Illustrating the Role of SAP Datasphere in SAP Business Data Cloud

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

Purpose of 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 it's 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.

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, as a date field, currency field, or unit 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 meaning to the data.

A common 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 source prepared data for machine learning, no- or pro-code dashboards, or access from 3rd-party models.

Note

SAP Datasphere is an evolution from the classic SAP BW, and many customers already migrated from SAP BW to SAP Datasphere and have collected huge amounts of valuable SAP and non-SAP data. Some customers use a combination of SAP BW and SAP Datasphere in a hybrid environment.

in this course we only need a basic understanding of SAP Datasphere. But if you would like to go deeper with SAP Datasphere, you should take a look at this dedicated learning journey:

• Exploring SAP Datasphere

SAP Datasphere is an important component of SAP Business Data Cloud and can be considered as the center-piece of the platform.

When choosing components for your SAP Business Data Cloud formation, SAP Datasphere is an option. Technically, it is possible to have a SAP Business Data Cloud formation without SAP Datasphere but then you would miss the opportunity to integrate data from different sources and build models on top of the SAP, customer and partner-managed data products. So, SAP Datasphere should be part of every SAP Business Data Cloud formation.

Also bear in mind, if you want to install an SAP Business Data Cloud Intelligent Application, you must include SAP Datasphere in your SAP Business Data Cloud formation.

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

SAP Datasphere is also used to develop custom models on top of SAP-managed data products, perhaps combining them with customer or partner data products.

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 either during the installation of an Intelligent Application, or when an SAP-managed or custom data product is installed to a SAP Datasphere space. The data is filled from the Foundation Services.

Once your data product is installed to SAP Datasphere, you can define row-level authorizations and enrich the data with semantics by developing custom analytic models.

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 Business Data Cloud 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.