SAP Datasphere BW Bridge – the roadmap of SAP BW to cloud

As of March 8, 2023, all SAP Data Warehouse Cloud (DWC) tenants have moved to SAP Datasphere. SAP terms it as the next generation of Data Warehouse Cloud that comes with the enhanced capabilities of data integration, data cataloging and semantic modeling while retaining and safeguarding the powerful capabilities of the Data Warehouse Cloud.

With SAP Datasphere as a way forward, SAP has presented a roadmap for the SAP BW and BW/4HANA customers to leverage their past investments in BW while allowing them a smooth transition from their legacy on-premises systems to the cloud. The launch of SAP BW Bridge in November 2021 is thus an extension of SAP Datasphere that offers a functionality to migrate SAP BW data models, data sources, transformations, and DTPs to SAP BW Bridge environment and integrate (as remote tables) with SAP Datasphere artefacts to provide a self-service data and analytics platform for the business users.

SAP BW Bridge is accessed via two tools – eclipse for development and cockpit for monitoring and administration. A new project type called BW Bridge has been introduced into the eclipse which allows the developer to connect the BW Bridge using the service key generated in the Datasphere application. SAP BW Bridge cockpit allows the monitoring of process chains and other administrative activities.

Use case of SAP BW Bridge

The SAP BW Bridge is available for purchase as self-serve procurement via an add-on license in the Datasphere tenant configuration. BW Bridge enables SAP source system-based data extraction including SAP ECC and S/4 HANA and allows staging capabilities within SAP BW Bridge HANA cloud which then can be accessed as remote tables into Datasphere. BW Bridge only supports ODP (Operational Data Provisioning) based extraction. Other source system types can be directly connected to SAP Datasphere through in-built connectors.

When a customer wants to implement BW Bridge, SAP triggers a provisioning process that creates a dedicated BW Bridge Space in SAP Datasphere Tenant. Spaces within SAP Datasphere are dedicated working environments to model and analyse data based on different business areas and business needs. Further, for a single SAP Datasphere tenant it is not possible to have multiple BW Bridge space.

For BW customers, SAP positions SAP Datasphere as a strategic target solution within public cloud. BW Bridge offers its BW 7.3+ and BW/4HANA customers the option to reuse their existing BW-based functionality on Datasphere. The path to conversion, for both BW 7.3 onwards and BW/4HANA is available from 2022 via shell and remote (see Figure 3). For lower SAP BW releases, an upgrade of the system will be needed before a conversion to BW Bridge on SAP Datasphere can be considered.

Business value of SAP BW Bridge

The biggest value SAP BW customers are offered is an accelerated transition to the cloud by implementing the Bridge solution, thus a faster return on investment. In the absence of such an alternative, customers would have to build the BW system from scratch in SAP Datasphere.

Moreover, the creation of a separate BW Bridge space within SAP Datasphere ensures the imported artefacts can be accessed simply, easily, and securely. It follows the decentralized data architecture approach also known as Data Mesh that treats data as product and structures it by specific domains to suit the organisational needs. Each space is separate from another in terms of compute and storage, metadata objects, connections, and users. In other words, customers have the flexibility of space management to suit their budget, computing needs and storage requirements.

By using BW Bridge customers can begin to innovate with cloud technologies and apply semantic richness to their analytic solutions. This can be achieved seamlessly with the expertise and help from SAP’s trusted partners and industry experts.

New Features, Enhancements, and the Roadmap of BW Bridge

SAP Datasphere with cloud first strategy and software as a service (SaaS) offering, promises to be the new business as usual in the data warehousing world. SAP is regularly adding new features and enhancements in BW Bridge to facilitate seamless conversion and integration of BW landscape into SAP Datasphere. To find out the latest on the future releases and enhancements, it is recommended to refer to the Roadmap Explorer.

For more information on this or simply to understand how BW Bridge solution can benefit your organisation by integrating your SAP BW, BW/4HANA landscape with SAP Datasphere, you may reach out to us. Capgemini prides itself in being a trusted partner of SAP and offers industry’s best experts to understand your needs and offer the best solutions.