Practical Guide to SAP® HANA and Big Data Analytics

Architecture Decisions for SAP HANA and Big Data 💻

Practical Guide to SAP HANA and Big Data Analytics is aimed at the people who have to make SAP BI architecture work in practice: BI architects, Big Data architects, and IT architects who need a clear view of the options before committing to a design. Dominique Alfermann and Stefan Hartmann focus on the point where SAP HANA meets Big Data, where established SAP landscapes connect with platforms and data sources that do not always follow the same rules.

The book is a concise Espresso Tutorials guide, first published in 2018. It treats SAP HANA not as a single product to install but as an architecture with building blocks, scenarios, and trade-offs that must be understood before a landscape is designed.

What the Guide Covers

Early chapters lay out the SAP HANA landscape and the tools that surround it, including:

• SAP HANA functionalities
• SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics
• SAP BW/4HANA
• Data provisioning tools
• Analytics components and front-end tools
• Big Data ecosystems
• Cloud platforms

From there, the guide moves into SAP HANA BI architectures and compares several ways to structure a solution: HANA-native designs, BW/4HANA, HANA merged with Big Data, HANA combined with analytics, cloud scenarios, mixed configurations, and migration paths. A decision matrix and best-practice guidance help readers weigh the options instead of simply listing available technologies.

From Architecture Options to a Decision

The most useful part of the book for many readers will be its emphasis on choice. Architecture is not presented as a catalogue of components but as a series of decisions: which platform should own which workload, when Big Data belongs alongside SAP HANA, how cloud services fit into the landscape, and what a migration path might look like. The decision matrix gives structure to those questions and helps teams discuss trade-offs with a shared vocabulary.

Who This Book Is For 🧭

The stated audience is mainly SAP BI and Big Data architects, as well as IT architects. Others who work with SAP analytics may also find the material useful, provided they already have a fundamental understanding of how a data warehouse functions, its associated technologies, and Big Data environments.

The Organizational Side of SAP HANA

Technical architecture is only one part of a working SAP HANA landscape. The guide also covers organizational principles such as landscape enablement, data governance, development environments, data security and authorizations, change processes, and training. These chapters help readers connect design choices to the teams, controls, and operating practices that keep an analytics platform sustainable.

A Focused Reference for SAP HANA BI

For architects and IT professionals who need to evaluate SAP HANA and Big Data options, this guide offers a compact, structured starting point. It is especially suited to readers who want to understand the architecture landscape, compare scenarios, and prepare for the conversations that lead to a practical design.