United Farmers of Alberta Implements SNP Glue to Replicate SAP Data into Azure Cloud

“SNP Glue handled the replication of our custom-built tables magnificently. Our long-term plans for Glue are to use it whenever and wherever we can.“ Lisa Snow, Project Manager & Manager at UFA Cooperative

6/14/2022

United Farmers of Alberta red barn from above

At a Glance

The Challenge

The company is continually seeking innovative ways to improve its products and services in order to better serve its customers. Owners and customers require self-service analytics with respect to fuel purchases, overall spend and patronage calculation.

After successfully minimizing the database footprint using the SNP OUTBOARD for ERP Archiving solution, UFA faced another challenge: Finding a quicker, easier solution for replicating data to make it available to the cloud-based SAP Business Intelligence system. SNP became aware of the problem and suggested its Glue solution.

The company’s biggest challenge with respect to the data replication project was the custom Z tables where its Cardlock data resided.

The Benefits

100% ABAP means native SAP integration
SAP NetWeaver-certified
Leverages many of the data interfaces SAP provides at the application level

Scalable, future-proofed target agnostic storage
Push or pull data with batch and streaming execution
Application and event-based integration

Virtualization of remote data sources within SAP environment
Enterprise-ready, high-speed real-time/batch execution with advanced CDC

The Solution

SNP Glue was installed and handled UFA’s customizations without problems. With the SNP Glue solution, UFA replicates certain tables every 15 minutes on the delta loads and also performs full nightly loads on other tables. UFA plans to use Glue to replicate SAP data whenever and wherever needed. UFA stated that SNP Glue will be a critical tool in the UFA landscape moving forward. To date, UFA has leveraged SNP Glue on three projects successfully.

Key Facts

Scope

Customized SAP data replication

About United Farmers of Alberta

Headquarters

Alberta, Canada

Revenue

1.8 billion CAD

Industry

Agricultural supply coop

Employees

950

Founded in 1909, United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Limited (UFA) is one of Canada’s largest and most dynamic cooperatives. Over the years, the business has grown from a small-scale, local cooperative into an extensive commercial and retail organization with more than 110,000 active members. A progressive and diversified business, UFA is proud to provide the products, services and solutions its owners and customers need to successfully run its operations. UFA has 35 farm and ranch stores throughout Alberta and more than 100 petroleum agencies. These petroleum agencies constitute the largest Cardlock network in Alberta and offer UFA members and customers round-the-clock access to fuel every day of the year.

Project Type