Today, the 11th of November 2015, is a momentous day that will likely be remembered for a long time for ASUG members: SAP’s S/4HANA Release 1511 brings its flagship ERP software into the 21st century.
It’s been a long time coming. The last time the SAP ecosystem saw a similar event was R/3’s introduction more than 20 years ago. Upon release, R/3 changed the ERP landscape forever, launching SAP’s preeminence atop the enterprise software category. As expected, there are some similarities between the occasions, most especially that once again SAP completely rewrites its market leading software to the benefit of its customers.
As we saw this past spring, when SAP debuted Simple Finance, the re-creation began with the core processes of ERP—finance and accounting. Now with the announcement of SAP S/4HANA Release 1511, customers will discover a complete ERP system beginning to emerge.
Make no mistake: With an undertaking of this size, the complete re-creation of ERP is not what Release 1511 gives to us. (There are approximately hundreds of million lines of code in ECC 6.) That overhaul will take a while to completely update the entire system, especially since SAP is not just modifying the software to work with the SAP HANA database, but also sun-setting the tired SAP user interface in favor of the SAP Fiori UX.
More Than Just the Code
Release 1511 comes with changes beyond the code. There are plenty of new names. For instance, what was called SAP Simple Finance is now renamed SAP S/4HANA Finance. You may have heard about the impending “Simple Logistics” launch, but that has been completely replaced.
The overarching name for the new ERP is SAP S/4HANA Enterprise Management, which includes S/4HANA Finance, but also: S/4HANA Human Resources, S/4HANA Manufacturing, S/4HANA Supply Chain, S/4HANA Sourcing and Procurement, S/4HANA Marketing, S/4HANA Sales, S/4HANA Service, S/4HANA Asset Management, and S/4HANA Research & Development.
If your head is spinning a bit, let me put this in terms familiar to ECC 6.0 users. One can think of this as a redesign and relaunch of FI/CO, HCM/OM, SD, LE, PM, PP, EHS, PLM, MM, QM, LO, CS, PS, and so forth.
What Customers Can Expect
To dig deeper, we see that the table simplification begun in S/4HANA Finance has continued through several other subsystems. SAP has eliminated redundant data, such as aggregates, indexes and history, and continued the reduction of the memory footprint and table design, including clear separation of master data from transactional data.
What that means for SAP customers is more powerful, functional and easier-to-use software. Smaller database sizes lead to better performance and lower hardware cost. Improved, faster processes allow customers to take advantage of the extra time created, thereby creating value for the enterprise.
Of all the industry solutions provided in ECC, roughly three-quarters of all customers use SAP Discrete Industries and Mill Products, or DIMP, in their configuration. So S/4HANA now includes DIMP in its core code making it easier for all customers to access its functionality.
There are, to be sure, additional improvements in Release 1511. Here’s a sampling:
- Increased throughput using INSERT only
- Real-time analytics on transactional data
- A new user experience using SAP Fiori
- Major simplifications in Materials Resource Planning (MRP), Inventory Management, Capacity Planning, Sales & Distribution, and Procurement
- PP/DS side-by-side with S/4HANA
- Increased throughput of standard price utilizing Material Ledger
- Extended S/4HANA material number
Since S/4HANA cannot be described in just one blog post, ASUG and SAP will be publishing much more on S/4HANA and Enterprise Management. For right now, here are some places to go:
ASUG Briefing | What Is S/4HANA Enterprise Management?
ASUG CEO Geoff Scott | The Choice Is Yours: Say Hello to SAP’s New ERP
Join ASUG’s S/4HANA Special Interest Group
Members can join our S/4HANA Special Interest Group and get all the latest information.
Upcoming S/4HANA Webcasts for ASUG Members
Nov. 17—ASUG members can register here for the first webcast that will provide great insight on the 1511 release.
Dec. 1—ASUG members can register here for more on the S/4HANA Journey.
Upcoming ASUG Chapter Meetings with S/4HANA Enterprise Management Content
Nov. 12—Upstate NY (Location: RIT, Rochester, NY)
Nov. 13—Indiana (Location: Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN)
Nov. 18—Ontario (Location: Metro Convention Center, Toronto, ONT)
Dec. 3—Northern California (Location: Maxim Corp, San Jose, CA)
Dec. 10—Philadelphia (Location: SAP HQ, Newtown Square, PA)
(ASUG members can register for these events via ASUG.com).
Más información en http://www.asugnews.com/article/sap-s-4hana-1511-release-enterprise-management.