ABAP to RAP Roadmap 2025: How to Become an S/4HANA Cloud-Ready Developer

Sachin Artani• Last Updated on September 09, 2025

ABAP to RAP Roadmap 2025: How to Become an S/4HANA Cloud-Ready Developer

SAP

This is a practical, step-by-step guide to move from traditional ABAP work toward becoming an S/4HANA cloud-ready ABAP developer using clean development practices and the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP).

Who this guide is for

Students planning to start a career as an SAP ABAPer
Freshers who just started as ABAP developers
Experienced ABAPers who are still building reports in SE38
Enthusiasts who want to stay current with SAP development

How to use this ABAP to RAP Roadmap

This roadmap is divided into simple phases. In each phase, you’ll find what to learn, why it’s important, practical steps to follow, and trusted resources to study. Suggested timelines are also included to help you stay on track.

ABAP Roadmap 2025

Phase 0 - Acquire core ABAP fundamentals

Why
You need a reliable resource to build foundation that explains what in classic ABAP is still relevant and how modern ABAP differs from classical ABAP.

What to do

Complete the course: Acquire Core ABAP Skills. This course explains modern ABAP basics, packages, objects, and an intro to CDS and RAP.
For hands-on, you can either do it in S/4HANA environment or set up a hands-on environment (SAP BTP ABAP trial for free). Follow the onboarding tutorials so you can code in a real system.

Outcome
By the end of this phase, you should:

Know how to write and run simple ABAP programs.
Understand the basics of object-oriented concepts (classes and methods).
Be able to navigate and organize objects in packages.
Have ADT (ABAP Developer Tools) connected to a sandbox system and ready for practice.
Be aware of what modern ABAP development looks like compared to the old SE80 days.

Phase 1 - Transitioning and beginning: What to learn next

Focus on developing a habit of using ABAP Development Tools (ADT) for ABAP development, applying object-oriented concepts, and working with modern ABAP syntax together. Learning them in parallel makes it easier to see how real development happens in today’s SAP projects.

ABAP Development Tools (ADT) and Eclipse

Why
Most modern ABAP objects (CDS views, AMDPs, RAP artifacts) are created and maintained in ADT. So, Building the habit of developing ABAP objects in ADT is essential.

What to do

Install Eclipse with ADT and connect to your BTP trial or S4HANA system following this Onboarding tutorial.

Outcome
Build confidence in ADT by practicing navigation, coding in ABAP editor, and debugging code in ADT.

Object-Oriented ABAP

Why
Learning Object Oriented Programming (OOP) in ABAP builds good coding habits like modularity and maintainability. These habits will make it much easier to understand RAP later, where business logic is also divided into clear sections.

Practice tip (do this inside SE38 today)
Instead of writing all your logic directly in a report program, try moving it into a local class. This way, you can start practicing OOP while still staying in your usual ABAP environment.

Example (local class inside a report):

REPORT z_my_report.

CLASS lcl_processor DEFINITION.
  PUBLIC SECTION.
    METHODS: run.
  PRIVATE SECTION.
    DATA: lt_data TYPE TABLE OF your_structure.
    METHODS: fetch_data, process_data, display.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS lcl_processor IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD run.
    fetch_data( ).
    process_data( ).
    display( ).
  ENDMETHOD.

  METHOD fetch_data.
    " fill lt_data
  ENDMETHOD.

  METHOD process_data.
    " business logic
  ENDMETHOD.

  METHOD display.
    " output
  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.

START-OF-SELECTION.
  DATA(lo) = NEW lcl_processor( ).
  lo->run( ).

References

Check out SAP OOABAP Playlist by SAP Developers to learn OOP concepts in ABAP

ABAP new syntax

Why
Learning the new ABAP syntax is essential because it is the standard for S/4HANA and RAP development. Many old statements are no longer supported in modern environments, so adopting the new style ensures your code is future-proof and aligned with SAP’s clean core direction.

What to do

Rewrite some of your old ABAP programs using the new syntax.
Convert LOOPs, READ TABLE, and string concatenations into their modern equivalents.
Compare the old and new versions side by side to see how much cleaner the new style looks.
Make it a habit to use the new syntax whenever you try out examples in ADT.

Reference

ABAP new syntax quick reference
ABAP cheat sheet on Github

Phase 2 - Data and service layer: OData and CDS

Once you are comfortable with modern syntax, OO practices, and ADT, you should focus on modelling data and exposing data model.

OData services

Why
OData is the service layer that connects SAP Fiori apps and other frontends to the backend. It lets you fetch, display, and update business data in a consistent way. Learning OData shows how modern SAP apps work and prepares you for RAP development.

What to do

Start with exploring how OData came into existence.
Learn building OData services in SAP Gateway Builder.
Inspect metadata and test CRUD using tools like Postman or the SAP Gateway client.
Check out ways of creating OData services.

References

Check out SAP developer tutorials on OData basics

Core Data Services (CDS)

Why
CDS (Core Data Services) is where you define and model business data in modern ABAP. It provides the structure and meaning behind the data, which is used by Fiori apps, analytics, and RAP applications. Learning CDS helps you understand how data flows from the backend to the frontend.

What to do

Create creating different types of CDS views.
Learn using of annotations for UI and OData exposure.
Learn associations and calculated fields.
Learn exposing CDS view as an OData service

References

Check out playlists of fellow SAP contributors on YouTube and pick the one suits you.

Phase 3 - SAP RAP: build cloud-ready business apps

Why
RAP is the recommended ABAP application model for S/4HANA and BTP where you design business objects, behaviors, and expose service in a metadata-driven way.

What to learn

Everything you can about RAP.

What to do

Follow my structured SAP RAP series to begin with.
Implement other RAP objects following RAP100 course.

Authorized resources

SAP RAP community pages and SAP developer tutorials.

Structured RAP Fundamentals recordings

For a guided, bootcamp-style set of sessions on RAP fundamentals, check my SAP RAP bootcamp recordings on Topmate. These are intended to give you a kickstart and strengthen RAP fundamentals in a practical sequence.

Phase 4 - Clean core practices and career readiness

Why
Following clean core principles ensures that your customizations are safe during upgrades and ready for the cloud. It also shows that you write professional, maintainable ABAP - a skill highly valued in real projects.

What to do

Go through the reference document, course and blog and make a habit of following the clean core development practices.

Reference

Clean ABAP guidelines and SAP guidance on custom code adaptation for clean core strategies.
Check out new Clean Core Extensibility Level Model for S/4HANA Cloud.
Follow SAP learning tutorial for practicing clean core development for SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Suggested 6-month study plan

Months 1–2: Acquire Core ABAP Skills course, setup BTP trial, get ADT working.
Months 3: ABAP new syntax and OOP practice; refactor a report into OO design.
Months 4: Hands-on CDS and OData exposure exercises. Build a few views and expose them.
Months 5: RAP fundamentals. Build a managed BO with validations and a Fiori Elements UI.
Month 6: Clean core practices, testing, packaging, and mini project to showcase skills.

Adjust pacing to your availability. The goal is consistent, practical progress with a working artifact at the end of each phase.

Practical checklist before applying for modern ABAP roles

Can you create and expose a CDS consumption view as an OData service?
Can you build RAP-managed applications with multiple associated entities involved?
Do you develop in ADT and know how to debug in ADT?
Do you follow Clean ABAP principles and run ATC on your code for code quality check?

Final notes and next steps

Focus on practical exercises rather than just theory. Small working projects will teach far more than reading alone.

For RAP fundamentals in a bootcamp-style sequence, explore the RAP recordings on my Topmate profile. These recordings supplement official SAP resources and provide a guided hands-on approach.

Thanks for reading 😊

Tags: #roadmap #rap #ooabap #sap