Stuttgart Airport renews data management strategy

The reporting system of Flughafen Stuttgart GmbH (FSG) is based on a comprehensive reporting concept. A central BW supplies the key figure cockpit Airport Navigator with daily updated data.

Due to increasing requirements, the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (BW), which had been in use since 2003, grew continuously. Performance problems with query times were the result.

Both the operation of SAP NetWeaver BW 7.0 and troubleshooting became increasingly slower and more expensive. In addition, the maintenance for the BW 3.5 front-end technology, which was still being used in some cases, was expiring and a release upgrade was due.

"We had reached a crossroads and wanted to explore which technical options would be suitable for us in the future. On the other hand, we wanted to improve our data management in order to create an optimal basis for new technologies such as Hana."

explains Kai Waldner, Head of BI, ECM at FSG.

To this end, a strategy project was launched to maintain and secure BW operations, and the software and consulting company DataVard was commissioned to create a long-term business intelligence strategy.

In addition to short-term solutions to improve the performance and scalability of the overall system, DataVard should develop a roadmap for the introduction of Hana.

Data management put to the test

First, DataVard conducted an in-depth analysis of BW to uncover specific optimization potential. Based on over 70 key figures and a benchmark with over 250 systems, the DataVard BW Fitness Test analyzed strengths and weaknesses of BW.

While the InfoCube design, query performance, and data quality were rated positively, the analysis identified the following weaknesses: 36 percent of the data in the infoproviders was more than two years old; in addition, 44 percent of the system size was occupied by temporary data (PSA, changelog).

The performance of the ETL processes and the reports was also in the negative range. The BW Fitness Test also identified potential for optimization with regard to housekeeping measures and provided concrete recommendations for action.

For example, the aggregates previously used to improve performance were to be switched off because they occupied almost the same storage space as the basic cube. The recommended data cleansing was carried out by the FSG IT team itself.

The system size could thus be reduced by 30 percent to 1.2 terabytes, which was also noticeable in the nightly loading processes, which were shortened by about one hour.

To significantly increase performance, DataVard also recommended the introduction of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse Accelerator.

Way to Hana defined

In a second step, DataVard developed a concrete roadmap for further planning until the introduction of Hana in the variant "SAP BW on Hana".

SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3 runs as usual on an Abap-based application server. Only the database is provided by the Hana in-memory platform.

For reasons of release functionality dependencies and grandfathering of existing applications, DataVard recommended migrating to Hana using a phased approach:

For a rapid improvement in performance, a technical upgrade to SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3 should be carried out first, as well as the introduction of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator as a transitional solution.

Only then should the complex migration of the 3.5 technologies and a front-end conversion be carried out. As a final step, the roadmap envisages migration to Hana and SAP NetWeaver BW 7.4 in the medium term, simultaneously with the replacement of SAP BW Accelerator.

Kai Waldner sums up:

"With the help of strategy consulting, we have come a big step closer to our goal of Hana. The business logic is primarily in the data model. We now know how we need to adequately prepare for the migration to Hana step by step."

Data management strategy shows success

Not all measures from the strategy consultation have been implemented yet, but the new data management strategy has already brought significant improvements. For example, 30 percent of the system size could be saved.

"We are now well positioned in terms of system availability and data management, and we know where we can consistently save data volume"

explains Kai Waldner.

In the meantime, the performance bottlenecks are a thing of the past. The introduction of SAP NetWeaver BW Accelerator in particular brought rapid results.

"Performance on report queries improved by a factor of 15 in some cases"

Kai Waldner is pleased.

In addition to the concrete immediate help, the IT department of Manfred Rommel Airport Stuttgart benefits from the clearly defined roadmap for preparing the migration to Hana.

"We have taken concrete steps, but there is still some remodeling work to be done in the system, which we will work through gradually"

Kai Waldner describes the current status of the project. For example, the release upgrade to SAP NetWeaver BW 7.3, the transfer of the reporting environment from SAP Business Explorer - Analyzer and Web Application Designer to SAP Business Objects Design Studio, and Business Objects Analyze Office or Crystal for the report workbooks are planned for the near future.

Optimally positioned for Hana on the data side

Overall, Kai Waldner is very satisfied with the implementation and outcome of the strategy project.

"Through the BW Fitness Test, we gained important insights regarding our data model and have already implemented most of them, so that we are now optimally positioned on the data side for the further road to Hana."

The SAP BW on Hana migration is planned for the start of the next leasing round in two years. In the long term, the entire system landscape will then be migrated to the in-memory platform.