SAP S/4HANA Frequently Asked Questions – Part 5 – the May update
As indicated in the last of the FAQ series, here the update en route to SapphireNOW. Based on several pre-briefings with Influencers and key customers and partners, here the delta collection with a little bit of #S4HANA prediction about what questions might be asked. So if you have time to read this – lets answer your other questions in Orlando. Looking forward to connect with you there. Lets get started…
What is SAP S/4HANA?
SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite. It is a new product fully built on the most advanced in-memory platform today – SAP HANA – and modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience (UX). SAP S/4HANA delivers massive simplifications (customer adoption, data model, user experience, decision making, business processes, and models) and innovations (Internet of Things, Big Data, business networks, and mobile-first) to help businesses run simple in the digital economy.
What are the deployment options offered?
SAP offers on-premise, cloud, and hybrid deployments to give real choice to customers. SAP S/4HANA also gives customers the option to fully leverage the new HANA multitenancy functionality as provided by the SAP HANA platform (currently support package 9) for the cloud.
Is SAP S/4HANA available today?
The SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition is available for customers in all industries and regions.
The SAP S/4HANA cloud edition is also available as announced at SAPPHIRE NOW event in Orlando on May 6th 2015 .
What is the current business scope of the two editions?
The business scope for each edition was designed to offer maximum choice to customers in alignment with their business requirements:
- SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition, already offers a business scope that is similar in terms of coverage, functionality, industries, and languages as the current SAP Business Suite. Within this scope, SAP S/4HANA also includes the transformational simplifications delivered with SAP Simple Finance (SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA) as well as a planned integration with SuccessFactors Employee Central and Ariba Network.
The on-premise edition is intended to offer a 9 to 12 months innovation cycle through innovation packages. The next innovation package is planned for Q4 of 2015.
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition, already covers specific business scenarios for the marketing line of business and for the professional services industry as well as the most essential scenarios to run an entire enterprise in the cloud with a digital core including: finance, accounting, controlling, procurement, sales, manufacturing, plant maintenance, project system, and product lifecycle management, plus integration with SuccessFactors Employee Central, Ariba Network, SAP hybris Marketing, Fieldglass and SAP JAM. Three offerings are currently available as part of the SAP S/4HANA , cloud edition:
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud marketing edition – for the marketing line of business
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud project services edition – for the professional services industry
- SAP S/4HANA, cloud enterprise edition – for a full ERP scope
The cloud edition is intended to offer a quarterly innovation cycle.
Which industry solutions will be available in SAP S/4HANA and by when?
SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition, supports current lines of business and industries. SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition, is planned to ultimately have a similar industry coverage as the on-premise edition. SAP S/4HANA Cloud edition is open for all industries, Support of specific industry solutions are planend according to market prioritization.
What is the product roadmap for SAP S/4HANA?
SAP customers and partners can access the detailed roadmap on the SAP Service Marketplace: here
Which SAP S/4HANA edition do you recommend for my enterprise?
The SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition is designed for enterprises across industries that need a deep and broad level of functionality combined with a high degree of flexibility in customization. The SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition is designed for enterprises that need a standardized cloud offering primarily covering the core business scenarios of an enterprise or specific business scenarios of lines of business in industries – combined with a fast innovation cycle (quarterly).
In addition, the SAP S/4HANA editions offer the opportunity for customers to deploy real hybrid scenarios – combining on-premise and cloud solutions – for unprecedented IT flexibility and accelerated business innovation.
How can I try SAP S/4HANA?
A free 14-day cloud edition trial system is available to help you experience the value of simplicity across key business scenarios: project manager scenario, cash manager scenario, general ledger accountant scenario, accounts receivable accountant scenario, accounts payable accountant scenario.
You can access the trial on: www.sap.com/s4hana-trial
How does SAP S/4HANA relate to SAP Simple Finance powered by SAP HANA?
The SAP Simple Finance solution marked the first step in our SAP S/4HANA road map for customers. The solution has demonstrated the value of simplification (for example, no indexes, no aggregates, and no redundancies) and instant insight in Finance. SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition leverages the full scope of SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA included in SAP Simple Finance. The SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition is intended to deliver a similar scope.
How does SAP S/4HANA relate to SAP’s existing portfolio of cloud solutions?
SAP S/4HANA is also available with a cloud edition. However, SAP S/4HANA will not replace our existing portfolio of line-of-business cloud solutions; it will integrate with and expand it. Our comprehensive offering is planned to allow SAP S/4HANA customers to build hybrid scenarios between SAP S/4HANA and cloud solutions from SAP, including those from SuccessFactors and Ariba as well as integration with SAP hybris Marketing, Fieldglass and SAP JAM. This way customers can leverage the cloud at their own pace, based on their needs, while keeping all the integration and business benefits of their existing SAP solutions. In addition, SAP S/4HANA is designed to easily connect with global business networks such as, for example, the Ariba Network and Concur.
Is SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition a public cloud offering?
Yes. The SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition has all the qualities of a public cloud offering.
Please note that the SAP S/4HANA, cloud enterprise edition provides additional services for customers that require broader extensions and configuration capabilities.
How does the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud service relate to the SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition?
We are leveraging the same infrastructure as a service (IaaS), data centers, and security qualities, though the lifecycle management is different. Innovation updates for the cloud edition are planned on a quarterly basis, to be consumed by the customer, and managed by SAP.
Is SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition multitenant?
Yes. SAP S/4HANA gives customers the option to leverage the HANA multitenancy functionality as provided by the SAP HANA platform (currently support package 9). And I absolutely know that there are some purists out there who would say otherwise, get over it. And for the records, i agree to disagree with them, as the reality is hybrid, and different levels of multitennacy do absolutely make sense.
How does SAP HANA Cloud Platform relate to SAP S/4HANA?
In the context of SAP S/4HANA, SAP HANA Cloud Platform serves as an extension platform and agility layer. It is possible to build specific capabilities extending the scope of SAP S/4HANA by either integrating non-SAP functions or building your own capabilities. The cloud platform not only serves as the development platform but also as the runtime foundation for the developed solutions. The extensions built on the cloud platform can run with both cloud and on-premise editions of SAP S/4HANA.
What is really new in SAP S/4HANA compared to SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA?
With SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA, SAP was the only software vendor in the market at that time to allow SAP Business Suite customers to bring together transactions and analysis into a single in-memory platform. This innovation has been extremely successful in the market as 2,000+ customers (existing and new) acquired SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA – in less than two years – to run their business in real time, making it one of the fastest-growing product in SAP’s history.
With SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA, our product approach has been to port the applications on the SAP HANA platform and optimize the code to allow customers the ability to gain significant performance in their mission-critical business processes and reporting activities, and by that, in turn, also improve performance on relational databases. SAP HANA represented a new database alternative for existing customers, with a simple database migration required to drive the entire business in real time.
SAP S/4HANA is a new product. With SAP S/4HANA, we are building on the success of the SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA with a completely new and reimagined suite:
- SAP S/4HANA is running on SAP HANA for massive simplifications (simplified data model: no indexes, no aggregates, no redundancies) and innovations (for example, open in-memory platform for advanced applications predicting, recommending, and simulating)
- SAP S/4HANA is natively designed with SAP Fiori UX, offering an integrated user experience with modern usability and instant insight on any device (role-based, three steps max to get the job done, mobile-first, consistent experience across lines of business)
- SAP S/4HANA is natively connected to the Internet of Things and business networks for real-time collaboration (planned: machine-to-machine, Ariba Network, Concur) in the networked economy
- SAP S/4HANA is natively engineered for providing choice of deployment (on premise, cloud and hybrid)
- SAP S/4HANA is natively born for easy adoption (guided, configuration, and easy onboarding, from the discovery of the solution through cloud trials to deployment with preconfigured best practices)
In addition, SAP HANA Cloud Platform serves as open extension, agility layer for SAP S/4HANA. The extensions built on the cloud platform can run against either deployment of SAP S/4HANA: in the cloud and on premise
What is the typical journey for a net-new customer?
The journey is defined by a net-new implementation of an SAP S/4HANA system with simpler adoption – example: guided configuration, easy onboarding from the discovery of the solution through cloud trials to the deployment with preconfigured best practices. We defined three major scenarios supported by tools and pre-configuration delivered through our SAP Rapid Deployment solutions:
You can explore the full journey-map for getting a comprehensive overview: s4hana.sapjourneymap.com/
How can SAP partners support the move of a customer to SAP S/4HANA?
SAP has an established partner ecosystem (value-added retailers and systems integrators) that is ready to resell and service SAP S/4HANA for our joint existing and new customers to implement future innovations. More than 50% of the SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA projects were managed by partners.
Partners and SAP will support customers in their journey with predefined migration, system conversion in the cloud, and deployment packages for quicker time to value. Companies of all sizes will benefit from the high-quality service and reseller capabilities our partners provide.
What happens to existing legacy interfaces if a customer moves to SAP S/4HANA?
SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition, currently supports the existing published legacy interfaces.
Where can I learn more?
Visit us on sap.com/s4hana and scn.sap.com/community/s4hana for more information and details on the next generation business suite.
Thanks for checking in, more you find in the collection blog here: SAP S/4HANA – Frequently Asked Questions – The Collection
Working now on the next one, specific tot he SAP S/4HANA cloud edition, lets stay connected @SDenecken
While I undestand that new reports and other applications can be developed in the HCP, how will the Public Cloud deal with BADIs?
BADIs were included for example for validation purposes inside the operational processes, something which every customer wants. How will the same thing be achievable in the S4/HANA Public Cloud?
SE 38 Transaction in S4 HANA?
see my answer to SE 38 Transaction in S4 HANA?
How would S4 HANA based BPC version will look like? Do we still need BW plat form for planning and consolidation needs? Precisely those BW based planning based cubes.
Thanks for a great and informative blog!
I'm a bit confused though. In the blog above it is stated that S/4HANA On Premise is available for all industries and lines of business. However, in SAP Marketplace material from June it is stated that there is coverage for ERP and only roadmaps for industry solutions and CRM.
So is it only the ERP scope which is available on S/4HANA at the moment or also the industry solutions and CRM, SRM, SCM etc. ?
First, SAP S/4HANA is compatible with all Industry extensions/solutions. The industry specific capabilities do have a roadmap itself. As per roadmap on Service marketplace (see regular updates) you can see what industry add-ons are already simplified. Same for the "new dimension" modules.
Thanks, informative blog.
Hi Sven,
S/4 Hana is coming onto my radar and it's my job to help get us into a S/4 Hana readiness situation, meaning:
do you or colleagues have any hints - for example on Support.Sap.Com there is a section for NetWeaver where there are Installation Guides, Upgrade Guides, Master Guides etc, I struggle even to find the Master Guide for S/4 Hana - what is SAP's timeline for making quality Basis technical doco available ? Especially for those involved in architecture and infrastructure provisioning to prepare their companies for S/4 Hana ?
good doco on the OSS Note 2032086 - SAP S4HANA On Premise Edition - Fully Activated Landscape (the Note contains links to further doco) - this could be useful for a lot of customers
It reminds me a little bit of Hana a few years ago, there were a lot of blogs, but not much consolidated in one place for Basis Architects and Technicians - maybe I'll make a SAP Basis Administrator's S/4 Hana Reference.
Looking forward to feedback.
Best regards,
Andy.
Hi Andy,
Here’s a first shot on your questions:
the currently available release of SAP S/4HANA on-premise comprises the finance part. It’s called SAP S/4HANA Finance . Rollout of this name just starting, you might have seen or still see the term SAP Simple Finance 2.0 or SAP Simple Finance 1503 (released in March 2015). This all denotes the same.
This release can be downloaded from Service Marketplace /swdc today (Help Portal is http://help.sap.com/sfin200).
The next major release of S/4HANA (both on-prem and cloud) will be tagged 1511. Planned for November 2015, that’s the Q4 release you saw in the PAM.
For a one-stop-shop to S/4 implementation information (or, well, at least the entry point to other shops 😉 ), please take a look at the S/4HANA cookbook:
And we’re also working on a so-called SAP Activate implementation methodology for S/4HANA (kind of next-generation ASAP if you will) that has project plans along a ‘typical’ S/4 implementation and accelerator documents attached to it.
The fully-activate image you saw in the note, took the S/4HANA Finance on-prem and did some pre-configurations in it to accelerate the adoption of it. This is also the basis for the S/4HANA on-premise trial (Amazon-based) that is mentioned in the cookbook.
Hope that helps a bit,
Joerg
Hi Joerg,
thanks for the reply and cookbook, it is excellent as are the linked documents, this is what I am looking for, shall we say SCN style, in the respect of SMP doco, is there a traditional Master Guide and Installation Guide available - and where can they be found on SMP (I've hunted the normal locations on SMP for Master and Install Guides but can't find anything for S/4Hana) ?
I am reading the 60 page ppt/pdf about installing and upgrading.
Another feedback, I searched the OSS extensively for S/4Hana and didn't find this OSS Note 2148893 - Central Finance: Implementation and Configuration which is mentioned in your Cookbooks, and here's a challenge for customers, we're making our own efforts to research S/4Hana, but in the OSS Notes, S/4Hana is called Central Finance and the OSS Notes search for S/4Hana does not bring back the Notes for Central Finance.
Can colleagues at SAP fix this, to make it easier for customers to find the information which is out there ? For every OSS Note which has any relation to S/4Hana, can S/4Hana be in the OSS Note's Metadata ?
I mean, where we search the OSS Notes (from the Basis perspective) for Notes which will help us with preparing ( as we would for for any installation/implementation - read the respective Notes and Master Guides and Install Guides), what do we search for in the OSS, S/4Hana, or Central Finance, or Simple Finance ? S/4Hana doesn't bring back much, yet in the SMP, ERP/ECC leads to help.sap.com S/4Hana and not to Central Finance.
Am I confused 🙂
Best regards,
Andy.
Hi Andy,
for the current on-premise release of S/4HANA (1503, comprising the finance part, see above), the standard documentation can be found on http://help.sap.com/sfin200 (that will take you to SMP for some of the guides).
As we approach the next release of S/4HANA, we will publish guides for this release in the usual places as well.
Wrt. naming of Simple Finance / S/4HANA Finance:
You will find both names at least for an interim period I'm afraid so searching for both might be necessary (or following dedicated links to notes in guides, etc.).
I'll ask my colleagues what they can do about adding an S/4HANA tag to the Simple Finance notes so you can find them easier.
Best (and thanks for the nice feedback on the cookbook),
Joerg
Hi Andy,
I came by your question here by following a tweet to this article. If you are responsible for HANA readiness, I suggest you also consider preparing your custom code. It's a major task - and bigger than most expect, since you need to clean it up for HANA - you can try e.g. Hanalyzer to get an idea of hos much you need to clean.We recommend fixing at least priority 1 and priority 2 issues, as they will either mean that your custom code won't work with HANA or performance will be degraded.
In order to get the best understanding of the potential work involved, you should filter away non-used programs by filtering for UPL or runtime usage.
Good luck.