What technological concept allows for real-time operational reporting on live transactional data?

Core Data Services (CDS) is the technological concept that enables real-time operational reporting on live transactional data within the SAP S/4HANA environment. CDS views allow users to create semantic data models that are accessible for reporting without having to physically replicate data, which is crucial for providing up-to-the-minute insights.

The architecture of SAP S/4HANA, with its in-memory database, facilitates the execution of complex queries on real-time data. CDS leverages this capability, allowing developers to define what data is needed and how it should be aggregated or filtered, thus enhancing performance and enabling real-time analytics.

In contrast, data lakes primarily focus on storing vast amounts of unstructured data, rather than providing optimized reporting on transactional data. ETL processes involve Extract, Transform, Load mechanisms that typically operate on batches of data rather than in real time. Batch processing further emphasizes the bulk processing of data at scheduled intervals, which contrasts with the immediacy and dynamic capabilities that CDS views offer for operational reporting.