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/4 HANA Cloud
- Side by Side Extensibility on the SAP Cloud Platform
In-App extensibility of SAP S/4 HANA 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 S4 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 the SAP S/4 HANA 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 artefacts which do not depend on adoptions by customers but are upgrade proof.
Side-by-Side extensibility of SAP S/4 HANA Cloud:
SAP S/4 HANA 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 to their operation, or extend previous processes, combined to operate with SAP S/4 HANA Cloud data. Proxy applications, convenience applications, 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/4 HANA 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/4 HANA Cloud. The various layers of a custom app consist of the user interface layer, the application layer and the database layer. The application layer connects to the cloud and uses the different content offered by SAP S4 HANA Cloud.
One of the prominent use cases of SBS (side-by-side) extensibility is developing User Interface’s that are 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 S4 HANA.
How to use In-App extensibility without any problems?
The in-app extensibility allows customers to build their extensions on 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 of manual labour
Decoupling is a feature that allows only extensions in the SAP S/4 HANA 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/4 HANA 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 degree of flexibility to your oprational approach. On the other hand, having an on-premise version allows you to access both side extensibility and 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/4 HANA 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.
