SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is a unified solution that encompasses diverse technology portfolios, including database and data management, application development and integration, analytics, and intelligent technologies. This platform provides users with the capability to transform data into tangible business value, orchestrate end-to-end business processes, and swiftly construct and expand SAP applications.
SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) functions as a Platform as a Service (PaaS), offering in-memory capabilities, essential platform services, and microservices to develop and enhance intelligent, mobile-enabled cloud applications. It provides significant flexibility by allowing users to choose from various cloud vendors and applications. The platform is structured around three key pillars.
- Integration: SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) offers functionalities and technologies for connecting both On-Premise and cloud-based applications. This aspect is frequently in demand among Basis consultants, as functional teams often seek their expertise in integrating on-premise and cloud-based applications.
- Data to Value: SAP BTP plays a crucial role in delivering a consolidated view across all data sets, facilitating real-time insights. With BTP, multiple data sources can be seamlessly connected, enabling the transformation of this data into tangible business value.
- Extensibility: The concept of extensibility empowers companies to build and enhance applications tailored to meet customer needs. BTP provides a platform that assists organizations in easily developing and deploying new applications on the cloud-based platform.
As SAP cloud applications experience a surge in popularity, it has become increasingly vital for Basis consultants and developers to grasp fundamental terms associated with SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP). Key concepts include Global Account, Subscriptions, Entitlement, Region, and Directory. The diagram below illustrates the interconnected nature of these terms.
- Service Marketplace of the BTP:
Functioning akin to an app store, the Service Marketplace within SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) offers a comprehensive collection of services along with their detailed descriptions. - Entitlement:
An entitlement represents your authorization to provision and utilize a resource. Essentially, entitlements correspond to the service plans for which you have the right to use. - Quota:
A quota is a numerical representation defining the maximum allowable consumption of a resource. Put simply, it indicates the extent to which you are entitled to use a particular service plan.
In the realm of SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), a pivotal term is the SAP Discovery Centre.
When confronted with a business scenario and the need to explore implementation options, the SAP Discovery Centre emerges as the guiding solution. It plays a key role in streamlining business processes by leveraging support from the SAP community. Offering an immersive digital experience, the SAP Discovery Centre delivers solutions in the form of:
- Missions: These are detailed, step-by-step guides outlining the implementation of various business scenarios. A rich repository of missions is already available for SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP BTP, and S/4 HANA, providing valuable resources for customers.
- Services: Geared towards accelerating business applications and other platform services on BTP, a diverse array of services is at your disposal. These services cover a spectrum of functionalities, including those for the ABAP environment, alert notifications, compliance reporting, log services, automation pilot, and more.
Administrators have various methods to establish connections with SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) applications, with one of the widely employed solutions being the SAP Cloud Connector.
The diagram below aids in comprehending how SAP BTP applications can connect with On-Premise Applications. The SAP Cloud Connector functions as a reverse proxy, facilitating communication between on-premise systems and the SAP BTP platform.
Utilizing a cloud connector offers several advantages, especially when contrasted with the complexities associated with opening ports in the firewall—an often challenging task for Basis Team members to justify to network teams. The cloud connector provides numerous benefits:
- Protocol Support:
It supports multiple protocols, including HTTP and RFC. This includes native access to ABAP systems by invoking function modules. - Database Connectivity:
The cloud connector facilitates seamless connections to both on-premise and cloud editions of HANA databases. - User Identity Propagation:
An additional benefit is its ability to propagate the identity of cloud users to on-premise systems. This ensures a smooth integration of user identities across different environments.