SAP API Management


SAP API Management: A Critical Factor for Digital Transformation

With the torrent of cloud, mobile, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, providing business services and information rapidly and securely to internal users, partners in the supply chain, and end customers has become a critical requirement. Yet, it presents a significant challenge — integration across multiple SAP and non-SAP solutions is the most mentioned challenged in several recent SAPInsider research reports, including this SAP Integration Benchmark Report released in fall 2021.

The article The Rise of Integration as a Strategic Imperative outlines the various strategic ways to overcome the integration challenge. A critical factor in a successful integration strategy is API management — the process to develop, publish, promote, and oversee APIs in a secure and scalable environment.

SAP API Management: A Critical Factor for Digital Transformation

With the torrent of cloud, mobile, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, providing business services and information rapidly and securely to internal users, partners in the supply chain, and end customers has become a critical requirement. Yet, it presents a significant challenge — integration across multiple SAP and non-SAP solutions is the most mentioned challenged in several recent SAPInsider research reports, including this SAP Integration Benchmark Report released in fall 2021.

The article The Rise of Integration as a Strategic Imperative outlines the various strategic ways to overcome the integration challenge. A critical factor in a successful integration strategy is API management — the process to develop, publish, promote, and oversee APIs in a secure and scalable environment.

SAP has partnered with Cloud Foundry as well as cloud hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure to run the SAP API management service. James Wood, Principal Consultant with Bowdark Consulting, explains the intricacies of the Cloud Foundry environment in this article. With Cloud Foundry, developers can build just about anything, from SAP Fiori apps with SAPUI5 to apps and APIs built on Node.js, Java, Python, and so forth.

Based on the open-source application platform managed by the Cloud Foundry Foundation, SAP API Management can be used to enhance SAP products and to integrate business applications. It can also be used to develop entirely new enterprise applications based on business APIs that are hosted on SAP Business Technology Platform and integrated with SAP HANA extended application services.

With so many users, devices, and applications accessing business transactions and information, SAP API Management provides a single provisioning platform to provide central access and governance across a hybrid landscape.

The API Management infrastructure consists of five components:

  • API runtime allows users and applications to deploy and productively use available APIs.
  • API portal is a one-stop-shop to create, secure, and publish API proxies. API users can search for and discover APIs, and API administrators can manage, meter, and secure APIs, as well as define and publish rate plans.
  • API business hub enterprise is a self-service for application developers to discover, browse, and explore APIs, subscribe to rate plans, and build apps.
  • API analytics provides powerful analytical tools to track API usage.
  • API designer can define, implement, and document APIs.

On-premise and cloud platforms and databases can call the APIs through REST, OData and SOAP frameworks.

Apart from SAP, integration platforms from vendors such as Boomi, SUSE, TIBCO, and Stonebranch also provide automation and intelligence to make API management more manageable.

7 results

  1. Validating Customer Addresses in S/4 using Google Address Validation API

    Published: 21/January/2024

    Reading time: 5 mins

    Customer addresses are an essential part of any business that deals with sales, delivery, invoicing, or marketing. Having accurate and consistent customer addresses can help improve customer satisfaction, reduce operational costs, and optimise business processes. However, maintaining customer address data can be challenging, especially when dealing with different formats, languages, and standards across countries and...…

  2. SAP S/4HANA Conversion Application Interface Testing and Virtualization

    Depending on the type of SAP S/4HANA conversion (brownfield, bluefield, or greenfield), the existing business logic and code of available project functionalities may change, leading to a need for whole systems to be retested. But how can the IDOCs or proxy messages be automatically retested? Thanks to SAP Application Integration (API), those messages are persistent…

  3. How to Achieve Agile Integration with SAP and Side-By-Side Extensibility with Red Hat Integration

    This session explores how the Red Hat Integration portfolio can help SAP customers on their path to becoming an Intelligent Enterprise. Attendees will discover how Red Hat Integration can help with both SAP and non-SAP workloads’ agile integration. In this session, you will also learn: - How to enable open hybrid cloud while getting the…

  4. A Guide for Using Formulas and APIs in SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Microsoft Office

    Published: 17/May/2017

    Reading time: 11 mins

    SAP BusinessObjects Analysis for Microsoft Office version 2.3, the eventual successor to the BEx Analyzer, has not only incorporated most of the Analyzer features but also has significantly expanded its scope while improving the end-user experience. The SAP Formula Library and the Application Programming Interface (API) Library, discussed in-depth in this article, are two tools...…

  5. Building a Digital Business with APIs

    Published: 31/January/2017

    Reading time: 9 mins

    Digital enterprises enjoy a variety of advantages, including sophisticated customer experiences and seamless supplier collaboration. Fortunately, any organization can realize these benefits — all you need are effective applications that enable digital interactions. These digital interactions are made possible by open application programming interfaces (APIs), which are the building blocks of innovative applications in the…

  6. Populate the Profit Center Using a BAdI for Tax Lines

    Published: 29/August/2014

    Reading time: 8 mins

    Learn how to use a Business Add-In (BAdI) to populate the profit center for the tax lines when you use BAPI_ACC_DOCUMENT_POST to post a document. Follow step-by-step instructions to use the BAPI and BAdI with the sample code. In this way, you can extend the BAPI functionality and easily populate the profit center by yourself....…

  7. What You Need to Know About MDM-Portal Integration

    Published: 25/October/2012

    Reading time: 31 mins

    Explore the four methods—MDM Business Package, MDM Web Dynpro Configurator, MDM Web Services, and MDM Java API—from which you can choose to integrate SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management (SAP NetWeaver MDM) and SAP NetWeaver Portal. Learn how and when to implement the integration method that best addresses your business structure, and then take that integration...…