SAP S/4 HANA: Simplifications in Sales & Distribution Data Models
SAP S/4 HANA is the new offering from SAP built on the high performance In-memory platform HANA with an enriching user experience using FIORI apps.This new system includes major changes and massive simplifications ranging form changes in underlying data models to new user interface through FIORI apps.
Objective:
The objective of this blog is to understand the data model simplifications in SD area through a comparative study with a non S/4 system.
Below are the major simplification points:
- Status tables VBUK and VBUP have been eliminated and the new status fields have been added to:
- VBAK and VBAP for sales order header and item
- LIKP and LIPS for delivery document header and item
- VBRK for billing document header
- No status fields are present for billing items.
- Simplification of document flow table VBFA
- Document index tables like VAKPA , VAPMA etc. have been done away with.
Comparison:
Let us understand the differences by looking at the table structures:
- VBUK and VBUP are still present in S/4 HANA but they are not filled when an order is created.
- The status fields have been added through append structure.
Table Name | Description | Append Name |
---|---|---|
VBAK | Sales Order Header | VBAK_STATUS |
VBAP | Sales Order Item | VBAP_STATUS |
LIKP | Delivery Header | LIKP_STATUS |
LIPS | Delivery Item | LIPS_STATUS |
VBRK | Billing Document Header | VBRK_STATUS |
- If any custom fields have been added to VBUP or VBUP tables in source system, they will have to be added to respective document tables in S/4 HANA system.
- An append field to the document header status table VBUK must be added to one or several of the document header tables VBAK, LIKP, or VBRK. This decision depends on which of the document types the respective field is relevant for.
- An append field to document item status table VBUP must be added to one or more of the document item tables VBAP or LIPS.
VBAK:
VBAP:
When a sales order is created in a non S/4 HANA system:
Sales Order: 7137:
VBAK table holds the order header details
Order status information is present in VBUK table
Sales Order in S/4 HANA system:
VBAK table contains both the header details as well as the header status
Header status fields are now added to VBAK table
Table VBUK is present but is not filled.
Reason VBUK / VBUP are still present in S/4 HANA:
Since the status tables are not being filled it can be questioned why the tables are still present and not removed from system altogether. The reason for this is to enable smooth transition for those opting for migration to S/4 HANA system.
New function modules have been written which read the document status fields from VBAK , LIKP aur VBRK tables and populate in output whose structure is similar to that of VBUK.
For example FM SD_VBUK_READ_FROM_DOC is a new FM that fills VBUK structure for one SD document out of document header tables. The data is fetched depending upon the document type.
- The output structure ES_VBUK still refers to VBUK table.
- Any custom fields added to appends like VBAK_STATUS will be read by this FM.
Advantages:
- Reduced memory footprint : Since fewer tables are involved this means reduction of redundant data and simplified document flow.
- Now if we need to query the order table on the basis of document status we can simply do so by 1 single query on VBAK table instead of join on VBAK and VBUK.
NOTES:
- OSS Note 2198647 can be referred for further information.
Acknowledgment:
- Reference taken from Simplification List for S/4 HANA 1511 0302.
Suggestions and Comments Welcomed !!
~Tanmay
Nice. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Tanmay,
Thanks for sharing valuable piece of info.
But can you tell us how is going to be availability check of sales orders in S/4 HANA as opposed to gATP or ECC ?
Is it going to be gATP way since underlying database is in-memory?
Thanks,
Sachin
Hi Sachin,
Currently i do not have much information about ATP check process by i guess it is going to be gATP way.
I would post if i get some relevant information.
~Tanmay
Hello Sachin,
Probably you would have already found an answer to your question on gATP after 1610 introduced. It is called AATP - Advanced ATP.
You can find more information Advanced ATP nicely explained by Sven Denecken.
Thanks & Regards,
Jaydip
Thanks for this blog. This also applies to the BW Datasources that extract data from the old tables VBUK etc.... 2LIS_11_VASTH
https://help.sap.com/viewer/45e4eda3753c458ead20c81f77c55921/7.07.24/en-US/8e497053bbe77c1ee10000000a174cb4.html
Hi Tanmay,
Thanks for the details !!! Much appreciated for your effort.
I have few questions, what will happen to my current reports & exits which reads status from VBUK/VBUP. During migration for historical data, the contents from VBUK/VBUP are moved to VBAK and VBAP ?
Regards,
Dilli
Hi,
The current report and exits will have to be adjusted to be referred to VBAP and VBAK for the status fields. You can refer to Cookbook_VBUK_VBUP_Adaption for the changes required. This cookbook can be found in OSS Note 2198647.
Also , during migration phase the contents will be moved to correct tables.
~Tanmay
Thanks Tanmay !
Tammy, thanks for sharing, I am looking for new tables that have been introduced in S4 HANA for PP, MM & SD. Any idea where to find the list ?
thank you mr tammy,
its very help me on implementation sd hana
Hi Tanmay,
Thanks for the update in the s/4 Hana the contracts wk1/wk2 are missing including the item categories
any suggestions ?
regards
Arumita
Hi Arumita,
Apologies for late reply. I am not aware of the changes to the contracts in S4 HANA system. Would update if i get any clue on this.
~Tanmay
Dear Tanmoy Ji,
Thanks for the great information.
Could you please tell me how shall we access the tables in Fiori app? Is it the same old SE16/ SE16N ?? or any other transaction??
I have previously heard that there is only one inble in HANA - SEDOCA which stores all data from SD PP MM side. Is it true??
Hi,
just a question: Is there a specifc reason why the vbuk and vbup are not mapped to a cds view with the help of a proxy oject, like it was done with all the tables in MM?
It would help a lot of maintaining compatibilty with existing customer code. Many SAP customers have a lot of custom programs for the logistics processes (e.g. in warehouses), which likely accesses these tables.
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
VBUK and VBUP tables will not be used any further as the status fields have been added to VBAK and VBAP respectively.Hence we do not have proxy objects for these tables.
The MM tables will still be used and thus we have proxy objects which does the data fetch part.
Regards,
~Tanmay
Ok. This means that the decision is done solely on the question if SAP code is using the tables, not if e.g. customer code is using it.
This sounds a bit contradictory to all the statements I heard on S/4HANA presentations that migration of customer code should not be much more effort than for a regular SAP update.
Thomas
Hi Tanmay,
Thank you for sharing valuable information, we are looking more basic knowledge on S4 HANA could you plz help on this. we need some material, is this possible.
Regards,
Rakesh Mamidala.
Hello Tanmay,
Thanks a lot for sharing this blog , really helpful.
I have a question regarding the fields which were earlier in VBUK , VBUP tables but not added to VBAK , VBAP tables respectively.
How can we plan to manage these in S4 HANA ?
Thanks !
Harish Bhatt
Blog shows Good presentation. Great. Thanks Tanmay.
Regards,
G.V.Shivakkumar
The problem is that in S/4HANA 1709 e.g. inside SAPMV45A there are still (active) coding sequences which are checking VBUK and VBUP fields.
Hello Tanmay,
Thanks for sharing a very informative article, I had a query with regards to the VBFA table has this table also got merged with the main vbak and vbap tables like the status tables in S4 Hana? Can you please advice.
Kind Regards
Atul
Hi Tanmay, thanks for your great article.
could i ask you if you have information about S4 Simplifications in FI and PO Models?
thanks in advance