Real-time analytics is revolutionizing the way we interact with customers, partners and system in totality. The continuous evolution of technology is changing the way we do business. Uncertainty and change in the global marketplace is driving new ideas and innovation. Competing in this new hyper-connected and digitized world requires a new business platform that meets the demand for speed and innovation with reduced complexity. The demand for real-time data and analytics is so pervasive that every customer, big or small, wants to have it.
Real-time analytics is basically the use of (or to have an option to use) all the available data and resources within the enterprise as and when they are needed. The term real-time analytics implies practically instant access and use of analytical data.
As it turns out, to answer this need and the changes in the business, SAP came up with a complete out-of-the-box solution, transforming the database industry by combining database, data processing, and application platform capabilities into a single in-memory platform called SAP HANA. SAP HANA makes it possible for applications and analytics to run without information processing latency. It also allows to build sense and response solutions on a large volume of real-time data without thinking of pre-aggregates.
To answer why you should choose SAP HANA for real-time analytics, we would have a look at the key capabilities of SAP HANA, such as Massive speed—the scan speed of the SAP HANA database is 3.19 billion symbol per second per core (in lab conditions). High efficiencies—if you port the data from a classical database to SAP HANA, eliminating unnecessary indexes and aggregate tables and allowing operational reporting directly on SAP HANA, the data footprint could be reduced by a factor of as high as 37. The data compression rate is approximately 4 to 1. Lower cost providing a dual OLTP—the OLAP architecture reduces the data footprint, which saves on storage costs.
Eliminating the need for data extraction and transfer from OLAP to OLTP saves time and resources. Flexibility—SAP HANA is an ideal big data analytics platform, capable of efficiently loading and rapidly analyzing multiple data types in both structured and unstructured forms.
While there are many tools in the market for real-time analytics, this book discusses how we can use all the preceding mentioned features of SAP HANA and design our data models for real-time analytics. We will be working on SAP HANA as a sidecar / standalone scenario to create our data models. This book is organized into four parts, discussing various concepts related to data modeling.
This book has a particular structure, as follows:
Setting up the platform:
Chapters 1, 2, and 3, describe how we can setup the platform for SAP HANA
Creating data models:
Chapters 4 and 5 explain how to create data models in SAP HANA
Supporting concepts of data modeling:
Chapters 6 and 7 elaborate the supporting concepts to create data models in SAP HANA
Reporting on data models:
Chapters 8 and 9 deal with the creation of reports
Chapter 1, Kickoff – Before We Start, sets the basic concepts and building blocks for the book. It talks about the prerequisite development skill that you must have before we plunge into data modeling.
Chapter 2, SAP HANA Data Modeling Approach, covers the approach to SAP HANA data modeling and the do's and dont's while creating data models.
Chapter 3, Different Ways of SAP HANA Data Load, teaches you how to load data into SAP HANA, explore various options of data load as per the data source and need, understand real-time replication via SLT, and use SAP HANA Studio for the Data Load.
Chapter 4, Creating SAP HANA Artifacts Attribute Views and Analytical Views, teaches you how to create HANA artifacts—Attribute view and Analytical view. You will learn the various other components involved during the creation of these Artifacts.
Chapter 5, Creating SAP HANA Artifacts – Analytical Privileges and Calculation Views, teaches you how to create HANA artifacts—Analytical privileges and Calculation views. You will learn the various other components involved in the creation of these Artifacts.
Chapter 6, Understanding Text Search and Hierarchies in SAP HANA, talks about hierarchies and Text Search in SAP HANA, how to create and use them in our data models for real time analytics, how to create and use Full Text Search, how to create hierarchies as per usage, and understanding the concept of parent-child hierarchies and level hierarchies.
Chapter 7, Using Decision Tables and Transporting SAP HANA Content, teaches you how to work with additional capabilities of SAP HANA such as decision tables and currency conversion. You will also learn how our SAP HANA Artifacts can be transported across the landscape.
Chapter 8, Consuming SAP HANA Data Models, teaches you reporting with SAP HANA data models by using your own data models created in previous chapters for reporting. It also talks of a general overview of all the tools available in SAP HANA.
Chapter 9, An Introduction to Application Function Library, explores the AFL library. You will learn how the deliver prepackaged functionality can be used in building information models faster and in an easier way. It will also discuss the AFL deliver prepackaged functionality, which will help us to know what the inbuilt functions are that can be used without reworking/redeveloping.
We will consider only the software requirement for the end user perspective. You will need to have SAP HANA Studio installed on your client machines and should have access to the SAP HANA server instance. We discuss the steps to add an instance to SAP HANA Studio in Chapter 2, SAP HANA Data Modeling Approach.
The software requirements are as follows:
Sap HANA Studio 1.0 REV 80 or later (mandatory)
SAP HANA database clients 1.0 REV80 (mandatory)
SAP Design Studio on 1.5 (optional )
SAP Data Services 4.2 SP1 (optional)
SAP Business Intelligence Platform 4.1 SP2 (optional)
If you are a SAP HANA data modeler, developer, implementation/migration consultant, project manager, or architect who is responsible for implementing/migrating to SAP HANA, this book is for you.
In this book, you will find a number of text styles that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "We can include other contexts through the use of the include directive."
A block of code is set as follows:
CREATE PROCEDURE {schema.}name
{({IN|OUT|INOUT}
param_name data_type {,...})}
{LANGUAGE <LANG>} {SQL SECURITY <MODE>}
{READS SQL DATA {WITH RESULT VIEW <view_name>}} AS
BEGIN
...
ENDAny command-line input or output is written as follows:
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA <YOUR SCHEMA> TO _SYS_REPO WITH GRANT OPTION; GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA HANA_DEMO TO _SYS_REPO WITH GRANT OPTION
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, for example, in menus or dialog boxes, appear in the text like this: "You can see the created procedure below our schema under the Procedures... folder."
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