Key takeaways
- No SAP product shows business users a total data size: for ECC and S/4HANA the basis team reads database size and growth in transaction DB02, and for Business One the database administrator reads it.
- SAP spreads one business document across many tables, so the figure to report is database size in GB, which includes indexes and system data and so runs a little high.
- ECC and S/4HANA have no export button: the basis team or an SAP partner extracts the agreed company codes, modules and years, after you confirm the method and license terms with SAP.
- You don't need to export anything to apply: have your database size in GB, the go-live date and your named-user count ready, and the data vendor anonymizes the records before any AI lab sees them.
01
What is SAP data, and why do AI labs and data vendors buy it?
The short answer
SAP data is the operating record of a company that runs its purchasing, stock, production and accounting in SAP's business software: every purchase order, delivery, production job and financial posting, with the links between them. AI labs (companies that build and train AI models) and data vendors (companies that anonymize business records and package them for those labs) buy a copy because few other sources show how a large company's supply chain runs at that level of detail.
What an SAP system records
SAP is a family of products, not one program. SAP ECC is the older main product, SAP S/4HANA is its newer replacement, and SAP Business One is a smaller version built for growing companies. All of them are ERP systems, which stands for enterprise resource planning: one database that holds a company's day-to-day operations across departments.
- Purchase order
- A written order sent to a supplier, listing what the company will buy and at what price.
- Goods movement
- A record that stock arrived, left a warehouse or moved between locations, so the system always knows what is on hand.
- Production order
- An instruction to make a quantity of a product, which uses up materials and produces finished goods.
- Financial posting
- An entry in the accounts that records the money side of one of those events.
Why linked business documents teach an AI model something
An AI model learns by studying a very large number of examples and finding the patterns in them, and those examples are called training data. SAP links each step of a business process to the one before it through a document flow, so a purchase order can be followed to its delivery, its supplier invoice and its payment. That chain shows a whole process happening in order, which is what is hard to find in public text.
AI labs now want to train AI agents, software that carries out a job step by step, and running purchasing or production is the kind of job an agent could learn. A data vendor can turn anonymized document chains into worked examples that an agent studies like an answer key. The full mechanism is in AI training data: why AI companies want your company's data.
How SAP fits into a dataset
SAP is usually one app among several in a company's dataset, alongside email, documents and customer records. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to. The price covers the whole dataset, not each app on its own, and what your data is worth explains what moves it.
02
Where does SAP show how much data you have?
The short answer
No SAP product gives business users one screen with a total data size. In SAP ECC and S/4HANA, the basis administrator, the technical person who keeps the SAP system running, runs transaction DB02 to read the database's size and growth history. You report that database size in gigabytes (GB).
How to get the size of your SAP database
The steps below produce one size figure, and they are carried out by the people who look after the system. SAP's Basis Corner page on DB02 describes the transaction.
- Start by asking your basis administrator or SAP partner which SAP product, and which database underneath it, the company runs.
- For SAP ECC or S/4HANA, ask the basis team to run transaction DB02, which shows database statistics such as the tablespace size and its growth over time, and to read you the current database size and the growth history.
- For SAP Business One, ask the person who looks after the company's SQL Server or SAP HANA database how large the company's database is.
What your role decides
DB02 is a basis administration transaction, and most business users are not authorized to run it. A finance manager or an operations lead usually can't find the figure alone. With SAP Business One, the database belongs to your IT team or SAP partner.
Why the size overstates your business data
Database size is the figure the basis team can give quickly, and it is the one we ask for because SAP spreads a single business document across many tables. That makes a count of records hard to define and hard to compare. The size also includes indexes, which are lookup structures that speed up searches, and system data, so it is somewhat larger than the business records alone.
03
What should you know about your SAP data before you apply?
The short answer
Have three facts ready: your database size in GB, the years since your SAP system went live and the number of named SAP users. They go into the data manifest, the written summary of which apps hold your records, how many years each covers and roughly how much. Applying shares no data, and you don't need to run an export first.
The size in GB
The unit for SAP is GB, taken from the database size your basis team reads from DB02, or from the database administrator for Business One. Say which SAP product it comes from, since the three behave differently.
The years of history
The years of history run from the go-live date of the SAP system, the day the company began recording real operations in it. If the company moved from an older SAP system, say so, because earlier history may live elsewhere.
The number of seats
Count the named SAP users, meaning the people with their own personal login, not shared accounts or the number of people who open the software now and then.
What you don't need to do first
You don't need to export anything to apply, and you don't need to clean or scrub an export. The data vendor anonymizes the records before anyone else sees them, and nothing moves until a lawyer-reviewed license is signed. The application, the intro call and each later step are laid out in how to sell your company's data.
04
How do you export your full SAP history?
The short answer
SAP has no export button for business users. For SAP ECC and S/4HANA, the basis team or an SAP partner extracts the tables the company has agreed to share, using the tools its license and hosting allow. For SAP Business One on SQL Server, an administrator takes a full database backup.
Step 1: agree the scope first
Before anyone pulls data, decide with your basis team or SAP partner which company codes, modules and years are in scope. A company code is a separate legal entity inside SAP, and a module is an area such as finance, sales or materials. Settling this first keeps the extraction to what the company has agreed to share.
Step 2: extract from SAP ECC or S/4HANA
- The basis team or SAP partner extracts the agreed tables with whatever tools your license and hosting allow.
- Before anyone starts, confirm the extraction method and any license terms with your SAP account team or partner, because both depend on your contract and on where the system is hosted.
Step 3: back up SAP Business One on SQL Server
SAP's Business One Administrator's Guide describes two ways to take a full backup. A full backup is a complete copy of the whole company database at one moment.
- Use the remote support platform for SAP Business One, which can schedule full, differential and transaction log backups to a disk or a network share, and it includes the Business One subdirectories. A differential backup copies what changed since the last full one, and a transaction log backup copies the log of recent changes.
- Or use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. That tool does not copy the Business One subdirectories, so someone has to copy them by hand.
- Keep the backup on a destination disk, because SAP Business One Product Support accepts backups only from destination disks.
How the two kinds of SAP system compare
The diagram puts the same four questions to SAP ECC or S/4HANA and to SAP Business One. In both cases business users have no button, and a technical person runs the size check and the export.
What SAP's export leaves out
A Business One backup holds the whole company database, so it carries every record and not only the ones the company agreed to share. The company can limit what goes to the data vendor to the extracts it approves. For ECC and S/4HANA, only the company codes, modules and years in the agreed scope are extracted. We could not confirm a Business One backup procedure for installations on SAP HANA, so ask your SAP partner what applies there.
Sources: SAP Help Portal, DB02 - Database Performance (Basis Corner) and the SAP Business One Administrator's Guide, backup types. SAP's help pages load only in a browser, so confirm the exact screens with your basis team.
05
What stays private when SAP data is licensed?
The short answer
Only the company codes, modules and years that the company agrees to share are extracted by the basis team, and the data vendor replaces names and other personal details with consistent stand-ins before an AI lab sees anything. The company keeps ownership of its records, and the license covers defined material for a defined use.
You choose what is in scope
The scope is settled before extraction begins, so a company can leave out a subsidiary, a module such as payroll, or years it prefers not to share. Only the agreed extract goes forward.
Names are replaced before a lab sees them
Anonymization means replacing every detail that identifies a person, such as a name or an email address, with a stand-in that is the same every time it appears. In SAP, the details are mainly the names of employees, customers and suppliers on documents. The chain from order to delivery to payment still reads in order, which is what a lab learns from. The method is in how company data is anonymized for AI training.
Ownership and payment
Licensing gives the buyer limited rights to a copy, while the company keeps ownership of the originals. The terms that matter, such as exclusivity, permitted use and deletion, are covered in data licensing. micro1 pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data, usually as a single payment.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can someone in finance find our SAP data size?
Rarely. DB02 belongs to basis administration and most business users have no authorization to open it, so the database size has to come from your basis team or SAP partner.
Does SAP Business One have a backup tool?
Yes. Its remote support platform can run scheduled full, differential and transaction log backups onto a disk or network share. Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio also works, but then the Business One subdirectories must be copied by hand.
Why does the SAP page ask for GB instead of a record count?
A single SAP business document is stored across many tables, so record counts are hard to compare between companies. Database size is one consistent number the basis team can read from DB02, though it includes indexes and system data and so runs a little high.
Is there an export button in SAP ECC or S/4HANA?
No. The basis team or an SAP partner extracts the agreed tables with the tools your license and hosting allow. Confirm the method and any license terms with your SAP account team before anyone pulls data.
Can we choose which parts of SAP get shared?
Yes. You agree the company codes, modules and years with your basis team first, and only that scope is extracted. A full Business One backup contains everything, so the share is limited to the extracts you approve.
Do we need to export SAP before we apply?
No. The application takes about two minutes and shares no data. You only need your database size in GB, your years since go-live and your named-user count for the intro call, and the export comes later, after you sign the license.
What is SAP data worth to AI labs and data vendors?
SAP records are priced as part of a whole dataset rather than on their own. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, and the price depends on the years of history and how completely the records show each job. What your data is worth explains the factors.
Bottom line
Know what is in SAP, then see what it is worth
You don't need to export anything to apply. Apply in two minutes, describe your records on the intro call, and micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, prices the whole dataset and sends an offer 1–2 days later.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures come from micro1's published pages and public reporting as of November 2026.