SAP BW to SAP HANA migration – a comparison of SWPM and DMO methodologies

We have recently published an article on successful SAP BW migration to SAP HANA. The text mentioned using the SWPM methodology at the stage of analysis and migration. However, it was not the only possible way to complete this project. In today’s post this option will be compared with another available one, namely the DMO.

SWPM is  a classical approach, used in cases where we have a correct version of the system, and what is needed is only to migrate  the database itself. Very often, this method is preceded by an upgrade of the system, using SUM tools. Therefore, two migration steps can be identified:  the mentioned upgrade of the system, and migration itself. Potentially, those may be two moments when users of the system may have to stop using it, and disconnecting/shutting the system down is planned.

An alternative option for this approach is using the DMO methodology. DMO is a one-step procedure which includes both an upgrade and migrating the database itself. One of the undeniable advantages of this approach is the reduction of time when the system is unavailable. The use of a single tool contributes to the reduction of the implementation team’s workload and, consequently, to  faster implementation of the planned changes.

In the case of Apollogic, a decision was made to select the SWPM tool due to the fact that the version  of the given SAP BW data warehouse was suitable for migration. Thus, only step missing from the classical approach remained to be performed was  the transfer of the database itself. In another case, probably the DMO approach would have been used which, in principle, is better suited for this purpose.

The author of the article is Marcin Świderski, BI Team Leader\ BI Consultant at Apollogic. Marcin  is going to share his experiences from SAP BW to HANA migration in the next article.