S/4HANA Introduction - Frequently Asked Questions

Many enterprises are under pressure to transform their SAP ERP to S/4HANA platform. Based on my discussions with customers and counterparts, I have found a lot of confusion in regards to definitions, functionality, deployment options and documentation. The Q&A is brief summary from the different sources in which the solutions to individual problems are described in detail. 

Q:What stands for S/4HANA ?

A: SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA (  High Performance Analytic Appliance)

Q: What is digital transformation?

 A: Digital transformation is re-engineering of business processes are being impacted by using new technologies benefits.  

 Q: What is Platform as a service?

A: PaaS provides an entire computing platform in the cloud, including hardware, software, and open application programming interfaces (APIs) to build new businesses and create new solutions. Examples include Apple, SAP Cloud Platform, and IBM BlueMix, with their range of APIs and services that will also be a disruptive platform for business. 

 Q: What is Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)?

A: IaaS. The fourth type of cloud service described by ITIL is known as “Infrastructure as a Service”, or IaaS. IaaS is similar to PaaS; however, the service provider is only offering infrastructure components without the tools normally offered as part of a PaaS solution. (ITIL)

Q: What is Software as a Service (SaaS)?

A: SaaS is licensed on a subscription basis product and is centrally hosted. For instance, SAP Ariba.

Q: What is a difference between cloud and on premises implementation models?

A: Broadly speaking and depends on the product the cloud implementation model more focuses solving business requirements and issues. The overall implementation methodology for SAP cloud projects is SAP Activate: Discover, Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy, Run. This allows consultants and project team members to lead with best practices and simultaneously involve experts on the business subject matter in the configuration and testing cycles to ensure that the solution suits their needs. 

Q: Explain the difference between in memory and classical data base.

A: The key distinctions between HANA and previous generation SAP systems are that it is a column-oriented, in-memory database. Column-oriented systems store all data for a single column in the same location, rather than storing all data for a single row in the same location (row-oriented systems). 

Common method:

A column-oriented database serializes all of the values of a column together, then the values of the next column, and so on. For our example table, the data would be stored in this fashion:

Q: What is a data model ?

 A: A data model represents framework of what relationships are in a database. A Database model defines the logical design and structure of a database and defines how data will be stored, accessed and updated in a database management system.

  Q: Explain virtual data model?

 A: A virtual data model (VDM) is a structured representation of HANA database views used in SAP HANA Live for SAP Business Suite and follows consistent modeling rules.

It provides direct access to SAP business data using standard SQL or OData requests. Business data is exposed through well-defined database views, operating directly on the tables of the SAP Business Suite systems and transforming them into consistent and easily understandable views.

 Q: Explain Core Data Services?

 A: CDS views are reusable views that serve as a semantic data models not only for expose the underlying data into operational reporting layer but also to provide additional functions such as views with aggregation, analysis and union (combine multiple selections into one result set) functions. CDS views can be created on top of table of views. 

 Q: What does the overall SAP S/4HANA architecture look like?

 A: The SAP S/4HANA Architecture is based on the SAP HANA database, and it primarily uses an SAP Fiori-based UI. The architecture can support both Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and Online Analytical Processing ( OLAP) data. 

-         At the core new simplified data models are represented physical tables

-         S/4HANA business functions read/update data into these data models

-         There are virtual data models (VDM’s) based on CDS views (Core Data Services views are used in both native SAP HANA version 10 and up and S/4HANA applications) built on top physical tables

 Q: What are different deployment options for S/4HANA ?

A: Currently there are two main options:

-         On-premise SAP S/4HANA

-         SAP S/4HANA Cloud

There are additional SAP notes for the different deployment scenarios:

SAP Notes: 2096000, 1681092, 2248291, 2423367, 2426339). SAP HANA Master Guide.

Q:Explain Fit-to-Standard approach

A: Fit-to-standard approach is the key for SAP S/4HANA Cloud implementation that focusing on available business processes to scope the solution, however it can become the bottleneck if not enough time is spent on the process.. The fit-to-standard process starts in the discovery workshop and remains an important factor in the explore phase. It needs to be started in the discovery phase for successful implementation of the project.

 Q: Describe SAP Activate Phases?

A: Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy, Run

• Prepare phase is the base of the overall project and planning activities. The process begins with SAP Best practices to speed up SAP S/4HANA adoption and delivery. SAP Best practices provide overall solution, defining the scope of work. Model companies can be used that come with a full set of with read to use of business processes, organizational structure and sample data. The main steps of this phase are:

Best practice ->Solution Scope->Roadmap->Pre-assembly->Quality Gate

• Explore phase is a validation of baseline and identification of gaps. In other words, existing business processes differ from that baseline. This phase is used to play back and validate the business process with the main stakeholders. The recommendation is to have Solution Validation workshops to ensure that most processes are covered with SAP best practices; Delta Design Workshop to discuss number of gaps and identify the complexity of the gaps; Fit/gap workshops  is to talk about preassembly system. The bottom line is that the project team should have a clear understanding of the process gaps , recommend solutions and prepare the sprint plans. The main steps of this phase are:

Baseline Build->Solution Validation->Prioritize Gaps->Delta Design->Release and Sprint Plans ->Quality Gate

• Realize - is Build & Test Phase . The Activities will be considerably different depending on if this is a new implementation or system migration. Bottom line is that target solution must be configured, developed and tested. The main steps of this phase are:

Sprint execution->Integration Testing->Value Audit ->Setup operations->Quality Gate

•  Deploy is the final preparation before all the transports are moved into production system. In this phase, end-user training, execution of the OCM tasks, data migration activities are executed in the production environment. Prior to carry out the live cutover activities, a dry run should be performed to capture time lines and identify the challenges. Once all these activities are complete and smoke tests are executed, the system can be handed over to business users. The main steps of this phase are:

System Testing ->Production / OCM Readiness->Cutover->Post Go-live Support

Q: Describe SAP extension approaches?

A: Software as a service (SaaS) is providing robust functionality with less configuration which business is willing to sacrifice for faster realization and cost reduction. However, the reality is that customizing cannot be fully removed from the technology that supports business. Each business is different and requires technology to support their uniqueness. SAP’s approach is to keep a stable solution and use the extensions  to provide custom functionality without implications for maintenance. Separating all custom development into extensions is a fundamental business architecture and technology architecture decision.

SAP defines two approaches:

-         In-app extensibility

-         Side-by-Side extensibility   

Q: What are the differences between In-app extensibility and Side-by-Side extensibility?

A: In-app extensibility customization occurs in the SAP application. This approach is used the same techniques as in SAP ERP and classified into two subtypes:

o  Key user in- app – configuration changes is performed by functional consultant via SAP Fiori-based tools to customize the SAP S/4HANA ABAP backend and SAPUI5/JavaScript SAP Fiori frontend. This option is available for all SAP S/4HANA editions.

o  Classic in-app - Developers have full access to the SAP S/4HANA ABAP backend, SAP HANA database backend, SAPUI5/JavaScript SAP Fiori frontend. It is only available for on premise SAP S/4HANA

Side-by-Side extensibility customization occurs on an adjacent application layer. Therefore , Side-by-Side extensions can be built more quickly and released more frequently without impacting SAP S/4HANA, and these extensions provide the business value-adds and early value realization. Product upgrade and feature upgrade are the main benefits of this approach. This approach requires agile methodologies to be used in delivery and DevOps culture tin be instilled in the business and developers. SAP S/4HANA An Introduction.

To Be Continued.....