What is SAP RAP? An introduction for beginners
An overview of the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model on S/4HANA.
RAP (ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model) is SAP’s modern programming model for building apps and APIs on S/4HANA.
What RAP is made of
- CDS Views: define the data model.
- Behavior Definition: declare behavior (create, update, delete, validations…).
- Service Definition & Binding: expose OData for Fiori or external consumers.
Why it matters
RAP is SAP’s recommended way to build new applications on S/4HANA and Fiori.
Managed vs Unmanaged
- Managed: the framework handles persistence — fast for standard scenarios.
- Unmanaged: you control the persistence logic — for integrating legacy tables/logic.
Start with a managed scenario to get comfortable, then expand from there.