Usage scenario / Introduction
In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, extending SAP S/4HANA Cloud to meet unique organizational needs is crucial. SAP Build offers a powerful platform for achieving this, enabling you to create custom applications, automate processes, and integrate data while adhering to clean core principles. This lesson explores how SAP Build facilitates extensibility in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, ensuring agility and innovation without compromising core system stability.
Content
Modern extensibility in SAP S/4HANA Cloud is based on a clear architectural separation between standard functionality and custom extensions. While SAP S/4HANA Cloud delivers predefined business processes, customer-specific requirements are implemented using controlled extensibility mechanisms.
On-Stack Extensibility: This approach is used when functionality must run within the transactional context of SAP S/4HANA Cloud. In the public edition, this model is intentionally restricted to ensure upgrade stability and protect the application core. Two extensibility approaches are available: key user extensibility and developer extensibility. Key user extensibility enables business experts to adapt the system without writing ABAP code and developer extensibility is used when requirements go beyond configuration-level changes.
Side-by-Side Extensibility with SAP Build: When requirements exceed the boundaries of in-app extensibility, side-by-side extensibility becomes relevant. In this model, extensions are developed and deployed on SAP BTP and interact with SAP S/4HANA Cloud through released interfaces. SAP Build serves as the central platform for implementing such extensions.
The Clean Core Paradigm: The clean core paradigm ensures that standard SAP functionality remains isolated from custom developments. Instead of modifying core code, extensions are implemented either through released in-app extension points or externally on SAP BTP. In SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, this separation is technically enforced.
Connectivity Between SAP Build and SAP S/4HANA Cloud: For side-by-side extensibility to function, secure connectivity between SAP Build applications and SAP S/4HANA Cloud must be configured. On SAP BTP, outbound connections are defined using destinations. On the SAP S/4HANA Cloud side, communication is controlled through communication management objects.
Capabilities of SAP Build Apps in Extensibility Scenarios: SAP Build Apps enables the development of user-centric applications that operate independently of the SAP S/4HANA transactional interface. Applications created with SAP Build Apps provide visual UI modeling through drag-and-drop components, define application logic using visual flows, consume backend services through SAP BTP destinations, and run on SAP BTP runtime environments.
The Extensibility Wizard in SAP Build Scenarios: When designing an extension scenario, one of the first architectural questions is where and how the extension should be implemented. To streamline this process, SAP provides the Extensibility Wizard. The Extensibility Wizard supports developers and architects in identifying suitable extension options for a given SAP S/4HANA Cloud application.
Generative AI and Joule in SAP Build: Generative AI capabilities are increasingly embedded in SAP’s development tools. Within SAP Build and SAP S/4HANA Cloud environments, these capabilities are provided through Joule. Joule acts as an AI-assisted companion that supports developers and business users during design and implementation tasks.
Architectural Considerations for AI-Enabled Extensions: When incorporating AI into extensibility scenarios, the same architectural decision criteria apply: Does the logic require transactional consistency inside SAP S/4HANA? Or can it run externally as a side-by-side service? Most AI-driven use cases, such as document analysis or conversational interfaces, are implemented as side-by-side extensions.
SAP Build provides valuable extension capabilities for SAP S/4HANA – including low-code, pro-code, and generative AI – to enhance SAP S/4HANA. Through application development and process automation, organizations using the ERP can create scalable, secure, personalized, and stable extensions with optimized programming models aligned with clean core principles.
Summary
- On-stack extensibility involves adapting the system within SAP S/4HANA Cloud, while side-by-side extensibility uses SAP Build on SAP BTP for decoupled extensions.
- SAP Build provides a central platform for implementing side-by-side extensions, offering tools like SAP Build Apps, SAP Build Process Automation, and SAP Build Work Zone.
- The clean core paradigm ensures that standard SAP functionality remains isolated from custom developments, promoting upgrade stability and reducing maintenance costs.