With SAP HANA, the Walldorf-based company has achieved something that is becoming increasingly difficult in the ERP market: genuine technological innovation. For some, however, it came as a surprise that HANA can also be used immediately for SAP Business One, as we are dealing with a technology that is capable of analysing millions of pieces of data in a matter of seconds. There are already examples of applications where HANA has demonstrated its capabilities in large-scale projects. But where is the added value for the medium-sized company that relies on a lean ERP solution with SAP Business One?
SAP Business One installations can also generate a lot of data
Well, first of all it has to be said that the "lean solution" is of course relative. Even with a SAP Business One -installation, many thousands of data may be generated every day. The prospect of being able to analyse this data in real time can be a real added value that pays off for many a medium-sized company.
SAP's answer to this is not only to provide a new technology, but also an operating concept that makes this technology easy and quick to use for SAP Business One. The SAP Business One Analytics Platform is a data analysis toolkit that uses SAP HANA as a background but delivers preconfigured content.
Distributed roles in the analysis of SAP Business One data
First and foremost, a building block is a so-called semantic layer, which allows the user to work with the familiar business objects without knowing the database structure. This semantic layer previously provided the input for the queries for the MS-SQL Databasewhose results are then transmitted via SAP b1i are forwarded to the analysis tools, which in turn are based on the evaluated CRYSTAL REPORT and DASHBOARD tools.
What changes with the use of HANA is that the data of the MS SQL database is transferred directly to HANA, and the semantic layer transmits the queries directly. In addition to various server components, the HANA toolset also includes a so-called HANA Studiowith which users can design their individual evaluation models.
Analyses in real time - from a really large amount of data
For the "normal" user, nothing will initially change in the operation of SAP Business One. The analyses created on the basis of HANA are displayed in the SAP Business One Cockpit, right next to data that comes directly from the SAP Business One Engine.
The user is then shown the advantages of HANA when he changes the parameters of the analyses. Regardless of whether they are working with thousands or hundreds of thousands of data records. Changes are displayed immediately. A nice side effect of this is that the performance of SAP Business One is not affected.
SAP Business One - Enterprise Search - Immediate added value with SAP HANA
What has been significantly expanded with the HANA technology is the so-called ENTERPRISE SEARCH. All related records can be found for a data record at lightning speed. A new interface utilises the performance of HANA by clearly displaying a lot of data without having to specifically search for it. Filters, which are also new in the way they are used, allow you to quickly reach the data record you are looking for.
Excel as frontend and other openness
Many users will be happy to hear that Microsoft Excel can be fully utilised as a front end for the analysis. Excel accesses HANA directly and the process is correspondingly fast. All Excel options can be used to access the data, which is available in real time thanks to HANA.
SAP Business One - HANA - Roadmap
However, SAP still has a lot planned if you look at the roadmap for SAP Business One & HANA. The first projects and customers have been running with this new combination since June 2011. The toolset should then be available to everyone in Q2 2012.
The following steps are not yet one hundred per cent certain. However, they would also be far-reaching. A model is to be implemented that SAP calls "ONE-BOX": the entire environment, including the SAP Business One Core application, is to run under HANA. In other words, no more MS SQL Server (!). Initially, the idea is to offer this in a hosting model and later as a on-premises Model. There is real explosive material here! A hosted SAP Business One running under HANA would probably be ahead in terms of performance. Not only ahead of competitors, but possibly also ahead of other solutions from SAP 😉
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