Data integration is important in every organization. The reason is that organizations generate huge volumes of data, but this data is never stored in a single location. Many times you will find some data stored in on-premise databases, other data stored in the cloud, etc. Whenever there is a need to analyze such data and draw insights for decision-making, it must be brought into a single location.
However, organizations usually find it difficult to develop their own data pipelines from scratch. That’s why they resort to using the available data integration tools. SAP SDI and Hevo Data are two popular data integration tools. They can help you to move your data into a single location for analysis. However, the two work differently and exhibit different performances.
In this article, we will be discussing the differences between SAP SDI and Hevo Data to help you know the best one for you.
Table of Contents
What is Hevo Data?
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Hevo Data is a No-code Automated Data Pipeline that helps businesses to integrate their data from multiple sources to their warehouse in near real-time. Hevo Data has 100+ ready-to-use integrations across SaaS Applications, Databases, Streaming Services, SDKs, and Cloud Storage.
Hevo Data is trusted by 25+ companies in different fields and is spread across different parts of the world. With, Hevo, you will be able to get a 360-degrees view of your customers in one place by integrating data from multiple sources.
To learn more about Hevo Data, view its official documentation here.
What is SAP SDI?
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SAP Smart Data Integration (SDI) is an ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) tool that comes as part of SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA Database. You can use it to integrate different types of source systems into SAP HANA Cloud, and SAP HANA Database without the need to install an ETL application. You can create ETL jobs in the same way you create tables and views.
If you need to replicate or virtualize data from SAP HANA on-premise database to SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA Database, use Smart Data Integration.
You can also use SAP SDI to replicate and virtualize data in the other direction, that is, from SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA database to SAP HANA on-premise, which comes with advanced replication capabilities but it’s more complicated to deploy.
To learn more about SAP SDI, view its official documentation here.
A fully managed No-code Data Pipeline platform like Hevo helps you integrate data from 100+ data sources (including 40+ Free Data Sources) to a destination of your choice in real-time in an effortless manner.
Hevo with its minimal learning curve can be set up in just a few minutes allowing the users to load data without having to compromise performance. Its strong integration with umpteenth sources allows users to bring in data of different kinds in a smooth fashion without having to code a single line.
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Check out some of the cool features of Hevo:
- Completely Automated: The Hevo platform can be set up in just a few minutes and requires minimal maintenance.
- Transformations: Hevo provides preload transformations through Python code. It also allows you to run transformation code for each event in the pipelines you set up. You need to edit the event object’s properties received in the transform method as a parameter to carry out the transformation. Hevo also offers drag and drop transformations like Date and Control Functions, JSON, and Event Manipulation to name a few. These can be configured and tested before putting them to use.
- Connectors: Hevo supports 100+ integrations to SaaS platforms, files, databases, analytics, and BI tools. It supports various destinations including Salesforce CRM, Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Firebolt, Snowflake Data Warehouses; Amazon S3 Data Lakes; MySQL, MongoDB, TokuDB, DynamoDB, and PostgreSQL databases to name a few.
- Real-Time Data Transfer: Hevo provides real-time data migration, so you can have analysis-ready data always.
- 100% Complete & Accurate Data Transfer: Hevo’s robust infrastructure ensures reliable data transfer with zero data loss.
- Scalable Infrastructure: Hevo has in-built integrations for 100+ sources, that can help you scale your data infrastructure as required.
- 24/7 Live Support: The Hevo team is available round the clock to extend exceptional support to you through chat, email, and support calls.
- Schema Management: Hevo takes away the tedious task of schema management & automatically detects the schema of incoming data and maps it to the destination schema.
- Live Monitoring: Hevo allows you to monitor the data flow so you can check where your data is at a particular point in time.
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Differences Between SAP SDI and Hevo Data
In this section, we will be discussing how SAP SDI and Hevo Data compare in different core areas. Here are the factors to consider when establishing the difference between the two tools:
Data Transformation
Hevo Data Transformations
You may need to perform some transformations on your data before moving it to the final destination. A good example of a data transformation is data cleaning. Hevo allows you to prepare your data in different ways before moving it to its destination. It provides two ways through which you can design and apply transformations:
Hevo also allows you to apply both methods to one transformation. A transformation of one type cannot be converted to another automatically. To switch from one transformation to another, you have to rewrite the transformation completely.
SAP SDI Transformations
SAP SDI also provides a number of transform options to integrate and cleanse data. It is expected that it will acquire new transformations with every new release.
Data Integrations
Hevo Data Integrations
Hevo users can connect to 100+ data sources including 80+ SaaS applications. It supports integration with different types of data sources including Databases, SaaS products, Marketing applications, Data Warehouses, external files like CSV, and more. Hevo also supports data ingestion using REST APIs and Webhooks.
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SAP SDI Integrations
When SDI is combined with SDA (Smart Data Access adapters), it can connect to most of the traditional relational database management systems and unstructured sources of data like Facebook, Twitter, and more. It also integrates well with big data software such as Hadoop via the Hadoop File System (HDFS).
Change Data Capture (CDC)
Hevo Data CDC
With any type of data warehouse implementation, maintaining the data history is an important feature. Also, you will not need to move the entire data source to the target every day. CDC helps to determine or track the changed data and take necessary actions. It allows systems to get the latest changes to the data only after the initial load.
Hevo can be leveraged to stream data in real time and capture changes via its Change Data Capture (CDC) feature. Hevo has a fault-tolerant architecture to ensure zero data loss during the process.
SAP SDI CDC
SAP SDI can connect to many CDC-enabled data sources and then use the same data later for SCD (Slow Changing Dimension)/Transaction maintenance on your target data.
Scheduling
Hevo Data Scheduling
A good data integration tool should be capable to support job scheduling. Hevo Data allows its users to schedule a pipeline to run many ingestion jobs that will fetch data from the source. The schedule is normally shown below the name of the source in the pipeline summary.
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One can also change the schedule from the Action menu of the pipeline. However, this option is not available to all the pipelines. It is normally made available when you own the source and not a third party. However, there are exceptions to this rule.
SAP SDI Scheduling
SAP SDI also allows users to schedule flow tasks. This makes it possible for its users to have data replication done on a particular schedule.
Customer Service and Support
Hevo Data Customer Service and Support
Hevo Data comes with excellent customer support features for its users. Hevo users can contact the Customer Support team 24/7 via email, calls, or its live support feature which is powered by Intercom. Hevo’s support team also responds to your questions quickly to give you the necessary help.
Hevo Data also comes with extensive documentation from which users can get answers to their questions. You can find Hevo’s official documentation here.
SAP SDI Customer Service and Support
The SAP portal comes with different ways through which you can get support for SAP SDI. You can call the SAP team, email them, or chat with them using their live chat feature.
The SAP portal also has a knowledge base where you can type your questions and get answers. You will get suggestions as you type the question based on the keywords that you use.
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There is also the SAP community where you can post your questions and share your knowledge with other users. It also offers training to the users.
Conclusion
You’ve learned about Hevo Data and SAP SDI in this article. It also talks about the key differences between Hevo Data and SAP SDI.
Extracting complex data from a diverse set of data sources to carry out an insightful analysis can be challenging, and this is where Hevo saves the day! Hevo offers a faster way to move data from Databases or SaaS applications to be visualized in a BI tool for free. Hevo is fully automated and hence does not require you to code.
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Want to take Hevo for a spin? Sign Up for the 14-day free trial and experience the feature-rich Hevo suite first hand. You can also have a look at the unbeatable pricing that will help you choose the right plan for your business needs.
Skilled in freelance writing within the data industry, Nicholas is passionate about unraveling the complexities of data integration and data analysis through informative content for those delving deeper into these subjects. He has written more than 150+ blogs on databases, processes, and tutorials that help data practitioners solve their day-to-day problems.