Evolving Your SAP Data Strategy: Understanding and Responding to SAP Note 3255746

SAP is a critical ecosystem that many businesses rely on for their daily operations. Getting data out of SAP and into an external system, warehouse, or analytics platform is often critical for these organisations to keep their business processes running. SAP offers a wide variety of business applications including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems like ECC and S/4HANA.

The SAP Operational Data Provisioning (ODP) framework enables real-time data extraction from SAP ERP and other SAP systems, and is widely used. It provides a unified, flexible, and scalable solution for accessing and integrating data into analytics, reporting, and decision-making workflows. The ODP framework allows external data consumers to subscribe to datasets that are already modelled for analytical consumption. It also supports 'delta enabled' data sets, which significantly reduces the volumes of data to refresh on a day-to-day basis.

SAP Note 3255746

SAP Note 3255746 was first published in 2022. In this initial note, SAP explained that 3rd parties could use SAP APIs for the ODP framework, but these APIs were not supported and were meant for internal use.

On February 2, 2024, SAP updated Note 3255746, version 4, to state that the use of ODP APIs by customers or third-party applications to access SAP ABAP sources is no longer permitted. SAP also threatened to restrict and audit the unpermitted use of this feature.

On July 7, 2024, the SAP Note was updated again. SAP advised customers to use SAP DataSphere for data replication scenarios to move data from various SAP sources into third-party applications and tools.

Matillion customers who are extracting SAP data using ODP

The updated SAP Note 3255746 has caused concern among customers and partners who are using either of our ODP components for data extraction and replication, as they make use of the RFC modules of the ODP API.

• SAP ODP (Data Productivity Cloud)
• SAP ODP Extract (Matillion ETL)

Matillion's position is that:

• We will continue to be transparent about SAP's guidelines, both on what is permitted and what is recommended.
• We will continue to maintain (and further enhance) the SAP ODP components in our products, given that they are in use among our customers.
• Our recommendation is that you keep your Matillion SAP data extraction as-is. The OData Services option is - and will remain - available if you have any concerns.

Alternatives to ODP for extracting SAP data

Here is a list of alternatives to ODP for Matillion users, along with some of the pros and cons that you should consider.

SAP OData Services via SAP Gateway

This involves connecting to SAP systems using standard RESTful requests.

• Matillion Data Productivity Cloud users: OData Query
• Matillion ETL users: OData Query

Data extraction using OData allows for easier retrieval and manipulation of data, and can enable real-time data access and integration. It provides a way to maintain data workflows.

However this solution is primarily intended for transactional, real-time data: it was not built for bulk data extraction. For best performance, consider breaking large datasets into smaller parts and loading them step by step.

SAP Netweaver

This is proven technology that predates ODP. Netweaver has been in use for many years, making it reliable and well-understood by many SAP professionals.

• Matillion Data Productivity Cloud users: anticipated arrival Q1 2025
• Matillion ETL users: SAP Netweaver

At the expense of sometimes requiring additional setup and configuration, SAP NetWeaver is an excellent choice for established environments that can take advantage of the extensive integration options.

JDBC from SAP HANA

JDBC provides a standard way to connect to databases, meaning it's easy to interact with SAP HANA to get hold of your data as tables and columns.

• Matillion Data Productivity Cloud users: JDBC
• Matillion ETL users: SAP Hana JDBC driver

Connection via JDBC is subject to the detailed conditions in your SAP HANA license. You will need to ensure that your license allows you to do this. Also you are likely to find that interpreting the many available database objects requires knowledge of SAP HANA internals.

Note that SAP also has rules stating that technologies such as SLT Replication Server, Master Data Integration ABAP Adapter, SAP HANA log-based replication and SAP Database Trigger must not be used to move data out of SAP.

In Summary

While SAP Notes are not legally binding, SAP may eventually include these ODP limitations into client contracts. SAP reserves the right to modify the RFC modules without notice and may implement technical measures to restrict and audit their unauthorized use. SAP customers are responsible for any issues caused by the use of these RFC modules.

You might consider involving your legal team to fully understand your position, particularly around the time of your SAP contract renewal.