Make Your Data AI Ready with SAP Business Data Cloud: Key Terms Explained

SAP BDC (Business Data Connectivity) is showing up more frequently in strategic discussions, and with it comes a flood of technical jargon. As a business stakeholder, you may find yourself nodding along while silently trying to connect the dots. That’s completely normal—these terms can be complex, and the conversations move fast.

This brief guide is designed to help you cut through the noise. While it doesn’t cover everything, it highlights a few essential terms and concepts in simple, practical language—so you can better understand the context, ask the right questions, and engage with confidence in your next SAP-related conversation

Lets start

Formation : In the context of SAP Business Data Cloud , a Formation is essentially a trusted group of connected tenants that work together as one cohesive unit. Think of it as the foundation that brings together various components like SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, and the SAP BDC cockpit—all operating within the same environment but accessible via slightly different URLs.

For business stakeholders, this means a more streamlined and unified data landscape. Instead of managing data and analytics tools in silos, a formation allows you to organize and govern them as part of a single, integrated platform. The result? Better alignment, easier data access, and more reliable insights across your organization.

SAP Business Data Cloud Cockpit : The SAP Business Data Cloud Cockpit is the central control center of the SAP Business Data Cloud landscape. It serves as the main user interface and starting point for managing, configuring, and exploring your organization’s data environment.

For administrators, it provides a clear overview of the system landscape and tools to manage its setup. For data analysts and data scientists, it’s where you discover and deploy key assets—like pre-delivered Intelligent Applications and Data Products—that support your data and analytics initiatives.

What makes the cockpit especially powerful is its role in enabling innovation. From here, you can install AI-enhanced applications, connect with platforms like SAP Databricks, and extend your data capabilities using machine learning. In short, it’s your launchpad for making data-driven decisions across your organization.

SAP Business Data Cloud Intelligent Applications -One of the standout features of SAP Business Data Cloud is its ability to deliver out-of-the-box business insights—and that’s where Intelligent Applications come in.

These are fully managed, ready-to-deploy solutions designed to provide instant value through automated analytics, prediction, and forecasting. Think of them as pre-packaged, full-stack applications that do the heavy lifting for you. Once installed, they automatically create all the necessary components—data pipelines, integration steps, dashboards, and more—across the SAP ecosystem, from data source to visualization.

What sets Intelligent Applications apart is their simplicity and speed. There’s no need to piece together different tools or build complex data models manually. Everything is included and managed by SAP, making insights available with minimal setup and effort.

While they may remind you of traditional business content in SAP BW/4HANA or SAP Analytics Cloud, Intelligent Applications go further: they are tightly integrated, action-driven, and built to scale across analytics, planning, and advanced AI-powered scenarios—all from within the SAP Business Data Cloud environment.

For business stakeholders, this means faster access to insights, improved decision-making, and reduced reliance on technical teams for routine reporting and forecasting tasks.

Insights Apps : If you’ve been hearing the term “Insight Apps” in SAP conversations, you’re not alone. It’s a term that’s been widely used—but as of mid-May 2025, Insight Apps has been officially deprecated. The correct and current term is now Intelligent Applications.

That said, many professionals still use Insight Apps out of habit, so don’t be surprised if it keeps popping up. Just know that when someone says Insight Apps, they’re referring to the same powerful, out-of-the-box solutions that automate data flows, dashboards, and decision-ready insights—now collectively branded as Intelligent Applications within SAP Business Data Cloud.

The name may have changed, but the value remains the same: faster, smarter, and more actionable analytics for your business.

Data Products : In SAP Business Data Cloud, Data Products represent the new standard for data integration—and they fundamentally change how business data is delivered and consumed.

A Data Product is a curated, ready-to-use data set—either master data or transactional data—that is treated like a real product: it has a clear structure, defined interfaces, ownership, lifecycle management, and documentation. This approach allows business users to access operational data in a secure, reliable, and consistent way, without worrying about the technical complexity behind it.

When an Intelligent Application is installed, it often creates one or more Data Products by pulling in raw business data from source systems, transforming and organizing it during the setup process. All the heavy lifting—data extraction, harmonization, and integration—is handled for you. As a consumer, you simply use the data provided and tailor it to your specific business scenario.

Key things to know about Data Products:

• They are read-only data sets optimized for intensive use.
• They’re created by a producer and consumed by consumers—typically different teams or business units.
• Each Data Product is self-describing, using standardized metadata (via Open Resource Discovery).
• Ownership is decentralized: the teams closest to the operational data define and manage the Data Products.

For business stakeholders, this means greater trust in the data you’re using, faster access to relevant insights, and clear accountability over data quality and structure. In short, Data Products help bridge the gap between IT and business by delivering data that’s both enterprise-grade and business-ready.

Data Product Definition files : Behind every Data Product in SAP Business Data Cloud is a crucial element that makes it discoverable, understandable, and usable: the Data Product Definition File.

Think of this as the instruction manual and blueprint for the Data Product. It contains rich metadata and documentation that describe what the data is, how it’s structured, and how it relates to other Data Products. These files are built using Open Resource Discovery (ORD) standards, ensuring consistency and interoperability.

Stored within Foundation Services, these definition files play a key role in automation. When a specific Data Product is requested, the definition file tells the system exactly how to:

• Extract the right data from the source,
• Apply any necessary transformations,
• And make it available in delta tables for consumption.

For business stakeholders, the benefit is simple but powerful: the data you need becomes easier to find, trust, and use—without requiring deep technical knowledge. Data Product Definition Files make sure the right data is delivered the right way, every time.

Data Package : A Data Package is a bundled collection of related Data Products, grouped together to support a specific business scenario or domain—such as finance, sales, supply chain, or customer insights.

Instead of setting up individual data sets one by one, a Data Package allows you to deploy all the necessary data components in one go. This not only simplifies the process but ensures consistency and alignment across your data landscape.

These packages are activated directly through the SAP Business Data Cloud Cockpit, making them easy to manage and deploy. For business stakeholders, this means faster time-to-insight and a more streamlined way to access all the relevant data needed for a particular use case or initiative.

Open Resource Discovery (ORD) protocol - Open Resource Discovery (ORD) is a standardized way to publish and find metadata about applications and services—think of it as a universal language that helps systems describe themselves clearly and consistently.

In the SAP Business Data Cloud context, ORD is the backbone for creating detailed, discoverable documentation about Data Products and other components. It supports both static information (like documentation) and dynamic details about how systems are configured for each customer.

Because ORD works with many industry standards and protocols, it helps improve automation, integration quality, and the overall efficiency of managing complex data landscapes.

For business stakeholders, this means better transparency and smoother collaboration between teams and technologies—leading to faster, more reliable data-driven decisions

Delta Lake : Delta Lake is an open-source storage technology that powers the efficient management of large data sets within SAP Business Data Cloud. It supports a modern Lakehouse architecture, meaning it bridges the gap between data lakes and data warehouses by combining flexibility with reliability.

Delta Lake enables fast and reliable data operations, such as quick metadata handling and powerful SQL queries directly on files. It also supports important enterprise features like ACID transactions—ensuring data accuracy and consistency even as multiple users access or update data simultaneously.

By using Delta Lake, SAP Business Data Cloud can seamlessly handle both streaming and batch data workflows at scale, giving your organization a robust foundation to trust for real-time insights and complex analytics.

For business stakeholders, this means data is managed securely, efficiently, and ready to power timely, informed decisions—without the usual headaches of large data processing

Delta lake table : A Delta Lake Table is a specific way SAP Business Data Cloud stores and organizes large amounts of data. Built on the open-source Delta Lake framework, these tables live on the SAP HANA Data Lake Files (HDLF) system.

This setup combines powerful data management features like ACID transactions—which ensure data accuracy and consistency—with scalable metadata handling and support for both streaming and batch data processing. Essentially, it allows the platform to efficiently handle massive volumes of data, even in the multi-terabyte range.

For business stakeholders, this means you benefit from a cost-effective, scalable, and reliable data foundation that supports complex analytics and real-time insights, while making the most of technologies like Apache Spark and SQL-on-files.

Delta Sharing Server : The Delta Sharing Server acts as a secure bridge that enables efficient data sharing between SAP Business Data Cloud and other platforms like Databricks. Think of it as a trusted middleman that manages who can access what data, ensuring that only authorized users and systems get the information they need—safely and seamlessly.

For business stakeholders, this means smoother collaboration across different tools and teams, with confidence that your sensitive data remains protected throughout the sharing process.

Delta sharing protocol : The Delta Sharing Protocol is an open, secure way to share data without the need to physically move or copy it—often called the “zero-copy” concept. This means business teams can access up-to-date data instantly, regardless of the tools or platforms they use.

SAP Business Data Cloud leverages this protocol to enable seamless, governed, and scalable data sharing across different cloud systems and environments. Whether you’re collaborating internally or with external partners, Delta Sharing ensures data is accessed securely and efficiently.

Here’s how it works: when a data consumer requests information, the protocol verifies their identity and permissions, logs the request for transparency, and then delivers exactly the data authorized—directly from the cloud storage in Delta Lake format.

For business stakeholders, this means real-time, trusted data access that supports faster decisions and stronger collaboration—without the complexities of data duplication or transfers.

Datasphere : At the core of SAP Business Data Cloud lies SAP Datasphere, the foundational layer that defines and organizes your data models based on the underlying Data Products. It powers both the pre-delivered Intelligent Applications and customized scenarios—enabling you to extend your data models with advanced capabilities like machine learning and AI.

Beyond data modeling, Datasphere acts as a central hub for managing analytical roles and controlling data access, ensuring that the right business users have access to the right information.

While it’s possible to use SAP Business Data Cloud without SAP Datasphere, doing so means missing out on semantically rich, business-friendly analytic models that make data easier to understand and act upon. Plus, if you want to leverage SAP’s out-of-the-box reporting through Intelligent Applications, including SAP Datasphere in your landscape is a must.

For business stakeholders, Datasphere brings structure, security, and enhanced analytic power to your data environment—helping turn raw data into actionable insights.

SAP Databricks :SAP Databricks is a specialized, SAP-tailored version of the popular Databricks platform integrated into SAP Business Data Cloud. It’s designed to empower data scientists and advanced users with powerful tools for data engineering, AI, and machine learning.

Within SAP BDC, Databricks enables the creation, training, and deployment of complex algorithms and models, helping organizations unlock deeper insights and predictive capabilities. Its tight integration with SAP’s data environment allows seamless sharing and extension of Data Products across teams.

For business stakeholders, SAP Databricks means faster innovation and smarter analytics—leveraging AI and machine learning to drive better decision-making and uncover new business opportunities.

Apache Spark : Apache Spark is an open-source analytics engine designed to handle large-scale data processing quickly and efficiently. It uses in-memory computing and smart query optimizations to accelerate big data workloads.

SAP Business Data Cloud leverages Apache Spark—often in conjunction with SAP Databricks—to power data engineering, machine learning, and advanced business intelligence tasks. This means your organization can process vast amounts of data faster, enabling real-time insights and smarter decision-making.

For business stakeholders, Apache Spark is one of the key technologies working behind the scenes to deliver scalable, high-performance analytics that keep pace with today’s data-driven demands.

SAP Business Data Cloud is a powerful and evolving platform, and understanding its key components will empower you to participate meaningfully in strategic discussions. While this guide covers just the essentials, getting familiar with these terms is a great first step toward bridging the gap between business needs and technical solutions.

As you continue your journey with SAP BDC, stay curious, ask questions, and lean on your technical partners when needed — together, you can unlock the full potential of your data to drive smarter business decisions.

Feel free to connect if you want to dive deeper or share your own experiences with SAP Business Data Cloud.

Here’s to confident conversations and informed decisions ahead!