Why SAP BTP Governance is crucial for your business

SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) provides a powerful environment for the development, integration and extension of applications as well as for the use of SAP applications offered via SAP BTP. These include SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, SAP Digital Manufacturing and many other line-of-business applications. The more intensively companies use SAP BTP, the more the requirements for security, efficiency and cost control increase. In order to cope with this complexity, clear governance is required – in other words, a set of rules comprising roles, processes and standards for the controlled and sustainable operation of the platform.

SAP BTP Governance: How to optimize costs, security and efficiency with clear rules

What is SAP BTP Governance?

SAP BTP Governance comprises organizational, technical and strategic processes and guidelines that ensure that SAP BTP is used efficiently, securely and in a controlled manner. The most important areas of action include the structuring of accounts, consistent authorization management, clearly defined responsibilities and uniform guidelines for the development and operation of SAP BTP. A stable organizational and procedural framework facilitates the use of SAP BTP services and the development of SAP BTP applications.

Need for centralized control

In practice, development teams rarely work in complete isolation. Although cloud development teams follow the DevOps principle (“You build it, you run it”), there is still a need for central instances that maintain an overview of all running applications, set guidelines and consolidate knowledge. This is where the Center of Excellence (CoE) or platform team comes into play: It defines standards, provides orientation and ensures transparency on relevant topics such as security, data management and cost control.

The platform team sets up the cloud landscape, manages it and supports the development teams in the effective use of the available technologies. In their role, the CoE members act as a kind of bridge between IT, business and, if necessary, external partners, thereby promoting a company-wide culture of innovation.

What aspects SAP BTP Governance covers

A functioning governance model requires a large number of topics to be taken into account and harmonized in a holistic concept:

• Team setup and roles
  Clear definition of responsibilities, particularly between development, IT operations, architecture and security

• Onboarding and knowledge management
  Structured induction of new team members and effective knowledge transfer between those involved

• Support and operating processes
  Establishment of incident and change management as well as helpdesk processes

• Compliance and security
  Implementation of security guidelines, role and authorization concepts and compliance with regulatory requirements

• Documentation and tools
  Provision and maintenance of operational documentation and standardized tools

• Technical guidelines and naming conventions
  Uniform guidelines for the development, deployment and administration of applications and services

• Resource management and cost control
  Transparency regarding services used, active budget control and ongoing cost monitoring

Companies benefit from proper SAP BTP Governance

If there is no clear governance for SAP BTP, there is a risk of uncontrolled costs, security gaps, inefficient processes and a lack of scalability. Companies lose track of authorizations, sub-accounts and services used. Compliance requirements can also hardly be adhered to without clean structures.

With a functioning governance model, on the other hand, companies create the basis for sustainable development, controlled platform operation and a high degree of flexibility. Well-established SAP BTP Governance ensures stable processes, clear responsibilities and better transparency. It improves collaboration between teams, reduces operational risks and enables precise cost control. In addition, new requirements can be implemented more quickly and in a more structured manner.

Risks associated with a lack of SAP BTP Governance

In day-to-day work with SAP BTP, various scenarios and situations reveal that SAP BTP governance in the company is inadequately regulated. Typical signs of this include

• Growing but confusing SAP BTP landscape

• Lack of central responsibility

• Problems with security or compliance

• Rising costs without clear transparency

• Isolated teams without common standards

Companies should not take such signs lightly. They have a negative impact – whether in terms of efficiency, costs or security. The most common consequences of inadequate SAP BTP Governance include

• Unclear account structures due to lack of separation of development, test and production environments

• Security risks due to inadequate role and authorization concepts and a lack of central user administration

• Cost explosion due to uncontrolled activation of services and failure to monitor budgets

• Duplication of work and lack of standards because projects start independently of each other and there is no reuse of solutions or guidelines

• Unclear operation due to undefined responsibilities in the event of disruptions and a lack of monitoring

• Slow development due to lack of automation and absence of DevOps approaches

• Compliance violations due to unprotected data processing and lack of auditability

How can SAP BTP be operated securely and efficiently?

To ensure cost-efficient, high-performance and secure use of SAP BTP, companies can take a number of measures to help them configure SAP BTP in the best possible way for their own requirements.

• Define governance model
  It is a fundamental and indispensable step to clearly define roles, processes and responsibilities – including the Center of Excellence.

• Establish the Center of Excellence as a central authority

  The platform team is responsible for control, knowledge transfer and guidance in relation to SAP BTP.

• Introduce standards and automation
  Standardized rules, tools and DevOps approaches accelerate the development of applications on SAP BTP.

• Maintain security and compliance
  With regular audits, access controls and clear guidelines, companies ensure security and adhere to the applicable compliance regulations.

• Control costs
  Effective resource monitoring and structured budgeting by the CoE enable targeted cost control.

Conclusion: The basis for sustainable success on SAP BTP

SAP BTP Governance is not a one-time project, but an ongoing process. Only with clear structures, defined processes, a central control unit such as the CoE and a comprehensive understanding of the platform are companies capable of reducing risks, controlling costs and fully exploiting their innovation potential. Those who invest in sustainable SAP BTP Governance at an early stage lay the foundation for sustainable success on SAP Business Technology Platform – technically, organizationally and economically.