Pyramid: The optimal BI solution for SAP HANA [Part 1] - Pyramid Analytics

Part 1: Hierarchies, Data Formats, and Calculated Attributes/Measures

Pyramid provides a fast analytic solution for SAP HANA using SQL, while exposing deep analytic logic and functionality. Combined with Pyramid’s self-service analytics platform, it offers a comprehensive analytical toolset for SAP HANA.

In this two-part series, the key functional capabilities and certifications for SAP HANA are explored.

Overview

SAP customers face challenges finding tools that work directly on SAP HANA with modern self-service analytic capabilities, while maintaining enterprise, server-based functionality for security and governance. Many do not want to lose this functionality or be forced to extract data into proprietary layers.

Customers want real self-service BI that works directly on SAP HANA. HANA is a fast, in-memory, relational database used for SAP’s ERP (S4HANA) and as a generic database solution, enabling real-time queries on large data volumes. HANA also has deep analytics capabilities via “Calculation Views,” providing business logic and analytics beyond a simple database.

Technology Landscape

SAP’s own analytic tools include Business Objects, Lumira, and SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), each with limitations:

• ​Business Objects: Lacks self-service capabilities, in maintenance mode.
• ​Lumira: Deprecated, in maintenance mode.
• ​SAP Analytics Cloud: Immature, missing functionality, slow performance, limited to cloud-only deployment.

Third-party BI tools (Qlik, Power BI, Tableau, MicroStrategy) generally lack deep HANA integration, as their query engines do not support all HANA analytic functions. They often require exporting data from SAP and reimporting it into their own stacks, which undermines data governance, duplicates data and analytic layers, decentralizes the “truth,” and reduces the value of HANA and SAP ERP investments.

The challenge is to find a mature, fully functional self-service technology that offers “direct query” and full functionality on HANA without compromise.

HANA SQL-BI

HANA offers two consumption models:

• ​MDX route: Supports hierarchical structures but is slow and lacks full functional support.
• ​SQL route: Fast queries but usually lacks analytical feature support (hierarchies, measure formats, business logic).

Pyramid delivers its solution using the SQL route, providing fast querying and access to HANA’s deep analytic logic. Pyramid matches MDX capabilities via SQL, including hierarchical features, without using MDX.

Pyramid’s HANA BI certification covers all mandatory and optional analytic features.

This post explores how Pyramid handles hierarchies, data formats (currencies and unit conversions), and calculated attributes and measures—crucial for SAP HANA certification. Part 2 will cover hyperlinks, parameters, variables, data modeling, and other HANA features.

Features

Hierarchies

Hierarchies are natively available in MDX but not typically in SQL due to its flattened structure. Pyramid delivers hierarchical structures using SQL, providing full MDX-like functionality, including multi-level, drill-down hierarchies, ragged hierarchies, and parent-child hierarchies.

Pyramid customers do not have to compromise on performance to use hierarchical functionality. Other tools (like Tableau and Power BI) lack such support in SQL, so HANA clients using the SQL route lose hierarchical functionalities or must use the slower MDX approach.

Example

A customer hierarchy (language, gender, customer number) is created and displayed with full drill-down and drill-up functionality. Date-Time hierarchies from HANA are also supported, enabling full expansion and collapse.

Parent-Child Hierarchies

Parent-child hierarchies are common in business, especially in financial and organizational analytics. Most tools ignore this relationship, making hierarchical reporting difficult unless they support MDX. Pyramid supports parent-child hierarchies, delivering powerful reporting with full hierarchy expansion and collapse, including ragged, uneven hierarchies, directly on HANA without duplicating data or structures.

Example

A financial SAP HANA database reflects parent-child relationships in the finance table. Pyramid generates the hierarchical structure, recognizing multiple levels and generating metadata for each level in the Account hierarchy. The data model displays the relationship between parent and child keys. Pyramid’s management allows effortless expansion and collapse of ragged hierarchies, such as a balance sheet rolling up children’s amounts to the parent hierarchy.

Data Formats

Currencies

HANA can store multiple currencies in a single column with their currency type and converted value. Many tools ignore data formatting, displaying it ambiguously. Pyramid reflects all formatting choices in reports and visualizations as configured in HANA. Business logic that aggregates multiple currencies is properly flagged and formatted.

Example

Customer sales figures appear as gross amounts with applicable currency. The currency must be displayed, and an additional calculated column shows the amount converted into Euros. Where aggregation of different currencies is not logical, a clear indication is shown that addition is not applicable.

In another report, companies appear in a group with a sub-total without downloading data. Pyramid’s direct query resolves this calculation seamlessly. Custom group members and calculations are defined directly on the HANA server—no data is downloaded locally.

Unit Conversions

HANA can drive numeric conversions (e.g., milliliters to liters). Pyramid recognizes and displays converted amounts with units, a feature unmatched by many tools.

Example

A shipping volume is shown before and after conversion, with the converted value appended with the appropriate unit.

Calculated Attributes and Measures

Most analytics require calculated logic. Many users wanting direct queries on HANA are hampered when performing mathematical and set-based logic due to the complexity of client-defined calculations. Applications like Qlik, Tableau, and Power BI cannot deliver advanced MDX or SQL queries directly on most data sources, including HANA, often forcing users to extract and load data into proprietary databases.

Pyramid offers deep functional access to HANA for mathematical and set-based logic through its “PYRANA” query engine, which uses SQL and a language called “PQL.” All logic is executed as part of the direct query process, with no performance penalties. Self-service function builders and editors are available via an intuitive interface, allowing users to write sophisticated calculations without updating HANA models or databases.

Example

Multiple calculations (month-to-date, quarter-to-date, year-to-date sales) are set up on one dashboard using a single date field as a parameter. Calculations are made without code, running direct queries against HANA data. By dynamically modifying the data, all calculations are made seamlessly, directly on the data.

In another example, a formula calculates month-to-date as a percentage of year-to-date total. Pyramid’s Formulate tool allows easy creation of formulas with built-in wizards. Adding a sub-category column recalculates all amounts automatically, with queries running directly against the SAP database.

Summary

SAP customers need a self-service BI tool that works directly on SAP HANA, retaining all server-based functionality for business logic and governance, while leveraging fast querying performance. HANA’s “Calculation Views” provide important functionality that should not be lost when implementing a front-end analytics tool.

SAP native BI solutions have limitations: Business Objects lacks self-service, Lumira is deprecated, and SAP Analytics Cloud is immature and slow. Third-party BI tools lack close HANA integration and core analytic function support, often requiring data export and reimport, which undermines HANA’s value.

Pyramid provides the fastest querying solution using SQL, exposing all deep analytic logic and functionality of HANA, offering one of the strongest and most comprehensive analytical toolsets for SAP HANA.

In the next post, Pyramid’s SAP HANA features such as hyperlinks, parameters, variables, and data modeling will be explored further.