Does datasphere work good with ECC or should it be with S4/Hana

[tek_ib]

Hello

Gurus,

I would like to know that if SAP Datasphere with work fine with ECC 6.0 as far as performance and all the features are concerned or Is it best delivered in when connected with S4/HANA.

We have ECC 6.0 and our roadmap to implement S4 in 2027 but we are trying to do PoC  on Datasphere which is connected with ECC and I am just wondering what are the advantages or pros & cons of datasphere connected with ECC or should we wait for S4 and then implement datasphere.

Thanks for your advice in advance.

Regards

[Zerosnow]

If you need to use ECC 6.0 as the source for Datasphere, it is strongly recommended to use BW Bridge. The reasons are:

1.Lack of CDS View Support: ECC 6.0 does not support CDS views, meaning data extraction must rely on BCT (Business Content Extractors).

2.Delta Extraction Issues: Many key sources in ECC do not have primary keys (PK), which can lead to challenges in maintaining delta consistency during data extraction. Using BW Bridge helps address these limitations by providing a more structured framework for handling data from ECC.

In the case of S/4HANA, delta can be handled perfectly using CDS views, so there is no need to use BW Bridge.

All the best,

Youngseol

[tek_ib]

Thanks for the info Youngseol. This is useful information. Do you have any document or use case that you can refer which I can read and get more insight on it ? Thanks

[Matt_Sisley]

BW Bridge is primarily intended for customers who are already operating SAP BW and looking to transition to SAP Datasphere. If you are already running SAP BW, be aware that BW Bridge only supports BW/4HANA object types so a conversion is necessary. For customers implementing SAP Datasphere that do not have a current investment in SAP BW, BW Bridge is an option but there are other mechanisms to address the delta issues that can also be considered.

[Raghavendra_Bellam]

Hi @Zerosnow,

Can BW Bridge be used purely as a pass-through layer (without staging data) to move data from S/4HANA or ECC to Azure Data Lake, especially when the source extractors don’t have primary keys?

Thanks.

Raghav.

[Matt_Sisley]

Datasphere is very much optimised for S/4HANA but it's compatible with ECC. Semantic Onboarding and Datasphere Business Content are all oriented towards SAP S/4HANA and the CDS View architecture.

Datasphere has an ABAP Connector and an ECC Connector which can be used to access data from within an ECC system using a number of different approaches including remote tables.

Datasphere adds tremendous value to your business through improved insights, better decision making and next generation self-serviceability. There's no reason to defer those opportunities until you move to SAP S/4HANA. It's true that you may want to rework some of the data integration when you move to S/4HANA but the effort to optimise those integrations is trivial when compared to the benefits you'll unlock by using Datasphere for the intervening period.  

[tek_ib]

Thanks for the reply Matt. Since S4HANA is based on HANA inmemory database whereas ECC is on Oracle database how is the performance compared when connected to Datasphere as far as data loading is concerned. Is there any use case you can refer me so I can read. Thanks

[Matt_Sisley]

It's not generally a concern but it is good idea to avoid doing large full loads, especially at times when there are user actively working on the system. General data warehousing good practice applies i.e. deltas, efficient code, potentially queues rather than direct reads, etc.