Unique software needs? Best practices to extend your S/4HANA core

November 25, 2024

4 minutes

Agility is more than a buzzword – it is simply essential in today’s constantly changing world. Is your IT landscape flexible enough to ensure agility? If you’re still running a legacy IT platform with heavy customization, you may bump upon its limitations. The alternative? Go ‘fit to standard’ with smart extensions tailored to your needs. Here’s why and how.

While SAP has championed standardization for years, many ERP platforms are still heavily customized. Maintaining these systems is complex, time-consuming and, hence, expensive. Upgrading or adding new features is even more difficult – if not impossible –, which makes it hard to keep pace with digital innovation and change.

3 solid reasons to keep the core clean

As an SAP ECC user, you’re either preparing a migration to SAP S/4HANA or you’ve already embarked upon that journey. In both cases, there’s one rule of thumb to keep in mind: resist the urge to customize your software.

The SAP S/4HANA core is built around several essential components: standard configurations, predefined business processes, and a robust data model, supporting modules like finance, procurement, sales, and manufacturing. With over 800 features to choose from, it’s easier than ever to implement a standardized core.

Once your core is in place, it’s key to keep it clean. Sticking to SAP’s out-of-the-box, standardized components will help you to

save time and costs: a clean core ensures straightforward support and maintenance;
optimize system performance: thanks to the standardized approach, the system runs smoothly, efficiently and processes data faster;
increase agility: reducing customizations makes it easier to upgrade, maintain, adapt, and scale the platform as needs evolve.

Specific needs? Key questions before extending your core

Every organization has unique business processes and requirements. So, once your SAP S/4HANA core is live, you might want to extend it with additional features. Whether you plan to integrate an existing extention or develop a new application, it’s key to ask yourself these three questions first:

Do I really need an extension, and will it add true business value?
SAP’s S/4HANA core is packed with features and based on best practices from a wide range of industries. There’s a good chance that it covers your business processes too. Consider adapting your processes to fit SAP’s standard instead of vice-versa.
Do I have an existing extension that meets my needs, and is it up to date?
Re-use an existing extension from your software stack can be smart, but make sure it is running on the latest technology. If it doesn’t, upgrade it first. If upgrading is not an option, consider decommissioning it.
Does SAP offer an extension or add-on that fits my needs?
Before investing resources to develop a custom app, check the SAP Store. You’ll find many ready-made extensions and apps that you can easily implement out of the box.

Build your new S/4 extensions wisely

If you answered ‘no’ to all three questions above, it might be time to build a new extension. Make sure to choose the right architecture to do it effectively.

Read the Ardo story: a fit-to-standard SAP S/4HANA solution, enriched with tailor-made extensions.

Choose the right extension architecture

SAP provides frameworks for creating extensions to SAP processes in a clean-core way. There are two main approaches, both ensuring the S/4HANA core remains clean:

On-stack architecture: build extensions directly within the SAP S/4HANA platform. This approach comes in two flavours:

A) Key user extensibility: business users with little to no coding knowledge can make basic extensions. For example, they can add custom fields to an existing Fiori application or delete or rearrange user interface elements.

B) On-stack developer extensibility: developers can build new applications and APIs using the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP), build more complex extensions via Business Add-ins (BAdIs), and much more. BAdIs offer predefined interfaces, filters and settings to make customization easy.
Side-by-side architecture: build your extensions on an external platform, like SAP Business Technology Platform, and integrate them with SAP via APIs. This option offers greater flexibility, as developers can use

Tip: Don’t forget to document your extensions

Using your preferred way of documenting (Trello boards, Wiki pages, Google Spreadsheets or other tools) to keep track of your extensions and code will help you manage technical debt.

Need expert guidance?

Achieving a clean core demands careful planning, thorough preparation and, last but not least, effective change management. Our specialists can support you every step of the way.

What’s more, we offer a comprehensive, five-step extensibility assessment to assist you in determining the extensions you need, along with guidance on how to design, implement and manage them.

We help you:

craft a future-proof extensibility strategy;
evaluate your current extensions;
select the appropriate extension technologies;
decide what extensions to build, define their architecture; and create documentation template;
establish governance and quality assurance frameworks to maintain a clean and efficient system core.

Start shaping a simple, reliable, future-proof IT landscape. Need help? Get in touch.