Overview of New Features of SAP Bank: S/4HANA 1610...

former_member712239 · ‎11-23-2020

Background

This article tries to provide a overview of the new features of Banking Services from SAP during the past five years --- 2016 till 2020 --- in S/4HANA 1610/1709/1809/1909/2020 as well in specific banking modules, with comments on its outlook. Overview is organized from the viewpoint of system characteristics or the development trends, not by timeline from year to year, nor by function modules.

In this article, “Banking Services from SAP”, “SAP Banking”, and “SAP Bank” these three concepts are equivalent and can be used interchangeably.

This article has four parts

Part one: Stronger integration with other modules: Banking concepts go beyond banking;

Part two: Decision-making more intelligent: SAP Bank and machine learning;

Part three: Flexible and easier customization and reporting: Implementation faster than ever;

Part four: Conclusion and future outlook: the coming decade for Banking Services from SAP.

Part one: Stronger integration with other modules: Banking concepts go beyond banking

S/4HANA 1610/1709/1809/1909/2020 was released consequently in 2016, 2017, 2018, 1909 and 2020. The current (by Nov 2020) version of Banking Services from SAP is 9.0 and 8.0, both are integrated in S/4. In S/4HANA, with the transaction (actually it is a menu, not exactly a “transaction”) “bank”, we can access most SAP Bank modules, although not all of them, also in ECC and R/3. In S/4, SAP Bank has following changes:

1. Basic banking concepts like “Financial Object” go beyond banking and strengthened other modules

SAP tries to emphasize financial concepts in the supply chain management. Some functions in ECC, R/3 and not “as a whole” moved to S/4. With this approach, SAP can reutilize these concepts across modules. Most of the old SAP Bank functions are still available, although they may use a different transaction, or they may use the same/similar one (code or program, also differently). With SE93 and technical names, man can still locate which program is used in the transaction and which message is given by ABAP.

SAP Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM) for Banks (also named as SEM Banking) functionality is NOT included “as a complete module” in SAP S/4HANA. SEM Banking application used to be an important component of SAP R/3 and ECC. It has four parts "Data pool", "Profit Analyzer", "Risk Analyzer" and "Strategy Analyzer”. Large parts of the SEM Banking functionality have been merged into the Bank Analyzer (part of the Banking platform "Banking Services from SAP"), or “Financial Supply Chain Management” or others. The SEM Banking menu, IMG both disabled as a whole module (hidden). Some SEM Banking transactions will terminate with a "message", which means it's not allowed to execute them in HANA anymore.

For example, the transaction JBDO for Financial Object, in R/3 at the position: SEM Banking ---- Profit Analyzer ---- Main Data ---- JBDO Financial Object; In S4H is merged into Financial Supply Chain Management at the position: Financial Supply Chain Management ---- Treasury and Risk Mgmt ---- Financial Risk Mgmt for Commodities ---- Analytics ---- Tools ---- JBDO Financial Object. Its screen is similar to that in R/3 and ECC, although some buttons available in ECC are now hidden in S4H. By checking transaction JBDO in R/3, in ECC, and in S/4, we know they use the program SAPMJBDO.

2. Important banking concepts like “Business Partner” are upgraded and permeate multiple solutions

SAP Bank and HANA is better integrated, e.g. Business Partner and some other fundamental concepts are upgraded and can permeate across modules, some “old-version” transaction are merged into one existing transaction. For example transaction FD01, FD02, FD03, MK01 and some others still remain but their functions are merged into transaction BP. So the traditional business partner (BP) is stronger to handle more counterparty types.

3. SAP Bank structure scheme has been better sorted out: Some renamed to formal names, some shifted.

SAP Bank structure scheme has been better sorted out: now some functions are hidden from the easy access menu, and some are deactivated. Some transaction are renamed and the old name is hidden in menu, for example you search transaction S_ALR_87008533 for enter Beta factors In S/4, S_ALR_87008533 is not there anymore. But actually this could still be triggered with transaction TMDBBETA in S/4. Also, some transactions are disabled in the S/4, for example, MB01 deactivated. And for FF7A, you will get an error message. FF7A is a typical transaction to show the balance and transactions of an account in given period (position).

Tipp: when an old ECC transaction disappears in S/4, you might try it with an “N”, you may added an “N” at the end of the old t-code. For example, in S/4, the FF7A is renamed as FF7AN.

With all these changes, SAP Bank becomes more integrated with others and more strong for its function and its structure is clearer than ever before.

Part two: Decision-making more intelligent: SAP Bank and machine learning.

Reference and further reading:

1.   What's New in banking services from SAP  https://help.sap.com/doc/600527e81a2c499ea303cf8a45d1b815/9.14/en-US/Neuerungen_EN.pdf

2. 2020 https://help.sap.com/doc/b870b6ebcd2e4b5890f16f4b06827064/2020.000/en-US/WN_OP2020_EN.pdf

3. 1909 https://help.sap.com/doc/b870b6ebcd2e4b5890f16f4b06827064/1909.000/en-US/WN_OP1909_EN.pdf

4. 1809    https://help.sap.com/doc/b870b6ebcd2e4b5890f16f4b06827064/1809.000/en-US/WN_OP1809_EN.pdf

5. 1709    https://help.sap.com/doc/b870b6ebcd2e4b5890f16f4b06827064/1709%20000/en-US/WN_OP1709_EN.pdf

6. 1610    https://help.sap.com/doc/b870b6ebcd2e4b5890f16f4b06827064/1610%20000/en-US/WN_OP1610_EN.pdf

7. Bank 9    https://help.sap.com/viewer/product/BANKING_SERVICES_FROM_SAP/9.14/de-DE?task=discover_task