SAP Fiori Elements is a powerful framework designed to accelerate the development of SAP Fiori applications by leveraging metadata-driven UI generation. While SAP Fiori Elements is widely associated with SAP S/4HANA, it can also be effectively utilized within the SAP Business Suite landscape. This article explores how SAP Fiori Elements integrates with SAP Business Suite systems, enabling businesses to modernize their user experience without a full system migration.
SAP Business Suite is a comprehensive set of integrated business applications covering areas such as ERP, CRM, SCM, and SRM. Many organizations still run on SAP ECC or other Business Suite components, which traditionally use the classic SAP GUI for transactions. Modernizing the user experience in these environments is essential to improve productivity and user satisfaction.
- Improved User Experience: SAP Fiori Elements provides a consistent, role-based, and responsive UI, replacing the traditional SAP GUI screens.
- Faster Development: Using annotations and predefined templates reduces custom UI development efforts.
- Leverages Existing Backend: It works on top of existing SAP Business Suite backends via OData services, avoiding complex backend changes.
- Cost Efficiency: Extends lifecycle value of Business Suite systems by modernizing UX without costly migrations.
- Seamless Integration: Easily integrates with SAP Gateway to expose backend data as OData services consumed by Fiori Elements.
¶ 1. SAP Gateway and OData Services
SAP Gateway acts as a bridge between SAP Business Suite backend systems and SAP Fiori front-end components by exposing business data via OData services. These services are essential for SAP Fiori Elements apps to retrieve and manipulate backend data.
- SAP Gateway Setup: Ensure that the SAP Gateway system is installed and configured with the Business Suite system.
- OData Service Development: Developers build or reuse OData services that expose the required business objects.
To enable SAP Fiori Elements to generate UI dynamically, annotations must be created either:
- In CDS Views (if available in Business Suite, especially with Suite on HANA or enhancement packages)
- Via Annotation Models: Using SAP Gateway service annotations, usually created with tools like SAP Gateway Service Builder (SEGW) or manually with XML.
Annotations define UI elements such as fields, labels, filters, and actions, enabling declarative UI generation.
SAP Fiori Elements offers standard templates such as:
- List Report – For displaying lists with filtering and searching.
- Object Page – For detailed views of a single object.
- Analytical List Page – For analytical reports combining charts and tables.
These templates work well with SAP Business Suite data exposed through OData services.
- Use SAP Gateway Service Builder (transaction SEGW) to create an OData service that exposes sales order data (VBAP, VBAK tables).
- Implement necessary CRUD operations and mappings.
- Define annotations for the entity sets to specify fields, filterable properties, and key UI elements.
- Example: Mark sales order number as a key field and customer name as a filterable field.
- Use SAP Web IDE or Business Application Studio to create a Fiori Elements app.
- Connect the app to the OData service and consume annotations.
- Select List Report template for initial UI.
¶ Step 4: Deploy and Test
- Deploy the application to the SAP Fiori Launchpad.
- Test search, filtering, and navigation to sales order details.
¶ Benefits and Challenges
- Rapid UI Modernization: Minimal frontend coding with maximum reuse of backend logic.
- Consistent UX: Fiori Elements ensures standard look and feel across apps.
- Leverage Existing Infrastructure: No need to migrate data or backend logic.
- Customizability: Although metadata-driven, apps can be extended with custom actions and UI adaptations.
- Annotation Management: Creating and maintaining annotations in Business Suite can be complex.
- Limited CDS Availability: Classic ECC systems might not have CDS views, requiring manual annotation models.
- Performance Considerations: OData services must be optimized for large data sets.
- Feature Gaps: Some advanced Fiori Elements features are optimized for S/4HANA environments.
SAP Fiori Elements offers a compelling path for organizations running SAP Business Suite to modernize their user experience without a full system overhaul. By leveraging SAP Gateway and metadata-driven UI annotations, businesses can deliver efficient, role-based, and responsive Fiori apps that drive user adoption and operational efficiency.
While there are some challenges related to annotation management and backend integration, the benefits of faster development, consistent UI, and cost savings make SAP Fiori Elements a strategic choice for SAP Business Suite customers aiming to embrace digital transformation.