SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) empowers your business to become more nimble, adaptable and responsive. Getting started with your first SAP BTP project is an exciting journey, but without a clear roadmap, you could encounter a few challenges along the way. With SAP BTP’s capabilities, it’s necessary to have a well-defined blueprint. This guide will walk you through a detailed, actionable plan to build out your first SAP BTP project, with a tangible example along the way.
SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) – a unified cloud platform designed to integrate technologies and solutions – empowers your business to become more nimble, adaptable and responsive. SAP BTP bundles essential capabilities across four pillars – Data and Analytics, Application Development and Automation, Integration, and Artificial Intelligence – all on one platform, ready to unlock data and streamline processes across your entire enterprise.
Getting started with your first SAP BTP project is an exciting journey, but without a clear roadmap, you could encounter a few challenges along the way. With SAP BTP’s capabilities, it’s necessary to have a well-defined blueprint. This guide will walk you through a detailed, actionable plan to build out your first SAP BTP project, with a tangible example along the way.
The example we will use is modernising the proof-of-delivery process of a manufacturing company. The current process – printing delivery notes, posting goods issues, and invoicing simultaneously at the point of dispatch – has led to several problems. Digitising the solution will assist in overcoming these issues.
Our 5-step guide:
These steps are based on our experience from various SAP BTP projects.
Step 1: Define your solution
- Understand the 'why': What business problem are you trying to solve, or what opportunity are you trying to seize?
- Explore possibilities: Sometimes the need isn't immediately obvious. You might have SAP BTP credits to use, or a mandate to introduce AI. Exploration workshops, like those facilitated through the SAP AppHaus network, are invaluable for uncovering and defining high-impact use cases.
- Solidify the business case: Clearly articulate the problem, the proposed solution, and the expected outcomes. This will also enable you to determine the ROI for the project.
Step 2: Choose the right tools
- Evaluate SAP BTP options: SAP BTP offers a vast array of tools. For the proof-of-delivery app, we considered:
- SAP Build process automation: This could potentially work with forms, but the UX for capturing signatures/photos wouldn't be optimal.
- SAP Build Apps (low-code): This offers faster development, pre-built components (like authentication handling), and a suitable mobile UX, making it the preferred choice.
- Pro-code development: Provides maximum flexibility but requires more development effort and time, potentially reinventing wheels already available in low-code tools.
- AI services: While AI can enhance many solutions, it wasn't the primary driver here. It's a powerful tool, but best applied where it adds genuine value, not just for its own sake.
- Balance speed, functionality, and effort: Select the tool that best fits the specific requirements, considering development speed, required features, potential limitations (like the SOAP issue with Build Apps), and available skillsets.
Step 3: Architect the solution
- Map the data flow: Understand how data needs to move between systems (e.g., your S/4HANA system, third-party solutions, BTP services).
- Identify necessary APIs: Leverage the SAP Business Accelerator Hub to find available APIs for your SAP systems (like outbound delivery information or proof-of-delivery updates). Crucially, check if APIs are active (not deprecated) and if they require specific modules you might need to license.
- Anticipate technical hurdles: In one instance, we discovered the required API was a SOAP service, not directly consumable by SAP Build Apps (which prefers OData). This necessitated a workaround – a small Cloud Foundry app to translate the service – highlighting the need for thorough technical vetting.
- Check component availability: Do the tools you plan to use offer the specific functionalities needed? For a proof-of-delivery solution, we confirmed a signature capture component was available within the SAP Build Apps ecosystem.
- Design the user experience (UX): Create wireframes or mockups, even low-fidelity ones, to visualise the user journey and ensure the necessary interface elements are planned for (such as signature pads, photo uploads).
- Finalise the architecture: Document how all the components (Build Apps, Cloud Connector, backend system, any custom elements) will connect and interact.
Step 4: Build the application
- Develop incrementally: Use the chosen tool's capabilities. With SAP Build Apps, this involved:
- setting up BTP authentication
- connecting to the backend SAP system via destinations and Cloud Connector
- designing the user interface using drag-and-drop components
- building the application logic (such as fetching deliveries, handling barcode scans, capturing signatures/photos, updating SAP)
- implementing necessary workarounds (like the Cloud Foundry app for the SOAP service).
- Address nuances: Be prepared for platform-specific details. For instance, we found entity naming conflicts between public and private cloud APIs required us to create separate app versions.
Step 5: Monitor and enhance
- Leverage BTP monitoring tools: Make use of built-in SAP BTP services for:
- Application logs: For developers to troubleshoot errors.
- Activity logs: To understand user behaviour and feature adoption.
- Audit logs: To track data access for security and compliance.
- Gather user feedback: Continuously engage with end-users to identify usability issues or desired improvements.
- Iterate and improve: Don't treat deployment as the end. Plan for enhancements based on monitoring and feedback. Future possibilities for the proof-of-delivery app could include adding GPS location capture or leveraging AI for document information extraction.
A simple, yet integrated, mobile application fundamentally changed the process, moving goods to "Stock in Transit" upon dispatch and triggering invoicing upon verified delivery, resolved core challenges.
Starting your first SAP BTP project is an opportunity to transform your business processes and deliver value. By following these steps – defining the project’s objectives, choosing the right tools, designing a robust architecture, building iteratively, and monitoring post-launch – you can create a blueprint for success.
Take the next steps on your SAP BTP journey: