Implementing Data Lineage with SAP HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud: A Cost-Effective Solution

This article discusses the importance of data lineage for data governance, data quality, and efficient data management. It proposes a cost-effective and quickly implementable solution using SAP HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). The approach utilizes Object Dependencies in SAP HANA and SAC's live connection to visualize data flows and relationships in an interactive tree representation. This enables automated, real-time views of data origin, improves report and data model maintainability, and lays the foundation for reliable and data governance-compliant analytics applications.

Data lineage is a critical aspect of modern data management, providing insights into data origins, transformations, and usage. For companies with an SAP tech stack, visualizing data lineage can be challenging, especially in hybrid architectures combining SAP HANA and SAP BW. However, a cost-effective and quickly implementable solution using SAP HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) can address these challenges.

The Importance of Data Lineage

Data lineage is essential for data governance, quality, and efficient management. It enhances transparency, facilitates data understanding, improves maintainability, and ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR. Traditional methods, such as manual documentation in PowerPoint or Excel, are labor-intensive and often outdated. Therefore, automating data lineage visualization is crucial.

SAP HANA and SAC: A Cost-Effective Solution

SAP HANA and SAC offer a robust solution for data lineage without additional costs. SAP HANA's Object Dependencies provide comprehensive information about object relationships, while SAC's live connection enables real-time visualization. The integration of R in SAC, specifically the R package "collapsibleTree," allows for an interactive tree representation of data flows.

Implementation Steps

To implement this solution, the following steps are necessary:

1. Data Preparation in SAP HANA: Prepare metadata, such as filtering object types and enriching descriptions.
2. Establish a Live Connection to HANA: Configure a live connection in SAC to read metadata in real-time.
3. Activate R Integration in SAC: Configure the R server and create R scripts using the "collapsibleTree" package.
4. Create Data Lineage Visualization: Pass HANA data to R, generate a tree structure, and embed the result in SAC.

Benefits

This approach offers several benefits:

- Quick and Cost-Effective Implementation: Utilizing existing licenses for SAP HANA and SAC eliminates additional costs.
- Automation: Dependencies are read directly from SAP HANA Object Dependencies, reducing the need for manual maintenance.
- Interactive Representation: Users can trace relationships between objects interactively.

Conclusion

The combination of SAP HANA's Object Dependencies and SAC's live connection with R integration provides a lean and cost-effective solution for data lineage. This approach enhances transparency, maintainability, and compliance, making it an attractive option for companies seeking to improve their data governance practices.

References

[1] https://community.sap.com/t5/data-and-analytics-blog-posts/data-lineage-do-it-yourself-with-sap-hana-and-sac/ba-p/14140289