The BTP Adoption Lifecycle: A Phased Implementation Framework Phase 3

Development and Implementation

This phase is where the architectural design is transformed into a working software solution. It encompasses setting up the specific development tools, executing the development lifecycle, and integrating modern DevOps practices.

Setting Up the Development Environment

The specific setup depends on the chosen technology stack and programming model. For instance:

For ABAP Cloud development: The process involves creating an ABAP environment service instance in the DEV subaccount, subscribing to the Web access for ABAP application to access the administration launchpad, creating developer users, and configuring the ABAP Development Tools (ADT) plugin in the Eclipse IDE to connect to the cloud system.

For Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP) or SAP Fiori development: This typically involves subscribing to SAP Business Application Studio in the BTP cockpit and creating a "dev space" tailored to the specific application type (e.g., a Fiori or Full-Stack Cloud Application dev space)

The Development Lifecycle

A structured, design-led development process is recommended to ensure the final application meets user needs and is technically sound. This process generally follows these stages:

1. Explore & Discover: Revisit the business requirements and deepen the understanding of end-user needs and workflows.
2. Design: Create the detailed User Experience (UX) design (e.g., Fiori mockups) and the technical domain-driven design for the application.
3. Deliver: This is the core development stage. Developers set up the development landscape and write the application code using the chosen programming models (e.g., CAP for Node.js/Java, ABAP Cloud) and development tools. During this stage, critical aspects like multitenancy, extensibility, and security must be implemented directly within the application code, including robust checks for authentication and authorization.

Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)

To achieve the agility and quality required for modern cloud development, organizations should implement DevOps principles. SAP BTP provides the SAP Continuous Integration and Delivery service, a Pipeline-as-a-Service offering that automates the build, testing, and deployment processes. Developers push their code changes to a source code repository (like Git), which automatically triggers a predefined CI/CD pipeline. This pipeline executes automated tests and provides rapid feedback, allowing for a more efficient and reliable delivery process