P_SAPEA_2023: SAP Certified Professional - SAP Enterprise Architect

The clean-core strategy is fundamental to ensuring that the Digital Core remains stable and reliable during operations and future upgrades. By following this strategy, any extensions made are guaranteed not to affect the core system upgrades, and likewise, system upgrades will not disrupt the functionality of the extensions. This is achieved by using well-defined and stable interfaces for extensions to interact with SAP business objects, ensuring compatibility and stability across system updates. Reference = The SAP architecture guidelines which prescribe maintaining a clean core, detailing how to develop extensions that are compatible with SAP's upgrade strategy and protect the integrity of the core system.

From the current Enterprise Architecture practice structure presented for Wanderlust GmbH, it appears that there are dedicated roles for a Chief Enterprise Architect and a Technology Architect. However, the roles of Application Architect and Business Architect are not explicitly mentioned. An Application Architect is crucial for designing and maintaining the application landscape, ensuring that it aligns with business requirements, while a Business Architect is essential for aligning IT strategy with business strategy and understanding the impact of business changes on the architecture. Their absence indicates a gap in ensuring the alignment between business processes and IT systems, as well as in defining and maintaining the application strategy. Reference = The roles and responsibilities within an Enterprise Architecture framework typically include both Application and Business Architects to ensure a comprehensive approach to aligning IT and business strategies.

For ABAP developers looking to build SAP extensions that adhere to the clean-core strategy, the recommended programming model is the RESTful Application Programming (RAP) model. RAP is designed specifically for developing SAP Fiori applications and services with a focus on maintaining a clean and stable core while allowing for extensions.

RESTful Application Programming (RAP) offers a modern ABAP programming model that supports development both in the cloud and on-premise. It is centered around services that are exposed through RESTful APIs, making it ideal for creating clean, decoupled extensions that do not interfere with the core S/4HANA system. This approach supports the clean-core strategy by enabling developers to create extensions that communicate with the core system via stable, well-defined APIs without modifying the core system itself.

Option A, SAP Cloud Application Programming (CAP), although a robust model for cloud-native application development, is not specific to ABAP and does not inherently align with the ABAP developer environment. Option B, the SAP Classic Extensibility model, often involves direct modifications to the core system, which contradicts the principles of the clean-core strategy.

SAP documentation on RESTful Application Programming Model.

SAP community articles and guides on developing with RAP.

The Integration Advisory Methodology (ISA-M) is a framework that helps organizations to design, build, and manage their integration landscape. ISA-M covers a wide range of integration styles, including:

Process Integration:This style of integration involves the integration of business processes across different systems and applications.

Data Integration:This style of integration involves the integration of data from different sources into a single data repository.

Analytics Integration:This style of integration involves the integration of data from different sources for the purpose of analytics.

User Integration:This style of integration involves the integration of user interfaces from different systems and applications.

Thing Integration:This style of integration involves the integration of things, such as sensors and actuators, with other systems and applications.

ISA-M also includes a number of other integration styles, such as event-driven integration, service-oriented integration, and enterprise application integration.

By covering a wide range of integration styles, ISA-M provides organizations with a flexible framework that can be used to meet their specific integration needs.

SAP's Integration Solution Advisory Methodology (ISA-M) is a framework that helps enterprise architects to define and execute an integration strategy for their organization. ISA-M covers five integration styles that represent different aspects of integration in a hybrid landscape.These integration styles are3:

Process Integration: This integration style enables end-to-end business processes across different applications and systems, such as SAP S/4HANA, SAP SuccessFactors, or third-party solutions. Process integration typically involves orchestrating or choreographing multiple services or APIs to achieve a business outcome.

Data Integration: This integration style enables data exchange and synchronization between different data sources and targets, such as SAP HANA, SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, or third-party databases. Data integration typically involves extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL) data to support analytical or operational scenarios.

Analytics Integration: This integration style enables data visualization and exploration across different data sources and targets, such as SAP Analytics Cloud, SAP BusinessObjects BI Platform, or third-party tools. Analytics integration typically involves creating dashboards, reports, or stories to provide insights and recommendations for decision making.

User Integration: This integration style enables user interaction and collaboration across different applications and systems, such as SAP Fiori Launchpad, SAP Jam, or third-party portals. User integration typically involves creating consistent and seamless user experiences that integrate multiple UI technologies and frameworks.

Thing Integration: This integration style enables device connectivity and management across different applications and systems, such as SAP IoT, SAP Edge Services, or third-party platforms. Thing integration typically involves connecting physical devices or sensors to the cloud or the edge and enabling data ingestion, processing, and action.

Verified

Reference:3: https://help.sap.com/docs/btp/architecture-and-development-guide-for-industry-cloud-solutions/runtimes-environments-and-programming-models

According to the SAP Enterprise Architecture Framework, which is a methodology and toolset by the German multinational software company SAP that helps enterprise architects define and implement an architecture strategy for their organizations, Transition Architectures are intermediate states between the Baseline Architecture (the current situation) and the Target Architecture (the desired future state). Transition Architectures describe how to move from one state to another in a feasible and manageable way, taking into account the constraints and dependencies of the project. Transition Architectures are useful for structuring complex application architectures that require multiple changes of existing interdependent applications and/or the rollout of new applications. Some applications/solutions depend on the existence of others, meaning that they cannot be implemented or operated without the presence or functionality of other applications/solutions. For example, a new application that relies on data from an existing application, or an existing application that needs to be integrated with a new application. By creating Transition Architectures, enterprise architects can:

Define and prioritize the sequence and timing of the changes and rollouts that are needed to achieve the Target Architecture.

Identify and mitigate the risks and issues that might arise during the transition process, such as technical, operational, or organizational challenges.

Communicate and align with the stakeholders and sponsors of the project, such as business owners, users, developers, vendors, etc.

Monitor and control the progress and performance of the project, and ensure that it meets the requirements and expectations of the project.

Transition Architectures are useful in the Application Architecture domain because they can help to structure complex application architectures that require multiple changes of existing interdependent applications and/or the rollout of new applications.

In some cases, it may be possible to make changes to existing applications independently of each other. However, in many cases, changes to one application will require changes to other applications. This is because applications often depend on each other for data or functionality.

Transition Architectures can help to identify these dependencies and to plan the changes to the applications in a way that minimizes the impact on the business. They can also help to ensure that the changes are made in a consistent and orderly fashion.

The following are some of the benefits of using Transition Architectures in the Application Architecture domain:

They can help to improve the visibility of complex application architectures.

They can help to identify dependencies between applications.

They can help to plan the changes to applications in a way that minimizes the impact on the business.

They can help to ensure that the changes are made in a consistent and orderly fashion.

Therefore, Transition Architectures can be a valuable tool for managing complex application architectures.