Easy paths to mobility with SAP

Hybrid apps created with Apache Cordova are often a simpler alternative. They can be run with the Fiori Launchpad as well as in the web browser or as a native app under iOS/Android. SAP has had a component for managing and communicating web services to the outside world for 17 years: With the release of SAP NetWeaver 7.0, apps could be published via the Internet Communication Framework (transaction SICF) with SAP NetWeaver ApplicationServer 6.20. This is an open standard that can be used to create apps. An open standard by means of which apps can query and change data via a web service.

So why not take a step back when considering how to connect mobile worlds with SAP? There's also the simple, direct way, and that's through Apache Cordova. The mobile app development framework developed by Nitobi was acquired by Adobe Systems in 2011, renamed PhoneGap, and later released as an open source version under Cordova.

The Open Data Protocol (OData) developed by Microsoft, currently available in version 4, is considered to be the universally valid standard for the design of a web service. The SAP Gateway (SAP NetWeaver Gateway until 2014), which was published ten years ago, is also based on OData. It has been included in SAP NetWeaver since version 7.4 and implements the RFC services within the SAP world that are based on TCP/IP. The gateway makes it easy to set up connections between SAP systems and external programs, i.e. it can be used to offer web services, just like transaction SICF. For SAP, however, it means zero additional business if a customer uses these services with the SAP Gateway. Other intermediate routing components, such as SAP Dispatcher, can also be used free of charge, i.e. without purchasing additional SAP licenses.

The introduction of the SAP Cloud Platform with its mobile services must be understood against this background. The PaaS offering provides services for the development, integration and operation of cloud applications and customer-specific extensions of cloud and on-premises landscapes. Cross-platform and native mobile apps are developed here via the "Cloud Mobile Development Kit" and "Cloud Platform SDK for Android and iOS" essays. The Cloud Platform, as a new (now paid) layer, should offer various added values to customers who want to move to the cloud. With the start of the Rise initiative, the Cloud Platform was renamed Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) or represents one of its cornerstones.

Business Technology Platform

For many business scenarios, the use of BTP provides excellent opportunities to mobilize SAP processes via the cloud. But not categorically for all. This is because setting up and operating the aforementioned components costs money, is maintenance-intensive and the infrastructure is complex. You have to connect SAP to the cloud, create different communication channels, etc. Existing customers are still not clear what function the new tools and platforms are actually supposed to fulfill. If you go to BTP, you will find that not everything is mature and the possibilities for development are not always improved either. For example, there are always limitations, some of which have to be activated by paid services first.

Hybrid answers

Cordova is a strikingly simple way to develop hybrid applications: At the top you put in Java Script, at the bottom you get ready-made apps for iOS, Android and even Blackberry. With the tools of the SAPUI5 design kit, Munich Enterprise develops such mobile apps that are 100 percent integrated into the standard SAP process. Packaged in Cordova containers, they run like a native app designed directly for IOS/Android, in all environments. This simplifies their use for users as well as for administration. SAP apps, on the other hand, always require the construct of the Fiori Launchpad or a web browser.

Sure: Launchpad works on the desktop as well as on mobile devices. But not as well as a native app. There are fewer options and the usability is also weaker. It is therefore not surprising that SAP has also recognized the advantage of Cordova and offers plug-ins to convert its Fiori into native apps. However, this is only ever an afterthought compared to the manufacturer's "original". Things are mixed here that don't actually go together. If standard Fiori apps are made to work on the cell phone, then this is basically something customized: more expensive and the infrastructure makes it rather more complicated.