While SAP serves as a core ERP system for many companies globally, organizations regularly struggle with getting data out of SAP for analysis and wider use. These challenges relate directly to how SAP treats data, including:

• A complex and highly modularized data structure that is difficult for beginners to understand. For example, SAP data is available in specific formats (e.g. cluster tables) that cannot be easily extracted and understood.
• Data from underlying processes is only generated at runtime, requiring ETL process to readjust for complex calculations.
• Proprietary interfaces that require expertise from expensive SAP specialists that aren’t always readily available.

This is where the Pentaho SAP Connector comes into play. The connector can be integrated into any Pentaho Data Integration (PDI) installation as a plugin for simple and direct access to SAP systems and data sources, bringing this valuable data into new workflows and processes all via a standardized user interface within Pentaho with full Pentaho functionality.

The Pentaho SAP Connector in Action

The connector uses SAP standard connections to ensure that communication between the systems is secure, efficient, and performant. There is no need for complex configuration in the SAP system while also complying with SAP guidelines.

The connector enables design and handling of a range of data extractions and transformations, including:

• Flat Table Extract: Extraction of raw data from SAP tables
• RFC Execution: Execution of business applications in SAP and direct connection with the existing business processes
• Report & Query Execution: Execute and extract existing SAP reports without having to replicate business logic in ETL
• Business Warehouse Loads: Utilization of business warehouse objects (e.g. cubes, DSO, queries)

The Pentaho SAP Connector’s seamless integration delivers access to SAP without the need for extensive programming knowledge. Thanks to PDI’s graphical user interface, developers avoid dealing with manual ABAP coding or complicated SAP APIs.

This is an example of the visual, self-documenting interface that makes your SAP ETL project easy to understand and maintain.

Companies can retrieve data from a variety of SAP modules (e.g. FI, CO, MM, SD) and integrate it into almost any target platform – be it a cloud database, a Hadoop cluster or a traditional BI tool. This set of capabilities delivers a powerful, secure and cost-effective alternative to expensive specialized ETL tools or middleware solutions as well as SAP’s own resources.

Opening a Whole Universe of New SAP Data Use Cases

Organizations across every industry that rely on SAP can benefit from leveraging Pentaho Data Integration and the SAP Connector to access and leverage more of their valuable data.  Bringing data out of SAP and into new analysis and workflows can positively impact Financial reports (SAP FI/CO for dashboards and reports), Supply chain management (SAP MM or SD to identify bottlenecks), Customer Engagement (deeper customer behavior analysis), Data warehousing (creating a uniform view of company data) and more.

For example, with the Pentaho SAP connector, the team of Bell Canada has saved an estimated 30 man-hours per month, and staff no longer needs to work at weekends to ensure data is highly available. “The solutions free the IT team from manual tasks and allow them to focus on more strategic projects,” said Jude Vanniasinghe, Senior Manager of Business Intelligence, Bell Business Markets Shared Services, Bell Canada.

Leveraging the Power of SAP Data

The Pentaho SAP Connector is an indispensable tool for companies that want to efficiently integrate SAP data into their BI and analysis processes. It offers a powerful and user-friendly way of handling complex data structures from SAP and gaining valuable insights.

Whether you want to increase the efficiency of your data integration, save costs or make more informed decisions, the Pentaho SAP Connector can be a crucial building block in your data strategy.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Pentaho SAP Plugin Suite, reach out to Pentaho’s Professional Servies team or engage with a trusted partner like it-novum to discuss how to get started.