ABAP Development Days 2025
The ABAP Development Days 2025 have come to an end. We'd like to share some impressions of the past few days with you and provide insights into the various topics.
Table of contents
In this article, we would like to discuss the last few days, what opportunities there were, and how you can get in touch with your SAP colleagues.
Introduction
The ABAP Development Days are organized by SAP and DSAG and represent a highlight of the year for the ABAP community in German-speaking countries. Together with around 130 participants, we met in Wiesloch to spend two days full of topics together.
Social Media
Before we get into our impressions, here are some posts from LinkedIn about the last few days and some impressions of the atmosphere. Carine and Sebastian have posted a few things these days:
- Carine - First Day
- Carine - ABAP Cloud Strategy
- Carine - Jould and AI
- Carine - ABAP Environment
- Carine - Second Day
- Sebastian - Second Day
Day 1
The first day was well-structured with a keynote on ABAP strategy, a hands-on session, further insights, and a short quiz. This should provide something for everyone and plenty of material for discussion throughout the evening.
ABAP Strategy
The ABAP strategy should be familiar; there are now various platforms for use, development, and different scenarios. An S/4HANA system is available in Public Cloud Edition, Private Cloud Edition, and On-Prem versions. There is also the SAP BTP ABAP Environment, or Steampunk for short, which is used to expand the three types. All types have different release cycles, i.e., when the new features are delivered.
With its new concepts, ABAP Cloud plays an important role in the future of ABAP development, enabling a uniform development model for all systems and thus standardizing ABAP development to a modern standard. Four major topics are currently playing a role in the development of the portfolio:
- Transform - Approximately 50% of customers and partners are still in the process of transforming to S/4HANA. SAP publishes various tools and aids, now also based on AI, to support companies in their transformation.
- Cloud ERP - The path from on-premises to cloud editions has begun for many companies. This also presents many challenges in making their own extensions cloud-ready so that they can be used in the future.
- Suite - The announcement of the "new" Business Suite came as a bit of a surprise, as the name had already been used for something else years ago.
- AI - No one can really ignore the topic of artificial intelligence anymore; it is included in almost every tech talk or is touted as a major feature by software manufacturers. In the ABAP area, it will become particularly important with Joule for ABAP Developers and the SDK. But AI will also find its way into many standard applications.
RAP120
If you have the appropriate systems, you can also recreate and test the RAP120. This provided a brief insight into RAP development with the RAP Generator, but also in interaction with the AI features of the ABAP environment. Insights into the new RAP Generator with AI support were provided.
ABAP Cloud
The goal of ABAP Cloud is to provide cloud-native development options directly in the standard version, flexible extension through modern technologies such as SAP Fiori or AI, and increased productivity in ABAP development.
In addition, insights into the roadmap and some features that have already been delivered and are still on the way were provided.
- RAP Business Object Generator - The new RAP Generator with additional AI features for generating RAP objects.
- Static Draft Scope - Using two RAP BOs in one UI and simultaneous editing should be possible.
- Analytical Table - Planned as an alternative to the ALV, since the table also supports totals and subtotals, which the List Report currently cannot.
Quiz
As requested last year, there was another quiz on the topic of ABAP and RAP development. This time it was a colorful mix of knowledge and coding. We have made the top 10 questions available to you in the Quiz Corner. Once again, congratulations to the quiz winners and have fun with the prices.
ABAP Environment
For those undecided, there was also some current content on the topic of ABAP Environment. The general focus was on the positioning of ABAP Environment.
Afterwards, there were a few tips and tricks on using the system, setting up the infrastructure, and optimizing costs. Soon, ABAP Environment will also be launched with SAP as a hyperscaler in Frankfurt, a very good opportunity for all companies looking for an EU cloud. Following this, there were some insights into features of the latest releases, such as:
- IDE Action Framework
- Editable Treeview in Fiori Elements
- Table Entity and Writable View Entities
- Joule for Developers
If you want to test and use the latest SAP innovations, the ABAP Environment is the perfect opportunity, as you receive new features and options every three months. If your colleagues need to learn the ABAP Development Tools, RAP, and ABAP Cloud, the system offers the perfect opportunity, as they cannot escape the restrictions. Finally, there were insights into the partner scenarios with the Multitenancy SaaS Solution and the Installable Product. How can you, as a partner, make applications and products available to your customers?
A wish that arose for us personally with the "Installable Product": Use the technology and infrastructure to easily make the applications available to all users, regardless of whether they are paid or unpaid. Just like in the App Store or the Play Store, all applications (commercial or open source) should be available to all users of the ABAP environment and thus be easy to install and use. This way, even with open source, incentives to use the product could be created if it generates added value for the company. Perhaps one or two customers will then think about providing software if it can be monetized so easily.
Day 2
For some, the night at the bar was probably a little shorter, but the day still started on time with many interesting topics and hands-on sessions.
Experience reports
This time, there were two testimonials from the community to see the other side of ABAP development (customers and partners). Sören's talk was full of movement and laughter. He covered various things you should do in an S/4HANA transformation project to ensure it doesn't go wrong. Frank demonstrated in the "Steampunk WG" how coexistence between different customers can work with the issue of e-invoicing. He discussed various technical details of the implementation and the scenario. If you would like to learn more about the product on Steampunk, you should register for the next roundtable.
ABAP Development Tools
What changes and enhancements have there been in the area of ABAP development tools? The session once again discussed the new AI features, such as Explain and ABAP Unit Tests, in detail. A REGEX example was used to demonstrate how AI can be used quickly and effectively to generate added value in development. In the next step, the IDE Actions were demonstrated again and how we as developers can use them to write our own functions without leaving the ABAP world. Further features are planned to make the actions even more flexible and better in the future.
With Release 2505, the "Quick Fiori Application Generator" was also introduced in the ABAP environment. With a little configuration, you can generate a Fiori app and deploy it to the system without actually calling BAS. This makes deployment and initial testing somewhat easier, but you should note that you will no longer be able to make any adjustments, and undeployment will not be as easy.
Custom Code Transformation
Customer code transformation will continue to be an important component in the coming years, as many customers still have their S/4 transformation ahead of them. This involves modernizing the source code, but also adapting existing source code when it comes to simplification items. The ATC and the Custom Code Migration App, which is now available in the ABAP environment, support this.
- Custom Code Migration App - With the app, you can, for example, check the S/4HANA readiness of the system and receive information about code that needs to be adapted. In the Central ATC variant, you can also test source code with your variants to obtain a current status of source code quality.
- ABAP Test Cockpit - After introducing ABAP Cloud and defining the clean code strategy, the topic of governance over the new developments follows. The ATC can support this with its own variants to ensure only the correct APIs are used.
Furthermore, there was an outlook on how AI can support transformation, for example, to better explain simplification items or provide suggestions for transformation (source code). The features will then be available in the future with the Central ATC.
Hands-On
After lunch, the event continued with two hands-on sessions, where participants could decide which session they wanted to attend.
- In RAP630, the focus was on extending a cloud ERP system with local APIs, i.e., leveraging on-stack extensibility in the system.
- In RAP640, the focus was on using the 3-TIER model on an on-premises System with the construction of a wrapper via the ACO_PROXY transaction and its use in ABAP Cloud. With the relevant instructions, you can also perform the exercise on your system with the corresponding release.
Influencing and Feedback
As is customary at the DSAG, there was an opportunity to provide feedback, requests, and suggestions on various boards on the topics of AI, ABAP Cloud, ABAP Environment, and upskilling over the two days. You could also talk to SAP colleagues on-site to obtain further information on product strategy or other questions. SAP and DSAG always have an open ear for the community at these events.
At the end of the event, the board points were discussed again. Points that couldn't be answered immediately were taken back to SAP for further discussion.
Conclusion
The two days were once again time well spent. On the one hand, there were insights into the current state of development and the newly delivered features, and on the other hand, you can easily exchange ideas with SAP colleagues. The information helps you make decisions and directions for the future, especially with regard to the cloud and S/4 transformation.
