SAP Core Enablement.
SAP Clean Core is a new approach to implementing S/4HANA that emphasizes standardization and minimization of customization. Keeping the SAP core clean enables organizations to run leaner, faster, and respond to business transformation at scale. MYGO helps you architect a clean core foundation with custom functionality moved to BTP and accelerators deployed as side-by-side extensions.
Goodbye Z & Y namespace: no customization in the core
SAP Clean Core is a strategy for implementing SAP S/4HANA that emphasizes using standard functionality as much as possible rather than customizing it to fit specific business requirements. Traditionally, SAP systems have been customized extensively, resulting in complex and difficult-to-maintain software landscapes. The clean core strategy allows for simpler, more streamlined implementations with fewer complex customizations and a reduced risk of compatibility issues when upgrading to newer versions.
The idea is simple: no customization in the core. Custom functionality moves to SAP BTP using the SAP oData framework or microservice architecture. Custom software is deployed as accelerators via BTP. MYGO's Core Enablement practice helps you map existing business processes against SAP standard out-of-the-box applications in S/4HANA, identify gaps, and propose recommendations for code remediation, retiring old functionality, and re-platforming custom logic onto BTP.
Core Capabilities
- Clean core strategy assessment and extensibility architecture design
- Business process mapping against SAP S/4HANA standard out-of-the-box applications
- Gap identification between current customizations and standard S/4HANA processes
- Custom code remediation, retirement, and BTP re-platforming recommendations
- Side-by-side extension development on SAP BTP using oData and microservice architecture
- Accelerator deployment as BTP-based custom applications
- S/4HANA upgrade readiness assessment and path planning
- Authorization concept design and role engineering
- check_circleMethodology built around SAP's clean core principles with a clear disposition framework for every custom object: remediate, replace, retire, or re-platform
- check_circleDeep BTP expertise for re-platforming custom logic as side-by-side extensions using oData, microservices, and SAP Build
- check_circleAccelerator library of pre-built BTP extensions that replace common Z-code patterns
- check_circleCombined technical and functional analysis that evaluates customizations against business requirements, not just technical compatibility
- check_circleUpgrade simulation testing that validates clean core readiness before committing to the architecture
Problems We Solve.
warningCommon Challenges
Heavily Customized SAP Core
Years of Z and Y namespace customizations have created a complex, fragile SAP landscape that is expensive to maintain and blocks system upgrades and innovation adoption.
Upgrade Paralysis
Organizations cannot adopt new SAP releases, support packages, or innovations because custom modifications conflict with standard code changes, creating an ever-growing technical debt.
Slow Innovation Deployment
Custom code in the core prevents adopting SAP's quarterly cloud releases, AI capabilities, and pre-delivered Fiori applications because every upgrade risks breaking existing customizations.
Rising Maintenance Costs
Supporting, testing, and documenting thousands of custom objects consumes a disproportionate share of the IT budget, leaving less capacity for value-adding projects.
Unclear Extensibility Path
Organizations know they need to move customizations out of the core but lack a clear methodology for deciding what to remediate, what to retire, and what to re-platform onto BTP.
check_circleMYGO's Approach
Technical Analysis
Map existing business processes against SAP standard out-of-the-box applications in S/4HANA. Identify where current operations already align with standard and where gaps exist.
Functional Design
Identify gaps from the standard processes in S/4HANA and evaluate each gap: can it be addressed through configuration, a BAdI, or does it require a BTP extension?
Technical Design Proposal
Our teams propose recommendations for code remediation, retiring old functionality, and re-platforming custom logic. Each custom object gets a disposition: remediate, replace with standard, retire, or move to BTP.
BTP Extension Development
Build side-by-side extensions on SAP BTP using oData framework, microservice architecture, or SAP Build for low-code scenarios. Deploy custom accelerators that maintain upgrade safety.
Upgrade Readiness Validation
Validate that the clean core architecture supports seamless S/4HANA upgrades, SAP support package application, and adoption of new standard features without regression.
Our Process.
Technical Analysis
Map existing business processes against SAP standard out-of-the-box applications in S/4HANA. Catalog all custom objects (Z/Y programs, enhancements, user exits) and assess their alignment with clean core principles.
Functional Gap Analysis
Identify gaps from the standard processes in S/4HANA. Work with business stakeholders to determine which gaps are real business requirements versus legacy workarounds that can be eliminated.
Remediation & Re-Platforming
Execute code remediation for objects that stay in the core, retire unused functionality, and re-platform essential custom logic to BTP as side-by-side extensions or accelerators.
Test & Validate
Run integration testing, regression testing, and upgrade simulation to validate that the clean core architecture supports seamless S/4HANA operations and future upgrades.
Operationalize
Establish governance processes to keep the core clean going forward: extension request workflows, BTP development standards, and periodic custom code audits to prevent re-accumulation of technical debt.
Common Questions.
SAP Clean Core is an approach to implementing S/4HANA that emphasizes standardization and minimization of customization in the core system. Instead of modifying SAP's standard code with Z and Y namespace objects, custom functionality is built as side-by-side extensions on SAP BTP. This keeps the core upgrade-safe, reduces maintenance costs, and enables faster adoption of SAP innovations.
We use a structured disposition framework. Each custom object is evaluated on two axes: business criticality (is this actively used and needed?) and technical fit (can this run as a BTP extension?). Objects that are unused get retired. Objects that duplicate standard S/4HANA functionality get replaced. Objects with genuine unique business logic get re-platformed to BTP as side-by-side extensions.
The goal is to maintain or improve the user experience while eliminating technical debt behind the scenes. Custom Fiori apps and BTP extensions can provide the same or better functionality than Z-transactions. In many cases, users gain access to modern SAP Fiori interfaces that replace legacy custom transactions. We involve business users in functional gap analysis to ensure no critical capability is lost.
A clean core assessment and remediation program typically runs 3-6 months for the initial analysis and first wave of remediation. Organizations with large custom code portfolios (5,000+ objects) may need 6-12 months for full remediation. We phase the work by business criticality, addressing high-impact customizations first.
Yes, and we recommend it. The migration to S/4HANA is the ideal time to implement clean core principles because you are already addressing custom code during the conversion process. We run the clean core analysis in parallel with the migration assessment so that custom code remediation serves both the migration and the clean core objectives simultaneously.
BTP is the technology platform that makes clean core possible. When custom functionality needs to move out of the S/4HANA core, BTP provides the runtime environment for side-by-side extensions, the integration layer for connecting extensions to S/4HANA, and the development tools for building modern applications. Clean core is the strategy; BTP is the execution platform.
S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition enforces clean core by design; you cannot modify the core. S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition and on-premise allow core modifications but SAP strongly recommends the clean core approach for upgrade safety and long-term maintainability. MYGO helps organizations adopt clean core principles regardless of their S/4HANA deployment model.
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