What is the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP)?
SAP BTP Platform is a platform as a service developed by SAP SE for creating new applications or extending existing applications in a secure cloud computing environment managed by SAP. The SAP BTP Platform integrates data and business processes (Source)
Overview
Simplifier apps can be deployed to SAP Build Work Zone directly from the App Editor with just a few clicks. Once deployed, the app appears in SAP Build Work Zone alongside other BTP applications. They can directly be executed within the SAP Build Work Zone without the need to deploy them on the SAP BTP runtime, supporting all Simplifier features including SBOs, Connectors, OData Services, Workflows, and all login methods.
BTP Setup (One-Time)
The following setup must be completed once on the BTP side before apps can be deployed from Simplifier. This is typically done by a BTP administrator.
1. Prerequisites
- A SAP BTP Sub-Account with an active SAP Build Work Zone subscription
- A SAP Cloud Connector instance (can be installed on-premise or as a Docker container)
- A technical user in Simplifier for the Content Provider API authentication
2. Configure the Cloud Connector
The Cloud Connector creates a secure tunnel between BTP and the Simplifier instance.
- Open the Cloud Connector administration UI
- Add Subaccount: Connect the Cloud Connector to your BTP subaccount using the authentication data file downloaded from BTP (BTP Cockpit > Connectivity > Cloud Connectors > Authentication Data)
- Add Cloud-to-On-Premise mapping:
- Back-end Type: Non-SAP System
- Protocol: HTTP
- Internal Host/Port: the hostname and port of your Simplifier instance
- Virtual Host/Port: a virtual hostname that BTP will use to address Simplifier (e.g. simplifier-server:443)
- Check Allow WebSocket
- Host In Request Header: Use Virtual Host
- Add resource: Add the path / with Path and all sub-paths to allow BTP to access the Content Provider API and app resources
- Verify that the connection status shows as reachable
If you see a “host not reachable” error due to TLS, upload the required certificate (e.g. Let’s Encrypt root certificate) in the Cloud Connector’s Backend Trust Store.
3. Create BTP Destinations
In the BTP Cockpit, go to Connectivity > Destinations and create two destinations:
Design-time destination (used by Work Zone to fetch app metadata):
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | e.g. simplifier-dt (use only lowercase a-z, 0-9, and –) |
| Type | HTTP |
| URL | http://<virtual-host>:<port>/sap/bc/ui2/cdm3/entities |
| Proxy Type | OnPremise |
| Authentication | BasicAuthentication |
| User | The technical Simplifier user |
| Password | The technical user’s password |
| Location ID | The Location ID of the Cloud Connector (if configured) |
Additional Property: sap-client |
100 |
Additional Property: HTML5.DynamicDestination |
true |
Runtime destination (used to load and run apps):
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | e.g. simplifier-rt (use only lowercase a-z, 0-9, and -) |
| Type | HTTP |
| URL | http://<virtual-host>:<port> |
| Proxy Type | OnPremise |
| Authentication | BasicAuthentication |
| User | The technical Simplifier user |
| Password | The technical user’s password |
| Location ID | The Location ID of the Cloud Connector (if configured) |
Additional Property: HTML5.DynamicDestination |
true |
Additional Property: sap-client |
100 |
Additional Property: sap-platform |
ABAP |
Additional Property: sap-service |
Simplifier |
Additional Property: sap-sysid |
Simplifier |
Note: Use only lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens in destination names to prevent validation errors in SAP Build Work Zone.
4. Add Content Provider in SAP Build Work Zone
- Open SAP Build Work Zone (from BTP Cockpit > Subscriptions)
- Go to Channel Manager
- Click New > Content Provider
- Enter a name (e.g. “Simplifier”) and select the design-time and runtime destinations created above
- Click Save
The Content Provider will now fetch the app metadata from Simplifier via the Content Provider API.
5. Configure Content Security Policy
In the SAP Build Work Zone Site Manager, add the following security header in the site settings:
| Header Name | Value |
|---|---|
content-security-policy |
default-src * 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' data: blob:; |
Deploying an App to SAP BTP
Step 1 – Open the Deploy Menu
Open an app in the App Editor. In the toolbar, click the Deploy dropdown button and select Deploy to SAP BTP.
Step 2 – Fill Out the Deployment Dialog
The deployment dialog opens with the following fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| App Name (EN) | Yes | Display name of the app in BTP Workzone. Pre-filled with the Simplifier app name. |
| App Name (DE) | No | German translation. If left empty, the EN value is used. |
| App Subtitle (EN) | Yes | Short description shown below the app tile. Pre-filled with the app description. |
| App Subtitle (DE) | No | German translation. If left empty, the EN value is used. |
| App Icon | Yes | A valid SAP icon name, e.g. sap-icon://database. |
| SAP BTP Group / Section (EN) | Yes | The group or section in BTP Workzone where the app appears. Free text. |
| SAP BTP Group / Section (DE) | No | German translation. If left empty, the EN value is used. |
| Roles | Yes | One or more Simplifier global roles that control access to the app in BTP. |
Step 3 – Deploy
Click Deploy to publish the app to SAP BTP.
Step 4 – Refresh the Content Provider in SAP Build Work Zone
After deploying, a BTP administrator must refresh the Simplifier Content Provider in SAP Build Work Zone before the app becomes visible:
- Go to Channel Manager in SAP Build Work Zone and click Refresh on the Simplifier Content Provider.
- Switch to Content Manager in the sidebar. The deployed roles, groups, and apps from Simplifier should now appear.
- In the site’s Role Assignments, activate the Simplifier roles to make the apps available to users.
Assign users to the corresponding BTP Role Collections, which are created automatically from the Simplifier roles, following the naming pattern ~<content provider name>_<role name>
Whenever the app is re-deployed or a new app is deployed from Simplifier, refresh the Content Provider in SAP Build Work Zone to pick up the changes.
Undeploying an App
To remove an app from BTP, open the deployment dialog from the same Deploy > Deploy to SAP BTP menu entry and click Delete. After the BTP administrator refreshes the Content Channel, the app is no longer available in SAP Build Work Zone.
Transport Support
The BTP deployment configuration is included when transporting apps between Simplifier instances. When an app with a BTP deployment configuration is imported on a target instance, it is automatically deployed to BTP on that instance.
