Forum Discussion

Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
8 years ago

How get data directly from SAP ECC

Since the last question someone asked about that was 2 years ago. I wanna know if its possible to get data direclty from the SAP. I am pretty sure that my SAP is ECC, and I wanna know how I can pull...
djnww's avatar
djnww
Impactful Individual
8 years ago

The answer is yes, it can be done. The 3 methods I know are:

 

1. SAP HANA connector (I have not tried the connector)

2. SAP BW connector via Power BI Desktop. I am assuming if you have SAP ECC, then there will be equivalent SAP BW cubes.  You will need your SAP/IT area to provide you with the relevant credentials). My company has been using this method.

3. Ask IT to build a custom API that will work (ie. JSON with OAUTH2 security) - probably the best long term method, but will be difficult to convince IT.

 

The challenges you face will be getting SAP Admin OR IT to allow Power BI to connect to SAP ECC. Security will always be the number 1 reason they use. With the right governance and implementation, it won't be an issue. 

 

Cheers,

Dan

 

  • ppothier's avatar
    ppothier
    New Member
    8 years ago

    I would say BW or HANA are not the approach we want to use ... the Power BI connectors for these sources are already defined.  But they require ETL/staging to bring the desired data from ECC to BW or HANA.

     

    The need is for DIRECT access to ECC data, ideally using SAP-sanctioned API's.

     

    Up until last year, Power BI had a "BObj Universe" connector, which would be a desireable.  But this connector was removed due to licensing issues (so I hear).

     

    I think there is a market for this if someone would develop it.

     

    Pete

    • Fossgm's avatar
      Fossgm
      Frequent Visitor
      8 years ago

      Do you have the Netweaver Gateway installed? The one used for fiori apps. It is a free SAP product. You just need to install it. You can write simple report function modules in ECC (say for sales or inventory data) and then map them through the gateway. Super simple. Then you've just created a REST oData feed that can be consumed in PowerBI. Straight Up...now BW garbage, cubes, all that muck and no Hana required. I've done it numerous times...only downfall is if you are trying to read too much (like financials for five years). 

      • npowerbi's avatar
        npowerbi
        Advocate II
        7 years ago

        Can you put some more explaination to this? I am also looking for similar functionality to connect to SAP ECC via Power BI. What you have mentioned makes more sense.

         

        Appreciate if you can explain in little greater details.

  • gudakrishna's avatar
    gudakrishna
    Regular Visitor
    8 years ago
    Hi Dan,

    I'm looking to connect SAP ECC through power Bi,
    SAP ECC is not a database, It's a service, In that service we are using oracle as a database.
    So could you please guide me step by step proccess how to connect SAP ECC and get the data.

    Thanks in advance.

    Best Regards
    Venkata