News from SAP: SAP has been investing heavily for some time in making it possible to develop apps, automations, and better interfaces for those who can’t or don’t want to write code. In 2024, you’ll also be able to generate clean code – without coding – using generative AI.
Apps without code
“When SAP introduced Fiori as the user interface for its platforms, they took the first step toward making apps the primary user interface.” Over the past ten years, SAP has launched tens of thousands of apps that replace old user interfaces. But that’s just “scratching the surface.” Ideally, SAP wants partners and customers to build their own apps that simplify and solve specific needs.
To accelerate development, SAP is therefore investing in low-code tools. Or even no-code, where you as a developer don’t need to write a single line of code to create apps. SAP has a tool called Apps within its SAP Build concept. This tool makes it possible to create custom apps with built-in logic primarily through drag-and-drop tools. Build different views, navigation, forms, and buttons by simply dragging them where you want them.
When the user interface is designed, you add logic. For example, something should happen when you press a button, by dragging a pre-built function to a button. If you need more advanced features, you can either get help from a developer who writes high-code or generate your own code with SAP Build Code.
You can read more about SAP Build Apps here: SAP Build Apps | AppGyver | Visual Low-Code App Builder
Automation without Code
A prerequisite for making things easier in your daily work is that it’s easy to make things easier. SAP therefore provides SAP Build Process Automation to help you. With graphical drag-and-drop tools, you can automate both your own and your colleagues’ processes using various workflows that you build in a graphical environment. Here you can automate both big and small things, things that are both inside and outside SAP applications or in combination.
Maybe you want an email to be sent to the customer when their order is ready for delivery? Or that long Excel list you receive every week should be automatically entered where the information belongs? You can build flows for all of this yourself using Process Automation – without writing a single line of code.
You can also record your activities using a bot that creates an automated flow of what you’ve done – afterward, you can then supplement your flow with additional functionality.
You can read more about SAP Build Process Automation here: SAP Build Process Automation | Product Features
Workspaces without Code
What could be better than starting your workday with a workspace where you have everything you need to do and know available in one place? Plus in a beautiful design? When apps became the natural user interface in SAP, the need also arose to be able to gather apps that belong to the same role or work task in one place. Additionally, lots of surrounding information was needed that can help you as a user work efficiently. For example, you need to easily see information connected to the processes you work in. Maybe you need to be able to share information or see if someone else has completed a task you depend on? You can create all of this yourself by building workspaces in SAP Build Workzone – also without writing any code. Workzone is the tool for creating digital workplaces without writing your own code.
You can read more about SAP Build Workzone here: SAP Build Work Zone | Digital Workplace Experience
Code without Code
In 2024, SAP will complement its low-code trio SAP Build with a fourth element, SAP Build Code. This tool will make things easier for both you who write code and you who don’t write code in situations when you need to solve something that can’t be solved without writing code.
Then SAP Build Code will write (generate) the code for you using generative AI. When you want to write code that, for example, creates a form or a function that should do something in the app you’ve built, you simply type in your request in plain English (and probably Swedish eventually too). Shortly after, SAP Build Code writes the code that’s needed. Then you just need to copy the code and paste it in the right place to run it.
You can read more about SAP Build Code here: SAP Build Code | Pro-Code App Development | Developer Tools and Services
