Understanding SAP HANA

Transcription

1 Understanding SAP HANA

2 SAP high-performance analytic appliance (HANA) is a data warehouse appliance for processing high volumes of operational and transactional data in real time. Developed as a replacement for disk-based relational database management systems, SAP has said that it considers HANA and in-memory technology the centerpiece of its IT strategy going forward, and that it will eventually power all SAP applications. Read this E-Guide to understand the evolving role of SAP HANA, and discover this platform is helping businesses handle upcoming challenges such as big data and mobility. By: Todd Morrison, News and Features Editor Ever since SAP first introduced its new in-memory appliance at the company s annual SapphireNow conference last year, it has sought to convince users of the technology s ability to simplify IT landscapes and process massive amounts of data in seconds. SAP high-performance analytic appliance (HANA) is a data warehouse appliance for processing high volumes of operational and transactional data in real time. HANA uses in-memory analytics, an approach that queries data stored in random-access memory (RAM) instead of on hard disk or flash storage in order to reduce the latency time for bringing data to a processor. While some customers have balked at being told they need to once again spend money for faster analytics when they already have spent money on things like SAP Business Warehouse Accelerator (BWA), others, like Mridula Sharma have listened. In-memory analytics could help Sharma s employer, a public utility in Snohomish, Wash., process reams of data on subscribers usage patterns so Page 2 of 9

3 that they better plan for peak demand periods, she said. At the same time, it could help them greatly simplify their operations, she said. The business warehouse is based on traditional technology, where we take the data from the main core systems and take it into the business warehouse, she said, after which the date is then kept in data containers called InfoCubes. You can actually bypass all of those steps [since] in-memory computing takes data right from your legacy systems and puts the summarized strategic reports right out there. The development time is reduced by quite a bit. That is definitely interesting, Sharma said. Not having to store five years of duplicated data in the cubes, she added, means we can save quite a bit on space. Early beginnings While a lot of attention has been paid to SAP HANA and high-speed analytics, it s worth remembering that in-memory technology isn t new, according to Rita Sallam, an analyst with Gartner Inc. SAP is the first company to make it feasible for large enterprises, she said. That changed thanks to two factors, according to Sallam. The cost of RAM fell significantly, making in-memory cost effective. Hardware vendors have also moved to a 64-bit architecture. The 32-bit architectures didn t really support broad of use of in-memory for enterprise use cases, she said. Both factors led to smaller vendors introducing in-memory applications that were suitable for small and midsize businesses or workgroups, Sallam said. For example, one of the applications combined in-memory capabilities for faster performance, along with easy-to-use BI authoring tools and interactive analysis, she said. Users were able to associate different dimensions and models without having to build aggregates like with traditional online Page 3 of 9

4 analytical processing models, one of the key advantages of in-memory computing. Columns and rows Within HANA, data is organized in both columns and rows in order for the data to be retrieved as efficiently as possible, according to SAP. While row storage provides advantages in metadata storage and logging used in transactional type workload, according to the company, columnar data storage is considered key to efficient in-memory computing in that it has the ability to significantly compress data and that with columnar storage, only data that is directly relevant to execution is accessed. SAP BusinessObjects and in-memory applications Developed as a replacement for disk-based relational database management systems, SAP has said that it considers HANA and in-memory technology the centerpiece of its IT strategy going forward, and that it will eventually power all SAP applications. While SAP equates HANA with being the engine that churns and processes the data, business intelligence (BI) software has to sit on top of HANA to interpret the data. Although other BI tools will work, SAP says HANA was built to work and integrate closely with SAP BusinessObjects. That is probably the most common use case in terms of having some kind of analytical tool sit on top of HANA. That s because everything is in the family, we ve optimized the SAP business intelligence suite, to take advantage of and gain access to HANA, according to Dan Kearnan, director of SAP business intelligence. So, if you want to design a report, get some analysis, build a dashboard, and you want to make sure that you re getting the data you need to from HANA, you can do that through the suite of SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence. Page 4 of 9

5 SAP is also in the process of rolling out a line of prebuilt in-memory applications for HANA, some of which are completely new and some of which are in-memory versions of existing applications. Those applications are designed for a specific need in mind. It can be for an industry, for a gap, retail or CPG [consumer packaged goods] sector. It can be for a line of business, for an HR manager. It s whatever are the top KPIs [key performance indicators] that they need to measure and understand on a day-to-day basis, Kearnan said. So far, SAP has generally released two in-memory applications, including SAP BusinessObjects Strategic Workforce Planning, which lets companies simulate organizational changes in real time and then see how the changes will affect business. With the application, personnel executives see how their companies acquisitions and entrances into new markets will affect organizational structure, according to SAP. SAP has also released two more in-memory applications, including Smart Meter Analytics for utility companies and a profitability analysis accelerator, or CO-PA, for companies processing inordinate amounts of financial data. SAP is in the process of introducing in-memory applications for cash and liquidity management, trade promotion management and sales and operations planning, among others. Analysis of ERP Data By: Laura B. Smith, Contributor Enterprise customers eager for the fast in-memory technology of SAP HANA for ERP data analysis will have to be patient, according to one SAP official. That particular milestone isn t planned until We re trying to manage disruption, said Mike Eacrett, vice president of product management for SAP HANA at SAP Labs in Palo Alto, Calif. It s the Page 5 of 9

6 innovator s dilemma, Eacrett said, figuring out how to take advantage of new opportunities while managing change. Yet Eacrett predicted that SAP will deliver on customer demand for inmemory analysis of the full ERP within 24 months. At the end of next year, we ll have ERP running on HANA, he said. We re already doing it in-house. First described in the spring last year, SAP HANA 1.0 is based on long-held SAP technology such as the MaxDB database and TREX search engine, according to Eacrett. SAP delivers the SAP HANA computational engine on hardware from partners, with pricing based on the amount of data being loaded into memory, he said. While currently optimized for querying data in SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0, the SAP HANA platform has become a magnetic pole to which fragments of SAP applications are attracted. The roadmap features numerous signposts, from new in-memory applications designed to run on SAP HANA, to accelerators for existing applications, to standalone applications that also run on SAP HANA. SAP released the first in-memory application to run on SAP HANA, SAP BusinessObjects Strategic Workforce Planning, in March. The program allows personnel managers to view existing workforce demographics and distribution and skills, and model potential changes in real time to simulate costs. New SAP HANA solutions to manage big data Two new technologies, SAP Smart Meter Analytics and SAP CO-PA Accelerator, allow enterprises to leverage big data for analysis, forecasting and planning, according to SAP. Utility companies, inundated by data collected from smart grid systems, can use the Smart Analytics program to load forecasts, tailor offerings and improve fraud detection, SAP suggested, while their customers can adopt more sustainable energy-use practices. They can bring in weather data to Page 6 of 9

7 plan power consumption, Eacrett said, and look at not having to buy on-thespot market. It s all about yield management. The CO-PA Accelerator (for costing-based profitability analysis) is designed to improve the speed and depth of working with large volumes of financial data, especially in profitability cycles and month-end closing processes, according to SAP. In trying to manage disruption to enterprise customers who typically tweak their ERP systems to optimize performance, SAP plans to release numerous similar accelerators over the next year to 18 months, according to Eacrett. He said accelerators are coming for financial and pricing applications that are very data intensive but provide more real-time insights. You can think of the accelerators as sidecars to the ERP, running specific queries alongside the larger database, Eacrett said. We haven t announced them all. Industry observers expect a standalone application due out soon, Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), to be a killer app for SAP HANA. A consumer package company may look at data for the last few months and forecast for the next 10 months, making pricing decisions for the whole company, said David Simchi-Levi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., who is familiar with SAP HANA and teaches graduate level courses on supply chains. By performing S&OP on SAP HANA, businesses can instantly evaluate the production level at a plant, and decide, for example, whether to move production closer to the customer to cut freight costs, Simchi-Levi said. The next milestone in the roadmap is a service pack that will enable SAP NetWeaver BW to run on SAP HANA, Eacrett said. At that point, customers who are using the SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator to improve performance can use SAP HANA instead, he said. Page 7 of 9

8 That said, SAP will continue to develop SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, according to Eacrett. The plan is that next year we ll offer a new version of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator, enhanced with some of the HANA technology, such as simplified administration. The goal for SAP is not just to deliver full ERP data analysis with HANA, but to provide access to users of mobile devices. With a mobile device connected to an SAP HANA engine, for example, a salesperson could sit with a customer and offer a discount on a product based on whether a certain truck, according to the latest SAP HANA analysis, has left the warehouse, Eacrett said. Page 8 of 9

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