Retail Pet Products Chain Streamlines Data Delivery and Retires Legacy ETL with SAP Business Data Cloud
Overview
A leading American pet supply retail chain wanted to modernize its SAP data foundation as its legacy integration platform, Informatica, approached end of life. Years of custom ABAP-based logic, fragmented pipelines, and duplicated data engineering efforts made it difficult to deliver timely, trusted SAP data to downstream platforms like Google Cloud and Databricks.
Applexus partnered with the client to establish a modern, cloud-native data architecture leveraging SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC), SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, and Databricks on Google Cloud. The engagement created a unified, scalable, and real-time data delivery framework that simplifies operations, accelerates analytics, and lays the foundation for AI and ML adoption.
Challenges
Multiple versions of truth and heavy technical debt
- Custom ABAP programs plus 200+ Informatica workflows powered the client’s SAP data movement, making the landscape difficult to maintain, scale, and migrate to S/4HANA.
End-of-life ETL platform increasing operational risk
- Informatica’s approaching retirement introduced compliance and operational challenges while slowing data delivery for downstream applications.
Complex, costly engineering pipelines
- Multiple parallel pipelines pushed SAP data into Databricks, driving up engineering effort, cloud costs, and support overhead.
Limited access to SAP data
Business teams relied heavily on IT due to the absence of governed, self-service data access for Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Sales, and Inventory analytics.
Our Solution
Enterprise Data Modernization with SAP BDC
- Applexus designed and implemented a cloud-native architecture that connects
SAP ECC → SAP SLT → Datasphere → Databricks on GCP using the BDC Connector.
S/4HANA-PCE Readiness
- Custom ABAP code logic created for data extraction from SAP ECC was converted into SAP BDC equivalent solution using the Deltashare option to Google Databricks
Data Products delivered at scale
- 170+ SAP ECC Data Products were created and published to Databricks, enabling secure, real-time consumption for downstream use cases.
Real-time data sharing and open access
- Delta Sharing on BDC powers real-time SAP data delivery to Databricks Bronze/Silver layers, replacing Informatica workflows and reducing latency.
Benefits
Faster access to SAP data for analytics
- Line-of-business Data Products deliver real-time data for Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Sales, and Inventory analysis.
Retirement of legacy integration platform
- 200+ Informatica workflows are being migrated into BDC, reducing operational risk and long-term platform cost.
Simplified, cloud-native data engineering
- BDC now manages data delivery pipelines end-to-end, eliminating redundant engineering and enabling direct consumption in GCP Databricks.
Trusted, harmonized financial and operational view
- BDC enables a single version of truth by harmonizing SAP and non-SAP data into a governed, reusable layer.
Self-service analytics & AI readiness
- Standardized data models empower business teams while establishing a strong foundation for ML, data marketplace, and scalable LOB data products.
Client
US-based Retail Pet Products Chain
Solution
Enterprise Data Modernization with SAP Business Data Cloud
At a glance
By replacing Informatica with SAP Business Data Cloud, the client modernized its SAP data foundation and established a real-time, cloud-native integration with Databricks on Google Cloud. Over 170 SAP ECC Data Products now flow seamlessly into Databricks via Delta Sharing, reducing latency, simplifying data engineering, and enabling governed self-service analytics across supply chain, manufacturing, sales, and inventory. The new architecture delivers a single version of truth and builds a scalable foundation for S/4HANA migration, AI/ML initiatives, and future data products.
