Lesson 5 of 6
BW customers: what ends, what lifts, what moves
10 min
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Contoso runs SAP BW 7.5 on SAP HANA (production system BWP). It has fed finance and sales reporting since the ECC days; after the conversion its DataSources extract from CMP instead of EP1. Noor's most urgent question is not BDC in general but this one: what happens to BWP? The course sap-dap-302 covers the detail; this lesson gives you the map.
The dates
Mainstream maintenance for SAP BW 7.5 ends at the end of 2027, with optional paid extended maintenance to the end of 2030. SAP BW/4HANA is supported until the end of 2040. SAP's user-group material for BW modernization states that BW 7.5 lifted into the BW private cloud edition in BDC benefits from maintenance support until the end of 2030, and that converting to BW/4HANA private cloud edition gives support beyond 2030. These dates drive almost every BW conversation in 2026.
Lift, shift, innovate
| Step | What happens | Main tool | What you prove |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lift | Move the existing BW system into BW private cloud edition, operated by SAP within BDC; no BW/4HANA conversion required for BW 7.5 | System move with prerequisites (for example BW 7.5 on SAP HANA at SPS 24 or later) | Queries return the same results after the move |
| Shift | Expose BW InfoProviders as BW data products in the Datasphere object store | Data Product Generator (transaction RSDPS in BW 7.5; Data Subscription app in BW/4HANA) | Data product contents match the InfoProvider |
| Innovate | Replace BW flows with SAP-managed data products and Datasphere models; rebuild reporting in SAC | BDC data packages, Datasphere, Query Template Generator (check status) | New models match the old queries before BW use cases are retired |
SAP's lift, shift, innovate path for BW customers. Alternatives include a direct BW/4HANA conversion or a fresh Datasphere build.
- Is your BW still heavily used and stable?Yes → consider lift to BW private cloud edition to buy time to 2030 · No → shrink first: remove unused queries and flows
- Do you need BW data in new tools soon (SAC, Databricks, agents)?Yes → shift: expose BW data products with the Data Product Generator · No → keep BW reporting as is during the lift
- Do SAP-managed data products cover the content?Yes → innovate: replace the BW flow and retire it · No → rebuild in Datasphere or keep in BW
- Do you need BW beyond 2030?Yes → plan BW/4HANA (private cloud edition) or a full rebuild · No → plan decommissioning by 2030
The Data Product Generator is the piece most BW teams have not used yet. You create a subscription on an InfoProvider; supported objects include InfoObjects, (a)DSOs, CompositeProviders, MultiProviders, InfoCubes and queries as InfoProviders. Running the subscription pushes the data into a local table (file) in a BW inbound space in Datasphere, with delta updates where the InfoProvider supports them. SAP Learning lists the supported releases as BW/4HANA 2023 SP0 or higher, BW/4HANA 2021 SP4 or higher and BW 7.50 SP24 or higher, on SAP HANA and in the private cloud edition.
Two other options appear in many proposals. A direct conversion to SAP BW/4HANA keeps BW as the long-term platform with support to 2040; it suits stable, well-maintained BW landscapes, and SAP also offers BW/4HANA in the private cloud edition. A fresh build in SAP Datasphere redesigns the warehouse without carrying legacy structures; SAP’s reference architecture lists a BW Migration Assistant that translates data flows into Datasphere artifacts, and SAP Datasphere, SAP BW bridge offers a BW-style staging layer inside Datasphere for teams that want to reuse ABAP logic. Each option changes what you must regression-test, which is why sap-dap-302 treats them side by side.
Contoso's first cut
Noor's illustrative inventory of BWP shows about 1,400 queries, of which roughly 40% had no use in the last 12 months. Her proposal: shrink first (retire unused queries and their flows), lift BWP to BW private cloud edition during 2027, shift the finance margin CompositeProvider and the sales billing aDSO as BW data products so new SAC stories can use them, and replace the sales flows with SAP-managed data products from CMP where the content matches. BW stays until each use case has a proven replacement.
What would you do?
Grace asks whether Contoso can simply let BWP run on extended maintenance to 2030 and decide later. Noor has three weeks to recommend. What is the best recommendation?
- BW 7.5 mainstream maintenance ends at the end of 2027; extended maintenance and BW 7.5 in BW PCE run to the end of 2030; BW/4HANA to 2040.
- Lift (BW private cloud edition), shift (BW data products via the Data Product Generator), innovate (SAP-managed data products and Datasphere).
- Shrink first: unused queries and flows should not be moved.
- Every step needs query-level regression with fixed variables and data dates.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. When does SAP BW 7.5 mainstream maintenance end?
2. What does the Data Product Generator do?
3. In SAP's lift, shift, innovate path, what is the lift?
4. Why does a pure infrastructure lift of BW still need query regression?