SAP has released its first BI application for sale running on the HANA database: SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand, its cloud-based BI software.

But those customers who use the free version of BI OnDemand will not have the opportunity to test-drive HANA, as only the Advanced Edition of BI OnDemand, for which customers pay for storage and tools associated with up to 2 GB of data on a subscription basis (with additional fees for more data), is running on HANA.

HANA wouldn’t be of much benefit to BI OnDemand customers using the free on-demand software, since there simply isn’t enough data (there’s a 200,000 data set limit) and it relies on a very simple data structure that couldn’t be changed, according to Jason Rose, VP of BI solution marketing at SAP.  That’s been somewhat confusing for customers of the free software, as several said the free version states it too is “Powered by SAP HANA.”

Customers using the advanced edition of BI OnDemand will see performance gains, according to Rose. There were a lot of hours spent performance-tuning in the cloud. HANA removes the need for aggregate tables and rigid data models because the data is stored in-memory. SAP contends that implementation times will decrease as a result.

But questions remain on whether HANA is of great benefit even to customers running the advanced versions of the BI OnDemand software.

“A 2GB data set is still not very large and would only require aggregates in rare circumstances,” Ethan Jewett, a consultant with Business & Decision, writes via e-mail. In turn, he doubts that HANA will allow data to be imported more rapidly, as the limiting factor in cloud-based data-import scenarios is generally bandwidth and not database performance.

That said, even the pay-for version of BI OnDemand does provide a much cheaper way to try out the HANA database than a HANA POC, according to Richard Hirsch, an SAP mentor who specializes in on-demand software. Users now have the ability to test-drive a HANA-based application with their own data, he says, using the SAP BusinessObjects tools they’re already familiar with.

“Although HANA is only available in the Advanced Edition, and thus, users have to pay to use it, the price is considerably less than that associated with an on-premise HANA proof-of-concept,” Hirsch says via email. “It also provides an opportunity for SAP to fine-tune HANA in an on-demand environment.”

There will be two versions of the BI OnDemand product going forward, Rose says. Existing customers will stay on the current set-up—on traditional, relational database management systems; SAP will not perform a database migration to get those customers onto HANA. Existing customers will have the option to spin off a new instance on the HANA-powered platform—but will have to pay for it. New customers will only be sold SAP BusinessObjects BI OnDemand running on HANA. Pricing remains unchanged, starting at $25 per user, per month.

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1 Comment for BI OnDemand Running on SAP HANA Database—But Not For All Users

Krishnan

Need to know the cost for SAP BI ondemand for 30 days trail software with full version
of cloud Business Objects. Very urgent.

Thank you,
Krishnan
(+91) 9500122728

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