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The Sign-Off Table

Lesson 2 of 6

BDC building blocks: Datasphere, Analytics Cloud, BW PCE and data products

10 min

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Noor's next task is a one-page picture of BDC for the steering group. SAP's reference architecture in the SAP Architecture Center is the best public map. This lesson walks through each building block, what it does, and who at Contoso would touch it.

The components

ComponentWhat it doesContoso example
SAP DatasphereData integration, modeling and the business semantic layer: spaces, views, analytic models, replication and transformation flows, the catalogFinance space with a margin analytic model built on SAP-managed data products
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)BI stories, dashboards and enterprise planningDan's monthly margin story and the 2027 sales plan
SAP BW, private cloud editionYour existing BW, lifted into BDC and operated by SAPContoso's BW 7.5 system, if it is lifted
SAP DatabricksData engineering, data science and machine learning on shared data productsA warranty-claim prediction model
SAP HANA CloudThe in-memory database and the object store (data lake files) underneathStores replicated and installed data
Intelligent applicationsSAP-built analytics content: data products, models and SAC stories delivered togetherA finance intelligent application for controllers
SAP BDC cockpitCentral administration: data packages, data products, intelligent applicationsWhere Noor activates a finance data package

BDC components as SAP describes them in its reference architecture and Sapphire 2026 materials.

How the main BDC components connect. SAP manages extraction for SAP data products; BW data arrives through the Data Product Generator.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-dap-101

Data products: the core idea

A data product is a dataset that is packaged to be used by others: it has a business description, a defined structure, an owner, an API to consume it, and a lifecycle. In BDC, data products are described with Open Resource Discovery (ORD) metadata and listed in the catalog, and they can be exposed through Delta Sharing endpoints. Think of the difference between a table somebody happens to have and a product with a label, a version and a support promise.

There are two families. SAP-managed data products are defined, extracted and kept current by SAP from SAP applications such as SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors or SAP Ariba. Customer data products (often called custom data products) are ones you create: from Datasphere models, from BW through the Data Product Generator, or from non-SAP data. SAP's reference architecture also distinguishes primary data products (flattened, for machine learning) from derived and analytical ones; some of those types were still marked planned in October 2026.

AspectSAP-managed data productCustomer data product
Who defines itSAPYour data team
Who keeps it currentThe source application pushes changes; SAP maintains the pipelineYou, through flows and schedules you own
Can you change it?No; derive a new product in Datasphere insteadYes, under your change control
Typical sourceSAP S/4HANA, SuccessFactors, AribaBW, Datasphere models, non-SAP systems
Test focusIs it complete and consistent with our configuration?Is our logic right, and does it stay right after changes?
The two families of data products and what each means for testing.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-dap-101
How the main BDC objects relate: you activate packages, install whole data products into spaces, and build models on their entities.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-dap-101

How a data product is switched on

  1. An administrator creates a formation of type Business Data Cloud in the SAP BTP cockpit and adds the systems that take part (for SAP S/4HANA 2021 or later, SAP's Unified Customer Landscape service can create it).
  2. A Cloud Admin or Super Admin in SAP for Me provisions the SAP BDC cockpit and its components.
  3. In the BDC cockpit, a user with the BDC Administrator role opens a data package and installs one data product or activates the whole package, naming the source system.
  4. Background tasks check prerequisites, connect to the source, set up pipelines and data lake files, and load the data. From then on the source pushes changes; BDC does not schedule refreshes for you.
  5. A modeler installs the data product into a Datasphere space from the catalog and builds views or analytic models on it.

What would you do?

Noor activates a finance data package in the BDC cockpit for CMP. A controller complains that the installed data product includes company code 1810 (Contoso Parts Distribution) and should only show 1710. What should Noor do?

  1. FormationBTP cockpit: Business Data Cloud formation with CMP
  2. ProvisionSAP for Me: BDC cockpit and components
  3. ActivateBDC cockpit: data package, source system
  4. InstallDatasphere catalog: data product into a space
  5. ModelViews, analytic models, SAC stories
The switch-on path for an SAP-managed data product, from landscape to story.
The Sign-Off Table · thesignofftable.com/academy/sap-dap-101
Key points
  • BDC brings together Datasphere, SAC, BW private cloud edition, SAP Databricks and SAP HANA Cloud, administered from the BDC cockpit.
  • A data product is a described, governed dataset with an owner, an API and a lifecycle.
  • SAP-managed data products are maintained by SAP; customer data products are yours to build and change.
  • Installation is all-or-nothing per data product; filter and shape in Datasphere.

Check your understanding · not graded

Lesson check

  1. 1. Where does a BDC administrator activate a data package?

  2. 2. Which statement about installing an SAP-managed data product is correct?

  3. 3. What makes a dataset a data product rather than just a table?

  4. 4. Who keeps an SAP-managed data product current after installation?