[Proposal setup] Proposal title

Please provide your proposal title

SAP–Cardano OData V4 API with CAP & SAP-Cardano SDK

[Proposal Summary] Budget Information

Enter the amount of funding you are requesting in ADA

85000

[Proposal Summary] Time

Please specify how many months you expect your project to last

6

[Proposal Summary] Translation Information

Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated

No

Original Language

en

[Proposal Summary] Problem Statement

What is the problem you want to solve?

Enterprises using SAP have no secure, standardized way to connect with the Cardano blockchain, limiting adoption for supply chain, finance, and ESG use cases.

[Proposal Summary] Supporting Documentation

Supporting links

• https://cap.cloud.sap/docs/

[Proposal Summary] Project Dependencies

Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

Describe any dependencies or write 'No dependencies'

The project’s success depends on SAP CAP, reliable Cardano blockchain infrastructure, and secure external signing tools. But all of which are mature and stable, so they do not represent a project risk.

[Proposal Summary] Project Open Source

Will your project's outputs be fully open source?

Yes

License and Additional Information

The project will be released as open source under the Apache License 2.0.

This allows free use, modification, and distribution in both commercial and non-commercial environments. Which is also based on the license of the used programming model SAP CAP (Cloud Application Programming Model) for the SAP parts of the implementation.

[Theme Selection] Theme

Please choose the most relevant theme and tag related to the outcomes of your proposal

Manufacturing

[Campaign Category] Category Questions

Mention your open source license and describe your open source license rationale.

The project will be released under the Apache License 2.0, enabling free use, modification, and distribution in both commercial and non-commercial environments. All custom code will be open source, ensuring transparency and reusability. While SAP itself is proprietary, the API and integration examples are fully open sourced. Also the used SAP CAP Model is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing anyone to build OData services and applications locally

How do you make sure your source code is accessible to the public from project start, and people are informed?

From day one, I will create a public GitHub repository with Apache-2.0 license, README.md, MILESTONES.md and /docs. Project updates will be documented every two weeks in Milestones and shared through SAP Groups on LinkedIn, X, Catalyst Town Hall, Cardano Forum, and GitHub Discussions to keep the community informed.

How will you provide high quality documentation?

Documentation will be maintained in /docs within the public GitHub repository from day one. It will include a clear Developer Guide (covering architecture, API schema, and integration steps), a User Guide (setup and usage), and versioned Milestones. Documentation will be updated alongside each milestone to ensure accuracy and completeness. In addition, code examples, integration tutorials, and API references will be provided to support both developers and end users.

[Your Project and Solution] Solution

Please describe your proposed solution and how it addresses the problem

Whats the Solution:

I will develop an open-source OData V4 API for SAP Business Technology Platforms (BTP), built with the open source SAP Cloud Application Programming Model (CAP), to enable secure, standardized, and reusable integration between SAP systems and the Cardano blockchain.

This API will expose well-defined endpoints for both read and submit blockchain operations, including:

• Read operations: retrieving address balances, UTxOs, asset metadata, transaction details, and status.
• Submitt operations: building transactions, submitting signed transactions, and registering callbacks/webhooks for transaction confirmations.
• Metadata & status tracking: enabling SAP systems to use the cardano blockchain state changes in real time.

The API will integrate natively into SAP landscapes via OData, which means SAP ABAP developers can consume blockchain data and perform blockchain actions without writing any blockchain-specific code.

On top of this API, an open-source SDK will be provided. The SDK will contain reusable libraries and helper functions that wrap the API calls, making it easier for SAP ABAP developers and integration architects to consume blockchain data and perform blockchain actions directly from SAP applications.

The API ensures standardized interoperability, while the SDK provides a developer-friendly toolkit that eliminates the need to write blockchain-specific code within SAP landscapes.

Technical Design Overview:

Layer 1: OData Service Layer (SAP CAP)

• Defines entities and actions like addresses, UTxOs, assets, buildTx, submitTx, watchTx etc)
• Implements authentication & authorization via XSUAA (SAP Authorization and Trust Management service)
• Manages request validation, response formatting, and logging.

Layer 2: Cardano Adapter Service

• Handles blockchain interactions (read/write).
• Connects to multiple indexers (Koios, Blockfrost) with failover.
• Builds unsigned CBOR transactions for external signing.
• Submits signed transactions to Cardano nodes / APIs like Blockfrost / Koios etc.

Layer 3: External Signing Integration

• Connects to wallets / wallet services, or signing applications.
• Keeps all signing operations outside SAP/BTP for compliance.

SDK:

• Provides reusable ABAP classes, function modules, and CDS views that encapsulate OData calls to the API.
• Offers helper methods for common blockchain operations (e.g., getBalance, getUtxos, submitTransaction).
• Includes error handling, logging hooks, and integration stubs to embed blockchain data into SAP processes.
• Allows SAP developers to consume blockchain services without writing low-level API code, making integration faster and less error-prone.

Key Features:

• Standardized Endpoints
• No more reinventing Cardano integrations for each SAP project.
• Versioned API with clear schema and changelogs.
• Multi-Indexer Support
• High availability for blockchain reads via Koios, Blockfrost, or internal nodes.
• Transaction Lifecycle Management
• Build, sign externally, submit, track status, and notify back to SAP
• OAuth2/JWT authentication.
• Role-based authorization for actions.
• No private keys in SAP or BTP.
• Better non Blockchain Developer Experience
• OpenAPI specs, OData $metadata, Postman collections.
• SDK with ABAP /CDS code samples for easy consumption.

How it addresses the Problem:

Cardano continues to lack adaptation beyond typical blockchain use cases. Mainly due to the more difficult learning phase involved in the characteristics of the UTXO model, this OData API is intended to ensure that Cardano can also be easily used in enterprise software solutions such as SAP in the future.

If companies using SAP are currently seeking Cardano integration, they need to use costly, one-off intgrations.

This leads to high costs, technical risk, and long delivery times for every new SAP–Cardano use case.By delivering a single, open-source, well-documented API layer, future SAP projects can reuse the same integration. Cutting cost and time-to-market dramatically.

1. Enabling Enterprise-Grade Security: One of the main blockers for blockchain adoption in enterprises is key management and transaction signing. The proposed API will never store private keys in SAP or BTP. Instead: All transaction building happens in the API service. Signing happens externally via HSM, wallet service, or secure signing application. Only signed transactions are sent to the blockchain via the API. This design meets enterprise compliance standards while keeping blockchain operations auditable and secure.

2. Leveraging Familiar SAP Patterns: SAP developers are already familiar with consuming OData services for both standard and custom scenarios. By providing the Cardano integration as an OData V4 service, SAP developers can: Use standard SAP tooling (SEGW, RAP, Fiori) to consume blockchain data. Integrate blockchain into existing SAP processes (Sales Orders, Purchase Orders, supply chain events, ESG reporting) without learning blockchain SDKs or transaction formats. This lowers the skills barrier and makes blockchain integration accessible to existing SAP teams.

3. Open-Source for Transparency and Adoption: The project will be licensed under Apache License 2.0 and developed in a public GitHub repository from day one. This ensures: Transparency for security audits. Community contributions to extend functionality. Adoption across industries without licensing restrictions. By being open-source, the API can be quickly tested and adopted by SAP customers, consultants, and developers worldwide.

Example Use Cases:

• Supply Chain Tracking: Record product provenance data on Cardano and link to SAP delivery documents.
• ESG Compliance: Store carbon footprint tokens linked to materials in SAP MM.
• Financial Settlement: Trigger Cardano-based payments directly from SAP SD invoices.
• Tokenized Asset Management: Manage NFTs or native tokens representing goods in SAP EWM.

Addressing the Problem in Practice:

With this API & SDK, the pain points are directly eliminated:

• No standard integration Single reusable OData API for all SAP–Cardano projects
• High skills barrier SAP devs consume via familiar OData, no other blockchain SDK needed
• Security concerns External signing, no keys held in SAP, auditable flows
• High cost/time reuse eliminates duplicate effort, faster deployment
• Low adoption Open-source transparency & community trust

[Your Project and Solution] Impact

Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

This project will deliver the first open-source, enterprise-ready SAP–Cardano connector, enabling direct interaction between the world’s most widely used enterprise ERP system and the Cardano blockchain.

1. Expanding Cardano’s Reach into Enterprises: SAP is used by over 400,000 organizations worldwide, covering industries such as manufacturing, logistics, finance, retail, and the public sector. By providing a secure, reusable, and easy-to-adopt integration, Cardano becomes a viable blockchain option for these enterprises without requiring blockchain-specific skills. This dramatically increases the potential for real-world Cardano adoption in large-scale, mission-critical environments.
2. Lowering the Entry Barrier: Currently, blockchain integration in SAP requires specialized blockchain developers and custom-built, project-specific solutions. This API removes that barrier by enabling SAP developers—who are already comfortable with OData—to consume blockchain services without learning blockchain SDKs, transaction formats, or node operations. This makes Cardano accessible to a new category of developers.
3. Open-Source Reusability and Community Growth: The project will be fully open-source under Apache License 2.0 from day one, allowing Community contributions to:
   1. Extend and imporove the API
   2. Transparency for security audits and compliance
   3. The open nature of the project ensures that the Cardano community can leverage, adapt, and build upon this integration for their own enterprise projects
4. Enabling New Cardano Use Cases: With this API many high value use cases become possible:
   1. Supply chain traceability and product provenance.
   2. ESG and sustainability reporting.
   3. Blockchain-based settlements for invoices and purchase orders.
   4. Payment processing directly via Cardano
5. Strengthening Cardano’s Position in the Enterprise Blockchain Space: Other blockchains have made moves into enterprise ERP integrations. Delivering this project will help to position Cardano as a serious, enterprise-ready contender, backed by a robust, auditable, and secure integration path into one of the largest software ecosystems in the world.

[Your Project and Solution] Capabilities & Feasibility

What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

Why im capabil to deliver this:

I have over 8 years of professional SAP development & consultig experience. After five years as SAP lead developer for one of Europe's largest organic food chains, I know exactly what modern enterprises need to integrate blockchain solutions. In addition, I have been working as a freelancer for three years now on all kinds of projects involving SAP and interfaces to external systems.

In addition, I have been learning about and working with the diverse programmability of Cardano for two years now. Last winter, I attended the Ermurgo Aiken Smart Contract course, where I learned a lot about development on Cardano. I am a passionate developer and recently participated in the Blockfrost July of Code Hackathon, for example and buid a mvp ecentralized energy trading platform with pallas and firefly.

My track record also includes delivering complex enterprise integrations in regulated industries (Retail, Chemicals, Manufacturing, Logistics) where security, compliance, and reliability are very importat.

I am certified with SAP in multiple areas (SAP Cloud Platform, ABAP for HANA, Fiori, HANA Development) and have built production-ready interfaces via OData, PROXY, ALE and Webservices.

The project will be developed fully in public from day one with:

• Status updates every two weeks.
• Documented milestones and deliverables.
• Transparent commit history and release tagging

How to validate if the approach is feasible:

Interface Prototyping in SAP:

• Develop a lightweight app with CAP to exchange (e.g., sales order creation, goods movement, or financial posting).
• Use CDS Views for structured data extraction and validate performance on SAP HANA.
• Blockchain Connectivity Test
• Send and retrieve test transactions (e.g., posting a material movement as an on-chain event) to prove the basic roundtrip works.

Data & Compliance Validation:

• Ensure SAP-side data is transformed into a compliant blockchain payload (correct decimals, units of measure, field mappings).
• Validate against audit requirements (traceability, immutability, segregation of duties).
• Performance Benchmarking
• Measure how long it takes from SAP posting → blockchain confirmation → SAP acknowledgement.
• Compare this against acceptable SLAs in logistics or finance processes.

Security & Authorization Checks

• Verify that SAP authorization objects and blockchain signing keys are separated and securely handled.
• Validate that all signing stays outside SAP (XSUAA/HSM/Wallet) to remain compliant with enterprise standards.

SAP Experts Alignment

• Demonstrate the prototype to SAP business users and IT compliance teams i currently working with
• Collect feedback on usability, reporting requirements, and integration with existing SAP workflows to identify more specific use cases and requirements

[Milestones] Project Milestones

Milestone Title

OData Foundation & Blockchain Read Integration

Milestone Outputs

1. Public GitHub repo (Apache 2.0 license, README, Roadmap, Milestones from day 1)
2. An initial OData service exposing the core API endpoints to connect SAP with blockchain data.
3. Public GitHub repository containing the OData service implementation, technical documentation, and example queries.
4. A working proof-of-concept showing blockchain read operations (e.g., querying transaction status, balances, or metadata) exposed through the OData service.
5. Automated test cases for OData endpoints to validate connectivity, response formats, and error handling.
6. Documentation in /docs including setup instructions, API schema, example queries, and known limitations.

Acceptance Criteria

1. Service Availability – OData service is deployable in an SAP environment and reachable via standard OData clients
2. Blockchain Connectivity – At least one blockchain data source (e.g., transaction read) can be successfully queried via the API.
3. Response Validation – OData responses follow the defined schema, include required fields, and handle error states gracefully.
4. Open Source Delivery – All code is available in the public GitHub repository under Apache License 2.0 with developer and user documentation.
5. Test Coverage – Core functionality is covered by automated tests (positive/negative scenarios).
6. Documentation Accuracy – /docs folder includes a Developer Guide (architecture, schema, integration steps) and a User Guide (setup, usage) reviewed for clarity and completeness.
7. Demo Scenario – A working demo query (e.g., “Read transaction by ID”) runs successfully end-to-end via OData and blockchain integration.

Evidence of Completion

1. Public GitHub Repository with the released source code under Apache 2.0, including /docs folder, Developer Guide, and User Guide.
2. Running OData Service Demo accessible via a sample endpoint (e.g., GET /odata/TransactionSet?$filter=TxHash eq '...') showing successful blockchain data retrieval.
3. Test Results from automated unit and integration tests published in the repo (CI/CD pipeline logs or test coverage report).
4. Recorded Walkthrough (short video or step-by-step guide) demonstrating the deployment in SAP and execution of a blockchain read query through OData.
5. Milestone Tag/Release in GitHub (e.g., v0.1-milestone1) to freeze the deliverables and provide a reference point for reviewers.

Delivery Month

3

Cost

35000

Progress

40 %

Milestone Title

Transaction Build, Submit & External Signing

Milestone Outputs

1. Transaction building module that can construct valid blockchain transactions from API calls.
2. Integration with external signing (e.g., HSM, wallet service, or signing app) ensuring keys never leave secure environments.
3. Submit functionality that broadcasts signed transactions to the blockchain network.
4. Example implementation and reference scripts showing end-to-end flow (build → sign → submit).
5. Documentation in /docs describing transaction schema, signing integration steps, and troubleshooting.

Acceptance Criteria

1. Transaction can be built using API input (amount, address, metadata).
2. Transaction structure follows blockchain protocol rules (valid CBOR/JSON).
3. External signing integration works with at least one wallet/HSM provider.
4. Signed transaction is successfully submitted to blockchain testnet and confirmed.
5. All code, scripts, and documentation are open sourced under Apache 2.0.
6. Error handling is implemented (invalid signatures, insufficient funds, malformed input).
7. Demo scenario shows a transaction built, signed externally, and accepted on-chain.

Evidence of Completion

1. Public GitHub repository with transaction builder code and example scripts.
2. Screenshot or log output of transaction submission confirmed on blockchain explorer (testnet).
3. Postman collection or cURL scripts to replicate transaction build/submit flow.
4. CI/CD pipeline test results showing successful transaction build and mock signing.
5. Demo video showing full process: build → external sign → submit → confirmed.
6. GitHub release tag (e.g., v0.2-milestone2) containing code and docs.

Delivery Month

5

Cost

25000

Progress

70 %

Milestone Title

SAP Process Integration & Finalization

Milestone Outputs

1. End-to-end integration of the API with SAP business processes (e.g., Sales Order, Purchase Order, or FI posting) using OData/PI.
2. Finalized API endpoints with both read (blockchain state) and write (transaction submission) capabilities.
3. Integration examples showing how SAP processes consume blockchain data or trigger blockchain transactions.
4. Finalized /docs with complete Developer Guide, User Guide, and architecture diagrams.
5. Published versioned release (v1.0) with stable API, documentation, and demo scenarios.

Acceptance Criteria

1. SAP process (e.g., PO creation or FI posting) can successfully call the API and retrieve blockchain data.
2. SAP process can trigger a blockchain transaction build and receive confirmation.
3. Documentation includes step-by-step SAP integration guide (configuration, service binding, examples).
4. All features tested in SAP sandbox and blockchain testnet with positive/negative cases.
5. Open-source repository includes final tagged release (v1.0) under Apache 2.0.
6. Demo scenario runs end-to-end from SAP → API → blockchain → SAP response

Evidence of Completion

1. SAP screenshots/logs showing blockchain data consumed in a business process.
2. Transaction explorer link showing blockchain write operations triggered by SAP.
3. Final GitHub repository with tagged release (v1.0) and /docs folder updated.
4. Video demo of end-to-end SAP → blockchain → SAP flow.
5. Test results and issue tracker logs demonstrating resolution of milestone tasks.
6. Community announcement (Cardano Forum / GitHub release notes) highlighting completion.

Delivery Month

6

Cost

25000

Progress

100 %

[Final Pitch] Budget & Costs

Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

All Costs are caluclated with a $ADA price of 0,95$ and a devloper hourly base rate of 95$

Development Costs: 80,600 ₳

Milestone 1:

• Github and general organisational matters ~ 16h
• Basic architectural design ~ 60h
• Development (SAP ABAP & API layer): ~ 120 hours
• Blockchain integration (Node/Rust/ABAP connectivity): ~100 hours
• Testing: ~30 hours
• Documentation & Demo preparation: ~10 hours
• Total Estimated Cost: ~ 336 hours

Milestone 2:

• Transaction builder development (Rust/ABAP integration): ~ 140 hours
• External signing integration (HSM/wallet API): ~60 hours
• Submission testing & debugging: ~30 hours
• Documentation & Demo prep: ~10 hours
• Total Estimated Cost: ~240 hours

Milestone 3:

• SAP Integration development: ~120 hours
• Blockchain integration & testing: ~60 hours
• Documentation & release preparation: ~40 hours
• Demo scenario preparation: ~10 hours
• Total Estimated Cost: ~230 hours

Total: 806h x 95$ hourly rate = 76,570$ = 80,600 ₳

For comparison, a normal hourly rate for a SAP Freelacer Development and Consulting averaged 110 € (~ 130$ ) hourly in the last three years, which gives a significant discount on the rates quoted here. But I am more than happy to grant it in in order to be able to implement this project.

Other Costs: 4400 ₳

Infrastructure & Tools: SAP BTP runtime for CAP service, Cardano node/indexer hosting (Koios/Blockfrost), cloud storage for demo/docs -1400 ₳

Risk Buffer: Covers unexpected infra needs, extra testnet experiments, additional security hardening ₳3,000

Total: 85,000 ₳

[Final Pitch] Value for Money

How does the cost of the project represent value for the Cardano ecosystem?

Adoption won’t simply come knocking. It’s on us to build the roads and bridges that lead to it. The ₳85,000 budget funds me a 6-month, part-time solo delivery of the first open-source, enterprise-ready SAP–Cardano integration. SAP powers over 400,000 organizations worldwide, many in industries where blockchain can add measurable value like supply chain, finance & compliance. By providing a secure, standardized OData API on SAP BTP and SDK, the project removes technical and adoption barriers, enabling enterprises to use Cardano without custom blockchain code. This creates a reusable, open foundation for countless future integrations, multiplying the impact of a one-time investment across many industries and projects in the Cardano ecosystem.

[Required Acknowledgements] Consent & Confirmation

Terms and Conditions:

Yes