SAP Analytics Cloud - Data Sources a Brief

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) supports a wide range of data sources to enable businesses to connect, visualize, and analyze their data efficiently. Below is a detailed list of the data sources available in SAP Analytics Cloud, categorized into various types based on their integration methods, whether live connections or import connections.

1. Live Data Connections

Live data connections allow real-time access to data without moving or replicating it to the cloud. SAC fetches the data directly from the source system, which ensures that the reports and dashboards are always up-to-date.

a. SAP Sources (Live)

• SAP S/4HANA: Direct integration with SAP’s ERP system, providing real-time access to transactional and operational data.
• SAP BW/4HANA: Integration with SAP’s data warehouse system, BW/4HANA, for large-scale analytics, reporting, and data modeling.
• SAP HANA: Real-time data analytics and access to in-memory computing power, allowing complex calculations and queries on the fly.
• SAP BusinessObjects Universes: Connect to existing SAP BusinessObjects Universes (via SAP BusinessObjects BI platform), accessing semantic layers for live reporting.
• SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (DWC): Combines the power of the SAP HANA database with enterprise-wide data warehouse capabilities.

b. Non-SAP Sources (Live)

• Google BigQuery: Live connection to Google’s highly scalable and serverless data warehouse for real-time analytics.
• Microsoft SQL Server: Allows real-time data analytics from Microsoft SQL databases without data replication.
• Snowflake: A cloud-based data warehousing platform that supports live connections for large-scale data analytics.

2. Import Data Connections

Import connections transfer data from the source system into SAP Analytics Cloud, where the data is then stored in the cloud. Data is not live, and it requires refreshes to bring in updated information.

a. SAP Sources (Import)

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud: Data from SAP’s cloud ERP solution can be imported into SAC for advanced reporting and planning.
• SAP S/4HANA On-Premise: On-premise data from SAP’s ERP system can be imported for analysis.
• SAP BW/4HANA: Data from SAP’s data warehouse solution can be imported for further processing and visualization.
• SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC): Used to import planning and financial data for advanced reporting and planning activities.
• SAP Concur: Import expense and travel data from SAP Concur into SAC for analysis and reporting.
• SAP SuccessFactors: HR data from SAP SuccessFactors can be imported for workforce analysis.
• SAP Fieldglass: Import data from SAP Fieldglass for contingent workforce management reporting.
• SAP Customer Experience (SAP C/4HANA): Allows importing customer experience and CRM-related data from SAP’s C/4HANA suite.

b. Non-SAP Sources (Import)

• Microsoft Excel/CSV Files: Import data from Excel spreadsheets or CSV files to quickly visualize and explore data.
• Google Drive: Enables users to import Excel and CSV files stored in Google Drive into SAC.
• Dropbox: Similar to Google Drive, allows importing data from files stored in Dropbox.
• OData Services: Import data from OData-compatible services. OData is a protocol that allows the creation and consumption of queryable and interoperable RESTful APIs.
• Salesforce: Import data from Salesforce CRM for sales performance analysis, customer segmentation, and other CRM-related reporting.
• Google BigQuery: Allows importing of data from Google BigQuery for cloud-based analytics.
• Amazon Redshift: Import data from Amazon’s cloud-based data warehouse for advanced analytics.
• SAP HANA (Cloud): Import specific data subsets from SAP HANA Cloud to perform further analytics or planning in SAC.

3. Data Integration with Data Wrangling Tools

For organizations needing more advanced data processing capabilities, SAP Analytics Cloud provides integration with third-party tools that help in preparing and processing data before it’s consumed in SAC.

a. SAP Data Warehouse Cloud

• SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is tightly integrated with SAC. Users can combine data modeling, integration, and data visualization into a single workflow.

b. SAP Data Intelligence

• SAP Data Intelligence allows the discovery, integration, and orchestration of large datasets across various data landscapes. It helps in creating data pipelines that can feed clean, transformed data into SAP Analytics Cloud.

4. Open Connectors (APIs and Generic Connections)

For businesses that need custom integration, SAP Analytics Cloud offers open connectors, which allow you to pull in data from any API or external system. The following are some generic data sources that can be connected:

a. Generic OData Services

• Integration with any RESTful service that supports the OData protocol for data import.

b. SQL Databases via JDBC

• Import data from any relational database that supports JDBC (e.g., Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL) using SQL-based queries.

c. CSV, XML, and JSON Files

• Import data from locally or cloud-stored CSV, XML, or JSON files for custom analytics.

5. Planning-Specific Data Sources

SAP Analytics Cloud is widely used for planning and budgeting, and it integrates with specialized planning tools for seamless data integration.

a. SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC)

• BPC data can be directly integrated for planning, consolidation, and budgeting analysis.

b. SAP Integrated Business Planning (IBP)

• Supply chain and demand forecasting data from SAP IBP can be integrated with SAC for advanced planning scenarios.

6. Integration with Other BI Tools

For organizations using multiple BI tools, SAP Analytics Cloud provides connectors that allow integration and data sharing with other BI systems.

a. SAP BusinessObjects Web Intelligence

• Reports and dashboards created in Web Intelligence (Webi) can be consumed in SAP Analytics Cloud for further analysis and visualization.

b. Microsoft Power BI

• Integrate SAC with Microsoft Power BI for data visualization and reporting, allowing data transfer between these platforms.

c. Tableau

• While SAC is primarily an SAP tool, there are connectors and third-party tools available for integrating Tableau dashboards with SAC data.

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Best Practices for Using Data Sources in SAP Analytics Cloud

1. Use Live Connections for Real-Time Data: If you need real-time, up-to-the-second reporting, prefer live connections, especially for SAP HANA and SAP BW/4HANA.
2. Use Import Connections for Complex Transformations: When you need to clean, transform, or blend data before reporting, import data into SAC and leverage its data wrangling capabilities.
3. Consider Performance Impacts: Live connections can sometimes affect performance, especially with large datasets. In such cases, importing data might provide better performance.
4. Leverage SAP Data Warehouse Cloud: If you’re dealing with massive datasets, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud can act as a bridge between your data and SAC, providing optimized data modeling and transformation capabilities.

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Conclusion

SAP Analytics Cloud provides a broad range of data source connectivity options, making it a highly versatile tool for enterprise-wide analytics. Whether you're looking for real-time insights via live connections or need to import and blend data from multiple systems, SAC has the capabilities to meet the needs of diverse data landscapes. The seamless integration with both SAP and non-SAP sources ensures that organizations can leverage their existing data infrastructures while modernizing their analytics capabilities.