BTP Directories
Optional organisational grouping layer between a Global Account and Subaccounts. Directories support entitlement distribution, independent user management, and cost allocation — essential for large enterprise BTP landscapes.
What are BTP Directories?
Directories provide a second level of hierarchy for organising subaccounts by department, region, product line, or any other dimension meaningful to your enterprise. They are entirely optional — subaccounts can live directly under the Global Account — but become essential for large landscapes with 10+ subaccounts.
Directories can be configured with two optional features: Entitlements Management (allowing the directory to act as a quota pool for its child subaccounts) and User Management (allowing directory-scoped administrators separate from global account admins).
Directories appear in the BTP Cockpit as expandable folder nodes and can hold other directories (up to 5 levels of nesting) or subaccounts directly. They do not host applications — only subaccounts can host runtimes and service instances.
Quick Facts
- Hierarchy
- Global Acct → Directory → Subaccount
- Max nesting depth
- 5 directory levels
- Hosts apps?
- No — subaccounts only
- Entitlements
- Optional feature (quota pool)
- User management
- Optional feature (dir admins)
- Labels support
- Yes — key-value pairs
- Cost allocation
- Via labels + entitlement mgmt
- Deletion rule
- Empty directory only (delete subs first)
Directory Features
- Directory receives quota allocation from global account
- Acts as a pool that child subaccounts draw from
- Prevents any one subaccount from consuming all quota
- Visible in BTP Cockpit entitlement overview
- Essential for department-level cost control
- Directory has its own administrator role collection
- Directory admins can create/manage child subaccounts
- Separate from global account admin rights
- Enables self-service for business unit IT teams
- Supports SCIM provisioning via IPS
- Key-value labels applied to directories and subaccounts
- Common labels: cost_center, owner, environment, product
- Used for filtering in BTP Cockpit
- Drives cost attribution in billing reports
- No limit on number of label pairs
- Up to 5 levels of directory nesting
- Useful for regional + domain dual-axis organisation
- e.g., EMEA → Finance → Production subaccounts
- Avoid deep nesting for small organisations
- Each level can have independent entitlement management
Regional Hierarchy Pattern
Enterprise Example — Global SAP Customer
A global SAP customer with operations across three regions creates directories aligned to geographic boundaries first, then business domains within each region. This enables regional IT autonomy while maintaining central billing visibility.
| Level 1 Directory | Level 2 Directory | Subaccounts | Entitlement Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| EMEA | Finance | fin-emea-dev, fin-emea-prd | Enabled |
| EMEA | Procurement | proc-emea-dev, proc-emea-prd | Enabled |
| AMER | (flat) | amer-hr-dev, amer-hr-prd | Disabled |
| APAC | HR | hr-apac-dev, hr-apac-prd | Enabled |
Best Practices
Align directories to cost centers, business domains, or regional IT boundaries. This makes cost attribution and governance natural rather than artificial.
Activate the entitlement management feature on department-level directories to create quota pools. This prevents individual subaccounts from consuming all available quota.
Use standardised labels (cost_center, owner, environment) on all directories. Inconsistent labelling makes billing reports impossible to use for chargeback.
Use the User Management feature to assign directory admins from each business unit. This decentralises day-to-day subaccount management while preserving global account control.
Organisational structures change. Review directory hierarchy annually and refactor when business units merge, split, or change their SAP footprint significantly.