If you’re ready to move to SAP S/4HANA Cloud then SAP is ready to help, starting here, with our view on organizational readiness of the business and enterprise IT to ensure your successful transition. With the help of this whitepaper, you’ll gain a better understanding of the initial parameters and principles when starting your discovery journey for SAP S/4HANA Cloud. Through the right preparation of your organization, the digital transformation of your business model onto SAP S/4HANA Cloud will be a success.

Customer Organizational Readiness for SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Cloud innovation promises to deliver speed, productivity, scalability, and business impact. But getting the most value from cloud software is not always clear. It’s even more challenging when your business needs to deploy new systems while maintaining continuity.

SAP Activate provides the solution with Innovation as a Service: a clear process of structured and solution-specific practices, carried out in a standardized environment, for your business to choose how to adopt and extend new and differentiating capabilities across your organization. A self-service approach keeps you in control of when and where you push innovations into the business. Ready-to-run business processes are more than a jump-start to cloud solutions − they are a foundation to deliver new innovations on a continuous basis. Gain new ways to adopt and extend the full benefits of cloud solutions across your business, delivering greater value through faster innovation when and where you need it most. Innovation as a Service delivers fast, business-driven setup, configured to meet your needs, that cuts through complexity.

Learn how SAP Activate delivers digital intelligence at cloud speed to help you run at your best.
 

SAP Activate Methodology for Various Solutions (S-User required)

SAP Activate Methodology - Overview

Companies face increasing pressure to adapt much more quickly thanks to new architectures and technologies, including the cloud. Adages such as “never touch a running system” are outdated. Successful cloud companies – including Amazon, Microsoft, and also SAP – demonstrate that it is possible to change and deploy continuously. The new trend is called DevOps, which is an artificial word built from “development” and “operations” to illustrate that they both grow together without a gap between them.

Discover how adopting DevOps principles can help your enterprise compete and thrive in the digital era through an ongoing process of digital transformation. Find out how DevOps can enable your development and operations teams be more efficient, innovate faster, and deliver higher value to your business and customers.

Introduction to DevOps and the Interaction with Innovation Adoption and Hybrid Operations

SAP focuses on developing artificial intelligence (AI) to improve people’s lives by helping protect the environment and build fairer societies. Recognizing the significant impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on people, our customers, and society, SAP designed guiding principles to steer the development and deployment of our AI software to help the world run better and improve people’s lives. For us, these guidelines are a commitment to move beyond what is legally required and to begin a deep and continuous engagement with the wider ethicaland socioeconomic challenges of AI. We look forward to expanding our con­versations with customers, partners, employees, legislative bodies, and civil society and to making our guiding prin­ciples an evolving reflection of these discussions and the ever changing technological landscape.
 

SAP's Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be a core driver of productivity and economic growth, enabling the “intelligent enterprise” through human-machine collaboration. AI will help address critical societal challenges and yield tangible benefits for citizens. Europe must lead AI development to ensure future competitiveness and citizen well-being. Multistakeholder dialogue is required to explore the economic and societal benefits AI can bring and ensure a human-centric approach and broad acceptance of the new technology in Europe. Read about how artificial intelligence will become a core driver for innovation, growth, and productivity. Review the measures Europe can take to compete with the United States and China in the global race for AI leadership.
 

European Prosperity Through Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence

The guide has been composed by members of SAP product teams, subject-matter experts, and consultants – in collaboration with ASUG (Americas’ SAP User Group) and DSAG (the German-speaking SAP User Group). It has three parts: “Part One” is dedicated to the key decisions to be made when planning your approach to your SAP S/4HANA transition. “Part Two” covers the pivotal elements of a successful project setup. And “Part Three” provides you with the most essential technology knowledge. This guide is not about our product. It’s about you, our customers, and the challenges you face, the decisions you have to make, your aspirations, and your success. Get the expert guidance you need to successfully plan your migration to SAP S/4HANA. Access this practical, condensed, down-to-earth handbook for executives, project managers, decision-makers, and senior IT leaders that summarizes our combined experience from over 5,000 SAP S/4HANA migration projects we’ve seen so far.
 

Mapping Your Journey to SAP S/4HANA

Developers working for customers and partners of SAP build extension applications that consume application programming interfaces, or APIs (hereinafter we talk only about REST APIs), from various SAP®application providers, such as SAP S/4HANA®, and from Concur®, SAP SuccessFactors®, and SAP Ariba®solutions, to name a few. They expect that the APIs that SAP provides are of high quality and conceptually consistent across all software-as-a-service SAP products, regardless of the SAP development organization that provides them. To put it simply, consumers expect APIs from SAP to be harmonized.
 

SAP acknowledges this consumer expectation and recognizes the need for harmonizing APIs throughout SAP software. In response to this need, SAP defined API harmonization guidelines  for its developers to help them carry out this challenging task in the future. However, since customers and partners of SAP also build their own APIs that they might want to offer to other consumers in the ecosystem, we decided to make these guidelines available to them in this reference guide.

The intention of this paper is to cover as many aspects of APIs as possible. Nevertheless, we could not always formulate standard procedures. For example, the question of when to select OData or plain REST can be answered only with “it depends.” In addition, business case–specific requirements and technical conditions may also lead to constraints or even exceptions to the guidelines contained in this document.
 

Ideally, API implementation teams at customer and partner sites can directly apply the guidelines provided in this document. If necessary, of course, they also have sufficient flexibility to adapt them to the special requirements of their respective business scenarios. Nevertheless, if possible, these specific adaptations should not contradict the core statements of the guidelines provided here.

SAP’s Guidelines for Future REST API Harmonization

This CIO guide is concerned with SAP’s long-term integration strategy. It emphasizes integration scenarios in the cloud and in hybrid environments (a combination of on-premise and cloud systems). Within these environments, special attention is given to the integration scenarios related to process and data-centric integration.

SAP pursues the goal of making future integration easier and simpler. For this purpose, we are establishing an integration strategy that is based on two complementary pillars: public, fully documented application programming interfaces (APIs) and route-through middleware integration content. Future public APIs will enable customers and partners to build more integrations by setting up direct communications, with representational state transfer (REST) and Open Data Protocol (OData) being the preferred protocols for services.

Data-centric integration is about exchanging data between systems. This document deals with the scenarios extract, transform, load (ETL, both classic and real-time), data replication, and data virtualization. Depending on whether the customers' system landscape is SAP HANA® platform–centric or comprises heterogeneous systems, different technology recommendations are given here.

SAP's Vision for Integrating SAP Applications in Cloud and Hybrid Environments --> Update 1.1

• Roles, their tasks and related tools in landscape management

• Landscape entities and deployment models on-premise, private and public cloud related to SAP products

• Handling of landscape data to describe the status quo

• Sources of recommendations for involved roles

• Mapping of new business functionality to the landscape

• Managing development in and connections between elements of a hybrid landscape
   

You want to connect your SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) system to your on premise SAP Solution Manager? As you don’t have OS level access and you cannot install the required agents by yourself, it is not clear to you how to achieve it?
This guide describes the HEC landscape specifics you need to know. It guides you through the process of when to request what from the Technical Landscape Owner (TLO) on HEC side and which information you need to provide the TLO. It is not intended to replace existing guides and descriptions for managed system configuration, technical monitoring setup or any other configuration/customizing activity in SAP Solution Manager.
 
Connecting a HEC System to an On-Premise SAP Solution Manager

This CIO Guide is about SAP’s approach to identity and access management (IAM) in the context of the identity lifecycle. It explains how IAM software from SAP supports building successful system integrations in cloud and hybrid environments, with diagrams and a reference architecture included to illustrate.

By using well-established IAM-related industry standards, SAP improves system integration and helps provide a seamless user experience while also helping to ensure security and compliance.

CIO Guide: Identity Lifecycle in Hybrid Landscapes

The term Big Data is broadly used to refer to large or complex data sets that traditional data processing applications are not able to manage. In the past five years we have created more data than in all prior years combined, and having all this new data is making business operations much more complex. However, a lot of data does not automatically equal a lot of useful information. An effective Big Data infrastructure must be able to separate the background noise from the valuable signals that can be translated to actionable insights.

This guide supports CIOs in setting up a system infrastructure for their business that can get the best out of Big Data. It describes what SAP HANA®, SAP Vora™, and SAP Data Hub can do and how they integrate with distributed clusters like Hadoop and related technologies. It examines typical data flows where different technologies interplay, looking at data lifecycle management and data streaming. Concrete use cases point out the requirements associated with Big Data as well as the opportunities it offers, and how companies are already taking advantage of them.

CIO Guide to Using SAP® Technology for Big Data

This CIO Guide represents a step on the way toward SAP’s long-term vision for integration, as it is described in  “CIO Guide: SAP Vision for Integrating SAP Applications in Cloud and Hybrid Environments.” It is snapshot of where process and data integration in hybrid environments is now.

SAP pursues the goal of making integration in the cloud and hybrid landscapes easy and simple. This guide provides guidance on when to use which integration technology in a hybrid integration landscape. It describes the three pillars of SAP’s integration strategy – the API-first approach, SAP Cloud Platform Integration as the strategic platform, and the integration solution advisory methodology – in detail and provides information about some of the latest developments.

After a detailed introduction to the integration solution advisory methodology, the guide provides guidance on when to use which integration technology in a hybrid integration landscape. For process integration, it guides integration architects when to use SAP Cloud Platform Integration, when to use SAP Process Orchestration, and when to either combine both or one of them with additional technologies. These considerations extend from application-to-application (A2A) integration to the equally important field of business-to-business (B2B) integration, including a concise introduction to the SAP Ariba® Cloud Integration Gateway. Data integration with SAP Data Hub as the new central point, as well as new approaches to automating process integration, such as integration automation and the integration content advisor, are also covered.

CIO Guide: Process and Data Integration in Hybrid Landscapes

Everyone is talking about “the cloud” and “the digital transformation”. But while these changes are coming, they are gradual, and in the intermediate term there will be a hybrid landscape. But what exactly is a hybrid landscape? What are the challenges involved? What do you actually need to operate a hybrid landscape? What will the IT operations of the future look like?
Learn how to ensure a seamless operation of your Hybrid Solution Landscape and to understand the impact of introducing cloud systems to your on-premise landscape.

Efficient Hybrid IT Operations for SAP Customers

This document discusses aspects that enterprises and SAP partners need to consider when designing, architecting, and operating SAP® software in an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud. It presents a point of view that places SAP software landscapes in the context of an IaaS strategy addressing the needs of chief information officers (CIOs), chief technology officers (CTOs), chief development officers (CDOs), enterprise architects, and IT decision-makers.

Discover the advantages of moving your applications to an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform and the aspects you need to consider when planning to do so. Find out how the SAP Digital Business Services organization can help you along this journey to becoming an intelligent enterprise.

Innovate and Operate Your Landscape in  an Infrastructure-as-a-Service Scenario

The Operations Guide for the SAP Cloud Platform provides an holistic overview of the various operational aspects and capabilities such as User Management for Cloud Integration, Web-Based Monitoring or Concepts of Secure Communication, amongst many others. You will learn how the SAP Cloud Platform supports you with the integration of cloud solutions and furthermore the deployment and administration of hybrid landscapes.
 

Operations Guide for the SAP Cloud Platform

Manufacturing companies are challenged to increase productivity while producing high-quality individualized products in an environment of constantly changing and varying customer demand. Companies recognize Industry 4.0 as strategic priority to turn these challenges into opportunities so you can stay connected to customers & integrate partners. Industry 4.0, or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), is about industrial transformation using new digital technology that makes it possible to gather and analyze data across machines and business systems, enabling faster, more flexible, and more efficient processes to produce higher- quality individualized goods at lower cost. Technology innovations like the IoT, edge and cloud computing, Big Data lakes, artificial intelligence, sensors, autonomous systems, and cobots are drivers for the change. Creating value from Industry 4.0 requires an industry-specific approach as business goals and challenges vary by industry – and even by company. Learn more about SAP's Industry 4.0 approach in the Whitepaper below.
 

SAP's Strategy for Industry 4.0 Whitepaper

The guide has been composed by members of SAP product teams, subject-matter experts, and consultants – in collaboration with ASUG (Americas’ SAP User Group) and DSAG (the German-speaking SAP User Group). It has three parts: “Part One” is dedicated to the key decisions to be made when planning your approach to your SAP S/4HANA transition. “Part Two” covers the pivotal elements of a successful project setup. And “Part Three” provides you with the most essential technology knowledge. This guide is not about our product. It’s about you, our customers, and the challenges you face, the decisions you have to make, your aspirations, and your success. Get the expert guidance you need to successfully plan your migration to SAP S/4HANA. Access this practical, condensed, down-to-earth handbook for executives, project managers, decision-makers, and senior IT leaders that summarizes our combined experience from over 5,000 SAP S/4HANA migration projects we’ve seen so far.
 

Mapping Your Journey to SAP S/4HANA

This guide provides a starting point for managing your SAP applications and maintaining and running them optimally. It contains specific information for various tasks and lists the tools that you can use to implement them.

Operations Guide for SAP S/4HANA 1809

Committed to providing clear guidance and support, SAP offers a range of tools to help our customers plan and execute their move to SAP S/4HANA. These tools are designed to drive faster implementation and adoption with reduced complexity, increased automation, greater ease of use, and best practices.

Confidently Plan and Deliver a Move to SAP S/4HANA Using Modern Tools from SAP

Product and Solution Road Maps
 

Solution road maps cover innovations that focus on business solutions and processes and span several products that are relevant for customer lines of business in their industries.

Product road maps describe how feature and function capabilities of an SAP product or technology are planned to progress over time.
 

Product and Solution Road Maps

Implementation Road Maps
 

ASAP Methodology is the SAP road map for the implementation, enhancements or upgrade of SAP solutions and supports cost effective and speedy implementation of the SAP solutions in our customer environment.
 

Implementation Road Maps

Explore the technologies that will have a significant impact over the next 5–10 years, including those we will deploy next at large scale, like machine learning, blockchain, and conversational systems, as well as those trends further out on the timescale, such as quantum computing and neuromorphic hardware.

Trend Report 2018 - Emerging Technology Trends

Missing guidance and lack of clear recommendations about optimal landscape setups for SAP products belong to the prominent challenges often addressed by customers in the past.
 

What is the best trade-off between flexibility and simplicity as outlined in this Wiki before ?
 

How could individual optimization and general standardization be combined ?
 

It is not that easy to come up with a quick answer, but we developed a way out. Based on a common methodology that could be applied to any kind of SAP product, we are able to provide guidance on typical architectural decisions that have to be taken by customers, when planning and designing a system landscape.
 

System Landscape Governance at SAP strives for

• harmonizing the landscape designs of SAP solutions to reduce complexity
• balancing change with stability to simplify the adoption of innovation
   

SAP Landscape Recommendations

Introducing SAP Fiori, there are several deployment options available. In the following document, you can find the main SAP Fiori scenarios, the recommended system landscape setup, and the SAP Front-end server deployment options. This document also includes insights into SAP Front-end server hub and embedded deployment and what aspects to consider. The FAQ section provides answers to common questions regarding the SAP Fiori deployment options.
 

In summary, the SAP Front-end server (FES) central hub deployment is still a recommended option for SAP Business Suite scenarios. For SAP S/4HANA the embedded deployment is recommended. You can also combine both options in a mixed scenario: an SAP Front-end server hub with a central launchpad and central services such as My Inbox, combined with system-specific local launchpads.
 

In the future, SAP Cloud Platform Portal is aimed to act as UX integrator and to offer a central entry point with integration capabilities, such as common notifications, search, user and role management, etc.

Fiori Landscape Deployment Options & Recommendations Whitepaper

Developers working for customers and partners of SAP build extension applications that consume application programming interfaces, or APIs (hereinafter we talk only about REST APIs), from various SAP®application providers, such as SAP S/4HANA®, and from Concur®, SAP SuccessFactors®, and SAP Ariba®solutions, to name a few. They expect that the APIs that SAP provides are of high quality and conceptually consistent across all software-as-a-service SAP products, regardless of the SAP development organization that provides them. To put it simply, consumers expect APIs from SAP to be harmonized.
 

SAP acknowledges this consumer expectation and recognizes the need for harmonizing APIs throughout SAP software. In response to this need, SAP defined API harmonization guidelines  for its developers to help them carry out this challenging task in the future. However, since customers and partners of SAP also build their own APIs that they might want to offer to other consumers in the ecosystem, we decided to make these guidelines available to them in this reference guide.

The intention of this paper is to cover as many aspects of APIs as possible. Nevertheless, we could not always formulate standard procedures. For example, the question of when to select OData or plain REST can be answered only with “it depends.” In addition, business case–specific requirements and technical conditions may also lead to constraints or even exceptions to the guidelines contained in this document.
 

Ideally, API implementation teams at customer and partner sites can directly apply the guidelines provided in this document. If necessary, of course, they also have sufficient flexibility to adapt them to the special requirements of their respective business scenarios. Nevertheless, if possible, these specific adaptations should not contradict the core statements of the guidelines provided here.

SAP’s Guidelines for Future REST API Harmonization

The SAP UX Explorer whitepaper provides an overview of the SAP UX Explorer site and describes it’s goals, benefits, and provides an example how to use it.

The SAP UX Explorer site is targeting IT decision makers, UX project leads, UX developers, and consultants to help identifying the user experience (UX) improvements options for their SAP landscapes. The SAP UX Explorer site provides content that clearly explains the availability and capabilities of user experience innovations, UI technologies, and related services. It describes the values of each specific item, how they relate to each other, and how they can be adopted in a customer environment.

SAP UX Explorer: Understanding Your Options for Improving User Experience 

This guide is the starting point for setting up application lifecycle management for your specific use case, business, and IT landscape. It contains recommendations and best practices that give you an overview of what you should consider when planning development projects on SAP Cloud Platform. It does not contain specific task descriptions, but does include links to step-by-step instructions when required.
 

If you're an architect or a development project lead, this guide helps you plan your organizational setup and your account and security model. It has an overview of processes, tools, and services available for developing and operating applications.

If you're an administrator or developer, this guide supports you in defining the correct methodologies and tools for your development project on SAP Cloud Platform.
 

The Planning and Lifecycle Management Guide will enable you to:

• Quickly understand basic concepts like regions, environments, accounts, and capabilities
• Understand your and SAP's responsibilities when it comes to managing the lifecycle of applications
• Learn about prerequisites and follow a checklist to quickly get started with your development project
• Plan and set up your SAP Cloud Platform landscape to manage the lifecycle of your cloud applications

SAP Cloud Platform Planning & Lifecycle Management Guide

The SAP Fiori Design Guidelines reveal the philosophy of the SAP Fiori user experience and provide and overview of all relevant floorplans, patterns and control. The guidelines cover both the classic SAP Fiori web app based on SAPUI5 and native SAP Fiori apps built on iOS. You can also download high-defintion design stencicls for prototyping your own SAP Fiori Apps 

SAP Fiori Design Guidelines 

The SAP Guidelines for SAP Web IDE are aligned with the SAP Fiori UX visual language and design principles. These guidelines are aimed at both deigners and developers and provide valuable information for contributors who wish to harmonize the styling of their stand-alone tools to the SAP Web IDE.

SAP Web IDE Guidelines for Contributors 

For more design guidelines, click here.