Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) vs SAP BW

Likelihood to Recommend

In terms of a well-suited scenario - the Azure Synapse can be used to capture data from multiple sources (especially from onPrem sources apart from Dataverse) and update the transformed data based on the given conditions (eg: refresh data based on the specified date/time ranges). Also, the transformed data can simply be transferred to Azure Data Lake for further processing by utilizing other analytics tools such as PowerBI.

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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SAP BW is best for:1. Large enterprises2. Enterprises with 3+ legacy systems with entrenched users (politically difficult to merge)3. Enterprises with employees who can understand both the technical capabilities of SAP BW and the needs of the business users - ability to speak both languages, otherwise the program could be unwieldy and potentially underutilized (it's not particularly inexpensive)SAP BW is less appropriate for:1. Small enterprises2. Enterprises who have well established, same location, CRM and UFS - the integration of data analysis will be easier and less expensive with other solutions3. HANA

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Jeff Looby, CPA

Associate

Credit SuisseBanking, 10,001+ employees

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Pros

Quick to return data. Queries in a SQL data warehouse architecture tend to return data much more quickly than a OLTP setup. Especially with columnar indexes.
Ability to manage extremely large SQL tables. Our databases contain billions of records. This would be unwieldy without a proper SQL datawarehouse
Backup and replication. Because we're already using SQL, moving the data to a datawarehouse makes it easier to manage as our users are already familiar with SQL.

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Verified User

Contributor in Information Technology

Information Technology and Services Company, 10,001+ employees

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It tracks bin locations for parts which can be really helpful.
SAP Business Warehouse tells you who has a part checked out so you can find it.
It shows current parts shortages so buyers are flagged to get parts on order based on current demand.

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Brandi Brown-Lang

Sales and Purchasing Administrator

SitelAirlines/Aviation, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

Integrating external 3rd party data sources is very easy in Snowflake and it’s missing in Azure Synapse
Master data services and data quality services are missing in Azure Synapse. They are useful features present in on Orem Sql server
Resource usage reports (top 10 expensive queries, most frequently run queries, etc) are a feature that can be added in Azure Synapse. It’s present in an on-prem SQL server. DMVs are there but viewing it visually as a report is more helpful.

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Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology

Information Technology & Services Company, 51-200 employees

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Support comes slow. This is not a limitation of the software itself but could be a symptom from the local office. Once we get support everything works along smoothly.
It is always important to review the instructions. This is not a system that does well initially with personalization without review of standard procedures. A log of time can be lost if the technicians and programmers working with the data are not following correct procedures.

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Alfred Brock

Communications Specialist

Yazaki North AmericaAutomotive, 10,001+ employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Starting Price

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Usability

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) 9.5

Based on 2 answers

The data warehouse portion is very much like old style on-prem SQL server, so most SQL skills one has mastered carry over easily. Azure Data Factory has an easy drag and drop system which allows quick building of pipelines with minimal coding. The Spark portion is the only really complex portion, but if there's an in-house python expert, then the Spark portion is also quiet useable.

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Verified User

Consultant in Professional Services

Computer Software Company, 201-500 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Support Rating

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) 9.5

Based on 2 answers

Microsoft does its best to support Synapse. More and more articles are being added to the documentation, providing more useful information on best utilizing its features. The examples provided work well for basic knowledge, but more complex examples should be added to further assist in discovering the vast abilities that the system has.

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Verified User

Consultant in Professional Services

Computer Software Company, 201-500 employees

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SAP BW 8.0

Based on 4 answers

SAP BW is a consolidated tool. There are thousands of SAP notes in order to solve your problems and in case do not exist, SAP support will help you on the issue you face.

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Verified User

Consultant in Information Technology

Education Management Company, 51-200 employees

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Alternatives Considered

We also looked at Oracle Data Warehouse as part of our short list of products to implement as a solution. Oracle's product turned out to have less support by way of easily accessible internet blogs. Oracle was also considerably more expensive and we would have needed to hire the skillset needed to implement.

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Samir Patel, PMP

SQL Development Team Lead

Allianz Asset ManagementInvestment Management, 1001-5000 employees

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SAP Business Warehouse scores higher in data warehouse functionalities for integration to SAP ERP and other SAP solutions such as SAP CRM, SAP APO, and SAP SRM. Standard SAP data source extractors which are available in SAP ERP can be used immediately for full or delta replication into SAP Business Warehouse. System governance in SAP Business Warehouse is top-notch with change management support for migration between system landscape from the development system to production system.

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Julius Shen

Senior System Analyst

Roads and Maritime ServicesCivil Engineering, 10,001+ employees

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Contract Terms and Pricing Model

Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) 10.0

Based on 1 answer

Basically, the billing is predictable, and this all about it.

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Vladimír Mužný

Owner, Developer

DROPMAN s.r.o.Computer Software, 1-10 employees

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No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Return on Investment

Azure Synapse has predominately reduced the time being used for processing data being extracted from multiple sources
Ability to integrate multiple data sources and create a single dataset that could be used for further analytics to find KPIs

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Verified User

Professional in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employees

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Exporting of data and reports to Excel is very easy for the end user to interpret and manipulate.
Negatively, the speed at which BW retrieves data and reports is very slow and out of date.
Addition of daughter application HANA has helped this aging application stay afloat for a few more years. Overall it has been a great tool but it's showing its age very fast.

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Sam Figueroa

Associate Staff Systems Specialist

Hershey Foods-Y&S CandiesConsumer Goods, 10,001+ employees

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Azure Synapse Analytics (Azure SQL Data Warehouse) vs SAP BW