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SAP HANA – Demystified
Run Smarter! Run Faster! Run Simpler!
For starters, SAP HANA is short for High-Performance ANalytic Appliance (or HAsso's New
Architecture per Vishal). SAP HANA has created a revolution in how database and the
applications perform. SAP HANA is a platform with an in-memory database that was envisioned
for simplicity in Data Footprint, Data Processing & Operations, and Landscape. SAP HANA has
given rise to Simpler Setup, Simpler Code and Application Development, and wonderfully Simpler
User Experience.
Keep It Simple Stup*d !!! – KISS remembers anyone?!
SAP has been doing its best to explain the architecture and the benefits of SAP HANA, and we will
try to simplify its concepts as much as we further can. This paper is an attempt to simplify the
message and help propagate the advantages of SAP HANA implementation. We would like to
cover the most frequently bothering questions in customers’ minds. The objective of this paper is
to provide precise information about the product SAP HANA, and to highlight more of the returns
on investments (RoI) of SAP HANA to justify its implementation. Readers who are interested in
learning more about HANA in detail are advised to reach out to the SAP HANA website and other
SAP resources.
What is IMDBMS and what is SAP HANA?
What is the difference between a
traditional database and an in-memory
database? Traditional on-disk database
system is hugely burdened by the
performance of its file I/O. Hence in order
to improve on its I/O performance, a
traditional on-disk database system tries to
trade off memory consumption and CPU
cycles. This is the result of using more
memory - caching, and using more CPU
cycles to maintain the cache. Besides,

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traditional disk-based DBMS usually keeps a lot of redundant data in the forms of indexing etc.
thus needing more storage space.
Being diametrically opposite to on-disk DBMS, in-memory DBMS aims to eliminate I/O burden
and reduce storage requirements. The goal of in-memory DBMS is to optimize the reduction in
memory consumption, reduction in CPU cycles and hence making it simpler, faster and efficient.
SAP has stated its vision for HANA in
simple straight forward language as
following:
Combine OLTP and OLAP data using
modern hardware and database
systems to create a single source of
truth, enable real-time analytics
and simplify applications and
database structures.
Now consider an RDBMS where you:
 Eliminate costly Disk I/O operations
 Access data as almost 1,000 -10,000 +
times faster
 Be real-time for transactions and
reports
 Eliminate creation and storage of
indexes
 Eliminate creation and storage of
aggregates
 Achieve fewer objects and fewer
operations giving rise to simpler
design
 Have choice of efficient and less
storage consuming Columnar
Database in addition to Row-based
Database
Let us touch upon briefly to keep the paper simple, the
benefits of SAP HANA resulting from its features of HANA.
Readers needing more explanation are encouraged to contact
the author directly.
 Columnar RDBMS: Columnar table storage allows high
data compression rates, since ordered table columns
containing the same value in many rows can be ideally
compressed, maximizing the spatial locality of table
columns.
 Persistency: With the persistent store of data and log
information HANA can overcome a system restart or
failure without data loss without compromising system
performance.
 Partitioning: Partitioning supports the creation of very
large tables (billions of rows) by breaking them into
smaller chunks that can be placed on different machines,
if required. This is achieved without any adverse impact on
SQL queries and data manipulations.
 ACID Compliant: SAP HANA is a full transactional, ACID
compliant and relational database.
 Massive Parallel Processing (MPP): SAP HANA was
designed to perform calculations in parallel (shared-
nothing MPP). Often it uses hundreds of cores at the same
time, fully utilizing the available computing resources of
distributed systems.
 Highly Optimized Compression: Uses Dictionary
compression, Advanced compression(using different
compression methods, namely prefix encoding, run length
encoding (RLE), cluster encoding, sparse encoding, and
indirect encoding) and Operates efficiently on
Compressed Data.

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 Optimize the DBMS performance with many
algorithms
 Reduce coding and administration ( reduced
complexity of the infrastructure)
 Reduce power consumption due fewer moving
parts and components
 Achieve lesser TCO due to the above synergies
The above, undoubtedly, is the sweetest music for an
application designer’s ears and great news for the
finance controller who pays the bills. All the above
features and many more are the highlights of SAP
HANA which is the leading In-Memory RDBMS in the
market clearly leaving the rest of the pack far behind.
SAP has launched its flagship product HANA to foster simplified and inexpensive IT
architectures enabling unprecedented speeds of data operations in real-time. Architects of
SAP HANA product have realized that there is very little difference between OLAP and
OLTP in terms of their operation cycles of data. Hence SAP HANA has been optimized for
both transactional and reporting purposes. In addition, SAP HANA is also capable of
processing massive amounts of data in real time to support to help Big Data applications as
well. With SAP HANA, customers can simplify the technology stack, dramatically reducing
multiple layers of hardware & software complexity and making user experience simpler.
Do I need Big Data applications to implement SAP HANA?
(Implementation of SAP HANA – Scenarios)
You DO NOT need Big Data applications to implement SAP HANA!!
SAP HANA can be implemented in two scenarios – Full / Enterprise License and Run-Time
License. Replacing just the database layer with HANA of any SAP application like ECC, BW,
CRM etc. would just need a Run Time license. With Run-Time License, customers can use
HANA database strictly to run SAP Applications and cannot build any new and independent

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data schemas for a data mart in the HANA database directly. Full license of SAP HANA gives
the customers to run all kinds of database applications that involve SAP and non-SAP
sources. The pictures shown here would depict the scenarios very well.
Full / Enterprise License is sold by HANA database size (by Giga Bytes) units and Run-Time
license is sold on SAP
application value
(usually a % of the
current SAP foot
print).

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Currently, SAP is
recommending
customers to move to the
HANA database and take
advantage of new HANA
based tools and
applications like HANA-
Live, Simple Finance etc.
that will bring in a lot of
efficiencies.
What more do I get with SAP HANA?
A lot has been covered about the speed and other efficiencies that are achieved by
implementing SAP HANA as database. Let us quickly look at some more tools / applications
that could improve the productivity and simplify the business operations. In addition, SAP’s
partner community is coming up with a lot of productivity applications based on HANA that
should immensely help the customers. It is very difficult to list out all these solutions /
products but would like to touch briefly upon a few important ones of them.

6. SAP and other SAP Products mentioned here as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and other countries
SAP HANA Live:
SAP HANA Live is a bolt on a SAP Suite on HANA to deliver real-time operational reporting.
SAP HANA live is possible in a ‘side-car scenario’ without having SAP Suite on HANA, by
installing Live on a HANA database on its own. SAP HANA Live is complementary to SAP BW
is with prebuilt content (similar to SAP BW business content) delivered by SAP, in form of
SAP HANA calculation views for real-time operational reporting. The content contains
virtual data models (schemas) based on the transactional and master data tables of the
SAP Business Suite. These data models can be customized to cater to individual customer
needs to enhance their reporting.
The biggest return on investment (RoI) of SAP HANA Live is its ability to facilitate Real-Time
reporting without any
adverse effect on the
performance of SAP Business
Suite. Besides, the speed and
efficiency, SAP HANA saves
customers from
redevelopment of data
models and reports by
bringing forth a lot of prebuilt
data content that is really
optimized.
(The above schematic is cited from SAP publications regarding SAP HANA Live)
SAP HANA dynamic tier-ing
SAP HANA’s Dynamic Tier-ing promises to be a great solution to manage very large data
from various sources (SAP & non-SAP) to render near-real-time reporting. This can lead to
a very cost-effective way to achieve ‘hot’ data archiving solution and consolidated
reporting layer catering to all the performance demands. Although this is projected as a big
data solution by some of the experts, but I strongly recommend customers take advantage
of SAP HANA to build smarter data archival solutions.

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Big Data and Predictive Analytics:
Current information world is growing exponentially and the demand to keep up has never
been more for enterprises. To keep competitive advantage, enterprises need to be very
agile with the data not only in the current but also to be able to see into the future smartly.
SAP HANA is a real blessing at the right time for customers as there is a strong need for
real-time need for current information and predictive data handling large amounts of data
quickly. SAP has partnered with major big data product suppliers and solution providers to
integrate into SAP HANA to take advantage of it’s’ ‘powerhouse’ features. Customers can
take advantage of SAP HANA to build descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics
solutions to gain better profits, productivity, and competitive advantage over their peers.
S4HANA newer components like Simple Finance and Simple Manufacturing:
SAP has come up with an end to end simplified solution for accounting and finance
called ‘Simple Finance’ which works with its ECC on HANA. This solution can deliver
end to end process solution for accounting and finance delivering strategic value with
instant insight all through end-to-end processes across any industry. This solution also
drives value with instant prediction, analysis, and planning capabilities. This solution
makes it simpler to facilitate collaboration with business partners and stake holders.
Simple Finance includes simplified GRC templates, and controls across currencies,
languages, and industries. In addition this solution provides real-time reporting and
analytic solutions which could easily be integrated with Fiori for the best user
experience.
Are you at the ‘Cloud-roads’? How to reduce CAPEX with SAP HANA
implementation?
There is a perfect storm brewing out there for reducing costs of IT operations and capital
commitments for services. When implementing SAP HANA database customers may want
to weigh the options of ‘cloudifying’ their operations at the juncture. Moving the systems
to cloud would simplify the operations and eliminate some of the in-house infrastructure,
application maintenance costs. Customers are rapidly moving towards private cloud

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hosting and exploring SAP HANA implementations as OPEX (vs. CAPEX) from suitable
solution providers.
Message from a leading solution provider and system integrator
DATA MAGNUM
Data Magnum has teamed up with hardware vendors and cloud providers to offer a very
attractive proposition for the customers with an end to end solution – Project Financing,
Software, Cloud Hosting / In-House Hardware, Migration, and Support. This brings
synergies of all the agencies involved under one roof to translate savings and convenience
to the customers. This consortium has started offering an OPEX model to implement SAP
HANA
The above consortium is serving both in-house and cloud hosting of SAP HANA and other
SAP installations.
Current Challenges for SAP HANA implementation:
Although there are many system
integrators and solution providers
working on increase the number of
SAP HANA implementations, the
above consortium feels that there is
still ample room for improvement in
the following aspects.

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Financing: HANA is a pricy product and
needs financing help to boost sales.
HANA Cloud Services:
 Very few “one-stop-shop” (some or
other service is missing) reliable
service providers
 Limited standardization in Hardware
and cloud hosting
 Cloud Security and scalability issues
 Not many providers have standard
offerings (everything is customized)
 Many times implementations are so
costly due to paucity of skilled
manpower
 On-shore / Offshore models are not
translating to price reduction
Support: Reliable Support services are
not widely available at affordable prices
Big Data Readiness: Not many solution
providers are not ‘Big Data Ready’
 No standardized predictive and
prescriptive analytics
The consortium presents its services as shown in the following picture.
About the author:
Prasad Mavuduri has around 18 years of SAP experience who specializes in SAP HANA and Big Data
solutions. He serves the board of American Institute of Big Data Professionals. Prasad earned an MBA degree
from Kellogg School of Management. He could be reached at prasad@aibdp.org