‌SAP S/4HANA Services & Solutions

Driving sustainable business value by capturing the full potential of SAP S/4HANA

Business Significance of SAP S/4HANA

How does SAP S/4HANA accelerate business growth and innovation?

What is SAP S/4HANA?

SAP S/4HANA is the world’s most intelligent ERP software designed to simplify your business landscape. It facilitates accelerated deployment by lowering costs with a standardized digital core and improves business agility through an open, modular, scalable, and innovative platform. S/4HANA service management integrates crucial functions from various lines of businesses as well as industries and incorporates parts of SAP Business Suite Products.

What are the business benefits of SAP S/4HANA?

Numerous opportunities to apply data and pivot to new business models in a short span of time
Easier to expand into new markets by quickly bringing acquisitions into the ERP environment
Lowers infrastructure ownership and maintenance costs by enabling public or private cloud deployments along with SAP’s virtualization
Single source of facts to improve decision-making and complete business processes without leaving your current interface
Faster predictive analytics and insights enable huge efficiency and time savings
Embedded AI and machine learning applications improve modeling, predictive outcomes and forecasting
Faster end-of-period closings with real-time reconciliation of accounting and up-to-the-minute reports
Predictive maintenance, asset monitoring, and alerts in the industrial sector to avoid costly repairs or unanticipated shutdowns
Simpler user interface that reflects standard business tasks on mobile devices for anytime, anywhere availability
Automation of tedious routine tasks to streamline business processes and free up workers to focus on more productive actions

SAP S/4HANA is the new digital core that accelerates your journey towards the intelligent enterprise. Learn more about how SAP S/4HANA can transform your business to unlock new possibilities.

How do they differ?

Differences between ECC and SAP S/4HANA

SAP ECC

Can run on third-party databases like Oracle, MaxDB, and IBM
Traditional processes constrained by the legacy database
Maintains separate customer and vendor files
Finance (FI) General Ledger (GL) accounts are mapped to Controlling (CO) primary cost elements
Can run on either a "classic" GL structure or the "new" GL structure
Legacy graphical user interface (SAP GUI)
Supports on premise deployment
Lack of intelligent technologies
ERP suite supported until 2027

SAP S/4HANA

Runs only on SAP HANA, the in-memory database of SAP
Intelligent processes enabled by new technology and SAP HANA
Combines common data structure elements into a Business Partner record
Structure of the universal journal is used to store both GL account and cost elements
Uses only the new GL, which is a prerequisite for new asset accounting
SAP Fiori - modern, customizable, and intuitive User Interface
Complete choice of on premise, cloud, or hybrid deployment
Embedded AI & ML, advanced analytics, and digital assistants with voice recognition
Supported until 2040

Distinct business processes

SAP S/4HANA for different lines of business (LOBs)

SAP S/4HANA includes several modules that are classified into different lines of business (LOBs), each comprising functions for specific business processes.

S/4HANA Finance: Focuses on all the financial aspects of a business, including financial accounting, controlling, treasury and risk management, financial planning, financial close and consolidation.

S/4HANA Logistics: A collection of LOB modules that includes Sourcing and Placement, Extended Procurement, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Asset Management, and several other modules centered around processes for supplier relationship management and supply chain management.

S/4HANA Sales: Comprises processes that are required to fulfill sales orders, including pricing, sales inquiries and quotes, promise checks, incompletion checks, repair orders, individual requirements, return authorizations, credit and debit memo requests, picking and packing, billing and revenue recognition.

S/4HANA R&D and Engineering: This module focuses on the product life cycle, including defining the product structure and bills of materials, product lifecycle costing, project and portfolio management, innovation management, management of chemicals or other sensitive materials used in development, and health and safety regulatory compliance.

Digital core LOB capabilities:Designed to meet specific requirements across various industry segments, such as Consumer Industries, Discrete Industries, Energy and Natural Resources, Financial Services, Public Service, and Service Industries.

Selecting the right S/4HANA solution for your industry segment is the key to achieving your IT and business objectives.

Factors to Count

Key considerations to note when building a business case for SAP S/4HANA

Defining a clear value proposition: Qualify and quantify the value of optimizing existing business processes and enabling new operating models.

Adopting the right S/4HANA migration strategy: Perform a detailed readiness assessment of the existing SAP solution, so you can develop an intelligent approach for converting your system to SAP S/4HANA.

Creating new business models: Scenarios where S/4HANA could provide competitive advantage, such as new supply chain and network models, insights into customer behavior and buying preferences, and integration of cloud-based services.

Re-engineering of existing data structures and transaction processing: Examples include faster period-end closing, profitability analysis, and workforce mobility and self-service.

Identifying candidates for migration: Assess the existing portfolio of legacy applications to eliminate weaker parts and use SAP Cloud Platform extensions to improve the effectiveness of well-functioning applications.

Understanding the benefits of cloud deployment: S/4HANA cloud is a subscription-based intelligent SaaS solution that provides large and rapid scalability, flexibility, and more software integration options.

Transitioning to SAP S/4HANA

Standard options for migrating from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA

There are three standard options for SAP S/4HANA migration:

New Implementation

As the name implies, new implementation refers to setting up a completely new ERP system that adopts standard next-generation processes and innovations. It requires decommissioning your old ERP, with only master data and open items/balances migrated to the new SAP S/4HANA system. Historical data is not covered, so the new system only contains the processes and data that are necessary for your future innovations.

System Conversion

System conversion allows organizations to migrate from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA by converting their existing SAP environment without re-implementation and without major change or disruption to existing business processes. This method preserves your original system, including data, processes, and custom code.

Best suited for those who do not want to abandon their custom code and processes
Not suited for migrating to SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Enables quicker adoption and development of new innovations
Commonly known as Brownfield migration approach, which includes database migration and application conversion

Selective Data Transition

Selective data transition is a customized or hybrid approach that uses preconfigured transformation rules to extract specific master and transactional data sets. Migration to the new S/4HANA platform is based on legal entities or other organizational elements.

Best suited for use cases where an organization with multiple ERP systems wants to consolidate all the ERP systems into a single source of truth
Ideal for organizations that need more than just the master data and open items
Enables the user (organization) to define a new configuration set and improve business processes
Allows historical data to be kept, converted and transformed if required, to fit the new S/4HANA configuration

A stitch in time saves nine. A certified SAP partner helps you choose the right S/4HANA migration approach.

Pros & Cons of S/4HANA Migration

Benefits and challenges of SAP S/4HANA migration

Benefits

Access to the latest technology, including AI, chatbots, and IoT
Real-time analytics on consolidated data
A simpler UI
Automatic updates every quarter
Process automation
Easier-to-update business models
Faster period-end financial closings

Challenges

Data corruption and validation issues during migration
Selecting the right architecture: cloud or on-premise
Balancing between standardization and customization
Overcoming resistance to change
Lack of in-house competency and resources to handle migration
Difficulties to respond effectively to changes (e.g. statutory, legal)

Expenses and Returns

Cost and ROI considerations for implementing SAP S/4HANA

Cost elements

SAP software licensing and capital infrastructure costs
Implementation and integration costs, app migration costs
Maintenance and support costs of applications, hardware, and networks
Change management, training, improvement, and adoption costs
Cost of staff to design, build, and manage transition
Type of deployment - on-premise, public or private cloud

Return on investment

Increased revenue and customer retention
Better end user productivity due to reduced run times
Cost savings on previously licensed software and hardware
Increased productivity of employees, both at client-facing and backend operations
Accelerated collections due to simplified accounting capabilities
Improved focus on higher-priority objectives

How do we help?

Our SAP S/4HANA services and implementation methodology

Our approach combines the best of SAP activate methodology with RISE with SAP services, preconfigured solutions, focused industry templates, automation solutions, and a modular and agile framework. We help you integrate strategy, process, policies, people, and technology to ensure that your organization is driven by the right insights and processes.

Our unique SAP S/4HANA service implementation methodology is a tried and tested practice with several successful implementations.

1. Prepare

2. Explore

3. Realize

4. Deploy

5. Support

Fingent’s SAP S/4HANA services and solutions

Consulting & Implementation:

S/4HANA on-premise or cloud deployment, global template and roll out
Brownfield/Hybrid/Landscape Transformation/Selective Data Transition
Finance Transformation, Procurement Transformation, and HCM Transformation
Supply Chain and Logistics Transformation
Application Development, Maintenance, and Support (ADMS)

Advisory Services:

S/4HANA Business Case Development
Detailed and focused SAP S/4HANA roadmap
Help customers evaluate and define their ERP architecture
Advisory for specific LOB solutions

SAP S/4HANA Conversion:

Convert to SAP S/4HANA on a fixed budget and schedule
On-premise or cloud-hosted S/4HANA implementation
Selective Data Transition (Hybrid approach)
More flexibility, higher success rate, and lower cycle time
Enhanced UX, lower costs and risks, and ongoing support services

SAP S/4HANA Migration:

Detect challenges, define the business case, and decide where to start
Pre-configured scenarios and process mining to mitigate risks
Identify deployment and hosting options
Perform pre-checks prior to implementation
Functional scope and custom code analysis

FinAMSCare, Fingent’s AMS for SAP:

Buy service points based on anticipated usage
One service point equals an hour of offshore support
On-demand SAP Support: Pay as you go
Bring down total support costs up to 50%
Go for skill augmentation or complete outsourcing

Finance Transformation for CFOs and Financial Teams:

Pivot quickly and adapt to dynamic business scenarios
Embrace innovations, reduce costs, and minimize downtimes
Save time to focus on strategic business tasks
Respond fast, optimize costs, and digitize finance functions

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Solutions:

Managed cloud application services to deploy, manage, monitor, and enhance your SAP cloud applications with reduced complexity and costs
We work with leading cloud hyper scalers
Cloud orchestration and automation services
Achieve greater value from your IT investments
Reduce cloud migration costs to bring down total cost-of-ownership

SAP Leonardo-powered Intelligent Solutions:

Six core technologies: IoT, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Big Data, Analytics, and Data Intelligence
Industry accelerators and packages to maximize ROI
Freedom to choose any infrastructure provider (IaaS)

SAP Fiori User Interface & Experience:

Custom Fiori UX development
Reliable and rapid go-live support
100% consistent and simplified UX
Standard business tasks on mobile

Case Studies

SAP S/4HANA implementation: Fingent’s success stories

1. SAP S/4HANA system conversion for a high-tech manufacturer

Fingent enhanced the operational efficiencies and capabilities of a leading high-tech manufacturer by helping them convert from SAP ECC 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA. Conversion to SAP S/4HANA 1709 was performed by following the Lift and Shift Methodology along with comprehensive Fit-Gap Analysis.

2. Migration from SAP ECC 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA

Thermo Pads, a leading manufacturing firm, enhanced their sales and purchase processes and streamlined their finance models by migrating from SAP ECC 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA.

3. SAP S/4HANA implementation for improved business automation

By implementing SAP S/4HANA, a leading business in the Exploration and Production Industry achieved a process driven solution to handle day-to-day operations with less personnel intervention, reduced paperwork and enhanced preventive maintenance.

Optimized resource utilization and improved user experience
Better analysis of costs and profitability with enhanced payroll and costing systems
Real-time actionable insights with accelerated financial processes
Single integrated system across legal entities to achieve short term revenue goals

4. Migration from legacy ERP to SAP S/4HANA

Fingent helped Sonic Biochem, a global manufacturer and supplier of processed food items, to seamlessly migrate from their legacy system to SAP S/4HANA.

With SAP S/4HANA at their core, Intelligent Enterprises are changing how work gets done, reacting in real time to critical insights and driving improved customer experiences.