SAP CPI Services & iFlow Development
SAP CPI — originally SAP Cloud Platform Integration, now the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite — is where most SAP customers connect S/4HANA and ECC to the rest of their landscape. CssInfotech designs, builds, tests and supports those integration flows.
We have delivered CPI work across finance, supply chain, HR and procurement scenarios: SAP to Salesforce, SAP to banks, SAP to SuccessFactors and Ariba, SAP to e-invoicing portals, and IDoc and proxy replacements for ageing SAP PI/PO interfaces.
SAP CPI, Cloud Integration and Integration Suite — The Naming, Cleared Up
The naming has changed three times, and that causes genuine confusion in scoping calls. Here is what the terms mean today.
What people mean by "CPI"
CPI is the shorthand practitioners still use for SAP's cloud-based integration tooling — the browser-based designer where you build integration flows (iFlows), map messages, and route them between systems. It was called SAP HANA Cloud Integration, then SAP Cloud Platform Integration, and today it is formally the Cloud Integration capability of SAP Integration Suite.
Why the distinction matters commercially
Cloud Integration is one capability inside the Integration Suite licence, which also includes API Management, Event Mesh, Integration Advisor, Trading Partner Management and more. If you are only using iFlows, you may be paying for capabilities you have never switched on — something we routinely flag during assessments.
What we actually do
Our CPI practice is hands-on iFlow engineering: designing the integration pattern, building and unit testing the flow, hardening error handling, setting up security material, and running it in production. If you need the wider platform strategy, see our SAP Integration Suite and SAP Cloud Integration pages.
Our SAP CPI Services
From a single urgent interface to a full PI/PO decommissioning programme, we work at whatever scope you need.
iFlow Design & Development
Integration flows built to be restartable, observable and maintainable.
- Synchronous and asynchronous patterns, including JMS-based decoupling
- Message mapping, XSLT, Groovy and JavaScript scripting
- Content modifier, router, splitter, aggregator and gather patterns
- Exception subprocesses with meaningful, actionable error payloads
SAP PI / PO to CPI Migration
A structured route off a platform that is reaching end of maintenance.
- Interface inventory, complexity scoring and migration wave planning
- Migration assessment using the SAP Integration Suite migration tooling
- Rebuild of mappings, adapter modules and custom Java where required
- Parallel-run and reconciliation strategy before switching traffic
Connectivity & Adapters
Getting the connection right is usually the hard part, not the mapping.
- IDoc, RFC, SOAP, OData, HTTPS, SFTP, JMS, AS2, Mail and JDBC adapters
- SAP Cloud Connector setup for secure on-premise access
- Prepackaged content from the SAP Business Accelerator Hub
- Third-party APIs: Salesforce, banks, tax portals, logistics providers
Security & Certificates
The area that causes the most production incidents. We treat it seriously.
- Keystore and known-hosts management, certificate renewal calendars
- OAuth 2.0, client certificate and basic authentication setup
- PGP signing, encryption and decryption for partner exchanges
- Security material rotation without unplanned downtime
Monitoring & Alerting
Silent integration failures are the expensive kind.
- Message monitoring dashboards and retention configuration
- Alerting into email, Teams or your ITSM tool
- SAP Cloud ALM and Focused Run integration
- Runbooks so your team can triage before escalating
CPI Support & Enhancement
Ongoing ownership of a landscape you already run.
- Incident triage, root cause analysis and permanent fixes
- Change requests and new interfaces on a retained basis
- Transport management via Content Agent and CTS+
- Quarterly review of failures, throughput and licence consumption
Key Features of the iFlows We Build
Anyone can drag a connector onto a canvas. These are the engineering habits that decide whether an integration survives its first bad Monday.
- Idempotent by design — replays do not create duplicate documents
- Decoupled with JMS queues — a slow receiver never blocks the sender
- Explicit error handling — exception subprocesses, not silent failures
- Meaningful alerts — messages a support analyst can act on without the developer
- Externalised parameters — no hard-coded endpoints between environments
- Reusable subflows — shared logic maintained once, not copy-pasted
- Payload logging with restraint — enough to debug, without leaking personal data
- Documented and transportable — version controlled and reproducible across tenants
Our CPI Delivery Process
Integration projects fail on assumptions about the systems at either end. Our process front-loads exactly those questions.
- Integration analysisWe document both endpoints: protocols, authentication, data volumes, peak windows, error semantics and who owns the system. Assumptions get written down and confirmed.
- Pattern & contract designSynchronous or asynchronous, the retry policy, the message contract and the error path are agreed before development starts.
- Build & unit testiFlow developed with externalised parameters, tested against mocked endpoints and sample payloads in a development tenant.
- Connectivity & securityCloud Connector, certificates, OAuth clients and firewall rules set up and tested end to end with the real systems.
- Integration & volume testEnd-to-end testing with business users, plus a volume test at realistic peak so throughput problems surface before go-live.
- Cutover & hypercareTransport to production, monitoring and alerts configured, runbook handed over, and a hypercare window with us watching the queues.
Adapters, Tools & Technologies
A working knowledge of these is what separates a CPI developer from someone who has watched a tutorial.
Adapters & protocols
- IDoc
- RFC
- SOAP
- OData V2 / V4
- HTTPS
- SFTP
- FTPS
- JMS
- AS2
- JDBC
- SuccessFactors
- Ariba
- Salesforce
- Kafka
- AMQP
Design & scripting
- Message Mapping
- XSLT
- Groovy
- JavaScript
- Content Modifier
- Router
- Splitter
- Aggregator
- Exception Subprocess
- Value Mapping
- Partner Directory
Platform & operations
- SAP Integration Suite
- SAP Cloud Connector
- SAP BTP
- Content Agent Service
- CTS+
- SAP Cloud ALM
- Focused Run
- SAP Business Accelerator Hub
- Edge Integration Cell
Common CPI Scenarios We Deliver
These are the integration scenarios we are asked for most often, and where we already have working patterns.
Why Choose CssInfotech for SAP CPI
Integration is the layer nobody notices until it breaks. Our value is in how rarely it does.
We design for failure
Every iFlow we build assumes the other system will be down, slow, or will send something unexpected. Retry, replay and alerting are part of the design, not a later fix.
PI/PO migration experience
We know which PI patterns port cleanly to CPI and which need rethinking — adapter modules and custom Java in particular. That means realistic wave plans instead of optimistic ones.
Standard content first
We check the SAP Business Accelerator Hub before building. Using and extending prepackaged content is faster to deliver and cheaper to own than a bespoke flow.
Operable handover
You get runbooks, alert routing and documentation, so your own support team can handle the routine failures without calling us for every one.
Licence-aware advice
We flag when a requirement is better met by API Management, Event Mesh or a capability you already own than by another iFlow.
Support that stays
Many clients keep us on a retained basis after the build, so the people who designed the interfaces are the ones who fix them.
SAP CPI FAQs
Is SAP CPI the same thing as SAP Integration Suite?
Not quite. CPI is the everyday name for the Cloud Integration capability, which is one part of SAP Integration Suite. The Suite also includes API Management, Event Mesh, Integration Advisor, Trading Partner Management and Graph. If you have an Integration Suite licence you already have CPI, plus capabilities you may not have enabled.
We are still on SAP PI/PO. Do we have to move to CPI?
Eventually, yes — SAP PI/PO is on a defined maintenance runway and is not the strategic platform. There is no need to panic-migrate, though. We normally recommend an inventory and complexity assessment first, then migrating in waves starting with the simplest high-volume interfaces to build team confidence.
Can CPI connect to systems inside our own network?
Yes, through the SAP Cloud Connector, which creates an outbound-only encrypted tunnel from your network to your BTP subaccount. No inbound firewall openings are required, and you control exactly which hosts and resources are exposed. Setting this up correctly is usually a joint task with your network team.
How do you handle certificate expiry?
We maintain a certificate and security-material calendar per tenant with renewal reminders ahead of expiry, and we design flows so material can be rotated without downtime where the partner supports it. Expired certificates are one of the most common causes of avoidable integration outages.
How many iFlows can you deliver in a sprint?
It depends far more on endpoint complexity than on iFlow count. A simple file-to-IDoc flow might take two days; a flow involving a new partner, PGP encryption and a bespoke mapping can take three weeks. We size each interface individually after the analysis phase rather than quoting a flat per-flow rate.
Do you support an existing CPI tenant you did not build?
Yes. We start with a tenant review — iFlow inventory, error rates, security material status, externalisation and documentation gaps — and give you a written findings report with prioritised remediation before taking on a support commitment.
Related SAP Services
CPI work usually sits alongside these services in our engagements.
Need an Integration Built, Migrated or Rescued?
Send us the two systems you need to connect and the volumes involved. We will come back with a recommended pattern, the risks we can see, and a realistic estimate.