SAP BTP: A Cloud ERP Tool kit

SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform) was introduced in March 2021 as a replacement and expansion of SAP Cloud Platform.

It is a modular software platform-as-a-service which allows businesses and organisations to integrate and extend SAP and non-SAP ERP systems in the cloud and on-premise. SAP BTP is the technological basis which, in combination with S/4HANA Cloud, serves as a foundation for Rise with SAP: SAP’s flagship business transformation-as-a-service, which simplifies digital transformation and cloud service adoption.

Every business and organisation is different: has different business models, contexts and criteria for success. SAP’s proposition with Rise with SAP is to make it easier for any type of business of any size to transform their business into a cloud-based enterprise.

Because each business has different technological and business requirements of the process of transformation, SAP has provided the BTP cloud platform as a means to cater for the variety of their customer’s needs.

There are four main categories of software services available through SAP BTP: Database and data management, Analytics, Application Development and Integration, and Intelligent Technologies. Products and services within these categories can be explored in the SAP Discovery Centre.

A Business Technology Buffet

Currently the number of services listed is 98, but there are more becoming available every month. As with any software product, this means SAP has to make their potential customers aware of each new software service and introduce each new service’s function within an SAP system. In order to do so SAP has begun to create a monthly video blog showcasing a selection of SAP BTP services.

This week IgniteSAP will be summarising the nine SAP BTP services shared so far, as this provides a valuable set of examples of the varied functionality of SAP BTP services to be found in the four main categories. We hope that this will encourage members of our community of SAP professionals to explore the SAP BTP services further through the SAP Discovery centre, and to keep up to speed with new developments in SAP BTP via the Innobytes video series.

SAP Process Automation: Free Tier Service Plan

One the intelligent technologies available through SAP BTP is SAP Process Automation. It is a software service that allows business to reduce manual and repetitive tasks with RPA, workflow management and AI.

All of this can be achieved using a no-code environment, meaning that non-specialists can build new and bespoke apps with drag and drop tools as new functionality is required in an SAP system. At the same time business processes can be automated in a similar fashion so that as the business is required to adapt to meet changes in the economic environment, the SAP system can be changed and automated to meet the new circumstances, without the need to bring in ABAP specialist coders.

Automation scenarios include: spreadsheet data entry, aggregating data from multiple systems, cross-application workflows, and other business processes like finance, HR, and procurement.

SAP Process Automation now has a free tier plan available through the Business Technology Platform so why not go ahead and experiment with no ongoing commitment?

SAP Integration Suite: Out-of-the-box Tooling

SAP Integration Suite helps businesses to integrate on-premise and cloud-based applications and processes. By using the pre-built content managed by SAP, users can connect and automate their businesses with minimal customisations, leading to confidence in the resulting system and a faster ROI.

SAP Integration suite facilitates the common challenges like integration flows, connections to third-party software and databases, and managing APIs, in such a way that is compliant with SAP’s own integration methodology (the Integration Solution Advisory Methodology: ISA-M), and also provides guided assessments.

By following SAP’s ISA-M the integration benefits from a standardised and proven approach which simplifies the task and accelerates the integration workload.

SAP HANA Cloud Multi-Zone High Availability

The capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud have now been augmented with Multi-Zone High Availability. This provides two availability zones with synchronous replication, meaning that one availability zone is accessed when another fails.

Using synchronous replication in two zones in one region provides autonomous and automatic takeover and re-establishment of replication. This means the database becomes reliable and consistent in any scenario.

New SAP AppGyver UI Components

SAP AppGyver has been created to allow all businesses to have access to no-code app development. Clear and accessible User Interfaces are almost as important as functionality in apps so SAP Appgyver upgraded the styling and theme system in a way that includes support for the SAP Fiori design system. This now means that all apps created with AppGyver now can match the look of the SAP solution which is being extended.

Consistency of style and theme across software solutions leads to ease of use and confidence in the end-user, and so the UI should not be underestimated when designing apps and extensions. The newest components which can be used in any UI design include Multicombo Boxes with an input field for filtering options, progress bars so users can see the processing of tasks, soft tab navigation, and many others.

SAP Cloud Transport Management integrated into SAP Cloud ALM

SAP Cloud Application Lifecycle Management supports the lifecycle of cloud solutions, allowing for full-stack monitoring and management of hybrid landscapes. Operation can be automated to check on detected issues as well as proactively prevent issues occurring with task monitoring, and automatic project tracking and testing.

With the integration of SAP Cloud Transport Management into SAP Cloud ALM users can handle overarching scenarios with change and deployment management, so they have control even when making changes towards production during auditing or other tasks. SAP have said that Cloud ALM customers can also get change management capabilities for SAP BTP content.

New SAP Master Data Integration Adapter

The new SAP Master Data Integration Adapter has been created to consolidate master data across heterogeneous landscapes. With SAP MDI, combined with SAP One Domain Model integration of master data objects across SAP solutions can be established out-of-the-box: reducing the developer workload.

Using the new SAP MDI Adapter, integration developers no longer have to deal with protocol-specific handling that would previously have been necessary for them to implement.

AI Personalised Recommendation Service

Personalisation has now become the industry standard in areas such as e-commerce and e-learning platforms. Customers expect this level of service and for the businesses, there is the added benefit of increased customer interactions, conversions, and brand loyalty.

SAP has now developed a new personalised recommendation service based on a neural network language model. This has been embedded in SAP SuccessFactors Learning, SAP SuccessFactors Career Explorer, SAP Litmos, and Intelligent Selling Services for SAP Commerce Cloud. It is also available on the CPEA and PAYG payment models for SAP BTP

Remote Conversion Using SAP BW Bridge

SAP’s strategic public cloud product for data warehousing, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud is available on SAP Business Technology Platform. Customers of SAP have the ability to move from SAP BW or SAP BW/4HANA to SAP Data Warehouse Cloud in a way that is supported with tools.

Using SAP BW Bridge (part of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud), customers can use their familiarity with SAP BW and also protect their BW investments in the public cloud.

The new feature Remote Conversion supports the process: bringing select data models and flows to SAP BW Bridge, including data from the SAP BW system.

Data Provider Integration in SAP MDG Cloud Edition

Consistent and readily available master data is vitally important to a business. It takes up a lot of time ensuring that this is possible so it is clearly a candidate for automation, but errors in this process can lead to compliance issues.

SAP Master Data Governance (cloud) is a SaaS solution available now on SAP BTP , which allows businesses to instigate an initiative to manage master data with low-entry barriers. SAP has now made it possible to integrate data providers with SAP CDQ to enhance automation of the creation of business partner records with reference data from external sources. This ensures data quality while accelerating master data management processes.

Accelerated Modular Software Innovations from SAP

These nine SAP BTP innovations we have summarised represent a sample of a wide variety of modular software solutions available on the SAP Business Technology Platform, and we can expect the number of these innovations being released to accelerate as the SAP BTP project gathers momentum.

Having run in this incarnation for about 15 months now, the SAP BTP will begin to get more subscribers as the SAP customer base moves from on-premise to cloud provision, and as more customers adopt Rise with SAP. With the increased number of customers, SAP will receive a greater amount of interaction about the performance of the platform and suggestions for useful additions to the services included in SAP BTP.

As a result the IT consultant who is looking to specialise in Rise With SAP or as a developer or even as an end-user of the Business Technology Platform would do well to keep up to speed with the SAP BTP Innobytes monthly video series, and to check in and browse the SAP BTP services catalogue fairly regularly, in case any of these innovations have a direct bearing on their own professional practice.

Are you a SAP consultant? Would you like to find a role in the fast-moving SAP ERP space? If you need to discuss your employment and contractual options with our SAP recruitment experts, get in touch with IgniteSAP.