HPE M0S64A Product Data Sheet

The challenge

• Decentralised organisational structure
with heterogeneous database land­scape (SAP and DB2 databases)

• High demand for data-intensive
analyses and reports

• Performance problems in bulk data
processing

• Data harmonisation as requested

Case Study

The University of Basel is
accelerating its data warehouse
via two HPE ConvergedSystem
500s for SAP HANA

The solution

• Migrate the central SAP Business
Data Warehouse onto two HPE
ConvergedSystem 500s for SAP
HANA

• Design and realisation of the migration
jointly with Sapify AG, the University of
Basel and partner-company Niederer
Engineering AG

• The project was completed one month
before the scheduled deadline

The result

• Considerably greater performance in
processing of large data volumes

• Generation of complex analyses and
reports with the push of a button from
the data cockpit

• Easy usage of data from dierent
sources with no time-consuming pre­aggregation

• Analysis results from future data
models partly realisable in near real­time

• Faster results with smaller data
volumes

The University of Basel faces fierce
competition in recruiting the most talented
individuals and attracting funding from
public and private donors. And like most
higher education institutions, the university
is a complex organisation consisting of
dierent interest groups and cultures. The
need for the SAP Competence Center
(SAPCC) to exhibit max imum ‘business’

eiciency and structural heterogeneity
poses an enormous challenge, particularly
with regard to bulk data processing.
The decisive question is: how can large
amounts of data for reports and analyses
from diering data sources be processed
significantly faster in the central SAP Data
Warehouse? The answer: SAP HANA on two
HPE ConvergedSystem 500s.

Case study

University of Basel

“The project was an enormous success. The tremendous cooperation

between Uni Basel, Sapify AG and Niederer Engineering AG meant the
SAP HANA data warehouse was able to go live a month ahead of schedule.”

– Christoph Wyss University of Basel SAP Competence Center

Page 2

Customer portrait

University of Basel – a top university
with an international reputation

Founded in 1460, the University of Basel
is a full university with seven faculties
that oers bachelor, master and doctorate
degree pro grams. Presently the University
of Basel has around 13000 matriculated
students and doctoral candidates and
roughly 3000 full-time personnel, two
thirds of which approximately are academic
sta. Life Sciences, Image Science,
Nanoscience, Sustainability and Energy
Research and European and Global Studies
are the university’s strategic research and
teaching priorities. The re search work of
Uni Basel regularly puts the insti tution
among the world’s top 100 uni versities in
international rankings. The university has a
modern, high-performing IT, the hardware
for which is mostly based on HPE products
in the SAP environment. The administration
strategically utilises SAP and maintains its
own SAP Competence Center, certified as
a Customer Center of Expertise, with 10
sta members who ensure operation and
perform further development of the SAP
environment.

Initial Situation

Problems with high-volume data
analysis

The University of Basel deploys SAP
software in the administrative areas
of resource management, finance and
controlling, human resources and logistics.
The University’s individual SAP modules
deliver data daily to the central data
warehouse based on SAP BI. In the past
there have been recurring per formance
problems in bulk data processing, as data
did not flow unchanged into the data
warehouse, but to be aggregated at first in
ETL processes (Extract, Transform, Load).
Christoph Wyss, project manager and
developer at the SAP competence centre,
responsible for data warehousing, has
thus been looking into ways to accelerate
bulk data analysis, together with long­standing SAP partner Sapify AG. Wyss: “SAP
HANA is a promising new in-memory SAP
database technology, and the hardware
component HPE ConvergedSystem for
SAP HANA is ideally designed for this
technology. The decision to procure SAP
HANA was speeded up by management’s
need to update SAP Business Planning and
Consolidation Tool to accommodate ‘SAP
BPC embedded’, which requires SAP HANA.”
HPE Gold Partner and university specialist
Niederer Engineering AG was additionally
brought on board as hardware expert.

Case study

University of Basel

Page 3

“The two HPE

Converged System
500s for SAP HANA
allow processing
and analysis of
operational data on

nearly a real-time
basis.”

– Christoph Wyss University of

Basel SAP Competence Center

Solution

SAP Data Warehouse migrated to
HPE ConvergedSystem 500 for SAP
HANA

After extensive pilot testing, which went
well, Uni Basel’s SAP Data Warehouse
was migrated over to two HPE
ConvergedSystem 500s for SAP HANA.
Arsène Gschwind of Sapify AG explains the
advantages of the new tech nology: “HANA
allows processing very large volumes of
analytical and transaction data in real time.
The performance gain is achieved thanks
to in-memory technology, in which data are
read directly from the RAM instead from a
hard drive or flash storage medium. Another
factor is column-oriented storage, which
can render large sets of quantitative data
with the same characteristics (columns)
individually selectable in a highly flexible
fashion for analysis.” Christoph Wyss of
Basel University adds: “For us, HANA is
thus a really interesting technology, as it
no longer matters whether data are taken
from an OLTP database system set up for
business applications or from an OLAP
database optimised for bulk data analysis
– processing is extremely fast either way,
as data pre-aggregation is no longer
necessary.” Two HPE ConvergedSystem
500s for SAP HANA in the scale-up
configuration were deployed as hardware.
Niederer Engineering AG supplied plug­and-play appliances pre-configured
and pre-tested for HANA, along with a
comprehensive HPE service and support
package.

Result

Substantially faster bulk data processing

The performance enhancement in
processing of large data volumes realised
by the HPE ConvergedSystem 500 for

SAP HANA is impressive: import processes
that used to take nearly three hours are
now done in 20 minutes. Project manager
Wyss: “The tools we used for financial
reporting required multiple conversion
steps and involved media breaks. With
HANA, users can run reports with the
push of a button in nearly no time from a
specially programmed data cockpit.” The
two HPE ConvergedSystem 500s for SAP
HANA aord Uni Basel better decision­making through processing and analysis of
operational data on nearly a real-time basis.
Planning and controlling processes at the
University of Basel can be centralised and
integrated through SAP BPC embedded
(based on SAP HANA). Another advantage
Wyss points out: “The high- performing
and flexible HANA technology will help us
consolidate our systems environment for
greater uniformity.” Uni Basel’s SAP Data
Warehouse specialist has nothing but praise
for cooperation partners Sapify AG and
Niederer Engineering AG: “The project was
a huge success. We were done a month
ahead of schedule. Sapify AG and Niederer
Engineer ing AG were highly dedicated and
competent migration partners, and were
perfect complements to one another. We
had someone to contact any time day or
night when we needed it in the hot phase
of the project.” As Sapify CTO Arsène
Gschwind emphasises, there is a certain
learning curve with the new in-memory
computing solution by SAP and HPE: “The
HPE HANA appliance was new territory for
us. Niederer Engineering AG provided us
the ultimate in support, immediately putting
us into direct contact with HPE technical
specialists – which proved highly valuable in
the course of the project.”

Case study

University of Basel

Overview of the
solution

Hardware

• 2 x HPE ConvergedSystem 500
for SAP HANA (scale-up) with
2 sockets each and 512 GB RAM

Software

• SAP HANA (High-Performance
Analytic Appliance)

Partners

sapify AG

Bodenacherring 7
8303 Bassersdorf
phone +41435374264

[e-mail]
sapify.com

“The HPE ConvergedSystem 500 for SAP HANA with

in-memory technology is capable of processing very large
quantities of analytical and transactional data with great
rapidity.”

Niederer Engineering AG

Roland Dietiker
Gehrenacker 25
9030 Abtwil
mobile +41796038343

[e-mail]
niederer.ch

University of Basel

Petersplatz 1
Postfach 2148
4001 Basel

unibas.ch

– Arsène Gschwind, Sapify AG

Sapify AG

Sapify AG is an innovative technology and
consulting firm for the entire spectrum of
SAP technology services, from setting up
individual hardware components in the data
centre to managing SAP base components
and 24 x 7 operation under an SAP
technology out-tasking model. Sapify AG is
currently building up cutting-edge hardware
infrastructure at one of Switzerland’s most
modern data centres in order to oer
attractive outsourcing service models in
future.

Niederer Engineering AG*

Hardware, software and services: for over
30 years, HPE Gold partner Niederer
Engineering AG has been dedicated to
providing productive, secure and cost­eective IT infrastructures based on
HPE systems. Businesses and academic
institutions benefit alike from the company’s
proven consulting expertise, extensive
experience, continuity and commitment to
ongoing optimisation. Niederer Engineering
AG is certified by HPE as a focused Higher
Education Partner, providing support to
universities and colleges.

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* Niedere r Engineering was a cquired by the St. Gallen -based

IT systems e nterprise Bechtl e Switzerland AG on 01/01 /16

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4AA6-6251EEE, July 2016