SAP BW4HANA Reviews

I am working with multiple SAP clients. I am more of a tool consultant. We now have our own solutions for the supply chain, but they are more focused on complementing SAP solutions.

The problem is the expensive pricing of technical support, making it an area where improvements are required.

I have been using SAP BW4HANA for three to three and half years.

The solution's technical support can be expensive. If you pay the support team, the support team will offer you support. If you don't pay the support team, they will not support you. My company never had any problem with SAP, but it is very pricey.

My company uses SAP Analytics Cloud for dashboards. The data source could be BW, or it could be directly SAP S/4HANA, and sometimes we do it like that. For one of the clients, we did not do it in BW and went directly to HANA database because their requirements weren't much.

My company helps customers with the implementation of the tool. We also offer support and customize our products for the customers.

The product's implementation phase is not straightforward. A few things have to be taken care of, and it all depends on the people doing it. We have very experienced people to take care of the tool's implementation. Sometimes, people implement the tool very quickly, and if they have any issues, they will take more time, but it gets delivered. We don't have any problem with the tool's implementation.

The tool is affordable. In our company, we do have the capacity to offer the tool to others based on the cost, capability, needs and what someone expects from the tool for their overall project. Everything depends or varies because not all clients are the same. If clients opt for our company's complementing solutions, we give a different pricing model to such customers, meaning we have a model to support them.

There are multiple products in the market. People are looking for multiple things, but I am not sure.

I recommend the tool for companies involved in manufacturing and logistics. Our primary focus is on mid-sized businesses.

The clients know what is required for their companies. Our company's main focus is manufacturing and supply chain organizations. The tool can also be used in mining and certain parts of retail business.

The products offered by SAP have high levels of competence. Companies look for tools that can solve their problems at an affordable price.

My company integrates the product with other tools with the help of SAP OData's services.

Speaking about the tool's impact on the customers' data processing speeds, I would say that one of the main concerns is security. The tool is more concerned about the security of the integrations. That is the reason the tool is preferred through something like AWS or GCP. The security of SAP integration is a major concern for the client as they don't want to expose their data to unsecured links. Some customers are okay with the tool's integrations, but my company uses SAP OData for others. Sometimes, if a customer is not willing to share, we use RPA for some integrations.

The tool's modernized data modeling capabilities are mandatory, so it is no longer an option. Users need to have robust data, and if they don't have a robust data architecture, they will have a problem anyway. It is not only about their recurrent operations but also associated with future upgrades. Everybody is trying to be innovative sooner or later.

Speaking about the transition from a traditional data warehouse to an SAP tool and its impact on our customers' data governance practices, I would say that they will get all the data requirements fulfilled after migration. If they don't design it properly, then they will have a problem, and it can be technological or functional.

I recommend the tool to others.

The tool has its own challenges. Technology-wise, it is a very robust tool. From the cost and implementation perspective, I rate the tool as a seven out of ten.

We use the solution to build up complex queries that support data models and reporting.

The solution saves time and cost. Our dependability on SAP has reduced because we use BW4HANA as an intermediate system that works as a data source for different tools. We don't have to connect the other tools to SAP directly. Our data is secured. BW4HANA is like a staging environment. We can use it to supply data to other programming or reporting tools.

All the features are important. BW queries, BW views, calculation views, and calculated columns are valuable features. InfoCubes and InfoObjects are also valuable features. The product speeds up the data read cycle.

There should be a direct pipeline from Azure to SAP. Users must be able to deploy the pipeline and pull the tables directly.

I have been using the solution for four to five years.

I rate the product’s stability an eight out of ten. The stability has some scope for improvement.

The tool is highly scalable. I rate the scalability a nine or ten out of ten. About seven to eight developers use the solution in our organization.

We have integrated SAP with Azure. We have migrated all standard tables and the output of standard reports on Azure. A different team in our organization coordinates with the solution’s support team to resolve the issues we face. I will recommend the solution to others. If a huge amount of data needs to be moved around for analytics purposes, we should choose SAP BW4HANA. Overall, I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

We use SAP BW4HANA as our data warehousing solution. We pull data from different sources and extract it into the central data warehouse. We analyze and visualize it using analytical engines such as Tableau or SAP Analytics Cloud.

The solution seamlessly integrates with SAP products but lacks other advantages. 

We use it because underlying SAP products are compatible with easy integration.

We tried integrating SAP BW4HANA with several platforms, but none worked properly. It lacks customization options. It's neither flexible nor elastic, making simple job creation difficult. There's no support for developing data cards or similar functionalities. Its data management and endpoint data governance features are lacking. 

We cannot integrate with third-party tools like Python or advanced integration options. You can't fine-tune tables within BW or generate specific views or reports.

The product roadmap and features of SAP BW4HANA are ugly and need improvement.

I have been using SAP BW4HANA for three or four years.

The product is stable, but if it fails to meet the basic needs. It doesn't support my development lifecycle for the data warehouse.

The solution is not scalable. 15-20 different departments are using it because there is no other solution.

I rate the solution’s scalability minus five out of ten.

There are no support issues. The overall product has concerns, including its dimension, roadmap, evolution with the cloud, and integration with non-SAP systems. Maintaining insight into these matters is crucial, and support helps to address them.

It's been 10-12 years since SAP BW4HANA evolved from its older versions, but the product hasn't improved much. Unlike competitors such as Microsoft and Snowflake, who continuously evolve their products, SAP BW4HANA lacks seamless integration with third-party connectors. This absence of support for good integration tools suggests a monopolistic approach. Simple integrations take excessive time, leading to low business efficiency. SAP's core applications are highly customizable and purpose-built, with continuous release cycles that align with market trends.

The maintenance of the solution is challenging due to its complex architecture. However, its dynamic design and comprehensive features make it unique. Even a minor with database knowledge can significantly improve the schema creation process.

I don't recommend the solution. It's not fair to compare bananas to oranges. There's no comparison. SAP doesn't fall anywhere close to other vendors.

If you are a static organization with basic SAP applications in the underlying architecture, SAP BW4HANA will be a better choice. However, with the evolution of data and the increasing amount of data being collected, along with emerging applications, it's not advisable to use it. It will complicate your life, leading to disappointment for your business and SAP's overall strategy for the organization.

Overall, I rate the solution a five out of ten.

We use the tool to analyze data from various sources, such as ERP. 

I like the tool's robustness and security.

The interface could be more user-friendly, as we often need to do low-level coding to get things done.

I have been using the product for more than five years. 

The product is stable. 

The solution is scalable, and my company has more than 2000 users. 

Technical support is knowledgeable and helpful.

The setup was reasonable, with no major issues. Our SAP team shares responsibility for maintenance.

We have a broad licensing arrangement, which is expensive but worth it for sizeable businesses.

I advise others to design requirements carefully before importing data and do incremental refreshes instead of full uploads to save resources. We can integrate non-SAP data sources using XML data exchange. It's important to plan work well and design solutions properly. I'd rate the product nine out of ten.

The real-time analytics capabilities are good, but we often move data to a different platform for analysis. Overall, SAP BW4HANA provides a stable, robust, and scalable solution that integrates well with various systems, allowing us to consolidate data from different places.

We use SAP BW4HANA for revenue reporting. 

We can get good visualization and less redundant data. 

The product needs to improve with more performance and fewer data layers. 

I have been working with the product for six months. 

I rate SAP BW4HANA's stability a nine out of ten. 

I rate the tool's scalability an eight out of ten. 

SAP BW4HANA's deployment is not complex. You need five to ten people to handle the maintenance. 

SAP BW4HANA has helped us save time and money. 

I rate the product an eight out of ten. 

As a user, I use the solution for BW data modeling, customization, remodeling, process changes, and creating queries, workbooks, and analyses.

SAP BW4HANA aids in managing data from ER to front-end analysis, contributes to ROI, and fosters business growth understanding.

I like that the solution breaks down components to a very granular level, allowing for customization and implementation based on specific requirements. Its structured approach provides flexibility.

Challenges arise with real-time client requirements when clients are accustomed to Microsoft Excel's extensive features for data analysis. They expect similar flexibility and customization in the solution, particularly regarding headers displaying keys and descriptions or just keys. Achieving this level of customization can be challenging, and it's an area that may need improvement.

I have been working with the solution for over eight years.

The solution is stable. I rate it an eight out of ten.

The solution is scalable. I rate it a seven out of ten.

The solution is deployed on-premises and cloud, and the entire process took slightly over a week. I rate the setup as seven out of ten.

The solution is expensive.

To ensure smooth deployment, businesses must clearly understand their specific business processes before opting for any solution. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

It is a data warehouse product. It is used to extract data from source systems, unify it, and gain business intelligence.

I like the reporting features of the solution.

The tool is not cloud-compatible. It is an on-premise tool. SAP is bringing other tools into its place.

I have been using the solution for ten years. I am using the latest version of the solution.

The tool is stable.

The product is scalable. On-premises systems cannot be scaled easily, though. Cloud solutions are easily scalable. Approximately 200 to 300 people use the solution in our organization.

The tool was implemented in my company 15 years ago. For the last 15 years, we have been in constant touch with SAP.

The initial setup is straightforward. The administration team does it. The team buys the licenses from SAP, downloads the software, and installs it on SAP servers. The deployment did not take more than one day.

The deployment can be done in-house. Our organization pays SAP, and we download the software and install it. It’s straightforward.

The product is free if we have the ECC license.

The product is not relevant anymore. Other modern tools are better than SAP BW/4HANA. I will not recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the solution a six out of ten.

Simplified tables, advance DSOs, and composite provider are valuable features.

I've been working with this solution for four years.

It is a stable solution.

The technical support is okay.

The initial setup is easy.

Price wise, this solution is on the higher side.

I would advise you to go ahead with SAP BW4HANA with minimal options to look into other solutions.

We found that SAP BW4HANA has better performance than NetWeaver Business Warehouse. Also, SAP BW4HANA has a simplified structure, advance DSOs, and a composite provider. These were not possible with NetWeaver Business Warehouse. This is because of the HANA database at the back end. Because of this, we have shifted 60% to BW4HANA and have 40% remaining on NetWeaver Business Warehouse. We have less than 5000 people using this solution.

Overall, I would rate SAP BW4HANA at nine out of ten.