SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, and SAP S/4HANA for Sales | 2022 release – Part 3

[Chr_Vogler]

SAP Fiori provides an easier, more intuitive way to run SAP applications in your organization. With a focus on an intelligent, consistent, and integrated user experience, SAP Fiori can help you redefine the way you work in the age of digital transformation.

In the following blog – part 3, I will give you an engineering expert view of some selected highlights of our SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, and SAP S/4HANA for Sales | 2022 release, to show you how you can improve user satisfaction with the new SAP Fiori apps for sales.

The blog is built as a series of 3 parts and presents the key highlights:

• Part 1: Low-Touch Sales Order Processing


• Part 2: Business Insights & Decision Support / Digital Transformation


• Part 3: Digital-age User Experience

Introduction: Digital-age user experience

As part of the digital transformation, the way users will access ERP solutions is different from the past. Users want to access via different devices (e.g., mobile) in a simplified, user-friendly experience. In recent years, there has been a massive change in the behavior of specific target groups, such as Generation Y or Millennials; they’re looking for a customized and focused UX that’s simple to handle. Based on changing requirements and the future of digitally enabled enterprises, SAP decided to provide customers with a new UX called SAP Fiori.

The simplification process from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA doesn’t just consist of the new UX design. Based on the simplification of the data model, redesign of the business logic, code pushdown, and role-based tailoring of the solution, there is also a process redesign coming along with the move to SAP S/4HANA.

For more information about SAP Fiori: What’s new for SAP S/4HANA 2022 (on-premise and private cloud), see the blog post from Thomas Reiss here.

 

Manage Sales Contracts – Version 2

Sales Contract: Definition

You can use sales contract management as part of the sales process chain, which spans from quote to shipment and from billing to booking revenue. Sales contracts represent long-term agreements with customers about goods or services. They define once specific goods are to be sold or specific services are to be provided, and under which conditions.

Sales contracts are valid for a certain time period. When the validity ends, you can extend the validity.

Compared with the Manage Sales Quotations app, the Manage Sales Quotations - Version 2 app allows you to manage sales quotations in a more efficient way.

Picture 1: Increase sales force speed and efficiency with the new SAP Fiori app.

Key features

Create and edit sales contracts quickly and intuitively with the new SAP Fiori app, which delivers:

• Efficient creation of sales contracts, with the immediate determination of pricing


• Ability to adopt the UI to company best practices using key-user adaptation; for instance, show, hide or rearrange standard and extension fields


• Embedded analytics with context-based navigation


• Quick actions accelerating users' work


• Mass data entry through XLS cut-and-paste capabilities

For more information about Manage Sales Contracts – Version 2, see Product Assistance.

Hierarchical process flow on the sales contracts object page

With this new release, you can view the process flow on the Sales Contract object page. The process flow provides you with an overview of the connected business documents in a table. For example, you can see the status of your sales contract and whether a sales order was created with reference to it. Furthermore, you can navigate to the object pages of the relevant business objects, as well as the related apps that you're authorized for.

Picture 2: User-friendly and transparent view of all sales documents related to a sales contract.

Key features

View the process flow in the SAP Fiori app "Sales Contract (SAP S/4HANA)" (F2026) in a hierarchical table format with information on all documents related to the process flow.

The new table view of process flow contains the following columns:

• Document Category


• Document Number


• Item


• Quantity


• Value with currency


• Date


• Status

For each Document Category (Contract, Order, Delivery, Invoice, and related Journal Entry), the document can support navigation to:

• Sales Contract


• Sales Order


• Outbound Delivery


• Invoice


• Journal Entry

Manage Sales Quotations – Version 2

A sales quotation presents the customer with a legally binding offer for delivering a product or providing a service within certain fixed conditions. This offer is legally binding for the company within a specified time period.

A sales area can reply to a sales inquiry with a sales quotation or use it to refer to a business partner contact.

Picture 3: Create and edit sales quotations quickly and intuitively with the new SAP Fiori app.

Key features

Compared with the Manage Sales Quotations app, the Manage Sales Quotations - Version 2 app allows you to manage sales quotations in a more efficient manner. You can create sales quotations, change sales quotations, and display sales quotation details within the Manage Sales Quotations - Version 2 app, whereas in the Manage Sales Quotations app, you need to navigate across other apps to perform the preceding tasks.

The key features are:

• Efficient creation of sales quotations, with the immediate determination of pricing


• Ability to adopt the UI to company best practices using key-user adaptation; for instance, show, hide or rearrange standard and extension fields


• Embedded analytics with context-based navigation


• Quick actions accelerating users' work


• Mass data entry through XLS cut-and-paste capabilities

Output Items

When a user creates and saves a sales quotation, based on output parameter determination, the system will create relevant output items, which will be displayed in the section Output Items.

The users can open a PDF preview of an output item (printout) using the Open File hyperlink, and the user cannot create or change output items manually.

Process Flow

Only after a sales quotation has been saved, the section Process Flow will be displayed.

A process flow gives an overview of preceding and succeeding documents related to the sales quotation. Also expected subsequent documents are displayed, for example, a sales order.

Depending on the authorizations of the user, it is possible to navigate to the related applications.

Picture 4: Overview of preceding and succeeding documents via process flow.

For more information about Manage Sales Quotations – Version 2, see Product Assistance.

Manage Sales Orders – Version 2

Sales employees are a perfect example of a user that needs a mobile, fast, and intuitive user experience.

There are different ways you can create sales orders in the SAP S/4HANA system, depending on your specific needs.

Professional users are confronted with complex scenarios, and for this SAP recommends using the Create Sales Orders SAP Fiori app (Transaction VA01!). This app is an SAP GUI for HTML transactions offering an HTML Graphical User Interface with a broad offering of features and functions of a sales order. These transactions are available in the SAP Fiori theme to support a seamless user experience across the SAP Fiori launchpad.

With the SAP S/4HANA 2021 release, we deliver the first version of the new SAP Fiori app Create Sales Orders. Please note that this app is not a true successor of the Create Sales Orders app (VA01), as it does not contain all the fields that the original app contains, and now this application is offering an SAP Fiori User Interface. It simplifies the daily work of sales employees and presents all important information on a single screen – including easy navigation and optimized visualization and allows people to do what they do best: be innovative and creative.

Now with the new 2022 release, the Process Sales Orders app was renamed to Manage Sales Orders - Version 2. This app now offers a list of sales orders with filter options and actions as entry points, like the Manage Sales Orders app. You can also create and change sales orders directly in the app. The Create Sales Orders tile is part of this app. In addition, the functionality for creating, changing, and displaying sales orders was enhanced on the header and item levels.

You can, for example, work with schedule lines, easily check product availability, or change partner addresses.

Key features

Use the SAP Fiori app Manage Sales Orders – Version 2 to:

• Improve availability status in the item table and make it easier to consume


• Display and change document-specific partner addresses in the partner table


• Support selection from multiple partner addresses


• Create sales orders with reference to sales quotations as well as sales contracts

Items:

• You can create, change, and delete schedule lines.


• In the item table, color-coded information helps you to see at a glance whether the availability of a product is confirmed, unconfirmed, partially confirmed, or will be confirmed later. You can also choose the link to display additional information.


• You can display product availability information in your sales order item and navigate to your schedule lines.


• When you create a sales order item, the system checks its validity. You must enter either the product, customer material, or item description.


• You can create, change, and display delivery groups for items.

Picture 5: Display product availability information in your sales order item and navigate to your schedule lines.

Partners and addresses:

• You can display address details for business partners on the header and in the item. You can also change specific address fields and make an address document-specific.


• You can display sold-to-party and ship-to-party contact information at the top of your screen. Here you can see the postal address, mobile phone number, or email address, which allows you to place a call or write an email directly.


• When you create a sales order and enter a sold-to party, the system only proposes business partners with at least one sales area in master data. The prerequisite for this to work is that in master data, business partners of type customer have been assigned the related partner function for sold-to parties (AG).


• When you enter a one-time customer and do not change the generic address data, the system throws an error to make you aware that you need to enter an individual address.


• You can search for sold-to parties by sales area using the value help.


• Provided that your configuration expert has made the necessary settings in your system, the app supports multiple address handling for the sold-to, ship-to, and bill-to-party addresses. For more information about how the app's functionality has been enhanced with multiple address handling, see Manage Sales Orders - Version 2.

Picture 6: Change the generic address data.

Prices:

• In addition to price elements, you can see basic pricing data at a glance. Your key user can add additional fields to this section using key user adaptation.


• You can display additional columns in the price elements table.

Statuses:

• You can see international trade statuses (embargo, screening, and legal control status) in your sales order header and item. The system displays these statuses by default if your sales order is relevant for trade compliance.


• You can see the most important sales order statuses at the top of your screen.


• You can see the order-related billing status and the down payment status on the header and in the item, if relevant.

Other:

• You can upload, display, change, and delete attachments.


• Fields containing general information for the sales order header are structured according to their level of importance. You can show or hide tax and accounting fields.


• The sales area fields have been moved to the organizational data.


• The sorting of type-ahead search results for sold-to-party and product was improved.

Extensibility:

Your key user can add the following additional header fields to the UI using key user adaptation:

• Billing: fixed value date


• Shipping: relevant for POD (proof of delivery)


• Approval status details (in both the header and the item area)

Feature Comparison for Managing Sales Orders

The following table shows the most important differences between the two apps that you can use for managing sales orders (that is, apps that list sales orders and offer search and filter features).

It doesn't list all features that the apps offer. The column headings contain links to the app documentation and the app's entry in the SAP Fiori apps reference library.

For a comparison of features for creating, changing, and displaying sales orders, see Feature Comparison for Creating, Changing, and Displaying Sales Orders.

App Name App ID	Manage Sales Orders F1873	Manage Sales Orders – Version2 F3893
View personalization with default values	Two options: ·       One that covers filters and searches terms ·       One that covers table settings for the search results	One option that covers filters, search terms, and table settings for the search results
	Search and Filters
Search field	Supports product ID	Doesn't support product ID
Additional filters and table columns	Additional partner functions: ·       Bill-to party ·       Ship-to party ·       Employee responsible ·       Payer ·       Sales employee Net value	·       Billing date ·       Delivery block status ·       Delivery status ·       Incompletion status (header and all items) ·       Pricing date ·       Services rendered date
Filter for customer reference	Free text search	Value helps search supporting multiple values
Filter for sales order types	Drop-down menu	Value help
	Buttons
Option for rejecting all items	Available	Not available
Setting and removing delivery blocks	Separate buttons	One button with a drop-down menu
Setting and removing billing blocks	Separate buttons	One button with a drop-down menu
	Results List
Additional table columns (hidden by default)	A smaller amount of table columns is available	A larger amount of table columns is available
Default app for changing a sales order by choosing a row in the table	Change Sales Orders - VA02	Embedded object page app
Default app for creating a sales order using the button	Create Sales Orders - VA01	Embedded object page app (same as using the Create Sales Orders tile)
Sold-to party in a list (choose the link to display popup window)	Shows address and related links to other apps	Shows related links to other apps

For more information about Manage Sales Orders – Version 2, see Product Assistance.

Manage Customer Returns – Version 2

With the Manage Customer Returns – Version 2 app, you can create return orders without referencing a preceding document. Also, you can manage customer returns by displaying, editing, and determining refunds for return orders. Furthermore, you can monitor various statuses to track the progress of customer returns.

The business Scenario here could be that you have not migrated sales orders from your legacy system and a customer returns goods that are referenced to a sales order in your legacy system.

Picture 7: Creation of customer returns without reference to a preceding sales document.

Functional Details

Creating Returns Orders

• You can use this app to create return orders without a reference document. For more information about the creation, see Creating Returns Orders Without Reference.


• You can navigate to the Manage Customer Returns app to create returns orders referencing a preceding sales order or invoice. You can also create other types of returns orders, such as lean returns, by choosing to Create Returns Order – VA01.

Approval Process for Returns Orders

• If a returns order is relevant for approval, the system triggers the approval workflow when you release the returns order. You can track the approval process by monitoring the approval status. To withdraw the approval request, use the Manage Customer Returns app.


• For more information about the approval process and how to set it up, see Approval Workflows for Sales Documents.

Refund Determination

• You can specify what to compensate the customer and how the compensation is to be processed by using the refund type and refund control. You can make the refund decision when you create a returns order, or you can do this in a separate step after you release the returns order. For product replacement, if you want to replace the product with a different one, you have the option to select a replacement product and supply plant in the separate step for refund determination.


• For more information, see Customer Compensation.

Monitoring Customer Returns

• You can monitor the returns orders in your system by using various filters as well as data sorting and grouping. For example, you can search for your open returns orders and sort them by the customer, check if any errors have occurred during the logistical processing of the returns orders, and monitor the refund progress. You can track if the customer returns are on track by monitoring a variety of statuses, such as processing status, logistical status, and refunding status.

 

Thanks for reading this blog post.

If you are also interested in other Lines of Business, I would like to draw your attention to my link collection blog – The Link Collection

If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, join our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Customer Community. This platform which is available to SAP S/4HANA Cloud customers and partners has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with one another about best practices and product solutions.

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

• SAP S/4HANA 2022 “highlights in seconds” blog and video


• SAP Enterprise Resource Planning website


• SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition release here


• SAP S/4HANA Community here


• The Link Collection for Sales here


• The Link Collection for Product Compliance here


• SAP S/4HANA PSCC Digital Enablement Wheel here


• Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast here


• Join the SAP S/4HANA Movement


• Best practices for SAP S/4HANA here


• Help Portal Product Page here


• Feature Scope Description here


• What’s New here

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