SAP S/4HANA - An Introduction

Whether you're making the move to SAP S/4HANA, or just curious about what the suite has to offer, this introductory guide is your starting point. Explore your business processes in SAP S/4HANA, now optimized by AI: finance, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, human capital management, and more. Get insight into SAP S/4HANA's architecture and key features for reporting, sustainability, extensibility, and artificial intelligence. Build your business case, choose your adoption path, and get ready for your implementation!

In this book, you'll learn about:

a. Key Capabilities
Learn about SAP S/4HANA's core offerings. Explore new-and-improved features such as the Universal Journal, advanced intercompany sales, centralized procurement, and much more. Discover how embedded and generative AI capabilities enhance your business processes and reporting options.

b. System Architecture
Understand how SAP S/4HANA is built from the ground up. Compare SAP S/4HANA's on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud architectures. Then see how to extend and optimize your system using a clean core strategy and SAP Business Technology Platform.

c. Your SAP S/4HANA Journey
Take your first steps towards implementation. Navigate your adoption path, whether you're planning a new implementation, system conversion, or selective data transition. Follow the SAP Activate methodology to plan your SAP S/4HANA project.

Highlights include:

1) Finance
2) Manufacturing
3) Supply chain
4) Sales, marketing, and commerce
5) Sourcing and procurement
6) Human capital management
7) Sustainability
8) Clean core
9) Intelligent technologies
10) Reporting and analytics
11) Deployment
12) Case studies

List of contents

... Foreword ... 21

... Preface ... 23

... Why Read This Book? ... 23

... Audience ... 24

... Structure of the Book ... 24

... Acknowledgments ... 27

1 ... Introduction to the Intelligent and Sustainable Enterprise ... 29

1.1 ... Cornerstones of the Intelligent and Sustainable Enterprise ... 30

1.2 ... Integrated Intelligent Enterprise ... 41

1.3 ... Editions and Deployment Options ... 67

1.4 ... Summary ... 80

2 ... Finance ... 81

2.1 ... The CFO's Agenda ... 82

2.2 ... Industry Pain Points and SAP S/4HANA Benefits ... 84

2.3 ... Key Finance Functionality ... 91

2.4 ... Finance in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 173

2.5 ... Outlook ... 175

2.6 ... Summary ... 175

3 ... Manufacturing ... 177

3.1 ... Industry Pain Points and SAP S/4HANA Benefits ... 177

3.2 ... Key Manufacturing Functionality ... 181

3.3 ... Manufacturing in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 197

3.4 ... Outlook ... 199

3.5 ... Summary ... 202

4 ... Supply Chain ... 203

4.1 ... Industry Pain Points and SAP S/4HANA Benefits ... 203

4.2 ... Key Supply Chain Functionalities ... 206

4.3 ... Supply Chain in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 237

4.4 ... Outlook ... 238

4.5 ... Summary ... 240

5 ... Sales, Marketing, Commerce, and Service Management ... 241

5.1 ... Industry Pain Points and SAP S/4HANA Benefits ... 241

5.2 ... Key Sales Functionalities ... 244

5.3 ... Key Marketing and Commerce Functionalities ... 256

5.4 ... Key Service Management Functionalities ... 258

5.5 ... Sales, Marketing, Commerce, and Service Management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 260

5.6 ... Outlook ... 263

5.7 ... Summary ... 264

6 ... Sourcing and Procurement ... 265

6.1 ... Industry Pain Points and SAP S/4HANA Benefits ... 265

6.2 ... Key Sourcing and Procurement Functionality ... 268

6.3 ... Sourcing and Procurement in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 285

6.4 ... Outlook ... 287

6.5 ... Summary ... 288

7 ... R&D and Asset Management ... 289

7.1 ... Industry Pain Points and SAP S/4HANA Benefits ... 290

7.2 ... Key Research and Development Functionalities ... 292

7.3 ... Key Asset Management Functionalities ... 304

7.4 ... R&D and Asset Management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 311

7.5 ... Outlook ... 313

7.6 ... Summary ... 317

8 ... Analytics and Reporting ... 319

8.1 ... The Evolution of Analytics ... 320

8.2 ... Operational Reporting ... 323

8.3 ... Enterprise-Wide Reporting ... 335

8.4 ... Reporting in a Hybrid Landscape ... 347

8.5 ... Cognitive Analytics and Generative Artificial Intelligence ... 349

8.6 ... Big Data Analytics and Data Fabric ... 351

8.7 ... Summary ... 353

9 ... Industry and Preconfigured Solutions ... 355

9.1 ... The SAP Strategy for Industry Solutions ... 355

9.2 ... Solution Options from SAP ... 357

9.3 ... SAP S/4HANA Industry Clusters ... 363

9.4 ... Adapting to Global Change ... 373

9.5 ... Summary ... 374

10 ... SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition ... 375

10.1 ... Considerations and Value Proposition ... 376

10.2 ... Core Functional Capabilities ... 379

10.3 ... Deployment ... 390

10.4 ... SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition ... 404

10.5 ... Content Lifecycle Management ... 405

10.6 ... Summary ... 407

11 ... SAP S/4HANA and the SAP Landscape ... 409

11.1 ... Sourcing and Procurement: SAP Ariba and SAP Business Network ... 410

11.2 ... Contingent Workforce Management: SAP Fieldglass ... 417

11.3 ... Travel and Expense Management: SAP Concur ... 420

11.4 ... Human Resources: SAP SuccessFactors ... 423

11.5 ... Customer Experience: SAP Customer Experience ... 428

11.6 ... Master Data Management: SAP Master Data Governance ... 436

11.7 ... Supply Chain Planning: SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain ... 440

11.8 ... Billing: SAP Billing and Revenue Innovation Management ... 446

11.9 ... SAP Digital Manufacturing ... 449

11.10 ... Summary ... 456

12 ... Sustainability and Climate Action ... 457

12.1 ... Environmental, Social, and Governance Regulations ... 457

12.2 ... SAP Solutions for Sustainable Enterprises ... 463

12.3 ... Summary ... 476

13 ... SAP S/4HANA Architecture ... 477

13.1 ... The Journey from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA ... 477

13.2 ... SAP HANA Platform ... 489

13.3 ... Hyperscaler Architecture ... 513

13.4 ... SAP S/4HANA Security ... 515

13.5 ... SAP S/4HANA Data Models ... 518

13.6 ... User Interface and User Experience ... 519

13.7 ... Data Lifecycle Management ... 524

13.8 ... Development and Operations ... 524

13.9 ... Summary ... 532

14 ... Extensions through the Clean Core ... 533

14.1 ... Business-Driven Development ... 533

14.2 ... Clean Core ... 538

14.3 ... SAP Business Technology Platform ... 540

14.4 ... Extensibility Options for the Intelligent Enterprise Suite ... 543

14.5 ... SAP Business Accelerator Hub ... 553

14.6 ... Summary ... 556

15 ... Business AI Technologies ... 557

15.1 ... The Intelligent Enterprise and SAP Business Technology Platform ... 557

15.2 ... Industry 4.0 Solutions ... 560

15.3 ... Artificial Intelligence ... 563

15.4 ... Generative AI Use Cases ... 578

15.5 ... Summary ... 588

16 ... Adoption Paths ... 591

16.1 ... Assessing Your Adoption Options ... 593

16.2 ... New Implementation ... 601

16.3 ... System Conversion ... 608

16.4 ... Selective Data Transition ... 632

16.5 ... SAP S/4HANA Preparation Activities ... 636

16.6 ... Summary ... 637

17 ... Implementation Method and Accelerators ... 639

17.1 ... What Is SAP Activate? ... 639

17.2 ... SAP Activate Methodology ... 644

17.3 ... SAP Best Practices ... 649

17.4 ... SAP Activate Tools ... 652

17.5 ... Summary ... 657

18 ... Building the Business Case ... 659

18.1 ... Common SAP S/4HANA Business Case Challenges ... 660

18.2 ... Value Dimensions ... 662

18.3 ... Alignment to Stakeholders and Business Outcomes ... 667

18.4 ... Proven Process for Building a Case for Change ... 669

18.5 ... Develop Your IT Roadmap ... 686

18.6 ... Valuable Lessons Learned ... 691

18.7 ... Summary ... 692

19 ... Customer Case Studies ... 695

19.1 ... Multinational Industrial Company ... 695

19.2 ... Multinational Service Company ... 700

19.3 ... Manufacturing Company ... 704

19.4 ... Food Industry Group ... 706

19.5 ... Automotive Company ... 708

19.6 ... Life Sciences ... 710

19.7 ... Global Telecom Provider ... 711

19.8 ... Global Automobile Maker ... 713

19.9 ... Summary ... 715

... The Authors ... 717

... Contributors ... 720

... Index ... 721

About the author

Devraj Bardhan is a distinguished global SAP leader at IBM, renowned for his exceptional track record in leading large-scale transformation projects that have significantly driven business growth through innovation and digital efficiencies. As an esteemed subject matter expert (SME) in SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), and artificial intelligence (AI), Devraj has played a pivotal role in expanding IBM's digital transformation capabilities by developing and implementing global templates and intelligent workflows. He maintains strong collaborative relationships with both SAP and IBM customers, fostering the incubation of groundbreaking ideas. Additionally, Devraj spearheads the NextLevel SAP BTP & AI partnership, which leverages joint intellectual property creation between IBM and SAP to drive mutual success.
Devraj can be reached via www.linkedin.com/in/bardhan or on social media channels like X, Bluesky, and Mastodon as @devbard.Axel Baumgartl is leading the transformation office for the Global Partner Organization of SAP. In his role, he focuses on accelerating the transformation of operations, processes, and applications to support the activation and enablement of the SAP ecosystem based on his 20 years of experience with SAP transformation projects. He is the author of several publications and books about SAP products and he developed a method for enterprise architecture blueprinting.Madalina Dascalescu is an associate partner at IBM. With more than a decade of experience, she contributed to numerous SAP transformation projects, aiding clients in optimizing their operations and orchestrating robust enterprise architecture to facilitate sustained growth. Madalina had held various consulting roles, supporting the implementation of materials management, transportation management, yard logistics, and extended warehouse management solutions from SAP. As part of NDT Global, an SAP customer, Madalina was responsible for the SAP S/4HANA solution architecture team both on the implementation project and within the global center of excellence. Additionally, Madalina played a pivotal role within SAP, notably as part of SAP 4.0 pop-up factory, where she led the setup and showcasing of integrated digital supply chain and Industry 4.0 solutions, aimed to demonstrate their efficacy to customers.Mark Dudgeon, now retired, was the Global SAP CTO of IBM Global Business Services, SAP Service Line. He has more than 23 years of experience in architecture design and delivery for some of IBM’s largest SAP deployments. Mark’s role also included ensuring that IBM has the right partnerships, capabilities, and offerings to support its customers in their digital transformation journey with SAP. You can reach Mark via Twitter @MarkPDudgeon.Piotr Gorecki is a program manager and enterprise architect working at IBM Global SAP Center of Competence. He has almost 30 years of experience in planning and delivering complex business transformation programs based on SAP solutions. Piotr has been working on global and local SAP projects in several industries, including consumer products, life sciences, retail, and telecommunications. In his current role, he helps customers define their road maps to SAP S/4HANA and identify new solutions and technologies that enable reaching their business goals. Piotr can be reached via www.linkedin.com/in/piotrgorecki/.Asidhara Lahiri is a managing director at Accenture’s ATCI SAP practice, where she leads innovation and the enterprise architecture practice in SAP. She has worked as an enterprise architect at SAP India, creating roadmaps for customers’ transformation journeys to achieve intelligent and modern SAP landscapes. At her previous organization, she helped build cognitive enterprises for SAP-centric landscapes using intelligent workflows and architected complex SAP implementations for global clients in industries such as industrial products, consumer products, oil and gas, airlines, and utilities. She has more than 26 years of experience, out of which 23 are with SAP solutions, including expertise in several areas like SAP Enterprise Architecture Framework, generative AI, SAP S/4HANA, SAP BTP, data and analytics, data governance, integration, DevOps, and so on. In her roles as design authority, lead architect, practice lead, and CTO, she has been responsible for solution review/design, strategy creation, practice building, and innovation. Asidhara has coauthored two patents and also coauthored Application Development with SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP PRESS 2023). Asidhara can be connected with via www.linkedin.com/in/asidharalahiri.Richard Maund has spent 25 years as an IT consultant specializing in SAP architecture, and has worked in a variety of senior architectural roles with clients on some of the biggest and most complex SAP implementations. He has been responsible for developing and implementing highly complex and innovative roadmaps and solutions to meet the needs of some of the largest clients, often supported by complex integration landscapes. Since 2011, Richard has been focused on developing proposals and delivering projects underpinned by SAP HANA, enabling clients on their journey to SAP S/4HANA and the cloud.Bert Meijerink serves as the SAP S/4HANA Finance lead at IBM TruQua. With an impressive track record of more than 40 years in implementing financial systems globally, he brings unparalleled expertise to the table. He has spent more than 30 years designing and implementing SAP global templates, demonstrating his unwavering commitment to staying at the forefront of SAP technology.

Bert is passionate about guiding his finance customers on their journey to become more analytical-focused by implementing finance data models. By leveraging his expertise, clients enhance their financial decision-making capabilities, driving business growth and success.Andrew Worsley-Tonks is the head of IBM Consulting's SAP Business for EMEA. He’s passionate about finding ways to use emerging and established technology more effectively, in combination with SAP, to help organizations achieve better business outcomes and end user adoption. Andrew was previously the SAP chief technology officer for IBM Consulting in DACH. Prior to that, he spent 10 years working in the global SAP Center of Excellence with clients from around the globe in strategy, transformation, cloud, artificial intelligence, and mergers and acquisitions.

Summary

Whether you’re making the move to SAP S/4HANA, or just curious about what the suite has to offer, this introductory guide is your starting point. Explore your business processes in SAP S/4HANA, now optimized by AI: finance, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, human capital management, and more. Get insight into SAP S/4HANA’s architecture and key features for reporting, sustainability, extensibility, and artificial intelligence. Build your business case, choose your adoption path, and get ready for your implementation!

In this book, you’ll learn about:

a. Key Capabilities
Learn about SAP S/4HANA’s core offerings. Explore new-and-improved features such as the Universal Journal, advanced intercompany sales, centralized procurement, and much more. Discover how embedded and generative AI capabilities enhance your business processes and reporting options.

b. System Architecture
Understand how SAP S/4HANA is built from the ground up. Compare SAP S/4HANA’s on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud architectures. Then see how to extend and optimize your system using a clean core strategy and SAP Business Technology Platform.

c. Your SAP S/4HANA Journey
Take your first steps towards implementation. Navigate your adoption path, whether you’re planning a new implementation, system conversion, or selective data transition. Follow the SAP Activate methodology to plan your SAP S/4HANA project.

Highlights include:

1) Finance
2) Manufacturing
3) Supply chain
4) Sales, marketing, and commerce
5) Sourcing and procurement
6) Human capital management
7) Sustainability
8) Clean core
9) Intelligent technologies
10) Reporting and analytics
11) Deployment
12) Case studies

Product details

• Authors: Devraj Bardhan, Axel Baumgartl, Madali Dascalescu, Madalina Dascalescu, Mark Dudgeon, Mark et a Dudgeon, Piotr Górecki, Asidhara Lahiri, Richard Maund, Bert Meijerink, Andrew Worsley-Tonks
• Publisher: Rheinwerk Verlag
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 06.06.2025
• EAN: 9781493226535
• ISBN: 978-1-4932-2653-5
• No. of pages: 744
• Dimensions: 180 mm x 40 mm x 260 mm
• Weight: 1452 g
• Series: SAP PRESS Englisch
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Data communication, networks; SAP S/4HANA, Introduction, SAP S/4HANA Cloud