#41 ABAP Extensibility, SAP.io, Odoo, MACH, UX, Data Teams
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ABAP extensibility
If you’ve been ABAPing for over 10 years, like me, “extending” something in SAP for you likely means something like BAPIPAREX and append structures. These days, we hear a lot about SAP BTP Extensibility. Is this the same thing? Yes, but actually no. The goal remains the same (add your own stuff to SAP) but implementation differs.
Per SAP Extensibility Explorer, there are 3 categories of extensibility: Key User, Developer, and Side-by-Side. This categorization IMHO is more confusing than helpful (who’s doing the “side-by-side” part then if not developers?). That’s why I say forget about “personas” and focus on where the extensibility is happening: on-stack (that’s where Embedded Steampunk comes in) or side-by-side (remote API/event).
This SAP strategy document also mainly focuses on that and will make more sense for developers than other messaging. In it, you will see statements like “Mandatory in public cloud / Recommended in private cloud and on-premise”. If you’re still living squarely in the on-premise world, what does all this extensibility thingy mean to you? Honestly, at the moment, probably not that much. I’m a big fan of the “don’t fix what ain’t broken” principle and I doubt anyone will start tearing apart their MV45AFZZ right away solely for “technical upgrade” to make the code more Cloud-compliant. Also, the web-based APIs just don’t make sense in many on-premise scenarios while good old BAPIs still do the job.
But it doesn’t mean that on-premise ABAP developers should be just taking a nap till 2027. There are some actions every ABAPer should be taking now.
Educate yourself about new ways of extensibility to be prepared for what’s coming. (SAP Community ABAP Extensibility page is a good starting point.)
If/when opportunity presents, make improvements in existing code to be better prepared for new development models. For a while. I thought wrapping everything in global classes was dumb but since then I’ve seen the light and now think it’s actually pretty smart.
ABAP RAP (which has been weirdly wrapped into ABAP Cloud lately) is a must know skill in 2023. Even if you still work with SAP ECC, sign up for a trial access and practice this model. JP
Odoo? I do!
In September '22, I wrote about Odoo as something I'd never come across before - and that I liked the idea. I recently saw this bit of news about a €150M growth investment, and read the blog to find a couple other interesting tidbits.
I continue to love watching the story unfold.
Enterprise software is a world where multiple mega-solutions live together in one business, and split their focuses accordingly. Odoo would be an interesting player as an integration partner with other ERP software - that might be my next foray into Odoo…researching integration stories.
The blog has an admirable focus on customer stories. It's incredibly easy to find ways Odoo users get their work done.
There's a surprisingly big conference, Odoo Experience 2023, in Brussels in November. Anyone going?
And then there's this question from an FAQ section on their website.
I love it. Keep doing you, Odoo. PM
SAP.iO Buzzword Bingo
I go out to SAP.iO every now and then to check out what's happening in the world of new things being built to work with SAP products. There's a page that allows you to search through the SAP store listings of startup products that have touched the SAP.iO program. I went through the listing and put some buzzword-y terms in the search - here's the result, from a total of 206 startups in the list.
AI: 170 (this includes results whose text data includes words with "ai" in them, like "retail")
Intelligence: 32
Intelligent: 13
Machine learning: 11
Smart: 13
Blockchain: 3
Web3: 3
Metaverse: 3
GPT: 0
LLM: 0
NLP: 2
IoT: 10
Cloud: 113
SaaS: 25
Platform: 107
Here are some names I like:
4tiitoo: sound it out
ARpalus: makes me think of a weird animal or disease
Cool College: wish I went there
Freemud: always hated paying for mud
meQuilibrium: enough me time gets you to meQuilibrium
Twenty5: Entertainment 720
XForcePlus: comics nerds know what's up
Makes me want to dream up some of my own awesome startup names. PM
Survey Sassin’
I sometimes look at survey research done by vendors. Some results have a ring of truth such that I believe the core info - even if I don't know the data is 100% accurate or interesting. Other times they feel scammy and that ring of truth is gone. (By the way, I've always been a fan of the SAP Developer Insights surveys. I think they are well-run and continually improving against already-good quality. Hats off to that team.)
I randomly ran across one of them that feels a little bit like that first type: has a ring of truth but might need refining. Matillion is a data pipeline software vendor that provides Data Productivity Cloud to "accelerate data delivery". They published some survey results via Vanson Bourne that generally point to needs for data teams to improve their data productivity. Without even seeing a survey, I've been exposed to enough data issues to believe the major premise.
There are two things I'd tweak to really make it sing. First, the Matillion story has a synthesis of the survey data. If you go out and download the detailed PDF, it also spends a lot of space on synthesis and, to my eye, not enough on the data itself. Let the landing page tell the synthesis story, and let the detailed download put the data front and center.
Second, when the detailed report gives you a data point, it doesn't tell you the actual question that was asked to get it. Take a cue from that SAP developer survey report above: put the verbatim survey question right alongside the result you're highlighting. That provides valuable clarity.
My last note isn't a tweak but something I'd love to find out more. Matillion calls out these numbers for the "data experts" the survey focused on:
What are those percentages for other jobs? I've always kinda felt like workload exceeds capacity in every corporate-like job, and I don't think I've ever had my workload decrease. PM
UX: Customer vs User
In his interview with ASUG, SAP Chief Design Officer Arin Bhowmick made an interesting point about customers vs. users:
Most important would be the end users because they are the ones who transact. I also see that in the cloud world, they have a lot of say in the choice of the software tool. I’m going to guess that if the end users are happy, everyone else will be.
In the enterprise software world, “customer” and “user” are rarely the same person. And sadly, the end users usually have the least say in the UX matters (at least right now). It’s great that Arin, who joined SAP last year from IBM, is vocal about this issue. Say what you want about IBM but I think their design is excellent and hope that Arin can bring that vibe to SAP where design is a real mixed bag.
At the end of the interview, Arin is calling user groups to help with getting the user feedback to the design community. It’s not clear though how this could be implemented in practice. I understand SAP probably doesn’t want to let every single business user bother them with comments. But I imagine this day and age AI/ML and all the cool tech should be able to isolate noise from substance, so maybe that’s exactly what SAP should do: open the floodgates?
Anyhow, listening to the end user feedback is a good idea that local IT departments would be wise to implement. There is a guide on doing this in SAP Fiori and even an old Help article on sending feedback directly to SAP. If anyone has already tried this, would love to hear about your experience. JP
What The Heck Is MACH?
Recent diginomica article made me wonder what is all the brouhaha about MACH Alliance and is this some sort of secret global cabal I’ve accidentally discovered.
Based on their website, MACH Alliance is interested in promoting so-called MACH architecture: microservices, API first, Cloud-native SaaS, and headless. The alliance offers the software vendors to become MACH-certified, so that everyone knows you are one of the cool kids.
Interestingly, their research results indicate that MACH folks are having the same challenges as SAP: customers just don’t understand how awesome technology is and are stubbornly focused on WIIFM part. MACH research says:
[…] Cloud, functionality & UX are top considerations. Benefits of headless & microservices still to cut through for majority.
I’m thinking maybe instead of trying to swim against the current and “educating board members on microservices”, software vendors should just get better at explaining what specific business benefits their architecture offers? Hm.
There weren’t any helpful learning resources on the MACH Alliance website (you can buy a $31 water bottle to signal your MACH virtue though). Which leaves me no choice but to pimp our vintage stories on microservices (Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2) and headless BI. JP
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