SAP S/4HANA Cloud: How Extensive It Really Is?
Extensibility refers to the functionality of an application that allows users to add new capabilities or functionality to their existing ecosystem. One can also compare extensibility with flexibility. Given its nature, the extensibility of an application allows customers and their partners to adapt standard business software as per their business needs.
To understand better, let’s break down extensibility into two major categories:
- In-App Extensibility in the SAR S/4HANA Cloud
- Side-by-Side Extensibility of SAP Cloud Platform
In-App Extensibility of SAP S/4HANA Cloud
This feature allows the user to adopt new application extensions without the requirement of any external tools. A large variety of tasks can be performed using SAP S/4 HANA Cloud tools, which can range from straightforward tasks like hiding some fields for a specific user group to critical tasks like developing some high-end business logic.
Different features of in-app extensibility tools are as follows:
- Change and vary the context and UI layouts
- Develop a completely new user interface
- Create forms and email templates
- Create new and specific CDS Views
- Improve the efficiency of the current business process by creating new business logic
- Develop custom fields and custom business, models
All the in-app extensibility tools are entirely web-based in Accely’s S/4HANA platform. These tools are highly beneficial for individuals who have an excellent understanding of the system itself but not such great technical knowledge. Using the provided in-app extensibility tools help in creating life cycle stable artifacts which do not depend on adoptions by customers but are upgrade-proof.
Side-by-Side Extensibility of SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud’s side concept can also be availed besides in-app extensibilities. In this platform, the users are allowed to make their own custom applications or use pre-existing apps. But the main aim is to develop something which is loosely coupled but seamlessly integrated.
With the side-by-side extensibility of the SAP platform, businesses can now either include new processes in their operation or extend previous processes, combined to operate with SAP S/4HANA Cloud data. Proxy applications, convenience applications, and analytical applications are a few of the extensions that customers are currently implementing.
Different Integration Patterns for Side-by-Side Extensibility
Irrespective of what kind of application the user develops, it has to be appropriately integrated with the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system. Integration consists of multiple levels, namely:
- UI Integration
- Rules & Workflow Integration
- Process Integration
- Events Integration
- Data Integration
The programming model of side-by-side extensibility follows a crucial microservice consuming content from SAP S/4HANA Cloud. The different layers of a custom application consist of the UI layer, the application layer, and the database layer. The application layer connects to the cloud and uses the different content offered by SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
One of the prominent use cases of SBS (side-by-side) extensibility is developing User Interfaces that is engineered over either SAP applications integration or SAP Fiori’s UI platform. The user can develop an entirely new app, besides re-structuring their core operations that can run on the SAP Cloud Platform and the application is loosely coupled to the ABAP platform at the backend of SAP S/4HANA.
How to use In-App Extensibility without any Problems?
The in-app extensibility allows customers to build their extensions on the SAP Cloud Platform based on the released APIs. But they are prone to some problems as the software is always patched and constantly updated on a fixed schedule, and innovations are introduced all the time. However, this can be solved by ensuring decoupling and lifecycle stability as only those extensibilities are accepted, which do not hinder the SAP software updates without any manual steps. Also, custom extensions are loosely coupled so that they can be decoupled when there are requirements for any updates without harming the extensions.
The client is free to develop their applications. However, it is always a wise move to integrate such extensibility with modular SAP applications (such as SAP Concur, SAP Ariba, or SAP App Center) to extend core operations. The benefits of using extensibility are as follows:
- It helps to stand out from the usual crowd of other industries
- Provides a competitive edge that is very hard to beat
- Helps to simplify processes and reduce the requirement for manual labor
Decoupling is a feature that allows only extensions in the SAP S/4HANA core without affecting the upgrades. This decoupling is the main advantage of the presence of both in-app and side-by-side extensibility concepts of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Stable APIs integrate the different stocks throughout the system.
Difference between the On-Premise and Cloud Services
SAP Cloud Platform introduces your business ecosystem to a variety of development tools and extensibilities, adding to the degree of flexibility of your operational approach. On the other hand, having an on-premise version allows you to access both side extensibility and an in-app approach. Interestingly, you can also get complete flexibility over the suggested extensions, created with the help of ABAP code.
Conclusion
Extensibilities are fully supported by the SAP S/4HANA Cloud and On-Premise version. The main benefit of extensibilities is that they allow the user to either develop their applications based on the SAP Cloud Platform or use existing tools.
A significant problem that might occur while making applications is to ensure that they will be adequately unified with the system and get decoupled when any updates or changes in the original software are made to reduce any manual interference. The extensibilities are available as in-app or side-by-side features, which have their use cases. Lastly, with providers like SAP Gold Partner, extensibility is like a matter of minutes, always rely on the best.
