SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition | 2023 FPS02 Release – Part 1

[Chr_Vogler]

SAP has released the second “Feature Pack Stack” (FPS), RISE in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition for the 2023 release, on October 09, 2024. This second sequence of three FPS will be delivered over two years and introduce new optional capabilities. Once again, it comes up with a new set of capabilities bringing Artificial Intelligence (AI), simplification, innovation, automation, analytics, and user experience to customers. We delivered more than 280 innovations and enhancements in this FPS02!

In this blog, I will give you an overview of some selected highlights of SAP’s second shipment of this year for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition | 2023 FPS02 Release, and its highlights across nearly all lines of business and industries.

The blog is built as a series of 2 parts and presents the key highlights:

•             Part 1: Lines of Business
•             Part 2: Industries

The picture below provides an overview of the key innovations shipped with SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition | 2023 FPS02.

 Picture 1: The highlights at a glance.

See the What's New Viewer on SAP Help Portal here for the entire list of innovations.

Release Planning

The 2023 version of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition marks a significant advancement in product maturity, aimed at enhancing the range of services, best practices, and business process optimization for both existing and new customers.

 Picture 2: Release strategy for 2023 – 2025 and definition of deliveries.

Key updates include:

• Two-Year Release Cycle: Starting with SAP S/4HANA 2023 Cloud Private Edition, the product will shift to a two-year release cycle.
• Minimally Disruptive Innovation: SAP plans to deliver feature packs every six months during the first two years of a release, allowing for easy adoption and reducing the need for significant upgrades.
• Enhanced Co-Innovation Opportunities: This approach aims to facilitate collaboration with customers while minimizing implementation costs and simplifying the adoption process.

This strategy is designed to help customers maximize their potential while keeping them up to date with the latest innovations.

For more information, see:

• SAP News Center here
• SAP release and maintenance strategy here

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Let’s explore the latest advancements in artificial intelligence technologies. The recent SAPPHIRE event highlighted numerous innovations in Cloud ERP, with Joule taking the spotlight. The image below provides an overview of the innovations introduced with SAP S/4HANA Private Edition 2023FPS02 in the AI domain.

FPS02 introduces Joule, our natural-language generative AI copilot, seamlessly integrated into SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition. Joule is designed to help you complete your tasks more efficiently, simplify your workflow, and enhance business outcomes while ensuring security and compliance.

 Picture 3: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovations.

Following a successful early adopter program, we are excited to announce that Joule is set to become generally available with the new Joule infrastructure in December.

Be sure to check out the blog post from my colleague Yannick Peterschmitt to learn how these new AI and automation innovations will assist you in your daily tasks and improve your interactions with SAP business systems!

For more information about Joule, see: https://help.sap.com/docs/joule

Finance

Subcontracting as part of universal parallel accounting

Integrating subcontracting within the framework of universal parallel accounting offers a transformative approach to managing production processes. This method enables the automatic creation of a controlling (CO) production order as an account assignment for subcontracting operations, facilitating a seamless flow of information and cost management.

With this new FPS02 release, we include:

• Event-based creation of work in process for material components provided to the subcontractor, ensuring that all resources allocated are accounted for in real-time.
• Event-based cancellation of work in process upon receiving finished goods, providing clarity on the production status and resource utilization.
• Event-based calculation of production variances upon the final receipt of finished goods, allowing for accurate tracking of discrepancies and adjustments.

The advantages of integrating subcontracting into universal parallel accounting are significant:

• Transparency into the costs of subcontracting operations: This integration provides stakeholders with a clear view of the costs involved in subcontracting, enhancing financial oversight and decision-making.
• Extended scope of universal parallel accounting: By covering essential business processes, organizations can ensure that all aspects of production and cost management are aligned, leading to improved operational efficiency.

Overall, this approach not only streamlines subcontracting processes but also strengthens financial governance, making it a vital component of modern accounting practices.

 

 Picture 4: Extend the scope of universal parallel accounting to cover essential business processes.

For more information, see Product Cost for Subcontracting.

Central Finance

Centralized Plan-Versus-Actual Analysis with Plan Data Transfer

The centralized plan-versus-actual analysis allows you to transfer period-based financial plan data for cost centers and activity types from a single SAP ERP source system to the Central Finance (SAP S/4HANA) system. This process begins in the Central Finance system, where you run the report for specific cost object types, particularly for the combination of activity type and cost center.

The scope of this analysis includes the replication of plan postings related to cost centers, activity types, projects, WBS elements, and internal orders from the SAP ERP system to the Central Finance system. Additionally, it enables the incorporation of current planning innovations—such as those in SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC)—by transforming and replicating data from older source system releases into the new plan data table ACDOCP of the universal journal.

Key benefits of this approach include enhanced decision-making capabilities within the Central Finance system by collecting plan data from source systems, incorporating additional centralized plan figures, and facilitating plan-versus-actual analysis through the replication of plan data.

Harmonized Material Cost Estimate Analysis in Central Finance

This process focuses on harmonizing the controlling area currency for replicated material cost estimates derived from a distributed landscape. It addresses the variations in currency amounts that arise due to the configuration of different controlling areas across various systems.

Accounting View of Logistics in Central Finance

The accounting view of logistics within Central Finance has seen significant improvements, particularly in the replication process for new types of sales order categories such as service contracts and scheduling agreements. Enhancements have also been made to the deletion of the accounting view of logistics (AVL) information by incorporating posting dates, as well as supporting AVL billing documents with the inclusion of tax amounts.

Purchase Order Integration for Central Asset Creation in Central Finance

Recent advancements in central asset accounting have introduced new functionalities that facilitate the management of fixed assets and asset accounting within the Central Finance system. This allows users to deactivate asset accounting in the source system for specific company codes. Notably, the system now supports central asset creation from a replicated accounting view of a purchase order, along with automatic asset acquisition postings in Central Finance.

Key Benefits

• Enhance the integration of the procurement process with asset accounting in Central Finance.
• Streamline the asset acquisition process, ensuring it is completed efficiently within the Central Finance environment.

Governance, Risk, and Compliance

SAP Global Trade Services, edition for SAP HANA: Integration with SAP S/4HANA Service

Manage trade compliance checks for service orders and service order quotations (SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition) with SAP Global Trade Services (SAP GTS):

• Prevent service activities with embargoed countries,
• Check legal control service processes,
• Resolve legal control issues with blocked service documents,
• Check business partner addresses in service orders and service order quotations if they are part of a denied party list.

 Picture 5: Keep international trade processes frictionless.

For more information, see:

• Schedule Service Transaction Status Update - Global Trade Services
• Schedule Transfer of Service Transactions - Global Trade Services

Integration with SAP Global Trade Services for SAP HANA: Integration with SAP S/4HANA Subscription Order Management

Manage trade compliance checks for subscription orders with SAP Global Trade Services (SAP GTS):

• Prevent subscription order activities with embargoed countries,
• Check legal control relevant subscription order processes,
• Resolve legal control issues with blocked subscription orders,
• Check business partner addresses in subscription orders if they are part of a denied party list.

Integration with SAP Global Trade Services to manage trade compliance checks for solution quotations

Manage trade compliance checks for solution quotations (in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition) with SAP Global Trade Services (SAP GTS, edition for SAP HANA):

• Prevent service activities with embargoed countries,
• Check legal control service processes,
• Resolve legal control issues with blocked service documents,
• Check business partner addresses in solution quotations if they are part of a denied party list.

Integration of SAP Watch List Screening with business partner master data in SAP S/4HANA

• Call the SAP Watch List Screening application on the SAP Business Technology Platform within SAP S/4HANA, for business partners with the roles of customer or supplier,
• Screen the name and addresses of a business partner,
• Add status fields representing the screening status to the addresses of a business partner in SAP S/4HANA,
• Manage a cumulative status field on the level of general data of the business partner

Manufacturing

Ability to add planned and unplanned components to as-built components

Users can now add both planned and unplanned components to the as-built information, even after the operation activity has been marked as completed or skipped. This includes components that were originally outlined in the Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBOM) or those that were physically assembled but not recorded due to oversight. Operators can add these unplanned components through the Perform Operation Activity app. Once added, these components become part of the as-built information and are accessible in various monitoring applications, such as Order Genealogy, Product Genealogy, and the Production Action Log, ensuring comprehensive tracking and oversight of the production process.

Picture 6: Increase flexibility by allowing production supervisors to rectify erroneous or incomplete data entry during production execution.

Key Features

The ability for users of the As-Built Report app, which shows detailed information about the components assembled in a piece of equipment, to now:

• Manually add a planned component from the planned manufacturing BOM to the list of as-built components that the production operator might have forgotten to record during execution,
• Add an unplanned component by specifying the material and other details such as quantity, batch, and serial number, as applicable.

For more information, see How to Add Components to the As-Built Information.

Use a Logical Component to Assign Multiple Mutually Exclusive Components to the Same Operation Activity

The new feature now allows the use of logical components when creating shop floor routings for products with unitized parameter effectivity, expanding functionality previously limited to configurable materials. This enhancement enables users to:

• Create logical components for operation activities associated with unitized materials.
• Assign BOM components that are valid for mutually exclusive effectivity to the same logical component, facilitating the use of alternative components.
• Incorporate logical components in work instructions instead of directly referencing BOM components.
• Automatically select the appropriate alternative component for a production order based on the assigned logical component.

 

 Picture 7: Logical Components Enabled for Products with Unitized Parameter Effectivity.

Key Benefits

This feature simplifies and enhances the maintenance of shop floor routings for unitized materials, resulting in a reduction in the number of operation activities required, thereby improving overall efficiency.

Additional Details

Previously, if you wanted to assign alternative components to an operation activity (OA) in a unitized product scenario, you had to perform an operation activity split and assign the components with different effectivity ranges to the split OAs. In this case, apart from the differing effectivity ranges of the components, the operation activities were identical. This meant that if you needed to make changes to the OA, double maintenance was required to keep them in sync. Now you can model this scenario with alternative components using logical components.

For more information, see the SAP Help Portal.

Support for engineer-to-order version-controlled bills of material and engineer-to-order shop floor routings

This new FPS02 release allows users to create and maintain engineer-to-order (ETO) production models within a configure-to-order scenario. This is particularly useful when standard configuration options for a sales order do not fully meet a customer’s specific requirements, necessitating further adjustments to the Manufacturing Bill of Materials (MBOM) and shop floor routing.

When developing an ETO production model, the system generates both an ETO version BOM (also known as the 90% BOM) and an ETO shop floor routing (referred to as the 90% shop floor routing).

Picture 8: Avoid impacting the regular production processes for standard configurations with sales-order-specific enhancements.

You can now:

• Add, modify, or remove components in the ETO version BOM.
• Adjust production steps, including operations and activities.
• Perform component assignments as needed.
• Easily navigate to the ETO shop floor routing to modify related objects, such as work instructions and inspection characteristics.
• Once the ETO production model is complete and reflects the 100% status, it can be released to initiate downstream processes.

Key Features

• Production engineers can create version-controlled ETO BOMs and shop floor routings based on sales order configurations.
• The app enhances ETO BOMs and shop floor routings to meet the unique requirements of individual customers.
• Shop floor orders can utilize ETO BOMs and ETO shop floor routings for effective planning and execution.

For more information, see Production Engineering and Operations for Complex Assembly.

R&D / Engineering / EPPM

Navigational project assistant capabilities for Joule copilot

Joule enhances user satisfaction by facilitating navigation in the SAP Fiori launchpad through natural language processing. This allows users to easily find and open applications to display project data. Additionally, users can directly access projects, WBS elements, or networks in the Project Builder or specific object pages for viewing or editing, all by utilizing natural language commands.

Remark: Availability is planned for December 2024 with the new Joule infrastructure.

 

 Picture 9: Example for usage of Joule copilot to view project details and for navigation.

For more information, see the blog post from my colleague Yannick Peterschmitt.

Dynamic viewing (3D) of the bill of materials

The new SAP Fiori “Visualize Bill of Material” (Fiori ID: F7802) app empowers users in the Bill of Material (BOM) Engineer role to access 3D representations of specific product configurations based on BOM data. Users can display visualizations, whether monolithic or shattered, created through the Visual Enterprise Generator or the Visualization SaaS application. The app allows users to highlight parts in the visualization by selecting components from the BOM tree table or directly within the 3D model.

Key Features:

Utilize the new SAP Fiori app for:

• 3D, dynamic viewing that leverages component visuals and geometric information in the BOM.
• Viewing individual documents and generating a dynamic mock-up based on BOM explosion results.

Assignment of contract items to unplanned lean services and new selection options in project networks

New features and enhancements are available for planning lean services for project networks. The following features have been enabled:

• Support for the creation of unplanned services using the Select from Contract feature,
• New Select From Model Product Spec feature in the tabular view of components, to create material and service components from Model Product Specifications,
• New procurement indicator setting to default the item category for service components,
• Selection of the features Select from Contract and Select From Model Product Spec enabled in the standard menu,
• Optional assignment of contract items to unplanned services,
• BADI BADI_PS_VALIDATE_COMPONENT to validate various General and Purchasing Data fields in planned and unplanned services.

 Picture 10: Leverage model product specifications to create lean service and material components.

For more information, see Planning and Adding Lean Services.

Integration of field logistics with project systems for network orders

• Integrate field logistics processes with project systems, starting from supply process derivation in the network order,
• Support the logistics between a supplying base and remote locations, receiving products needed for network orders at the base and forwarding them to the remote location, as well as return from the remote location to the base,

 Picture 11: Enable users to supply a base for direct demand from a network order.

Quote-to-Cash

OData API: Solution Quotation – Simulating for the A2X API

The Business Solution Quotation OData API (CRMS4_BUS_SOLN_QTN_SIMULATION) enables you to simulate a solution quotation.

Reminder

The Open Data Protocol (OData) APIs are designed for synchronous calls (meaning that the response is sent back in the same call). You can use them if you, as a sender, require an immediate response to your HTTP request by the receiver.

In synchronous calls, users usually get, for example, an error message right away if something goes wrong.

Key Features

With this new FPS02, you can utilize the solution quote simulation to obtain pricing information at various levels, including:

• Header,
• Items.

Gather insights from the simulated solution quotation in SAP S/4HANA to ensure consistency between simulation and ordering for:

• Pricing information associated with simulated solution quotes,
• Non-configurable sales and service products,
• Single-level configurable sales and service products.

Picture 12: Simulate through an API efficient and timely creation of solution quotes.

For more information, see APIs for Sales.

Enhancement of the SAP Fiori apps for contract lifecycle management to support the parameters of SAP Convergent Charging

A subscription contract manages the long-term agreement for a technical service that the provider company offers to the customer.

It is represented by a main subscription contract item within a subscription contract document. A subscription contract document contains one or more subscription contracts, where the individual subscription contracts are not dependent on each other.

With this FPS02, we introduce new features for using the “Manage Subscription Contract Lifecycle” app with parameters from SAP Convergent Charging:

• Fetch and display counter values,
• Display charging parameters from SAP Convergent Charging,
• Display and modify range and mapping tables from SAP Convergent Charging,
• Enhanced capabilities with the SAP Fiori app “Mass Changes of Subscription Contracts”

 Picture 13: Help ensure compliance of subscription orders for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.

For more information, see SAP Fiori app Details: Manage Subscription Contract Lifecycle.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

With this new SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 FPS02 release, we introduce two new features related to AI:

• Sales order monitoring utilizes textual natural language processing through Joule, allowing you to express business requirements in natural language. This feature enables you to retrieve sales order details based on conversational inputs and analyze content alongside customer preferences using Joule's reading capabilities.
• Leveraging the latest large language models, Joule enhances the intelligent order fulfillment process by providing advanced responses. It not only helps in fetching and monitoring fulfillment issues but also allows for resolving and modifying data related to sales order headers and items. This includes actions such as removing delivery, billing, or credit blocks, all supported by Joule and Business AI.

Remark: Availability is planned for December 2024 with the new Joule infrastructure.

 Picture 14: Reduce operational costs with automated business processes.

For more information, see the blog post from my colleague Yannick Peterschmitt.

Service

Manual goods issue for service parts

The system allows for the manual posting of goods issues for reserved service parts before the completion of service confirmations. This enables the correction of stock levels immediately after the parts are handed over to a technician, rather than waiting until the service is completed. It also provides visibility into the goods issue postings within service orders, including document flow, quantity, and status updates. Additionally, the integration of Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) supports the picking, packing, and return of any unused parts.

Initiate In-House Repair Process from Service Orders and Service Quotations

You can now utilize service orders or service quotations to plan and execute in-house repairs. This feature enables the management of a service process that encompasses both field service and in-house repair within a single service transaction, offering the flexibility to initiate an in-house repair at any stage of the service process.

Key Features

• Use the assignment block “repair objects” to view related repair objects on the service order and service quotation.
• Trigger the creation of new repair objects directly from the UI of the service order and service quotation.
• Link existing repair objects to the service transaction for streamlined management.
• Navigate to in-house repairs and repair objects from service orders and service quotations for easy access.

Key Benefits

• Intuitive Access: Effortlessly access repair object information, such as availability status, while working on service orders and service quotations, enhancing decision-making.
• Efficient Creation and Linking: Quickly create and link repair objects using the functionality provided in the assignment block, improving workflow efficiency.
• Increased Flexibility: Cover a wider range of use cases by allowing the initiation of repairs with either a service order or service quotation and the ability to add repair objects as needed, adapting to changing requirements.

 Picture 15: Increase flexibility to cover relevant use cases through the ability to start with a service order or service quotation and add repair objects later.

For more information, see Repair Objects in Service Quotations and Service Orders.

Processing serialized products and no serialized products with quantity, integrated with customer returns

You can now process serialized products and non-serialized products as repair objects that have been added to an in-house repair.

• Serialized products are products that have a serial number assigned and aren't related to a piece of equipment. They're identified as unique products and are recorded with quantity 1 only. Within the in-house repair process, serialized products are handled like equipment.
• Non-serialized products are products that aren't identified by a serial number and therefore can be recorded with a quantity greater than 1. You can process non-serialized products in customer returns and In-House Repair.

 Picture 16: Enable in-house repair for users performing services on large numbers of no-serialized products and users using serialization outside an SAP solution.

Key Features

This new FPS02 release allows users to perform in-house repairs for both serialized and non-serialized products without the need for additional equipment. Non-serialized products can have quantities greater than one, while serialized products are recorded with a quantity of one. It supports partial deliveries and offers transparency regarding which repair objects have been received and which are still pending. Additionally, it integrates information related to customer returns and makes material inspection decisions visible to the repair shop for better clarity and efficiency.

For more information, see Repair Object.

Combined field service and in-house repair

You can now use a combined process of In-House Repair and field service (service performed on-site at the customer) that allows you to handle the in-house repair and the field service process for a repair object in the same service transactions.

 Picture 17: Plan and execute service with in-house and field service activities in service quotations, service orders, and repair objects.

Key Features

• Enabling the planning and performance of in-house repairs using service orders and service quotations
• Offering the complete functional scope of service quotations and service orders in the in-house repair process
• Building upon the SAP business role of “service manager” for managing in-house repairs and field service engagements
• Making this harmonized service available for the “service with advanced execution” scenario

For more information, see In-House Repair.

Sourcing & Procurement

Automatic takeover of custom document types in the “Process Purchase Requisitions” app

The template for "Automatic Creation of Purchase Orders from Requisitions" now enables the automatic generation of purchase orders for purchase requisition limit items as well.

Key Features

• The existing purchasing scheduler job for “automatic creation of purchase orders from requisitions” has been extended to support the purchase requisition line-item type “enhanced limit.”
• Purchase orders can now be autogenerated from enhanced limit items that were previously excluded from automatic processing.

For more information, see Schedule Purchasing Jobs - Advanced

Automatic takeover of custom document types in the “Process Purchase Requisitions” app

This feature allows you to create purchase orders using custom document types directly from purchase requisition items within the “Process Purchase Requisitions (V2)” app.

Key Features

• Read the document type of the configured custom purchase order associated with the purchase requisition's document type, and automatically copy it into the follow-on purchase order’s object page when converting purchase requisitions into purchase orders via the SAP Fiori app “Process Purchase Requisitions.”
• Verify the support for a specific custom document type within the “Manage Purchase Orders” app and prevent the creation of purchase orders if the necessary prerequisites for that app are not fulfilled.

 Picture 18: Boost usability in purchase requisition processing by automatically copying supported custom document types into the follow-on purchase order.

For more information, see Process Purchase Requisitions (V2).

Versioning in purchase contracts: ability to compare versions along with pricing information

With the “Manage Purchase Contracts” app, you can now manage the versioning of purchase contracts. A new version is created when the version-relevant fields of an approved or rejected purchase contract are changed and released. A version thus indicates the revision level of the purchase contract.

Key Features

• User ability to create a new change request for a purchase contract through purchase contract version management, which allows the user to keep the active document as an operational contract while working on the change request contract; purchaser ability to renew the contract terms or contract dates, to differentiate between various versions of a contract, or to refer to any particular version of a contract.
• As part of enhancements for version management in purchase contracts, the ability to compare two versions along with pricing information.

For more information, see Manage Purchase Contracts.

Controlled information accessibility for contributors to the sourcing project

With this release, when sourcing managers invite you to participate, you can assist them by enhancing the sourcing projects they have created. For instance, you can add attachments to the sourcing projects where you are invited to contribute.

Key Features

• Invite stakeholders to a sourcing project by adding them to your contacts and designating them as “contributors.”
• Notify invited stakeholders via email or through the SAP Fiori app.
• Utilize the new sourcing project application for contributors to review the sourcing project and share additional information through file attachments.

For more information, see Manage Sourcing Projects.

Warehouse Management

Advanced shipping and receiving: outbound streaming, auto planning of waves by job, and more

With this feature, you can use the container document type for radio frequency (RF) loading and unloading in Advanced Shipping and Receiving when using Extended Warehouse Management embedded in SAP S/4HANA. You specify the container as an item of the freight order by entering the container/registration ID of the container item.

Key Features

ASR - Immediate Loading

• Immediate loading allows you to begin loading individual handling units even if some items or handling units within an outbound delivery order are still pending picking, packing, or staging. This parallel approach of picking items and loading handling units can significantly reduce total lead time and enhance the utilization of smaller staging areas.

Enhancement to RF Loading and Unloading in Advanced Shipping and Receiving

• This enhancement enables the use of container document types for radio frequency (RF) loading and unloading in Advanced Shipping and Receiving, tailored to your deployment option:
• For users of Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) embedded in SAP S/4HANA: You can utilize the container document type for both RF loading and unloading.
• For users of decentralized EWM based on SAP S/4HANA: The container document type is available for RF loading only.

Automatic Assignment of ODO Items from Freight Orders to Waves

• This feature facilitates the automatic scheduling of waves created from freight orders in Advanced Shipping and Receiving, streamlining workflow and enhancing operational efficiency.

Distribution equipment: just-in-time inbound delivery reference and ad-hoc handling-unit warehouse task

Enhancements to Goods Distribution Process Using Distribution Equipment

This feature enables you to do the following activities with distribution equipment:

• Load handling units (HUs) during the unloading process,
• Use distribution equipment in the external replenishment process for Just-In-Time (JIT) or Just-In-Sequence (JIS) calls.
• Ad hoc move HUs
• Loading During Unloading

Using a radio frequency (RF) presentation device, you can load HUs onto distribution equipment after you've already started the unloading process. For example, you can collect empty HUs from a production supply area (PSA) while unloading HUs and bring them to an empty buffer zone. You can also collect HUs containing semi-finished components from a PSA and bring them to the next PSA for further production steps.

For more information, see Goods Distribution with Distribution Equipment.

Transportation Management

Generative AI - Conversational planning in the transportation cockpit

his feature allows users to perform various planning operations within the transportation cockpit using natural language. It includes the proposal of a transportation plan through the Joule solution and the application of these plans, which are generated by large language models (LLM) capable of supporting action chains with multiple instructions. Users can view planning requirements and available capacities directly in the transportation cockpit. Additionally, there are plans to introduce voice-based and chat-based interactions, enabling users to provide natural language instructions to LLMs using Joule software.

 Picture 19: Enhance efficiency in transportation planning.

For more information, see:

• Blog post from my colleague Yannick Peterschmitt.
• Conversational Planning.

Generative AI - Automatic creation of inbound cargo documents based on Large Language Model / DOX & GPT-3 extraction

The automatic creation of inbound cargo documents leverages Large Language Model (LLM) technology, specifically DOX and GPT-3 extraction, to enhance operational efficiency. This innovative approach automates the verification of delivery notes using AI, which significantly reduces the need for manual checks at the gate, thereby expediting the unloading process for freight. By flagging exceptions in freight orders, clerks in the back office can quickly address these issues, streamlining the process for trucks that do not have exceptions. Overall, this automation leads to a considerable reduction in the hours spent on manual checks and waiting times for trucks, ultimately saving valuable time and improving operational efficiency.

For more information, see the Blog post from my colleague Yannick Peterschmitt.

Transportation planning and network capabilities

With this new FPS02 Release, we deliver the following new features:

• Enable freight-booking variants for both air and ocean modes to model them as multimodal freight bookings by allowing the pick-up and delivery stages to have different modes of transport,
• Enable the possibility of having a specific invoicing carrier, shipping type, and mode of transport for each stage of the booking,
• Enable the agreement determination and charge calculation for such multimodal bookings considering the mode of transport, shipping type, and invoicing carrier for the stage level.

In the same way, this new FPS02 offers you the following new functions:

• A new UoM setting for quantity and alternative quantity in freight unit building (FUB) rules,
• FUB enables integration with Next Generation Just-In-Time (nJIT),
• Improved access to additional geographical information system (GIS) provider features
• Enhancements for load planning and load consolidation,
• Creation of split rests during vehicle scheduling and routing (VSR) optimization.

 Picture 20: Enhancements for load planning and load consolidation

Integration with nJIT (just in time) process

With this new FPS02 release, you can integrate supply-to-production (S2P) JIT calls into Transportation Management (TM). The component group materials in S2P JIT calls serve as the basis for freight unit creation.

Key Feature

• Enabling receipt of multiple JIT calls per product within a single advanced shipping notification (ASN),
• Addition of slot numbers to the ASN packaging information,
• During the creation of the consignment (based on the ASN), the determination of the corresponding freight units by the given JIT call references,
• Addition of the packaging information received with the ASN to the freight units,
• Availability of inbound delivery and packaging (HU) information in the corresponding JIT call as references,
• Ability to receive a status update from a received and successfully processed ASN message to notify JIT call component groups.

Picture 21: Improve data consistency across systems, processes, and organizations.

For more information, see Integration of Next Generation Just-In-Time.

Supply Chain

Dynamic third-party order processing with advanced ATP

With this new FPS02 release, we introduce the following:

Triggering of third-party order processing (TPOP), where the requirement for ordered goods in a sales order is passed to a vendor (supplier) for direct shipment to the end customer, through advanced ATP (aATP):

• Trigger TPOP based on Alternative-Based Confirmation (ABC) master data,
• Identify the material-plant combinations for TPOP, based on ABC master data,
• Determine an appropriate source (supplier contract or info record) for the direct shipment,
• Provide a BAdI to influence the source determination,
• Support a hybrid scenario, where first internal plants are checked via aATP basic methods (PAC and PAL) for availability, afterwards, TPOP is triggered for the remaining quantity to be delivered via a supplier,
• Determine the quantity that is passed to the supplier (full requested quantity or partial quantity),
• Calculate the delivery date for the delivery to the end customer, supported by Business Process Scheduling (BPS) functionality to offer flexibility in activity and duration calculation,
• Transfer the determined data to the sales document, which automatically triggers a purchase requisition for the supplier,
• Support Backorder Processing (BOP) for order items which are (partially) fulfilled via TPOP,
• Support "ship via plant (consolidation)", where the supplier does not deliver to the end customer but delivers to an internal consolidation plant from where the goods are finally delivered to the end customer (often relevant for export businesses).

Use of the single exponential smoothing optimized forecast model to enhance planning quality

The Single Exponential Smoothing Optimized (SESO) algorithm is utilized to enhance planning quality by providing a reliable forecasting model for time series data.

Key Features

• Leverage the "SESO" (Single Exponential Smoothing Optimized) algorithm for forecasting time series,
• Use the "SESO" algorithm, which was built by data scientists and validated with customer data, in extended service parts planning (eSPP) and forecasting,
• Use automatic model selection to determine if "SESO" or any other forecast model is a best fit.

 Picture 22: Forecast the need for service parts in upcoming periods based on past values, focusing on sporadic time series.

Key Benefits

The goal of this innovation is to accurately forecast the demand for spare parts in future periods by utilizing historical data, particularly for sporadic time series. By employing the SESO model, high-quality forecasts can be achieved, which in turn optimizes customer service while simultaneously reducing stockholding costs. Integrating these advantages into the scope ensures a continuous focus on enhancing planning efficiency through effective forecasting methods.

Use of stock-keeping-oriented prediction error costs as a forecast error

Key Features

• Leverage the "SPEC" (Stock-keeping-oriented Prediction Error Costs) error measure for forecasting in eSPP (extended Service Parts Planning).
• Use the "SPEC" error measure to determine if a forecast model is the best fit during the AMS (Automatic Model Selection) run.
• Balance "Stock-Keeping Cost" versus "Opportunity Cost" by using SPEC when evaluating the quality of any forecast by AMS.

 Picture 23: Apply the SPEC error measure to select a useful forecast algorithm by eSPP AMS, when forecasting spare parts demand.

Key Benefits

By utilizing the SPEC error measure, an effective forecasting algorithm can be selected through eSPP AMS, specifically aimed at predicting spare parts demand. This method enables the accurate calculation of useful forecast errors, particularly for irregular historical time series, such as intermittent or lumpy data. It also considers both stock-keeping costs, which penalize excessively high forecasts that may lead to overstock, and opportunity costs, which penalize excessively low forecasts that could result in lost customers. This comprehensive approach ensures a more precise and balanced forecasting strategy in service parts planning.

Excess stock detection in service parts planning

Excess stock detection within extended Service Parts Planning (eSPP) encompasses the following steps:

• Make settings for excess stock detection,
• Run surplus determination service to identify excess stocks,
• Visualize parts with excess stock and excess stock amounts,
• Maintain surplus and retention periods per location,
• Use approval for surplus decisions,
• Mark products as obsolete if relevant.

 Picture 24: Enable business operations to stock parts with a contribution to a high level of customer service instead of non-moving parts.

Key Benefits

The new feature aims to decrease stockholding costs, free up valuable warehouse space, and enable business operations to concentrate on stocking parts that contribute to enhancing customer service instead of focusing on nonmoving inventory. This approach promotes more efficient inventory management and supports overall operational effectiveness.

Matching long-term forecast with actual demand

Match long-term forecast results from SAP Integrated Business Planning for Supply Chain (SAP IBP) with actual demand from most recent periods.

Key Features

• Use SAP Cloud Integration for data services interface to integrate a long-term forecast calculated in SAP IBP with phase-out planning in eSPP,
• Integrate other external long-term forecasts to phase-out forecasts in eSPP via SOAP interface,
• Calculate the standard deviation for the uploaded long-term forecast,
• Visualize the long-term forecast in the phase-out forecast transaction and use it to calculate a phase-out forecast.

Picture 25: Integrate elements of strategic and tactical or operative service parts planning in a single system to give planners a smooth user experience.

Key Benefits

The new features provide better insights into the entire lifecycle of parts, serving as a basis for making informed "last-time buy" decisions. It emphasizes focusing on products where short- and medium-term forecast results significantly deviate from long-term forecasts to minimize manual activities. Additionally, it ensures suppliers are informed with adequate lead time regarding relevant quantity changes, helping to prevent both overstocking and stockout situations. Ultimately, this strategy seeks to reduce costs associated with stockouts and the need to scrap excess inventory.

Asset Management

Enhanced integration of SAP Asset Performance Management into task lists and maintenance items for SAP Fiori apps

With this new FPS02 release, you can now display recommendations from SAP Asset Performance Management with the status "implementation in process" and the assigned technical objects in the following SAP S/4HANA apps:

• Find Maintenance Task List (F2660)
• Manage Maintenance Items (F5356)

Key Benefits

Integrating cross-product capabilities from recommendations in SAP Asset Performance Management with maintenance processes in SAP S/4HANA facilitates early collaboration between the reliability engineer and the master data specialist during the implementation phase. This integration enhances the transparency of relevant technical objects involved in the integration scenario, leading to more effective decision-making and execution.

Mass change of custom fields using the “Manage Maintenance Plans” and “Manage Maintenance Items” apps

Customers can enhance their maintenance plans and items using key user extensibility toolsets through the Fiori apps "Manage Maintenance Plans" (F5325) and "Manage Maintenance Items" (F5356). They can filter plans and items with custom fields and change their values for selected plans and items. The mass change feature now allows users to modify custom field values for multiple maintenance plans or items simultaneously. A dedicated section for Custom Fields enables selective changes, clearing values, or opting not to change. Additionally, this capability extends to the OData APIs for plans and items, allowing customers to perform mass changes from external systems by utilizing the APIs available in the SAP Business Accelerator Hub.

 Picture 26: Have the option to change the values of fields at once using mass change functionality.

Key Features

• Extend the standard maintenance plan and maintenance item objects using custom fields that are relevant to your business processes using the “key-user extensibility” functionality of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition,
• Have the option to change the values of these fields at once using “mass change functionality,” with either the Manage Maintenance Plans or Manage Maintenance Items apps or the OData API,
• Filter for maintenance plans and items using extended fields in the above-mentioned SAP Fiori apps but also change the values of those extended fields in “mass edit” mode through a background job,
• Pass the extended fields and values in a batch request and perform mass changes to many plans and items using the OData API.

Integrated, cross-app navigation from the “Manage Maintenance Notifications and Orders” app through BAdI implementation

• Provision of a business add-in (BAdI) for the “Manage Maintenance Notifications and Orders” app (F4604) and “Find Maintenance Orders” app (F2175), enabling customers to implement their cross-app navigations,
• User ability to navigate between SAP S/4HANA applications as well as third-party solutions,
• With the cross-app navigation, the ability to pass parameters to the target application.

 

 Picture 27: Increase the possibility for custom, specific scenarios

Key Benefits

To enhance user experience, there is an increased capability for custom, specific scenarios while simplifying cross-application navigation through parameter passing. Additionally, this approach aims to improve overall product integration, leading to a more cohesive and efficient workflow.

Better handling of maintenance checklists with a new SAP Fiori app

With this “Manage Inspection Checklists” (F6607) app, you can view and manage the inspection checklists that have been created regarding maintenance order operations and technical objects. You can display and process the results list on the level of individual inspection checklists (inspection lots) and inspection characteristics.

 Picture 28: Simplify and modernize the user experience for managing checklists.

Key Features

New SAP Fiori app to manage inspection checklists:

• Filtering and sorting inspection lots
• Displaying inspection lot details and inspection characteristic details
• Processing several functions such as activating or deactivating inspection lots
• Navigating to record inspection results (F1685A).

For more information, see Manage Inspection Checklists.

Overview of team assignments and planned production resources and tools in the SAP Fiori app “Perform Maintenance Jobs”

In the “Perform Maintenance Jobs” app (F5104A), an overview enabling the display of team assignments and the planned production resources and tools (PRTs) for a job, so you can:

• Have immediate insights into your team assignments,
• Use a new overview tab on the object page of the maintenance job for production resources and tools.

 Picture 29: Increase transparency of planned PRTs for maintenance job execution to avoid cross-app navigations or having to review printouts.

Providing a catalog-based “Failure Effect” field in the SAP Fiori apps for maintenance requests

Enabling the Failure Effect on a catalog-based field to describe evidence that a failure has occurred, which hurts the environment, the production or operations, or the physical item in terms of damage:

• Use a new catalog type to customize maintenance-notification types to assign the catalogs for failure effects to be available in the OData API as well as the following SAP Fiori apps:
• Create Maintenance Request (F1511A)
• My Maintenance Request (F4513)
• Screen Maintenance Request (F4072)
• Find Maintenance Notification (F2071)
• Display Maintenance Notification (F5797)
• Perform Maintenance Jobs (F5104A)

Cross-application navigation from maintenance-order processing to permit to work

• Ability to create and manage work permits during maintenance-order processing if the permit-to-work capability is activated for the planning plant of the maintenance order,
• Create a work permit for the created maintenance order if no work permit is assigned to the maintenance order,
• Manage assigned work permits for the maintenance order if one or more work permits are assigned to the maintenance order,
• Downport this works permit feature to the SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS01 release by using the following SAP Notes 3434532 - WebDynpro Order cross-app navigation to “Create/Manage Work Permit” Fiori app, and 3435222 - Enablement of parameters for planning plant and maintenance order in Work Permit application.

Ability to generate objects en masse for a permit to work

With this new FPS02 release, you can automatically generate work permits and any associated safety certificates for maintenance orders using the program Mass Generation of Permit to Work Objects (transaction PTWMASSGEN). The work permits are generated concerning a work permit template and assigned to the respective maintenance orders.

Key Features

• Allowing maintenance planners to generate work permits automatically against many various maintenance orders, such as maintenance orders created during maintenance-plan scheduling,
• Two new transactions for the permit-to-work solution:

• Maintaining the determination mapping of work-permit templates concerning the combination of planning plant, technical object, task list, and order type
• Ability to automatically generate work permits and associated safety certificates for maintenance orders based on the maintained determination mapping using the mass-generation program,

• Customer-specific individualization can be implemented by a new BAdI to override the default determination of permit-to-work templates for orders regarding the mass-generation program.
• Prerequisites:

• Activation of permit to work for the planning plant,
• Creation and approval of work-permit templates,
• Existence of maintenance orders,
• Existence of mapping for the maintenance-order data combination and work-permit template.

For more information, see Mass Generation of Permit to Work Objects.

Human Capital Management

Quick view for SAP Fiori apps for SAP Human Capital Management for SAP S/4HANA

The Quick View feature offers additional details about employees, including their contact information, office location, and manager. Users can launch cross-app functionality from various SAP Fiori apps, such as "Employee Profile" and "Approve Timesheet," by clicking on an employee's name. This provides essential contact and organizational details, including name, phone, email, cell phone, office address, local time, and time zone. It also allows navigation to the "Organizational Chart" app. Key benefits include quick access to contact information without leaving the self-service environment and the convenience of starting an email or call with just one click, ultimately saving time and enhancing efficiency.

Picture 30: Enable fast provisioning of contact information of an employee without leaving self-service.

Access to an employee's public profile

The “Employee Profile” app allows users to access publicly available employee information, including name, personnel number, contact details, location details, and organizational information. It can be launched either from the Employee Address Book result list or as a standalone application. Users can view general employee information, including their manager and direct colleagues. The app provides access to an employee's public profile, enabling navigation through the enterprise search functionality. Key features include displaying contact and location information, an employee's picture, the name of their manager, job description, organizational unit, cost center, and a list of direct colleagues. Additionally, it allows navigation to the organizational chart and public profiles of other employees. The key benefits include enriching the result list in the employee address book, easily retrieving important information, and intuitively finding related employees, such as managers and colleagues.

 Picture 31: Enrich the information contained in the result list of the employee address book.

Supporting concurrent employment in SAP Fiori apps for SAP Human Capital Management for SAP S/4HANA

The system empowers employees and managers with concurrent employment to view and manage data for all their positions seamlessly. Users can easily switch between different employments within various employee applications, such as My Team Calendar and Employee Profile. Similarly, managers can navigate between their different roles in applications like My Reporting and the Organizational Chart. This capability provides significant benefits by saving time and streamlining processes for those with multiple employments, allowing them to utilize self-service features without needing to log in multiple times. Employees and managers can switch from one contract to another with just a click of a button in most relevant apps, enhancing efficiency and user experience.

 Picture 32: Save time and streamline processes for employees and managers with multiple employments by enabling them to use self-services for all their employments without having to log on twice.

How Customers and Partners Can Give Input to the Roadmap of the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition

We would like to provide you with a comprehensive overview of how and where you can raise your voice to influence developments in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition going forward.

For more information, see the blog post from Anja Wilde here.

For general roadmap information please check the SAP S/4HANA Roadmap.

Thanks for reading this blog post.

If you are also interested in other Lines of Business and Industries for this new SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition 2023 release, I would like to draw your attention to my link collection blog – The Link Collection.

If you want to learn more about SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, join our Partner Community. This group focuses on providing enhanced learnings and periodic updates concerning the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition product. Our goal is to facilitate collaboration with your peers and SAP subject matter experts.

For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, check out the following links:

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition release info: sap.com/s4hana

• SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition Community here
• SAP S/4HANA PSCC Digital Enablement Wheel here
• Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast here
• Best practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition here
• Help Portal Product Page here
• Feature Scope Description here

• What’s New here.

Follow the SAP S/4HANA Cloud tag and the PSCC_Enablement tag to stay up to date with the latest blog posts, or myself via @VoglerChrist and LinkedIn