ABAP can be used for a wide range of customization and development tasks including developing custom applications, generating reports, developing interfaces, enhancing and modifying existing SAP applications, screen programming, form development, data conversions, workflow automation, web application development and database interactions. Below we will discuss its core components and related transactions codes in SAP ABAP.

ABAP Development & Workbench

ABAP has a built-in integrated development environment (IDE) called ABAP Workbench, which is used for development, testing and management of ABAP programs, serving as central hub for all development activities. ABAP Workbench is a set of tools for developers to create, modify, debug and manage code within SAP system and across other applications.

Core Development Tools

Core development tools are the ones most frequently used by developers to create and manage applications, such as ABAP Workbench, ABAP editor, function module editor, class builder, menu painter or screen painter etc. Below we discuss SAP ABAP transaction codes by the core sections of ABAP.

Transaction Code	Description
SE80	To Open ABAP Development Workbench (Central hub)
SE38 / SE39	To Open ABAP Editor / Split Screen Editor: Program Compare
SE37	To Open Function Module Editor
SE24	To Open Class Builder
SE41	To Open Menu Painter
SE51	To Open Screen Painter

Repository & Object Navigation

Repository and Object Navigation tools provide repositories view and navigation for different objects organized by different categories, such as classes, function groups, programs and packages. Key tools are object navigator, repository info system, SAP application hierarchy and customer application hierarchy.

Transaction Code	Description
SE84	For Object Navigator
SE15	ABAP/4 Repository Info System
SE81	For SAP Application Hierarchy
SE82	For Customer Application Hierarchy

Debugging & Analysis

SAP ABAP provides powerful debugging and analysis tools, as identifying and resolving errors in code is an important part of development process. These tools provide options to inspect code, extended code checking, displaying developer trace or checkpoints which can be activated.

Transaction Code	Description
SAAB	To Create Checkpoints that Can Be Activated
SCI	To Open Code Inspector
SLIN	To Configure Extended Program Check
ST11	To Display developer trace

Documentation & Help

SAP provides comprehensive documentation directly within the development environment such as searching capability for ABAP keywords, concepts and statements, as well as a central online documentation for further search if not available within SAP itself.

Transaction Code	Description
ABAPDOCU	ABAP Documentation And Example Library
ABAPHELP	ABAP Keyword Documentation
SE61	Documentation For whole SAP
SE62	Documentation For Industry Utilities

Data Dictionary & Database

SAP ABAP provides a centralized repository for managing and defining all data structures which are being used within SAP systems and is called Data Dictionary. It provides an integrated and consistent view of data. Below are some sections and a list of SAP ABAP t-codes related to Data Dictionary.

Dictionary Definitions & Maintenance

Data dictionary is involved in creation, modification and management of different objects, such as data elements, domains, structures, table types, type groups, foreign key relationships, defining value tables, text tables and version management.

Transaction Code	Description
SE11	ABAP Data Dictionary Maintenance (Definitions)
SE12	ABAP Data Dictionary Display
SE14	ABAP Dictionary: Database Utility

Table & View Management

Table & view management section focuses on database tables and views creation, modification and management, which involves creating physical structure of tables, fields, data types, key fields, indexes and maintaining table buffering.

Transaction Code	Description
SE16	Data Browser: Initial Screen
SE16N	Data Browser To View Table Data: Enjoy Transaction (New Look)
SE17	To Display General Table
SM30/SM31	To Call UP Table View Maintenance
SM34	To View Cluster Maintenance Call
SE54 (SOBJ)	Generate View for Maintenance Module

Database Monitoring & Tuning

It is crucial to regularly monitor and fine tune databases to make sure that they perform efficiently for the overall performance of the SAP system. This includes monitoring performance metrics such as CPU utilization, memory usage, buffer cache hit ratio, disk I/O and active sessions.

Transaction Code	Description
DB02, ST04	Database Tools for Performance Analysis
ST02, ST06	Database Tune Summary / Operating System Monitor
DB01	Analyze Exclusive Lock Waits In Oracle Database
DB03	To View Parameter Changes in Database
DB05	To View Analysis of table with respect to indexed fields
DB12	Overview Of Backup logs
DB13	Database Administration and Planning Calendar

Tracing & Analysis

Recording and analyzing the SQL statements executed by an ABAP program is crucial for general debugging by identifying insufficient queries and optimization areas and resolving them accordingly.

Transaction Code	Description
ST05	SQL Performance Tuning Trace
ST09	To View Table, call statistics
SE30	ABAP Runtime Analysis for Performance Tuning

Table Manipulation & Comparison

SAP also provides tools for directly working with table data and comparing table contents and structures, these tools can also be used to move table data between different SAP systems.

Transaction Code	Description
SCMP	Table Comparison / View
SCU0	To Analyze and Compare Tables
OY19	Also Used For Tables Comparison

Runtime Analysis & System Monitoring

Runtime Analysis and System monitoring section focuses on tools and utilities used to monitor, analyze and manage health, performance and behavior of ABAP programs and SAP systems as a whole for their execution, to diagnose and resolve the issues. Below are some SAP ABAP codes related to analysis and system monitoring transactions.

Error Analysis & Logging

It is crucial to identify, understand and manage the errors that can occur during the execution of programs for stability, which involves ABAP dump analysis, application logs analysis, system logs analysis, using debugger and handling exceptions.

Transaction Code	Description
ST22	To List the ABAP Runtime Error Dumps
SM21	To Show System Log
SM21V	To View the System Log
SM13	To Display Update Records

System Monitoring

Proactive monitoring of health, activity, background processes and status of SAP system is important to prevent issues and make sure availability, SAP provides tools for that such as SAP solution manager, computing center management system (CCMS) within SAP NetWeaver, or SAP Fiori Launchpad monitoring apps are major examples.

Transaction Code	Description
SM50	Work Process Overview
SM66	System-wide Work Process Overview
SM51	Instance Overview / List of SAP Servers
ST06	To Monitor Operating System
AL03	To Monitor Operating system Alerts
AL05	To Monitor Workload Alerts
ST07	To Monitor Application
ST12	To Monitor Application
RZ08	SAP CCMS Alert Monitoring
RZ20	SAP CCMS Monitoring
RZ21	SAP CCMS Customized Alert Monitor

Performance Monitoring & Tracing

As discussed before, monitoring applications and system performance is crucial to making sure the high availability of SAP systems. This section also focuses on some performance and tracing related transaction codes, such system trace, local transactions statistics and performance monitoring.

Transaction Code	Description
ST01	System Trace Analysis
STAT	To View Local Transaction Statistics
STUN	For Monitoring SAP Performance

Number Ranges

Number ranges are used to generate alphanumeric or sequential numbers for different business objects such as sales orders, material documents or purchase order. SNRO transaction code is mainly used to define number ranges for objects.

Transaction Code	Description
SM56	To Set the Number Range Buffers
SNRO	To Set the Number Ranges

Lock Management

Lock management is used to make sure data consistency, when multiple users or processes access and modify the same data simultaneously, the tools provided by SAP include displaying locks, analyzing lock conflicts, releasing locks or creating and maintaining lock objects.

Transaction Code	Description
SM12	To Unlock the Locked Table Entries
SM01	To Lock Transactions

Jobs, Batch Processing, & Events

This section focuses on execution of background tasks without the interaction of users by automating repetitive tasks, events and processes.

Job Management

Job management is the foundation of monitoring and scheduling the background processes in SAP systems, it involves scheduling, monitoring, defining steps and class of jobs for programs, reports and function modules.

Transaction Code	Description
SM36	Background Job Definition
SM37 / SMX	Background Job Overview
SM39	Background Job analysis

Batch Input

Batch input is a process to automatically transfer large amounts of data into SAP applications, by simulating user input, it is usually used for data processing and migration of large datasets.

Transaction Code	Description
SM35	Batch Input Monitoring
SHDB	Batch Input Recording and Processing

Events & External Commands

SAP provides transactions for triggering background processes based on specific system events or by executing operating system commands from within ABAP.

Transaction Code	Description
SM62/SM64	Maintain Event / Release Of An Event
SM49/SM69	Execute / Display / Maintain External Commands

Variables

Variables are a concept in all programming languages and serve as objects to store information. Job parameters, values, event parameters, variables in batch input or variables in external commands are referred to as variables in the context of Jobs, Batch Processing and Events.

Transaction Code	Description
STVARVC	To Maintain Entries in Table STVARVC for Background Processing

User Administration & Security

This section focuses on user administration and data security, ensuring that only authorized users have access to specific functions, modules and data in SAP systems which also ensure data integrity and adherence to compliance.

User Maintenance

User maintenance involves creation, modification and deletion of users, as well as locking/unlocking, copying and maintaining user parameters, along with grouping of users and license assignment in SAP systems.

Transaction Code	Description
SU01	User Maintenance / PFCG Roles
SU10	Mass User Maintenance
SU12	For Deleting All Users

Authorization Management

Authorization management involves defining and managing authorization in SAP systems using the role-based access control (RBAC), PFCG transaction, also known as profile generator, is primary tool to create roles containing authorization objects, fields and values. These roles can then be assigned to users according to their privileges to access the functions they need.

Transaction Code	Description
SU02	To Maintain Authorization Profiles
SU03	To Maintain Authorizations
SU20 / SU21	Creation / Modification Authorization Objects / List / Fields
PFCG	Role Maintenance / Configure Roles

User Monitoring & Information

These tools provide functionality to administrators to track the activity of users and gather information about their access in system, such as security audit logs, user information system, activity monitoring, user’s session information, workload analysis and logon history.

Transaction Code	Description
SM04	User Overview / Users List / Number of Users and Sessions
AL08	List of all Logged ON Users
SUIM	User Information / Authorization Data in Roles
SU53	Check Authorization Data for User / Display Authorization Checked Values
SU2	To Maintain User Parameters in HJPT Planning Table

Transport Management & Client Handling

This section deals with the tools and processes for managing changes made to the SAP system and the creation and management of different clients within an SAP instance.

Transport Management

Transport management is the process which controls how development objects, such as programs, configurations, function modules and tables etc. move between SAP systems, e.g. from a development environment to a test environment and then to a production environment.

Transaction Code	Description
SE01	Transport & Corrections System
SE06	For Setting Up Workbench Organizer
SE09	Transport Workbench Organizer (Initial Screen)
SE10	Customizing Organizer / New Transport & Correction Screen
SPAU	SAP Repository Correction (Programs, Functions, Classes, etc.)

Client Copy Tools

Clients refer to independent logical units in an SAP instance, owning their own master data, custom settings and transaction data. Clients copy tools provide you with the ability to move or duplicate client data in the same SAP instance or between different instances, such as test, development and production environment.

Transaction Code	Description
SCC1	Client Copy Transport
SCC3	Client Copy Log
SCC4	Client Copy Administration
SCC5	To Delete Clients
SCC6	To Import Client
SCC7	To Import Post Processing Client
SCC8	To Export Client
SCC9	To Copy Remote Client
SCCL	To Copy Local Client

System Profiles

These are the configuration profiles which control the parameters behavior of the SAP instance and its individual application servers, such as memory allocation, security settings and database connections etc.

Transaction Code	Description
RZ10	To Maintain system profiles
RZ11	Profile Parameter Maintenance

Spool & Output Management

This section focuses on the process of how SAP handles the creation, storage, and management of the output of data generated by SAP applications.

Spool Request Handling

In an SAP output management system, spool request are the central objects, these are the temporary files that contain the data to be displayed or printed along with formatting information.

Transaction Code	Description
SP01	Spool Request Selection / Spool Control
SP02	List of Spool Requests / Display Output Requests

Spool Administration

SPAD transaction is the primary tool for managing and configuring spool systems in SAP, system administrators use it to define physical or logical output devices such as printers, manage spool servers, configure authorization for output devices, manage temporary objects, and troubleshooting in spool issues.

Transaction Code	Description
SPAD	Authorization for Cross-Client Spool Administration

TemSe Management

TemSe refers to temporary sequential data, which is the storage area in SAP to temporarily hold spool requests or other temporary data such as job logs, before they are processed or deleted.

Transaction Code	Description
SP11	To Display TemSe Objects
SP12	To Manage TemSe Objects

Installation Check

The installation check refers to ensuring that the spool system is installed correctly and configured, which is crucial for output management. It involves verifying the configuration of spool server, testing output devices, checking TemSe configuration and confirming authorization.

Transaction Code	Description
SPIC	Spool: Installation Check Tables
SICK	Installation Check / Inconsistency Check

Forms & Output Design

This section focuses on tools within SAP ABAP for designing and generating output, which includes layout and content of forms such as purchase orders, invoices, delivery notes etc.

Form Development

Form development refers to the creation and customization of the layout and content of SAP modules related documents and reports generated by SAP system, it is also used to add text, graphics and binding of the data to the form.

Transaction Code	Description
SMARTFORMS	Smart Forms Editor: Create / Modify / View Smart Forms
SE71	SAP Script Layout Set / Create /Change
NACE	Conditions of output control (link between forms and driver programs)

SAP Script Tools

SAPscript is legacy text-based processing system for form development, which is still used in legacy SAP systems, though SAP Smart Forms and Adobe Forms are recommended for new form developments.

Transaction Code	Description
SE72	SAP script for Styles
SE73	SAP script for Font Maintenance
SE74	SAP script for Format Conversion
SE75	SAP script for Settings
SE76	SAP script: for Form Translation
SE77	SAP script for Styles Translation

Connections & Data Transfer

This section explores how SAP ABAP handles communication and access with data sources and external systems focusing on data transfer and connections, such as integrating with other applications and data exchange electronically.

File System Access

SAP ABAP allows interaction with local or remote file systems to read and write files to external systems for data exchange, this is important to import and export data to and from external or operating system files.

Transaction Code	Description
AL11	To Display All SAP File Directories
FILE	To Create Logical File Names and Path
CG3Y	Uploading A File to a Directory on the Application Server
CG3Z	Download File from A Directory on the Application Server

RFC Connections

Remote Function Call (RFC) is a standard protocol in SAP system for communication between SAP systems and external systems, it enables you to call functions in a remote system as if they were local function modules.

Transaction Code	Description
SM58	Transactional Asynchronous RFC Error Log
SM59	RFC Connections Display / Maintain

ALE/EDI

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Application Link Enabling (ALE) are the technologies which are used for business data exchange between different SAP systems or external business partners.

Transaction Code	Description
SALE	ALE customizing transaction to define logical systems
WEDI	IDOC and EDI Basis
WE31	IDoc Segment Creation
WE30	Basic IDoc Type Creation
WE81	Create and assign logical message type
WE02	Display an IDOC
WE07	To View IDOC Statistics

Utilities & Miscellaneous

This section focuses on collection of tools and utilities within SAP ABAP which normally do not fit into major administration and development categories but are important for different tasks, such as language translation, handling dates, testing or system maintenance.

Translation Tools

Translation tools are important for ensuring that program text, messages, screen text and data element descriptions are available in different supported languages in different regions and countries, for SAP systems used in multilingual environments.

Transaction Code	Description
SE63	Translation: Short / Long Text
SE64	Translation Terminology

Maintenance & Patching

This section talks about keeping the SAP system up to date with the latest updates and enhancements, which is crucial for performance, security and stability. Regular patches and updates are released from time to time to fix bugs, addressing security vulnerabilities and increased performance.

Transaction Code	Description
SPAM	Support Package Manager / SAP Patch Manager

Testing Tools

Regular and thorough testing is important to ensure the quality of ABAP development, customizations and system configurations are error free.

Transaction Code	Description
SCAT	System Call for Advanced Testing: Record and Execute Test Cases
SCAM	CATT Related Test Cases Management

Calendars

SAP provides transactions to manage different types of calendars, such as public holiday calendars or factory calendars, calculating deadlines, also provides calendar functionalities for scheduling jobs, which are used within the SAP system.

Transaction Code	Description
SFT2	Maintain Public Holiday Calendar
SFT3	Maintain Factory Calendar

Dynamic Programming & Variants

Dynamic Programming refers to more flexibility and adaptability, which means writing ABAP code where the exact operations and objects are unknown when program compiled but are determined during runtime based on data, conditions or user input. Variants are the saved sets of selection criteria, which allows users to run the reports with different parameters.

Transaction Code	Description
SHD0	Transaction Variant Management and Maintenance

Other Utilities

This section covers additional helpful tools and utilities which are important in ABAP development for different operations, such as legacy system migration workbench, displaying menu path to get to a transaction, maintaining system log messages etc.

Transaction Code	Description
SCDO	Maintaining Change Document Object
SM63	To Display and Maintain Operations Mode Settings
OSS1	To Setup SAP Online Service System
LSMW	Legacy System Migration Workbench: Configure / Monitor / Document / Test Data Migration from Legacy Systems
MEN	Display the menu path to get to a transaction
USMM	Determining Number of Users and Chargeable Objects
DI02	ABAP/4 Repository Information System Tables
SE43	To Maintain Area Menu
SE91	To Maintain Messages in ABAP
SE92	New Syslog Msg Maintenance as of 46A
SE93	To Maintain Transaction Codes
SMOD/ CMOD	Implementing Enhancement in SAP / SAP Enhancements Project Management

Read More:

Comprehensive List of SAP SD T-Codes (Transaction Codes) SAP Modules List | 7 Functional & 5 Technical Modules SAP MM T-Codes (Transaction Codes) SAP T-Code List | Common Transaction Codes by Module