SAPCodeMonkeyCDS & OData for Functional Consultants
You don't need to write CDS to work with it — but you increasingly need to read it and build on it. The no-code Fiori tools that turn the data model into reports and KPIs, without a developer.
You do not need to write CDS to work with it — but on S/4HANA you increasingly need to read it, reason about it, and in many cases build on it without a developer. This guide is for functional consultants and analysts: what CDS and OData are in plain terms, why they matter to your work, and the no-code Fiori tools that put real capability in your hands. It is concept-first, with a learning path rather than code.
Why this is your concern now
In ECC, when a customer wanted a report that standard did not provide, the answer was usually a custom development or Report Painter — and real-time data often was not reachable at all. On S/4HANA that changed. A wide range of analytical data is exposed through CDS views, and there are Fiori apps that let you build reports, KPIs and calculated columns on top of them without writing code. The work that used to require a developer and a transport now often sits with a power user in a Fiori app. That is leverage — if you know the tools exist.
CDS and OData in plain terms
Think of a CDS view as a prepared, meaningful slice of data — the right fields, joined correctly, with business meaning attached, sitting ready on top of the raw tables. SAP ships thousands of them (the virtual data model), and they are the foundation of every analytical app in the system. OData is simply how that data travels to where it is consumed — a Fiori tile, SAP Analytics Cloud, or another system calling it as an API. You will rarely touch OData directly; you just need to know that when you expose a query “as OData,” you are making it available elsewhere.
Who builds what
The most useful mental model is a ladder. The same CDS foundation serves everyone, but the tool changes as you move from writing code to consuming a report.
The developer builds views in Eclipse. But a key user can extend and create views through the Custom CDS View Fiori app — no Eclipse required — choosing a data source, adding associations, marking whether it should be exposed as OData, and setting field properties that are the equivalent of the annotations a developer would write in code. A power user uses Custom Analytical Queries to turn those views into reports, KPIs and calculated columns. And end users run and slice the result through the Query Browser and View Browser. You can sit at whichever rung your work needs.
The tools worth knowing by name
Four Fiori apps cover most of what a functional consultant needs. View Browser lets you search the thousands of delivered CDS views to find what already exists — the single most valuable habit, because it stops you specifying a custom build for something standard already provides. Custom Analytical Queries is where you build a report or KPI on top of a view, adding calculated columns and restricted measures, then publish it. Manage KPIs and Reports turns a query into a Smart Business tile with thresholds, targets and semantic coloring. And the Custom CDS View app lets you create or extend a view graphically when the delivered ones do not have quite the fields you need.
One rule that saves projects
You cannot edit SAP-delivered KPIs, reports or stories directly — and you should not want to, because changes get overwritten at the next update. The correct pattern is always to copy first, then adapt the copy. And only content based on released CDS views or analytical queries can be copied safely. Building on released objects is the functional-side equivalent of clean core: work with what SAP commits to keeping stable, and your report survives the upgrade.
A learning path without code
Start by browsing. Open the View Browser and explore the delivered views in your area — finance, logistics, whatever you know. Getting a feel for what already exists is the highest-value hour you can spend, and it immediately makes you better at scoping.
Then build a report. Use Custom Analytical Queries to create a simple report on a delivered view: pick the view, choose dimensions and measures, add one calculated column, and publish it to a tile. You have now done the thing that used to need a developer.
Then a KPI. Use Manage KPIs and Reports to turn a query into a Smart Business tile with a target and thresholds, so a number on the launchpad tells someone whether they are on track.
Then extend a view. When a delivered view is missing a field, use the Custom CDS View app to create or extend one graphically — and notice that the properties you are setting (aggregation, semantics, associations) are exactly what a developer sets in code. At that point you understand CDS from the inside, without having written a line of it.
The honest framing
None of this makes you a developer, and it does not need to. The value is that you can now read the data model, find what exists, and build a large class of reports and KPIs yourself — faster than raising a development request, and on released objects that survive the upgrade. The scarce person in the functional seat is the one who knows what standard already provides and can build on it directly. Knowing CDS and OData well enough to reason about them, even without coding, is a core part of that.
Sources & further reading
- SAP Learning — Modeling tools of S/4HANA embedded analyticsThe Custom CDS View and Analytical Query apps, and the graphical (no-code) modeling approach. Verified live.
- SAP Learning — Describing Embedded AnalyticsManage KPIs and Reports, and the copy-before-edit rule for released CDS views. Verified live.
- SAP Community — Using Custom Analytical QueriesStep-by-step for building a report on a CDS view without code. Verified live.
Syntax, app availability and released-object scope vary by release and edition. Verify against SAP Help and the Fiori apps reference library for yours. This article is independent commentary and is not affiliated with SAP.