SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud is a new-generation cloud-based ERP system that is serving the evolving business needs across industries. Organizations are opting for S/4HANA owing to its SAP clean core and customization-friendly offerings. S/4HANA Cloud offers public and private edition with standard functionalities built for enterprises to plug and play and supercharge their ERP infra. In addition, SAP S/4HANA offers extensibility and customization options for organizations to go beyond the core structure and add functionalities specific to their business needs.
In this blog, we dive deep into the extensibility options, customization and custom development flow that can come handy to organizations looking to add extra features to their current ERP stack.
Why More Companies Are Focusing On Extensibility & Customization?
Extensibility is quietly becoming the new focus for many organizations. The need for custom solutions isn’t a niche anymore it is instead keeping the systems relevant. And in that space, SAP S/4HANA Cloud has grown into a dependable choice.
Every industry runs different regulations, legacy workflows, specialized processes and they rarely fit into a one-size-fits-all cloud model. Meanwhile, the public cloud handles the basics well, still companies require more room to build around what makes them unique. And that’s where extensibility steps in.
Moving on, there also speed. Markets evolve overnight, thus having an ERP you can adapt add a capability here, tweak a workflow there keeps businesses steady when everything else is moving fast.
And simplicity matters too. Customization isn’t about piling on features; it’s about making things work for the way people actually would use the product.
What Does Clean Core Mean In SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud?
Before moving on to extended capabilities, let’s spend a little time to understand the core. Clean core is one of those phrases you’ll hear often in the SAP world and for good reason. It is a framework companies bring into use to keep the S/4HANA system stable, upgrade-friendly, and future-ready.
In simple terms, it means your customizations live outside SAP’s core code. Whenever SAP rolls out updates, which they do quite regularly in the cloud updates your extensions keep working the same and there are no breakages, no scope of post-upgrade chaos.
In the absence of a clean core, every update might pose a vulnerability. Therefore, mixing too much custom code into the foundation would have you end up fixing more things than moving forward. But, if you choose to build extensions the SAP-tested way, through clean APIs, side-by-side development and modern integration tools like BTP and SAP Build, etc., the upgrades become smoother.
Extensibility Options In SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud
Extensibility is what lets SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud do more than the default setup. It lends businesses the flexibility to meet the unique needs of businesses and still stand out.
Another interesting question can be: Why do companies need extensions? Well, simply put, when standard ERP features aren’t enough and in need of custom apps/logic, reports, or workflows extending the ability through SAP S/4HANA extensibilities help to fill the gap.
And clean core principles ensure there’s a clear separation between SAP’s standard functionality and any customizations.
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In-App Extensibility:
It happens inside the core application, both front-end and back-end. It has two main parts:
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Key User Extensibility
This type of extensibility is designed for business users with little or no coding experience, and lets teams make small adjustments themselves.(1) Some of the ways, key-user extensibility can come handy as mentioned in following:
Custom Fields, custom logic(2) and Fiori app adaptation can be used independently for singular changes however, they are helpful in creating full-fledged business solutions when used together. A hypothetical example is as follows:
Let’s say your company needs to track ‘VIP Customer Status’:-
- Custom Field, here allows to add a ‘VIP Status’ checkbox to the customer master data.
- Next up, using Custom logic, we create a rule “IF VIP Status=YES, THEN give automatic 5% discount on all orders.
- Finally, Fiori App lets the screen to display the created field prominently. As in, adding an icon next to all VIP customers or highlighting them.
In short, in-app extensibility empowers business users to shape SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud to their workflows, while keeping the system stable and upgrade-ready. It also allows key-users make changes directly user the Fiori app interface without the need of a developer.
2. Developer Extensibility:
S/4HANA Cloud provides a controlled workspace for building custom applications to ABAP developers making it different from traditional ABAP development in ways that is safer, cleaner, and designed for the cloud.
ABAP Cloud is reimagined from its earlier version of ABAP with improvements like successful upgrades. Instead, developers can work with released objects vetted APIs, tables, and components approved for customization. This way, you’re still coding in ABAP, but in a way that ensures your extensions survive upgrades without breaking.
Supporting this is the RESTFUL ABAP Programming Model (RAP). RAP is a full-stack framework that covers everything from the database layer to the user interface. It’s particularly powerful for building Fiori apps and OData services. You can define your data models and business logic once, and RAP handles the rest reducing the boilerplate and letting you focus on solving real business problems.
Together, ABAP Cloud and RAP provide robust development tools which remains stable in a continuously updated environment, giving developers the flexibility without compromising the system integrity.
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Side-by-Side Extensibility:
Sometimes, in-app tools aren’t enough. That’s where side-by-side extensibility comes in. Instead of changing the S/4HANA Cloud core, one can build standalone applications on the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) that work alongside it.(3)
Think of BTP as a cloud-based playground. In BTP, we can use different programming languages, frameworks, and tools to create apps, workflows, or integrations that are unique to the business. It’s independent from the core system, but fully connected.
APIs form the bridge between the BTP apps and S/4HANA Cloud. They allow the custom applications to read data, trigger processes, or write back information all securely and in a standardized way. This means the extensions can interact with core business data without ever touching the system’s internals.
Event-driven extensions take it further. The apps can respond automatically when S/4HANA events occur for instance, a new sales order, or inventory dropping below a threshold.
And then there are integration scenarios with S/4HANA Cloud-BTP extensions that can connect not only to S/4HANA but also to legacy systems, third-party applications, and other cloud services. Thus resulting in a single, seamless ecosystem where data flows freely, and your business processes stay synchronized.
Custom Development iIn SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud
When it comes to building custom solutions in S/4HANA Public Cloud, you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch instead you can extend what’s already there in smart ways.
Starting with, Custom Fiori Apps – they can be created for custom business objects in SAP S/4HANA Cloud using Key User Extensibility, then deployed and integrated into the SAP Fiori Launchpad. Developers can also create SAP Fiori apps for RAP business objects in SAP Business Application Studio and deploy them to SAP S/4HANA Cloud ABAP Environment. These apps tend to sit naturally alongside standard SAP applications, and pull data from the same sources and following the same design principles.
Additionally, custom workflows can be added to custom business objects, For example, trigger an approval workflow for managers on SAP Business Technology Platform, where the custom business object and ABAP logic runs as an in-app extension.
Whether it’s a multi-level approval process or automated notifications triggered by specific business events, one can build these directly in the system or on BTP, depending on the complexity.
Best Practices For Extensibility In SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Getting extensibility right means balancing innovation and expansion with stability. Here’s what generally works in practice:
- Start by adopting the clean core philosophy. It is a practical approach to keep the system upgradeable. Before customizing, it is better to determine whether the newer additions need to live in the core or better off as side-by-side extension.
- Utilize SAP’s recommended patterns, including released objects and stable APIs as documented in the SAP Business Accelerator Hub(5) (formerly SAP API Business Hub). These standards are designed to ensure compatibility during upgrades and reduce maintenance overhead. Sticking to these guidelines upfront helps avoid technical debt, reduces remediation efforts in future release cycles, and maintains compliance with the ABAP Cloud development model.
- Balance in-app vs side-by-side approaches through careful selection. In case of tight integrations with core processes, it is suggested to opt for In-app extensibility, while for complex integration with external systems, it is recommended to go for side-by-side extensibility.
- Leveraging low-code/no-code tools like SAP Build Apps to maximize your enterprise application investments through extensibility. SAP Build allows business analysts and power users to create workflows, forms, and simple applications without writing code.
The pattern that has consistently worked: starting with standard functionality, then extend with key user tools when possible, and finally bringing in developers for complex requirements, and save the unique or experimental features for BTP.
Real-World Use Cases Of Extensibility
Theory is one thing and seeing how organizations are using extensibility tells the real story. Two such real-world applications of extensibility are mentioned below:
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Mobile Warehouse Automation via Side-by-Side Extensions:
A company (undisclosed) let’s say, ABC Utilities transformed manual warehouse operations by implementing Side-by-Side Extensibility on SAP Business Technology Platform. The solution? They developed a mobile scanning app using the Mobile Development Kit (MDK) and a configurable web portal integrated in real-time with S/4HANA through APIs. Custom business logic and routing rules were implemented in the cloud, not in the core system. This approach showcased how Side-by-Side Extensibility can drive agility, automation, and scalability while protecting the integrity of the S/4HANA core.(7)
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Democratizing Process Automation Through Low-Code Extensibility:
In another example, Mahindra Group drove innovation across their enterprise with In-App Extensibility through SAP Build Process Automation. By empowering 200 business users to act as “citizen developers,” they created and deployed low-code workflows tailored to specific business needs. This extensibility model helped democratize process automation, reducing IT dependency and enabling faster innovation all while ensuring that extensions remained compliant within the SAP Cloud’s secure, governed framework.(8)
Conclusion:
SAP gives you the tools for upgrade-safe customization. The question isn’t whether you should extend S/4HANA Cloud it’s how you’ll do it in ways that serve your business today while keeping your options open for future expansion.
The ability to successfully combine standard functionality and customization is what gives SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud its true advantage as compared to ECC. The Clean Core, on the other hand adds to this power by complimenting extensions intelligently. Each extensibility approach has its place, and the organizations that understand the need right, are the ones that innovate without creating technical debt.
Explore how to leverage SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud Extensibility for innovation while keeping your core clean.
FAQs:
What are the extensibility options in SAP S/4HANA Cloud?
SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud provides three extensibility options namely, key-user extensibility, developer extensibility and side-by-side extensibility.
How to extend SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud without breaking the clean core?
Use only SAP-released objects for development. Choose the right tool: Key User for simple changes, Developer for complex logic, BTP for standalone apps. Never modify core SAP code directly always work through extensibility frameworks. Build extensions that integrate with the core, not inside it.
Difference between in-app and side-by-side extensibility?
In-app extensibility is tightly integrated with core processes. Best for custom fields, business logic, and modifications demanding deep integration. While, side-by-side extensibility is built on SAP BTP, separate from the core. Best for complex UIs, third-party integrations, and innovative applications.
Can you do ABAP custom development in S/4HANA Public Cloud?
Yes, using the SAP S/4HANA Cloud ABAP Environment. You can build custom apps with RAP, create CDS views, and extend released objects but only work with SAP-approved "released" objects to ensure upgrade stability.
