Scalable Solutions, Solution Templates, Customer-Specific Solution showing the difference

In this blog I would like to show the differences between Customer-Specific Solutions, Solution Templates and Scalable Solutions from a different view in addition to the blog Scalable Solutions vs Solution Templates by Sandro Schiefner.

Customer-Specific Solution

A business solution that is designed and developed to enhance SAP’s standard on-demand solution for a specific customer.

• you can develop Customer-Specific Solutions in a customer tenant or a partner development tenant for a specific customer. You can use them for a specific customer only
• you can import Items from different Solution Templates into a Customer-Specific Solution

Solution Template

A container that is used to organize items that can be reused in customer-specific solutions.

• you can develop Solution Templates in partner development tenants or in customer test tenants
• you can import Solution Templates into different Customer-Specific Solutions
• you can not use Soution Templates as a productive solution. They serve only as a template for Customer-Specific Solutions

• you can publishe Solution Templates in the SAP Store

Scalable Solution

A business solution that is designed and developed to enhance SAP’s standard on-demand solution. Customers of SAP’s on-demand solution can buy scalable solutions through the SAP Store.

• you can develop Scalable Solutions (AddOns, Lightweights, Mashups, Micro-verticals and Mobile solutions) in a partner development tenant only
• Scalable Solutions are exclusively sold via the SAP Store to multiple customers

Solution categories from older releases

• In earlier releases solution could have been build as “Last Mile” Solutions. Last Mile Solution have been Customer-Specific Solutions which needed to be build as Scalable Solutions because for Customer-Specific Solutions not all features had been available.
  • New solutions should be developed as Customer-Specifc Solutions with or without the usage of Solution Templates.
  • existing Last Mile Solutions can stay as Scalable Solutions or can be re-implemented as Customer-Specifc Solutions
• “Hyprid Solutions” have been Scalable Solutions which required additional backend development.
• “OneOffs” is the old term used for Customer-Specific Solutions.

Summary

With FP40 you can choose between developing Customer-Specifc Solutions or Scalable Solutions for productive use. By developing Solution Templates re-usable solutions can be created and imported into Custoemr-Specific Solutions which you can further enhance. Scalable Solutions and Solution Templates can be published on the SAP Store.

Further technical details you can find in the document Customer-Specific Solution and Tempalte Solution by Thomas Schneider.