SAP S/4 HANA Extended Warehouse Management Key Per...

f_stein · ‎2025 Mar 10

Summary

The document discusses how to choose between different KPI monitoring tools for SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM). It presents three main options: integrated EWM capabilities with Fiori applications, the cloud-based SAP Warehouse Insights, and the SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). The post provides criteria for selecting the best solution based on IT resources, data volume, dashboard requirements, and the use of SAP BTP.

Business Requirements

Implementing SAP Extended Warehouse Management for a running warehouse solution always goes hand in hand with a KPI driven logistics department. The purpose of this post is to determine the most suitable KPI monitoring and analytics solution for a customers EWM, specifically when transitioning to or migrating to a newer version of SAP EWM on S/4. The customer needs to ensure that existing KPI capabilities are maintained or enhanced in the new system. This involves deciding how and where KPIs should be displayed and managed in EWM.

Solution Options

The following SAP solutions can cover your requirements:

SAP Extended Warehouse Management Integrated Capabilities
SAP Warehouse Insights on BTP
SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) on BTP with BW4/HANA

Characterization of the Solution Options

Option #1: SAP Extended Warehouse Management Integrated Capabilities

The following options come with a standard EWM deployment.

EWM has lots of data available in the warehouse management monitor (Transaction /SCWM/MON), which can be leveraged. It also has the possibility to design KPIs with the KPI designer, the easy graphics framework (EGF) as well as the Fiori application warehouse KPIs.

The Fiori Application Warehouse KPIs has a standard set of KPIs which can be adjusted to your needs.

This could be done by IT experienced business colleagues and thus it offers more flexibility than the solutions which have to be designed and implemented together with IT departments.

As mentioned, the integrated Capabilities are distributed over multiple tools in EWM and are not available in e.g. one specific dashboard.

Option #2: SAP Warehouse Insights on BTP

SAP Warehouse Insights is a cloud based real-time warehouse analytics and optimization tool. It leverages historical data and focuses on resources and travel distances in the warehouse.

It leverages the data and visualizes warehouse activities while focusing on reducing empty travel time including the optimization of warehouse resources and corresponding workload. It does real-time optimizations for resources and also presents the results in sophisticated resource KPI dashboards.

Please note that SAP Warehouse Insights requires an own license.

Option #3: SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) on BTP with BW4/HANA

With SAP Analytics Cloud you’re free to configure your KPIs including various dashboards according to your needs. BI Extractors and multiple available APIs enable SAC for real-time warehouse data and therefor real-time dashboards.

As it’s being hosted in the Cloud, SAP Analytics Cloud is well integrable into your future-proof cloud ready system landscape leveraging multiple data sources including your Extended Warehouse management system.

As it’s highly customizable, you can also integrate multiple other data sources, which might be relevant for your logistic distribution centers into your own designed and configured dashboard.

Criteria to determine the most suitable target solution

Do you have a strong business department but only a small IT department?

(Option #1) With the integrated capabilities it is possible also for users with no deep IT knowledge to create KPIs according to your business needs. Basis is that Fiori including Analysis Path Framework including the Fiori Application “Manage KPIs and Reports” is also available to the users.

The same is possible for extensions/customizations of the warehouse management monitor (Transaction /SCWM/MON)

Do you have the need to have process high data volumes as well as historical data ?

For maximum scalability and reading historical data we recommend using (Option #3), because with Analytics Cloud you’re able to have the necessary resources in background to process every amount of data

Do you need to have every KPI available? Shall the KPIs be presented in specific Dashboards?

Either with (Option #1) the integrated capabilities of EWM or (Option #3) SAP Analytics Cloud you can design every KPI you can .

Only with SAC it’s possible to have multiple custom dashboards.

Do you have SAP BTP in use? Or do you have plans for its future use?

Without the integration of SAP BTP it’s currently not possible to leverage functionalities of Warehouse Insights (Option #2) or SAP Analytics Cloud (Option #3).

Do you have to reduce travel distances and optimize resource usage?

(Option #2) For analyzing travel distance data according to several constraints and geological data and possible usage of IoT devices – Warehouse Insights is the best possible solution.

Are you already using SAP Analytics Cloud ?

(Option #3) If you’re using SAP Analytics Cloud in other parts of your company – this is the chance to also leverage the colleagues for creating a top-modern EWM KPI dashboard or multiple dashboards according to the specific needs in dedicated areas of the warehouse.

Conclusion

It really depends on which KPIs you’re currently using. While you might be possible to see a lot of data in the warehouse management monitor, you also want to have them on a dashboard in a graphically pleasing way. Therefore, it is recommended to use either SAP Analytics Cloud or Fiori Application Warehouse KPIs. The usage of the latter is also feasible if you do not have a large IT department, so business users can learn to design their own KPIs. If you have a strong IT department and you’re already using SAP Analytics Cloud then the go to approach is investing into modern dashboards which can be customized and adapted to your individual needs. If resource optimization as well as reducing empty travel in the warehouse is a high priority topic for you, then it’s definitely worth having a closer look into SAP Warehouse Insights.

Further information

For additional documentation please refer to:

Fiori Apps Library for Warehouse KPIs Fiori Application
SAP Product Information for Warehouse Insights: SAP Warehouse Insights
SAP Product Information for Analytics Cloud: SAP Analytics Cloud
Blogpost about Customizing and Extending Warehouse Management Monitors as well as EGF (Option 2 in the Blogpost)
SAP Note 3404074 KPI Catalog vs KPI tiles in S/4 HANA Smart Business Apps
CDS Views for Fiori Application Warehouse KPIs which can be leveraged to adapt the Fiori Application to your needs
Fiori App Manage KPIs and Reports to adapt Fiori Application Warehouse KPIs
SAP Note 3195541 How-To Guides for SAP Warehouse Insights

arne_bialas

@f_stein excellent article! This post does an outstanding job explaining the different KPI monitoring options for SAP EWM and when to apply each one. The clear comparison between integrated EWM tools, Warehouse Insights and SAP Analytics Cloud really helps demystify a complex topic. It provides the kind of practical clarity that makes it much easier to design an effective KPI strategy and choose the right approach for each business context.