Understanding the SAP Note 3255746 and its significance

In 2024, SAP limited the use of ODP (Operational Data Processing) framework by third-party applications, therefore, inhibiting the flow of data for SAP customers and clients. 

ODP is one of the most widely used frameworks in the industry and if you are a SAP customer, chances are, your database managers and administrators have used it for extraction with a third-party tool. 

Thanks to its robust capabilities, ODP allows access to multiple data sources and enables seamless data replication via ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) methods. 

With ODP, businesses have been able to connect SAP systems with Non-SAP systems seamlessly using the ODP provider and ODP consumer framework. 

After the SAP Note 3255746 update, there will be consequences of varying order, however, most commonly, your business will lose the ability to leverage ODP framework for extraction.

This means if you are a SAP customer and have been relying on third-party tools like AWS, GCP, Azure or SNP Glue for data extraction, you will not be permitted to do so in the future. 

The note restricts both the choice and type of third-party tool or solution to access and replicate SAP data into external environments. 

Where to go from here

If you are a business using the SAP ecosystem for database management, you have all the right reasons to be concerned.

However, there is no need to stress or panic because there still are viable alternatives and solutions to overcome the new restriction inflicted by SAP. 

Firstly, you must learn about what are the affected source objects and extraction types affected by the new SAP note. 

As per the SAP blog, many popular non-SAP extraction tools and solutions have been affected by the restriction of the ODP support. 

Secondly, you must understand whether or not the SAP Note 3255746 affects your existing database tables or not. 

Only after considering the above two factors, should you proceed with choosing the alternative tool or solution which can offer the same functionality as the ODP framework. 

It is important to note that if you continue to use third-party tools with the ODP framework, you could risk getting banned or losing access to your SAP data. 

While these notes are not to be confused as a legal disclaimer, they are reliable indicators of how SAP can choose to implement changes in its ecosystem of platforms and solutions. 

Ultimately, SAP has the right to govern how their platforms and APIs are used by their customers and they can choose to change or modify it any time without prior notice. 

How to extract SAP data with the right alternative

Now that you have learned about the implications and consequences of the SAP Note 3255746  you might be wondering what are some practical alternatives. 

You can make use of specialized tools like Bryteflow to ensure compliance with the latest SAP regulations and guidelines while still utilizing the ODP framework for data extraction. 

Bryteflow enables secure, scalable and seamless data extraction from SAP systems using ODP and SAP OData. 

This is made possible due to the proprietary SAP connector which allows Bryteflow to easily extract SAP data in real-time and replicate it without writing a single line of code. 

Whether you want to extract small or large volumes of SAP data, Bryteflow supports full data access and connectivity into SAP systems, including the most commonly used sources data lakes, data warehouses and databases. 

All the data is merged and ingested automatically and is ready to be used on the target database for analytics and machine learning purposes. 

Bryteflow offers high throughput without affecting source data in a risk-free, no-code and fully automated environment.