The second chapter of my SAP HANA sql script tutorial is now available here. It is the beginning of covering the sql script language elements and covers BNF notation in more detail, Be sure to check it out and subscribe. The next tutorial will follow shortly. Should you require a SAP system to practice or try this out, follow the steps on 'How to activate your own SAP HANA system on the SAP Cloud Platform'
I am publishing a new series of tutorials on SAP HANA sql script. These tutorials will form the basis of a new book I am writing and will be published on a regular basis, so subscribe to keep up to date.
Introducing HANA sql script
The purpose of this guide is to simplify SAP HANA sql
script. It differs from all the sql courses available. The sql language is
looked at in detail, starting with a comprehensive look at the notation and
syntactic elements and then progressing to cover the individual statements.
Other courses may jump straight into the SELECT statement, for example, the
following course spends almost all of the course introduction covering the
installation of the database and only 42 seconds on SQL statement Fundamentals.
This pattern is repeated across blogs, online tutorials and
MOOCs. No time is spent on teaching the notation and general syntax. Everyone
jumps straight into the SELECT statement. Once more complex syntactic elements
are reached, the student may get lost as the general principles have not been
mastered yet and learning stops.
We believe that the first step in mastering sql is
understanding the notation used in SAP’s documentation – a ‘Teach a man to
fish’ approach. Once the notation is mastered, getting to grips with the rest
of the language is significantly easier. You will be able to craft complex and
efficient queries more effectively.
Why SAP HANA sql script?
We get this question often. So why did we choose to write a
guide on SAP HANA sql. The reason is that SAP is the leading ERP provider with
more than 12 million users, 121 000 installations and 41 200 customers.
There is an additional imperative for customers to move to SAP HANA. At the end
of 2025, SAP is sun-setting support for legacy software, such as SAP ERP and
BW. Customers will have to upgrade their database to HANA, and upgrade their
software to S/4HANA. A large install base, demand for skills and our enthusiasm
for the SAP platform in general, choosing to create a course on SAP SQL script
is a no-brainer.
How to activate your own SAP HANA system on the SAP Cloud Platform
Did you know that you can activate your own SAP HANA system on the SAP Cloud Platform?
All you need is a gmail
I just activated a system and found it very easy. In this post I'll take you through the required steps to activate this system as well as links to the documentation.
The first step is to make sure that you have an appropriate SAP s or p number. This can be obtained as follows:
If you already have an SAP logon, you can use your user credentials here, else, simply logon with your google, linked, facebook or twitter account. I will use my google account. Once you have logged into your google account, you will get the following message:
The next step is to link a new SAP account to your google account, by clicking on the 'Create Linked Account' button.
Fill in the registration details and then submit. You will be greeted with the following message:
Click on the link to activate your account. You will then be taken to the logon screen again. Log on with your email and click on the Link Accounts button:
Your sap and google accounts are now linked and you should be greeted by the following message:
Now, clicking on the logon button again and then selecting 'Account Settings', you can see you S-or-P Number:
Now head over to https://account.hanatrial.ondemand.com and click on Register. If you are still logged into your SAP account, your credentials will be picked up and you should be met with a Welcome screen:
After accepting all the terms and disclaimers, you will be taken to the Cloud Platform Cockpit. There are pletny options to choose from but we are interested in a SAP HANA system. So click on the Neo Trial button:
Your will now be presented with your subaccount and any systems that you may have activated. Since we have not activated anything yet, this screen contains not much information.
On the menu on the right, select Databases & Schemas:
Any activated databases & schemas will be listed here. Click on New:
Next, select the database ID and the SYSTEM user password. Note this password, as we will use it in the next few steps:
You database should be created and is being activated:
Once all steps are complete, we can go ahead with the configuration.
We will complete three steps:
1 - Use the SYSTEM user to create a database user.
2 - Connect eclipse to the HANA Cloud system
3 - Create a repository workspace.
The steps are published here. I will add some screenshots to make the process easier:
Use the SYSTEM user to create a database user.
We will use the SYSTEM user to create the database user, which will also create the schema we need.
Select the relevant SAP HANA tenant database in the list.
In the overview that is shown in the lower part of the screen, open the SAP HANA cockpit link under Administration Tools.
In the Enter Username field, enter SYSTEM, then enter the password you determined for the SYSTEM user in the Enter Password field.
A message is displayed to inform you that at that point, you lack the roles that you need to open the SAP HANA cockpit.
To confirm the message, choose OK.
You receive a confirmation that the required roles are assigned to you automatically.
Choose Continue.
You are now logged on to the SAP HANA cockpit.
Choose Manage Roles and Users.
To create database users and assign them the required roles, expand the Security node.
Open the context menu for the Users node and choose New User.
On the User tab, provide a name for the new user.
The user name always appears in upper case letters.
In the Authentication section, make sure the Password checkbox is selected and enter a password.
To create the user, choose Save.
The new database user is displayed as a new node under the Users node.
To assign your user the roles with the required permissions for working with SAP HANA Web-based Development Workbench, go to the Granted Roles section and choose the + (Add Role) button.
Type xs.ide in the search field and select all roles in the result list.
Choose Ok.
The roles are added on the Granted Roles tab.
Repeat the last two steps to assign the CONTENT_ADMIN role to the user.
Use of the Web-Based Development Workbench
At this point, you should be able to log into the HANA database and use the web client:
Select the relevant SAP HANA tenant database in the list again and select:
SAP HANA Web-Based Development Workbench
Log into the HANA system using the Database user created in the steps above:
You may be asked to change your password and then taken to the Web-based Workbench:
Clicking on Catalog takes us to the SAP HANA Modeler perspective, and we can see the DBUSER schema:
Right-Clicking on the schema, select 'Open Sql console". We are greeted with a new tab and a sql console and we can write some sql code:
Connect to your SAP HANA Database via the Eclipse IDE (Neon)
Note the prerequisite. Only Eclipse Neon is supported. If you don't have Eclipse Neon, download it from here
Once downloaded and installed, follow the procedure below:
Procedure
Go to WindowShow ViewOther.
Select SAP HANASystems and choose OK.
From the Systems context menu, choose Add Cloud System.
Verify the host in the Subaccount Information window.
Data scientists are
multi-skilled individuals. They are well educated and technically proficient
with in-depth industry knowledge and a sense of curiosity that drives them to
solve complex problems.
Data scientists are business analysts, mathematicians, statisticians and
computer scientists. These individuals are in high demand and well paid.
Who wouldn't want to be one?
Data science as a discipline was virtually unknown a decade ago, but the
technological landscape changed and with it the way that companies think about
the mass of structured and unstructured data it has accumulated. This data
or Big Data is no longer something that can be ignored or
something that IT must handle as an afterthought, but to actively mine for
insights and increased revenue and the miner of this data is the Data
Scientist.
The origin of data scientists
Data scientists started their careers as data analysts, business
analysts and statisticians. These individuals are were typically mid to
high-level business people with a flair for numbers and the technical skills to
access and query data.
They may also have a strong academic background in Data Science, with
many universities offering degrees in Data Science, for example, this one at
the University of London.
Duties of a data scientists
There's not a
definitive job description when it comes to a data scientist role, but a Data
Scientist will have to fulfil a highly technical role while translating and
communicating the results of their analysis to exec in their business. Some of
the functions may include:
Lead data mining and collection procedures
Interpret and analyse data problems
Conceive, plan and prioritise data projects
Build analytic systems and predictive models
Test performance of data-driven products
Visualise data and create reports
The data scientist’s toolbox
These terms and technologies are
commonly used by data scientists:
·Data
visualization: the
presentation of data in a pictorial or graphical format so it can be easily analysed.
·Machine
learning: a branch of artificial
intelligence based on mathematical algorithms and automation.
·Deep learning: an area of
machine learning research that uses data to model complex abstractions.
·Pattern recognition: technology that recognizes patterns in data
(often used interchangeably with machine learning).
·Data
preparation: the process of converting raw data into another
format so it can be more easily consumed.
·Text
analytics: the process of examining unstructured data to glean key business
insights.
How do you become a data scientist?
As with the job description of a data
scientist, there is no single way to start a career as a data scientist. There
are several options though, depending on your interests, the stage of your
career, time available and so on. As this blog focus on SAP and its related
products, you could try an online course on SAP predictive analytics. This
course has been prepared by us to start you off on your Data Scientist journey.
I am in the process of creating a new SAP BPC Embedded course on udemy.com. It should be ready in a few weeks, but in the meantime, here is the first lecture:
On this site, I will publish the contents of my book on Implementing SAP BPC and HANA. It is a comprehensive guide on SAP BPC 11 and contains a lot of good content to get you underway. As with anything in life, it costs a lot of money to produce this content, so please use the PayPal link to make a donation and help cover some of the costs. Alternatively, you can purchase a paperback version of the book on Amazon. The link to the book is on the left. I will also publish interesting topics on HANA and Predictive Analytics (PAL), so make sure you subscribe and check the site from time to time.
