SAP S/4HANA Cloud : Extensibility Key Variations in SAP S/4HANA On Premise and Cloud

[taranam]

After working in SAP S/4HANA On premise system I wondered how the things would be different in SAP S/4HANA Cloud.  I had questions like: “Is In-App Extensibility same in both the versions, what additions S/4HANA Cloud offers wrt Extensibility?” Based on my experience I am sharing what I have observed so far with the developers who had worked on one flavor of Extensibility and in future would be working on the second flavor. Please feel free to add your experience /learnings to the below list while working on Extensibility in SAP S/4HANA.

Some of key observations are listed below, these points are only listed wrt Extensibility primarily focusing on In-App Extensibility:

• Starting Point:

First time when I worked on In-App Extensibility and got a requirement to check if the Business context is available for scenario in SAP S/4HANA On Premise system I used to wonder can’t I get all the information in single snapshot? What all Business contexts are available and what all BADI’s are available for Custom logic, What all OData /Forms etc. can be extended. Finding this information in Custom field and Logic app used to be cumbersome task till I found transaction SCFD_REGISTRY, which was the answer to all my queries. Its single stop for all In-App Extensibility information.In SAP S/4HANA Cloud Extensibility Cockpit is the single stop for finding all the information related to availability of Business contexts and what all is available under a Business context.

• Number of Business Contexts

Do I have all the Business contexts that are available On Premise also in SAP S/4HANA Cloud?  -Well of course the answer is No. We have around 250+ Business contexts available in SAP S/4HANA On Premise 1909 FPS00 version and around 190+ Business contexts available in SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2002.

• Number of Fiori apps under In-App Extensibility

Do we have the same Fiori apps for Extensibility in SAP S/4HANA On Premise version and SAP S/4HANA Cloud? - Well, we have additional Fiori apps in SAP S/4HANA Cloud like Extensibility Cockpit, Custom CDS Views (New version in SAP S/4HANA Cloud 2002), Custom Catalog Extensions, Extensibility settings etc. These apps are not available in SAP S/4HANA On Premise system.

• Enabling In-App Extensibility apps

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise we need to activate SICF service /Odata and assign Catalogs/role to the user. Whereas in SAP S/4HANA Cloud we just need to add roles using Fiori app “Maintain Business user” to enable the Extensibility apps for user.

• Connecting with SAP Cloud Platform:

In SAP S/4HANA On premise where we need Cloud Connector set up for connecting with SCP. In SAP S/4HANA Cloud since its HTTPS connection we need Communication arrangement and communication scenario set up to connect with SCP along with Communication user. Refer WebIDE Set up in SAP S/4HANA Cloud

• Classical Extensibility

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise system you can still do classical extensibility whereas in SAP S/4HANA Cloud you can only write Restricted ABAP code in Custom logic (for enhancements available for Business Context) under Custom field and Logic app.

• Setting up Transport Organizer:

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise system you have transaction S_ATO_SETUP for enabling transports for Extensibility and also you can define your custom namespace to be used while creating Extensibility Objects .In SAP S/4HANA Cloud you have the Fiori app Extensibility settings for the same .

•  Business Context : Storage Capacity

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise you don’t have storage capacity wrt Business contexts but in SAP S/4HANA Cloud SAP has restricted addition of custom fields in Business context by having Storage capacity. Storage capacity depends on the number and type of custom field added in Business context using Custom field and Logic app.

• Integration

For exposing /consuming REST APIs in SAP S/4HANA Cloud we need communication arrangement and communication scenario set up where we can directly use available APIs On Premise

• Transport Movement:

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise version you have Fiori apps Configure Software Packages to assign custom package and Register Extensions for Transport for adding Extensibility Objects in Transport. In SAP S/4HANA Cloud you have Fiori apps Export Software collection and Import Collection for the same.

• Validation and Substitution:

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise system we still use the traditional way for Validation and Substitution. But in SAP S/4HANA Cloud SAP has given S/4HANA Cloud enhancement options for validation and substitution of Journal entries. Refer OSS Note 2462725 for more details.

• CDS Views 

Difference between On Premise and On cloud CDS views is very well explained in blog by Rohit Khan ;refer blog.

• Output Management :

In SAP S/4HANA On Premise system you can still use NACE but with S/4HANA Cloud you have to use BRF+ ; use Fiori app "Output Parameter Determination" for the same. And for adding any custom field to be used in rules in SAP S/4HANA Cloud you need to add the custom field using app "Custom field and logic" and you need to enable the UI for Output determination.

• Embedded Analytics :

In Manage "KPI and Reports" fiori app you have additional feature of Stories which is not available currently with On Premise version .Stories are raw data that transforms into powerful visualizations to help you drive business performance and make data-driven decisions about your business. You can use Out of box stories given by SAP / You can create your own stories.

Summary:  I have covered what I have observed so far while working in both the systems in a nutshell. I will update this blogpost further based on any new learning.

I will talk about how I started my journey as developer in SAP S/4HANA Cloud and what was the first baby step I took in  SAP S/4HANA Cloud : In-App Extensibility Starting Point.

Regards

Taranam