FAQ’S

SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA
Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: We currently have SAP ECC, CRM, BW,

Solution Manager, SAP PO/PI, Concur, Vistex, Vertex
integration, Portal, Salesforce, vendors, partners, and
subsidiaries, etc. many of them are internally connected to
each other. Considering the complex architecture systems
what are the challenges we face?
Answer: SAP S/4HANA supports integration similar to SAP Business Suite and there will be limited
impact on all the interfaces. Some configuration/development may be required though due to changes
in table structures.

When you migrate from SAP ECC to S/4HANA, you will need to pay particular attention to:

• New for S/4HANA is the CVI process (Customer Vendor Integration) – where the BP concept is
introduced in SAP ECC.
• Specific CRM – ECC BADI’s which will enable the sync between the systems.
• The BP conversion on ECC will need to be analyzed with regards to the CRM BP's to make sure data
is not corrupted. The BP architecture is preserved between the two systems.

Question 2: Considering the enhancements that are done in ECC, CRM, and BW systems, what will be
your specific recommendation for application hosting – Public Cloud, Private Cloud or On-Premise?

Answer: On-Premise or Hana Enterprise Cloud (HEC)/AWS/Azure or Private Cloud is recommended.

The public Cloud solution has limitations.
SAP HEC/AWS/Azure emulates a customer’s on-premise environment in a cloud model and provides an
SLA that covers the application stack and all the familiar security and control functions. Customers can
start test-driving SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud within a matter of weeks by running SAP HANA solutions
for any non-production SAP workload in the cloud – and then shift to a longer-term production
contract whenever they’re ready.

Question 3: We have highly customized (Enhancements, User Exits, Standard program

enhancements, core-mods, etc. apart from so many Z reports and transactions. What will be the effort
level to transition for this kind of situation?

Answer: Most of the code works without any changes but optimization is required, and development
effort will be required for the same to harness the power of HANA database.

• There are specific S/4HANA changes which need to be remediated in the ECC system. For example,
the VBUP, VBUK tables no longer exist. Reports and programs that use these tables will need to be
changed. There are some simple ways to do this since VBUP is incorporated into VBAP and VBUK
to VBAK, etc.
• SPDD and SPAU will need to be run far ahead to determine what changes are required and which
programs need to be changed and addressed.
• Custom code will need to be changed for some cases like
o Code which relies on DB specific features or using native SQL or Hints is not supported in
SAP HANA
o Default Sorting is not guaranteed in SAP HANA
• Extensive testing needs to be carried out for impacted enhancements, Z Reports, etc.

SAP ATC (ABAP TEST COCKPIT) tool that can-do remote code analysis of the custom code and suggest
required code changes for migrating to SAP HANA. ATC can be run with different variants.
Below are the two variants that are mostly used:

Functional_DB – This check finds native SQL, database hints, finds usages of special DDIC function
modules that check or return the existence or technical properties of certain DB indexes, finds accesses
to technical pools/clusters of a pool/cluster table, finds non-robust ABAP code that relies on non-
ensured/implicit sorting of certain SQL queries, although no ORDER BY clause is used. Since genuine
errors are found using these checks, they are of special importance. An explicit sort of the SQL query
must be inserted (ORDER BY clause or ABAP SORT) for those ABAP code sections that contain them.
 Performance_DB - This check variant is used for performing a static performance check run for ABAP
custom code. The variant contains all the essential static SQL performance checks.

Question 4: We have built business transactions based on change pointers. Ex: Material master
extension program and customer master triggers based on flags etc. Will that concept work for future
business support?

Answer: Yes, most of the enhancements will work. CDHDR and CDPOS tables still exist and work as
they do today.

Question 5: We have enhanced functionality using IDOC extensions and enhancements using user
exits. How will this be supported?

Answer: Yes, most of the enhancements will work. They need to be tested and changes made if
needed for table structure changes.

Question 6: We have developed business functionality during BDOC transfer from ECC to CRM. Ex:
Repair order creation, Installed base creation, warranty assignment. Will this functionality be
supported?

Answer: Yes, but the specific BADIs for middleware needs to be implemented and tested – depending
on the use cases that have been implemented.

Question 7: SAP CRM equivalent component of S/4HANA HANA is so far not released. How will this
impact current CRM implementation?

Answer: There is no impact as of now or later. SAP has already released Customer Management
Addon on SAP S/4HANA, so you can investigate it and analyze if it can meet all the requirements. You
may want to implement Customer Management addon as it has obvious advantages like search speed,
no middleware, etc. We would recommend that you remain on existing SAP CRM and integrate with
the new S/4HANA system first. If the appetite for risk is higher, then investigate the Customer
management addon. A phased approach is generally better and has lesser risks.

S/4HANA integration with SAP CRM has been done and tested for other clients. Another thing to
consider is that the functionality of SAP S/4HANA Customer Management Addon is still not close to
what SAP CRM functionality has (e.g. Complaint is part of Sept 2019 release). Once a decision is made
about S/4HANA, then we can evaluate the functionality in Customer Management Addon and make a
call.

Question 8: Does it make any sense to implement SAP Suite (existing ECC/CRM/BW) on SAP HANA
DB? Should we take the intermediate step of enhancing the HANA DB first and then move to S/4HANA
HANA?
`
Answer: Yes, you can do HANA Database migration independently and in parallel with S/4HANA.
Have the BASIS team move to HANA DB first while the other project of S/4 HANA conversion is taking
place. The switch to HANA DB should not be a painful one. You could plan to migrate SAP BW first to
HANA Database and follow it up with SAP ECC and then SAP CRM.

It is also possible to go from ECC 6.x directly to SAP S/4 1809 on HANA 2 DB without having to go to
Suite on HANA first.

Question 9: What should be our approach for Data refreshes in QA? Effect on QA Data Refresh
process - Currently we are following perform a homogeneous system copy with SQL Server or Oracle
DB

Answer: Data refresh approach should not change with S/4HANA

Question 10: Will the transition to S/4HANA give us an opportunity to realign or reorganize the SAP
data company code, plant, financial reporting, etc.?

Answer: In case of system conversion, the Organizational structure remains the same. But if you want
to implement SAP S/4HANA as greenfield implementation, then we can realign or reorganize the SAP
organization structure.

Question 11: What areas have been improved or overhauled (MM, PP, SD, etc.)? What areas have
new functionality in S/4 that is not currently in ECC?

Answer: Please see below a list of enhanced functionalities.

• BP Business Partner (customer/vendor 360)
• The material number can be 40 char instead of 18 chars
• CDS Views – and reporting tied to those views
• SAP Hana Studio
• Consolidation can be done in S/4HANA (if less complex scenarios), Complex scenarios – BPC needed
• Drastic performance improvement if leveraging CDS views
• Fiori Apps that work on both S/4HANA and SAP ECC. Fiori has a nice UI. Some changes may be
needed to Fiori Apps for migration to S/4HANA in order to leverage CDS views.
• Reduction in reconciliation issues (CO/FI/COPA/Assets). Closing time has improved. Finance and
Controlling are now merged, getting rid of data redundancies and the need for reconciliations, and
making visible the internal CO actual postings in FI.
• The universal journal allows for FI, AA, CO, CO-PA and ML into a single line item table instead of
multiple tables, eliminating index and aggregate tables.
• There is a suite of programs, Cash Operations, Bank Account Management (BAM) and Liquidity
Management that replace the classic cash and liquidity management.
• Account based COPA is the default option in S/4HANA. Costing based COPA is also supported
• Activation of the material ledger (ML) is mandatory. It allows the valuation of inventory in multiple
currencies (3). SAP ECC allows only one currency.
• SAP S/4 HANA Customer Management Add-on
• New credit management functionality in FSCM-CR
• MRP runs can occur in real time instead of batch jobs in SAP ECC
• GTS (Global trade services) in SAP S/4HANA replaces the foreign trade functionality in SAP ECC
• SAP RAR (Revenue Accounting and Reporting) replaces SD based Revenue Recognition in SAP ECC
• Business rule framework plus (BRF +) replaces SAP ECC’s Output determination/Messages
• SAP EWM replaces the existing WM module and can be part of native S/4HANA or sidecar
approach for decentralization
• Improved HANA reporting
• And more...

Question 12: What are the changes in the architecture of S/4HANA with reference to Database?

Answer:
1. Not many changes – except HDB – columnar database
2. SAP Hana Studio

Below are details of Hana Database with reference to SAP S/4HANA

Question 13: How do various SAP ECC modules correspond to S/4HANA, i.e. S/4 HANA Finance, S/4
HANA Logistics, etc?

Answer: SAP S/4HANA modules are very similar to SAP ECC. S/4HANA modules are proliferating. One
of the most popular modules is SAP Finance. This was previously known as Simple Finance.
Additional modules include:
• Plant Maintenance (PM)
• Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)
• Human Capital Management (HCM)
• Production Planning (PP)
• Project Systems (PS)
• Controlling (CO)
• Sales and Distribution (SD)
• Investment Management (IM)
• Strategic Enterprise Management (SEM)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Logistics Information Systems (LIS)
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Customer Service (CS)
• Materials Management (MM)
• Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
• Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)
• Treasury
• NetWeaver
• Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS)
• Industry Solutions, e.g. Aerospace, Automotive, etc.

Question 14: Does SAP have an equivalent of each and every ECC transaction in S/4HANA? Or do
these co-exist with ECC transactions?

Answer: All the existing transactions are kept the same in SAP S/4HANA so that users don’t find it
difficult to adapt. Some new transactions have been added like business partner etc. but existing
transactions are still there for vendor master and customer master. There is a specific list of
transactions that are no longer supported in S/4HANA.

Question 15: What is the adaption/ implementation rate statistics of S/4HANA in the last 3-5 years?

Answer: SAP S/4HANA adoption is accelerating quickly. There are many companies doing brownfield
S/4HANA implementations. Some are doing greenfield, but they are not many. The next 3 years would
be focused on S/4HANA migrations in SAP especially around digital transformation. Digital
Transformation is also driving a lot of S/4HANA conversions.

Question 16: How do companies implement S/4HANA, all functionality or parts? If in parts, what are
the logical blocks in implementation?

Answer: Companies having SAP Business Suite, plan for System Conversion which means in one step
conversion to SAP S/4HANA can take place. Companies planning greenfield implementation do a
phased approach. Existing functionality is being brought over to S/4HANA in System conversion.
Additional functionality can be implemented later. This helps in reduced risks and quicker system
conversion.

Question 17: What is implementation time-frame for a typical S/4 HANA in a medium-sized company
with about 1000 to 2000 SAP users?

Answer: Ballpark estimate for companies of this size would range from 3 to 6 months. A design phase
of about 1 to 2 months would help to get a better estimate.
Question 18: What are the implications of not using SAP GUI transactions but moving to a
presentation like FIORI?

Answer: As of now, SAP supports all the GUI transactions except a few. SAP is planning to move all its
transactions to FIORI and stop supporting GUI based transactions in the future. So, it is advisable to
start using Fiori based transactions. Fiori transactions are simpler and very user-friendly with a nicer UI,
so will not require much time for users to adapt.

SAP GUI pushes the users to a Fiori like presentation. We recommend turning it off, so users are not
affected by too much change. Then, migrate Fiori apps into the landscape and slowly switch the users
to the Fiori App Launchpad.