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SAP Data Accelerator: Governed Partner Access to SAP Data

Last updated on by s-krishnamoorthy

Overview​

SAP Data Accelerator (DA) is a cloud-native, SAP-managed service that provides authorized external partners with governed, near-real-time access to SAP on-premises and private cloud business data — without requiring direct database access or custom ABAP development. Data flows are governed by SAP's security model, ensuring enterprise-grade compliance while enabling the open ecosystem integrations that modern data platforms demand.

SAP Data Accelerator currently supports Palantir Foundry. Support for additional partner platforms may be introduced over time.

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Data flows:

  • Acquisition (left → right): Partner software authenticates to SAP Data Accelerator using mTLS and opens a secure tunnel to the SAP backend through SAP Cloud Connector. Over this tunnel, the SAP ABAP add-on extracts authorized SAP data and delivers it to the partner platform.

  • Writeback (right → left): Over the same tunnel, the partner platform sends enriched or AI-generated insights back to SAP — the SAP ABAP add-on performs the write in the SAP backend, optionally attributing each change to the individual user who triggered it.

Key Components​

SAP Backend Systems​

SAP Data Accelerator supports connectivity to the following SAP backend systems, on-premises and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition:

  • SAP S/4HANA
  • SAP ERP / ECC
  • SAP Business Warehouse
  • SAP SLT Replication Server

SAP Cloud Connector​

The SAP Cloud Connector establishes a secure, outbound-only tunnel from on-premises or SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition systems to SAP Data Accelerator — requiring no inbound firewall openings on the SAP side. Partner software authenticates to SAP Data Accelerator using mTLS and communicates with the SAP ABAP add-on through this tunnel. All data extraction and writeback operations travel over this secured path.

SAP ABAP-Add-on​

Installed on the customer's SAP systems — operates unchanged. Handles data extraction and writeback. For the Palantir integration, this is the Foundry Connector (Palantir Foundry Connector 2.0 for SAP Applications).

SAP Data Accelerator​

The core SAP BTP service that mediates all data exchanges.

Key responsibilities:

  • Data selection: Administrators define which SAP objects (tables, views, CDS views, BAPIs) are exposed and to which partners.

  • Authorization and governance: Consent and access control are enforced at the SAP Data Accelerator layer; partner systems receive only what they are explicitly permitted to consume.

  • Replication and streaming: SAP Data Accelerator can deliver data in bulk (initial load) and in near-real-time (delta/change data) to partner systems.

  • API surface: Partners consume data through standardized APIs rather than direct database connections, insulating them from SAP schema changes.

Partner System​

Any certified or configured partner platform — analytics engines, AI/ML platforms, data lakes, or third-party SaaS applications — that connect to SAP Data Accelerator to consume SAP data.

Key Benefits​

  • No direct database access required: Partners consume data through managed APIs, reducing security exposure and eliminating coupling to SAP's internal data model.
  • Centralized governance: SAP administrators retain full control over which data is shared, with whom, and under what conditions.
  • Near-real-time delivery: Delta replication ensures partner platforms work with fresh SAP data without the latency of nightly batch jobs.
  • Bidirectional flow: Writeback support closes the loop between external AI/ML outputs and SAP operational systems.
  • Minimal infrastructure footprint: Beyond the SAP Cloud Connector, no additional on-premises or private cloud infrastructure is required.
  • Standards-based security: Certificate-based authentication and TLS transport align with enterprise security standards.

Use Cases​

  • Analytics on SAP Data: Surface SAP transactional and master data in an external analytics platform without direct database access.

  • AI/ML Feature Engineering: Provide SAP operational data as features for machine learning models hosted outside SAP.

  • Supply Chain Visibility: Replicate SAP purchase orders, inventory, and logistics data to a partner visibility platform in near-real time.

  • Financial Planning: Send SAP actuals to an external planning tool; write back forecast or plan data to SAP for reconciliation.

Security Considerations​

  • All data in transit is encrypted using TLS 1.2+.

  • Certificate-based authentication and TLS transport align with enterprise security standards.

  • Data access is scoped to the minimum required by the partner's registered profile.

  • SAP Cloud Connector enforces outbound-only connectivity, protecting on-premises infrastructure.

  • Writeback operations are subject to additional authorization checks, optionally with user-level attribution (actions written to SAP are recorded against the individual user identity, not a shared service account).

Outlook​

The architecture will continue to evolve as the partnership grows, with further enhancements and innovations over time, including potential capabilities around managed storage and zero-copy access.

This reference architecture document is intended for enterprise architects and integration specialists evaluating or implementing SAP Data Accelerator as a governed data-sharing layer between SAP and partner platforms.