What is SAP BW/4HANA Content and How to Use It?

SAP BW/4HANA is a next-generation data warehouse solution that runs on the SAP HANA platform and leverages its capabilities for data integration, modeling, and analytics. SAP BW/4HANA offers a simplified and modern architecture that enables faster and more flexible data warehousing scenarios.

However, building a data warehouse from scratch can be a complex and time-consuming task that requires a lot of expertise and resources. That’s why SAP provides SAP BW/4HANA Content, a set of pre-built data models, queries, reports, and dashboards that cover various business domains and scenarios.

SAP BW/4HANA Content can help you accelerate and simplify your data warehousing projects by providing you with ready-to-use solutions that are based on best practices and industry standards. You can use SAP BW/4HANA Content as a starting point for your own customizations or as a reference for your own developments.

In this blog post, you will learn what SAP BW/4HANA Content is, what features and benefits it offers, and how to activate and use it in your SAP BW/4HANA system.

What is SAP BW/4HANA Content?

SAP BW/4HANA Content is a collection of pre-built data models, queries, reports, and dashboards that cover various business domains and scenarios, such as finance, sales, procurement, human resources, manufacturing, or logistics.

SAP BW/4HANA Content is based on the layered scalable architecture (LSA++) that is optimized for SAP HANA. It follows the three-layer approach of the enterprise data warehouse:

The open operational data store (ODS) layer: This layer contains the raw data from various source systems in an open format. It uses advanced DataStore objects (ADSOs) to store the data in column tables.
The corporate memory layer: This layer contains the harmonized and consolidated data from the ODS layer in a historical format. It uses ADSOs or InfoCubes to store the data in column tables or row-based cubes.
The business transformation layer: This layer contains the transformed and aggregated data from the corporate memory layer in a business format. It uses CompositeProviders to combine the data from different sources using joins or unions.

SAP BW/4HANA Content also provides analytical objects that enable you to access and visualize the data from the business transformation layer. These objects include:

Queries: These are predefined queries that use BEx Query Designer to define the key figures, characteristics, filters, variables, and calculations for the data analysis.
Reports: These are predefined reports that use BEx Analyzer or Analysis for Microsoft Office to display the query results in Excel workbooks with charts and tables.
Dashboards: These are predefined dashboards that use SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio or SAP Analytics Cloud to display the query results in interactive web applications with charts, maps, gauges, and filters.

SAP BW/4HANA Content covers various business domains and scenarios that are relevant for different industries and regions. For example, you can find SAP BW/4HANA Content for:

Financial accounting: This content provides data models and analytical objects for financial accounting processes, such as general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, or asset accounting.
Controlling: This content provides data models and analytical objects for controlling processes, such as cost center accounting, internal order accounting, profitability analysis, or product cost controlling.
Sales and distribution: This content provides data models and analytical objects for sales and distribution processes, such as sales order management, billing, delivery, or pricing.
Materials management: This content provides data models and analytical objects for materials management processes, such as purchasing, inventory management, goods movement, or invoice verification.
Human resources: This content provides data models and analytical objects for human resources processes, such as payroll, personnel administration, organizational management, or time management.
Production planning: This content provides data models and analytical objects for production planning processes, such as production orders, work centers, routings, or capacity planning.

You can find the complete list of available SAP BW/4HANA Content packages in the SAP Help Portal at SAP Business Content Packages.

What are the features and benefits of SAP BW/4HANA Content?

SAP BW/4HANA Content offers several features and benefits that can help you accelerate and simplify your data warehousing projects. Some of these features and benefits are:

It is optimized for SAP HANA: SAP BW/4HANA Content uses the native capabilities of SAP HANA to enable fast data loading, processing, and analysis. It also leverages the advanced features of SAP HANA, such as calculation views, virtual data models, or smart data access.
It is simplified and modern: SAP BW/4HANA Content uses a simplified and modern architecture that reduces the complexity and redundancy of data models and analytical objects. It also uses the latest SAP BW/4HANA tools and technologies, such as ADSOs, CompositeProviders, or SAP Analytics Cloud.
It is ready-to-use and customizable: SAP BW/4HANA Content provides ready-to-use solutions that are based on best practices and industry standards. You can use SAP BW/4HANA Content as it is or customize it according to your specific needs and requirements. You can also extend SAP BW/4HANA Content with your own developments or third-party solutions.
It is flexible and scalable: SAP BW/4HANA Content supports various data sources and scenarios that are relevant for different industries and regions. You can choose the SAP BW/4HANA Content packages that suit your business needs and activate them in your SAP BW/4HANA system. You can also scale up or down your SAP BW/4HANA Content solutions as your data volume or complexity grows.

How to activate and use SAP BW/4HANA Content?

To activate and use SAP BW/4HANA Content in your SAP BW/4HANA system, you need to perform the following steps:

Activate the business function /IMO/BWCONTENT in transaction SFW5. This business function enables the SAP HANA-optimized BI content in your system.
Activate the relevant SAP BW/4HANA Content packages in transaction RSORBCT. This transaction allows you to select the SAP BW/4HANA Content packages that you want to activate in your system. You can also use the filter options to narrow down your selection by industry, region, or scenario.
Assign the source system ID to the SAP BW/4HANA Content objects in transaction RSOADIM. This transaction allows you to specify the source system ID for the SAP BW/4HANA Content objects that are dependent on the source system, such as consolidated InfoObjects or ADSOs.
Load the data from the source systems to the SAP BW/4HANA Content objects using the data transfer processes (DTPs) provided by SAP BW/4HANA Content. You can use transaction RSA1 to create and execute the DTPs for the SAP BW/4HANA Content objects.
Access and visualize the data from the SAP BW/4HANA Content objects using the queries, reports, and dashboards provided by SAP BW/4HANA Content. You can use various front-end tools, such as BEx Analyzer, Analysis for Microsoft Office, SAP BusinessObjects Design Studio, or SAP Analytics Cloud to display the query results in different formats.

Conclusion:

SAP BW/4HANA Content is a set of pre-built data models, queries, reports, and dashboards that cover various business domains and scenarios. SAP BW/4HANA Content is optimized for SAP HANA, simplified and modern, ready-to-use and customizable, flexible and scalable. SAP BW/4HANA Content can help you accelerate and simplify your data warehousing projects by providing you with ready-to-use solutions that are based on best practices and industry standards.

You can activate and use SAP BW/4HANA Content in your SAP BW/4HANA system by activating the business function /IMO/BWCONTENT, activating the relevant SAP BW/4HANA Content packages, assigning the source system ID, loading the data from the source systems, and accessing and visualizing the data from the SAP BW/4HANA Content objects.

This content is generated by AI.