All-in on Abap

On-prem freedoms versus strict cloud regulations

Keynote speaker Professor Christian Leubner will explain in Heidelberg that the move to the cloud is forcing Abap developers to make fundamental changes to their usual processes and countless technical details, as SAP is dictating a rigid separation between the former on-prem freedoms and the new, strict cloud regulations.

In the community, the technical vehicle of this architectural enforcement measure has the illustrious code name Steampunk, which officially refers to the SAP BTP Abap Environment. With Steampunk, SAP is forcing its existing customers to consistently outsource customized extensions from the ERP core system and run them as side-by-side scenarios on the Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). This is flanked by the concept of Embedded Steampunk, which allows on-stack extensions directly in the S/4 system, but operates under exactly the same relentless restrictions of the new and highly regulated „Abap Cloud“ development model.

Expensive refactoring process

For existing SAP customers, this new development doctrine results in huge technical, organizational and commercial challenges, which often amount to a painful and expensive refactoring process. In the new Abap Cloud world, unlimited direct access to database tables, the local file system or the kernel of the application server is strictly prohibited.

Programmers may only access whitelisted APIs and clearly defined extension points that have been explicitly approved by SAP. Although this measure guarantees the much-needed release and upgrade stability for future cloud scenarios on paper, it also devalues historically grown and competition-differentiating custom code that has to be rewritten in lengthy projects.

Eclipse, ADT and CDS

In addition, users are being deprived of the tools they have grown fond of over decades: The classic, GUI-based development environment with transaction SE80 has had its day, and instead the use of the Eclipse-based Abap Development Tools (ADT) is mandatory.

The changeover also requires developers to have a sound knowledge of Core Data Services (CDS) and a deep understanding of the Abap RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP) in order to be able to orchestrate modern transactional business objects and web services in a compliant manner. Anyone who fails to master this steep learning curve in their own IT team will simply be unable to act in the new, cloud-driven SAP world.

AI and Abap-1

In order to cushion this enormous migration pressure and to be able to transfer the millions of lines of old legacy code to the new cloud era, SAP is now using generative artificial intelligence, whereby specific Large Language Models (LLMs), which were trained directly on Abap code and are subsumed in the developer world under the „Joule for Developers“ assistant or the Abap-1 paradigm, play a central strategic role.

These specialized base models were trained with hundreds of millions of lines of SAP Abap and CDS code, as well as extensive technical documentation, to provide developers with contextual and highly accurate suggestions for code creation and the complex migration of legacy code to S/4 Hana. The AI acts as an omnipresent digital assistant that automates tedious routine tasks, generates unit tests and analyzes outdated, incompatible code to suggest custom-fit, clean-core compliant solutions for automated rewriting.

IT repair service behavior

Critically, however, this massive use of AI reveals the entire strategic irony of the global ERP market leader: SAP uses highly developed artificial intelligence primarily as an algorithmic repair tool to make the gigantic migration hurdles and architectural constraints that it has imposed on customers with its radical clean-core strategy manageable in terms of technology and time in the first place.

Future of „All-in on Abap“

The future of Abap is therefore by no means the often-cited final death of the language, but rather its unconditional submission to the strict platform economy of the SAP cloud. Abap is still urgently needed by existing SAP customers, as it remains the irreplaceable and proven foundation for integrating in-depth, industry-specific process knowledge into standardized ERP workflows.

In future, however, the user should and must use Abap exclusively within the framework of the dogmatic clean core principle. In practice, this means that every newly written line of code must be implemented either as a strictly decoupled side-by-side extension in the BTP (steampunk) or as a highly controlled on-stack developer extension (embedded steampunk) via the Abap cloud model.

Modifications in the Z namespace: technical dead end

Companies that refuse to embrace this technical discipline and cling to old, wildly proliferating modifications in the Z namespace for the sake of convenience are irrevocably risking their future upgradeability and driving themselves into an expensive, technical dead end. The critical conclusion for every enlightened existing SAP customer is therefore that the use of Abap in the age of generative AI and the cloud is no longer a free, creative craft, but resembles industrial, AI-supported assembly line work that is strictly regulated by SAP, in which system stability, cloud conformity and absolute release capability always take precedence over the architectural freedom of your own IT department.

For over four decades, the Abap programming language has been the undisputed, beating heart of global SAP landscapes, but the glorious days of unlimited developer freedom are irrevocably over in the name of cloud computing. Anyone looking at the current ERP transformation will recognize a radical paradigm shift, which Professor Christian Leubner ruthlessly unmasks in his analyses on the topic of „Abap for the cloud“.

Next week, the Steampunk and BTP Summit 2026 will take place in Heidelberg. The SAP community will be discussing platform trends, including alternative products such as Boomi for existing SAP customers. In addition to an AI experience workshop, a key part of the two-day event will naturally be the topic of Abap.

In Heidelberg, Christian Leubner will give a keynote on the topic of Abap Cloud. Secure your remaining tickets now and discuss „All-in on Abap“ with Professor Leubner. Click here to register.