW/4HANA

We are not leaving any customer behind, and thousands of you trust SAP BW and SAP BW/4HANA to consolidate data across the enterprise to get a consistent, agreed-upon view of your data. While the SAP BW NetWeaver release 7.5 is nearing the end of maintenance in 2027, with SAP BW/4HANA, your investments are safe beyond 2027.

2. Migration to SAP Datasphere through SAP BW Bridge

For smaller and non-complex systems, we enable migration to SAP Datasphere through SAP BW Bridge. SAP BW Bridge enables SAP BW customers to move existing data models to our strategic target solution SAP Datasphere. Therefore, Customers can leverage SAP BW data structures, transformations, customizations, and skills. You can integrate on-premises SAP Business Suite data with familiar connectivity and semantic richness. Of course, a hybrid scenario with BW/4HANA is possible as well.

Our Service Offerings

Our Analytics & Data Management PE portfolio includes focus packages that cater specifically to customers looking to modernize their current BW Landscape.

1. Focus Package BW/4HANA

Customer Situation:

• SAP BW 7.* in production.
• Customer wants to move to a new SAP data warehouse or purchased SAP BW/4HANA.
• Optional: S/4HANA project underway.

Value:

• Smooth transition to a modern data warehouse landscape.
• Time to value: Key question answered within a short time frame.
• Lowered risk of poor decisions.

2. Focus Package SAP Datasphere

Customer Situation:

• Diverse data warehouse landscape of SAP (e.g. BW 7.5, BW/4HANA, HANA SQL,…) and non-SAP, On-Premise and Cloud systems.
• Reporting done based on data from these sources.
• Considerations to transform the SAP solution landscape with cloud solutions.
• Planning to implement either hybrid scenarios or new cloudnative use cases.
• Demand for unified data platform designed for business and IT collaboration as single point of access.
• Demand for business users to explore data with selfservice.

Value:

• Speed up time to value: key questions answered within a short time frame.
• Simplify access to critical information to drive better business outcomes and accelerate growth.
• Lowered risk of poor decisions.
• Support aligned with SAP strategy.

3. Free Assessment for SAP BW Bridge:

We CoE EMEA Data Warehousing & Data Management offer a complimentary BW system assessment aimed at enhancing your transition to SAP BW Bridge. This is based on Expert Evaluation that provides a high-level overview of the conversion process from BW or BW/4HANA to SAP Datasphere via SAP BW Bridge, assessing the readiness of your current BW system to meet the technical, functional, and business requirements of the target data warehousing solution. The Free Assessment includes a 30-minute session with one of our experts to discuss the results.

Customer Situation:

• Interest in SAP Datasphere, but uncertain about the transition requirements and the necessity of the SAP BW Bridge feature.

Value:

• Clear understanding of current usage of BW objects.
• Detailed explanation of BW objects supported in SAP BW Bridge.
• Guidance on transitioning unsupported objects.

Conclusion

Modernizing your BW landscape with SAP BW/4HANA and SAP Datasphere is crucial as SAP BW approaches end of maintenance. Transitioning to these advanced solutions ensures continued efficiency and security.

CoE EMEA Data Warehousing & Data Management offers customized Focus Packages for SAP BW/4HANA and SAP Datasphere and a Free Assessment for SAP BW Bridge to support your transition. Contact us and begin your journey towards a modern and secure data warehousing solution.

Service Assignment Options

These services and focus packages are available across various SAP support frameworks. To make the most out of SAP's data management solutions, please contact your Technical Quality Manager (TQM), SAP Account Owner, Customer Success Partner (CSP), or our central entry channel, the Virtual Project Room (VPR).