Analytics Legends The knowledge platform for SAP Analytics
Academy module

SAC Live Connections

SAC live connection types and the decision gate that selects among them — architecture diagram for SAC Live Connections, Analytics Legends Academy module M026

As of 2026-08-16

Edited by , sole editor and publication director — 27 years in the SAP ecosystem. How these pages are produced, and where automation is used.

Live connections: right choice when freshness < 15 min AND source absorbs query load. Three types: HANA direct (sub-minute ops), Datasphere live (governed analytics, DAC inheritance), BW live (legacy BEx path). Live vs Import decision matrix covers 6 criteria. DAC inheritance = enterprise security pattern (no replication). Perf: push aggregation to AM, limit chart volume < 500K rows, monitor story performance logs.

What you will learn

  • Select the correct live connection type (HANA / DSP / BW) based on freshness SLA, query budget, and governance requirements
  • Configure a Datasphere live connection with DAC inheritance so row-level security requires zero SAC-side replication
  • Apply the Live vs Import decision matrix to document and justify the architecture choice for each dashboard
  • Tune a live connection by optimising the analytic model aggregation and capping chart data volume below 500K rows

SAC live connections let an SAP Analytics Cloud story query a source system directly at the moment the page renders — no data replication into SAC, no import job, no cached snapshot slowly going stale between refreshes. The number that decides the architecture is a single senior judgment call: a live connection is not the default choice, it is the right choice specifically when the freshness requirement is tighter than the source system's replication cadence can economically support, and when that source system can actually absorb the query load a live story will generate. The junior failure mode is reaching for "live" on every dashboard because it sounds more sophisticated and feels more real-time; the senior craft is writing down, per dashboard, an explicit freshness SLA, an explicit query-load budget on the source system, and a short decision log explaining why live or import was chosen — so that six months later, when someone asks "why is this story slow," the answer is already documented rather than reconstructed from memory.

The three live connection types

Prerequisites

  • Review core concepts first: C022, C008, C019

Outcomes

  • Select the correct live connection type (HANA / DSP / BW) based on freshness SLA, query budget, and governance requirements
  • Configure a Datasphere live connection with DAC inheritance so row-level security requires zero SAC-side replication
  • Explain the core architecture and decision points for SAC Live Connections
  • Apply a repeatable implementation pattern in a 15-minute lab format

Full module available to members. The full module adds: the decision framework · the end-to-end scenario walkthrough · the KPI scorecard · the anti-patterns · the code blocks · the knowledge check · the diagrams.

Open in the app →

Next in this track

Guides that answer with this page

These guides cite this page as one of the sources their answer rests on.