A Brief History of SAP BTP

While SAP BTP as an offering is relatively new, it consists of solutions that

have been around for years, and portions of the platform’s architecture go
back quite a ways. For example, the application development and
integration pillar of SAP BTP (more on this pillar below) can trace its lineage
back to SAP HANA Cloud Platform in the early 2010s.

SAP BTP was first introduced in 2021 when SAP decided to package
multiple services and products into one platform that businesses could use
to make business decisions. Their reasoning was, because there are so
many different parts to an intelligent enterprise, it made sense for them all
to be offered by one vendor, rather than having to integrate disparate
systems into a central core. As part of this announcement, the SAP Cloud
Platform brand was sunsetted and SAP Cloud Platform’s functionality was
rolled into SAP BTP.

Throughout 2021 and into 2022, SAP bolstered SAP BTP with different
acquisitions. For example, in July 2022, SAP announced it was purchasing
Askdata to improve its AI-related capabilities in SAP BTP, particularly
regarding natural language searches.

While it will take some time for Askdata’s IP to be fully integrated into SAP
BTP, the latest features of SAP BTP in 2022 include advanced event mesh,
process automation, and SAP Build Apps (formerly SAP AppGyver).

Types of SAP BTP

There are two environments of SAP BTP, which have a common set of
services—but also services that are unique to each of the two
environments.

The first, called SAP BTP, Neo environment, is focused on cloud capabilities
available from SAP‘s own data centers and allows users to connect to SAP
ERP solutions. Development languages available in the Neo runtime are
limited to Java, HTML5, and SAP HANA XS.
The second environment is the, SAP BTP, Cloud Foundry environment. This
allows users to utilize any data center, not just SAP’s centers, and allows
more extensibility options for developers and hyperscale vendors, such as
Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
Developers can bring their own programming language to this
environment, and multiple runtimes exist, including one for ABAP and
Kyma.
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SAP BTP Pillars
SAP BTP is built upon a foundation of four pillars. Below explains each.

Analytics
Analytics focuses on exploring data, looking for trends, and making
actionable plans with the information you bring into the system.

SAP BTP allows users to perform both simple and advanced analytics with
tools like SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP BusinessObjects BI, SAP Crystal
solutions, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, and SAP BW/4HANA. With the data
and trends uncovered (often in real time), business operations can be better
tailored to meet demand and run efficiently off a single source of truth.

Application Development and Integration

Application development and integration focuses on the creation of custom
apps and extensions for specific business purposes, as well as the
integration with other SAP solutions. This is historically known as SAP Cloud
Platform.

SAP BTP provides a set of both business and platform services that
accelerate the development and innovation of cloud apps. As a language-
agnostic platform, developers can utilize any one of a handful of
programming languages, including ABAP, Java, Node.js, Ruby, Go, Python,
PHP, and Groovy. DevOps are available to developers looking to improve
the relationship and cooperation between developers and operations staff.

SAP BTP apps and services can be run alongside existing on-premise
solutions by utilizing the SAP Integration Suite to facilitate information
exchange.

Database and Data Management

Data management focuses on keeping track of and segmenting data so it’s
accessible and usable by users. This includes storage, access, processing,
integration, and more.

Data management and storage with SAP BTP can be accomplished in a

number of ways, using databases such as SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise
(ASE), SAP IQ, SAP HANA and SAP HANA Cloud, and SAP SQL Anywhere.
Data can be cleansed, managed, and modeled with solutions such as SAP
Data Intelligence, SAP Information Steward, SAP Data Quality Management,
SAP PowerDesigner, SAP Information Lifecycle Management, SAP
Landscape Transformation Replication Server, SAP Data Services, and SAP
Master Data Governance.
Intelligent Technologies
Intelligent technologies are tools that focus on digging deep into existing
pools of data for analysis and business insight, and streamlining business
processes to free up time to work on other projects.

SAP BTP provides customers with a robust set of intelligent technologies,

including SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation, SAP Conversational
AI, SAP AI Business Services, SAP Edge Services, SAP Internet of Things, and
Askdata. With these options, specific, lower-level business services such as
tax assignment and collection can be automated, and chatbots can be
developed to interact with those looking for assistance, freeing up
employees to perform other tasks. This automation increases efficiency and
can provide stronger database and solution security.
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SAP BTP Services
As of September 2022, there are 97 services available as part of SAP BTP.
While it isn’t possible to list them all (you can find the whole list here), there
are a number that should be highlighted.


 ABAP environment: Used for creating ABAP cloud applications
and extensions
 SAP Analytics Cloud, embedded edition: Used for analyzing
data from source systems
 SAP Build Apps: Used for low-code/no-code application
development
 SAP Business Application Studio: Used for developing
applications
 SAP Cloud ALM: Used for managing implementations of cloud
solutions
 SAP Conversational AI: Used for creating chatbots
 SAP Data Intelligence: Used for parsing data with AI and
machine learning
 SAP Data Warehouse Cloud: Used for storing and accessing
data from source systems
 SAP Graph: Used for combining multiple SAP APIs into one
layer
  SAP HANA Cloud: Used for in-memory database management
and application development
 SAP Intelligent RPA: Used for automating repetitive, rule-
based tasks with machine learning

Getting Started with SAP BTP

If you’re looking to get started with SAP BTP, there are a few ways to do so.

SAP BTP Free Tier

Those looking to trial SAP BTP can utilize a free tier that provides instant
access to a production environment. While limitations exist in terms of what
services you can use (currently, more than 30 services are available in the
free tier) and how much capacity you can take up, this is a good way to get
started with SAP BTP to see if it can help your business. If you decide to
start paying for the platform, you can easily move the things you’ve already
done into the paid option.

Pay-As-You-Go for SAP BTP

Those who are looking to try out new business processes with SAP BTP or
are constrained by a budget can purchase access to the services that they
need with the pay-as-you-go model. Using this option helps users by not
having to commit a lot of money up front or meet minimum usage
requirements.

Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement

The Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement (CPEA) provides users with cloud
credits that can be used to access any of the different services available
with SAP BTP. Using the CPEA model is beneficial for those who need to
use many different services, but who don’t necessarily need to use them all
at the same time.

Subscription
The SAP BTP subscription provides access to specific SAP BTP services
(defined by a contract) for a fixed cost. Subscriptions range from one year
to three years. Using the subscription model is good for those who have
specific use cases and a specific budget in mind. If additional services are
needed during the course of the subscription, they can be added on for an
additional fee.
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Additional SAP BTP Definitions
In addition to the information laid out above, there are a handful of
important SAP BTP terms you should also be familiar with. Here they are in
list form:


 Cloud connector: A connection used between SAP BTP
applications and on-premise solutions to talk to one another
 OData: A REST-based protocol for opening up data silos
 SAP Cloud Application Programming Model: A specialized
programming model used to create cloud apps
 SAP Fiori: A user experience built around business applications
rather than transaction codes
 SAP Workflow Management: A solution that helps adjust and
extend business processes
 SAP Work Zone: A portal for one-stop access to all relevant
business information and applications
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BTP DATA ANALYTICS
SAP AI