Custom Fields

F1481

No-Code

YY1

Custom Fields & Business Contexts

Extend SAP S/4HANA standard documents with custom fields using the Key User Extensibility Framework — no ABAP coding required. Custom Fields appear automatically in Fiori UIs, OData APIs, and output forms.

Custom Field Lifecycle

Custom Field Extension Lifecycle

Rendering diagram…

Executive Summary

Custom Fields extend standard S/4HANA business objects (Sales Order, Purchase Order, Customer, Material, and more) with additional data fields defined entirely by business users inside Fiori App F1481 — no ABAP developer involvement required. These fields integrate automatically into Fiori UIs, OData V4 APIs, and Output Management. Business Contexts define which standard business objects support Custom Fields — SAP provides 40+ Business Contexts out of the box, covering all major document types across Finance, Logistics, and Procurement.

Major Business Contexts

Business Context	Standard Object	Custom Field Examples
SalesOrderHeader	I_SalesOrder	Project Code, Approval Level, VAT Category
SalesOrderItem	I_SalesOrderItem	DEWA Material Group, Special Handling
PurchaseOrderHeader	I_PurchaseOrder	DEWA Cost Center, Procurement Category
Customer	I_BusinessPartnerBasic	Customer Tier, UAE TRN Number
Supplier	I_SupplierBasic	Supplier Grade, Local Content %
BillingDocumentHeader	I_BillingDocument	Invoice Routing Code
PlantBasic	I_PlantBasic	DEWA Region Code, Plant Type
MaterialBasic	I_ProductBasicText	DEWA Item Category, Asset Class

Custom Field Types

Text (String)

Free text or dropdown with fixed values. Supports length 1–1333 characters.

Amount

Decimal with automatic currency reference field linkage.

Quantity

Decimal with unit of measure linkage (UoM field auto-created).

Date

Date picker with optional range validation rules.

Boolean

Checkbox field — displayed as toggle in Fiori Elements.

Code List

Reference to a maintained value list (configuration table). Enforces data quality.

Custom Field Logic — Rule Builder

No ABAP Required

The Rule Builder is a visual, no-code environment inside Fiori App F1481. Business users define condition-action rules without any ABAP syntax.

Conditional required

IF YY1_ContractType = 'EXTERNAL' THEN YY1_VendorRef.REQUIRED = TRUE

Validation with error

IF YY1_ContractValue > 500000 THEN raise error 'Requires Director Approval'

Default value

IF Country = 'AE' THEN YY1_Currency = 'AED'

Field visibility

IF YY1_ProcCategory = 'LOCAL' THEN YY1_LocalContent.VISIBLE = TRUE

Reading Custom Fields in ABAP Cloud

Custom fields are accessible in ABAP Cloud code via the standard released CDS views. The YY1_ prefix fields are automatically included in the CDS view entity.

abap

" Reading Custom Fields in ABAP Cloud context
" Custom fields are available via the standard CDS view entity

SELECT SINGLE
  SalesOrder,
  SoldToParty,
  TotalNetAmount,
  yy1_approvalrequired_sdh AS approval_required,    " Custom field
  yy1_dewaprojectcode_sdh  AS dewa_project_code,    " Custom field
  yy1_vatcategory_sdh      AS vat_category          " Custom field
  FROM I_SalesOrder
  WHERE SalesOrder = @lv_sales_order
  INTO @DATA(ls_so).

" Custom fields are also available in CDS view extensions:
" extend view entity C_SalesOrderTp with {
"   SalesOrder.YY1_ApprovalRequired_SDH,
"   SalesOrder.YY1_DEWAProjectCode_SDH
" }

" In OData V4: automatically exposed as
" GET /sap/opu/odata4/sap/api_salesorder/srvd/sap/api_salesorder/0001/SalesOrder?
"   $select=SalesOrder,YY1_ApprovalRequired_SDH

OData V4 API Exposure

Custom fields are automatically exposed in the released SAP OData V4 APIs without any additional configuration. They appear as YY1_-prefixed properties on the entity.

json

// Custom fields automatically available in released OData API
// GET https://s4h-system/sap/opu/odata4/sap/api_salesorder/srvd/...
// /SalesOrder(SalesOrder='0000000001')?$select=SalesOrder,YY1_DEWAProjectCode_SDH

{
  "@odata.context": "...",
  "SalesOrder": "0000000001",
  "SoldToParty": "CUST001",
  "TotalNetAmount": "750000.00",
  "TransactionCurrency": "AED",
  "YY1_DEWAProjectCode_SDH": "PRJ-2025-WATER",
  "YY1_ApprovalRequired_SDH": true,
  "YY1_VATCategory_SDH": "S"
}

DEWA Enterprise Implementation

Custom Fields Implemented: 23
Business Contexts Used: 8
Fields via Sales Order Header: 3
Fields via Purchase Order Header: 3
Fields via Business Partner: 2
All fields in standard Fiori apps: Yes

Sales Order Header

YY1_ProjectCode (DEWA Project Code), YY1_VATTreatment, YY1_ApprovalStatus

Purchase Order Header

YY1_CostCenter (DEWA Cost Center), YY1_ProcCat, YY1_LocalContent (%)

Business Partner

YY1_TradeLicense (UAE Trade License Number), YY1_TRNNumber (UAE VAT TRN)

Best Practices

Use the YY1_ namespace

Prefix all custom fields with YY1_ — the SAP-standard customer namespace that guarantees upgrade safety across all S/4HANA releases.

Limit fields per Business Context

Keep to 5–6 custom fields per UI section to avoid cluttering standard Fiori apps. Group related fields into named sections.

Prefer Code Lists over free text

Use dropdown Code Lists wherever possible to enforce data quality and enable consistent reporting. Free text fields are hard to report on.

Maintain an Extension Register

Document every custom field in a central Extension Register (Cloud ALM or spreadsheet): field name, business context, owner, purpose, and data classification.

Test OData exposure before go-live

Verify each custom field appears correctly in all relevant OData V4 API calls, including $select and $filter operations, before transporting to production.

Common Pitfalls

Duplicating standard fields

Creating custom fields for data already available in S/4HANA standard (e.g. adding "Customer Country" when it already exists on the BP). Always check standard fields first.

Wrong Business Context selected

Choosing the wrong Business Context causes the field to appear on the wrong document type or not at all. Verify the Business Context maps to the exact Fiori app and OData entity you intend.

Field defined but not visible in UI

A custom field must be explicitly assigned to a UI section in the Custom Fields app. Defining the field alone does not make it appear on any Fiori screen.

Not added to output forms

Custom fields in OData do not automatically appear on printed forms or email outputs. Each output form (PDF template) must be separately updated via Output Management configuration.

Security Considerations

Data Protection

Custom Fields may contain sensitive business data (financial amounts, personal identifiers). Apply UAE PDPL classification to any field containing personal data. Restrict Fiori App F1481 access to designated Key Users only — not all business users. Custom fields exported via OData V4 inherit the standard API's authorisation checks, but additional field-level masking may be required for PDPL-sensitive fields.

References & Further Reading

Custom Fields and Logic Guide

Official SAP documentation for the Custom Fields and Logic Fiori app (F1481)

Business Contexts Reference

Full list of 40+ Business Contexts available in S/4HANA On-Premise

OData API with Custom Fields

SAP API Business Hub — browse released OData APIs that expose custom fields