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SAP Cheat Sheet, Special Edition: SAP TechEd in 2020

dvankempen
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
‎2020 Nov 12 2:03 PM
5,472










Below a cheat sheet covering the most relevant products, services, terms and technologies.

For a guide for the event, see

SAP TechEd in 2020 features eight tracks of today's most relevant tech topics with well over 500 sessions about

  • intelligent suite

  • digital transformation

  • business technology platform

  • cloud platform

  • embedded analytics

  • extensions

  • integrations

  • user experience (UX)

  • customer experience (CX)

  • holistic, seamless, hybrid, 360-degree, state-of-the-art...

  • ... but what does it all mean?


Questions? Please post as comment.

Useful? Give us a like and share on social media.

Thanks!



About SAP TechEd


SAP TechEd is SAP's annual technology education conference for customers and partners.

This year is the 24th edition. The first was held in 1996 in Orlando, Florida, as the SAP Technical Developers Conference during SAPPHIRENOW.

In 2020, the event is virtual and free.



Systems, Applications, and Products


As the world's largest provider of enterprise application software with package solutions for 25 industries and 12 lines-of-business, even for SAP's 100,000+ employees all the different product names, services, technologies, and terminology can be a bit overwhelming at times.

Products from A-Z


Take the list of products on the sap.com corporate website, for example. Impressive enough, but this list provides only a selection.

The total count on SAP Support product availability matrix website comes to 1745 products (today), yet this only covers software for on-premises; products we can actually install.

Discovery Center


Regarding cloud solutions, there is software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS), including serverless. The Discovery Center of the SAP Cloud Platform lists well over 100 services developers can use to build integrations and extensions. Some services, like SAP HANA Cloud for example, cover multiple products and technologies.

Tech Trends


Add to this the technology trends: Digital Transformation, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Internet-of-Things, Cloud Computing, Big Data. Inspiring not only new products and services, but also new strategic directions from time to time: cloud-first, multi-cloud, ...


About the Cheat Sheet


What follows is a personal view inspired by the confusion observed at times on the SAP Community with SAP product and service names, terms, and technologies.

This post is with focus on SAP TechEd in 2020. For the original blog post, see

Opinions are my own.

For the single source of truth on SAP terminology, see the terminology database and glossary.


The Big Picture


360º View


This year, the SAP TechEd tracks align nicely with the SAP's overall product strategy presented at SAPPHIRENOW earlier this year with the Business Technology Platform, Intelligent Suite, Industry Cloud, and Business Network.

SAP TechEd Tracks


Four of the SAP TechEd tracks map directly to the pillars of the Business Technology Platform

  • Analytics

  • Application Development & Integration

  • Database & Data Management

  • Intellligent Technologies


The other four tracks address are

  • Intelligent Suite

  • Customer Experience (CX)

  • Digital Transformation with Intelligent ERP

  • Partner Community



In Focus


When mapped to Products overview on sap.com, the focus of SAP TechEd is clearly on the Business Technology Platform, complemented with ERP and CRM: SAP S/4HANA and SAP CX.


The other line-of-business solutions host their own, SAPPHIRENOW-like, business-focussed events.


Unboxing SAP TechEd


Most of the track names reference concepts and portfolios. Below a brief summary.

Business Technology Platform


The business technology platform (BTP) is an integrated offering (a box) containing four technology portfolios (smaller boxes).

The platform offers users the ability to turn data into business value, compose end-to-end business processes, and build and extend SAP applications quickly.

Do not confuse the business technology platform (box/concept) with the SAP Cloud Platform (SCP). SCP is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) you can subscribe to. You cannot buy, license, or subscribe to business technology platform.

Intelligent Suite


The intelligent suite is a concept (another box).

The intelligent suite is a fully unified, but still modular, sum of all SAP applications, enabling seamless cross-application business processes delivered through consistent and personalized user experiences. 

The intelligent suite is not on the price list but if you buy all or part of the SAP applications you have got an intelligent suite. The intelligent suite is closely related to the intelligent enterprise.

Intelligent Enterprise


The intelligent enterprise is a concept (but this time no box).

SAP's concept of an event-driven, real-time business powered by intelligent applications and platforms. Enterprise data is at the core of a cycle whereby proprietary data assets from internal systems of record are combined with real-time, external data feeds to train intelligent algorithms. By embedding intelligence in core processes, businesses of all sizes will benefit from the the automation of routine tasks and improved decision making driven by advanced analytics. 

Digital Transformation with Intelligent ERP


Intelligent ERP is a synonym of SAP S/4HANA, which most of you will be familiar with.

SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite. The previous generation was SAP ERP and SAP R/3 (R/3 > S/4, you can guess what comes next).

Software contracts may include upgrades, so in case you want to sell a new product as software vendor you will have to call it something else: next generation, evolution, etc.

Launched in 2015, SAP's next-generation business suite runs on the SAP HANA business data platform, is available on-premises and cloud deployments, and is designed with role-based SAP Fiori UX. (...) is the enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite for intelligent enterprise. (...) spans all business functions including finance, human resources, sales, service, procurement, manufacturing, asset management, supply chain, and R&D and acts as the digital core. 

Digital transformation is a technology trend.

the changes associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of society. Digital technologies empower customers and consumers in a way they never could before, transforming their relationship with brands and products. Business need to meet these new challenges or will miss the potential business success to be realized in the digital economy. 

Customer Experience | CRM


Customer Experience, or CX, is another portfolio. Inside we find other portfolios (a box with more boxes inside).

Launched in 2018 as SAP C/4HANA, it is comprised of five cloud solutions portfolios, which includes products and services from earlier acquisitions like Hybris, Callidus Cloud, and Gigya.



On the Origin of Species


The Intelligent Enterprise was originally presented as a framework with intelligent technologies bringing together business technology (digital platform) and business applications (intelligent suite).


Last year, the concept was updated to highlight experience management related to a contemporary  acquisition (Qualtrics).


The Digital Platform evolved into the Business Technology Platform with Intelligent Technologies now as one of the four pillars.

Qualtrics is no longer in the picture, and the big picture now shows the business technology platform as foundation, the intelligent suite and industry cloud on top, wrapped by experience and sustainability management, with the business processes connected by the business network.




DEV Track: Application Development and Integration


Five development sub-tracks about programming models, APIs, and tools addressing extensions and integrations with the SAP Cloud Platform.

This track also includes user experience material. For UX, see also the IIS track.

Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



Additional Information


For the cheat sheet reference, see

For some backgrounds about the products and services of this track, see



DAT Track: Database and Data Management​


Five sub-tracks about SAP HANA, SAP HANA Cloud, SAP HANA Cloud, data lake, SAP HANA cockpit, but also SAP Data Intelligence (see also Intelligent Technologies track) and a little bit of Data Services and SAP Analytics Cloud.

Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



Additional Information


For the cheat sheet reference, see

For some backgrounds about the products and services of this track, see



Track: Analytics


Five sub-tracks about SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP Data Warehouse Cloud covering

  • Business planning

  • SAC | DWC essentials

  • Development and integration​

  • Hybrid data warehousing​


Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



Additional Information


For some backgrounds about the products and services of this track, see

For the cheat sheet reference, see



Track: Intelligent Technologies


Seven (!) sub-tracks covering artificial intelligence, data science, machine learning, internet-of-things, blockchain, robots, and chatbots.

  • SAP Internet of Things

  • SAP Edge Services

  • SAP AI Business Services

  • SAP Conversational AI,

  • SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

  • SAP Data Intelligence (see also DAT track)


Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



Additional Information


For the tech trends, see



IIS Track: Integrated Intelligent Suite


The intelligent suite track made its debut last year at SAP TechEd. This year, the track is fairly eclectic as previously independent tracks have been merged, like user experience (UX) and security tracks.

Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX)


This sub-track is about SAP Fiori, SAPUI5, and related tools and technologies. For UX, see also the DEV track.

SAP Fiori is the design language that brings great user experiences to enterprise applications. Based on user roles and business processes, SAP Fiori simplifies doing business.

Security and Identity Management


This sub-track is about cybercrime, data protection, auditing, and Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions like SAP Access Control, SAP Cloud Identity Access Governance, and SAP Enterprise Threat Detection.

Master Data | Management and Integration


This sub-track is about SAP's integration strategy, the CIO Guide for Integration, SAP Graph, SAP Master Data Governance and Master Data Integration. Also on the agenda are Industry 4.0, end-to-end process blueprints, source-to-pay, recruit to retire, and procurement.

Lifecycle Management


This sub-track is about application lifecycle management (ALM) and addresses hybrid cloud-to-on-premise scenarios, SAP Cloud ALM solution, SAP Solution Manager, and SAP Focused Run. For landscape management, see the DT Track.

Embedded and Cross-product Analytics


This sub-track addresses integrating SAP Analytics Cloud into other SAP solutions. For SAC, see the Analytics track below.



DT Track: Digital Transformation with Intelligent ERP


The focus of the digital transformation track (see Digital Transformation | Tech Trends) is on the business suite SAP S/4HANA (on premises) and SAP S/4HANA Cloud. How to migrate and how to manage hybrid (on-premises and cloud) and cloud-centric landscapes.

Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



Additional Information


For the cheat sheet reference, see

How to move to SAP S/4HANA | How to get to SAP S/4HANA Cloud


These sub-tracks are about SAP S/4HANA on-premises and in the cloud, and the S/4HANA movement.

How to extend, integrate, and embed intelligence into SAP S/4HANA


This sub-tracks concerns adjusting the SAP S/4HANA suite to your needs with integrations to other environments and "customisations" called extensions for cloud-based developments. Embed intelligence references services like SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and SAP Conversational AI.

For the intelligent technologies, see the Intelligent Technologies track. For integrations and extensions, see the DEV track.

How to manage a hybrid SAP solution landscape | How to manage a cloud-centric SAP solution landscape


These sub-tracks cover SAP landscape management in its different facets covering SAP Solution Manager and Focussed Run. For application lifecycle management, see the IIS Track.



CX Track: Customer Experience


The era of customer freedom | Understanding commerce for competitive edge


Two sub-tracks about the SAP Customer Experience suite and the Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Field Service Management, Territory and Quota, Qualtrics XM Platform, and Spartacus.

Session Catalog



Session Recommendations



Additional Information


For the cheat sheet reference, see



Share and Connect


Questions? Please post as comment.

Useful? Give us a like and share on social media.

Thanks!

If you would like to receive updates, connect with me on

For the author page of SAP PRESS, visit








Over the years, for the SAP HANA Academy, SAP’s Partner Innovation Lab, and à titre personnel, I have written a little over 300 posts here for the SAP Community. Some articles only reached a few readers. Others attracted quite a few more.

For your reading pleasure and convenience, here is a curated list of posts which somehow managed to pass the 10k-view mile stone and, as sign of current interest, still tickle the counters each month.

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