Getting Started on SAP Design Studio powered by BW on HANA – Part 1

Alright!! it feels nice to be back on SCN. Let’s get straight to the topic, In this blog series which i am planning to publish i will talk more about the SAP Design Studio powered by BW on HANA.

Architecture: I know I’m just too good at drawing

Below are different connectivity options that can be used to connect SAP Design Studio and BW on HANA:

1. BICS Direct - via BI 4.x Platform
2. BICS (NW BI JAVA) - direct connectivity via SAP Netweaver BW
3. SAP HANA Connection - Direct Connectivity via SAP HANA Connections maintained in ODBC Data Source Administrator.
4. SAP HANA Connection via BI 4.x Platform (OLAP Connection).
   
5. BICS (transient Universe) – via Relational Universe.

Before we jump into building applications on BW on HANA, understand what Design Studio can and cannot do on different platforms.

Design Studio onBI 4.x platform vs SAP Netweaver BW platform:

Application will run a little faster on SAP Netweaver BW than on the BI platform, for obvious reasons. Although some of them might say it will work great if the BI platform is tuned correctly and APS is sized correctly etc. etc., you are right, however by the end of the day "why should we add an additional layer" is what I keep hearing from all the customers, and they are absolutely correct as well . Below are couple of things to consider before you jump into conclusion.

Mobility:

• You will be able to leverage the BI Mobile (SAP BI Mobile app) solution only if you publish DS application on BI Platform.
• You would have to leverage the Portal mobile client for any mobile deployment or use the URLs directly in the browser on a mobile device if you publish DS application on SAP NetWeaver BW as platform

Connectivity:

• DS application on SAP NetWeaver BW as platform can connect ONLY to SAP NetWeaver BW.
• DS application on BI platform can connect to SAP BW, SAP HANA, SAP Universes, and to multiple of those systems.

Just to add to this you can leverage the integration with Analysis Office and Analysis OLAP if you are using DS application on BI Platform.

Happy Learning!!