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The 5-Second Explanation:
A data product is a data object (e.g., a CDS view) that has been enriched with business metadata, such as contextual information, ownership, quality information, or usage rules. Through a platform like a data catalog, it is then made easily accessible to business users.
An example:
The CDS view ZCDS_KUNDENUMSATZ already combines the relevant fields from the tables VBAK (which provides revenue data from sales documents) and KNA1 (which provides regional information from customer master data). Only through the addition of a description, ownership, and usage rules does this ultimately become the data product "Customer Revenue by Region – Q3."
Why is this important?
- Self-service use without IT dependency: Data products translate technical structures (e.g., from SAP S/4HANA or SAP Datasphere) into clear, business-relevant information. Example: A sales controller wants to analyze open receivables by customer. Instead of needing to know the SAP table
BSID, they access the data product "Open Customer Items." This includes clear field labels such as "Due Date" or "Invoice Amount" instead of technical field names.
- Discoverability via the data catalog: Well-described data products are centrally cataloged and can be found through search or classification — similar to products in an online shop, just for data. Example: A search for "inventory" in the data catalog returns the data product "Materials Management Inventory Overview" (source: SAP MM), including a description, refresh frequency, and the responsible owner.
- Quality through clear ownership: Every data product typically has a data owner who is responsible for its currency, accuracy, and documentation. This is a key building block of functioning data governance. Example: For the data product "Employee Master Data" (from SAP HR), the HR department takes on the role of data owner and defines who should be contacted in the event of anomalies.
- Good metadata as the foundation: Without technical and business metadata, a data product is neither understandable nor discoverable. Metadata is, so to speak, the "label" that makes a data product usable in the first place. Example: A table containing values from
BSEG,including amounts, document numbers, and date fields without further context, initially means little to a business user. Only the addition of "Open receivables by due date, refreshed daily at 6 a.m., source: SAP FI, owner: Finance department" turns it into a clear, trustworthy data product.
Ready to turn your SAP data into usable, well-documented data products? Theobald Software helps you extract, integrate, and enrich SAP data with the metadata and lineage information it needs. Forming the foundation for trustworthy, easily discoverable data products across your organization.
