The latest development of SAP ABAP SteammPunk-Embedded Steampunk

Steampunk is going all-in

What is SAP ABAP Steampunk (steampunk)?

Steampunk (aka SAP BTP ABAP environment): Provides an ABAP platform that is not only a benchmark for enterprise-readiness as it is today, but also cloud-ready. The main attributes of steampunk are:

(1) A dedicated and stable public interface between the platform and the top solution to ensure trouble-free upgrades

(2) Enterprise-ready environment for cloud development, including new ABAP language version and ABAP RESTful application programming model (RAP)

(3) Cloud-ready runtime environment with BTP integration, standardized system update and configuration, and automated operation

(4) The cloud transition path of our current customer base, carefully balancing the above two risks

After 2020, ABAP Steampunk already supports multi-tenancy. This means that our partners can significantly reduce costs, and they can now provide SaaS solutions to multiple customers in the same Steampunk system.

For ABAP insiders: The Steampunk multi-tenant architecture is based on the Client field, so it provides complete isolation between consumers (tenants), and each additional consumer has the lowest cost.

In addition, Steampunk has brought so many enhancements: an improved ABAP language optimized for the cloud, more effective support for developers, better tools for administrators, migration tools for ERP custom codes , Reuse of services, or scalability for partners are just a few of them.

At the same time, the SAP Steampunk team is working to use Kubernetes to elastically scale application servers, update with zero downtime, reduce the minimum HANA memory size (30GB instead of 64GB), high availability and disaster recovery, more data centers and hyperscalers to save Cost, to name a few.

Regardless of the use case, we provide powerful cloud products for all ABAP-aware customers and partners. Today, Steampunk on SAP BTP supports the following scenarios:

(1) Customers use a side-by-side approach to expand their ERP applications (clean core initiative)

(2) Partners who provide SaaS applications to their customers

(3) Partners who develop SAP solution extensions for SAP price lists (for example, Vistex)

(4) SAP products (such as Market Communications for Utilities, or SAP Master Data Governance, Cloud Edition)

(5) SAP's own internal ERP extension

What is Embedded SteamPunk-Embedded SteamPunk?

Steampunk is a great choice for loosely coupled parallel extensions or partners who provide SaaS solutions written in ABAP. This is somewhat similar to a solution running in parallel on NetWeaver.

In the On-Premises environment, customers can adjust SAP software by modifying SAP software or writing custom code that can use any SAP object (red in the figure above). There is no dedicated stable and public interface, which is the cause of the annoying upgrade problem. With NetWeaver Standalone, you can at least write loosely coupled extensions whose life cycle is separated from the ERP core.

Today's situation looks like this (at least from an ABAP point of view, I will omit our BTP Java and Node.js areas for the sake of simplicity).

Regarding the expansion mechanism, the On-Premises system (bottom left corner) has not changed much. But in the cloud, only the cloud-ready extension mechanism must be provided, and there will be no problems after the upgrade. For all loosely coupled ABAP scenarios, the solution is Steampunk on the BTP (upper right corner), with a stable public interface (green) between the platform and the upper layer.

Expanding the ERP core in parallel is well suited for many use cases. But it's not for everyone. Consider the custom code that needs to run near the application being expanded. In the same context, call the local API, for example, to avoid a large amount of data copy, or run in the same logical unit of work (database LUW). For these situations, S/4HANA Cloud has so far only provided key user scalability (upper left corner of the figure above). Although this is a powerful mechanism that allows field expansion or custom business logic, it cannot be compared with the classic expansion possibilities at the developer level. It is certainly not an option to provide a local extension style in S/4HANA Cloud, because this strategy is not cloud-ready, not upgradeable and stable).

This is why we introduced embedded steampunk:

Internally, S/4HANA Cloud and Steampunk share the same ABAP platform code line (marked in blue) anyway, and Steampunk is an innovation leader. Therefore, embedding the Steampunk development model directly into the S/4HANA Cloud stack is a logical next step. Custom extensions developed with embedded steampunk now have the same attributes as Steampunk Cloud Ready and Upgrade Stable:

• Use only stable public interfaces
• No need to modify SAP code
• Restricted use of ABAP language and other technologies
• Restrict the use of system functions
• Use RAP for efficient development

Using ADT (ABAP Development Tool) to develop extensions with embedded Steampunk feels like using Steampunk to develop on BTP. There is also an important additional benefit: the embedded Steampunk extension can not only call the more technical ABAP platform interface (green), but also call containing business functions (for example, the CDS view, such as I_Product, replace the direct table MARA or RAP appearance Visit to create a purchase order). In S/4HANA Cloud, the custom code itself is either its own application or service, or it is implemented through a common extension point using the well-known BADI technology.

If you are an ABAP developer and are willing to be familiar with RAP, ADT instead of SE80, or clean API instead of free-style modification, then embedded Steampunk will make you feel at home. You can use all the tools and processes you already know. These are the same tools and processes that tens of millions of SAP developers use every day.

Embedded Steampunk for S/4HANA on-prem

S/4HANA On-Prem still allows classic expansion, shortening the migration path from the classic ERP world, but it leaves an upgrade problem. With the embedded Steampunk in the local S/4HANA (bottom left corner below), we hope to support the conversion of these systems to cleaner cores and establish a stable public interface between SAP and extensions. Of course, due to the large amount of classic custom code and the lack of public SAP APIs or extension points, we cannot enforce such a move overnight.

This is why native ABAP custom code can now set a flag that tells the ABAP compiler whether to allow classic code or enforce strict Steampunk checks.

Therefore, local S/4 customers can freely choose at the ABAP class level: keep the classic extension method or refactor it. Needless to say, refactoring has gradually made the core cleaner, reducing upgrade issues and preparing for future migration to the cloud.

The Steampunk development environment is exactly the same in BTP, S/4HANA Cloud and S/4HANA On-Prem. The local public S/4 service interface (orange) is currently created using the cloud-first approach, but will also grow in the local S/4 over time.

In our opinion, steampunk and embedded steampunk make the long transition from local to hybrid to cloud easier. And both fully support the clean core strategy.

Embedded Steampunk has been briefly announced as a lab preview on Sapphire 2021. We started with S/4HANA Cloud and are currently collecting the first batch of customer feedback through the Early Adopter Program (invited only) and then promoting it to all customers. Please stay tuned for more information on SAP TechED 2021!

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