As businesses embrace digital transformation and move to cloud-based enterprise systems, SAP’s Clean Core Strategy has emerged as a cornerstone for sustainable innovation and agility. The approach emphasizes keeping the core ERP—whether SAP S/4HANA or SAP S/4HANA Cloud—clean of custom code and modifications, enabling faster upgrades, reduced maintenance effort, and continuous innovation.
What Is the SAP Clean Core Strategy?
The Clean Core Strategy is SAP’s response to the complexities of the over-customization of ERP systems. Traditionally, organizations extensively customized their SAP ERP environments to meet specific business needs. However, this often led to:
- Upgrade challenges due to incompatible custom code.
- Increased costs of testing and maintenance.
- Slower adoption of innovations and SAP updates.
A clean core approach encourages customers to:
- Minimize customizations in the ERP layer.
- Use extensibility models provided by SAP that separate custom logic from the core.
- Leverage side-by-side extensions and services outside the core using SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP).
How does SAP BTP Enable a Clean Core
SAP BTP is a unified platform that combines data and analytics, application development, integration, automation, and AI services. It empowers customers to extend and integrate SAP systems without altering the core ERP, supporting the clean core vision.
- Side-by-Side Extensions: SAP BTP allows customers to build and deploy custom applications and logic outside the ERP system. Using services like:
- SAP Build Apps and SAP Business Application Studio for low-code/no-code and pro-code development.
- SAP Cloud Application Programming (CAP) model for scalable, modular extension development.
- This approach ensures custom features don’t interfere with the ERP’s upgrade path.
- Event-Driven Architecture: With SAP Event Mesh, customers can decouple extensions using events triggered by changes in the core system. This ensures minimal dependency and cleaner integration.
- Business Process Automation: SAP BTP’s SAP Build Process Automation and SAP Workflow Management help model, automate and monitor business processes without touching the core. These tools enable rapid process innovation tailored to business needs.
- Integration with SAP and Third-Party Systems: The SAP Integration Suite supports the Clean Core by allowing seamless integration across systems—SAP and non-SAP—through prebuilt connectors, APIs, and integration flows, all without altering the ERP codebase.
- Data Management and Insights: With SAP Datasphere, SAP Analytics Cloud, and SAP HANA Cloud, organizations can derive insights from real-time data—again, without embedding complex reporting logic into the core system.
- AI and Machine Learning Services: SAP AI Core and AI Foundation services on BTP let companies develop intelligent applications and integrate AI into business processes without embedding models into ERP, ensuring flexibility and upgradability.
Business Benefits of Clean Core with SAP BTP
• Accelerated innovation cycles with easier access to updates.
• Lower total cost of ownership through simplified maintenance.
• Increased agility for responding to business needs.
• Improved compliance and governance by decoupling core and custom logic.
• Future-ready architecture for cloud transformation and RISE with SAP initiatives.
SAP’s Clean Core Strategy is not just a technical recommendation—it’s a transformative approach that ensures customers stay agile, future-ready, and continuously innovative. SAP BTP plays a crucial role in operationalizing this strategy by offering the tools and services necessary to build modern, scalable, and maintainable extensions without compromising the integrity of the ERP core.
Enterprises that embrace this strategy are better positioned to capitalize on the latest SAP innovations, reduce technical debt, and drive long-term value from their digital transformation initiatives.
UNIORG and PANFISH are making the most of SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) to develop smart, efficient solutions like UDINA BTP and ChronoScope. UDINA BTP provides ready-to-run services that help businesses integrate systems, automate processes, and scale quickly.
ChronoScope, built on UDINA BTP, is a time recording application designed to make tracking work hours simple and accurate. By tapping into SAP BTP’s flexibility, cloud capabilities, and AI-driven insights, UNIORG and PANFISH are helping businesses work smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
Final Thoughts
No business leader wants to take the long way around when a smarter, faster route is available. SAP S/4HANA Cloud is your GPS for success, whether you’re upgrading your old systems or setting out on a new path. With “Rise with SAP” and “Grow with SAP,” you have the tools to navigate the business landscape confidently, avoiding roadblocks and reaching your destination efficiently.
At PANFISH Solutions, we are happy to generate solution requirements based on the latest SAP technologies such as BTP, CAP, and SAP FIORI/UI5, ensuring that your business is always equipped with the most advanced tools for success.
Ready to set your business on the right track? The road to success is clearer than ever with SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
