Major sporting events bring people together, spark discussions, and create excitement across organizations. At ZPARTNER, we combine this enthusiasm with modern SAP technology by developing ZOCCER26, our World Cup Prediction App, as a practical showcase for the SAP Business Data Cloud ecosystem.
While participants enjoy predicting match results and competing with colleagues, the application also demonstrates how SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC), SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), and Seamless Planning work together to create a modern planning and analytics experience.
Turning a Football Prediction Game into a Business Showcase
At first glance, ZOCCER26 appears to be a simple prediction game:
- Users predict match results
- Points are automatically awarded based on prediction accuracy
- Rankings are updated in real time
- Dashboards provide insights into participation and leaderboard performance
Behind the scenes, however, the solution leverages the same SAP technologies that organizations use for planning, forecasting, analytics, and decision-making.
This makes ZOCCER26 an ideal demonstration of how SAP’s latest data and planning innovations can support real business scenarios.
Solution Architecture
ZOCCER26 is built on four key SAP components that work seamlessly together.
SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC)
SAP Business Data Cloud serves as the central business data foundation.
BDC enables us to:
- Connect and govern relevant data sources
- Maintain consistent business semantics
- Provide a unified data layer for analytics and planning
- Ensure trusted and governed access to prediction and scoring data
Although the application itself is lightweight, the architecture scales naturally to enterprise planning scenarios across finance, sales, HR, and others.
SAP Datasphere
SAP Datasphere provides the data modeling and transformation layer.
We use Datasphere to:
- Integrate match schedules and official result data
- Calculate scoring logic and ranking metrics
- Create reusable business models for analytics and planning
The semantic modeling capabilities allow us to maintain a clear separation between operational data and business-ready reporting structures.
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)
SAP Analytics Cloud delivers the user experience.
Using SAC, we build:
- User-friendly input forms
- Interactive leaderboards
- Real-time score tracking
- Mobile-friendly visualizations
Because SAC is directly connected to Datasphere, participants immediately see updated rankings once official match results become available.
The project highlights how SAC transforms operational data into engaging and actionable insights.
Seamless Planning in Action
One of the most interesting aspects of ZOCCER26 is the use of Seamless Planning.
While a prediction game may not initially seem like a planning use case, the underlying process closely resembles many enterprise planning workflows.
| ZOCCER26 Prediction Process | Enterprise Planning Process |
|---|---|
| Users submit match predictions | Business users submit forecasts |
| Predictions are aggregated | Plans are consolidated |
| Predictions are compared with actual results | Forecasts are compared with actuals |
| Rankings are recalculated | Variances are analyzed |
| Users update future predictions | Planners update forecasts |
With Seamless Planning, planning inputs and analytical insights remain part of a single integrated experience. Users do not need to switch between different tools, applications, or data models.
This demonstrates SAP’s vision of bringing planning and analytics together on one common foundation.
Key Benefits
Unified Data Foundation
The combination of SAP Business Data Cloud and SAP Datasphere ensures consistent, trusted, and governed data across all reporting and planning activities.
Faster Development
Leveraging SAP’s integrated platform significantly reduces development effort compared to building and maintaining a custom architecture.
Real-Time Insights
Participants can instantly track their leaderboard position and analyze prediction performance throughout the tournament.
A Practical Business Showcase
Although ZOCCER26 is designed as a sports prediction application, it demonstrates capabilities that directly apply to Financial Planning, Sales Forecasting or Workforce Planning.
Conclusion
What starts as a football prediction game becomes a powerful proof of concept for SAP’s next-generation data and planning architecture.
By combining SAP Business Data Cloud, SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, and Seamless Planning, ZPARTNER demonstrates how organizations can build interactive, scalable, and fully integrated business applications.
Whether users are predicting the outcome of a football match or planning next year’s business performance, the challenge remains the same. Turning data into better decisions.
Follow us, more blogs will come within the next weeks:
ZOCCER26 – The seamless planning part, how we input the bets
ZOCCER26 – Architectural Approaches for Business Logic with Seamless Planning
ZOCCER26 – Performance of Composites in SAP Analytics Cloud (Unexpected Surprises)
ZOCCER26 – Real Time Results with API Integration via Datasphere in SAP Analytics Cloud
ZOCCER26 – Our Champion
