Häufig gestellte Fragen
What is ABAP?
ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) is the proprietary programming language developed by SAP, in which a large part of SAP's applications as well as almost every custom development in SAP systems is written. It originated in the early 1980s, initially as a reporting language for the mainframe system SAP R/2, and originally stood for the German "Allgemeiner Berichts-Aufbereitungs-Prozessor" before being renamed "Advanced Business Application Programming". ABAP is considered a fourth-generation language (4GL) and is closely interwoven with the data model and runtime environment of the SAP platform. Outside of SAP systems it plays practically no role.
What is ABAP used for?
ABAP is used to develop and adapt business logic in SAP systems beyond the delivered standard. Typical fields of use are reports and analyses, customer-specific enhancements via designated enhancement points such as user exits or BAdIs, interfaces via RFC or OData, and forms such as invoices and delivery notes. Wherever a company needs special calculations, industry-specific workflows or connections to third-party systems, ABAP is the development language used. In ERP solutions from other vendors, by contrast, ABAP is not used.
Is ABAP still relevant in S/4HANA?
Yes, ABAP remains the central development language in S/4HANA and has been significantly modernised for it. Alongside object-oriented ABAP ("ABAP Objects"), the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP) and Core Data Services (CDS) are now key; they are optimised for the in-memory database SAP HANA and Fiori user interfaces. With an innovation and maintenance commitment, SAP has held out the prospect of support for S/4HANA until 2040, so ABAP expertise will remain in demand for the foreseeable future. At the same time, the style is shifting from deep modifications towards cleanly encapsulated, upgrade-safe extensions.
What is the difference between customizing and ABAP development?
Customizing refers to adapting the SAP standard through configuration and parameterisation — that is, without a single line of program code. ABAP development, by contrast, produces genuine custom code that delivers additional functions the standard does not cover. Customizing is usually faster, cheaper and more upgrade-safe, while custom development in ABAP offers more possibilities but also brings maintenance effort and risks with later updates. A common recommendation is therefore to exhaust the customizing options first and only program where it is functionally unavoidable.
Do I need ABAP skills when implementing SAP?
ABAP expertise should be available in the project team, either in-house or via an implementation partner, since reports, interfaces and enhancements are implemented in this language. As a business user or decision-maker you do not need to be able to program yourself; what matters is clarifying early on how much custom development is actually required. With the clean-core principle, SAP recommends cleanly separating extensions from the standard via released interfaces in order to ease maintenance and later migrations. For larger adaptations it is advisable to document the requirements in a requirements specification beforehand.
What is the difference between ABAP Cloud and classic ABAP?
Classic ABAP allowed deep interventions reaching into SAP's standard code and is traditionally developed in the SAP GUI using the ABAP Workbench. ABAP Cloud is the more modern development model that exclusively uses released interfaces backed by a stability commitment ("released APIs") and defined extension points, thereby enforcing the clean-core principle. ABAP Cloud is developed only in the ABAP Development Tools (ADT) based on Eclipse, no longer in the classic interface. The goal is to keep extensions upgrade-safe and cloud-ready so that future updates remain possible without conflicts with the standard.
How does ABAP differ from languages like Java or Python?
ABAP is a domain-specific language for business applications and runs only within the SAP platform's own runtime environment, the application server. Unlike the universally applicable languages Java or Python, ABAP is barely usable outside SAP systems and is closely tied to their data model, for example via the integrated Open SQL for database-independent access. In return, ABAP comes with many business concepts and the connection to the SAP Data Dictionary built in. It is a fully-fledged programming language and thus also differs from purely visual low-code approaches.
Is ABAP still worthwhile given the end of SAP ECC support in 2027?
Yes, because the approaching end of maintenance tends to increase demand for ABAP expertise rather than reduce it. Mainstream maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC) with Enhancement Packages 6 to 8 ends on 31 December 2027, optional extended maintenance is available at extra cost until the end of 2030, and many existing customers need to analyse and adapt their ABAP custom code, grown over many years, for the transition to S/4HANA. Since estimates suggest that a large share of ECC customers still have the switch ahead of them, high demand for ABAP expertise can be expected during the migration phase. For S/4HANA itself, ABAP development is in any case regarded as viable in the long term, which is why the know-how is not losing relevance.