SAP White Paper

SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA®
Extensibility for Customers and Partners
August 2016
© 2015 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents

1. Management Summary 3 5. Extension Lifecycle Management 22

5.1 Lifecycle Management for

2. The Big Picture 4 Side-by-Side Extensibility 22

2.1 Side-by-Side Extensibility and 5.2 Lifecycle Management for Key

In-App Extensibility 5 User Extensibility in the Cloud 22

2.2 Transition to SAP S/4HANA 8 5.3 Lifecycle Management for

Classic and Key User
Extensibility On Premise 23
3. Side-by-Side Extensibility 11

3.1 SAP HANA Cloud Platform 11 6 Appendix: Recommendations 24

3.2 New User Interfaces and 6.1 Current Extensibility Categories 24

Extension Applications 13

4. In-App Extensibility 15

4.1 Key User Extensibility 15

4.1.1 User Interface Extensibility 16

4.1.2 Field Extensibility 16

4.1.3 Table Extensibility 17

4.1.4 Business Logic Extensibility 17

4.1.5 Report Extensibility 19

4.1.6 Forms and E-Mail Template

Extensibility 20

4.2 Classic Extensibility 20

4.3 Release Concept for

APIs (Whitelisting) 21

© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
1. Management Summary
Extensibility covers a broad spectrum of topics
that allows customers and partners to adapt
standard business software to their business
needs. It ranges from business configuration;
layout adaptation of user interface (UI), forms,
and reports; custom fields and logic; integration;
and custom terminology and translation to
customer-specific applications.
Extensibility in the SAP S/4HANA® suite can be
categorized into two main parts: side-by-side
extensibility through SAP HANA® Cloud Platform
and in-app extensibility through built-in
capabilities.
Customers using the side-by-side extensibility
approach can use SAP HANA Cloud Platform
to build completely new UIs based on the SAP
Fiori® user experience or integrate with other
cloud applications from SAP. They can also build
completely new applications and business logic
3 / 25
that natively run on the SAP HANA platform or
that are loosely coupled to the ABAP® program-
ming language back end of SAP S/4HANA.
For both the cloud and on premise, SAP S/4HANA
natively embodies key user in-app extensibility
tools, offering the means to change and adapt
the UI layout and context, create custom fields and
tables, create and extend analytical reports and
forms, and change the business logic by adding
business logic.
In SAP S/4HANA on premise, full flexibility to ABAP
through ABAP in Eclipse (a development platform)
is guaranteed.
This white paper describes the different customer
and partner extensibility features and packaging
options that will be available for the different
deployment options of SAP S/4HANA and explains
how they may be implemented.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
2. The Big Picture
Since enterprises want to achieve competitive
advantage with optimized business processes,
they often rely on customer-specific extensions
of their enterprise software. In most cases,
companies intend to:
•• Extend the functional scope (by adding custom-
specific application logic, creating new business
models, integrating other solutions, and so on)
•• Extend the individual reach (by enabling access
for more internal and external users, offering
mobility solutions, and so on)
Both extension types may occur in parallel.
For example, a call center solution with custom-
specific application logic and UI may be built
on top of a standard enterprise resource plan-
ning (ERP) system, thereby reaching out to a
larger number of employees and subcontractors. Extensions of software as a service (SaaS) face
When implementing software extensions using
a traditional approach, many organizations run
large implementation projects with significant
modifications to the standard enterprise
software. At first, the high degree of flexibility
may be regarded as a benefit. However, during
subsequent phases of the lifecycle of the
extensions, modifications may become pitfalls:
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•• Since business experts usually do not
implement extensions, interaction between
the line of business (LoB) and IT often works
like a waterfall model for large projects (no
interconnected requirements determination
and implementation phase) and thus increases
time to value.
•• Large effort occurs for tests, validations, and
adaptations necessary at every upgrade of
the standard software to a new version due
to (mostly) hidden dependencies between
standard and extensions.
•• The result is slow implementation of require-
ments from the LoB and delay of adoption
of innovations due to the upgrade effort
mentioned above.
even more challenges – for example, implementing
and keeping cost optimization driven by highly
scalable processes of data center operations.
Certainly, if extensions are completely forbidden,
these challenges may not be present. However,
an approach without any extensions would mean
abandoning an important option to create com-
petitive advantage in a specific area – which is
unacceptable for successful companies. In other
words, enterprises will always need a balance
between standardization and differentiation.
For many years, SAP has implemented successful
processes for scalable and cost-efficient exten-
sions in all product versions. This was a major
driver of the large acceptance and adoption of
SAP R/3® software, the SAP ERP application, and
SAP Business Suite software (for example, by us-
ing the SAP NetWeaver® technology platform for
on-premise extensions of SAP Business Suite).
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
Today, this approach is taken to the next level
with SAP S/4HANA: You can apply a tool-based
and platform-based methodology, which is scal-
able for companies ranging from small startups
to large enterprises and which intrinsically avoids
the drawbacks mentioned above by using the
following extensibility qualities:
•• End-to-end tools: Business users, experts, and
implementation consultants can easily apply
changes in their area of responsibility without risk.
•• Pace-layered IT: Custom extensions are loosely
coupled with core business processes; that is,
they need tight data, process, and UI integration,
but the software lifecycle of extensions is
decoupled from stable systems of records.
•• The ecosystem of SAP partners: Customers
get support to apply these principles and to
implement differentiating solutions. In particular,
partners often require a platform as a service
(PaaS) for development, distribution, and
maintenance of their solutions.
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2.1 SIDE-BY-SIDE EXTENSIBILITY AND
IN-APP EXTENSIBILITY
SAP S/4HANA extensibility provides a compre-
hensive set of tools, platforms, and methodologies
to serve the needs of customers and partners
with the qualities outlined above. The following
main scenarios are outlined below and summa-
rized in Figure 1.
1. Side-by-side extensions based on SAP HANA
Cloud Platform: Customers and partners can
learn from the outside and weave external
content into their solutions. SAP HANA Cloud
Platform is the PaaS offering from SAP that
offers the broadest end-to-end capability in
the market (from SAP HANA to SAP Fiori UX)
and access to the broadest set of data sources
(from SAP cloud applications to social data).
For example, customers or partners can
integrate business processes with SAP
SuccessFactors® and SAP Ariba® solutions,
Concur® solutions, or third-party applications.
They can use SAP HANA Cloud Platform ser-
vices (cloud portal, mobile documents, and
so on) for extended reach and scope. It is also
possible to enable an SAP Fiori and mobile
user experience for existing solutions.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
Since SAP HANA Cloud Platform is a full-
fledged development platform, they can even
build completely new solutions with a loose
coupling to SAP back-end systems. SAP
HANA Cloud Platform is designed to be 100%
compliant with open standards (for example,
using open source software from Eclipse
and Apache). When using SAP HANA Cloud
Platform, you will therefore benefit from a
healthy ecosystem of partners that contribute
value to existing solutions and services. With
this scenario, you can establish “best of breed”
for small and large extensions. By definition,
side-by-side extensions are loosely coupled
with core SAP systems and therefore support
a pace-layered IT.
2. In-app extensions are implemented in the
same system (or software stack) as the
enhanced application. We can distinguish
between:
a. Classic extensibility: Customers and
partners can extend and even modify
SAP S/4HANA software with full access
to development tools such as Eclipse or
ABAP Workbench (SE80). This exten­sibility
capability is available only on premise with
SAP S/4HANA.
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b. K
 ey user extensibility: Customers usually
apply many small changes and extensions,
since they want to increase user productivity
or implement adaptations of the application
logic without changing the major parameters
of the respective business processes. In
other words, these extensions add value to
SAP applications and continue to rely on the
full context of the standard implementations
with respect to data, process, and UI levels.
Frequent examples are “add custom fields
and tables” or “change/add business logic
(rules, code snippets, and so on).” With
SAP S/4HANA, you can implement in-app
extensions satisfying all extensibility quali-
ties. In particular, end-to-end tools enable
business experts to apply changes without
risk, as the technical complexity is reduced
to a level that corresponds to the business
purpose and is stable and fault tolerant –
similar to standard office applications.
Thanks to a strict tool-based approach,
these extensions are loosely coupled with
core business processes and contribute to
a pace-layered IT. This scenario is applicable
for the on-premise and cloud deployment
options.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

Figure 1: Overview of the Extensibility Capabilities of SAP S/4HANA® for Each Scenario

SAP S/4HANA® Side-by-side extensibility with

SAP HANA® Cloud Platform:
In-app extensibility: Learn from the outside, weave external
Context-aware extensions, focus on tight integration content into your solutions

+ Other cloud solutions

from SAP
Third party

Key user extensibility Extensibility based on SAP HANA Cloud Platform

• Custom fields and tables
• Analytics and forms extensibility
• Change or add business rules and business logic
(cloud ABAP® Web editor)
Classic extensibility
Full access to ABAP (for example, SE80)
• Enable an SAP Fiori® and mobile user experience
• Integrate with other cloud solutions (for example, SAP Ariba
and SAP SuccessFactors solutions) and third-party solutions
• Take advantage of application services for SAP HANA Cloud
Platform (cloud portal, mobile documents, output management,
and so on)
• Use a full-fledged development platform to build extension
applications (Java, SAP HANA native development)

On premise Cloud

Together, in-app and side-by-side extensibility
scenarios offer a successful methodology.
Note that they are complementary approaches
intended for different use cases and should be
considered as enablers to generate competitive
advantage in the market.
Customers immediately benefit from both
scenarios. They can extend their reach and beat
the competition by creating a difference with
optimized business processes, quicker time to
value with faster innovation cycles, and higher
flexibility. Partners also win when they use
SAP S/4HANA extensibility. They can build a
compelling portfolio with the extended scope
and reach of SAP S/4HANA. They achieve a high
degree of flexibility through open standards and
public APIs and benefit from flexible deployment
options and investment protection for existing
partner solutions. This is especially beneficial
since SAP S/4HANA supports a smooth transi-
tion from on-premise to cloud computing. Finally,
partners can approach a large customer base,
since almost all SAP customers create custom-
specific extensions.

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

2.2 TRANSITION TO SAP S/4HANA
Figure 2 shows the transition of a customer
system from the solution as it is today to SAP
S/4HANA on premise and SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
In SAP S/4HANA Cloud, existing extensions have
to be reimplemented, either with the “key user
extensibility” in-app extensibility capabilities
described below or side-by-side using SAP HANA
Cloud Platform. Access to SAP objects is possible
through public APIs only.
In SAP S/4HANA on premise, customers can also
use these capabilities, but they still have the
freedom to create development objects using
the classic development capabilities of the ABAP
platform. The motivation for pushing extensions
into key user extensibility and side-by-side exten-
sibility on SAP HANA Cloud Platform is the reduced
cost of operations for the customer, in particular
the reduced cost of applying SAP software updates
(see also next sections).

Figure 2: Extensibility Capabilities of SAP S/4HANA® in Detail

SAP® Business Suite SAP S/4HANA® In-app extensibility

Classic customer and partner development Cloud

User interface (UI) User interface

UI
Key user extensibility

Side-by-side extensibility on
SAP HANA Cloud Platform
Application
Application
Database (SAP HANA®) APP

Database
Classic extensibility
Extensions Modifications Key user extensibility User interface

Application
On
DB

premise Database (SAP HANA)

Public APIs SAP Customer, partner

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

Customers and partners that have analyzed their

products and software components according
to the above-listed categories and recommenda-
tions should also take the following extensibility
options assessment into consideration.

Figure 3: Extensibility Options Assessment

Freedom and Influence

On
premise Scalability and openness Cloud

Extensibility options Freedom Influence Scalability

Classic in-app (Unicode and SAP HANA®–enabled code,

scope not quarantined) ü û
Key user in-app (“Cloud ABAP” in BAdIs,
custom fields, rules, configuration) ü ü
Side-by-side (SAP HANA Cloud Platform: SAP Fiori®
development, mobile, cloud integration, application services) ü ü
Options can be combined:
• Use in-app extensibility for new fields or tables, business logic (rules, BAdIs), reports, forms, custom code, add-ons
• Develop new extensions with SAP HANA Cloud Platform (for example, enable an SAP Fiori and mobile user experience
or integration with a third party)

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

The assessment shows in general that the free-
dom and expressiveness, and the possibility to
influence the internal process behavior of SAP
S/4HANA, decreases from SAP S/4HANA on
premise (yellow) to SAP S/4HANA Cloud (blue).
The scalability of the extensibility option increases
from SAP S/4HANA on premise (yellow) to SAP
S/4HANA Cloud (blue).
But the ability to influence the internal transac-
tional process behavior of SAP S/4HANA is
limited when using side-by-side extensions. This
is why SAP continues to provide a number of
SAP S/4HANA in-app extensibility options. This
will give customers and partners more choice to
implement world-class solutions by extending
SAP S/4HANA.

SAP S/4HANA side-by-side extensions provide For a detailed list of extensibility categories and
a maximum of freedom and expressiveness and related recommendations on which extensibility
are not limited regarding integration with any capability to use, refer to the section “Appendix:
SAP S/4HANA deployment or in-app extensibility Recommendations.”
option. This is why side-by-side extensibility is
the default and option of choice for customers’
and partners’ SAP S/4HANA extensions.

© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
3. Side-by-Side Extensibility
Side-by-side extensibility with a PaaS approach
based on SAP HANA Cloud Platform has benefits
and is recommended whenever customers and
partners want to:
•• Integrate SAP S/4HANA business processes
with other cloud applications from SAP (for
example, SAP SuccessFactors and SAP Ariba
solutions) and with third-party applications
•• Develop freestyle extension applications with a
high degree of flexibility and using a rich set of
services (for example, cloud portal or mobile
documents)
•• Design and build an SAP Fiori and mobile
user experience for existing solutions
(on-premise or cloud) using a browser-based
tool (SAP Web IDE)
•• Benefit from a separate software lifecycle
(pace-layered IT)
Business-related examples of utilizing the
side-by-side benefits include:
•• Reaching out to external users and consumers
(for example, customer service portal)
•• Enriching standard processes with before and
after steps (for example, customer service)
Note: As of now, triggering in SAP S/4HANA
needs to be done by means of in-app
extensibility
•• Bridging applications between cloud and on
premise
•• Developing new stand-alone cloud apps
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3.1 SAP HANA CLOUD PLATFORM
SAP HANA Cloud Platform is SAP’s in-memory
PaaS offering. It enables customers, partners, and
developers to build, extend, and run next-generation
applications on SAP HANA in the cloud. It can be
used for extensions of cloud and on-premise appli-
cations. With flexible subscription models and
optional services for apps, database, and infra-
structure, SAP HANA Cloud Platform provides
instant access to the full power of SAP HANA.
SAP HANA Cloud Platform comprises infrastruc-
ture services (for example, cloud operations, data
backup, compliance, and service-level agreements),
database services provided by SAP HANA (such
as in-memory analytics, text search, planning,
predictive and stored procedures), and applica-
tion services (for example, cloud portal, security,
document, administration, and development
tools). Powerful integration services are available
with SAP HANA Cloud Platform, integration service.
SAP HANA Cloud Platform is the default choice
for building an extension for any cloud solution
from SAP. Developers can use Java, HTML5, or
native SAP HANA extended application services
combined with the underlying open API layer
and powered by SAP HANA. Below you will find
a complete list of services for SAP HANA Cloud
Platform.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

Figure 4: Services for SAP HANA® Cloud Platform

Develop and run

New On-premise SaaS

applications extensions extensions

Application services

Security Portal Documents Administration Integration Mobile* Tools

Sites and SAP Account Mobile app
Authentication Storage On premise – Eclipse plug-in
Fiori® launchpad management lifecycle
cloud connector
Identity Theming and Members Device
Access control Web IDE
federation branding management notification
Extract,
Role-based Quota transform, load Software
Password storage Versioning Discovery
authorization management development kits
Process
Content catalog Repository and Application integration Offline Open Data
Policies Marketplace
for widgets folder management management Protocol
Destination
management Settings exchange
Single sign-on App integration Metadata Monitoring

Social sign-on Templates Encryption Authorizations Usage analysis

Database (DB) services – SAP HANA

Core DB Stored Function Full text Text Business

Data models Planning Predictive Spatial
services procedures libraries search analytics rules

Infrastructure services – at SAP data centers

Certified operations | Advanced network security | Service-level agreement 99.9% | Data backup | Compliance | Integrity | Confidentiality

*Currently in ramp-up

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
3.2  EW USER INTERFACES AND
N toolkit for HTML5 (SAPUI5) and SAP Fiori
EXTENSION APPLICATIONS
There are two main use cases in SAP S/4HANA
where the SAP HANA Cloud Platform will be used
as an extension platform.
1. New and adopted user interfaces
Often, customers and partners need to do
significant structural adaptations to SAP-
delivered SAP Fiori user interfaces, or they
may even want to create completely new user
interfaces on top of the released open APIs.
Another important use case is custom- or
partner-specific UI theming by use of the UI
theme designer. SAP HANA Cloud Platform
provides the relevant environment and tools
for these use cases.
2. Extension applications
In most cases, net-new business processes and
scenarios cannot be addressed with in-app
extensibility. Side-by-side extension applica-
tions are a means to allow the highest possible
extension flexibility. In general, extension appli-
cations on SAP HANA Cloud Platform consist
of static resources and a connection to a back-
end system using Representational State Trans-
fer (REST)–based and Simple Object Access
Protocol (SOAP)–based Web services (on
premise and on demand). The UI development
13 / 25
apps with a data connection to an Open Data
Protocol (OData) service exposed by the
back-end system of SAP S/4HANA Cloud are
examples here. To use the full business func-
tionality coming with SAP S/4HANA, selected
traditional APIs such as business application
programming interfaces (BAPIs) and inter-
mediate documents (IDocs) will be exposed
as well. The set of available APIs depends on
the SAP S/4HANA deployment options and
the activated scope. SAP S/4HANA on premise
will provide the broadest scope, which is close
to the existing SAP ERP Central Component
(SAP ECC) scope. SAP S/4HANA Cloud will
provide an adapted scope.
As of now (Q3/2016), partners or customers can
use SAP HANA Cloud Platform as an extension
platform for both on premise and the cloud.
SAP S/4HANA integrates with SAP HANA Cloud
Platform through the SAP HANA cloud connector
that is already preconfigured. Also, SAP Gateway
technology, used to expose OData services to
SAP HANA Cloud Platform, is already installed
and preconfigured in SAP S/4HANA. For complex
landscapes, SAP HANA Cloud Platform, integration
service, offers a hub-based approach for integra-
tion of SAP and non-SAP solutions.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
The general process of extending SAP S/4HANA
with extensions built on SAP HANA Cloud Platform
is as follows:
1. Rapidly build a modern and mobile UI (such
as SAP Fiori, HTML5 based) on SAP HANA
Cloud Platform based on the released SAP
S/4HANA services (and optionally through
extended in-app capabilities, for example,
build custom OData services in ABAP)
2. (Optional) Enhance the solution with
advanced mobile capabilities (SAP HANA
Cloud Platform, mobile services) or by provid-
ing them through a portal site (cloud portal)
3. (Optional) Build new application logic on SAP
HANA Cloud Platform (SAP HANA extended
application services, Java) using application
services for SAP HANA Cloud Platform
4. (Optional) Integrate with other SAP and
non-SAP solutions through SAP HANA Cloud
Platform, integration services
5. (Optional, recommended) Establish single
sign-on and reuse users and roles from an
existing identity provider
6. Roll out the newly created or enhanced
functionality to the users – to any device
anywhere
SAP HANA Cloud Platform provides a set
of design time tools to support an efficient
development process:
1. SAP HANA Cloud Platform cockpit
The SAP HANA Cloud Platform cockpit is
the central Web front end for managing all
activities associated with an account and for
accessing key information about extension
applications (HTML5, Java, and SAP HANA
extended application services).
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2. SAP Web IDE (Integrated Development
Environment)
SAP Web IDE is a Web-based development tool
designed to support the end-to-end lifecycle
for SAP Fiori and SAPUI5 applications. It com-
prises prototyping, development, packaging,
deployment, and customer extensions for
SAPUI5 applications (including SAP Fiori
apps). It provides standard Web development
tools such as code editors, wizards, project
persistence, and WYSIWYG tooling that are
optimized for building responsive SAP Fiori
apps with SAPUI5 (including, for example,
code completion).
SAP Web IDE can be used in SAP S/4HANA
as a development environment to extend SAP
Fiori apps (for example, to extend controllers,
extend or replace views, replace services, add
new views to existing projects, implement
extension points) and also to build custom
SAP Fiori apps.
This environment requires no additional installation
and provides improved developer productivity
by offering highly efficient development tools,
end-to-end application lifecycle support, and
support for mobile and tablets in one tool.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
4. In-App Extensibility
As stated before, an extension can either be
implemented in the same system as the enhanced
application (in-app extensibility), or it can be built
on a separate extension platform (side-by-side
extensibility). Both variants are valid and have
their use cases, which are reflected in the offer-
ings of most cloud vendors.
The benefits of in-app extensibility are:
•• Better performance (no latency, no data
transfer to a side-by-side system)
•• Direct utilization of SAP HANA features
(for example, core data service views)
•• Integration into application engines and logic,
regardless of their layer, allowing use of the full
business scope of these applications within
extensions
Business-related examples utilizing these
benefits include:
•• Any structural enhancements of business data
and related reporting
•• Variants of standard processes and business
logic (for example, microvertical solutions and
localization)
•• Choreography with focus on SAP S/4HANA
data and processes
Figure 5: Features of In-App Extensibility in SAP S/4HANA®
Key user in-app extensibility scenarios
Field extensibility
(custom fields)
Table extensibility
(custom objects, node extensibility)
Business logic extensibility
(code breakouts)
4.1 KEY USER EXTENSIBILITY
As a major way to realize extensibility, key user
extensibility enables business experts from
LoBs, who have no deep technical knowledge, to
implement the most important types of customer
extensions. For this purpose, use-case-specific
tools can be launched directly from the application
UI – the natural working place of key users.
Considering that, the following use cases for SAP
S/4HANA extensibility will be realized with in-app
extensibility for key users. All these use cases can
be implemented by business users, except for
code-based behavioral extensibility.
Key user extensibility capabilities offered to
customers must continue to work after an SAP
software update without manual work. In other
words, SAP software updates do not depend on
adoptions by the customer or partner. Therefore,
all extensibility scenarios depend on the availability
of related released APIs or “anchor points” in the
to-be-extended SAP application. The list of APIs
or anchor points is a work in progress.
UI extensibility
Key user transport
(hide, move, add fields, change labels)
capabilities
Report extensibility, new reports
Forms extensibility, new reports
(print forms and e-mail templates)
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
4.1.1 User Interface Extensibility
In the adaptation mode (also called runtime
authoring), the business user can adapt the
UI layout in a modification-free way:
•• Hide fields in a form, table, or filter
•• Rename labels
•• Move form field or UI block
•• Define new filter and table variants
This applies to transactional SAP Fiori UIs and to
SAP Fiori fact sheets.
Beside these changes, more fields can be added
to the UI layout. They can either be SAP fields
that are not yet part of the UI or custom-specific
fields (see next section).
4.1.2 Field Extensibility
Field extensibility refers to the capability to add
customer-specific fields (custom fields) to a
business context of an application (for example,
a sales order item or a customer address) in a
one-to-one relation.
Directly from the UI adaptation mode, a business
user in SAP S/4HANA may launch the “add field”
functionality. This guides the user into a simple
dialog, where the field properties can be edited
or translated – like data type, label or code list
values, and texts.
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After the field has been defined, all necessary
software artifacts are generated by the extensi-
bility tool: SAP database tables and application
structures are enhanced by using the “DDIC
extension include” concept. Assigned SAP core
data service (CDS) views, SAP Fiori search, and
OData services are extended as well. As the appli-
cations are prepared for this kind of extensibility,
they do consider these extension fields in their
business logic, so the generated fields can be
used directly.
It is also possible to find other artifacts that are
related to the underlying extended business
context (such as more UIs, reports, forms, external
interfaces, processes, and enterprise search) and
to add the previously defined custom field to
these artifacts.
When several applications are part of the same
business process, they can be extended together.
Mapping of the custom fields in processes happens
either automatically or can be defined by the
business user through simple rules.
Note that there are technical constraints for
field extensibility. For example, making standard
SAP tables too broad might slow down the
performance. Also, there is a maximum width
for tables on the database.
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

4.1.3 Table Extensibility Table extensions can be created directly in a key

Table (or node) extensibility denotes the capability
of adding customer-specific fields to a business
context of an application in a 1:1 or 1:n relation.
In contrast to field extensibility, new customer-
specific tables are created in the database. This
is accompanied by a set of API functionalities
supporting create, read, update, delete (CRUD)
services through API classes, CDS views, and
OData services. Applications prepared for table
extensibility integrate the customer-specific
table through these APIs in all relevant layers.
The feature of table extensibility in SAP S/4HANA
will be enhanced step-by-step in the future. Two
types of enhancements are possible.
1. New (stand-alone) custom tables that are
not child tables of SAP tables could be fed
through a UI or data load from other customer
systems. These stand-alone tables might be
used as code lists, for process control, or as
facts or dimensions for analytical purposes.
A further enhancement might be to bundle
several stand-alone custom tables into a
hierarchy, creating a new application with
simple business logic.
2. Custom tables could be used to add fields
to SAP business contexts in a 1:n relation (for
example, hobbies of a customer) or to resolve
the technical constraints of field extensibility
in case of extensions in a 1:1 relation. In this
use case, the custom data behaves like the
SAP standard data (for example, the authori-
zation inherited from the SAP parent), and
custom data is deleted when the parent
is deleted. This use case requires that the
SAP applications are prepared for this kind
of extensibility.
user UI as described above for field extensibility.
4.1.4 Business Logic Extensibility
Beyond UI extensibility, which allows the adapta-
tion of an application’s appearance, and field or
table extensibility, which allow the enhancement
of the data structure of applications, a further
important extensibility capability is required:
enhancement of the behavior of applications
and processes.
Prominent use cases for this capability include
data validation, data calculation (for example,
supplying default values), and mapping of
standard and extension fields within applications
and processes. To make processes more flexible,
custom-specific checks might be offered (for ex-
ample, on approval) or the possibility of removing
process steps or defining additional ones. Addi-
tional examples of use cases are application
domain–specific topics such as tax calculation
or price determination.
Technically, business logic extensibility in SAP
S/4HANA is realized by application-specific code
exits, which can be implemented by customers.

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
4.1.4.1 Code-Based Implementations
As code exit technology (for example, Business
Add-Ins, or BAdIs) is the standard enhancement
option for ABAP, and since major parts of the
SAP S/4HANA core applications are implemented
in ABAP, customers and partners are given the
option to create enhancement implementations
in a lightweight ABAP version running under the
working title “ABAP 4 Cloud.” It is available in
SAP S/4HANA Cloud and in SAP S/4HANA on
premise.
Developers and experienced business users
(including implementation partners) will be
able to provide an implementation for exposed
enhancement options in a simple and safe way
using a Web-based editor. In this Web-based
editor, enhancement options are simple to
discover (by UI, by business context, by purpose)
and understand (self-explanatory field names,
well documented, including code examples). This
also implies that the implementation is clearly
business related (for example, defining formulas
in spreadsheet applications). The Web-based
editor also includes features such as syntax
coloring, syntax check, code completion, element
information, and integrated test support.
To ensure that the system stability needed for
cloud operations is not hampered, the ABAP
feature set is reduced as part of the syntax check.
Only expressions, control and flow statements,
variables, and tables will be available in the
first releases of SAP S/4HANA. Furthermore,
code-based enhancements enable access to:
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•• Inbound and outbound enhancement option
parameters following a global CDS field name
catalog
•• Read access through Open SQL to public CDS
views
•• Calls to cloud-released APIs
•• Calls to math or string libraries
•• Connectivity to SAP HANA Cloud Platform
through the SAP HANA cloud connector
(See also Chapter 3 about side-by-side
extensibility)
The Web-based editor can be used only to imple-
ment enhancement options within SAP applica-
tions or for events and actions on custom tables
(see Section 4.1.3, “Table Extensibility”), not to
develop new applications (the use case of new
extension application development is described
in Chapter 3 of this document).
4.1.4.2 Business-Rule-Based Implementations
Also for business logic extensibility, the business
user should be able to realize as many use cases
as possible. As business users are assumed to
have a different view on code than business
software developers, a rule-based approach is
the method of choice. Technically, the business
rules framework BRF+ will be used to realize
this capability.
In a future version of SAP S/4HANA, rule-based
extensibility will be integrated in the UI adaptation
mode, as described for field extensibility, assisted
by a simple dialog.
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
4.1.5 Report Extensibility
SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides end-user analytical
flexibility. The relevant capabilities address the
typical analytical use cases, from simple lists to
multidimensional reporting, pixel-perfect report-
ing, dashboards, and key performance indicator
(KPI)–based reporting. Analytics is embedded in
the same technical stack as the application and
into the business processes and can be enhanced
directly from the application UI of the productive
system without the need for IT experts. For that,
specific SAP Fiori apps will guide the user through
the entire process, requiring only basic technical
knowledge.
SAP will provide an initial set of extensible analytics
content, which can be extended by customers.
Also, new analytics content can be created. The
following capabilities are supported.
4.1.5.1 Extensibility for Data Sources
Data sources will be implemented using open
CDS views, turning raw data into reportable data
by selecting only those fields from the underlying
database tables that are needed. In addition,
using filters and calculations, generally needed
transformations of the data can be modeled,
facilitating the later use of the data.
Business users at the customer will be able to
create new data sources based on standard
data sources by using them in joins, unions, and
projections and creating additional restricted
(filtered) key figures, calculated measures, and
dimensions within existing data sources. Also, it
is possible to change existing data sources by
adding or removing fields, calculations, or filters.
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4.1.5.2 Extensibility for Queries, the Standard
Settings of Reports and KPIs
Based on a data source, a query, which is also
implemented as a specific type of open CDS
view, will allow further detailing of the list of fields
needed for a certain report. Flexibility allows
business users to create or change key figures,
change field labels, and define filters and layout
variants.
Closely related to this workflow, SAP will also
support the business user in assigning or unas-
signing the query to specific roles or users. Thus,
the end user can launch it in a generic multidi-
mensional reporting app (see next subsection).
As queries are also the basis for KPI reporting,
the business user will find tools to create or
change KPIs.
In particular, the business user will be able to
create new KPIs or change existing ones and
assign them to roles and users. The following
features are supported:
•• Select the key figure in the query that holds the
numbers
•• Set filters
•• Define visualization options (display the KPI as
a number or a chart on the tile)
•• Configure the comparison – for example, of
actuals versus targets
•• Define drill-down behavior (initial drill-down
dimension, chart type for drill-down)
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
4.1.5.3 End Users Personalizing Reports and KPIs
Changes done by the key user will affect all users
of the queries, reports, or KPIs; the changes done
by the end user will be relevant only for this user.
The end user will be able to:
•• Personalize the layout – for example, sequence
of columns, hidden and displayed columns –
and save the personalization in a personal
layout variant
•• Personalize the data selection and save the
personalization in a personal selection variant
•• Add simple column-based calculations
(+, -, *, /)
•• Perform object-based navigation to other
reports and fact sheets or transactions
Similarly, for KPIs the end user will be able to:
•• Change the chart type in the drill-down
•• Define own filter settings for the KPI
•• Add a tile showing the result of the applied filter
settings on the home page
4.1.6 Forms and E-Mail Template Extensibility
Print forms will be maintained through the Adobe
LiveCycle Designer. They will be based on OData
services, which might be extended in case of field
or table extensions according to the user’s
choice. Checkmarking a print form assigned to
an extended business context in the key user
extensibility tool will make the extension field
available in the field catalog of the corresponding
form. A forward navigation to the corresponding
editor will open the administration screen for
form templates, which in turn will allow the Adobe
LiveCycle Designer to be launched.
20 / 25
In addition, a key user will be able to create new
print forms that may be:
•• Based on an existing data source (OData
service)
•• Based on an extended OData service, using
existing fields and associations from published
CDS views
•• Based on a new data source (OData service)
The same applies for e-mail template extensibility,
only these templates are not bound against
OData services but against CDS views.
4.2 CLASSIC EXTENSIBILITY
For many years, customers and partners have
extended and modified SAP Business Suite soft-
ware. This kind of extensibility is called “classic”
extensibility in this paper. In SAP S/4HANA on
premise, customers and partners still have full
access to classic extensibility using development
tools such as Eclipse or ABAP Workbench (SE80).
Modifications to SAP S/4HANA objects and
the use of all SAP S/4HANA objects (besides
“quarantined” objects) are allowed. “Quarantined”
means existing but deprecated and not directly
accessible.
Thus, this extensibility option combines a maxi-
mum of freedom and unlimited expressiveness
with the possibility of influencing SAP S/4HANA’s
process behavior. But the scalability, especially
with respect to cloud operations, is very limited.
When modifications or the use of ABAP objects
that are not on the white list exist, the deployment
of classic extensions is limited to SAP S/4HANA
on premise.
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

4.3  ELEASE CONCEPT FOR APIS

R In the first shipments of SAP S/4HANA, a limited
(WHITELISTING)
For API access to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the
following restriction applies: Only cloud-released
APIs are accessible – an approach called whitelist-
ing. This rule applies to both in-app extensibility
(for example, implementable code breakouts for
business logic extensibility and APIs available for
their custom implementations) and to API access
from outside (for example, by side-by-side exten-
sions or third-party systems based on SAP HANA
Cloud Platform).
It is essential to follow this whitelist approach
to ensure the system’s integrity (especially
during upgrades), to decrease operation cost
and incidents, and to speed up innovation
delivery to customers.
The following types of APIs are available for in-app customers and partners) is:
extensions: BAdIs for code breakouts, ABAP classes, •• Support SAP standard public APIs for at least
CDS views, and function modules such as BAPIs.
For access from outside (for example, for
side-by-side extensions based on SAP HANA
Cloud Platform), the following types of APIs
can be whitelisted:
•• Service-oriented architecture (SOA) services,
created manually or generated from BAPIs
or other stable remote function modules
•• Manually created OData services
Note: UI-oriented OData services are not planned
for whitelisting, as they do not have the needed
stability due to their UI-related nature. Instead
SAP recommends building custom OData ser-
vices in ABAP.
•• OData services generated from stable APIs –
for example, CDS views of virtual data models
number of APIs will be available as white­listed.
In order to react to customer and partner needs,
SAP will follow an agile release approach. Cus-
tomers and partners can request release of APIs
from SAP.
The requests will be processed within a short time,
and when the requested APIs can be released,
the enhanced whitelisting containing these APIs
will be delivered through the biweekly patches.
Note: SAP is in the process of deciding on an API
provisioning process, where customers and part-
ners can request a public API from SAP, or where
partners can provide a partner-specific API as a
partner add-on. The extent to which SAP standard
public APIs will be supported by SAP in SAP
S/4HANA should be published in the SAP Release
Strategy. The current proposal (in discussion with
two years.
•• If a new SAP standard public API is created
to replace the old one, the old one should be
supported for at least one new release.
•• The same rules should apply as well for partner
APIs.
•• The partner needs to react to the deprecation
of an SAP standard public API within one SAP
release.
•• If no new add-on version is provided by the
partner that has to react to an SAP standard
public API’s deprecation, the add-on content
(table data, configuration content) is exported
and the add-on is revoked or deleted during the
upgrade after the deprecation period.

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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
5. Extension Lifecycle Management
Currently, SAP plans a yearly upgrade of SAP
S/4HANA on premise and a quarterly upgrade
of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, with biweekly patches.
This preliminary plan can change in the future
for both in one or the other direction.
All customer and partner extensions that are built
by using key user extensibility and side-by-side
extensibility are expected to run after each upgrade
without customer or partner preupgrade activity.
All customer and partner extensions that are built
by using classic extensibility have to be tested and
maybe adapted by the customer or partner on
their own system of SAP S/4HANA on premise.
Especially in the first releases of SAP S/4HANA
Cloud, customers and partners will require help
from the cloud service center at SAP for different
SAP S/4HANA extensibility-related activities,
such as whitelisting dedicated APIs, connecting
SAP HANA Cloud Platform accounts with SAP
S/4HANA systems, or extending SAP Fiori UIs.
It is expected that over time, more and more of
these SAP S/4HANA extensibility-related activities
will be automated or available as self-service for
customers and partners.
5.1  IFECYCLE MANAGEMENT FOR
L USER EXTENSIBILITY IN THE CLOUD
SIDE-BY-SIDE EXTENSIBILITY
For individual customer side-by-side extensions,
a packaging and publishing process has already
been established. The same is true for partners
joining through the SAP PartnerEdge® program
to package and publish their commercial side-
by-side extension offerings on the SAP HANA
Marketplace site.
22 / 25
Deployment of side-by-side extensions is done
either by the customer (for customer-specific
extensions) or through the cloud operations center
at SAP (for commercial partner extensions).
Each customer-specific, side-by-side extension
runs as a cloud application in its own virtual
machine on a customer’s own SAP HANA Cloud
Platform account. By using the SAP HANA Cloud
Platform cockpit, customers can see which of
their cloud applications require support.
An alternative scenario is available for OEM
partners that provide partner side-by-side
extensions running in their own virtual machine
on a partner’s SAP HANA Cloud Platform account
to which multiple customers are subscribed.
By using the SAP HANA Cloud Platform cockpit,
partners can see which of their cloud applications
require support.
Using the SAP Application Interface Framework
tool to provide a similar mechanism for customer
and partner SAP S/4HANA in-app extensions is
currently in discussion at SAP.
5.2  IFECYCLE MANAGEMENT FOR KEY
L
For business-critical applications, extensions are
typically created and tested before the extension
is active for all users in the production environment.
Here we distinguish between SAP S/4HANA Cloud
and SAP S/4HANA on premise.
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
In a cloud environment, three core principles
are crucial for extensibility objects:
1. All extensibility capabilities offered to
customers must continue to work after an
SAP software update without manual work;
this implies that SAP software updates do
not depend on adoptions by the customer.
2. Extensibility objects must never block an
SAP software update.
3. The transport of extensibility objects from
the test to the production system is performed
by the key user without interaction with
the service provider and outside of the
maintenance window of the service provider.
To support these core principles, the custom
artifacts must comply with the following principles:
1. Custom artifacts must be technically
modification free; they are created as an
own object that refers to the base object.
2. Custom artifacts must be technically clash free.
Extensions must not clash with parts of the
core objects that are added later on. Further
on, extensions of different extending parties
must not clash. This requirement is fulfilled by
applying a unique namespace that is consid-
ered in every layer of the architecture. To sup-
port extensions of different extending parties
(partners, customers), namespaces require a
“layering.” (Note: different extending parties
are not in scope for 2016).
3. Custom artifacts use released, stable SAP
extension points and APIs only. This has to
be enforced by checks on the customer side.
On the SAP side, checks must prevent incom-
patible changes to objects that are marked
as extensible and have been delivered once.
A convenient deprecation mechanism must
be available.
23 / 25
4. To avoid interference, separate transport
channels for SAP software updates and
custom transports are required.
In SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the lifecycle management
will work as follows. In the test environment, a key
user performs a key user change in a “sandbox
environment.” On “publish,” the changes are acti-
vated for other users (all or only selected; this
depends on roles). After testing (maybe in combi-
nation with other changes), the key user can trans-
port the changes to the production environment.
The transport application UI that is provided to
the key user will be “in key user language.” The
key user can pick custom artifacts for transport
that he or she knows of (no “technical” artifacts),
and corresponding transport logs and error
notification will add meaningful information. If
technical errors occur, they result in an incident
for the service provider. The transport channel
for transports of extensions is separated from
the transport channels for SAP software updates
to avoid interference between transports.
5.3  IFECYCLE MANAGEMENT FOR
L
CLASSIC AND KEY USER EXTENSIBILITY
ON PREMISE
In the on-premise environment, customers have
much greater freedom for development and for
setting up the system landscape and quality assur-
ance processes. As a consequence, customers
will manage transports for key user extensibility
and classic extensibility with traditional transport
tools (correction and transport system).
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SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016
6 Appendix: Recommendations
6.1 CURRENT EXTENSIBILITY CATEGORIES
After the overview of the various extensibility
capabilities of SAP S/4HANA, the following
recommendations provide guidance for the given
extension goals. The majority of add-on software
products and software components that currently
apply to SAP Business Suite can be segmented
into several categories. SAP recommends that our
customers and partners analyze their products
or deployed software components according to
these categories if they plan to:
1. Start a transformation process of their existing
SAP Business Suite developments toward
SAP S/4HANA extensions
2. Implement net-new SAP S/4HANA extensions
24 / 25
The following extensibility categories represent
existing partner products that are currently
shipped as add-ons to SAP Business Suite, either
under the SAP brand or a partner’s brand to many
different customers. Most partner products
span across these categories. We recommend
that partners analyze their existing products to
determine which parts fall into which category.
SAP expects that these categories will continue
to be valid for SAP S/4HANA. The table below
gives transformation recommendations for SAP
Business Suite add-ons for SAP S/4HANA and
net-new SAP S/4HANA extensions.
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.
SAP S/4HANA | Extensibility for Customers and Partners | August 2016

Category Details R
New business • Add specific terminology, extend existing or add new business objects and I
(for example, application logic on the same database
industry) • Add search or selection parameters, variants I
• Fill gaps in the business process, rearrange steps, or create new process steps I
• Enable business-to-business (B2B) protocol and new APIs with focus on I
pre- and postprocess variants and integration
• Add a new business process S
• Add calculation and process engines S
• Integrate with full stand-alone partner applications with own database S
Analytics • Perform in-app analytics (default) I
• Write back a small amount of results (insights) to trigger follow-up actions I
• Read (replicate) a massive amount of master and flow data from multiple sources S
• Conduct specific data collection and aggregation on BI software and SAP HANA® S
• Perform complex analytics, reporting, simulation, forecasting (for example, S
for integrated business planning, fraud detection, and governance, risk, and
compliance)
Globalization • Country-specific aggregation, validation, and calculation; forms and reports I
and localization • Language-specific content, UI flow adaptations, new fields I
Content • Complex business content (customizing, business data) I
User productivity • Dedicated and strong single-user focus with no to low training I
• Encapsulation of standard functionality to hide complexity I
External facing • Same as user productivity but with a dedicated and strong multiuser focus S
and collaboration • Specific functionality for external users and systems such as vendors (B2B) S
and customers’ customers (business to consumer)
• Integration of social networks such as SAP® Jam™ and LinkedIn S
Business • Business specific subscriptions and event filtering S
integration • Bulk and batch processing I
Complements • Some SAP software products (for example, financial services and SAP Hybris® I
solutions) provide only templates that have to be complemented by partner
products or individually by customers. Examples include production planning
in the SAP ERP and SAP Policy Management applications, SAP Bank Analyzer
set of applications, and SAP Insurance Analyzer analytic applications
Technological • Deep technological integration on the foundation or framework level S
integration (archiving, document services, and so on)
• Shared objects (for example, documents) integrated in many apps; I
adaptation through configuration
Partner cloud • Integration with the partner cloud and its cloud services – for example, mailings, S
integration mobile, the Internet of Things

Legend: R = Recommendation for migration having the options; I = in-app; S = side-by-side

Studio SAP | 39525enUS (16/09)

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25 / 25
© 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved.

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