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SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP)

SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) is a platform focused on turning data into actionable business
plans, particularly by leveraging tools found in an intelligent enterprise. SAP BTP contains many solutions,
tools, and products under its umbrella.

Table of Contents

1. A Brief History of SAP BTP

2. Types of SAP BTP
3. SAP BTP Pillars
1. Analytics
2. Application Development and Integration
3. Database and Data Management
4. Intelligent Technologies
4. SAP BTP Services
5. Getting Started with SAP BTP
1. SAP BTP Free Tier
2. Pay-As-You-Go for SAP BTP
3. Cloud Platform Enterprise Agreement
4. Subscription
6. Additional SAP BTP Definitions
7. Additional Resources

A. Blog Posts
B. Books by SAP PRESS
C. Videos

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). You can always see what’s new by checking out the SAP Discovery
Center page.
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.

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.
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.

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

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:

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