SAP Fiori Receives Support

A milestone has been reached: SAP Fiori is celebrating its tenth anniversary and has become a groundbreaking user interface for SAP applications during this time. Despite its success, however, companies still face a variety of challenges when developing Fiori applications. Many find Fiori complex and time-consuming, especially if the standard does not match their own business processes. This leads to additional development work due to the lack of specific preconfigured Fiori applications. Seamless integration of Fiori with existing SAP landscapes is also not a given.

In the current and dynamic business world, it is crucial to provide fast and innovative solutions to stay ahead of the competition and retain employees in the long term. Companies must drive the digitization of SAP and non-SAP-based processes in a future-proof and sustainable manner.

Due to limited personnel resources in the IT area, many companies are often unable to provide urgently needed Fiori applications in a timely manner. Given the shortage of skilled workers and high costs, expanding the development team is often not a realistic option. As if that weren't enough, most companies are also facing the S/4 transformation. This further ties up already scarce IT resources, leaving even less time for developing new digital SAP solutions. To the suffering of the employees - because they hardly see a direct return on investment in the migration to S/4 Hana, since there is a lack of noticeable differences or improvements in the daily workflow. 

So it's a dilemma: departments urgently need new and innovative SAP Fiori applications or modern digital solutions, and preferably right away. However, the developers do not have the necessary capacities available. 

Ten years of Fiori

It's time, on the tenth birthday of SAP Fiori, to usher in a new era of Fiori development. An era in which IT departments can develop all their Fiori desktop and mobile apps faster, scalably and cost-effectively, too, using an innovative no-code/low-code development platform that makes SAP easier to work with.

This approach reduces dependency on developers, which significantly reduces the time required and enables IT departments to prioritize their workload more effectively. The active involvement of business users plays a crucial role, as it contributes significantly to relieving the burden on IT and makes optimal use of the expertise of both areas. 

From No-Code to Pro-Code

Close collaboration between business users and development is essential, as they know their processes and requirements best and provide valuable input for application development. With the appropriate no-code/low-code tools, technically skilled employees (citizen developers) can directly start designing the SAP application themselves by creating mockups and UI5-based prototypes.

They use simple modular components, so-called application building blocks, which can be easily assembled using drag-and-drop functionality. This results in significant time and cost savings, as there is no need to create code from scratch. Instead, proven layout templates from existing SAP applications or entire SAP portals can be easily copied.

The developers then take over the final development and deployment of the business app. Thanks to low-code, the app only needs to be developed once and can be made available immediately for all systems and various end devices. With the technical know-how, developers optimize the application and ensure security and distribution in the company. This preserves IT governance, while complex and customized SAP Fiori apps can be developed quickly and easily to help employees in their daily work and support the digital advancement of the company.

Successful implementation of digital solutions for SAP processes with SAP Fiori apps or similar applications requires the use of modern no-code/low-code development platforms. In this area, Neptune Software offers DXP, a solution in the SAP market that sits directly in SAP. With Neptune DXP, IT departments can drive enterprise app development much more easily and up to ten times faster without having to undergo extensive training or education. DXP enables seamless integration of on-prem back-end systems with cloud solutions and supports standards-based APIs. As the only native, SAP-certified solution for SAP Fiori-UX, it directly leverages SAP's Abap source code and can be run within the SAP environment. This allows custom Fiori applications to run on any existing SAP system with Abap-based RESTful APIs, regardless of module, version, or hosting type.

By combining no-code, low-code and pro-code within one platform, Neptune DXP enables choice in how (with or without code) and by whom (citizen developer or developer) a new app can be built. DXP covers the entire lifecycle of business-critical applications - from development and creation to management and execution. 

Optimize operating processes

Low-code in development approach opens up a wide range of opportunities for companies to optimize in different business areas. In the supply chain, for example, processes can be improved through real-time transparency, while production and manufacturing processes are digitized to minimize bottlenecks. At the same time, plant maintenance benefits from the offline capabilities of mobile apps, making work easier for employees. 

Enterprise portals can also be easily implemented in practice using low-code, whether for suppliers, customers or partners. In the HR department, for example, paper-based HR processes can be digitized through a central entry point into an employee portal, enabling the capture of payroll, internal communications, and vacation requests.

A current low-code app example that many companies have to deal with due to new legislation is time tracking. This is available as an app template in the app development platform and can be quickly transformed into a customized enterprise app by any organization - all easily thanks to No-Code/Low-Code for SAP.

neptune-software.com