Is SAP CPI the same as the SAP Integration Suite?

CPI is one capability — Cloud Integration — within the Integration Suite. The Suite also includes API Management, Open Connectors, Event Mesh and B2B/Trading Partner capabilities. People often say "CPI" to mean the cloud integration engine specifically.

What is an iFlow in SAP CPI?

An integration flow (iFlow) is a configurable graphical pipeline that defines how a message travels from sender to receiver — including adapters, mapping, routing, enrichment and security steps.

Can SAP CPI connect to non-SAP applications like Salesforce or a bank?

Yes. CPI uses standard protocol adapters plus Open Connectors for SaaS apps, and SAP publishes prepackaged integration content for many common SAP and non-SAP scenarios.

We are on SAP PI/PO — do we have to move to CPI?

Not immediately, but cloud integration is SAP's strategic direction. SAP provides tooling to migrate PI/PO interfaces to CPI iFlows, though complex mappings and custom adapters typically need rework.

SAP CPI (Cloud Platform Integration) explained: connecting SAP and non-SAP systems

SAP CPI — Cloud Platform Integration — is SAP’s cloud integration service for connecting SAP and non-SAP systems through configurable integration flows called iFlows. Now delivered as the Cloud Integration capability within the broader SAP Integration Suite on SAP BTP, it lets enterprises move and transform data in real time or in batches between applications such as S/4HANA, SuccessFactors, Ariba, Salesforce, banks, e-commerce platforms and legacy systems. Instead of writing bespoke point-to-point interfaces, teams build, deploy and monitor reusable iFlows, secure them with API management, and accelerate delivery with thousands of SAP-provided prepackaged integration scenarios.

What is SAP CPI, and what is its relationship to the Integration Suite?

There is a naming history worth clearing up. The service was originally SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI); today the technology lives inside the SAP Integration Suite as its Cloud Integration capability. Many practitioners still say “CPI” to mean exactly this. So when someone says “we run it on CPI”, they mean the cloud integration engine that processes iFlows, now part of the wider Integration Suite that also includes API Management, Open Connectors, an Event Mesh and a Trading Partner / B2B capability.

The Integration Suite is itself one of the four pillars of SAP BTP — so CPI is best understood as the integration heart of SAP’s platform strategy.

What is an iFlow?

An integration flow (iFlow) is the core building block of CPI. It is a configurable, graphical pipeline that defines how a message moves from a sender to a receiver, including every step in between:

Sender and receiver adapters — the connectors for protocols and systems (HTTPS, SOAP, OData, IDoc, SFTP, JMS, Mail, and SaaS-specific adapters).
Mapping — transforming the message structure from the source format to the target format (graphical message mapping, or XSLT).
Routing and orchestration — content-based routers, splitters, multicast, and process-direct calls.
Enrichment and scripting — adding data, calling other services, or running Groovy/JavaScript for custom logic.
Security — encryption, signing, and credential handling.

Because iFlows are configured rather than hand-coded, they are faster to build, easier to govern, and far simpler to monitor than the custom interfaces of the past.

How does SAP CPI connect non-SAP systems?

This is where CPI earns its keep. A modern enterprise is never purely SAP. CPI connects to the rest of the estate through:

Standard adapters for common protocols (REST/OData, SOAP, SFTP, JDBC, JMS, Kafka and more).
Open Connectors — a large library of pre-built connectors to third-party SaaS applications (CRM, marketing, collaboration, payments and so on), so you do not build each one from scratch.
Prepackaged integration content from the SAP Business Accelerator Hub, where SAP and partners publish ready-made iFlows for common scenarios — for example, S/4HANA to SuccessFactors employee replication, or Ariba to S/4HANA procurement flows. You copy a package, adjust the configuration to your systems, and deploy.

The combination of adapters, connectors and prepackaged content is precisely why CPI shortens integration projects compared with building interfaces by hand.

What does API Management add on top of CPI?

CPI moves and transforms messages; API Management governs how APIs are exposed and consumed. It sits in front of your integrations to provide:

API gateways and proxies that publish APIs securely to internal teams or external partners.
Traffic management — rate limiting, quotas and spike arrest to protect back-end systems.
Security policies — OAuth, API keys, threat protection.
Analytics and a developer portal so consumers can discover and self-serve APIs.

Together, CPI and API Management cover both sides of modern integration: reliable message processing and governed, secure API exposure.

When should you use SAP CPI versus other options?

CPI is the natural default when you are already invested in the SAP ecosystem, want cloud-native integration, and value prepackaged SAP-to-SAP content. It is especially compelling for organisations on S/4HANA Cloud, RISE with SAP, or BTP, where Integration Suite credits are often already in scope.

A related decision many enterprises face is migrating from SAP Process Integration / Process Orchestration (PI/PO) — the older on-premise middleware — to CPI in the cloud. SAP provides migration tooling to convert PI/PO interfaces into iFlows, though complex mappings and custom adapters usually need review and rework rather than a pure lift-and-shift.

How Mannlowe helps

Mannlowe’s system integration practice is built precisely around connecting SAP and non-SAP systems — including SAP CPI and the wider Integration Suite, API-led integration, and interface design using BAPIs, IDocs and RFCs where appropriate. Our SAP implementation and S/4HANA migration teams handle integration as part of end-to-end delivery, and our consultants in Pune, Mumbai and the USA support enterprises in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, chemicals and distribution. To scope an integration landscape, start with our services overview.

Key Takeaways

SAP CPI is the Cloud Integration capability of the SAP Integration Suite on BTP — still widely called “CPI”.
iFlows are configurable graphical pipelines (adapters, mapping, routing, scripting, security) that replace hand-coded interfaces.
CPI connects non-SAP systems via standard adapters, Open Connectors and prepackaged content from the SAP Business Accelerator Hub.
API Management complements CPI by governing, securing and exposing APIs to internal and external consumers.
CPI is the default for SAP-centric, cloud-first landscapes and is the migration target for legacy PI/PO estates.