In this blog post, we will discuss the new features and enhancements in SAP Enterprise Product Development (EPD) released in August 2023. These innovations are designed to help you improve your product development process, from ideation to launch.
I had the opportunity to interview our experts for the various capabilities in SAP Enterprise Product Development (EPD). This includes our product management team:
- Ing-Marie Loennerheden, responsible for Product Innovation Management
- Felix Reichle, responsible for Specification Management
- Martin Bachmann, responsible for Configuration Management
- Dr. Jens Erb, responsible for Product Structure Management
- Dr. Michael Pfenning, responsible for Intelligent Handover
I also interviewed Lars Olson, responsible for Visualization from a solution management perspective, and Carsten Dietze-Selent, our Head of Engineering for SAP Enterprise Product Development.
This blog post will explore the inspiration behind the innovations in the upcoming August release of SAP Enterprise Product Development. I will also share some of the highlights from the release, as well as any insights or final thoughts from our experts.
1. What inspired the innovations for this release?
Ing-Marie Loennerheden, responsible for Product Innovation Management, says that the inspiration for the innovations in this capability came from close customer calls. Customers have been asking for a more configurable and easy-to-use product innovation management application.
Felix Reichle, responsible for Specification Management, says that the innovations in this capability were inspired by customer feedback and requirements. Customers wanted a more intuitive and user-friendly way to manage specifications.
Martin Bachmann, responsible for Configuration Management, says that the innovations in this capability were inspired by the company's overall roadmap and the need to improve the experience of using specification management on the public cloud.
Dr. Jens Erb, responsible for Product Structure Management, says that the innovations in this capability were inspired by customer input and feedback. Customers are increasingly interested in product structure management, and the company wants to make sure that it is meeting their needs.
Dr. Michael Pfenning, responsible for Intelligent Handover, says that the innovations in this capability were inspired by the general discussion around digital threads. The company wants to help customers break up silos and connect all of their different structures.
Lars Olson, responsible for Visualization from a solution management perspective, says that the innovations in this capability were inspired by RFIs and RFPs from customers. Customers are looking for ways to visualize their data in a more effective way.
In addition to these specific inspirations, the experts also mentioned that they are constantly looking for ways to improve the capabilities of SAP Enterprise Product Development. They are committed to listening to customer feedback and developing innovative solutions that meet the needs of their customers.
2. What are some of the highlights for each capability?
Here are some of the highlights for each capability in the August 2023 release of SAP EPD:
Product Innovation Management
- Adding additional fields to the idea form: This will allow users to ask more targeted questions about the ideas that are submitted. For example, they could ask for the customer's pain points, the desired outcome, or the potential market size. This information will help the experts evaluate the ideas more effectively.
- Allowing experts to provide text comments: This will give experts more flexibility in how they evaluate ideas. They can provide a brief explanation of their numeric score, or they can write a more detailed assessment. This will help the submitters understand why their ideas were rated the way they were.
- Usability and convenience improvements: These improvements are designed to make the application easier to use. For example, the ability to rename a campaign after it has been published will help users correct typos or make other changes. The ability to see which ideas have already been used in a need will help users avoid duplicating ideas.
Specification Management
- Managing documents that belong to the specification: This will allow users to attach documents, such as drawings, specifications, and test reports, to the specification. This will make it easier to keep track of all of the related documentation for a product or process. For example, a user could attach a drawing of a new product to the specification for that product. This would make it easy for other users to see the design of the product and understand the requirements.
- Uploading picture content and selecting those pictures as thumbnails: This will make it easier for users to visualize the content of the specification. For example, a user could upload a picture of a new product to the specification for that product. This would make it easy for other users to see what the product looks like.
- Usability and convenience improvements: These improvements are designed to make the application easier to use. For example, the ability to search for specifications more easily will help users to find the specifications that they need. The ability to view specifications in a variety of formats will help users to view the specifications in the way that they prefer.
Configuration Management
- Templating mechanism for the phases: This will make it easier for users to create and manage configuration items. For example, a user could create a template for a new product that includes the phases of development, testing, and production. This would help to ensure that all of the configuration items for the product are created and managed in a consistent way.
- The ability to limit the information that is displayed in the system: This will help users to focus on the information that is most relevant to them. For example, a user could limit the information that is displayed for a configuration item to the current phase and the associated documents. This would help the user to avoid being overwhelmed by unnecessary information.
- A configuration settings app that is prepared for new entities: This will help to ensure that the Configuration Management application is ready for future integrations with other applications, such as requirements management and equipment structures. For example, the configuration settings app could be used to store the configuration items that are associated with a requirement or an equipment structure.
Product Structure Management
- Define a product very early in the development phase, already in design: This will allow users to start creating product structures even before the product is fully defined. This can help to improve the efficiency of the product development process. For example, a user could create a product structure for a new car even before the car is fully designed. This would allow the user to start planning the manufacturing process and identifying potential risks.
- Compare product structures: This can be helpful for identifying differences between different versions of a product structure or for comparing the product structures of different products. For example, a user could compare the product structures of two different versions of a car to see what changes have been made. This could help the user to identify any potential problems with the new version of the car.
- Support for the digital thread with a unique instance identification: This means that users can uniquely identify individual parts or components within a product structure. This can be helpful for tracking the movement of parts throughout the product lifecycle. For example, a user could track the movement of a particular part from the supplier to the manufacturer to the customer. This could help the user to identify any potential problems with the supply chain.
- Integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud: This means that users can now create and manage product structures in the cloud. This can be a more cost-effective and scalable way to manage product structures for large organizations.
Intelligent Handover
- Routing feature: This will allow users to allocate existing material to one additional routing coming from SAP S/4HANA. This can help to improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process by ensuring that the right materials are used for the right products.
- For example, a user could use the routing feature to allocate a new material to a product that is already in production. This would help to ensure that the product is manufactured correctly and that there are no delays in production.
- User guidance: The routing feature will also guide users through the process of allocating materials to routings. This can help to ensure that users are able to use the feature correctly and that they do not make any mistakes.
- For example, the routing feature could provide users with a list of the materials that are required for a particular product. This would help users to make sure that they are allocating the correct materials to the product.
Visualization
- Visual Asset Management: This is a new cloud-based solution that allows users to connect directly to asset performance management data from SAP Enterprise Asset Management. This data can be used to visualize the risk and criticality of assets, which can help users to make better decisions about maintenance and repairs. For example, a user could use Visual Asset Management to visualize the risk of a particular asset failing. This would help the user to prioritize maintenance tasks and to avoid costly downtime.
The head of engineering, Carsten, highlighted the integration with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud as the highlight of the new release. This integration will allow users to seamlessly connect to SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud and use the new features in SAP Enterprise Product Development.
Overall, the integration with SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud is a major milestone for SAP Enterprise Product Development. It is a significant achievement that will benefit customers by providing them with a scalable, cost-effective, and agile solution for product development.
3. Final thoughts and insights
The experts I interviewed also mentioned that EPD is moving to a continuous feature delivery model, which will allow them to deliver new features and updates to you more frequently. This is a major improvement over the traditional release cycle, and it will make EPD more responsive to your needs.
Overall, the speakers are very excited about the new features and capabilities in EPD. They believe that it is a major step forward for the product, and they are confident that it will help customers to innovate more effectively.
We hope you found this blog post helpful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Join us for a webinar on September 12th to learn about the new features and enhancements in SAP Enterprise Product Development (EPD) August 2023 release.
In this webinar, we will cover:
- The webinar will be led by experts from SAP who will be able to answer your questions about the new features and enhancements in SAP EPD.
- The webinar will be held online, so you can participate from anywhere in the world.
- The webinar is free to attend.
The webinar will be held on September 12th at 10am (EST). Register today to reserve your spot: https://events.sap.com/discover-epd-sep-2023/en/registration.aspx?source=SMNReleaseBlog
We hope to see you there!
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