Impact of S4 HANA on SAP ABAP

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SAP ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is a programming language that is used to develop applications for the SAP system. SAP ABAP has been around for decades and has evolved over time to meet the changing needs of businesses and technologies.

SAP S4 HANA (SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA) is a new generation of SAP's flagship ERP software that runs exclusively on SAP HANA, an in-memory database platform that offers faster performance, real-time analytics, and simplified data models. SAP S4 HANA was launched in 2015 and has been gradually replacing the previous versions of SAP Business Suite.

So what does this mean for SAP ABAP developers? How does S4 HANA affect their work and skills? In this blog post, we will explore some of the major impacts of S4 HANA on SAP ABAP and how developers can adapt to them.


## Impact 1: New Programming Model

One of the most significant impacts of S4 HANA on SAP ABAP is the introduction of a new programming model that aims to leverage the capabilities of SAP HANA and provide a more efficient and modern way of developing applications. This new programming model consists of three main components:

- Core Data Services (CDS Views): These are data definitions that are stored in the database layer and can be accessed by various application layers. CDS views allow developers to create complex data models with associations, aggregations, calculations, annotations and access controls without writing any code. CDS views also enable analytical queries and reporting capabilities on transactional data.

- OData Services: These are web services that expose CDS views or other data sources as RESTful APIs that can be consumed by various front-end technologies such as SAP Fiori, HTML5 or mobile apps. OData services allow developers to create user-friendly interfaces with minimal coding effort.

- BOPF (Business Object Processing Framework): This is a framework that provides a standard way of implementing business logic, validations, actions, events, and workflows for business objects. BOPF allows developers to focus on business requirements rather than technical details.

The new programming model requires developers to learn new skills and tools such as CDS views, OData services, BOPF framework, Eclipse IDE, ADT (ABAP Development Tools), etc. It also requires developers to adopt a more modular and decoupled approach to application development where different layers have clear responsibilities and interfaces.


## Impact 2: Code Optimization

Another impact of S4 HANA on SAP ABAP is the need for code optimization to ensure optimal performance and compatibility with SAP HANA. Since SAP HANA is an in-memory database that processes data at high speed using columnar storage and parallel processing techniques, some traditional coding practices may not be suitable or efficient for it.


For example,

  • Selecting large amounts of data from the database without filtering or aggregating them may cause unnecessary memory consumption or network traffic.
  • Using nested loops or cursors may cause performance degradation due to multiple round trips between the application server and the database server.
  • Using obsolete statements or functions such as SELECT * , SELECT SINGLE , SELECT ENDSELECT , SUBMIT REPORT , etc. may cause errors or warnings during migration or activation.

To avoid these issues, developers need to review their existing code base and apply best practices such as:

  • Pushing down calculations or aggregations to the database layer using CDS views or SQLScript procedures
  • Reducing data transfers between the application server

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