When does SAP BW 7.5 reach end of life?

BW 7.5 SP mainstream maintenance ends December 31, 2027. Extended maintenance is available until 2030 at additional cost.

Should we go BW/4HANA or straight to SAC?

If you have complex enterprise analytics (petabytes of data, heavy ABAP transformations), BW/4HANA is the right choice. If you have simpler reporting needs, SAC may be sufficient. Many companies use both — BW/4HANA as the data warehouse with SAC as the front-end.

How much does BW/4HANA migration cost?

Assessment: $20K-40K. Per InfoProvider: $3K-8K (simple), $8K-20K (medium), $20K-60K (complex). A 200-InfoProvider landscape averages $1.5M-2.5M over 10-14 months.

What is shell conversion?

Shell conversion is the fastest BW/4HANA migration strategy. You keep your existing data models and migrate them as-is to the BW/4HANA platform, then simplify incrementally. Timeline: 6-9 months with low risk.

Migrate SAP BW to BW/4HANA — 2027 Deadline

Modernize your analytics with BW/4HANA. 10-100x faster queries, simplified data models, and native SAP Analytics Cloud integration.

Get Free BW Assessment

SAP BW 7.5 mainstream maintenance ends December 2027. With 15,000+ companies running legacy BW worldwide, the migration to BW/4HANA or SAP Analytics Cloud is a massive undertaking. Complex data models, custom ABAP transformations, and process chain dependencies make this one of the most technically challenging SAP migrations.

What We Offer

Comprehensive services tailored to your SAP landscape

Shell Conversion

Keep existing BW data models and migrate to BW/4HANA platform. Low risk, fast timeline (6-9 months), simplify later.

Data Model Simplification

Convert InfoCubes to aDSO, optimize for HANA, remove aggregates. Clean slate for future-proof analytics.

SAC Integration

Hybrid strategy with BW/4HANA for complex analytics and SAP Analytics Cloud for self-service dashboards.

Performance Optimization

HANA-optimized queries, column-store tuning, memory management, and real-time analytics enablement.

Process Chain Migration

Migrate and optimize complex process chains with dependencies. Incremental approach to minimize disruption.

ABAP Transformation Rewrite

Convert custom ABAP transformations to HANA-optimized code. Budget for refactoring of 500K+ lines.

How We Work

A proven methodology refined across 100+ engagements

Discovery (4-8 weeks)

Inventory InfoProviders, identify dependencies, HANA sizing, and complexity scoring for all BW objects.

Pilot (8-12 weeks)

Migrate 10-20 simple InfoProviders, validate performance, test reporting, and document lessons learned.

Bulk Migration (6-12 months)

Automated conversion with SAP tools, manual optimization for complex objects, testing and data reconciliation.

Decommission (1-2 months)

Monitor BW/4HANA for 30-60 days, archive legacy BW data, decommission old system.

At a Glance

Feature	BW/4HANA	SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
Deployment	On-prem or Cloud	Cloud-only (SaaS)
Data Volume	Unlimited (petabytes)	Limited (50-500GB)
Complexity	High (enterprise DW)	Low (self-service BI)
Custom Code	Yes (ABAP)	Limited (scripting)
Cost	$500K-2M/year	$50K-300K/year
Best For	Enterprise analytics	Departmental reporting

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Modernize Your SAP Landscape?

Get a free migration assessment from our SAP experts. We'll analyze your current landscape and recommend the fastest path to S/4HANA.

Get Free BW Assessment

Feature

BW/4HANA

SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)

Deployment

On-prem or Cloud

Cloud-only (SaaS)

Data Volume

Unlimited (petabytes)

Limited (50-500GB)

Complexity

High (enterprise DW)

Low (self-service BI)

Custom Code

Yes (ABAP)

Limited (scripting)

Cost

$500K-2M/year

$50K-300K/year

Best For

Enterprise analytics

Departmental reporting