SAP HANA The In-Memory Computing Platform

SAP HANA (High – performance ANalytic Appliance) is a technology based on in-memory data processing. Projects involving migration from the SAP Business Suite and SAP BW to SAP HANA are still in their infancy but Synergistic Resources has expertise from previous projects of migrating SAP systems from Relational Databases Management Systems (RDBMS) like Oracle and DB2 to the latest releases of SAP HANA.

Backed by the in-memory computing power of SAP HANA, SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (SAP S/4HANA) is set to deliver a foundation of simplification, intelligence, and innovation to help businesses become the enterprises of the future. Synergistic Resources is already gaining expertise in that area and expects to be implementing its first SAP S/4 HANA projects later this year.

SAP Business Planning and Consolidation

SAP HANA is the platform of the future for Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC) which is important for financial reporting in every organisation. In financial planning new features such as automated variance analysis or sophisticated scenario planning are considered for BPC on HANA – so we can take advantage of the blazing speed and enable scenarios that are not possible on conventional databases. So, BPC on HANA gears up for the future especially for companies going mobile, for performance they want to be running on HANA.

SAP HANA Database vs RDBMS

SAP HANA is recognised to be ideal for SAP ERP or BW systems. SAP HANA eliminates the limitations relational databases by combining the features of a transactional database and an analytical one in one platform. The performance, which is considerably increased and ensures acceleration of up to a thousand times, allows for reports to be sent directly from the SAP transactional system, without harming transactions which are performed concurrently. SAP HANA in the SAP Business Suite and on SAP BW systems enables real-time processing to be used where so far tasks have been carried out “in the background” for performance reasons.

SAP HANA Database Scenarios

SAP HANA Database can be introduced into an SAP landscape (ECC6 or BW) using different options which are termed SAP HANA Database Scenarios. Synergistic Resources has resources that have worked through all the four SAP HANA configuration scenarios of an SAP landscape. With SAP HANA, operational data marts offer real-time analytics and reporting on data replicated from a transactional system’s database. SAP HANA-based accelerators (OLTP and operational analytics) are types of applications or scenarios that extend the capabilities of business processes in SAP Business Suite systems by leveraging the performance and scalability advantages that SAP HANA provides.

RDBMS (Oracle, DB2) to SAP HANA Migration

The process of the SAP system database migration to the SAP HANA platforms is not significantly different from the migration between other platforms (in SAP, this type of project is known as an OS/DB migration). We therefore apply proven methodologies and tools that we have used successfully multiple times with many customers during the system migrations between different databases.

SAP BW on HANA Migration

Synergistic Resources is well versed with all database migration options of the SAP Datawarehousing system BW on HANA especially the new ‘upgrade and migrate’ approach using the Database Migration Option (DMO) allowing you to update an existing SAP system to a higher software release and migrate to SAP HANA database.
We are also conversant with archival systems, i.e. near-line-storage (NLS) options using Sybase IQ (now SAP IQ).

SAP S/4 HANA

SAP S/4HANA is where SAP‘s ‘Run Simple’ strategy materializes in the core product offering, which is the business suite:

  • Dramatic simplification of core applications to enable business model and process innovation
  • Simplification of system landscapes and data footprint for lower TCO
  • Simplification of user and system interaction and provisioning an integrated user experience, on premise and in the cloud.