SAP BDC and Databricks (updated 03/2025)

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SAP Business Data Cloud and Databricks

last update: 03/2025

What is SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC)?

SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) is SAP’s next-generation cloud data platform that integrates SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP Datasphere, and SAP Databricks. It is designed to streamline data management, analytics, planning, and AI-driven use cases. The primary goal of BDC is to centralize business data with its semantics while offloading storage from core transactional applications. BDC enables businesses to leverage SAP and non-SAP data sources efficiently, offering powerful analytical capabilities and AI-powered insights.

Role of Databricks in SAP BDC

Databricks plays a crucial role in SAP BDC by providing an integrated analytics and AI platform. It allows seamless data movement with full semantic preservation into the BDC layer. This ensures centralized data governance while supporting various business needs, including predictive analytics, machine learning, and data science applications. BDC establishes a zero-copy data architecture, ensuring efficient data access across different systems.

Is BDC Available for On-Prem SAP ERPs?

BDC supports SAP S/4HANA Rise private edition only. Support for the public editions should be added later. While on-premise SAP S/4HANA customers can benefit from SAP Datasphere, fully managed Data Products and Insight Apps will remain exclusive to Rise customers.

Introduction of SAP-managed Data Products and Insight Apps

SAP BDC introduces Data Products and Insight Apps to simplify SAP data modeling and consumption. These features enable businesses to access and analyze their data with minimal effort while maintaining governance and security.

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Data Products and Insight Apps high level architecture, source: [3]

Insight Apps: A New Approach to SAP Analytics

Insight Apps are more than just enhanced dashboards within SAP Analytics Cloud. They are SAP-managed applications that provide an end-to-end analytical experience, including automated data integration, data modeling, and pre-built dashboards. Insight Apps:

  • Streamline deployments with one-click installations.
  • Automate data integration and staging.
  • Provide a governed data foundation via Delta Sharing.
  • Offer limited customization, as they are fully managed by SAP.

Currently, only a few Insight Apps are available, but SAP plans to release more in the future.

Using SAP Data Products in Databricks via Delta Sharing

SAP Databricks accesses SAP-managed data products using Delta Sharing. This allows SAP data to be shared securely from BDC’s object store to Databricks environments.

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SAP-managed Data Products creation and sharing to Databricks, source: [4]

Key Considerations:

  • Data sharing must be manually configured via the BDC Cockpit or SAP Datasphere.
  • Databricks enables integration of SAP and non-SAP data for enriched analytics.
  • Data models created in Databricks can be used for SAP Analytics Cloud reporting.

Creating Custom Data Products

Customers can extend Insight Apps and Data Products within SAP Datasphere and SAP Analytics Cloud. However, SAP-managed content remains immutable, meaning:

  • Customizations are handled via copied versions of SAP-managed objects.
  • Custom fields (Z-fields) from SAP systems are automatically included in SAP Data Products.
  • Custom tables (Z-tables) are not currently supported but will be included in later phases of BDC.
  • Enhancements must be implemented within SAP Datasphere.

SAP Databricks vs. Azure/AWS/GCP Databricks

SAP Databricks is a specialized variant developed in partnership with SAP. Unlike traditional Databricks implementations:

  • SAP manages data storage, preventing direct customer access to cloud storage like Azure Blob or AWS S3.
  • Some Databricks features, such as Workflows, Materialized Views, and Autoloader, are currently unavailable.
  • Initial BDC implementations will be SAP Databricks-exclusive, with external Databricks connectivity planned for future releases.
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SAP Databricks (aka greenfield) vs. Native Databricks (aka brownfield) comparison, source: [4]

Is SAP Datasphere Still Needed?

SAP Datasphere remains essential for analytical modeling in SAP BDC. While Databricks offers advanced AI and ML capabilities, customers will still need Datasphere for:

  • Installing and extending Insight Apps.
  • Creating and managing analytical models.
  • Combining SAP Datasphere models with Databricks-generated insights.

General Availability and Pricing

SAP BDC will be available on AWS in April 2025 followed by Azure in the second half of 2025. The licensing model includes:

  • A subscription-based pricing model rather than being available via SAP’s Business Technology Platform Enterprise Agreement (BTPEA).
  • Capacity Units (CUs) that measure BDC service consumption are allocated monthly.
  • No separate Databricks license is required, as Databricks is included within the BDC licensing structure.
  • Customers must license at least one insight app.

Conclusion

SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) represents a significant evolution in SAP’s data strategy, integrating analytics, planning, and AI capabilities into a unified platform. With Databricks as a core compute engine, businesses can harness advanced analytics while maintaining data governance within the SAP ecosystem. As BDC matures, additional capabilities and integrations will further enhance its value proposition for cloud-based SAP customers.

Sources

  1. SAP BDC Roadmap (SAP website. 14/03/2025)
  2. SAP Business Data Cloud - FAQs (Technology Blogs by SAP, 03/03/2025)
  3. SAP Business Data Cloud Primer in 30 Minutes (Webinar Q&A, 13/03/2025)
  4. Databricks Tech Kickoff FY26 (Webinar, 13/03/2025)