Do you sometimes struggle to architect solutions that you would like to build on SAP BTP, which BTP services to choose and how these will integrate with business solutions? If the answer is “yes”, then we have something for you: SAP BTP reference architectures at SAP Discovery Center! We have recently enriched the homepage of SAP Discovery Center to include a third tile for reference architectures and also rolled out a first set of SAP BTP reference architectures at SAP TechEd 2023.

Enhanced SAP Discovery Center homepage

Reference architectures are curated template solutions which are defined for a specific technology or business domain. They also relate to the other content categories of SAP Discovery Center: Services are the building blocks of both, reference architectures and missions. Missions are implementable solution variants of a reference architecture.

Explore the Catalog of SAP BTP Reference Architectures

In the architecture catalog view you can find the SAP BTP reference architectures grouped into the categories integration, data & analytics and hyperscaler as of now. The latter one refers to reference architectures in a multi-platform environment which club services of SAP BTP together with the ones from other vendors, such as Azure, AWS, and Google. We are looking forward to seeing the number of categories and reference architectures growing.

Architecture catalog view at SAP Discovery Center

You can also filter the catalog on BTP services used as part of a reference architecture or make use of the free text search functionality.

Enjoy a new Experience for BTP Solution Diagrams

A reference architecture comprises of an architecture diagram and guiding information. For the diagrams we are in process of adopting the Horizon visual theming of SAP Fiori. For this purpose, a new set of BTP service icons and BTP solution diagram guideline is in preparation that adhere to the new design theming. You may check out the reference architectures of the category integration as examples for diagrams which are already based on Horizon theming.

Diagram example based on Horizon visual theming

If you would like to explore the new SAP BTP solution diagrams and would also like to try out creating such diagrams on your own you may check out the materials of the SAP TechEd 2023 jumpstart session SAP Business Technology Platform Solution Diagrams (XP286v).

Guiding Information per Reference Architecture

Each reference architecture provides you guiding information which helps you to understand its scope, and mechanics, how it relates to SAP business applications and guidance about when to choose a particular reference architecture. In the following you can find examples of the type of information provided:

• Short description: A brief introduction and context of the reference architecture.
• Flow: The flow of data across the services and components of the reference architecture (runtime perspective).
• Characteristics: Specific characteristics for a reference architecture which can help you to identify the right one for a given requirement.
• Examples in an SAP context: A list of examples where the reference architecture has been applied to along SAP business applications, either preestablished by SAP or implemented by SAP customers or SAP partners.
• Reasonable alternatives: In some cases, there might also be some alternative architecture options possible which are not covered by the respective reference architecture. Examples are for instance SAP lines-of-business solution specific technology options. These are outlined, including information about when to choose which option.
• Services and components: A list of BTP services and components used as part of the reference architecture. This will guide you to the service catalog of SAP Discovery Center where you can find detailed information per service, such as its functional scope, pricing, road map.
• Resources: A list of further information resources such blog posts, documentations, learning offerings which are related to the reference architecture and/or its technologies used.
• Related missions: List of SAP Discovery Center missions which allow you to start implementing a specialized solution variant of the reference architecture.

Part of the new SAP BTP Guidance Framework

The SAP BTP reference architectures are part of the SAP BTP Guidance Framework which also has been released at SAP TechEd 2023.

SAP BTP Guidance Framework – Overview

The SAP BTP Guidance Framework provides a central access point for architects, developers and administrators to build and run enterprise-grade solutions on BTP. It acts as a compass toward architecting, developing, and operating BTP based solutions. With regards to reference architectures the framework not only includes the new SAP BTP reference architectures but also the Intelligent Enterprise Reference Solution Architecture. The latter one provide more than 20 solution variants of the recruit to retire, lead to cash, source to pay and design to- operate process, which cover both SAP lines-of-business solutions and SAP BTP services.

For an introduction to the SAP BTP Guidance Framework you may watch the recording of the SAP TechEd 2023 virtual session Guidance and Best Practices for SAP Business Technology Platform and Beyond (XP107v).

What’s next?

Shape together with us the road map for SAP BTP reference architectures at SAP Discovery Center: Share with us your top-wanted SAP BTP reference architecture candidates! It would also be great to know what kind of further guiding information you are looking for with regards to SAP BTP reference architectures. Share with us your thoughts by leaving a comment to this blog post. Looking forward to reading your proposals.