Countless developers are looking to cash in on the growing demand for AI technology. They are spending their time learning Python and DevOps tools that can help them create powerful AI software that will be in high demand.
The benefits of DevOps tools for AI programming cannot be overstated. Harvard Business Review found that 86% of organizations stated that DevOps was beneficial. They have even more optimistic outlooks when they have the right tools at their disposal.
A number of new DevOps tools help programmers create AI code more efficiently. SAP Clean Core is one of the newest tools that they are using to seamlessly create great AI programs.
In recent years, the concept of SAP Clean Core has become central to achieving continuous system stability even with numerous introductions of custom code into it. SAP Clean Core in itself is not a solution, but rather an approach that encourages teams to use SAP’s out-of-the-box features while carefully managing customizations so that the core stays upgrade-friendly.
A concrete solution, on the other hand, one could find in smartShift’s Clean Core X-Ray – a product that helps businesses adhere to the Clean Core philosophy and do so with relative ease. It is a great tool for AI developers trying to make powerful programs.
And in this article, we will dive deep into both the theory of SAP Clean Core and the solution that puts it into practice – we’ll talk about what these are and how exactly they make a difference.
The Challenge of Custom Code in SAP Systems
Custom code is often used when SAP’s standard functionality isn’t enough to handle all of the company’s operational requirements. That’s why many teams have been implementing and expanding their SAP systems over the past decades.
Thousands of custom objects and millions of lines of custom code are crafted to make it all work, and over time, these additions create an environment where customizations are tightly coupled with SAP’s core.
All of that results in spaghetti code – unmanageable, undocumented, and inherently risky. This code often lacks visibility, carries security vulnerabilities, and becomes a major roadblock during system upgrades, particularly when transitioning to S/4HANA. The more customized your SAP environment, the more challenging it is to adopt new features.
This is why an approach like SAP Clean Core is essential – it focuses on decoupling customizations from the core SAP system to create a cleaner, more flexible architecture.
What is SAP Clean Core?
SAP Clean Core is a development philosophy aimed at minimizing changes to the core system while also managing customizations in a way that doesn’t compromise future upgrades or the system’s stability. It implores teams to use standard SAP features whenever possible and only make necessary customizations through external frameworks that don’t disrupt core functionality.
At the same time, despite the fact that SAP Clean Core wants you to keep the core system clean, it doesn’t mean that you should avoid customization altogether. Custom code will always have its place, especially for some very specific processes – the goal is, rather, to make sure that this code doesn’t hinder your ability to adopt continued innovations from SAP.
And the key to achieving this is in shifting away from older methods of modifying the core and moving towards modern, modular approaches that allow customizations to live outside of the core .
SAP itself has acknowledged that the vast majority of customers currently have what can be referred to as an “unclean” core.
Clean Core initiatives aim to reverse this trend.
How Can Clean Core Impact Customizations?
In a nutshell, the Clean Core strategy suggests creating a separation between SAP’s core and custom developments.
Traditionally, custom code was inserted directly into the core SAP system, which meant that any update to the core required extensive testing and reworking of that custom code. With Clean Core, however, customizations are applied through methods that don’t interfere with the core.
This is usually done with the help of frameworks like key user extensions, RAP (Restful ABAP Programming Model),CAP (Cloud Application Programming), and SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform), which enable external extensions to integrate with SAP without altering the internal code base.
On top of that, Clean Core demands that you make use of released APIs and CDS views (Core Data Services) to help custom apps to interact with SAP data without invasive modifications. They provide structured and secure ways for apps to communicate with SAP, so that the customizations are more stable and secure.
One of the toughest challenges for anyone who wants to transition to a Clean Core environment is to fully understand the existing state of their custom code. That’s why we at smartShift made it our mission to create a solution that would help companies make sense of their customizations and move towards a Clean Core SAP system more effectively.
And we did create it – Clean Core X-Ray.
Clean Core X-Ray provides you with deep insights into your custom code by building a repository of the entire code base. This repository serves as a blueprint for how your objects interact and how data is accessed across your custom code. And with the help of its AI tagging engine, Clean Core X-Ray can group your custom objects, find critical entry points, and analyze how your custom code interacts with SAP’s core.
Clean Core X-Ray is a cutting-edge solution for automatically identifying dependencies and helping you create a roadmap for how you will be decoupling customizations from your core.
Why SAP Clean Core Matters for Your Future
A Clean Core SAP system is slowly but surely becoming a necessity for maintaining your long-term system health. In the long run, your ability to deploy new features and upgrade to the latest versions of SAP with minimal downtime will definitely have a substantial impact on your company’s competitiveness.
And tools like smartShift’s Clean Core X-Ray are must-haves in this process, as they offer you an advanced solution for understanding your customizations and how to match them with modern SAP frameworks.