From design to output
How technical integration works, and why it's less complicated than you think
Making two systems talk side by side: it sounds complex. Then there is work to be done. But integration between SAP and the Microsoft Power Platform is something HSO does on many projects. This is not experimentation. This is a proven approach.
The architecture in three layers
At the bottom is SAP: your ERP, your financial backbone, your data storage. You don't touch that. That layer remains stable.
Above that, you build an integration foundation via Azure. That foundation provides a secure, manageable connection between SAP and everything above it. Even if SAP is on-premises, this works. SAP doesn't have to go to the cloud to take advantage of cloud technology.
On top of Azure is the Power Platform: the layer you build yourself with. Apps for employees, automated processes, portals, and once the data is right: AI.
"You bring a rock-hard separation. You let SAP exist nicely, it just does whatever it does now. And through the integration layer above that, you start providing capabilities, for processes that are specific to your business."
Power Apps: apps that people want to use
SAP GUI is built for administration. Not for a mechanic on the shop floor or a customer service person who needs to move quickly. Power Apps solves that. You build an app that works the way your people work: on a tablet, on a phone, three buttons instead of twenty screens.
What the mechanic enters is recorded in SAP. Without retyping, without errors, without SAP ever seeing the end user.
"At a customer's site, they had a warehouse process. Very specific, very small. They could have bought a standard application, a mega platform with a hundred features they didn't need. Instead, we built a simple canvas app. The warehouse worker runs it on his phone and can do three things, just what he needs. That's an example where you provide a quick solution without going into the ERP doing all kinds of things."
Power Automate: processes that handle themselves
Repetitive tasks take time and lead to errors. Power Automate automates those steps: create a work order as soon as a customer calls, forward approval requests, update SAP data as soon as a field employee reports something in the app.
Copilot and AI
The Power Platform is also a platform on which you deploy AI agents and Copilot. A chatbot that helps customers, an agent that automatically creates and files cases. Those capabilities are available once your data is well structured, and you lay out that structure with the integration layer.
"Once you get that integration foundation right, you have the Power Platform building blocks to create custom apps, portals and reports. You can really do a lot with it."