How can an on-premise ABAP add-on be implemented as a cloud solution? possible with SAP BTP?

[dniemczyk]

Hello everyone,

Our SAP CEP AddOn is currently an on-premise solution and is fully implemented with ABAP (SE80, Dynpros, etc.). Now the question arises as to whether the add-on could also be implemented as a cloud solution.

Brief summary of the functions:

- Print HUs

- Label printing (ZPL code generated locally or via web service)

- Everything configurable via a cockpit, including display of all printed consignments and much more. All with the help of Dynpros and Views.

- Connection of Logistic service providers (TNT, Fedex ...) locally or via web services (SOAMANAGER, SM59)

- EOD (End of Day) reports via XML, IFTMIN etc.

- Track and trace integrated

Can SAP BTP be used for this? What exactly of the SAP BTP can be used for this, SAP BTP ABAP Environment ? UI5? something else ? Is it even possible to build something like this as a BTP cloud solution?

Have any of you ever implemented an on-premise solution as a cloud solution and can tell me about your experiences?

As I have hardly any experience with these technologies, I would be happy to receive input from you. Useful articles etc. are also welcome.

Thanks 🙂

[Afsal]

Hi Daniel,
Congrats on the Cloud thought.

In a nutshell, SAP BTP provides great extensibility along with the provision to connect different and multiple systems on/off the SAP ecosystem. From my experience, I would like to share my thoughts here.

I was part of a team that migrated (also updated with additional features) an on-prem add-on to the SAP BTP. Surely it wasn't a quick process. But these are the key takeaways from the experience:

1. You have more ways to integrate and cross-develop things in the BTP. Let it be your existing applications or a new one. BTP provides you choices with different languages including ABAP (RAPM), NodeJS, and JAVA (and others too) in CAPM. You can also use a mix of this - that is the beauty. You are not limited to one set of stacks, which reduces the tradeoff when something is not available in a particular language.

2. You can utilize services and functionalities from other systems including on-prem systems if you wish to keep it there. Cloud connector, RFC calls and Odata services come in handy in there of on-prem to BTP connection. So whatever you think to be kept on-prem or takes time to migrate, you can keep it there and still work on BTP without replication or the fear of post-implementation rework (Keep in mind that, it is better to keep the data in BTP and utilize functionalities from on-prem in this case.

3. For reports - you also have the application jobs and similar provisions to run periodical automated functions or services. which is configurable and highly flexible with a little custom coding. You can also fetch data from on-prem or any other system on a periodical basis and feed that to your BTP application.

4. 3rd party service integration - Cloud provides more options to consume services from 3rd party. You can mix and match applications based on your unique requirements. I have used both NodeJs and ABAP in our implementation.

on the technology stack, for backend services, you can go with ABAP, Node or Java. You can also make use of a mix of this as and when required). Fiori or UI5 can be used with all of these.

As your existing system is in the ABAP stack, it would be easier to focus on RAP(Restfull ABAP Programming Model) and extend that to CAP based on the requirements.

I hope this gives a little insight into BTP on a high level. It is a wide area and I would like to exchange thoughts and knowledge.

[dniemczyk]

Hello Mr. Afsal,

thank you, you have helped me a lot with your experience so far. I reached out to you via Mail.

Best regards

Daniel