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SAP BW migration options — which strategy fits your release, your date and your goal

As of 2026-11-01

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

Most SAP BW owners do not lack options; they lack an order in which to look at them. As of November 2026 SAP documents five broad routes for an existing BW estate: stay on SAP BW 7.5 under maintenance, convert to SAP BW/4HANA (in-place, remote or shell conversion), lift the system into the private cloud component of SAP Business Data Cloud, rebuild in SAP Datasphere, or expose BW data as data products to other platforms such as SAP Databricks. Which of these is open to you is decided first by two facts you can check in a day — your release and your database — and only then by strategy. This page walks the questions in that order, states which SAP source each fact comes from, and says plainly what we cannot settle for you.

Run the SAP BW self-diagnostic — eight questions, your route and your dates

Question 1 — Which date actually binds you?

SAP published the maintenance strategy for SAP NetWeaver 7.5 and SAP BW 7.5 in 2020: maintenance for SAP BW 7.5 continues to the end of 2027, with extended maintenance to 2030. BW 7.4 and older left mainstream maintenance at the end of 2020, and SAP states that extended maintenance is not offered for those versions. SAP BW/4HANA was aligned with the SAP S/4HANA maintenance extension and is to be maintained until at least 2040; the end date of your own BW/4HANA release is in SAP's Product Availability Matrix.

A fourth date matters since SAP Business Data Cloud: SAP Learning states that when an SAP BW 7.5 system is lifted to the private cloud component of SAP BDC, its mainstream maintenance is extended to 2030 instead of 2027, and that SAP BW/4HANA in that setting is maintained until 2040.

So the honest first answer is not one date but four, and which one binds you depends on your release and your contract. Write it down before any option is discussed.

Question 2 — What release and database are you on?

This question removes options before strategy is discussed. SAP Community describes three conversion routes to SAP BW/4HANA with different entry conditions. In-place conversion requires SAP BW 7.5 powered by SAP HANA. Remote conversion installs a new SAP BW/4HANA system and moves selected data flows, with their data, from SAP BW 7.3 on any database. Shell conversion works like a remote conversion on a parallel landscape but does not transfer existing data sets; it accepts releases 7.0 to 7.5.

The lift into SAP Business Data Cloud has its own entry ticket. SAP's reference architecture for BW modernization with BDC — marked by SAP as archived, so confirm against current documentation — lists for SAP BW 7.5 an SAP HANA database and support package SPS24, and for SAP BW/4HANA 1.0 and 2.0 an upgrade to SAP BW/4HANA 2023. A BW 7.4 system on a non-HANA database therefore has no direct lift: its first project is a technical one.

Question 3 — What do you want BW to be in five years?

Here strategy starts, and there are three honest answers.

If BW stays the core warehouse for years — many custom flows, ABAP logic, regulatory reporting that nobody wants to re-prove — the target is SAP BW/4HANA, on premise or as SAP BW/4HANA, private cloud edition, with the horizon SAP gives to 2040.

If BW is to become a source of data products for a wider data platform, the route SAP documents is the lift into the private cloud component of SAP BDC, then generating data products from BW InfoProviders, combining them in SAP Datasphere models and consuming them in SAP Analytics Cloud. SAP Learning adds that BW-generated data products can be shared with SAP Databricks and other data platforms, and that the long-term goal is the complete decommissioning of SAP BW, done at the customer's pace.

If the existing model is itself the problem — layers nobody understands, duplicated logic — then neither conversion nor lift fixes it, and the choice is between a shell conversion (rebuild on BW/4HANA without the old data) and a rebuild in SAP Datasphere.

Question 4 — What else is moving at the same time?

BW decisions are rarely independent. If an SAP S/4HANA programme is under way, the extractors, CDS views and the timing of the ERP cutover shape the BW plan more than any maintenance date. If the company has a cloud policy that favours RISE with SAP, the private cloud lift fits it; if it requires on-premise operation, BW/4HANA on premise is the remaining SAP route. If the data science teams already work on a lakehouse, the question becomes how BW data reaches it — which is what data products and the sharing with SAP Databricks are designed for.

Question 5 — Decide the bridge, then the destination

The decision tree, compressed:

• BW 7.4 or older, any database → you are outside mainstream maintenance already; the routes open are remote conversion (from 7.3) or shell conversion (from 7.0) to BW/4HANA, or a technical upgrade to BW 7.5 on HANA first if you want the BDC lift. • BW 7.5 not on HANA → remote or shell conversion, or migrate to HANA first; in-place conversion and the BDC lift both require HANA. • BW 7.5 on HANA, BW stays central → in-place conversion to BW/4HANA, or lift to SAP Business Warehouse, private cloud edition and decide the conversion later. • BW 7.5 on HANA, goal is data products and AI → lift to the private cloud component of SAP BDC, generate data products, retire BW flows one by one. • BW/4HANA → no 2027 pressure; the choice is between staying, moving to SAP BW/4HANA, private cloud edition, and starting data products. • Model is the problem → shell conversion or rebuild in SAP Datasphere, whatever the release.

A lift buys time and a new operating model; it does not modernize the model. Treat it as a bridge with a named exit, not as the destination.

Question 6 — What has to be in the business case

Four items keep a BW case honest. First, the binding date from question 1, with the contract evidence. Second, an inventory: data flows, custom code, consumers, and what can be retired — retirement is the largest lever and the hardest decision. Third, the target operating model: who runs the system after a lift, who owns data products after a conversion. Fourth, the skills plan: BW/4HANA conversion, BW bridge, Data Product Generator and Datasphere modelling are different profiles, and the same firms are being asked for them by the same installed base. Our directory and rate guides below help with the last point; none of the four can be bought off a vendor slide.

What we cannot assert

We cannot tell you which date binds you: it depends on your release and on whether you hold extended maintenance, which is contractual. SAP publishes no prices for extended maintenance, the private cloud edition or conversions, so none is given. The SAP reference architecture we cite for lift prerequisites is marked archived by SAP; treat the SPS levels as indicative and confirm them in current SAP documentation. SAP Community posts report a further SAP BDC offering for SAP BW NetWeaver beyond 2030; we could not open the primary page and state no date for it.

Frequently asked

What are the SAP BW migration options in 2026?

Stay on SAP BW 7.5 under maintenance; convert to SAP BW/4HANA by in-place, remote or shell conversion; lift to the private cloud component of SAP Business Data Cloud; rebuild in SAP Datasphere; or expose BW data as data products to platforms such as SAP Databricks. Your release and database decide which are open.

Do I have to convert to BW/4HANA to use SAP Business Data Cloud?

SAP documents the lift into the private cloud component of SAP BDC for both existing SAP BW and SAP BW/4HANA deployments, so the lift itself is not a conversion. Prerequisites such as an SAP HANA database and a minimum support package apply; check the current SAP documentation for your release.

Which option needs SAP HANA first?

In-place conversion to SAP BW/4HANA requires SAP BW 7.5 on SAP HANA, and SAP's reference architecture lists an SAP HANA database for lifting SAP BW 7.5 into SAP BDC. Remote conversion (from BW 7.3) and shell conversion (from 7.0) accept any database.

Is shell conversion the same as greenfield?

SAP Community describes shell conversion as a greenfield approach on a parallel SAP BW/4HANA landscape that does not transfer existing data sets: you reload from the sources, from the old BW, or start without history.

Does the lift to private cloud edition modernize my BW?

No. SAP takes over provisioning and management and the maintenance horizon changes, but models, flows and code travel unchanged. Modernization starts with the data products and the retirement of flows that follow.

How much does each option cost?

SAP does not publish prices for extended maintenance, the private cloud edition or conversion services. Cost drivers are covered in our migration cost guide; any figure belongs to your own quote.

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This guide is written by . 27 years of SAP — Datasphere, Business Data Cloud, SAC Planning, Joule. Freelance or permanent · Hybrid / remote · Anywhere in EMEA.

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