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christianoehler
Product and Topic Expert
Product and Topic Expert
So, you have been operating your SAP ERP system for quite some time, and wondering if you are getting the most value from it? Are you looking for ways to optimize your core ERP system, bring more innovation to your business users, or prepare for the digital transformation?

We have good news for you: The new SAP Innovation and Optimization Pathfinder for SAP ERP, also known as the Pathfinder report.

The Pathfinder report is based on the usage and performance data from your current ERP system, and helps you answer the following key questions:

  • Of all the innovations from SAP – SAP Fiori apps, SAP Business Suite enhancements, SAP S/4HANA scenarios or Cloud extensions – which ones are the most relevant for your business?

  • Is there any potential to improve the performance of your business processes? How do you compare to your peers?

  • Is there any potential for IT optimization? How do you compare to our peers?

  • Can SAP provide any guidance on how you can further reduce our TCO, and improve your business outcomes?


The Pathfinder report is available for customers and partners. The report provides executive level presentation of findings and industry benchmarks. It’s tailored to a customers' specific system and free of charge. The report will help you realize the full potential of your investment in software and support services by SAP.

For a complete walk-through of the Pathfinder report you can watch this short video:



Customer Feedback

During Sapphire 2017 in May we presented the “SAP Innovation and Optimization Pathfinder” at SAP’s biggest customer event. We had the opportunity to talk with many customers in different sessions, presentations and 1:1 meetings.

And customer were excited by the Pathfinder: Receiving tangible recommendations in one simple report is what they were looking for since a long time. For example Andreas Oczko, board member of DSAG (German-speaking SAP User Group), provided positive feedback about the SAP Innovation and Optimization Pathfinder report:

How to Order 

In order to request a Pathfinder report your SAP basis team needs to provide us the following information:

  1. List of used SAP transactions from your productive SAP ERP system collected by workload monitor (at least 1 representative month in the transaction monitor “/ST03N”)

  2. Enhanced SAP EarlyWatch Alert including Business Key Figure information





Technical Details about Enhanced SAP EarlyWatch Alert


Most technical experts are familiar with the workload monitor (ST03N) and the standard SAP EarlyWatch Alert. However not all are aware that the SAP EarlyWatch Alert offers additional chapters, which can be optionally activated in SAP Solution Manager (that’s why we call it "enhanced" SAP EarlyWatch Alert). For the Pathfinder we need the enhanced SAP EarlyWatch Alert content for Business Key Figures (BKF) active in your SAP Solution Manager. This additional chapter is by default not active.

Note: Prerequisite for the enhanced SAP EarlyWatch Alert, including business key figure information is SAP Solution Manager 7.1 - SP 12 or higher, or SAP Solution Manager 7.2

Here’s an example of how this additional chapter would look like in a SAP EarlyWatch Alert, typically it is chapter 6:



If you can’t find this chapter in the SAP EarlyWatch Alert you must activate the additional chapter in your SAP Solution Manager first. We have created a practical step-by-step description for you, explaining all the necessary configuration steps:



It’s only a few changes and checks you need to do, which should take you less than an hour. However you must precisely follow the instructions to avoid unnecessary problems. Note that it will app. take 2-3 weeks waiting time until the business key figures show up in SAP EarlyWatch Alert, after initial activation.

New since Q4/2017: Improved process to activate the enhanced SAP EarlyWatch Alert - customers can now choose “express option” which allows a more easy and faster creation of enhanced SAP EarlyWatch Alert report (please make sure to check additional prerequisites in advance and contact us in case you have questions). We updated the How-To Guide and created a small video to explain to you the optional improvements:



New in Q1/2018: Self-paced tutorial from SAP Enterprise Support Academy (S-User Needed): Activating Business Key Figures chapter in SAP EarlyWatch Alert 

New in Q4/2018: SAP Pathfinder, lines of business edition

New in Q2/2019: SAP Pathfinder, IT edition available for customers on SAP S/4HANA:
Provide the value of SAP S/4HANA to your business users

New in Q2/2020: SAP Pathfinder 2.0 pilot phase started 

Troubleshooting

If you encounter problems during ‘enhanced EWA’ configuration follow instructions in Knowledge Base Article 2282310. If you performed all the checks from KBA 2282310 and still the problem exists please open an incident in component SV-SMG-SER-EWA indicating that "Business Key Figures chapter in SAP EarlyWatch Alert needs to be analyzed” and describing the problem.

One of the most common reason for failure are missing authorizations, so please check data collection job SDCCN TASK PROCESSOR (e.g. role SAP_MANAGED_BPOANA_DIS) - details can be also found in SAP Note 2282310 (step 2.3).

Also you can check out the Guided Answer about activating Business Key Figures in SAP EarlyWatch Alert.

Do you have further questions? Just reach out to us directly: Pathfinder@sap.com

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