SAP Build Apps vs. Traditional Fiori: Empowering Business Users with Low-Code/No-Code

Posted on August 22, 2025
SAP BTP
By ROI Blogger
194 Views

In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, agility and the ability to quickly adapt to changing needs are paramount. For organizations deeply invested in SAP, the user experience (UX) and the speed at which business applications can be developed and deployed play a crucial role in achieving this agility. This brings us to a critical comparison: SAP Build Apps versus traditional SAP Fiori. Both aim to provide intuitive interfaces for SAP systems, but they differ significantly in their development approaches and target users. Understanding these differences is crucial in determining the right choice for empowering your business users.

Low-Code/No-Code vs. SAPUI5 Development

The most fundamental distinction lies in their development paradigms. Traditional Fiori relies heavily on SAPUI5, a powerful JavaScript framework. Developing Fiori applications typically requires skilled developers proficient in HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and SAPUI5-specific concepts. This approach offers granular control and the ability to build highly customized and complex applications. However, it also comes with a steeper learning curve and longer development cycles.

SAP Build Apps, on the other hand, embraces a low-code/no-code (LCNC) approach. It provides a visual, drag-and-drop interface where business users, with minimal to no coding knowledge, can build sophisticated applications. Pre-built components, logic editors with visual scripting, and data integration capabilities are all accessible through an intuitive graphical environment. This drastically reduces the technical barrier to entry, empowering citizen developers – business users with a deep understanding of their specific needs – to create solutions themselves.

Key Differences Summarized:

Feature	Traditional Fiori (SAPUI5)	SAP Build Apps (Low-Code/No-Code)
Development Approach	Code-centric (SAPUI5, JavaScript)	Visual, drag-and-drop
Target User	Professional Developers	Business Users (Citizen Developers)
Technical Skills Required	High	Minimal to None
Complexity of Apps	High	Moderate to High
Development Speed	Slower	Faster
Customization	Highly Flexible	Flexible with pre-built components
Maintenance	Requires developer expertise	Easier, often visual

Real Use Cases for SAP Build Apps

The beauty of SAP Build Apps lies in its ability to address a wide range of business needs quickly and efficiently. Here are some real-world use cases where SAP Build Apps can be a game-changer:

Custom Approval Workflows: Imagine a scenario where purchase requisitions need to go through multiple levels of approval based on cost center and department. Instead of relying on standard SAP workflows or complex ABAP development, a business analyst can use SAP Build Apps to create a user-friendly interface where approvers can view details, add comments, and approve or reject requests directly from their desktop or mobile device.

Mobile Sales Order Entry: Sales representatives on the field often need a simple and intuitive way to create and submit sales orders. SAP Build Apps allows the creation of a mobile application with offline capabilities, enabling reps to enter orders, check inventory, and access customer information even without a constant internet connection. This improves efficiency and reduces delays.

Employee Self-Service Extensions: While SAP offers comprehensive employee self-service (ESS) functionalities, specific organizational needs might require tailored solutions. For example, an HR department might want to create a custom app for employees to easily submit timesheets for project-based work or request specific training programs. SAP Build Apps enables them to build these extensions without involving IT developers for every minor requirement.

Plant Maintenance Reporting: Maintenance technicians can use SAP Build Apps to create mobile applications for reporting equipment breakdowns, capturing repair details, and requesting spare parts directly from the plant floor. This eliminates paper-based processes, improves data accuracy, and accelerates maintenance cycles.

Custom Dashboards and Analytics: Business users often need specific views of their data beyond standard SAP reports. With SAP Build Apps, they can connect to various SAP data sources and create interactive dashboards tailored to their specific KPIs and reporting requirements. This empowers them to monitor performance and make data-driven decisions more effectively.

Supplier Onboarding Portal: Streamlining the supplier onboarding process is crucial for efficient procurement. SAP Build Apps can be used to create a portal where new suppliers can submit their information, upload documents, and track their onboarding status. This reduces manual effort and improves communication between the organization and its suppliers.

These examples highlight the versatility of SAP Build Apps in addressing diverse business challenges across different departments. The common thread is the empowerment of business users to create solutions that directly address their pain points, leading to increased efficiency and innovation.

Comparison of Time-to-Value and Governance

Time-to-Value: This is where SAP Build Apps truly shines. The LCNC approach significantly accelerates the application development lifecycle. Business users, being closer to the actual requirements, can quickly prototype, iterate, and deploy applications. The visual development environment eliminates the need for extensive coding, reducing the time spent on development and debugging. For simpler applications, the time-to-value with SAP Build Apps can be a fraction of what it would take with traditional SAPUI5 development.

Traditional Fiori development, while offering greater flexibility for complex scenarios, typically involves longer timelines. Requirements need to be translated into technical specifications, code needs to be written, tested, and deployed by skilled developers. This process can be time-consuming, especially for smaller or more straightforward applications.

Governance: While empowering citizen developers is a significant advantage, governance is crucial to ensure the quality, security, and maintainability of applications built with SAP Build Apps. SAP provides tools and frameworks for establishing governance policies, including:

Centralized Administration: IT departments can manage access, monitor usage, and set guidelines for application development within SAP Build Apps.

Pre-approved Data Connections: Control over which data sources business users can access ensures data security and consistency.

Reusable Components and Templates: Providing pre-built and approved components helps maintain consistency and quality across applications.

Lifecycle Management: Tools for managing the deployment, updates, and retirement of applications built with SAP Build Apps are essential for long-term maintainability.

Traditional Fiori applications, being developed by professional developers, often adhere to established IT governance processes and coding standards. However, the involvement of business users in the development process with SAP Build Apps necessitates a collaborative approach to governance, where IT provides the framework and guidelines while empowering business users to innovate responsibly.

Making the Right Choice

So, which approach is the right choice for your business users? The answer isn't always black and white and often depends on several factors:

Complexity of the Application: For highly complex applications requiring deep integration and extensive customization, traditional Fiori development with SAPUI5 might still be the preferred option.

Urgency and Time-to-Value: If there's a need to quickly address a specific business challenge or create a proof-of-concept, SAP Build Apps offers a significantly faster route.

Availability of Technical Resources: If your organization has limited SAPUI5 development resources, SAP Build Apps can empower business users to fill the gap for certain types of applications.

Nature of the Application: Applications that are primarily focused on user interaction, data entry, and workflow automation are often well-suited for SAP Build Apps.

Governance Requirements: Organizations need to establish appropriate governance frameworks to ensure the responsible use of SAP Build Apps.

In many cases, a hybrid approach might be the most effective strategy. Organizations can leverage traditional Fiori for core, complex applications while empowering business users with SAP Build Apps to create custom extensions, workflows, and reporting tools tailored to their specific needs.