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

Sachin Artani• Last Updated on September 08, 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

Follow the phases in sequence. Each phase lists what to learn, why it matters, practical actions to take, and authoritative learning resources. Timelines are suggested for focused study and hands-on practice.

ABAP to RAP Roadmap

Phase 0 - First stop: Acquire core ABAP fundamentals

Why
You need a reliable foundation that explains what in classic ABAP is still relevant and how modern ABAP on SAP BTP differs.

What to do

Complete SAP’s learning journey: 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
Comfort with syntax, basic OO concepts, package structure, connecting ADT to a sandbox, and a clear view of modern development expectations.

Phase 1 - Transitioning and beginning: What to learn next

These three are best learned in parallel because they support one another.

ABAP Development Tools - ADT and Eclipse

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

Practice

Install Eclipse + ADT and connect to your BTP trial or S4HANA system following onboarding tutorial.

Outcome
Comfort navigating ADT, using the ABAP editor, debugging, and creating the basic objects you will need later.

Object-Oriented ABAP

Why
OOP establishes habits for modular, maintainable code. It also eases the later transition to RAP where business logic is organized by responsibilities.

Practice tip (do this inside SE38 today)
Instead of writing procedural logic inline, encapsulate it in a local class inside your report. This helps you practice OOP without leaving your current 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

ABAP new syntax

Why
Modern syntax improves readability, reduces boilerplate, and prepares you for HANA-friendly coding.

Practice

Inline declarations DATA(lv) = ...
Table expressions lt_table[ key = val ]
Expression-based statements and string templates

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, focus on modelling data and exposing services.

OData services

Why
OData is the API layer used by Fiori Elements and many frontends to interact with back-end business data.

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 is where semantic data modelling happens in modern ABAP. It drives Fiori UIs, analytics, and RAP behavior.

Practice

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

What to do

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 service exposures in a metadata-driven way.

What to learn

Everything you can.

How to practice

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

Authoritative resources

SAP RAP community pages and SAP developer tutorials.

Your structured RAP 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
Clean core development ensures your extensions are upgrade-safe and cloud-ready.

Practices

Keep business-critical customization out of the SAP standard core. Use extension points, BAdIs, side-by-side extensibility on BTP where appropriate.
Write small focused methods, meaningful names, and unit tests. Use ATC and static checks to enforce standards.
Document behavior, file transport strategies, and test plans for maintainability.

Reference

Clean ABAP guidelines and SAP guidance on custom code adaptation for clean core strategies.
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 a small RAP-managed BO and test it with Fiori Elements?
Do you develop in ADT and know how to debug in Eclipse?
Do you follow Clean ABAP principles and run ATC on your code?
Do you have at least one end-to-end sample (CDS → OData → UI) in your portfolio?

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