Reference Development Method

In classic data warehouse development, developers work in the same workspace and runtime, on the same version and directly on the database. This leads to potential conflicts (for example, concerning access management and version control) and implies comparatively long development processes.

In modern data warehouse development, as provided with an SAP HANA SQL Data Warehouse, developers and features work in isolation from one another. This makes parallel development and testing as well as continuous integration and delivery possible. This is only possible thanks to the SAP HANA Extended Application Services advanced model (XSA). XSA adds an application platform to the SAP HANA in-memory database. It is the connecting piece between the SAP HANA platform and tools that leverage an SAP HANA SQL DW; above all, SAP Web IDE and Git.

SAP HANA XS Advanced is an integrated application stack that can be used to develop, deploy, and run applications. Applications and database objects run in isolated containers and are delivered as services. XSA lets you scale applications independently from the database services with a new web application server. It supports your choice of programming languages - Server side JavaScript on Node.js, Java on TomEE, Python, Go, and so on. Core Data Services allow developers to create database objects and relationships without SQL. XSA accelerates application development with open-source code management tools - Git/Gerrit, GitHub, Maven, and so on. It simplifies authentication and authorization with single sign-on support between application and database services. It also allows for scheduled execution of JavaScript and SQLScript programs.

The DevOps principle is the conceptual basis, the backbone for software-based data warehouse development. The figure shows all eight stages including the tools that can be used in each stage. Note that the tools listed here are only recommendations which can be switched and extended arbitrarily.

The figure also helps to clarify the benefits of software-based data warehouse development:

• Easy, straightforward delivery concept with clear procedures and stages
• Independent and parallel work thanks to sandbox development
• Easier development through modeling instead of coding
• Generation of metadata (SDI flows)
• Unity of development and operations helps to simplify projects
• Shared knowledge repository for all content
• Agile project management/agile development possible
• Easier maintenance and transparency through application-based approach
• Plug-and-play deployment thanks to container-based development
• Isolated application runtime universally deployable on any SAP HANA on-premise or cloud instance
• Simplified delivery as dependencies are described delivery packages
• Integrated tooling environment (tools can access other tools and their resources)
• High extensibility through modular structure