For decades, SAP users have relied on tools like SAP BusinessObjects and the Business Explorer (BEx) suite for reporting and analysis. While powerful, these tools often represented a classic, IT-centric approach to BI. Data was extracted, transformed in a separate data warehouse, and then presented to business users in pre-defined reports.
The modern business landscape demands something more agile, unified, and business-led. This is where SAP’s next-generation analytics cloud platform comes in, led by two powerhouse components: SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC).
Let’s demystify these tools and explore how they work together to create a truly modern SAP analytics experience.
First, Let’s Clarify: It’s Not Just “BDC” Anymore
While “Business Intelligence” is the overarching goal, SAP’s modern strategy has moved beyond the older BDC (Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, and Analytics) terminology to a more integrated, cloud-native approach. The new core of this strategy is:
SAP Datasphere: The data management and warehousing layer (the successor to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud).
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC): The unified visualization, planning, and predictive analytics layer.
Together, they form a seamless, end-to-end analytics workflow directly within the SAP ecosystem.
What is SAP Datasphere? The “Brain” of Your Data
Think of SAP Datasphere as the intelligent data foundation. It’s a cloud-based data service that allows you to access, model, and combine data from across your entire enterprise landscape—both SAP and non-SAP sources—without moving the data unnecessarily.
Its key superpowers are:
Business Data Fabric: This is its core philosophy. Instead of physically moving all data into one place, Datasphere virtualizes and connects to data where it lives (e.g., in S/4HANA, BW/4HANA, Salesforce, Snowflake), creating a unified logical data model.
Context-Aware Models: It understands the semantic meaning of SAP data. When you connect to S/4HANA, it doesn’t just see tables and columns; it understands business concepts like “Customer,” “Material,” and “Sales Order,” preserving critical business context.
Spaces: These are secure, collaborative work environments for teams. A finance team can have its own “Space” with all the data, models, and permissions it needs, isolated from the supply chain team’s Space.
What is SAP Analytics Cloud? The “Voice” of Your Data
If Datasphere is the brain, SAC is the voice. It’s SAP’s flagship analytics solution that brings together:
Business Intelligence (BI): For interactive dashboards and ad-hoc analysis.
Planning: For financial, supply chain, and operational budgeting and forecasting.
Predictive Analytics: Built-in machine learning to generate forecasts and identify patterns.
SAC is designed for business users to explore and interact with the trusted data provided by Datasphere.
The Powerful Synergy: Why They Are Better Together
Connecting SAP Analytics Cloud to SAP Datasphere isn’t just a technical integration; it’s a strategic partnership that transforms how your organization uses data.
1. Trusted Insights with Zero Data Latency
The Old Way: Data was replicated from source systems into a separate data warehouse on a nightly batch schedule. Reports were always based on yesterday’s data.
The Modern Way: SAC can connect live to SAP Datasphere, which in turn can have a live connection to your SAP S/4HANA system. This means your dashboards reflect real-time transactional data. A planner can see the impact of a large, just-booked sales order immediately.
2. Agile, Business-Led Data Modeling
The Old Way: Business users requested new data fields from IT. IT teams would then spend weeks modeling and ETLing data before it was available for reporting.
The Modern Way: Using Datasphere’s intuitive graphical interface, business analysts can themselves combine a real-time sales table from S/4HANA with a marketing dataset from Google BigQuery. They can create new calculated measures and expose this new model directly to SAC for reporting—all without heavy IT intervention.
3. Unified Story for Planning and Analysis
This is a game-changer. Traditionally, planning (what we think will happen) was disconnected from analysis (what did happen).
With SAC and Datasphere: You can plan directly on top of your actuals. A financial analyst can pull actual revenue data from S/4HANA (via Datasphere) into an SAC planning story, adjust forecasts based on real performance, and write the new plan data back to a table in Datasphere—all in a single, integrated workflow.
4. A Holistic View Beyond SAP
Modern businesses don’t run on SAP alone. Datasphere allows you to bring in data from third-party applications (e.g., Salesforce, Workday), databases (SQL Server, Oracle), and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud). SAC can then visualize this blended data alongside core SAP data, giving a complete 360-degree view of the business.
Making the Move: From Traditional BDC to the Modern Stack
Transitioning from BEx or BW to SAC and Datasphere is a journey.
Start with a Use Case: Begin with a specific business problem, like streamlining financial reporting or improving sales analysis.
Leverage the Cloud: Connect SAC to a live S/4HANA system for a simple, real-time dashboard to demonstrate value quickly.
Introduce Datasphere: As needs grow, use Datasphere to blend that S/4HANA data with other sources, creating more complex, holistic models.
Upskill Teams: Train your BI developers on Datasphere modeling and empower your business analysts to use SAC’s advanced planning features.
Conclusion: It’s About Time to Talk, Not Just Report
The old BDC stack was about creating static reports. The modern combination of SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud is about fostering a conversation with your data.
It provides a seamless, agile environment where data is trusted, context-rich, and available in real-time. It breaks down the barriers between IT and business users, between planning and analysis, and between SAP data and the rest of your enterprise.