BW
SAP BW (Business Warehouse) is SAP’s data warehousing solution, extracting, storing, modelling and reporting on data from SAP and non-SAP sources. BW/4HANA is the modern, HANA-optimised version.
Learn BW through its core processes, its master data and configuration, and its integration with the rest of the SAP landscape.
- BW consolidates data from many sources into a data warehouse structured for analysis, extracting and transforming data, storing it…
- BW integrates with source systems for data and with analytics tools (SAP Analytics Cloud, Analysis for Office) for consumption.
- Extraction (ETL): loading from SAP/non-SAP sources.
- Watch out: Learning features, not the end-to-end process.
What BW does
BW consolidates data from many sources into a data warehouse structured for analysis, extracting and transforming data, storing it in layered models, and serving it to reporting and analytics tools. It provides consistent, historical, cross-system reporting beyond what transactional systems offer.
Key capabilities
- Extraction (ETL): loading from SAP/non-SAP sources.
- Data modelling: layered architecture (LSA++), ADSOs, composite providers.
- Reporting: queries consumed by SAC/BEx.
- BW/4HANA: the streamlined, HANA-native successor.
How it fits
BW integrates with source systems for data and with analytics tools (SAP Analytics Cloud, Analysis for Office) for consumption. In the modern data landscape it sits alongside SAP Datasphere and embedded S/4HANA analytics, and remains important for enterprise data warehousing.
Learning it
Learn BW through its core processes, its master data and configuration, and its integration with the rest of the SAP landscape. Hands-on practice cements it.
Common pitfalls
- Learning features, not the end-to-end process.
- Ignoring integration with finance and neighbouring areas.
- Skipping master data/configuration the process depends on.