Hello everyone !
I have spent a nice amount of time reading the SAP documents related to S/4HANA OP, available here on SCN (great blogs as always !) and also on the SAP website for SAP partners.
As we have S/4 projects starting soon, I wanted to be sure that we fully understood the application options.
So In case you have the same questions, here is a quick recap !
S/4HANA FINANCE
The Simple Finance Add-on on Suite on HANA (AKA ECC on HANA) was released in versions 1.0 then 2.0.
It is improving FI-CO for an ECC system on HANA, by simplifying the table architecture of, and around, BSEG and BKPF.
As the name implied, it is an ADD-ON to an existing ECC system.
It then changed its name into S/4HANA Finance, and later it also had some Support Packs.
So now the name of the add-on is S/4HANA Finance 1503, 1508, 1511...and so on (yes, it is the year and the month of the release!)
The best note to follow the names and the versions is OSS Note 2171868
S/4HANA ENTERPRISE MANAGEMENT
In November 2015, SAP released the S/4HANA Enterprise Management application: this is the real thing, the complete S/4HANA system, with all the asset management, service, sales, manufacturing processes.
The "Simple" brand is not used anymore, so there is no "Simple Logistics", just S/4HANA SALES, S/4HANA SERVICES.....etc
the first release of S/4HANA Enterprise Management was version 1511, and SAP documents mentioned a future version called 1602 and even 1605.
But......two weeks ago SAP released "SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 Feature Package Stack 01" (official name).
If you are wondering, this is in fact the 1602 version, but the naming has changed !
So what do I need to know ?
if you plan an S/4HANA project, you have 2 options:
=> you can have S/4HANA Finance added to your existing ECC system on HANA.
The finance tables will be simplified, you will have great improvements within the finance processes, and the other processes will stay the same.
=> you can install a new S/4HANA enterprise Management system (or convert your existing SAP Business Suite ).
You will benefit from great innovations within all the processes (table simplification, new interface, process optimization..), and the core of the system will be different (please read the Simplification List ! )
=> both systems are called S/4HANA, but their technical architecture are quite different, as you can see...
Please comment if need be, and have a great day !
Eric
