Espe\u00adcial\u00adly S\/4HANA<\/a><\/strong> ter\u00admi\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy has raised a lot of inter\u00adest. As I have talked to count\u00adless num\u00adber of peo\u00adple inter\u00adest\u00aded in the sys\u00adtem, I have seen that the fol\u00adlow\u00ading ques\u00adtions are con\u00adstant\u00adly dis\u00adcussed. What is S\/4HANA and how does it work? Is it a data\u00adbase? Is it an Enter\u00adprise Resource Plan\u00adning tool? So, with\u00adout fur\u00adther ado, wel\u00adcome, SAP rookies!<\/span><\/p>\n SAP S\/4HANA is the next gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion busi\u00adness suite designed to help orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion nav\u00adi\u00adgate through the con\u00adnect\u00aded and dig\u00adi\u00adtal world. It has been built upon a rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adary in-mem\u00ado\u00adry plat\u00adform that offers users a unique user expe\u00adri\u00adence via its intu\u00aditive user inter\u00adface. It is a fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal solu\u00adtion that cov\u00aders the crit\u00adi\u00adcal busi\u00adness process\u00ades with\u00adin com\u00adpa\u00adnies. SAP S\/4 HANA is not only an enter\u00adprise resource plan\u00adning sys\u00adtem but an inter\u00adest\u00ading com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of dif\u00adfer\u00adent tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies, prod\u00aducts and solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n For over four decades SAP\u2019s tool, SAP ERP, was a piv\u00adotal prod\u00aduct for the Ger\u00adman tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy giant. There\u00adfore, it is no won\u00adder that SAP\u2019s CEO, Bill McDer\u00admott, described the intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of S\/4HANA as the \u201cbiggest launch in 23 years, if not in the entire his\u00adto\u00adry of the company\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n So, what sep\u00ada\u00adrates SAP S\/4HANA from pre\u00advi\u00adous gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions of SAP ERP? Biggest clue to the answer is in its name.<\/span><\/p>\n The orig\u00adi\u00adnal HANA data\u00adbase, first intro\u00adduced in 2010, has been fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly built on new archi\u00adtec\u00adture. It oper\u00adates in-mem\u00ado\u00adry and data is saved in columns which enables faster and real-time analy\u00adses and com\u00adplex calculations.<\/span><\/p>\n This brings us to SAP S\/4HANA which is a next gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion busi\u00adness solu\u00adtion. It has been built on SAP HANA and comes with the mod\u00adern Fiori<\/a><\/strong> user interface.<\/span><\/p>\n S\/4HANA deliv\u00aders all ERP core func\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adi\u00adties to a sin\u00adgle loca\u00adtion that hous\u00ades a com\u00admon data ware\u00adhouse. Fur\u00adther\u00admore, it has been engi\u00adneered to enable orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions to oper\u00adate under dif\u00adfer\u00adent cir\u00adcum\u00adstances. The core tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies of S\/4HANA allow com\u00adpa\u00adnies to cen\u00adtral\u00adize and stream\u00adline a solu\u00adtion for han\u00addling increased amounts of data com\u00ading from, for instance, IoT or online marketplaces.<\/span><\/p>\n SAP S\/4HANA offers a wide range of solu\u00adtions and inno\u00adva\u00adtions that sim\u00adpli\u00adfy dai\u00adly func\u00adtions. For instance, although in the pre\u00advi\u00adous ver\u00adsions of SAP ERP finan\u00adcial account\u00ading was very effi\u00adcient, infor\u00adma\u00adtion was kept and processed in silos. Hav\u00ading sep\u00ada\u00adrate mod\u00adules and their indi\u00advid\u00adual tables serve as a per\u00adfect exam\u00adple of this.<\/span><\/p>\n This way, a sin\u00adgle orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion with SAP ERP would get its data from hun\u00addreds of dif\u00adfer\u00adent head\u00ader and line item tables. If the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion want\u00aded to process or report finan\u00adcial infor\u00adma\u00adtion, data was need\u00aded to be com\u00adpiled from sev\u00ader\u00adal dif\u00adfer\u00adent tables. Fur\u00adther\u00admore, these tables were not nec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly under the same struc\u00adture but might have been in dif\u00adfer\u00adent mod\u00adules. This meant that data acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion and con\u00adsol\u00adi\u00adda\u00adtion was com\u00adpli\u00adcat\u00aded and had a sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant effect on sys\u00adtem performance.<\/span><\/p>\n SAP S\/4HANA is the dig\u00adi\u00adtal core for enter\u00adpris\u00ades. It com\u00adbines inter\u00adnal and exter\u00adnal ele\u00adments into a sin\u00adgle liv\u00ading struc\u00adture that goes beyond a tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal ERP sys\u00adtem. The most obvi\u00adous advan\u00adtages are the use of new and scal\u00adable user inter\u00adfaces, bet\u00adter accu\u00adra\u00adcy in data col\u00adlec\u00adtion, greater flex\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty, and high\u00ader pen\u00ade\u00adtra\u00adtion. For instance, those that work in finance can ben\u00ade\u00adfit from effi\u00adcient shared ser\u00advices and faster finan\u00adcial close.<\/span><\/p>\n These days, orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions have a crit\u00adi\u00adcal need for real time infor\u00adma\u00adtion. Com\u00adpared to the long data analy\u00adsis and report\u00ading times of SAP ERP, SAP S\/4HANA stands out in a class of its own. Users can now com\u00adpile reports and ana\u00adlyt\u00adics while using the sys\u00adtem. This is thanks to the effi\u00adcient HANA inno\u00adva\u00adtions that allow orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions to swift\u00adly col\u00adlect and uti\u00adlize real time information.<\/span><\/p>\n In prac\u00adtice, S\/4HANA can be used to exe\u00adcute any core func\u00adtion in a giv\u00aden orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion. More\u00adover, a mul\u00adti\u00adtude of oth\u00ader SAP solu\u00adtions can be inte\u00adgrat\u00aded for more spe\u00adcif\u00adic and inno\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive approach\u00ades per busi\u00adness area and need.<\/span><\/p>\n For instance:<\/span><\/p>\n An inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal met\u00adal pro\u00adduc\u00adtion and engi\u00adneer\u00ading com\u00adpa\u00adny renewed its pro\u00adduc\u00adtion envi\u00adron\u00adment. With the renew\u00adal, finan\u00adcial man\u00adage\u00adment, account\u00ading and human cap\u00adi\u00adtal man\u00adage\u00adment func\u00adtions were con\u00adsol\u00adi\u00addat\u00aded and dig\u00adi\u00adtal\u00adized. Fur\u00adther\u00admore, the company\u2019s pro\u00adduc\u00adtion process\u00ades, ware\u00adhouse man\u00adage\u00adment, and report\u00ading were devel\u00adoped and improved.<\/span><\/p>\n The com\u00adpa\u00adny works in 14 dif\u00adfer\u00adent coun\u00adtries and employs 560 employ\u00adees. As a finan\u00adcial man\u00adage\u00adment solu\u00adtion, it chose the agile SAP S\/4HANA. After the renew\u00adal, all nec\u00ades\u00adsary infor\u00adma\u00adtion is now con\u00adsol\u00adi\u00addat\u00aded. The employ\u00adees can do their dai\u00adly tasks from wher\u00adev\u00ader when\u00adev\u00ader thanks to a new mobile appli\u00adca\u00adtion. For exam\u00adple, they can do pur\u00adchase orders with their smart phones and approve requests from human resources.<\/span><\/p>\n The solu\u00adtion also includ\u00aded an MRP (Mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal Require\u00adments Plan\u00adning) process autom\u00ada\u00adti\u00adza\u00adtion. The cost sav\u00adings were sub\u00adstan\u00adtial. The new fea\u00adtures in ware\u00adhouse man\u00adage\u00adment deliv\u00adered val\u00adue sav\u00adings of 1.75 mil\u00adlion dol\u00adlars. The time need\u00aded for a finan\u00adcial close was cut in half: from two weeks to a week. Last\u00adly, where\u00adas the com\u00adpa\u00adny man\u00adage\u00adment used to get its reports in a week they now get them in two hours.<\/span><\/p>\n It might not be easy to trans\u00adfer crit\u00adi\u00adcal func\u00adtions to S\/4HANA not to men\u00adtion the cloud. There\u00adfore, it is impor\u00adtant to have a holis\u00adtic view on the tran\u00adsi\u00adtion meth\u00adods and waypoints.<\/span><\/p>\n Orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions can use S\/4HANA on premise, in the cloud or as a hybrid solu\u00adtion. For those orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions that go with cloud, there are mul\u00adti\u00adple options: S\/4HANA can be used on SAP\u2019s pri\u00advate Enter\u00adprise Cloud plat\u00adform or in pub\u00adlic cloud togeth\u00ader with IaaS ser\u00advice providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides choos\u00ading how to run the sys\u00adtem, the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion must decide how the old sys\u00adtem is tran\u00adsi\u00adtioned to the new gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion S\/4HANA. Two pop\u00adu\u00adlar options have been the con\u00adver\u00adsion of the pre\u00advi\u00adous SAP ERP sys\u00adtem to S\/4HANA and a green field approach where S\/4HANA is tak\u00aden into use from scratch \u2013 just as if it was a new implementation.<\/span><\/p>\n Enter\u00adpris\u00ades in Fin\u00adland have cho\u00adsen both options depend\u00ading on their cir\u00adcum\u00adstances. There\u00adfore, the most impor\u00adtant thing is to first define what solu\u00adtion is the best for your orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion. To deter\u00admine this, an S\/4HANA assess\u00adment is rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded to map orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u00adal readi\u00adness to move towards an S\/4HANA system.<\/span><\/p>\n Cloud ser\u00advices offer its users the abil\u00adi\u00adty to cap\u00adi\u00adtal\u00adize on the lat\u00adest inno\u00adva\u00adtions and opti\u00admize cen\u00adtral orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u00adal process\u00ades. Auto\u00admat\u00adic sys\u00adtem updates take place every quar\u00adter giv\u00ading orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions bet\u00adter chances to uti\u00adlize machine learn\u00ading and pre\u00addic\u00adtive ana\u00adlyt\u00adics. SAP S\/4HANA Cloud<\/strong><\/a> offers inte\u00adgrat\u00aded process\u00ades that are based on best practices.<\/span><\/p>\n The five piv\u00adotal advan\u00adtages for orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions that have moved to SAP S\/4HANA Cloud are:<\/span><\/p>\nSo, what exact\u00adly is S\/4HANA?<\/h2>\n
It all began with HANA<\/h2>\n
Towards S\/4<\/h2>\n
Exam\u00adples of SAP S\/4HANA abilities<\/h2>\n
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S\/4HANA means con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable cost sav\u00adings and opti\u00admiza\u00adtions in orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion\u00adal management<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/isletgroup.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/SAP-Rookie-kuva.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow to tran\u00adsi\u00adtion to S\/4HANA?<\/h2>\n
Why to choose the cloud?<\/h2>\n
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