A field story from a real SAP project
Build in SAP with AI
How one ABAP developer replaced a legacy transaction with two Fiori apps and an AI assistant, and what he had to check every step of the way.
by Davide Mancuso · 170 pages · PDF + ePub
$29 USD one-off. Secure checkout and instant download through Gumroad, which handles payment and any sales tax. Free updates for future editions.
The legacy transaction worked. Nobody used it.
The planners ran the real process on email and spreadsheets, because the old screen showed a green light when racks were still missing. This book is the story of replacing it: an ABAP developer who had never built a UI5 app, working alone, with an AI assistant connected to the development system.
The build, from change request approval to the end of user acceptance testing, took about a month. The design before it took about four more weeks. The original estimate, done the old way, was close to 300 person-days.
It is not a book about how amazing AI is. It is about what happened when the assistant was right, when it was confidently wrong, and the habits that caught the difference:
- The analysis document where six out of six object names were wrong
- The client that didn't exist, and why the assistant recommended logging on to it
- The query that quietly ignored every filter except one
- The comparison harness that checked the new apps against the old transaction, cell by cell
- The Save button that disappeared on the laptops people actually use
- Getting IT to say yes: a local model, a read-only connector, and a one-page note IT could sign
What you can use on Monday
Thirteen chapters of narrative with real numbers, diagrams and short ABAP and UI5 examples — and the working material behind them.
Pre-flight checklist
Ten checks to run before you write a line of code.
26 verification rules
For AI-generated SAP code — what to check, and why it fails.
15 prompt patterns
The prompts that worked, ready to copy.
Connecting AI to ADT
Step by step, read-only, through MCP — with the security setup IT will ask about.
The templates
One-page AI-use note, project and open-questions registers, post-import checklist.
Bonus template pack
Word and Excel: functional and technical specs, test scripts, UAT workbook, cutover plan and more.
Contents
Part I · The Promise and the Trap
- 1The Report Nobody Opened
- 2Your New Pair Programmer Has Never Seen Your System
Part II · Before a Line of Code
- 3Read the Old Code First
- 4The Mockup That Almost Became a Contract
- 5Specs That Survive Contact with Reality
- 6Pre-Flight: Ten Checks Before You Write Code
Part III · Building with an AI Pair
- 7Backend: The Names That Don't Exist
- 8UI5 for an ABAP Developer
- 9Proving It Works
Part IV · Shipping
- 10The Things Nobody Transports
- 11Training in a Week
- 12Getting IT to Say Yes
- 13What Changed, and What Didn't
Appendices
- AThe Pre-Flight Checklist
- BVerification Rules for AI-Generated SAP Code
- CPrompt Patterns That Worked
- DBuilding the AI Connector to ADT
- EThe Templates
- FGlossary
Who it's for
- ABAP developers about to use an AI assistant on a real project
- Developers moving from ABAP to Fiori and UI5
- SAP consultants and project leads who have to estimate AI-assisted work honestly
- IT and security leads deciding whether to allow AI tools near SAP systems
Start with Chapter 1 — it's free
Or test yourself first: eight situations from the book where the AI was confidently wrong.
13pages, no email required. If it's not for you, you'll know in ten minutes.
Names, systems and business data in the book have been changed to protect the client. Effort figures, durations and test results are real. SAP, ABAP, Fiori and SAPUI5 are trademarks of SAP SE. This book is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by SAP SE. Purchases are processed by Gumroad and are subject to its terms; see our Refund Policy.