Illustrating the Role of SAP Datasphere in SAP Business Data Cloud

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to illustrate the role of SAP Datasphere in SAP Business Data Cloud.

Introduction

In this lesson, you will discover SAP Datasphere and learn how it plays a key role in SAP Business Data Cloud.

SAP Datasphere

Purpose of SAP Datasphere

Before we learn about the role of SAP Datasphere in SAP Business Data Cloud, it is helpful to first develop some basic knowledge of SAP Datasphere. You can skip this lesson if you already are familiar with SAP Datasphere.

In 2023, SAP introduced SAP Datasphere as its public-cloud-based Business Data Fabric. SAP Datasphere is a software-as-a-service solution and its purpose is to integrate, transform, and enrich data from SAP and third parties to create powerful data models that can be consumed by any application.

This diagram shows the purpose of SAP Datasphere as SAP's cloud-based data fabric. Data is first harmonized from various connected sources. On a higher level, a semantically rich model provides the interface for stories in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). For details, refer to the following text.

When building data models, SAP Datasphere offers the following options for semantic enrichment:

Classify an entire data set as fact (with measures), dimension (without measures, but with attributes), hierarchy (for a parent-child relationship), or text (for language-dependent descriptions).
Specify the meaning of a field, for example, a date field, currency field, or a unit of measurement field.
Define the aggregation type of a measure as a sum, maximum, minimum, or average. Optionally, add a reference to a unit of measure or currency field.
Associate additional attributes, texts, or hierarchies with a field to add semantics that give additional meaning to the data.

A key use-case for SAP Datasphere is to develop data models that can be consumed by SAP Analytics Cloud for analytical and planning use cases. Other use cases include developing models to generate a data source for machine learning.

Note

SAP Datasphere is an evolution from SAP BW. Many customers already migrated from SAP BW to SAP Datasphere. Some customers use a combination of SAP BW and SAP Datasphere in a hybrid environment.

In this course, you only need a basic understanding of SAP Datasphere. But if you would like to go deeper with SAP Datasphere, you can work through this dedicated learning journey:

Exploring SAP Datasphere

The Role of SAP Datasphere in SAP Business Data Cloud

Data products provide data from the SAP applications to SAP Business Data Cloud. However, individual data products are rarely suitable for direct consumption by analytics tools and applications because on their own, they do not provide sufficient information, and they might be missing essential business semantics that provide meaningful business context to the data. This is where SAP Datasphere fits into the picture.

SAP Datasphere is an important component of SAP Business Data Cloud and can be considered as the center-piece of the data platform that sits between data products and the analytics consumption layer.

When choosing components for your SAP Business Data Cloud formation, SAP Datasphere can be included. Technically, it is possible to have an SAP Business Data Cloud formation that does not include SAP Datasphere, but then you would not be able to combine data products, integrate third party data, and enrich standard SAP data products with the results from SAP Databricks machine learning. For these reasons SAP Datasphere should be part of every SAP Business Data Cloud formation.

Also, if you want to install an SAP Business Data Cloud Intelligent Application, you must include SAP Datasphere in your SAP Business Data Cloud formation. This is because Intelligent Applications include data models that are built in SAP Datasphere.

This diagram shows the role of SAP Datasphere in the context of SAP Business Data Cloud. SAP Datasphere makes Data Products accessible via virtual data models or data replication. For details, refer to the following text.

SAP Datasphere provides the analytic models that sit on top of the SAP-managed data products to create the data foundation for the Intelligent Applications. SAP provides the SAP Datasphere models in SAP-managed, secured spaces where you can display them but you are not able to modify them.

Screenshot of SAP Data Builder showing an analytic model for Days Sales Outstanding with connections to Controlling Area, Company Code, Currency Role, First Day of Month, and Profit Center.

SAP Datasphere provides many features to enrich your data products. For example, you can generate extra calculations and formulas to enrich your data products. You can apply filters on the data products to provide meaningful business context.

SAP Datasphere is also used to develop your own custom data models directly on top of SAP-managed data products, perhaps combining them with customer or partner provided data products. You can them consume these custom data models using SAP Analytics Cloud or other analytics consumers.

The data models defined by SAP or by the customer, are built on local tables in SAP Datasphere. These local tables are created and loaded with data either during the installation of an Intelligent Application, or when an SAP-managed or custom data product is installed to an SAP Datasphere space. The data is loaded from the Foundation Services to the local tables using Replication Flows of SAP Datasphere.

Note

To avoid replicating data to the local tables of SAP Datasphere from the Foundation Services, SAP will soon implement the delta share protocol in SAP Datasphere. Delta share uses a zero-copy approach.

To build data models on data products, you must install the required data products in a custom space in the SAP Datasphere component of SAP Business Data Cloud. To do this, you locate the required data products in the catalog of the SAP Datasphere tenant of your SAP Business Data Cloud formation. After selecting the data product, you simply hit the Install button. You must provide the name of the target space where the Datasphere artifacts will be generated. Once installed, you will be able to list the generated artifacts by opening the Data Builder in SAP Datasphere.

Let's try out an installation of a data product.

Installing a Data Product to an SAP Datasphere Space

Exercise: Click the link below to get started.

Click to Install a Data Product to a Datasphere space

Once your data product is installed to an SAP Datasphere space, it can be consumed in custom analytic models. You can define data access controls to determine who should have access to the data.

Let's enrich our data product by combining it with a custom table.

Enriching a Data Product in a Datasphere Space

Exercise: Click the link below to get started.

Click to Enrich a Data Product in a Datasphere space

Note

If you are following this course as part of the Learning Journey Exploring SAP Business Data Cloud, you will go deeper with SAP Datasphere in the next course. Remember, SAP Datasphere is an important component of SAP Business Data Cloud so developing your skills in SAP Datasphere is recommended.

Let's Summarize What You've Learned

In this lesson, you've learned how SAP Datasphere plays an important role in SAP Business Data Cloud to manage the analytic models of the SAP-delivered intelligent applications. You learned how SAP Datasphere is also used to create custom data models on top of SAP, customer, and partner-managed data products.

SAP Datasphere integrates, transforms, and enriches data to create semantic-rich models for analytics and applications.
SAP Datasphere combines SAP-managed and custom data products by developing virtual and replicated models for consumption.

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