Rethinking SAP Fiori Development: Faster, Flexible, and Future-Ready Using LC/NC

Rethinking SAP Fiori Development: Faster, Flexible, and Future-Ready Using LC/NC

When we think about SAP Fiori development, many organizations immediately consider building apps from scratch or extensively customizing standard Fiori apps to meet their unique business needs. This approach often results in long development timelines, high costs, and complex maintenance. But what if there was a faster, more flexible way to achieve the same goals—without all the backend complexity?

Enter low-code/no-code (LC/NC) platforms

In this article, I want to challenge the conventional approach to Fiori development and explore how LC/NC platforms can transform the process. You’ll not only accelerate your time to market but also gain flexibility for future enhancements—all while reducing the burden on your development teams. Here’s how.

The Challenges of Traditional Fiori Development

Fiori has become the go-to user experience for SAP, providing a modern, user-friendly interface. However, creating custom Fiori apps—or heavily customizing existing ones—can be a daunting process.

Common challenges include:

  • Long Development Cycles: From gathering requirements to designing, coding, and testing, custom Fiori apps often require significant development effort.
  • Expensive Customization: Customizing existing Fiori apps can be costly, especially if the business needs go beyond what SAP’s standard offerings provide.
  • Backend Integration Complexity: Building custom OData services or extending the SAP backend ABAP functionality often leads to bottlenecks in development.
  • Future-Proofing: Custom apps tend to lock you into specific SAP versions and processes, making future upgrades or system changes difficult.
  • Maintaining a Clean SAP Core: Custom development often involves creating new objects within your SAP core, which can lead to an increasingly complex system landscape, making upgrades and maintenance a headache. 

This is where LC/NC platforms offer a compelling alternative.

How LC/NC Platforms Simplify Custom Fiori Development

A well-designed, Low-code/no-code platform, architected and built around SAP ERP provides a radically different way to approach Fiori development. By abstracting the complex coding processes and offering a user-friendly interface, LC/NC platforms empower businesses to build robust Fiori applications faster, with fewer resources, and with more flexibility for future needs.

Here’s what LC/NC offers:

  1. No Backend Coding Required: Traditionally, creating custom OData services and backend logic for Fiori apps required ABAP developers with SAP-specific expertise. A good SAP-centric LC/NC platform simplifies backend integration, allowing you to connect to standard or custom SAP BAPIs, RFCs, or Function Modules without writing a single line of code. Result: Faster, smoother integration with SAP without needing specialized SAP coding skills.
  2. Drag-and-Drop Customization: Building a Fiori app from scratch or customizing a standard app can take weeks or months. LC/NC platforms offer drag-and-drop functionality, enabling developers to customize the user interface or create new Fiori apps quickly. Result: Rapid UI customization that adapts to your business needs.
  3. Built-in Mobile and Offline Capabilities: If your apps need to function in remote locations with unreliable connectivity, LC/NC platforms have you covered. Many advanced LC/NC platforms offer built-in native mobile and offline capabilities, ensuring that your apps work seamlessly whether your users are online or offline. This is a significant time-saver compared to coding offline functionality from scratch. Result: Better user experience and business continuity, regardless of network conditions.
  4. Fiori Launchpad Integration and SSO: One of the great advantages of Fiori apps is the ability to integrate them into a unified entry point via the Fiori Launchpad. A SAP centric LC/NC platform can easily publish your custom apps to the Fiori Launchpad, allowing you to manage user access centrally. Plus, you can integrate Single Sign-On (SSO) effortlessly, enabling your users to log in once and access all apps without needing separate credentials. Result: A seamless experience where users can access custom apps through the Fiori Launchpad with SSO, improving security and ease of use.
  5. Side-by-Side Extension for a Clean SAP Core: A SAP centric LC/NC platform allows you to run Fiori apps in a side-by-side configuration with respect to your SAP ERP core. This means that custom applications can be hosted outside of the core SAP ERP system, keeping your SAP core clean. No new objects are added to the SAP ERP system, which reduces the risk of system clutter, making future upgrades simpler and reducing overall technical debt. Result: You maintain a clean SAP core while enjoying all the benefits of custom Fiori apps. This approach not only simplifies future upgrades but also allows for easier maintenance and lower system complexity.
  6. Version-Agnostic and Future-Ready: Many organizations are moving from SAP ECC to S/4HANA or are in the midst of upgrades. Custom Fiori apps often need to be reworked for new versions. A SAP-centric LC/NC platform provides version-agnostic OData services, ensuring that your Fiori apps work across SAP ECC and S/4HANA. Result: Future-proof apps that continue to function through SAP upgrades and system changes.

Real-World Benefits: Faster, Cheaper, and Easier to Maintain

Let’s put this into perspective with a few real-world examples of how an LC/NC platform can transform custom Fiori app development:

1. Material Approval Fiori App

Scenario: Imagine building a custom Fiori app for material approval that integrates with your SAP ECC or S/4HANA and supports future upgrades. Traditionally, this would require a team of ABAP developers, Fiori specialists, and several weeks of coding and testing to build the workflow and the Fiori Apps. With a low-code/no-code platform:

  • You can build this app in days instead of weeks.
  • Integration with SAP ECC or S/4HANA happens without custom ABAP code.
  • The app is version-agnostic, so when you move from ECC to S/4HANA Or between S/4HANA releases with no redevelopment required.
  • The app integrates smoothly with the Fiori Launchpad and leverages SSO, ensuring a unified user experience and seamless login.
  • It runs side-by-side, keeping your SAP core clean.

The result: Faster development, lower costs, easier maintenance, and a streamlined SAP environment.

2. Production Order Management Fiori App

Scenario: Manufacturing companies often need to manage production orders across various plants or production lines. This includes everything from tracking production status to managing material consumption and coordinating with supply chain teams. Building a Fiori app that integrates all these functions and provides real-time updates is typically resource-intensive.

With LC/NC:

  • End-to-end production visibility: Track the entire lifecycle of production orders, from creation to completion, with integrations to shop-floor systems, all in one app.
  • Seamless integration with SAP ECC or S/4HANA, without needing to build custom OData services or ABAP code.
  • Real-time production tracking: Users can view and update production order statuses in real time, even in low-connectivity areas, thanks to built-in offline functionality.
  • Automated workflows: Approvals, notifications, and order changes are triggered automatically, and the app is integrated into the Fiori Launchpad for easy access.
  • Version-agnostic: As SAP systems are upgraded or updated, the app remains fully functional without redevelopment.
  • Runs side-by-side, keeping SAP core clean and uncluttered.

The result:  You get an easily deployable, highly scalable app that can handle mission-critical production tasks across your entire manufacturing process.

3. Quality Inspection Fiori App

Scenario: In industries like manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food production, and consumer goods, quality inspections are vital to ensuring product consistency and regulatory compliance. Developing a Fiori app for quality inspectors to perform real-time inspections, manage defect recording, and trigger corrective actions can be complex—especially when you need seamless integration with SAP QM module and offline functionality.

With LC/NC:

  • Comprehensive quality checks: Inspectors can manage quality inspections for incoming goods, in-process production, or final product testing—all integrated with SAP QM.
  • Offline-first approach: Quality inspectors can perform inspections, log defects, capture photos, and record measurements even in areas without network connectivity. Data syncs to SAP when connectivity is restored.
  • Automated corrective actions and notifications: When defects are found, the app triggers automated workflows to initiate corrective actions, quality notifications, and escalation workflows—all without writing a single line of code.
  • Detailed reporting and analytics: Capture detailed inspection results and generate reports that integrate seamlessly with SAP, providing real-time visibility into product quality.
  • SAP version-agnostic: The app works across SAP ECC and S/4HANA without needing redevelopment, making it future-proof as your ERP system evolves.
  • Fiori Launchpad integration and SSO: Users can access the app via the Fiori Launchpad with SSO integration, ensuring a seamless user experience.
  • Runs side-by-side: No custom objects clutter the SAP core; everything runs alongside your SAP system, ensuring a clean and easily upgradeable environment.

The result:  A powerful, flexible quality inspection app that not only accelerates quality checks but ensures complete, accurate data recording, even when offline, while integrating flawlessly with SAP’s Quality Management system.

The Future of Fiori Development is Here

Low-code/no-code platforms are not just about speeding up development—they’re about building Fiori apps that are more adaptable, easier to maintain, and future-ready. Whether you’re customizing existing apps or building new ones from scratch, LC/NC platforms can help you rethink how you approach Fiori development.

So, is it time to rethink your SAP Fiori development strategy? Let’s talk about how LC/NC platforms can give you a competitive edge by accelerating development, reducing costs, and creating future-proof apps that scale with your business.

💬 I’d love to hear your thoughts. Have you experienced the challenges of traditional Fiori development? Or are you considering using a low-code/no-code platform? Let’s discuss in the comments!

#LowCode #NoCode #SAP #Fiori #DigitalTransformation #Pillir

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