When an SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) Intelligent Application is installed, two key foundational steps are executed to ensure its operational readiness. Firstly, there is the connection of SAP Datasphere with SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). This establishes the vital link that allows the intelligent application's analytical models, which reside and are managed within SAP Datasphere, to be consumed and visualized in SAC. SAC serves as the front-end for analytical consumption, enabling users to interact with the insights generated by the intelligent application. Secondly, the installation process involves the replication of data from the business applications to Foundation Services. Foundation Services act as the initial landing zone for raw business data within the BDC architecture. This data replication ensures that the intelligent application has access to the necessary operational data from source systems to perform its functions, whether it involves data processing, enrichment, or feeding machine learning models. These steps are crucial for the intelligent application to ingest, process, and ultimately present valuable business insights.

When an SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) model utilizes a live connection, the data is not stored within SAP Analytics Cloud itself. Instead, the data resides entirely in the source system. This means that SAC directly queries the data from the connected system (e.g., SAP HANA, SAP BW, SAP S/4HANA, or SAP Datasphere) in real-time every time a user interacts with the story or application. Only metadata, such as dimension definitions and measure aggregations, is stored in SAC. This approach offers several significant advantages: it ensures that users always work with the most current data, eliminates the need for data replication, and often addresses data privacy and security concerns by keeping sensitive data within the customer's secure landscape. The "live" nature means that any changes in the source system are immediately reflected in SAC.