SAP HANA Reviews

SAP HANA is one of the best databases known for its performance. Since the solution offers a functionality known as in-memory computing, its performance cannot be measured with other databases. If a customer has a large amount of data, especially data in gigabytes or terabytes, because of which they face performance issues, then SAP HANA is the database for them.

SAP HANA should go for big data solutions as well. So, SAP HANA is good for large enterprises and large databases. Even for large databases, we have to rely on other tools, especially those that fall under big data solutions. Hence, SAP HANA needs to be a part of big data solutions.

SAP HANA has almost all the features, and with every new release, they are introducing some new features because of the development team working on the solution. The solution has started supporting its integration with other applications, which can ensure the solution's development. The solution's development platform should be more flexible and scalable to adapt to other solutions. In short, the development environment of the solution needs to improve. Such improvements will make the integration and adaptation of the solution more flexible.

For almost four to five years, I have been working on SAP HANA. I am not only an end user of the solution but also a part of a company that provides the solution to its customers.

The new version of the solution is stable. SAP HANA Version 1.0 had some performance issues, but after SAP HANA Version 2.0 got introduced, the solution became more stable. So there is no need to put in more effort since most things have become automated in the solution.

It's a scalable product. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Presently, we have around 15 customers.

Since I haven't faced any issues with the solution, I haven't contacted technical support yet.

The solution's initial setup was straightforward.

Only one or two days were required for the deployment part, which the technical department took care of in our organization.

If SAP provides simple and standard documentation to its users explaining every solution process in detail, the steps to deploy the solution can be simplified. In short, the deployment process won't take long if one follows the documentation. Also, it will ensure that the users do not have to get involved in any troubleshooting steps or face any other problems while using the solution.

Only one system administrator is required to deploy and maintain the solution.

SAP offers a license for both ERP and HANA, which means that if you purchase SAP ERP, you will be provided with a license that covers both products. In the case of on-premises deployment, the license is perpetual, which means that you only need to pay for annual maintenance. On the other hand, for cloud deployment, licensing payments are made on a yearly subscription basis.

While the cost of the license may seem high, it is important to note that the benefits of the solution far outweighs the cost. Therefore, it can be considered a normal cost.

I would tell those planning to use the solution that it works fine but needs to become more portable. The solution should also be made capable of supporting non-SAP application environments. Overall, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

We use this solution to custom build features. We are customers of SAP HANA and I'm a solutions manager working for a retail company in Finland. 

The product handles high volumes very well and provides good integration. HANA has great databases and we're able to have a lot of custom-built features. I think this is the best solution for us given our high file volumes.

The SAP ERP processes are quite complex for us and it's a challenge. I don't like the presentation layer tools on the analytics side, it's too complex. I'd like to see a consistent analytic system as those tools and their capabilities are not easy to select. An alternative could be for them to offer the option of access to other solutions.

I think the solution is relatively stable but in some cases, it can depend on the service provider and their capabilities. We handle about 40 promoters, all in Finland and dealing with high volumes. Our market set is very high here.

I think it is highly scalable but it comes at a financial cost. We currently have around 1,000 users. 

We use the support when we need it but we have quite good capabilities ourselves. If we're having some challenges then it can take time to have them resolved or to find the root cause of the problem. We've had some ongoing challenges that have taken quite a while to resolve. 

If you have some experience, the initial setup is quite easy. 

We are always discussing ways to optimize memory usage and hence our licensing costs. The solution is quite expensive but we also get a lot of value-added because of the high level of integration. I think it's worth the money but it's a fine balance. 

I would recommend SAP HANA solution for ERP but not necessarily for analytics. There is no other solution that can provide the value added that we get from SAP, despite the challenges. 

I rate this solution nine out of 10.

The client is using the solution for supply chain management, and at the same time, our enterprise uses it to track the businesses' performance. The rest of our regions are going to be using SAP ECC. We are the first region to go with HANA. We were shortlisted to show them the roadmap and guide them. Supply chain management and tracking raw materials were areas of concern.

The IBP module was the most useful followed by the FI/CO and CNMM modules.

The product could be improved in several ways.

First, before carrying out a project with this environment size, a POC needs to be carried out, for which you would have access to various environments. And those environments are something that SAP should invest in and others should provide. That would be an improvement.

Second, some good amount of handholding, guidance, or other validation or certification from SAP at different levels.  

Third, access to tools for a longer period than the pre-defined trial version license. That's something that we can ask our friends from SAP to extend or make available in a different licensing model at zero cost.

I have three years of experience with the solution.

The solution is very stable. We would rate its stability as eight out of 10.

We would rate the scalability of the solution as eight-plus on a scale of one to 10.

The initial setup was pretty complex, considering the enormous amount of data they had from an Oracle ERP. Migration was an especially painful task, but we managed to sail through it thanks to the support of our customer. We delivered it within the timelines. We managed a few escalations. We worked with the customer. We had a weekly stand-up with the customer and various workshops and sessions to educate them and highlight the challenges. 

Implementation was completely in-house with a team of around 18 to 22 people and a couple of people from SAP, who looked at the overall program management level, providing guidance plus certifying that best practices were being followed and implemented. 

The deployment, moving from Oracle to SAP HANA, took around eight months

The customer took care of all the SAP license costs. Our scope was primarily implementation and migration support.

Oracle ERP had the flexibility, but it didn't have the functionality that the customer was looking for.

We would give the product an overall rating of nine out of 10.

We have an entirely SAP family, which makes it easy to manage and support. The customer opened its first, and we are doing multiple instances of SAP ECC implementations for the rest of the small countries in APAC, the Middle East, and Africa.

Around 175 to 250 people use the solution at every level of the customer's organization.

We will be providing maintenance for the next five years.

My advice would be to explore and play with the different systems available in the market. But, ultimately, look for a system with a brand, broad user usability, and support. For instance, my customer wanted to explore an open-source ERP. We persuaded him to go with SAP, primarily because they have the expertise. They adhere to the best policies. They offer support, etc. 

If you don't have all this, don't explore freebies. Go for a licensed version, recommended globally, and highly rated by Gartner or various research and consulting firms.

I have customers who work with SAP, and I carried out performance research for them, comparing the different parameters of SAP HANA. The solution is generally used for data warehousing. 

I think the in-memory database is excellent as it boosts performance. 

The product lacks some flexibility in its settings and configurations.

The solution is stable. 

The product is quite scalable.

I don't think the initial setup is too complex. Obviously it's not easy because SAP HANA is a complex system, so it's somewhere in the middle.

Licensing costs are quite expensive for the Ukraine but there is a range of different purchasing models so it's flexible in that sense. For a small enterprise, the costs might seem unreasonably high.

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

I use SAP HANA for enterprise, financial, and materials management.

The best feature of SAP HANA is column computing. The computing speed of the solution is also very high, so developers can easily develop programs through SAP HANA.

Per SAP, you can do both transactional and analytical processes in SAP HANA. Though that's true, the speed is slower when you combine the two functions, so this is what I'd like SAP to improve in SAP HANA.

In the next release, I want to see better diagrams in SAP HANA and a more user-friendly interface.

I've used SAP HANA for a long time because I'm a technical consultant for SAP.

I used to contact SAP to ask for help with SAP HANA, and I'm giving the SAP support team a six out of ten.

Neutral

My company still uses SAP HANA because it's an SAP business partner, plus the company also helps other companies use SAP HANA.

SAP HANA is easy to set up. It took a short time to deploy the solution.

SAP HANA is very expensive here in China. My company bought the SAP ERP suite, which includes SAP HANA. For others who use SAP HANA as an analytical database, CPU numbers will affect the pricing, so as a solution, it's costly.

I'm using SAP HANA version 2.0 from 1.0.

Here in China, most people use the on-premise SAP HANA version.

My company has five hundred employees, all using SAP HANA.

I suggest this solution to people using SAP ERP or any other software from SAP.

My rating for SAP HANA is eight out of ten because it's a very powerful database for traditional and analytical scenarios.

Our primary use case is for the database and the network.

The most valuable features I have found are speed, dashboard, and reporting.

There are a few areas wherein there could be a patch upgrade, and that can cover up the country-specific payroll areas.

I have been using SAP HANA for the past two years.

The stability is amazing.

There is a high level of scalability. We currently have around three hundred and thirty licenses.

Technical support is excellent. There has never been a case where I was not given an answer.

Positive

The initial setup is very difficult and not easy.

The deployment took two months to implement.

It is a good, satisfactory, and very customizable product. There has not been a situation where I have not been able to provide a solution to the customer. I think it is the best product.

The pricing is relatively high for both customers and partners.

I would highly recommend SAP HANA and would give it a ten on a scale of one to ten.

We primarily use SAP HANA for machine learning and deep learning.

The solution is very stable.

The solution can scale well.

We've had good experiences with technical support.

The performance is excellent.

We use SAP HANA in our projects but it's very expensive for our projects. We need a relational database in-memory that can handle these issues.

The solution is very expensive for us.

It's hard for us to find test users and sometimes we need them to connect to SAP from Iran, however, this is an issue due to the sanctions against the country.

We've been using the solution for more than six years.

We've found the solution to be very, very stable, especially when you compare it to other solutions.

The solution can scale quite well. If a company needs to expand it so that it fits their growing needs, they can do so easily. 

The technical support on offer is very good. We're quite satisfied with their level of service.

We tried GQ database but it's not a stable database. Sometimes the results weren't correct. SAP HANA is much more stable, which is why we use it, even though it's expensive. 

The solution is very pricey. We're looking into other options because of this.

We're looking at Oracle products as an option right now. We're also looking at MAT-V, a CPU-based database it's very fast, however, we do occasionally face issues with it.

We are a customer. We don't have a professional relationship with SAP.

SAP HANA is not just a memory database, it's a big platform. It's a very, very safe database. It's a very safe database and the performance is very, very good for an in-memory database. For example, sometimes we use Oracle databases 18C or 19C. The data is in the memory, however, when data is running, it's very slow, due to the fact that all data is in the memory and you need to and go to write disk. 

Sometimes when the data is very large, we might scale up our approach, and, in the scale-up approach, sometimes it is slow in HANA. That said, the scale-up approach is very, very good. SAP has got one problem. When you start the database, all data from the tool's memory takes a very long time. We've found that IBM's non-volatile memory is better than internal memory.  New users just need to be aware of that.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. The solution, overall, has fantastic performance, however, the cost makes it really hard for us to keep using it.

The memory capabilities are great.

The performance is very, very good. It's one of the best aspects of the solution.

I've used Oracle for ten years, and yet, I find SAP better than Oracle. Oracle is more cost-based.

Oracle tends to have better features than SAP HANA. They should work to add the kinds of features clients expect from Oracle.

With Oracle, you can install their cloud and that enables you to see more of the database and multiple accounts. This is better than what SAP has on offer.

SAP could really work on its monitoring capabilities.

There's data aging that needs to be dealt with on the solution. It's not ideal. You might have a lot of raw data and aging can really affect it.

It would be help if the solution had a graph database. They're lacking that right now.

There's an issue in the partition. When you record more than two million records, partitioning does not work well. In Oracle it's easy. SAP must resolve this issue in order to be more competitive with Oracle.

I've been using the solution for about five years at this point. It's been about half a decade.

The scalability of the solution is pretty good. We don't have any problems in that area.

We've dealt with technical support in the past. It wasn't that good. Sometimes the information we received from them wasn't accurate. It's a difficult solution. I would say, to be fair, that their support is better than Oracle's.

In the case of Oracle, I had an issue once with Oracle GoldenGate. It took two weeks to resolve the issue. That's far too long. SAP is much more responsive. It's never taken two weeks to resolve anything.

We also used Oracle. We find SAP to be very fast. It's much faster than Oracle.

The initial setup was five years ago, so it's been a while. However, I do recall it being straightforward. We typically install a version on Linux. While it can be difficult, at the moment, it's pretty good. Things have changed a bit, and they've improved the setup a bit. It's not really that unsimilar to Microsoft's SQL server.

We're just a customer. We don't have a business relationship with SAP.

We're using the latest version of the solution.

We use an on-premises version and e have a private cloud in our company.

I'd recommend the solution. If you have, for example, a huge project that's kind of a unique, scalable database I recommend SAP HANA for it. It's easy to use and handles more RAM.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.