SAP TechEd 2021: Cloud Sets the Direction

There was a great turnout at this year's SAP TechEd in mid-November, even though it was virtual again. A report on sleepless nights, a special 'bridge' in the Business Warehouse, and a lot of cloud.

I felt prepared. Well prepared for this year's SAP TechEd, or so I thought. After all, I had registered early and received information from SAP about the talks and courses that were available for registration. I didn't want to repeat last year's mistake, where I missed out on some really interesting slots because I was too late.

When the information started coming in, I dropped everything and began reserving. Unfortunately, it turned out that the particularly interesting sessions in my 'favourite area', analytics, were scheduled for the middle of the night, at least according to our CET.

There were usually two possible times, which in reality meant one at 3:00 AM and the second at 9:00 PM. Not ideal, but that's how it is with global virtual events, I thought. The only difficulty: others likely thought the same. Especially hands-on sessions were fully booked within minutes. I was probably not the only one who had been waiting!

Virtual Hands-On Session – Live Demo with plenty of room for questions

Nevertheless, I managed to secure access to two hands-on sessions. You may be wondering what a virtual hands-on session looks like. The twist: instead of a frontal lecture, there is 'only' a brief introduction to the topic. Each participant receives not only detailed training materials but also a user account. Together, everything that can be tried out on the SAP demo system can be tested live. The SAP experts are available for all questions and issues during the exercises.

This was realised this year via Zoom. A hands-on session usually lasted 2 hours, and I must say, it worked really well. With only 30 participants per hands-on, there was enough time and space to ask detailed questions and receive equally detailed answers. And if I got stuck in the respective exercise example, the experts quickly got things back on track. A truly illustrative experience.

SAP Data Warehouse Cloud Clearly in Focus

If you know me well, it won't surprise you that this year I focused mainly on one thing: the SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (DWC). Already well prepared by theSRB BI Brunch, I built continuous examples throughout the entire SAP DWC process: 'as SAP envisions it', culminating in the SAP Analytics Cloud.

My conclusion: I am impressed! A lot has changed here. Even immensely complex requirements can be realised – with various source systems, complicated data flows, and coding.

SAP emphasises that the DWC is intended for IT and LOB (Line of Business) users. I would like to add: the LOBs will need to practice a bit, depending on their entry point in the data preparation process. Especially when everything is created from scratch. After all, there is quite a bit to do: create space, prepare data in the data layer, establish the entity relationship model, load data, create dimensions, link via view, the consumption model in the business layer, and then the SAP Analytics Cloud stories... This needs to be learned and tested.

A New 'Bridge' into the DWC

Unfortunately, I cannot go into much detail here. However, I would like to highlight one special innovation: theSAP Business Warehouse (BW) Bridge. SAP has recognised that completely redeveloping all existing BW content in the DWC is too complex, especially for existing BW on-premise systems.

Source: SAP TechEd 2021; © 2021 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

The SAP BW Bridge provides a solution. It allows for the migration of objects (queries, transformations, ABAP code, InfoProviders) from an existing SAP BW 7.3 and above into the DWC. As shown in the graphic above (from ANA262), a completely new component is being integrated 'in the middle'. Note: This is currently still in the 'Planned' status. However, it shouldn't take long. The SAP colleagues mentioned a launch in the coming weeks.

Cloud Sets the Direction

Although the DWC is only two years old, it is already a powerful tool where SAP has reimagined data warehousing. But let's be realistic: SAP DWC is still future music for many local companies. Most of us are currently more focused on transitioning to BW/4HANA. Many are in the planning phase, and some projects have already started – and that's perfectly fine.

We know it already: SAP is often ahead of its technologies and corresponding announcements. This was also the case at SAP TechEd. It was exciting to take a look into the future. It makes you eager for more. And don't worry: in all the talks, it was repeatedly emphasised that SAP BW/4HANA will definitely be supported until 2040. I invite you to stay engaged with me and continue to take a look at the cloud in the future. Because no matter where we stand or how we turn: the cloud sets the direction. That is where our journey will go! Eventually, for sure.