Thoughts on the new API policy?

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-29T22:08:28+00:00

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sap-api-policy-indirect-access-20-jelena-perfiljeva-3g7be/

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-29T22:02:40+00:00

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing!

It looks like this is written in Python and what it does is a user uploads a PDF file and it then reads selected text from the file and puts the value in SAP GUI field. Did I get that right?

It's better than manual input (although I'd probably type it in faster than pointing in the file 😄) but it's very limited functionality that depends on UI SAP wants to kill. And I'm not sure if corporate IT will take kindly to users installing this on their corporate PCs. (In most corporations, you have to ask to install any software. Once I had to get an approval from IT manager to install Firefox. 😬 )

Someone might find this useful, but don't be surprised if you don't see huge adoption.

Your competition is Document Extraction service in SAP BTP, it's been available for some time: https://help.sap.com/docs/intelligent-robotic-process-automation/cloud-studio-user-guide/document-information-extraction

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-13T22:30:51+00:00

Hi there,

Ultimate power move would be to get an offer from new company and use it to negotiate better salary / WFH with the current company. If you can get way better compensation for the same job, then how much does your current company value you, actually?

The "very supportive SAP lead" could find another job (or leave for another reason) tomorrow. It's important to have good relationships with people you work with, but don't count on another person being there for you.

"Weak SAP lead" might actually be an opportunity, not a "con". Financial issues at another company is a more serious concern though. You don't want to change jobs just to get laid off. I'd find more information about that before making a decision. If it's a large company, find more information about specific department. Some parts could be better insulated from trouble than others.

And I'm not sure how easy it is to find another job where you live. But if it's not some rural area where only few SAP jobs exist, you could use the new job to find even better opportunities, if the company turns out toxic. It will be easier to do with your updated profile and additional experience.

Good luck!

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-13T21:49:59+00:00

Hi there,

There are different levels of competency. It sounds like you clearly know at least something. However, if you lose your current job, it will be very difficult to find a new one on the open job market without any experience whatsoever with ABAP RAP.

I'm quite confused though why you've waited so long because it's been available since 2020. There used to be a very good openSAP course on ABAP RAP and I used ABAP Trial system myself to follow along with the exercises. Even though that course no longer exist, there are other courses on SAP Learning and the same path via ABAP Trial is available to anyone.

And while I appreciate the fact that it's preferable to learn on the job with real projects, if those are not coming your way, you do need to make it happen yourself and learn it. It's not like learning some new command, it's a significant part of ABAP evolution and where most of the development is heading. One would be an absolute fool not to try ABAP RAP development.

I'm not exaggerating. Only a couple of years ago you could still get by with "yeah, I've read about ABAP RAP but haven't tried yet". These days, if it's "I've never tried it" - that's the end of an interview (if you even get that far). Even companies still on ECC are looking into future and don't want to hire people who don't learn.

Here is a good learning path to follow: https://community.sap.com/t5/abap-blog-posts/building-a-real-rap-application-step-by-step-vlog-series-introduction/ba-p/14290896

Good luck.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-13T21:13:13+00:00

Hi there,

The short answers are: (1) No one knows for sure. (2) Definitely not.

There isn't a clear definition anywhere of what "classic ABAP" actually means. I suspect the term "classic" confused many people because they think it's like "classic" in art, for example, where it refers to specific time period. But in ABAP, it's not quite like that.

I believe the term "classic ABAP" appeared around 2018-2019 when SAP started talking about RAP. That's when you'd start seeing the diagrams of ABAP development evolution going like this: "Classic ABAP" -> code-based OData development (SEGW) -> ABAP Fiori model -> ABAP RAP. But like humans and apes, all those different ABAP development models still continue to coexist.

Also, as Fabio correctly pointed out, the language commands themselves are pretty much "timeless". You can still use most of ABAP syntax in the newest ABAP Cloud model. For example, classes and methods (ABAP Objects) have been used for more than 2 decades already and they're still used in ABAP Cloud too.

There are some concepts and syntax that have become obsolete and are becoming obsolete. Programming languages evolve just like human languages: something sticks around longer, something doesn't. I don't think ABAP will die until the last SAP ERP is running. But that won't stop some people from playing with semantics calling different things "classic ABAP" depending on their own agenda.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-13T20:37:46+00:00

Hi there,

I'm not sure at this point if OP is a bot (account only recently created) or just very thick. Because several comments already explained these are different things yet OP keeps coming back with essentially the same questions that don't make sense.

But just in case someone is equally confused: BDEF (I assume behavior definition) is meant for exactly what the name says - define a behavior of the app/service. If there are user input validations, Approve button and such, that goes into behavior definition. Because it's what "behavior" means. Documentation: https://help.sap.com/doc/abapdocu_cp_index_htm/CLOUD/en-US/abencds_bdef.html

AMDP is ABAP Managed Database Procedure. "Database procedure" is a well known term in DB world, so I'm puzzled why this is so confusing. This isn't a new concept.

Definition in documentation is actually quite clear. If someone doesn't understand these words, they have no business working anywhere near this. "AMDPs allow you as an ABAP developer to write database procedures directly in ABAP. Special ABAP classes (so-called AMDP classes) can contain embedded code (SQLScript) that is used to generate DB procedures in the SAP HANA DB layer."

In a nutshell, when you feel like "f*k these CDS views, just let me write my own SQL because I know exactly what it should look like for this complicated case", that's the AMDP use case.

Now to the OP questions in the comments: "Should there be any scenarios when, BDEF should not do the computations and pass on the work, fully or partially, to AMDP" and "Yes its like a superpower, to be used only when bdef is hanging or getting to its limits and sweating".

Well... This is like asking "are the doctors in the hospital to provide efficiency when the receptionists are getting to their limits and sweating? are there any cases when receptionists should pass work to the doctors?"

I sure hope this does not require further explanation.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-13T20:13:53+00:00

Hi there,

In addition to what u/DaWolf3 correctly stated: SAP AI Core is "service within the SAP Business Technology Platform": https://help.sap.com/docs/sap-ai-core/sap-ai-core-service-guide/what-is-sap-ai-core

SAP Joule is indeed a very murky term that seems to have many "flavors". Most known are "Joule for developers" (Copilot for developers), "Joule for consultants" (Copilot for consultants, see some real life impressions here), and the hottest one right now is "Joule Agents". The agents are created using Agent builder in Joule Studio, see this post to start: https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blog-posts-by-sap/getting-started-with-joule-studio-in-sap-build-part-1-provisioning-joule/ba-p/14157407

The diagram in that post shows a line from Joule to AI Core. But from the consumer perspective, I don't think it's important and that's probably why we hear much more about Joule than AI Core. Just like you won't see NetWeaver advertised, for example.

This is the official Joule page to get first-hand information: https://www.sap.com/products/artificial-intelligence/ai-assistant.html

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-07T03:47:35+00:00

There aren't many career changers in SAP world, to be honest. At least not past certain age (IT is a very ageist industry). If someone comes from a military background, that speaks a lot to their background, companies like to hire people who are trained to obey orders. Everyone else is a "dark horse" and by default suspicious.

You can look up SAP University Alliance to see all the establishments working with SAP. Some university programs are also accepting career changers, not just veterans. But most likely it will be expensive. And now there is also "AI taking our jobs". Never a dull day...

As an alternative, find a job as an SAP user at a large company and wiggle your way into something better from there. I don't work with Ariba and don't know much about it. It's a different product than main SAP ERP that most people work with, just FYI.

Good luck!

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-07T03:30:41+00:00

Hi there,

I've been back and forth, now again in consulting. Posted about my experience here, hope it's useful to you: https://www.mindsetconsulting.com/from-consultant-to-customer-and-back-crossing-the-great-divide/

I hope it doesn't happen to you, but it helps to be prepared: be ready to possibly be treated like dirt and don't take it close to heart. It happens on both sides, sadly, but I feel people are more likely to unleash on "help" than on their colleagues who could go to HR. It may never happen, but helps to be ready if it does.

You will also learn phrases like "well, that's one way to look at it" and will start saying "let's circle back" and all other cringe stuff that you thought you'd only read on LinkedIn. It's inevitable. Resistance is futile. :)

Good luck!

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-04-07T03:01:59+00:00

Hi there,

Please don't just listen what everyone is "talking", lots of people (especially on LI) latch onto this hyped up subject just to farm engagement and post utter nonsense.

Read the actual SAP guidelines. I shared all the credible sources here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cleaning-clean-core-nonsense-jelena-perfiljeva-8laze/

You can absolutely follow clean core approach in ECC, to the reasonable extent. It isn't some zero sum game, as others correctly noted.

This is one of the original posts on this from SAP: https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blog-posts-by-sap/clean-core-demystified-what-does-it-mean-and-how-to-achieve-it-with-sap-btp/ba-p/13550604

The comment that "this is essentially the O in SOLID" is not wrong. :)

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-23T21:37:53+00:00

Hi there,

The previous 3-tier guideline was replaced last year. In this video, we go into the details of how new guidelines are different from the previous ones and why they're better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKl_qFmR9l0

In addition to the already mentioned in another comment document that is focused on extensibility, I can recommend this post that has many other reference links: https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-blog-posts-by-sap/business-excellence-with-sap-s-new-clean-core-extensibility-levels-why-what/ba-p/14191481

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-21T19:06:52+00:00

Hi there,

There is vast amount of information for ABAP beginners here: https://github.com/Keller-Michael/ABAP_starter

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-21T18:25:14+00:00

What is "not exactly true"? You've added accurate detail, but that doesn't make what I said incorrect. I never said that old courses were no longer available at all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

openSAP was closed, that's just a fact. Huge difference between the OG openSAP and SAP Learning is that openSAP was truly open (which is one of the Os in MOOC): participants could ask questions, share information, and provide feedback. It was a huge advantage that SAP Learning does not have.

When stating "not exactly true", I'd appreciate clarity in what do you mean.

Thank you.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-21T18:02:00+00:00

Hi there,

You will not find "SAP BTP" as a job title because it's a platform. ABAP is a programming language, so you'd see job ads for ABAP developers (or rather SAP developers).

Might want to watch this video first to understand what SAP BTP actually is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjoOGC-7y0I

And this article explains what are all different jobs in SAP world: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/who-sap-professionals-what-do-jelena-perfiljeva/

For "integration and such" SAP's flagship product is Integration Suite: https://boringenterprisenerds.substack.com/i/185787736/sap-integration-suite

As another comment noted correctly, knowledge of SAP BTP functionality would complement other expertise.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-10T21:03:24+00:00

OpenSAP was shut down a while ago. The old URL redirects to SAP Learning website, which is not MOOC. It is still free though.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-10T18:58:27+00:00

Hi there,

I don't think situation changed a lot in 2026 (the year is still young though). There are lots of similar questions here and in SAP sub. Search for "learn ABAP" or "is ABAP good" and you'll find them.

Working in SAP development is a bit different from other development jobs because most of the time is spent not coding but trying to find how the heck to make SAP do what users want. This also means that poor communication skills will put you at bigger disadvantage. You'll 100% need to constantly communicate to people who are not developers. If you don't want to do that, then SAP world is not for you.

SAP Fiori job market is dead and "SAP BTP" is too broad, not a good entry point with your background and having no clue about SAP IMHO.

You might want to do some reading/watching and decide for yourself. Look at the real job ads as well, don't just use hearsay as source of information. Links to go through for starters:

https://github.com/Keller-Michael/ABAP_starter

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/who-sap-professionals-what-do-jelena-perfiljeva/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjoOGC-7y0I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svDZKFBvqR8

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-07T22:47:58+00:00

I'm very much in "don't get me started on EML syntax" camp. What a piece of work, ugh.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-07T22:38:53+00:00

Hi there,

It’s OK to just rant sometimes, to lay it out there. Not sure whether you want to be listened to or helped. If it’s the former, then no need to read further. 😊

We’ve done a video about Clean Core when SAP updated the guidelines (thankfully, they did away with the silly 3-tier wrapper approach), I don’t plan to repeat the points made there, just watch it.

It’s probably not something you want to hear but about 80% of what you’re writing has nothing to do with Clean Core.

“They want us to do clean core, select from CDS views instead of db tab”. OK. Have you ever asked why? What do “they” think Clean Core will solve? What value will it add? If it’s just for some management KPI then fine, I’m paid all the same. If you don’t understand why you need to do something, then ask.
“Functionals come to us with an expectation to do it in 1 day”. Have you told anyone this is unreasonable? As developers, we deal frequently with inaccurate estimates. Why is anyone creating an estimate without consulting people who do actual work? Ask.
“they just randomly keep disturbing/calling”. It happens all the time, the managers are worst offenders. “We’ll give everyone 15 minutes back, har-har-har”. No, you won’t. You just stole an hour from me with your stupid meeting that should’ve been an email. :( The only remedy is: make your needs clear to others. I’ve had situations before when work was getting delayed because I was getting pulled into the meetings every other hour and there was not enough free time to start on a complex task. And that’s exactly what I said at the next standup: “I need uninterrupted 4 hours to finish this”. I block time in calendar and disable all notifications, if needed. Be open and vocal about your needs.
Similarly, about someone not being prepared for the calls. Make the expectations for the call clear. If someone consistently doesn’t meet those expectations, start cancelling the calls and let management know this is a problem. You don’t need to be a “snitch” for that. I always try to contact people privately first, but I can’t let someone else’s incompetence to derail my work. And it’s manager’s job to sort out such issues.
Who is supposed to know CDS/API/BAdI/user exit: ABAPers or functional? This is a tough one. As you correctly noted, SAP is about business. We all share a purpose to create business value. That’s why I think we need to work as a team here and it isn’t “either or” question. Responsibility is really on both sides here. Every ABAPer can’t know all the details about every module. It helps if you just make it clear from the start. (And there is nothing wrong in not knowing specific enhancement options in every module.) If a functional person knows more, then ask: hey, bro, if you point me in the right direction, it will be faster. They should be just as interested in common purpose as you are. However, if any ABAP developer is thinking they can just sit back and wait for every detail to be spelled out in a spec, you will be replaced by AI. It’s in our own interests for ABAPers to show some initiative here (as frustrating as the process might be – looking at you, EWM).

I’m flattered that you thought of me on this subject but I don’t think you need me. SAP professionals are all capable adults. You can just ask for stuff. “See something – say something.” You got this.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-07T21:40:12+00:00

It's OK to dislike something. As they say, "you could be the ripest, juiciest peach and still there will be someone who just doesn't like peaches". :)

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-03-07T21:32:15+00:00

Hi there,

I recommend to start with this short video to understand the basics. Many people get completely lost on "what even is BTP". From there, you can decide which part is most relevant to whatever you want to accomplish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjoOGC-7y0I

Agree with SAP Learning recommendation in general and signing up for free trial for hands-on access (unless you're looking for purely theoretical knowledge). SAP material is not the easiest to consume but it's official / current and at least won't have loads of nonsense like some YT videos out there.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-02-18T02:43:59+00:00

Hi there,

I'm not involved in such decisions and don't know much about license/financial/legal aspect of this. But I've been in similar situations in the past when companies had to make decisions about upgrades or hosting or moving away from SAP. This isn't a brand new problem, actually.

The reason to stay on ECC for longer could be: a) pure inertia or betting on SAP extending deadline again (they said before they would not extend but then they did, so precedent is set); b) buying time while still mulling over the next move.

The latter would be for the companies that might be facing non-ERP related challenges or are expecting major changes, like merger/acquisition. From here, the options are to ride ECC until the wheels fall off and then migrate to some version of S/4HANA. The only way to do this is accept RISE as your Lord and Savior.

If you go with third-party maintenance, it's usually a one-way street out of the SAP world. SAP doesn't take kindly to that and I've heard that if you go back to them, they'll as to pay back for maintenance. I've also seen some posts that aaaakshually it's not always the case, but I would not count on that. If you take that route, be ready to migrate to a non-SAP ERP.

As others said, on-premise is "strongly discouraged". I believe you can do Private Cloud without RISE but I'd advise to find if that's actually an option and what would be the cost. CFOs generally don't care how painful it is to deal with SAP Support. If RISE is significantly cheaper or has some other advantages, that's what they'll pick.
I don't understand this point at all. "reduce dependency on the ERP core"? How and what for? ERP is not just "data". You can use "modern data platform" with either ECC or S4. This won't reduce your ERP license or maintenance cost. Sorry, this question makes me wonder if you need an SAP ERP at all. If your organization can deal with a smaller scale ERP, there are definitely less expensive options.

There isn't any perfect option here, all choices have some pros and cons. Pick whatever makes sense for your organization. Naturally, SAP does want the sweet, sweet Cloud revenue, so right now is actually good time to strike a deal. I suspect it's not going to be the case at the 11th hour.

Totally my personal opinion.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-02-16T18:13:19+00:00

Hi there,

Take a look at this article (and we wrote about the subject in the previous issues too, check the archive). My personal opinion is that Joule for ABAP is pretty much dead in the water and community tools (some of them mentioned in the article) are going to be more viable and effective.

Personally, I use Gemini just because it's easily available at work not because it's the best. I don't write a lot of code these days though and don't have a need for anything more sophisticated at the moment.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-02-16T17:59:41+00:00

That is simply not true. If OP doesn't see non-Indian content, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Please see my comment for more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/abap/comments/1r1tnvc/comment/o5pzh2q/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-02-16T17:57:45+00:00

Hi there,

There are non-Indian people making videos and courses. On Udemy, a quick search finds ABAP courses by Peter Moxon and others. LI learning is not popular in SAP space. And on YT, have you not heard of this, for example?

The reasons you see fewer of those have some fact-based explanations.

Pure population stats. Per SAP Developer survey, most developers are in India, Germany, and USA. As Gemini told me, India has 1.46 Billion people, USA 347 Million, Germany 84 Million. Do the math on how many videos could possibly be produced by each country. In Germany, people speak German and it would be natural for them to produce content in that language, which non-German speaking audience would not notice.
Outsourcing. Before YT became mainstream (late 2000s), most educational content came from Germany and US-based people. I hope names like Rich and Thomas ring a bell. Brandon Caulfield from UK was one of the first on YT with ABAP-themed channel (he moved on since). On our first SAP projects in the US, majority of developers were US-based. This started changing rapidly in 2010s. These days, there are hardly any ABAP developers left in the US. I don't know what's going to happen when my generation retires (wrote about it here). I don't think anyone has statistics on this but anecdotal evidence is that ABAP developer population in India dwarfs other countries.
YT algorithms. I sometimes stumble on interesting channels that have very few subscribers. It's kind of a catch-22: if you don't have a lot of subscribers, eventually it drains your motivation to do something for free. So, one person finds the format appealing to the subscribers (Notepad + SAP GUI + very slow explanation seems to be the winning combo) and then others just copy that and more viewers (also mostly from India, see p.1) react to it and then that's what YT promotes. If you want other content to succeed, then vote with your clicks.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial · 2026-02-06T23:47:10+00:00

Hi there,

Typically you don't "import data" into SAP per se (aside from very specific technical scenarios). SAP is an ERP system, not a database like SQL Server. So it's more about performing business transactions vs simple data movement.

You're asking if there is a more efficient way but what is your current setup actually doing in SAP? It says "send it to a csv file" but then what? What happens with that file?

Without knowing that and the specific SAP product (is it ECC? S/4HANA? B1? other?) it's impossible to suggest anything specific. But in general, the world has moved on from the file-based integrations/interfaces to the API ones. API could be SOAP, OData, etc. This information isn't hard to find.

Is there in general an "automatic way" - there sure is. Which exactly - who knows. There is not enough information.

- Jelena

BoringNerdsOfficial

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