Technical Articles
Series of Technology Essentials for Moving to SAP S/4HANA – tip #1: Check Your Add-ons. Now.
This is a series of blogs written by SAP subject matter experts to prepare you for your journey to SAP S/4HANA. Ready? Let’s go!
Topic #1 is add-ons.
Many customers extend their SAP ERP application with partner solutions, which are typically delivered as add-ons. In fact, three out of five SAP systems have third-party add-ons.
To keep an add-on upon conversion, you need a version compatible with SAP S/4HANA. That’s why you should review all add-ons early in your project.
Commercially speaking, there are four types of add-ons:
- SAP add-ons are developed and maintained by SAP, who also provides the installation files. You can check the compatibility and availability of these add-ons for SAP S/4HANA in maintenance planner.
- Reseller add-ons are developed by SAP partners and can be licensed through SAP. We provide the installation files if the add-on is licensed through us.
- Certified add-ons are partner solutions certified through SAP Integration and Certification Center. For these, ask your vendor to confirm the add-on’s availability and compatibility and to provide the installation files. You can find the vendor contact information in our certified solution directory .
- For unknown and non-certified add-ons, you’ll need to identify and contact the respective vendor to check support and availability for the target SAP S/4HANA release. We have no information for these add-ons.
All add-ons must be created with SAP Add-On Assembly Kit software and installed with SAP’s add-on installation tool (“SAINT”). However, occasionally vendors ship extensions in transport files. Technically, these are not add-ons and not covered by maintenance planner. Check if you have any of those in your system to avoid surprises.
We strongly advise you to prepare a simple catalog listing all your add-ons and answering these questions:
- Is the add-on functionality still required? Is a corresponding functionality available in SAP S/4HANA?
- What type of add-on is it from a commercial point of view, and who is the vendor?
- Is the add-on’s compatibility with SAP S/4HANA confirmed by the vendor (or certified by SAP), and if so, for which SAP S/4HANA releases?
- Is there an upgrade or uninstallation package available for this add-on?
Based on your answers, formulate a plan on how to deal with each add-on:
- Keep it in the system.
- Uninstall it. Consider the simulation tool available with support package manager (SPAM) version 7.4 and above. See also SAP Note 2911053 on how to plan and perform uninstallation.
- Start with the highest release of SAP S/4HANA for which this add-on is available.
- Contact SAP’s customer care program to help you with the resolution of possible issues.
A few tips to conclude:
- Execute maintenance planner early in the project.
- Partner add-ons will only be available after the general availability of the corresponding SAP S/4HANA version.
- Contact the partner or third-party vendor at an early stage.
- Clarify licensing terms and potential changes with SAP S/4HANA.
- Contact the vendor if you want to uninstall an add-on that is currently not available in SAINT.
- Most add-ons must be co-deployed on SAP S/4HANA and can only run on SAP S/4HANA if they have been explicitly released for it.
Please see more details here.
Check out all topics of the series:
tip #1: Check Your Add-ons. Now.
tip #2: Check Your Finance Data Quality
tip #3: Don’t Just Rework Custom Code. Rethink it!
tip #4: How to Build Custom Extensions
tip #5: Plan Ahead with Compatibility Packs
tip #6: Gain Insight to Build a Solid Business Case
tip #7: Hardware Planning and Data Volume Management
tip #8: Curate Your Master Data before Deployment
tip #9: Understand the Functional Impact
tip #10: Fix Issues Without Bogging Down Conversion
tip #11: Optimizing Downtime in Conversions
tip #12: Find Relevant SAP Notes
tip #13: Accelerate your Rollout with Test Automation
tip #14: Implementing SAP Fiori
Hello Astrid Tschense,
Thank you for the blog post and the series. It's helpful and nice to read. One more thing, don't know how to do so, but it would be great to add a link to the whole series list or at least add links at the end of the post. I do can go from the #15 to this one, but not from this to the #2 for instance.
Best regards,
Pavel
Astrid,
Thanks. Quick question, are third party certified add-ons specific to the major release only and applicable to all FPS/SPS (higher versions)? or do they need certification for newer FPS/ SPS?
regards
Krish