Analytics Legends The knowledge platform for SAP Analytics
Academy module

Delta Sharing in BDC

Delta Sharing zero-copy flow: provider to share to recipient, with governed access below — architecture diagram for Delta Sharing in BDC, Analytics Legends Academy module M041

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.

Delta Sharing is the open protocol that makes BDC's zero-copy real — an open-source standard (Databricks-originated, not a proprietary SAP API) granting recipients live read access without copying/moving data. Three roles: provider, share, recipient. In BDC it exposes governed SAP data products (M033) to SAP Databricks, external Databricks, other clouds, and partners — each reading in place. "Open protocol" is the anti-lock-in property: recipients needn't run SAP or even Databricks. Zero-copy ≠ uncontrolled: shares are governed, per-recipient, scoped, revocable, least-privilege (M081), catalog-classified (M080), GDPR-bound (M082). Share for live governed access without a copy; don't reflexively extract (duplicates, drifts, loses semantics). Honest limit: the protocol solves movement; the consultant designs the flow (latency/capacity/governance). Retiring ETL for governed shares is the cross-stack-architect skill.

What you will learn

  • Explain the provider/share/recipient model and why it replaces extraction pipelines
  • Design a governed share (per-recipient, scoped, revocable) using catalog classification and least-privilege roles
  • Recognize the anti-patterns that turn a zero-copy win into a governance or capacity failure
  • Position Delta Sharing expertise as cross-stack-architect competency in a day-rate conversation

Delta Sharing is the open protocol that makes BDC's "zero-copy" promise real — and understanding it is what separates a consultant who can architect cross-platform data flow from one who still reaches for an extraction pipeline by reflex. It is an open-source sharing protocol, originated by Databricks and not a proprietary SAP API, that lets a provider grant a recipient live, read access to data without copying or moving it. For a consultant coming from a classical SAP integration background, this is a genuine mental shift: the default answer to "how do I get this data to that system" stops being "build a pipeline" and becomes "who needs to read it, and can they read it in place."

The three roles

Prerequisites

  • Intermediate hands-on experience on SAP analytics projects
  • Review core concepts first: C016, C015, C012

Outcomes

  • Explain the provider/share/recipient model and why it replaces extraction pipelines
  • Design a governed, per-recipient share with catalog classification and revocable grants
  • Explain the core architecture and decision points for Delta Sharing in BDC
  • 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.

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