[2][3] Its primary function as the software running a database server is to store and retrieve data as requested by the applications.

[14] HANA support for SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (BW) was announced in September 2011 for availability by November.

[25] S/4HANA is intended to be a simplified business suite, replacing earlier generation ERP systems.

[27] Rather than versioning, the software utilizes service packs, referred to as Support Package Stacks (SPS), for updates.

This can enable performance improvements for OLAP queries on large datasets and allows greater vertical compression of similar types of data in a single column.

[36][37] In a scale-out environment, HANA can keep volumes of up to a petabyte of data in memory while returning query results in under a second.

However, RAM is still much more expensive than disk space, so the scale-out approach is only feasible for certain time critical use cases.

[38] SAP HANA includes a number of analytic engines for various kinds of data processing.

[39] The Predictive Analytics Library includes native algorithms for calculating common statistical measures in areas such as clustering, classification and time series analysis.

[42] Pre-built algorithms in the graph engine include pattern matching, neighborhood search, single shortest path, and strongly connected components.

Typical usage situations for the Graph Engine include examples like supply chain traceability, fraud detection, and logistics and route planning.

HANA is certified by the Open Geospatial Consortium,[44] and it integrates with ESRI's ArcGIS geographic information system.

[46] Analyses available include identifying entities such as people, dates, places, organizations, requests, problems, and more.

XSA is based on Cloud Foundry architecture and thus supports the notion of “Bring Your Own Language”, allowing developers to develop and deploy applications written in languages and in runtimes other than those XSA implements natively, as well as deploying applications as microservices.

[50] Alternatively, existing hardware components such as storage and network can be used as part of the implementation, an approach which SAP calls "Tailored Data Center Integration (TDI)".

[67] As of March 9, 2017, SAP HANA is available in an Express edition; a streamlined version which can run on laptops and other resource-limited environments.

The license for SAP HANA, express edition is free of charge, even for productive use up to 32 GB of RAM.