SAP Build Extensibility Wizard for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition

[Karthik-Thiru]

Target Group

Anyone interested to know more about extending SAP S/4HANA Cloud using SAP Build

Background

What is Extensibility

When a customer has unique business requirements that are not fully catered by standard SAP S/4HANA then there is a need to extend the system. These extensions can be classified into 2 broad categories:

• On-stack extensibility involves extending SAP S/4HANA directly within the core system using key user tools or ABAP.
• Side-by-side extensibility uses SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) to develop custom applications or integrations outside the core S/4HANA system, ensuring greater flexibility and upgrade safety.

What is SAP Build

SAP Build ( including SAP Build Code) is the default extension development toolset on SAP BTP.

SAP Build Tools under low-code spectrum:

• SAP Build Apps - Create Mobile and Web applications
• SAP Build Process Automation - Automate business processes and workflows
• SAP Build Work Zone - Create Digital Workspaces and business sites

SAP Build Tools under Pro-code spectrum:

SAP Build Code - Use Business Application Studio(BAS) and Cloud Application programming Model(CAP) to create Applications. And lot more.

ABAP Cloud - Use ABAP Cloud on both SAP BTP and SAP S/4HANA. This is added to SAP Build with Teched 2024.

What challenges are we trying to address here

• Not easy to identify the available extension options for a given S/4HANA application directly in the system
• Not easy to determine the right extension points (eg APIs, Events) for a given S/4HANA application
• Not an integrated experience when extending SAP S/4HANA in a side-by-side manner on BTP

 

Introduction

• A new Extensibility wizard is available with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2408 that provides both on-stack and side-by-side extension options consolidated into a single wizard.
• It provides a guided experience to kick start extension creation and enables seamless navigation from SAP S/4HANA to SAP Build.
• The wizard understands which S/4HANA application it has been started from and accordingly filters the extensions points( like API, Events) based on the business context.

This wizard can be accessed from any extensible SAP S/4HANA app as shown below. "Create Extension" option is available under the Me Area (User menu) on the top right.

On clicking the Create Extension option, the Extensibility Wizard opens up displaying the various extension options

Note: Setup steps mentioned next are needed as a prerequisite to be able to see the "Create Extension" option

 

Setup

Summary of the setup steps:

Here is a video explaining every step in detail

SAP Help pages for the setup:

• SAP BTP setup steps - Link
• SAP S/4HANA setup steps - Link

Extension options in the Wizard ( Sep 2024 )

On-stack

Custom Field

Enables addition of new fields in desired business objects. The wizard opens the Custom Field App with the business contexts pre set.

Custom Logic

Enables addition of custom logic via Cloud BAdIs. Here as well the wizard opens the Custom Logic App with the business contexts pre set.

Side-by-Side

Custom Process

Create a Process in SAP Build Process Automation that starts based on an event from SAP S/4HANA. The business context of the starting SAP S/4HANA app is pre set in the wizard to easily identify the relevant events.

A detailed explanation of this process extension option is available in this blog from my colleague.

The extensibility wizard is expected to grow with more extension options in future.

Conclusion

The new SAP Build Extensibility wizard for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition provides a simple guided experience to create extensions both on-stack and side-by-side.

If you have access to an SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition system, follow the setup steps and do explore the Extensibility Wizard !