Certificate management in SAP operations
The invisible infrastructure of trust
Digital certificates are the foundation of secure SAP communication – they protect data, authenticate systems and guarantee that every connection remains trustworthy.
However, shortened lead times, manual processes and a lack of transparency make certificate management one of the most critical factors in modern SAP landscapes.
automatics.AI provides a solution here – with a fully automated, audit-proof solution that combines stability, compliance and trust.
SAP Certificates Lifecycle Management
Why certificates are becoming a risk factor
Certificates are silent actors – and that's precisely what makes them dangerous.
They often only become visible when they fail.
An expired or faulty certificate can cripple entire business processes: stopping payments, blocking portals, or disconnecting interfaces. With the new standards from the CA/Browser Forum, which aim to reduce validity periods to 47 days by 2029, certificate management will become a continuous operation with tight cycles and high risk.
Without automation, this means:
Increasing number of renewals per quarter
Manual checks and approvals under time pressure
increased probability of failures
missing evidence for audits and compliance
With automatics, this becomes a predictable, secure process – centralized, automated and auditable.
Manual Management: Flying Blind in Operations
In many SAP landscapes, certificates are still managed manually – via Excel spreadsheets, local trust stores and scattered responsibilities.
The problem is that nobody has a complete overview and early warning systems often go unused.
Delayed renewals
Without a central overview, expiry dates can quickly be lost from view, especially when certificates are distributed across multiple trust stores.
Inconsistent chains of trust
If intermediates, root CAs, or hostnames are not maintained consistently across all systems involved, chain breaks occur.
Lack of a central authority
In many organizations, responsibilities are distributed across SAP truststores as well as various internal and external PKIs and Certificate Authorities.
Unnecessary system failures
Faulty or expired certificates block logins, stop integrations, or halt payment processes – often without a clear error message.
Automated certificate lifecycle management:
Stability , speed and control
Central visibility
Only a centralized view creates the basis for risk assessment, accountability, and stable operation.
Controlled activation
Controlled distribution in STRUST and the associated BTP and Cloud Connector truststores ensures that active connections remain stable.
Standardized & automated upgrades
Lead times and defined triggers and automations replace Excel lists and manual processes.
Audit-proof documentation & audit trails
Gradually transition workflows into production.
Continuous Monitoring & Governance
Expiration warnings, validation checks and regular routine tests are run centrally and automatically.
Success stories from practice
"With the growing number of certificates and the increasing complexity of our SAP landscape, manual management became increasingly difficult for us. Early warnings about processes were an important first step, but they didn't solve the underlying problem: the entire process remained fragmented, time-consuming, and prone to errors."
The use of automation made all the difference. For the first time, we were able to automate the entire lifecycle – from CSR generation and certificate issuance to secure distribution and activation in the various systems.
Why automatics ?
automatics.AI is continuously being developed to fully cover the technical reality of modern SAP landscapes: heterogeneous trust stores, hybrid system architectures and increasing regulatory requirements.
Our SmartSecOps Platform combines SAP operations, security and compliance in a seamless automation model – regardless of whether your systems run on-premises, in the cloud or hybrid.
This includes support for ACME, SCEP, and other PKI mechanisms for external and internal Certificate Authorities (CAs). This automated CA connection makes certificate processes not only faster but also more stable and audit-proof: renewals are controlled, validations run across systems, and activations follow a reproducible, auditable process.
This transforms a traditionally fragmented certificate management system into an integrated, resilient lifecycle that demonstrably strengthens operations, security, and governance.
