SAP S/4HANA Connector

Connect to SAP S/4HANA to index ERP data including business partners, sales orders, purchase orders, and master data for AI-powered search.

Overview

The SAP connector allows you to:

• Access OData v2 and v4 services
• Index business partner, customer, and supplier data
• Sync sales and purchasing documents
• Query master data tables (products, cost centers, GL accounts)
• Perform incremental sync based on modification dates
• Enable permission-aware search based on entity-level authorizations

Prerequisites

• SAP S/4HANA system with OData services exposed
• A service user with read access to the required OData entity sets
• Network connectivity between ZenSearch and the SAP system
• API credentials (Basic authentication or OAuth for SAP Cloud)

Authentication

Basic Authentication

Standard username and password against the SAP system:

1. Enter the SAP OData service base URL
2. Provide the SAP username and password
3. Specify the SAP client number (e.g., 100)

OAuth 2.0 (SAP Cloud Platform)

For SAP systems hosted on SAP Business Technology Platform:

1. Register an OAuth client in the SAP BTP cockpit
2. Obtain the client ID, client secret, and token endpoint URL
3. Enter these credentials in ZenSearch

Configuration Reference

Setting	Type	Required	Description
Base URL	string	Yes	SAP OData service endpoint (e.g., https://my-sap.com/sap/opu/odata/sap/)
Service Path	string	No	OData service path (e.g., API_BUSINESS_PARTNER)
OData Version	string	No	Protocol version: v2 or v4 (default: v4)
Auth Type	string	Yes	Authentication method: basic or oauth2
Username	string	Yes*	SAP username (*required for basic auth)
Password	string	Yes*	SAP password (*required for basic auth)
Client ID	string	No	OAuth client ID (for oauth2 auth)
Client Secret	string	No	OAuth client secret (for oauth2 auth)
Token URL	string	No	OAuth token endpoint (for oauth2 auth)
SAP Client	string	No	SAP client number (e.g., 100)
Language	string	No	SAP language key (e.g., EN)
Entity Sets	array	No	Specific OData entity sets to sync (empty = default set)
Filter	string	No	OData $filter expression for record filtering
Select	array	No	OData $select fields to fetch
Expand	array	No	OData $expand navigation properties to include
Modified After	string	No	ISO 8601 datetime — only sync records modified after this date
Include Permissions	boolean	No	Sync entity-level permissions for permission-aware search
Page Size	integer	No	Records per page (default: 1,000; max: 5,000)
Max Records	integer	No	Maximum records per entity set (default: 100,000; 0 = unlimited)

Setup Steps

1. Add Connector: Navigate to Knowledge → Add Data Source → SAP S/4HANA
2. Enter Base URL: The OData service endpoint for your SAP system
3. Configure Authentication: Basic auth or OAuth credentials
4. Set SAP Client: Specify the SAP client number
5. Select Entity Sets: Choose which OData entities to index
6. Configure Filters (optional): Add OData filter expressions
7. Test & Create: Verify the connection and save

Common Entity Sets

Entity Set	Module	Content
A_BusinessPartner	Master Data	Customer and vendor master records
A_Customer	Master Data	Customer-specific data
A_Supplier	Master Data	Supplier-specific data
A_SalesOrder	Sales	Sales order headers
A_SalesOrderItem	Sales	Sales order line items
A_PurchaseOrder	Procurement	Purchase order headers
A_PurchaseOrderItem	Procurement	Purchase order line items
A_Product	Master Data	Material master records
A_ProductDescription	Master Data	Material descriptions in multiple languages
A_CostCenter	Finance	Cost center master data
A_GLAccountInChartOfAccounts	Finance	General ledger account definitions

OData Filtering

Use OData $filter expressions to limit which records are synced:

# Sales orders from the last year
CreationDate gt datetime'2025-01-01T00:00:00'

# Business partners in a specific country
Country eq 'US'

# Active customers only
CustomerAccountGroup eq 'KUNA'

Best Practices

1. Start with key entities — Begin with A_BusinessPartner and A_SalesOrder, then expand to other entity sets
2. Use OData v4 when available — v4 offers better filtering, pagination, and data type support
3. Filter by date — Use modified_after for incremental sync to reduce load on the SAP system
4. Use $select to limit fields — Only fetch the properties you need to reduce data transfer
5. Use $expand for related data — Include navigation properties to fetch related entities in a single request
6. Monitor OData rate limits — SAP systems may enforce concurrent request limits; the connector defaults to 20 requests/second
7. Set a language key — Configure language (e.g., EN) to get descriptions in the correct language
8. Coordinate with your SAP Basis team — Ensure the OData services are activated and the service user has appropriate authorizations

Troubleshooting

Connection failed

• Verify the base URL is correct and includes the full OData service path
• Check that the OData service is activated in SAP (transaction /IWFND/MAINT_SERVICE)
• Verify network connectivity between ZenSearch and the SAP system

Authentication error

• Check the username, password, and client number
• Verify the user has authorization for the specified OData services
• For OAuth, confirm the client ID, secret, and token URL are correct

Missing data

• Check that the entity sets are activated in the SAP system
• Verify the user has authorization objects for the requested data
• Check if OData $filter expressions are filtering out expected records

Timeout on large entity sets

• Reduce page_size for entity sets with large records
• Use $filter to limit the scope of the sync
• Set max_records to cap the total volume

OData version mismatch

• Some SAP services only support v2 — check the service definition and switch if needed
• v4 services use different URL patterns and query syntax than v2

Related

• Salesforce
• HubSpot