SAP HANA is an in-memory data platform that delivers data-driven insights and forecasts for many different enterprise areas, all in real time. How to capture the full potential of your data. What can it do?
With its optimized data models and flexible system architectures, SAP HANA technology not only improves the performance of your SAP systems, but also expands your options for analysis, planning, and simulation. At the same time, you also benefit from an optimized user interface. Meanwhile, SAP HANA implementation does not result in increased complexity – quite the opposite, in fact. The decisive benefits of SAP HANA include a simplified data model and the context-sensitive, role-based use of data, even in mobile solutions (SAP Fiori). This innovative technology also opens up new possibilities for moving your SAP systems partially or completely to hybrid or multi-cloud environments to realize potential savings in your IT governance.
The functions of SAP HANA at a glance
SAP HANA offers many benefits on your journey to becoming part of the digital economy. The ability to make decisions based on real-time data and analytics will help you transform into a live enterprise. The following functions are key in this regard:
- Database services:SAP HANA enables online analytical processing (OLAP) and online transaction processing (OLTP) on a shared data platform. You can access data in real time whenever you need it and thereby run transaction-based and analytics applications in parallel at high speeds. This gives you an optimal decision-making foundation for a variety of application areas, including administration, planning, and management. What’s more, the multi-client capability of SAP HANA lets you manage different databases as if they were one. At the same time, the databases remain strictly separated, meaning users, services, data files, and logs can differ among them. Through the shared use of working memory and processes, however, they can be simultaneously saved, updated, and – if necessary – restored. This enables better utilization of system resources and reduces the effort required for security and maintenance.
- Application development:Once you migrate to SAP HANA, you'll be able to develop personalized analytics and transactional apps that run on all user devices. Use application services to optimize the architecture and performance of your IT environment. With SAP HANA, application development can be tailored optimally to your specific needs. This applies to both programming languages and the development environment. SAP HANA supports a variety of standard languages, including SQLScript, JavaScript, C++, and R. The development environment is also flexible. You can choose between development tools that are based on Eclipse or ABAP. With ready-to-use algorithms and procedures from the SAP HANA function libraries, you can boost the productivity of your developments and improve the overall performance of programmed applications.
- Analytics processes:Utilize innovative analytics processes to answer important questions and make data-driven business decisions. Enrich your business data with geographic data to create spatial analyses, for example, or use machine learning processes to conduct predictive analyses. The SAP HANA data platform enables real-time forecasts even when large datasets and complex predictive models are involved. Are trends particularly important for your business area? If so, take advantage of the time-series processing in SAP HANA Analyze data over time to identify and trends and tap into their potential. Possible use cases include fluctuations in prices, efficiency, or energy consumption.
- Data access:SAP HANA also offers benefits in data staging. Give your employees access to all the information they need to perform their duties. Bundled queries of remote data sources are also possible, offering potential for cost savings. In addition, SAP HANA provides functions that will help you improve the quality and reliability of your business data. Standardize datasets, eliminate duplicates, and transform data formats from collection to endpoint to fix quality problems in all your data sources. Do your employees work in places where not much bandwidth is available for data transfers? With remote data synchronization, you can harmonize the data between SAP HANA and other databases.
- Security:Security requirements on the internet are constantly increasing. Besides protecting your enterprise data, systems, and applications, you also have to comply with related statutory requirements. With SAP HANA, you can create a foundation for comprehensive IT security. Use the authorization model to manage different roles, for example, and assign them to the respective user groups. This also includes authentication. You can choose from different options to customize your security settings. SAP HANA also supports TLS/SSL encryption for secure communication over internal and external channels. In addition, stored data can be encrypted and dynamically masked. The deployment of regular security updates forms a basis for a comprehensive security strategy.
- Administration:Use the administration tool in SAP HANA to test new configurations or applications without endangering the stability of your systems or enterprise workflows. Simulate and analyze changes to software or hardware in a test environment before applying them. You’ll also benefit from the high availability functions of SAP’s in-memory data platform. They guarantee permanent availability and protect against IT outages that can cause significant damage in everyday business. SAP HANA's versatile monitoring tools enable effective administration of your data infrastructure, as well. HANA Lifecycle Management from SAP simplifies the deployment and maintenance of the entire platform.
Scheer’s portfolio of SAP HANA services
As a full-service provider, Scheer can guide you on your journey to the new world of SAP HANA, cloud computing, and more – from concept design to implementation and operations.
Meanwhile, IT isn’t our sole focus: Scheer can also support you with the transformation of your processes and your organization. Under consideration of your current situation, strategic goals, and business requirements,
we'll use predefined scenarios for SAP HANA implementation to develop your roadmap and then implement it with you using established methods. These implementation scenarios not only reveal the potential of using mobile SAP solutions, but also help you decide whether to implement and run your SAP HANA systems in the cloud, on-premise, or as a hybrid architecture. Ask us about SAP S/4HANA, the intelligent ERP solution for the 21st-century digital economy.
SAP HANA is also the foundation for process digitalization and Industry 4.0 – areas for which Scheer has been developing methods, tools, and reference materials from the beginning.
Product structure
SAP HANA is a business data platform that processes analyses and transactions in parallel for every type of data. Its integrated data processing modules give you data-driven insights and results in real time throughout your enterprise.
