From source code to torment code

The past DSAG Technology Days 2022 in Düsseldorf proved it impressively: SAP is doing a good job, but seems to be falling victim to its own success. SAP is making an effort, but has let the reins slip for more than a decade. SAP Business Suite 7 with its numerous Abap modifications is present almost everywhere and successfully customized. The bumpy transition to Hana and S/4 has created a heterogeneous conglomerate that is currently hardly mastered by anyone. Partners are rushing to help.

The SAP community remembers: AnyDB should have been replaced by Hana with the introduction of S/4. This did not work in any way because S/4 was more of a marketing term than a finished product at the beginning. Thus, SAP invented a disastrous intermediate step: SoH - Suite on Hana. So that Hana finally arrives in the market and shows noteworthy installation figures. However, SAP Business Suite 7 on the Hana database is counterproductive, because well customized now the SAP existing customers want to work even longer with Suite 7 - after all, ECC 6.0 has a perfect substructure with Hana.

So, once again, why switch to S/4 and is the new ERP still up to date? Obviously, S/4 is a pain for both SAP's existing customers and SAP itself. A lot of effort is invested and yet you are running on the stand. S/4 is a Sisyphean task. The SAP existing customer has to change his Abap-.
modification and SAP must ensure integration between S/4 and all other SAP products. Both are a never-ending story because there are numerous releases.

Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller explained it at the DSAG Technology Days: Has the much-demanded integration been completed? Yes, about 95 percent from the perspective of the most recent releases of all SAP products. However, if all SAP products are considered with their almost unmanageable combinations and different release statuses, the situation regarding integration and a one-domain model is very poor.

It is a pain, because the existing source code will not be consolidated and integrated in this lifetime. It is like the race between Achilles, the fastest runner in the world, and the tortoise. Arrogantly and recklessly, Achill gave the slow turtle a head start, then the start occurred. Both of them started to move. Quickly Achill reached the place where the turtle started. In the meantime, however, she had also moved on a bit.

Achill also overcame this section of the path very quickly. Again, the turtle moved a little further. Again Achill reached the place where the turtle was before - and so on. Naturally, the distance between Achill and the turtle became smaller and smaller, but he could never overtake it. Will SAP ever be able to turn the S/4 torment code into a functioning source code again?