In today’s data-driven business landscape, managing and making sense of vast amounts of information scattered across various systems and data sources plays a crucial role in an organization’s success. But, without the right team and resources for the job, all the talk about data management and integration can be for naught.
This is where SAP Smart Data Integration (SDI) sets itself apart.
With its robust data integration, replication, and configuration capabilities, SAP SDI empowers companies in any industry to seamlessly extract, manage, and connect data from disparate sources and enables real-time integration into their SAP systems without the need for complex coding or programming.
This article will discuss the key features and capabilities of SAP Smart Data Integration and the main things to consider when implementing the SDI solution, as well as where our team of SAP consultants can come in to help.
Read on to learn more!
What is SAP SDI (Smart Data Integration)?
SAP Smart Data Integration (SDI) is an extract, transfer, load (ETL) tool designed to help users support data replication, transformation, and integration processes more efficiently and connect data from a wide range of source systems in one place — the SAP HANA database.
With its unified framework for connecting and extracting data from separate data sources, such as data lakes, databases, and streaming platforms, organizations are enabled to connect and consolidate data from various sources into their SAP system in real time, with improved accuracy and reliability.
The SAP HANA Smart Data Integration tool makes it easier for organizations to access, view, and cleanse data from multiple data sources, gain better more holistic insight into core data management processes, and integrate data across the entire SAP environment for better connection, collaboration, and visibility.
Step-by-Step Guide to Implement SDI with SAP HANA Cloud
- Install, configure, and register the Data Provisioning Agent in the HANA system.
- Select an SPA HANA Data Provisioning Adapter to connect different areas of your SAP HANA Cloud environment.
- Add a remote source to the cloud environment and access through Database Explorer tool.
- Create user-provided services to access virtual tables and the classic schema located within the SAP HANA Cloud environment.
- Outline virtual tables and flow graphs to provide better visualization for the data sources.
- Create and schedule a replication task if no transformation of data occurs.
- Leverage SDI replication tasks and flow graphs to physically replicate the data.
Key Features of the SAP Smart Data Integration Tool
Here are a few of the main features that make SAP Smart Data Integration worthwhile for customers:
- Real time data provisioning, bulk data movement, and federation tools
- Built-in adapters and a software development kit (SDK) to build custom adapters
- Transformations in SAP Web IDE and SAP HANA Web-based Development Workbench to configure real-time or batch data transformation scenarios
- Data provisioning agents to host data provisioning adapters and enable data replication, transformation, and federation for SAP HANA on-premise and cloud deployments
- Adapters for better connectivity to remote data sources
- Monitoring agents to oversee remote subscriptions, data loads, and data transformations
- Replication Editor to set up batch or real-time data replication scenarios in an easy-to-use web application, like SAP Web IDE or the Web-based Development Workbench
- Component of SAP Commissions to enable better integration, synchronization, and connection between on-premise systems and the SAP HANA Cloud
10 Things to Consider When Configuring Data Integration
When it comes to connecting multiple data sources and configuring Smart Data Integration across an existing SAP landscape, there are multiple things to consider, including:
1) Privilege and Role Assignment
This involves adding roles and privileges to user profiles to assign tasks and provide the right resources for users to perform such tasks and complete objectives.
2) Data Provisioning Server Configuration
By enabling the Data Provisioning Server, users can establish specific configuration parameters and leverage multiple different configuration options to initiate SAP HANA Smart Data Integration functions.
3) Data Provisioning Delivery Unit Deployment
Users are enabled to download the Data Provisioning Delivery Unit and deploy it across the system to acquire and manage proxy, monitoring, and administration applications and facilitate better communication between all areas of the SAP environment.
4) Data Provisioning Agent Installation
With a functional Data Provisioning Agent, organizations can manage and maintain secure connectivity between the SAP HANA database and their other on-premise or cloud-based solutions.
5) Data Provisioning Agent Configuration
Before users are enabled to use Data Provisioning Adapters to connect data sources or create remote sources, they must configure the Data Provisioning Agent to meet requirements and align with predefined configuration parameters.
6) Data Provisioning Adapter Registration
Once the Data Provisioning Agent has been configured, users must register their adapters to ensure proper assignment and connection to source systems.
7) Remote Source Creation
By leveraging SAP HANA Smart Data Integration tools, users can not only set up an adapter to establish connections to the source database, but they can also set up a remote source to configure and maintain the connection between systems.
8) Data Provisioning Monitoring Setup
After SAP HANA Smart Data Integration has been configured and installed, companies must complete multiple tasks to enable monitoring user interfaces for remote subscriptions and Data Provisioning Agents and assign roles to users responsible for performing such tasks.
9) Enterprise Semantic Service Enablement
With Enterprise Semantic Services, users can leverage application programming interface (API) connection to search for run-time objects and publication artifacts based on metadata in SAP HANA.
10) SAP HANA SDI REST API Enablement
Users can leverage the pre-built SAP HANA Smart Data Integration REST API to process data, facilitate interactive data transformation processes, and execute and monitor flow graphs.
SAP SDI vs SAP SDQ — What’s the Difference?
On one hand, SAP HANA Smart Data Integration provides a unified framework for extracting and connecting data from traditional and modern source systems to give organizations a more comprehensive view of their data and optimize business processes across the board.
On the other hand, SAP Smart Data Quality (SDQ), focuses on ensuring the accuracy and reliability of data through by providing features that collect, cleanse, and validate data and enhance consistency across multiple different data sources. This helps organizations maintain data integrity and compliance, while improving the effectiveness of their analytics and reporting functions in the process.
Together, SAP SDI and SAP SDQ enable organizations to streamline their entire data management lifecycle from integration to validation, ensuring that the data used for decision-making and analysis is consistent and reliable, no matter what.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help designing a data integration path that meets your needs, an extra hand managing and supporting high volume data loads across teams, or additional support configuring your SDI Data Provisioning Server to ensure requirements are met, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our team of senior-level, US-based SAP consultants has you covered! From data management to data replication, integration, configuration, and everything in between, our expert consultants have the skills and experience you need to tackle any kind of project and support your team through it all.
Getting Started with Our Team
Interested in learning more about SAP Data Services and HANA Data Integration?
Ready to join the SAP community, but don’t know where to begin?
Contact us today for more information about our SAP consulting services!
