SAP S/4HANA
The intelligent ERP for on-premise and Cloud Private Edition deployments. Built on SAP HANA, Fiori-first, and designed for the Clean Core extensibility model.
Overview
SAP S/4HANA is SAP's flagship ERP suite, running exclusively on the SAP HANA in-memory database. The on-premise (OP) edition follows a 2-year release cadence: 2023 OP → 2025 OP → 2027 OP (planned). Each release ships in Q4 and includes new Fiori apps, ABAP Cloud enhancements, AI features, and Clean Core API additions.
The strategic direction for S/4HANA is the 3-tier extensibility model: Tier 1 (SAP-delivered code, no modification), Tier 2 (released BAdIs and key user tools), and Tier 3 (side-by-side extensions on BTP using public APIs only).
Quick Facts
- Current OP Release
- S/4HANA 2025 (Oct 2025)
- Previous Release
- S/4HANA 2023 (Oct 2023)
- Next OP Release
- S/4HANA 2027 (planned)
- Database
- SAP HANA 2.0 SPS 07+
- UI Framework
- SAP Fiori / SAPUI5
- API Standard
- OData V4, REST, SOAP
- Dev Language
- ABAP Cloud (Tier 1/2)
- Joule
- Via PCE + BTP (Joule Booster)
Clean Core Strategy
- Never modify SAP standard ABAP objects
- No direct table access (ZTABLE / YTABLE)
- No SE80 modifications to delivered code
- Use ADT (Eclipse) for all new development
- Released BAdIs only (BADI_DEF publicly released)
- Custom Fields and Logic (F1481)
- Custom Business Objects (F1731)
- SSCUI / Manage Your Solution (IMG)
- Released OData V4 APIs only (api.sap.com)
- CAP / SAP Build Apps on BTP
- Connectivity via BTP Connectivity Service
- No direct RFC / BAPI from outside the system
ABAP Cloud
ABAP Cloud is the subset of ABAP used for Tier 1/2 development. It enforces Clean Core compliance through the ABAP language version check — only released APIs are accessible.
1// ABAP Cloud — RAP Business Object (Clean Core compliant)
2@AccessControl.authorizationCheck: #CHECK
3@EndUserText.label: 'Travel Booking'
4define root view entity ZI_TRAVEL
5 as select from /dmo/travel
6{
7 key TravelUUID as TravelUUID,
8 AgencyID as AgencyID,
9 CustomerID as CustomerID,
10 BeginDate as BeginDate,
11 EndDate as EndDate,
12 BookingFee as BookingFee,
13 TotalPrice as TotalPrice,
14 CurrencyCode as CurrencyCode,
15 Description as Description,
16 @Semantics.systemStatus.lastChangedAt: true
17 LastChangedAt as LastChangedAt
18}@Semantics annotation in CDS and use CLASS-POOL LANGUAGE VERSION ABAP FOR CLOUD DEVELOPMENT in your class pool. This restricts you to the released API surface — any use of unreleased functions results in a compile error.Fiori-First Strategy
SAP Fiori 2025 OP Highlights
- AI-Assisted Easy Filter — NL-driven list filtering on all Fiori Elements apps
- Smart Summarization — AI-generated summaries on object page headers
- Intelligent Insights Cards — contextual AI analysis on key pages
- Joule Booster — automatic navigation service for 11+ confirmed apps
- New Fiori Horizon visual design (rounded, accessible, WCAG 2.2)
- 64 Fiori apps updated or added versus 2023 OP release
Consuming S/4HANA APIs
// OData V4 batch request — consuming S/4HANA public API
const response = await fetch(
'/sap/opu/odata4/sap/api_sales_order/srvd_a2x/sap/salesorder/0001/SalesOrder',
{
headers: {
'Authorization': 'Bearer ' + token,
'Accept': 'application/json',
'sap-client': '100',
},
}
)
const data = await response.json()
// data.value → array of SalesOrder objectsRelease Cadence
SAP announced the 2-year OP release cycle in September 2022. There is no S/4HANA 2024 OP release. Cloud Private Edition follows quarterly feature packs on top of the current OP base.