Creating an S/4 extension app in 60 minutes

[martinstenzig]

When I was invited to host a CAP session as part of Devtoberfest 2023, it rekindled a longstanding question in my mind:

Can I successfully develop and deploy a simple S/4 extension app within a mere 60 minutes?








In pursuit of this goal, I aimed to dispel a couple of prevalent misconceptions:

1. "BTP-based SAP development and deployment takes longer than building an in-stack ABAP app."


2. "SAP app development lacks speed and cost-effectiveness."

As members of the SAP community, we constantly encounter pressing business requirements that demand swift solutions. Our duty is to respond promptly and continually seek ways to maximize our development efficiency.

During the Devtoberfest session titled "Making SAP Extensibility Real in 60 Minutes", I showcase how certain SAP Technology Frameworks, which may be unfamiliar to some, can make a significant impact. These frameworks include:

1. SAP Cloud Application Model


2. SAP Fiori Elements

Business Benefits

So, let me illustrate the practicality of these concepts with a real-world scenario presented to me by my colleagues.

In 2017, we constructed a custom, on-premise, freestyle Fiori application using Fiori 1.0 and Hana 1.0 DB, connected to SAP ECC 6.0. Back then, it consumed roughly 20 days to develop that solution.

Fast forward to today, and we recently recreated the same application using CAP and Fiori Elements, completing it in a mere 5 days. This translates to a staggering 75% reduction in development time!

While this might appear as an exceptional case, at @Rizing, we've observed consistent patterns of substantial effort reduction when leveraging CAP and Fiori Elements. These frameworks offer additional advantages, such as:

• Adherence to the Clean Core principles


• Compliance with standard SAP floor plans and the associated enhancement of user experience


• Enhanced scalability with a finer degree of control.

Resources

• You can reproduce my steps by following the tutorial in this repo: https://github.com/RizInno/cds-customer-stepbystep


• If you are new to SAP's Cloud Application Programming model or need to look something up, go here: https://cap.cloud.sap/docs/


• To get more details on the topic of Fiori Elements, use this link: https://experience.sap.com/fiori-design-web/smart-templates/