Low-Code Application Development for ERP: SAP S/4H...

MaiaraEllwanger · ‎2023 Aug 07

Modern enterprise applications, such as SAP S/4HANA are at the core of the intelligent, sustainable enterprise. That said, making the most of these investments by creating extensions to personalize these systems while protecting core ERP processes, is key to drive accurate, data-driven decision-making. In this article that I co-authored with my colleague Rachael Akalusi, we will focus on low-code app development and share some of the use cases and benefits to extending SAP S/4HANA with SAP Build Apps.

Why extensibility?

To put it simply, today’s businesses need ERP systems that can be customized to cover their specific needs and unique scenarios. This customization or extension of the system is essential to adapt to ever-changing conditions in a volatile market. And adapting is crucial for organizations to stay competitive. To understand more about SAP S/4HANA and extensibility we recommend a detailed article by John Clavijo.

Extensibility of SAP S/4HANA with SAP BTP

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As Sebastian Schroetel explains in his blog post, customers have some options when it comes to extending SAP S/4HANA. SAP BTP comes in when side-by-side extensions are needed (without specific business entities or complex business logic) to help companies scale their business keeping the core clean. SAP Build is the go-to option to extend applications and processes on SAP BTP without code. In his blog post you can find examples on how customers are leveraging low-code with SAP Build for creating SAP S/4HANA extensions.

SAP Build + SAP S/4HANA for Application Development

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When it comes to application development, combining SAP Build Apps with SAP S/4HANA allows developers and non-technical users alike to create enterprise applications to extend their ERP without the need to write any code. We have gathered four examples of common enterprise use cases in different lines of business to showcase how SAP Build Apps can raise your business value and drive strategic outcomes:

Sales – Overcoming sales order challenges with a connected experience: SAP Build Apps presents your business with the opportunity to develop new services and product experiences while reimagining your brand. For example, you can create and deploy applications that facilitate order data entry and send it to an automated approval process.
Logistics – Tracking credit in real time: SAP Build Apps helps fill any gaps by unifying different supply chain processes running on SAP and third-party systems and integrating them with SAP S/4HANA. This approach digitalizes and streamlines tasks – such as credit requests, reason codes, approvals, and credit invoices – and paves the way for low-code development of multilingual capabilities and mobile enablement.
Services – Optimizing maintenance services: With SAP Build Apps, you can intuitively create and implement enterprise-grade applications that consolidate different data sources, simplify data gathering and service order entry, and allow e.g. technicians to complete service tasks via an app.
Procurement – Simplifying the maintenance of purchase information record: Using SAP Build Apps, you can digitalize the procurement process by developing applications that create a flexible and transparent approval process. This can reduce tedious work, increase accuracy, and speed up processing.

In this e-book you can find more details about these and other use cases – feel free to share your examples in the comments! And to answer the question “ok, it sounds good – but why should I go with SAP Build Apps?” let’s go over some of the benefits:

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Source: IDC White Paper, sponsored by SAP: Quantifying the Worldwide Shortage of Full-Time Developers, doc #US49536322, August 2022.

📌Protect your transformation strategy: SAP Build Apps provides the opportunity for business users to innovate by creating new applications while keeping the foundation of the strategy, the SAP S/4HANA core, clean.

📌Optimize your value: Using SAP Build Apps for low-code application development can help create optimized experiences for every role within your company. Regardless of position and experience, employees can develop enterprise apps with drag-and-drop simplicity, connect SAP S/4HANA with SAP and third-party systems, and help ensure collaboration and compliance between IT and the business.

📌Create an integrated landscape of SAP and third-party applications: SAP Build Apps removes the complexity of building enterprise applications. As a result, your business and IT experts can quickly design and personalize enterprise applications visually without writing code, and continuously innovate with access to relevant guided learning.

Enough said, do you want to get started? Check out the links below to activate your SAP Build package and begin creating your first SAP S/4HANA extensions with SAP Build Apps:

All the best,
Maiara Ellwanger, Rachael Akalusi.