Lesson 1 of 5
Adopt, adapt, extend
9 min
Every SAP S/4HANA program reaches the same moment many times over: someone in a workshop says "that's not how we do it." What happens next decides how expensive the system will be to run for the next ten years. The process owner is the person who should decide, and this course gives you a way to do it well.
Fit-to-standard in SAP Activate
SAP Activate, SAP's implementation methodology, puts the fit-to-standard analysis at the heart of the Explore phase. Instead of writing long requirement documents and then designing a system to match, the team starts from SAP's preconfigured best-practice processes. Solution experts demonstrate the standard process in a sandbox or starter system, the business discusses how well it fits, and anything that does not fit is recorded as a delta (a gap) for a decision.
SAP Learning describes the workshop steps as: review the standard process, demonstrate it, discuss how it fits the requirements, identify deltas (for example in analytics, output, integration or extensibility), identify the configuration needed, and enable the business to run the process. In private cloud and on-premise projects, the team also identifies the custom objects traditionally grouped as WRICEF: workflows, reports, interfaces, conversions, enhancements and forms.
- PrepareScope items selected; process owners review the standard process flows in SAP Signavio Process Navigator
- Show and tellSolution experts run the standard process for Contoso with real-looking data
- Fit discussionProcess owner and key users compare the standard with how the business must work
- Record deltasEach gap is captured as a backlog item with a short business justification
- DecideThe process owner, with the architect, chooses adopt, adapt, extend or change the business
The four answers to a gap
When a gap is raised there are really four possible answers, and the first one is the default:
| Option | What it means | Contoso example |
|---|---|---|
| Adopt | Use the SAP standard process as delivered, with no change. | Use standard credit management blocks for Great Lakes Fleet Services instead of a home-grown credit spreadsheet. |
| Adapt (configure) | Use SAP's configuration options: settings, document types, output, workflow conditions, fields made mandatory. | Add a Contoso-specific sales document type for warranty replacements of CMC-ALT-100. |
| Extend | Add something SAP does not deliver, using supported extension techniques: custom fields and logic, a custom app or an integration. | Add a "fleet contract number" field to the sales order and pass it to billing. |
| Change the business | Change the way people work so the standard fits. | Drop a legacy approval step that exists only because the old system could not do credit checks. |
Four answers to a fit-to-standard gap.
Notice that configuring is not "customizing the code." Configuration is the use of options SAP built in and supports through upgrades. Extensions are where long-term cost starts to grow, and modifications to SAP's own code are where it grows fastest.
Why adopt is the default
Adopting the standard is not laziness. It buys you three things. First, upgrade safety: SAP tests its own processes before every release, so the standard keeps working. Second, speed: preconfigured content and test scripts already exist. Third, a smaller regression burden: everything you add is something you, not SAP, must retest every time the system changes.
That is the idea behind SAP's clean core message: keep the core of the ERP close to standard, put differentiating extensions on stable, released interfaces, and keep a clear record of anything that is not. Clean core is not "no extensions." It is "no extensions you cannot justify and cannot upgrade."
The process owner's role in these workshops is specific. Consultants show what SAP can do; key users explain how work happens today; the architect says what is technically possible. Only the process owner can say what the business must have, what it is willing to change, and what it is willing to pay for. That is why the decision sits with you, and why you should be in the room rather than reading a summary afterwards.
What would you do?
In a Contoso order-to-cash workshop, Maria (key user) says the standard delivery creation screen "looks different from ECC" and asks for a custom transaction that mimics the old one. What should the process owner decide?
- Fit-to-standard happens in the Explore phase: show the standard, discuss fit, record deltas, decide.
- Four answers to a gap: adopt, adapt (configure), extend, or change the business.
- Adopt is the default because it is upgrade-safe, fast and keeps the regression burden small.
- Clean core means justified extensions on stable interfaces, not zero extensions.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. In which SAP Activate phase does fit-to-standard analysis mainly take place?
2. Which option should be the default answer to a requested gap?
3. Which of these is configuration rather than an extension?
4. A user wants the new screen to look like the old ECC screen. What kind of issue is this?