Rise, Steampunk and Toggle

SAP S/4 Hana 2023 to 2040

If SAP has its way, Hana and S/4 will have a long life ahead of them. But that is not yet the case. Many existing SAP customers are on hold. Future innovations, however, argue in favor of a rapid release change, even if this is associated with high costs.

RISE with SAP

A common understanding was that Rise was to be the roadmap to SAP's cloud including business process reengineering by Signavio. However, a recent SAP graphic shows that Rise with SAP was only supposed to be the technical foundation for the Advanced Shipping and Receiving, Sales Order Automation and Collaborative MRP applications in 2021. Of course, Rise with SAP has an important role in the context of S/4 conversion, but obviously SAP trusts good and old Abap more.

Embedded steampunk

For a long time, the future of Abap was discussed in the SAP community. SAP's own programming language is a relic from the SAP R/3 era and thus an on-prem product. Many experts rely on Java and open source tools, hardly anyone believed in a cloud rebirth of Abap on the Business Technology Platform, BTP. Steampunk, however, is precisely this framework that will allow Abap to live on in the cloud computing era. According to the aforementioned SAP graphic, by 2022 numerous applications such as Advanced Intercompany Sales and Supply-Based Confirmation would be based on Embedded Steampunk.

FPS Toggle Framework

For many years, SAP's existing customers have been plagued by the fact that many additional functions in Business Suite 7 can only be switched on, but no longer switched off. This ultimately results in higher maintenance costs and precludes a trial-and-error process. Part of the reason for this one-way street is technical, because additional functions often create further Abap tables that can hardly be deleted again, and part is of course a simple sales trick. With a Feature Pack Stack (FPS) toggle framework, selected functions are supposed to be able to be switched on and off. This Feature Flags Service will be available this year for the applications Capable-to-Promise (aATP), Asset-Centric Service and Safety Data Sheet Authoring, among others.

Central Business Configuration

A comprehensive successor to Rise-with-SAP will then be available at the technical level in 2025 with Central Business Configuration. All control functions for basic administration will then be combined here and used specifically for the announced applications Enhanced Sustainability, Complex Assets and Enhanced Sales Order Scheduling. It can be assumed that from Rise with SAP via Steampunk and Toggle Framework to Central Business Configuration, this will be a constantly building development that prepares the S/4 Hana technology stack for future innovation.