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The SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP): What the middleware can do and the role that Clean Core plays

From a licence and software provider to a cloud provider – SAP has undergone a profound transformation. The reason? Our times and the market demanded innovation and transformation. And SAP responded. As a result, the software company is now part of the current revolution, which centres on cloudification.

However, for a transformation of this kind to succeed in the long term, the right tools are needed to facilitate this paradigm shift – and thus the transition from the old world to the new. This is where the SAP Business Platform, or SAP BTP for short, comes into play.

This article explains what it’s all about and why we have dedicated a series of events to this topic.

The SAP Business Technology Platform – middleware with many advantages

The SAP Business Technology Platform represents a traditional middleware approach. This is now becoming increasingly important for connecting the ERP system – the core of the organisation – with the evolving field of software development. And this is, after all, essential for optimally tailoring the architecture to the specific needs of each company. The advantages?

Extensibility:

Extensibility based on standards continues to be guaranteed with SAP BTP.

Heterogeneity:

A heterogeneous system landscape continues to be supported.

Up-to-date status:

The ERP system is up to date and can be updated more easily.

Innovation:

In this way, SAP ensures that both existing and new customers can also make use of new technologies such as the AI Foundation.

To illustrate this with a metaphor: the ERP core is like an island surrounded by a reef – SAP BTP. This reef ensures biodiversity and regulates access to the open sea; in our case, it allows for extensions and ensures that the entire system functions properly.

Finally, the sand surrounding this formation is the data produced by the company – it needs to be processed. And this is where the concept of a ‘Clean Core’ comes in, which is necessary to ensure that everything works in harmony.

Clean Core as the key

‘Clean’ essentially means up-to-date, transparent, unaltered, consistent, efficient – and cloud-compatible. It is, therefore, an ERP core that is up-to-date, secure and clearly defined, and covers the most important fundamental aspects of an ERP system, namely extensibility, processes, data, integration and operations.

Only in this way can innovation continue to be accommodated. The characteristics of a Clean Core are therefore:

Strong governance:

A Clean Core acts as a robust control centre, whilst ensuring that all extensions in the cloud function seamlessly. Unnecessary customisations, however, should be avoided.

Controlled operation:

By using only approved APIs, upgrades are not blocked and individual customer extensions are not compromised. At the same time, SAP ensures that all possibilities for extensibility are utilised, both on-stack and side-by-side. ‘Technical debt’ is only permitted following informed decisions, and data control is carried out in accordance with current standards.

Reduced complexity:

A Clean Core reduces complexity whilst simultaneously increasing competitiveness. The result is an efficient, reliable and flexible system.

Over the past 20 years, we have implemented numerous extensions for our customers – and we are currently migrating the resulting scc applications to the new platform in stages, so that they comply with the Clean Core principles and new extension options, and so that our customers can make use of them. This enables us to provide optimal support to customers in both existing SAP environments and new ones, such as the S/4HANA Cloud.

Patric Prasch

Line of Business Manager – Cloud Engineering

Our own series of events covering this topic

Whereas in the past it took countless ‘Z’ developments to achieve the desired result, today it’s all about striking a balance – between the standard environment and software developments that make all the difference.

The questions many are now asking themselves in light of these new requirements are: How can I implement extensions – that is, requirements for my own ERP system arising from day-to-day business – despite having a Clean Core? What specific role does the middleware known as SAP BTP play in this? And how can scc help me with this?

Reason enough for us to dedicate a separate series of events to this important topic. Under the motto ‘From revolution to evolution: BTP simply explained with scc’, we shared our experiences, highlighted developments and passed on our expertise.

The focus was on the following key areas:

Integration:

Everything starts with the right integration: how can the cloud ERP be optimally connected to other components? The SAP Integration Suite was designed for this purpose, to achieve a sustainable and secure integration.

App Development:

We draw on our own scc toolboxes – sophisticated extensions developed over the last 20 years that are set to remain relevant in the new SAP landscape. We are therefore currently recreating them step by step in SAP BTP to ensure our customers are equipped for the future.

Process & Automation:

We do not merely focus on showcasing various process technologies; we go further: using our specialised ‘Score’ approach, which builds on the #asccelerate methodology, we also consider the ‘before’ and ‘after’ stages of a project during a transformation and offer comprehensive process support. After all, it is not just about the transformation itself, but also about modernising all processes in order to realise their full potential.

Data & Analytics:

This area is becoming increasingly important; after all, no company can afford to ignore the data it has collected when making decisions. We have therefore addressed this topic in a separate event.

Artificial Intelligence:

We explore the possibilities that already exist in this area – from the Joule assistant to embedded AI. The advantage with SAP? Only relevant internal data from the respective company is used for analysis and training, rather than scrutinising the entire market. This enables more accurate interpretations and predictions.

The ideal partner for SAP BTP

Given the changing landscape, the evaluation of extensions is becoming increasingly important in a transformation of this kind. It is therefore a matter of asking in advance which extensions are still required, which need to be developed from scratch, and for which there are already ready-made tools available. We know this sounds complex.

But don’t worry: we’re happy to support you through this process and are your ideal partner for SAP BTP.

SAP is at the heart of the current revolution, which is increasingly moving towards cloud technology. The evolution towards this, if you like, is in turn a process of continuous development, enabling companies to transition their ERP systems from their current state into the future. Here at scc, we support our clients through this transformation as a reliable partner and highlight what is possible and in what form. SAP BTP is clearly here to stay. That is why we are keen to offer the 2025 event series once again in an adapted format.

Walter Fazekas

Sales Management

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