The road to SAP S/4HANA: the different migration paths.

Introduction

SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition marked the first step in our SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA roadmap for customers. With the installation of the SAP Simple Finance, on – premise edition the customer is joining the SAP S/4HANA family.  However, with the SAP S/4HANA, on – premise edition 1511 (Q4/2015) the functional scope will be enhanced with additional application innovation in the logistics area.

Depending on customer’s requirements and roadmaps there are different transition paths to SAP S/4HANA. The following figure displays an (abstract) roadmap of a specific customer on his journey to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition. This customer is planning to move to SAP S/4HANA with a roadmap which goes over several years. First the customer moved to SAP Business Suite on HANA, now he plans to go to SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition and then as a third step to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition which does include application innovations in logistics area.

 

Figure 1: Move to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition – a possible customer Roadmap in several steps

 

In addition to the technical move to SAP S/4HANA this specific customer is simplifying their overall system landscape. Currently, several SAP Business Suite Systems are used in the different regions; however, a central SAP S/4HANA system per region is planned as a target.

For a different customer, a different roadmap might be applicable. The following figure gives an outlook to the to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 (Q4/2015 delivery). Here, it is planned to offer a path where the customer can move to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 (Q4/2015 delivery) from a SAP Business Suite start release (for example SAP ERP 6.0) still on anyDB.

Figure 2: Move to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 (Q4/2015 delivery) – a possible future roadmap

Technical details and pre-requisites of the different transition paths

 

SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition

Today (as of June 2015) a customer can join the SAP S/4HANA family by installing SAP Simple Finance. In different documents you can find the term “exchange innovation add-on”, because SAP Simple Finance replaces the classic ERP Financials with application innovation in the financial area.

 

More information about SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition can be found here:

• Line of Business - Finance: http://go.sap.com/solution/lob/finance.html
• SAP Help: http://help.sap.com/sfin200

SAP Notes related to SAP Simple Finance:

• For Information on product name see SAP note: 2171868
• For the latest updates refer to SAP note 2117481
• For release restrictions see SAP note 2127080
• Compatibility of enterprise extensions, industry solutions, and add-ons can be found in SAP Note 2119188.

Technical Prerequisites and Software Products

Technically the SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503 is based on:

• SAP enhancement package 7 for SAP ERP 6.0
• SAP NetWeaver 7.40
• SAP HANA database

Figure 3: SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503 (basically)

With the installation of SAP Simple Finance on-premise edition, several software units are installed.

• SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition
• SAP HANA Live for SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition
• SAP Fiori for SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition
• SAP Smart Business for SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition

More detailed information can be found in the Administrators Guide for the SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503.

The transition path to SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition

In the following constellations a one-step transition path from SAP Business Suite to SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503 is supported:

• One-Step Procedure for customers on anyDB, ABAP AS 7.0x, SAP ERP6.0 EHPx
• One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP HANA, ABAP AS 7.40, SAP ERP6.0 EHP7         
• One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP Simple Finance 1.0

 

These constellations are displayed in the following figures:

Figure 4: SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503 - One-Step Procedure for customers on anyDB, ABAP AS 7.0x, SAP ERP6.0 EHPx


Figure 5: SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503 - One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP HANA, ABAP AS 7.40, SAP ERP6.0 EHP7

Figure 6: SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503 - One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP Simple Finance add-on 1.0

Additional Remarks:

• It is planned to deliver further innovations for SAP Simple Finance in 2016. It is planned to provide appropriate migrated paths then. 

 

 

 

 

 

SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511

With the SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 (Q4 / 2015 delivery) it is planned to enhance the functional scope with application innovation and simplification in the logistics area. Now with application innovation in financials and logistics area we could speak of the SAP S/4HANA Core. More application innovations are planned to enhance the SAP S/4HANA Core then in future.  In addition to the application simplification in financials and logistics area the SAP S/4 HANA Core consists of the SAP Fiori user experience (UX), and innovations for the digital economy based on SAP HANA.

Figure 7: SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 - technical stack (basically)

 

To ensure a smooth transition to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition traditional features will stay available. Besides application specific functionality, just the SAP GUI based user interface technology should be listed as still available functionality after the move to SAP S/4HANA.

 

Technical Prerequisites and Software Products

Technically the SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 is based on:

• SAP S/4HANA core components (including simplified financials and simplified logistics)
• SAP NetWeaver 7.50
• SAP HANA database

 

The transition path to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511

In the following constellations a one-step transition path from SAP Business Suite to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition is supported:

• One-Step Procedure for customers on anyDB, ABAP AS 7.0x, SAP ERP6.0 EHPx
• One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP HANA, ABAP AS 7.0x, SAP ERP6.0 EHPx
• One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP HANA, ABAP AS 7.40, SAP ERP6.0 EHP7, SAP Simple Finance add-on 1.0 / SAP Simple Finance, on-premise edition 1503

 

These constellations are displayed in the following figures:

Figure 8: SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 - One-Step Procedure for customers on anyDB, SAP ERPx

Figure 9: SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 - One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP HANA, SAP ERP6.0 EHP7


Figure 10: SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 - One-Step Procedure for customers on SAP Simple Finance

Additional Remarks:

• An explicit upgrade to Enhancement Package 7 is not required for the move to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511. See figure 8 and figure 9 above.
• Customer using older SAP Business Suite Releases (for example still on Non-Unicode) can move to SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition 1511 in a two-step transition approach.
• The installation of the SAP Fiori UI software components are a separate installation step and typically installed on a separate, central gateway server. Due to simplification reasons the figures above do not visualize this aspect.