Product Management Update SAP #S4HANA Cloud 1705 Release

Highlights of the SAP #S4HANA Cloud 1705 Release.

Today marks the general availability of our most innovative cloud release to date – SAP S/4HANA Cloud 1705. It provides multiple innovations and enhancements, from Finance, to Manufacturing and Procurement. To make the communication between these different functionalities much easier, we developed our digital assistant, SAP CoPilot. And we increased efficiency by fostering the usage of machine learning capabilities.

Check out this video for an overview:

SAP CoPilot – Your digital assistant

SAP CoPilot is available on Fiori 2.0. With CoPilot, we have taken the first step towards a unique, digital assistant for the enterprise, helping users get their work done more efficiently. It allows the user to take notes and screenshots in the business context, and create business objects via embedded QuickCreate UI’s. This data can also be shared with other users, which lays the foundation for a faster and more seamless collaboration within the enterprise.

Figure 1: Our Digital assistant, the CoPilot chat window in action

SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Finance

Several innovations and enhancements are available in the 1705 release. One of those innovations in the financial sector is a new app in Statutory Financial Consolidation. This app helps meeting reporting requirements according to IFRS including profit and loss, and balance sheet reports. It provides an automation of consolidation processes and real-time reporting through in-memory computing in the cloud – helping to close the books faster.

Figure 2: Statutory Financial Consolidation

Furthermore, predefined integration to SAP Business Planning and Consolidation Integration from SAP S/4HANA Cloud was highly requested. SAP BPC enables users to plan, budget and forecast all in just one application. Extended Credit Management and SAP S/4HANA Finance Cloud for credit integration allows to get a support in making early determination of the risk of losses on receivables from business partners and in making credit decisions based on automatic calculation, which decreases the manual work for credit controllers.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Manufacturing

SAP S/4HANA Cloud now provides an end-to-end solution to transfer material from one plant to another within the same company code. Customers have full transparency about stock between plants, monitoring the warehouse from issue to delivery to shipment.

Figure 3: End-to-end innovated processes

RFQ Integration with SAP Distributed Manufacturing provides the option to collaborate with suppliers, and to design and produce parts through additive manufacturing. Considering that 3D printing is getting more and more important for the global industry, it allows you to connect 3D printing collaboration with end-to-end visibility. With all these cost and time saving new features, it gets easier for you to co-operate with your partners and working on projects together.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Procurement

This quarter we focused on bringing predictive capabilities in procurement. Predictive analytics for contract consumption forecasts the point in time when a purchasing contract is expected to be consumed at 100%, so that it is possible to renegotiate them in time.

Figure 4: Overview of a contract consumption

SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Professional Services

The SAP Project Companion is a useful tool for project management, and a collaboration between Apple and SAP. It is an application for you and your project team. Whether you are a manager or a consultant, there is a role-based version for both. The mobile app helps you and your team to work better together. The app provides an overview of the most relevant project information, quick insights and a personalized timeline with the most important milestones for your project. To secure a fast collaboration, it is possible to get push notifications. If you want to have this app on your mobile phone, just go to the app store, search for SAP Project Companion and download the free demo version.

Figure 5: Improving Project Management: SAP Project Companion

Come and meet us…

Up next is SAP’s SAPPHIRE and ASUG Annual Conference. Make sure you check out the session catalog, and also read my blog and check out the presentations I will give together with customers and partners.

For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:

• S/4HANA Cloud release info: http://www.sap.com/s4-cloudrelease
• Best practices for all the cloud editions here
• New openSAP course ‘How to Best Leverage SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Your Company’

Follow us via @SAP and #S4HANA, or myself via @SDenecken