SAP API Disruption

SAP API architecture management

If the API architecture management does not fit exactly into the ERP schema provided by SAP, there are considerable limitations and restrictions for existing SAP customers. Particularly alarming is the fact that many users and partners have had to fall back on undocumented interfaces that were tolerated by SAP for a long time in the past due to a lack of alternatives. Their use is now suddenly in breach of contract and destroys functioning business models.

Open Data Infrastructure Scorecard (ODI) critically examined how willing cloud software providers are to grant their customers free access to their own company data. SAP traditionally performs extremely poorly in such evaluations, as the Group is increasingly erecting proprietary barriers, blocking direct database access and specifically blocking high-performance interfaces for data extraction by third-party providers.

ODI-Scorecard relentlessly confirms this picture, as SAP prohibits the direct path from S/4 to external data warehouses such as Microsoft Fabric, and blocks the efficient ODP (Operational Data Provisioning) interface for mass data extraction by competitors. This restrictive architecture policy de facto forces customers to use SAP's own expensive integration tools, which is diametrically opposed to the basic idea of an open data infrastructure and cements a tough vendor lock-in.

API doctrine for SAP BTP, SAP BDC and SAP Integration Suite

For existing SAP customers, this restrictive API doctrine means that they must exercise extreme caution when using the Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), the Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC or, as the user association DSAG puts it, Business Data Complexity) and the SAP Integration Suite. The blocking of direct mass data extraction to external data lakes forces users into the SAP BDC or Datasphere solutions, which gives the impression that SAP has erected a closed customs barrier for the digital data flow.

Although SAP positions the BDC boldly as an open data ecosystem with zero-copy technology via partners such as Databricks, the small print of the general terms and conditions reveals massive pitfalls, as the use of SAP APIs for data extraction in non-SAP software is explicitly prohibited unless this has been expressly documented as a function of the API (see also SAP Digital Access). When planning the architecture on the BTP, customers must pay meticulous attention to orchestrating only approved interfaces, which drastically increases the development effort for individual end-to-end processes and massively slows down the much-needed entrepreneurial agility (see also SAP Clean Core concept).

A critical look at the licenses and license conditions for SAP API and SAP BDC reveals a highly toxic commercial model at the expense of existing customers. The digital access model established by SAP has already ensured for years that the indirect creation of documents by third-party systems has to be paid for dearly, which now threatens to escalate completely with the new API policy in the age of AI, when autonomous AI agents read and write data en masse.

Fair use for Business Data Complexity (SAP BDC)

The user association DSAG fears creeping commercialization and is calling for transparent fair-use models for API access, as otherwise the costs of digital transformation will increase immeasurably. The SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC) also conceals blatant contractual restrictions in the terms of use, such as hard limits of only 2,000 OData API calls per gigabyte of compute memory per month, which can result in incalculable additional fees each time this limit is exceeded.

In addition, SAP classifies important BDC Connect services in the so-called Group 2 of Capacity Services, whereby the Group reserves the right to cancel these services without replacement with a lead time of six months, which destroys any long-term investment security for the user in the area of data infrastructure.

In view of these thumbscrews, existing SAP customers urgently need to evaluate independent alternatives for API management and data integration. Rather than being blindly dependent on SAP BDC and SAP Integration Suite, independent integration platform-as-a-service (iPaaS) providers such as Boomi offer crucial fallback options to manage APIs flexibly, cost-effectively and without the constraint of proprietary abap developments.

Boomi and JiVS: Alternatives to SAP BTP and BDC

Boomi makes it possible to route data to any cloud data lake, regardless of the network, without having to submit to the strict data hegemony of the Walldorf-based company. For the management of historical legacy data and the preservation of data sovereignty away from the expensive SAP infrastructure, platforms such as JiVS from Data Migration International are also positioning themselves as a valuable alternative for managing the legacy of the ERP era in a legally compliant manner and permanently relieving the burden on the S/4 core.

Nevertheless, the fundamental problem remains that external tools are also dependent on the APIs that are strictly regulated by SAP, which is why alternative providers must increasingly look for creative but legally secure ways to compensate for the ODP interface blocked by SAP.

Clean Core as a necessary fig leaf

If SAP API management in an S/4 Cloud environment is nevertheless to be organized strictly in accordance with SAP's clean core doctrine, this requires a radical organizational and technical transformation in the existing customer's Customer Center of Expertise (CCoE). The CCoE is changing from a purely operational basic administrator to a strategic governance instance that must relentlessly monitor every API call and every BTP extension.

As part of the strict clean core model, only whitelisted APIs (level A) that are provided via the SAP Business Accelerator Hub and orchestrated via the SAP Integration Suite may be used for side-by-side extensions on the BTP. Any direct modification or unauthorized read access to internal database tables (clean core levels C and D) is strictly prohibited.

These clean-core restrictions require the use of professional monitoring tools such as SAP Cloud ALM to guarantee compliance with these rigid requirements, as well as the development of completely new skills in modern programming models such as CAP (Cloud Application Programming Model) and RAP (RESTful Application Programming Model) in order to map business-critical logic on the BTP in a future-proof and API-compliant manner.

SAP API conclusion

The urgent recommendation of the German-speaking user association DSAG to its members and all existing SAP customers is therefore not to approach the new SAP policy unprepared and uncritically. The interest group demands clear definitions from SAP without delay, complete and contractually binding documentation of all affected APIs as well as realistic transition periods so that existing and highly complex integration models do not collapse overnight.

Existing SAP customers are urgently advised to immediately legally secure existing proof-of-concepts and AI pilot projects and, in the case of upcoming contract extensions, to ensure meticulously that no subsequent technical restrictions or hidden cost increases are accepted through the back door of API usage.

Ultimately, DSAG is calling on the SAP community to actively defend its own digital sovereignty and to demand unconditional transparency from SAP regarding the use, consumption and commercial consequences of the API strategy in order to avoid losing its full operational ability to act to the software group in this risky transformation phase.

DSAG is therefore calling for clear definitions, complete documentation of the APIs concerned and reliable planning security for customers and partners, as well as mapping in the contracts that allows a reliable assessment of the use cases on the customer side. The corresponding regulations should be comprehensible and easy to understand. In addition, they must not lead to cost increases for customers and partners. „Against the backdrop of secure and stable operations, it is also important for us as users to have full transparency about usage, consumption and consequences,“ says Stefan Nogly, DSAG Chief Technology Officer.

Control handle: SAP API Policy

From DSAG's point of view, the current design of the API policy raises questions. The scope of the restrictions appears to go beyond the necessary technical level. In order to ensure the ability to innovate and planning security for customers and partners in the long term, these open points must be clarified as quickly as possible in cooperation between SAP and DSAG.

On closer inspection, SAP's current API strategy resembles a strategic grip on absolute data sovereignty, which poses a massive threat to the innovative strength of existing customers. With the SAP API Policy, which was tightened in April 2026, the Walldorf-based software company is rigorously regulating the conditions under which customers and partners may transfer data to third-party systems. In future, only those interfaces that are explicitly identified in the „SAP Business Accelerator Hub“ or in the official product documentation will be permitted. The German-speaking SAP user group (DSAG) sharply criticizes this move in a recent press release and criticizes the lack of contractually binding documentation, which poses an existential threat to the legal and technological planning security of users.