Reference

SAP analytics glossary

As of 2026-09-09

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

132 SAP analytics acronyms and terms, each defined in one line — BDC, Datasphere, SAC, BW/4HANA, CDS, RISE, Joule, IR35, umbrella companies. Written for a consultant who has to answer in the meeting, not for a search engine.

132

Terms defined

Sections

EN · FR

Bilingual

A — 7 terms

A — 7 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
ABAP	Advanced Business Application Programming	SAP's proprietary programming language; still ubiquitous in S/4HANA.
Analytics Designer	SAC Analytics Designer	SAC low-code framework for building analytic applications beyond standard stories (scripting, custom UX).
API	Application Programming Interface	Contract for programmatic access to a system (REST, OData, GraphQL, SOAP).
Ariba	SAP Ariba	SAP's procurement / supplier-network cloud suite.
AUG	Arbeitnehmerüberlassungsgesetz (DE)	German labour-leasing law; 18-month cap on deployment of a single contractor at one client via the AÜG model.
AWS	Amazon Web Services	Dominant public cloud; largest hyperscaler hosting SAP workloads via RISE or self-managed.
Azure	Microsoft Azure	Microsoft's public cloud; #2 hyperscaler and deep SAP co-innovation partner (Entra ID, Teams, Fabric links).

B — 9 terms

B — 9 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
BADI	Business Add-In	SAP's object-oriented enhancement mechanism; extension points for customer ABAP logic without modifying core.
BAPI	Business API	Stable, object-oriented RFC wrapper exposed by SAP; meant for external callers to read or update business objects.
BDC	SAP Business Data Cloud	Unified data platform launched Feb 2025; bundles Datasphere, SAC and Databricks.
BPC	Business Planning & Consolidation	Legacy SAP financial planning + consolidation tool; being replaced by SAC Planning.
BTP	Business Technology Platform	SAP's cloud platform for extensions, integrations and AI services.
Business Data Cloud	SAP Business Data Cloud (full name)	Unified data platform launched Feb 2025; bundles Datasphere + SAC + embedded Databricks under one commercial umbrella. Full name of the BDC acronym.
BW	Business Warehouse	Classic SAP data warehouse product family; BW on HANA and BW/4HANA are current variants.
BW Bridge	Datasphere BW Bridge	Tool that lifts on-prem BW content into Datasphere without full rewrite; cloud-transition shortcut for BW/4HANA shops.
BW/4HANA	BW/4HANA	Classic on-prem SAP data warehouse; mainstream maintenance extended to 31 December 2030 (April 2026 SAP announcement).

C — 7 terms

C — 7 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
CDS	Core Data Services	SAP's declarative data-modelling layer for HANA and S/4HANA.
CI/CD	Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery	Automated build-test-deploy pipeline; BTP CAP + UI5 apps increasingly shipped via GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps.
CO	Controlling	SAP ERP management-accounting module: cost centres, internal orders, profitability. Pairs with FI in every S/4 rollout.
Concur	SAP Concur	SAP's expense-management SaaS (acquired 2014).
CPI	Cloud Platform Integration	SAP's iPaaS on BTP; message mapping, flow orchestration between SAP + non-SAP.
CSRD	Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive	EU directive phasing in from FY 2024 (wave 1); Directive (EU) 2025/794 moved wave 2 to FY 2027 and wave 3 to FY 2028. Double-materiality ESG reporting. Drives SAC Planning + Datasphere ESG use cases.
CTO	Cut-Over	Planned production switch from the legacy system to the new one; often a weekend event. Not to be confused with Chief Technology Officer — in SAP project context, CTO almost always means Cut-Over.

D — 15 terms

D — 15 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
Data Fabric	Data Fabric	Integration architecture layering metadata + virtualisation across sources; Datasphere is SAP's take.
Data Mesh	Data Mesh	Decentralised data architecture: domain teams own 'data products' exposed via a federated catalog.
Data Product	Data Product (Datasphere)	Curated, versioned, consumer-facing dataset inside Datasphere Catalog; the 'API' of a data-mesh domain.
Databricks	Databricks	Lakehouse platform co-founded by the Spark creators; core partner of BDC since Feb 2025.
Datasphere	SAP Datasphere	Cloud data-warehouse layer of BDC; rebrand of Data Warehouse Cloud.
DAX	Data Analysis Expressions	Formula language of Power BI / Analysis Services; often paired with SAC comparisons.
dbt	Data Build Tool	Open-source SQL transformation framework; the reference ELT tool on Snowflake/Databricks.
Delta Lake	Delta Lake	Open-source ACID-compliant table format on object storage; the storage layer of Databricks + BDC.
Delta Sharing	Delta Sharing	Open protocol for sharing live tables across platforms without copying them; the mechanism behind zero-copy exchange between BDC and Databricks.
DevOps	DevOps	Practice unifying development + operations; on SAP stack typically realised via CTS+, gCTS, Cloud Transport Management.
DORA	Digital Operational Resilience Act	EU regulation in force since Jan 2025; ICT resilience obligations for financial entities + critical third parties.
DPA	Data Processing Agreement	GDPR Art. 28 contract between controller and processor; mandatory for most SaaS.
Dremio	Dremio	Lakehouse query engine SAP announced acquiring on 2026-05-04 and completed on 2026-07-06; makes Business Data Cloud an Apache Iceberg-native lakehouse able to query third-party data in place.
DWC	Data Warehouse Cloud	Previous name of SAP Datasphere (renamed Mar 2023).
DWH	Data Warehouse	Centralised analytical store; Datasphere, BW/4HANA, Snowflake are examples.

E — 7 terms

E — 7 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
ECC	ERP Central Component	Previous-generation SAP ERP (NetWeaver-based); mainstream end-of-maintenance 2027.
ELT	Extract Load Transform	Cloud-era inversion; load raw, transform inside the warehouse (Snowflake/Databricks style).
ESRS	European Sustainability Reporting Standards	The disclosure standards CSRD reporting is filed against (E1 climate through G1 conduct); the taxonomy an SAP sustainability data model has to map to.
ETL	Extract Transform Load	Classic data-integration pattern; transform happens before load into target.
EU AI Act	EU AI Act	First horizontal AI regulation in the world; prohibited practices since 2025-02-02, GPAI from 2027-08-02, high-risk from 2027-12-02 (stand-alone) and 2028-08-02 (product-embedded) under the provisional deal of 2026-05-11. Affects any Joule deployment.
Event Mesh	SAP Event Mesh	BTP event-driven messaging service; publish/subscribe backbone between S/4, extensions and non-SAP apps.
EWM	Extended Warehouse Management	SAP's next-gen warehouse module: slotting, labour, yard, wave management. Replaces the legacy WM module in S/4.

F — 4 terms

F — 4 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
FI	Financial Accounting	Core SAP ERP module: G/L, A/R, A/P, bank, asset accounting. Central feed for any Datasphere finance model.
Fieldglass	SAP Fieldglass	SAP's VMS (vendor management system) for contingent workforce; the onboarding tool many freelancers meet before a mission.
FinOps	Cloud Financial Operations	Practice of monitoring + optimising cloud spend; increasingly applied to BDC consumption units.
Fiori	SAP Fiori	SAP's design system and UX framework for S/4HANA apps.

G — 3 terms

G — 3 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
GCP	Google Cloud Platform	Google's public cloud; third hyperscaler option for RISE and the home of BigQuery.
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation	EU 2018 data-protection regulation; scopes lawful basis, consent, subject rights.
GROW	GROW with SAP	Public-cloud S/4HANA offering for mid-market (launched 2023).

H — 3 terms

H — 3 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
HANA	High-performance Analytic Appliance	In-memory column-store DB at the heart of S/4HANA, BW/4HANA, Datasphere.
HCM	Human Capital Management	Umbrella term for HR on SAP: SuccessFactors (cloud) + on-prem HCM (ECC/S/4). Payroll, time, org, performance.
HEC	HANA Enterprise Cloud	SAP-managed private cloud for HANA + SAP workloads.

I — 8 terms

I — 8 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
IaaS	Infrastructure as a Service	Pay-as-you-go raw compute/storage/network; the bottom cloud layer (EC2, Azure VMs, GCE).
IBP	Integrated Business Planning	SAP's supply-chain planning suite; demand, supply, S&OP, inventory.
Iceberg	Apache Iceberg	Open table format for large analytic datasets (schema evolution, time travel, ACID on object storage). The interoperability layer BDC standardises on after the Dremio acquisition.
ICS	Integration Suite	Broader SAP BTP integration bundle; includes CPI, API Management, Event Mesh, OCM.
IDoc	Intermediate Document	SAP's XML-like structured message format for EDI/B2B; ubiquitous on ECC interfaces.
IP	Intellectual Property	Rights over created works; contract clause determines if client or freelancer owns code.
IR35	UK IR35 Off-Payroll Rules	UK tax rule determining whether a limited-company contractor is a 'disguised employee'. Heavy impact on the UK SAP freelance market.
ISO 27001	ISO/IEC 27001	International information-security management standard; frequent EU counterpart to SOC 2.

J — 2 terms

J — 2 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
Joule	SAP Joule	Generative-AI copilot embedded across the SAP stack (2024+).
JWT	JSON Web Token	Compact signed JSON token carrying claims; common OIDC access-token format between BTP services.

K — 3 terms

K — 3 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
Kafka	Apache Kafka	Open-source distributed event-streaming platform; de-facto real-time backbone paired with SLT / Replication Flow.
Knowledge Graph	SAP Knowledge Graph	Semantic layer that turns SAP business objects and their relationships into a graph an AI agent can reason over; the grounding SAP pairs with Joule to cut hallucination.
KPI	Key Performance Indicator	Quantified metric tracking progress against a business objective.

L — 2 terms

L — 2 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
Lakehouse	Lakehouse	Architecture that puts warehouse-grade SQL on top of lake-style object storage. BDC + Databricks exemplify it.
LLM	Large Language Model	Transformer-based model trained on vast text corpora; Joule wraps multiple LLMs under one copilot UX.

M — 8 terms

M — 8 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
MCP	Model Context Protocol	Open protocol letting an AI assistant call external tools and read external data through a declared server surface; how a machine consumes a data platform rather than scraping its screens.
MDG	Master Data Governance	SAP MDM product: central governance of customer, vendor, material, finance master data.
Medallion	Medallion Architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold)	Databricks-popular layering: raw Bronze → cleaned Silver → business Gold. Common pattern inside Datasphere too.
MFA	Multi-Factor Authentication	Login requires two+ factors (password + TOTP/push/biometric).
MLOps	Machine Learning Operations	DevOps discipline for ML models; training, registry, deployment, monitoring, drift detection.
MM	Materials Management	SAP ERP procure-to-pay module: purchasing, inventory, vendor master. Paired with SD in any supply-chain rollout.
MSA	Master Service Agreement	Umbrella contract governing all subsequent SOWs; terms, liability, IP, termination.
MVP	Minimum Viable Product	Smallest build that delivers end-to-end value; extended iteratively.

N — 2 terms

N — 2 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
NDA	Non-Disclosure Agreement	Contract restricting the sharing of confidential information; standard pre-mission step.
NIS2	Network & Information Security Directive 2	EU cybersecurity directive expanding NIS1 scope; transposition deadline Oct 2024, enforcement ramping 2025+.

O — 7 terms

O — 7 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
OAuth	Open Authorization 2.0	Delegated-access protocol; backbone of third-party integrations that call SAP APIs on a user's behalf.
OData	Open Data Protocol	RESTful query protocol; dominant pattern for SAP API exposure (S/4HANA, BTP).
ODP	Operational Data Provisioning	Delta-based extraction framework; deprecated for BW4/Datasphere in favour of CDS views.
OIDC	OpenID Connect	Modern OAuth 2.0 identity layer; JSON + REST, preferred for new SAP-BTP + browser apps.
OLAP	Online Analytical Processing	Multi-dimensional query paradigm; slices/dices via hierarchies and measures.
OLTP	Online Transaction Processing	High-volume, short-transaction workload typical of ERPs; contrast with OLAP.
OSS	Online Services System	SAP's support portal; launchpad for SAP Notes, incidents and Service Marketplace.

P — 9 terms

P — 9 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
PaaS	Platform as a Service	Managed runtime + services on top of IaaS; BTP itself is a SAP-flavoured PaaS.
PaPM	Profitability and Performance Management	SAP modelling + allocation engine on BTP; drives activity-based costing and profitability scenarios.
PII	Personally Identifiable Information	Any data identifying a natural person; central concept of GDPR compliance.
PM	Plant Maintenance	SAP ERP maintenance module: technical objects, work orders, preventive schedules. Common in asset-heavy sectors.
POC	Proof of Concept	Short-scope build to validate a technical or commercial hypothesis before full project.
Portage	Portage salarial (FR)	French employment vehicle where a portage firm employs the consultant and invoices the client. Alternative to SASU/EURL.
PoV	Proof of Value	Variant of POC focused on demonstrating measurable business value, not just technical fit.
Power BI	Microsoft Power BI	Microsoft's BI suite; the most frequent SAC comparator in mid-market deals.
PP	Production Planning	SAP ERP manufacturing module: BOMs, routings, MRP, shop-floor orders. Discrete and process industries.

Q — 2 terms

Q — 2 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
Qlik	Qlik	Associative-engine BI vendor; strong EU footprint and a frequent SAC migration source.
Qualtrics	SAP Qualtrics (XM)	Experience-management suite; divested out of SAP in 2023, but the Qualtrics-SAP integration continues.

R — 7 terms

R — 7 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
RAG	Retrieval-Augmented Generation	Pattern that grounds LLM answers in retrieved documents; the core technique Joule uses on SAP help + customer data.
Replication Flow	Datasphere Replication Flow	Datasphere's native data-replication capability; pulls tables from SAP + non-SAP sources on a schedule.
Reverse ETL	Reverse ETL	Pushing curated warehouse data back into operational SaaS (CRM, marketing, ERP). Mirror of ETL.
RFC	Remote Function Call	SAP's proprietary RPC protocol; still the plumbing behind most SAP-to-SAP data exchanges.
RISE	RISE with SAP	Commercial bundle for cloud S/4HANA migration: subscription + tooling + services.
RLS	Row-Level Security	Access-control pattern where visible rows depend on the querying user's attributes.
ROI	Return on Investment	Ratio of net benefit to project cost; central to any BDC/Datasphere business case.

S — 18 terms

S — 18 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
S/4HANA	SAP S/4HANA	Current-gen ERP running on HANA; ECC end-of-maintenance 2027 drives migrations.
SaaS	Software as a Service	Fully-managed app accessed via browser; SAC, Ariba, Concur and SuccessFactors are all SaaS.
SAC	SAP Analytics Cloud	Cloud BI + planning front-end; dashboards, stories, analytic applications.
SAC Planning	SAC Planning	Planning module inside SAC; drives forecasts, budgets, rolling scenarios. Gradually replacing BPC.
SAFe	Scaled Agile Framework	Enterprise agile methodology; common organisational wrapper for multi-team S/4 + Datasphere programmes.
SAML	Security Assertion Markup Language	XML-based enterprise SSO standard; still the most common federation protocol between IdPs and SAP.
SD	Sales & Distribution	SAP ERP order-to-cash module: sales orders, pricing, billing, shipping. One of the three core S/4 logistics modules.
Semantic Layer	Semantic Layer	Business-friendly model over raw tables; defines measures, dimensions, hierarchies once for every downstream BI tool.
SF	SAP SuccessFactors	SAP's cloud HCM suite; core HR, performance, learning, recruiting.
Signavio	SAP Signavio	SAP's process-mining and process-modelling suite (acquired 2021).
SIT	System Integration Testing	Testing stage that checks interfaces between modules and external systems.
SLA	Service Level Agreement	Contractual uptime + response commitments; SAP cloud typically 99.7-99.9%.
SLT	SAP Landscape Transformation	Real-time table-level replication tool; feeds HANA/Datasphere from source systems.
Snowflake	Snowflake	Cloud data platform; frequent reference in BDC competitive deals and in Datasphere benchmarks.
SOC 2	SOC 2 (AICPA)	US audit standard on security/availability/confidentiality; de-facto table stake for SaaS vendors.
SOW	Statement of Work	Contract appendix scoping deliverables, milestones and acceptance criteria.
SOX	Sarbanes-Oxley Act	US 2002 financial-reporting law; shapes segregation-of-duties + audit-trail requirements on any S/4 rollout of a US-listed firm.
SSO	Single Sign-On	One login grants access to multiple apps; SAML, OIDC, Kerberos are common flavours.

T — 4 terms

T — 4 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
Tableau	Tableau	Salesforce-owned visual analytics tool; common SAC comparator in US-centric rollouts.
TCO	Total Cost of Ownership	License + implementation + run + migration cost over a multi-year horizon.
TJM	Taux Journalier Moyen (daily rate)	French-market term for a freelance day rate, typically billed excl. VAT.
Transformation Flow	Datasphere Transformation Flow	Visual + SQL pipeline authoring inside Datasphere; materialises derived tables from replicated raw data.

U — 3 terms

U — 3 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
UAT	User Acceptance Testing	Final validation stage before go-live; run by business users on realistic data.
UI5	SAPUI5	JavaScript framework underpinning Fiori apps (MVC, data-binding, controls library).
Unity Catalog	Unity Catalog	Databricks' central governance + lineage + access-control layer across workspaces and clouds.

V — 2 terms

V — 2 terms — terms, what they stand for, definitions
Term	Stands for	Definition
VAT	Value-Added Tax	Consumption tax added to invoices; rules differ across EU/UK/CH for cross-border services.
Vector DB	Vector Database	Store for embeddings enabling semantic search; HANA gained vector-engine capabilities in 2024.

Open the searchable glossary →

Definitions written by Analytics Legends from public SAP documentation and field practice; as of 2026-09-09.