- SAP Managed Tags
In the past quarter, we continued delivering many more useful features and functions to SAP Sustainability Footprint Management and we achieved great success stories together with our customers. This blog post continues my quarterly series and gives you an overview of some of the highlights. I’m covering:
- Calculate Footprints for Different Periodicities
- Custom Emission Factors
- Currency Conversion for Spend-based Calculation
- Other Release Highlights
- SAP Continuous Influence
- Customer Success Stories
Calculate Footprints for Different Periodicities
We started SAP Sustainability Footprint Management with providing calculations of product and corporate footprints on a monthly level. Listening to feedback from our customers and partners, we have now also enabled the calculation for different periodicities, such as calendar years, quarters, and fiscal periods.
To use this new feature, first ensure that the correct user roles are applied. Next, you can import the required master data entities:
- Periods – supporting calendar month, quarter, year, and fiscal period, quarter, year
- Period Variants – specifying a classification, which can be a calendar or fiscal variant; the calendar period variant SAP_CY is delivered with the solution (for more information see Fiscal Year)
- Ledgers – representing the central repositories for accounting data in SAP S/4HANA (for more information, see Ledger)
It's recommended to import ledgers and period variants before periods to ensure consistency. Master data is imported the usual ways via replication from integrated source systems, importing files, or APIs.
Now, you can configure the Footprint Inventory Scope by editing an existing or creating a new one. Choose fiscal year, period, or quarter, and fill the necessary ledger and period variant fields. For the periodicity to work, you need to activate form-based data collection and select value chain steps. Afterwards, the form-based data collection is enabled, and you can work with the Manage GHG Data Collections and Import Business Transactions apps.
In the Manage GHG Data Collections app, pick the period for which you want to collect data. A prefilled list of periods is available and filtered by periodicity and period variant, based on the previously selected footprint inventory scope. Via the Import Business Transactions app, import business transaction data by selecting the available footprint inventory scope and period.
When everything is set up, the footprint calculation can be created in the Calculate Footprints app. Select the same period as the ones selected when collecting and importing data. As usual, assign allocation schemes and energy flow models (if applicable) and choose a calculation variant. Note that those must be valid for the whole period. After filling out all information, the calculation can be triggered, and the footprint results can be viewed and analyzed in the respective analytical apps.
See the scenario guide Calculating Footprints for Fiscal Years/Quarters/Periods for all details and required steps. Accordingly, also the existing OData APIs available via SAP Business Accelerator Hub have been enhanced to support different periodicities.
Custom Emission Factors
We already provide many different possibilities to import emission factors from various sources and map them to business data replicated from your ERP system. However, it may be that there’s just no matching emission factor available, for example when you’re purchasing a complex product, manufactured from many different parts such as an engine. For those cases, we now provide the option to calculate a custom emission factor using the known emission factors of its individual parts or components. This custom emission factor aggregates the emissions data of all the items that make up the product or activity, providing a proxy or substitute for a direct emission factor. This method uses available data of existing datasets as reference, if imported previously or if those are part of the pre-delivered content, to estimate overall emissions.
In the Manage Emission Factors app, you find a new tab Custom Datasets where custom emission factor can be created by generating a custom dataset. This dataset aggregates emission factors from multiple component datasets. Essentially, the custom dataset serves as a data package and can be used as a reference for calculating emission footprints in consumer apps.
Begin by entering general information like what you would input in the EmissionDataset sheet of the import file, including the identifier, country/region, validity period, reference period, and reference quantity. Next, under Component Datasets, you can add a row for each component. It’s possible to either input manual values, where you provide the name, quantity, emission factor, and unit of measure, or you can select existing datasets as a reference. For the latter, you choose a dataset from a list, and only customize the quantity while other fields auto-populate based on the chosen data package. Proceed with filling out the remaining tabs, including classifications, attributes, qualities, and sources, corresponding to the information required for an imported dataset. After saving the new dataset, the application aggregates the emission factors of the component datasets and calculates the custom emission factor, displaying it in the header of the custom dataset under Custom Emission Factor. After releasing, the dataset is available as an emission factor reference in consumer apps, such as Manage Purchased Product Footprints. Released custom datasets can be managed similarly to data packages: You can undo a release, archive, restore, or delete them as needed. For more details and example use cases, see Create Custom Emission Factors.
Currency Conversion for Spend-based Calculation
Last quarter, we enhanced our calculation methods by introducing spend-based emission factors and calculations. We’re now improving this further and can now also handle multiple currencies. When the currency specified for a carbon footprint differs from that of the input item (such as a business transaction or activity), the system converts the currency using predefined exchange rates stored in the Currency master data and rounds the amounts to the defined decimal precision.
For example, given a box of strawberries costing 10 EUR with an exchange rate of 1 USD to 0,80 EUR, and a strawberry emission factor of 1 kgCO2e per USD, the system automatically converts the currencies and calculates a footprint of 12,5 kgCO2e for the 10 EUR box (10 EUR x 1kgCO2e / 0,80 EUR).
To use the feature, import the master data for the following new entities:
- Exchange Rate Types
- Exchange Rates
- Exchange Rate Factors
- Quotation Exchange Rates
Reimporting currency master data is recommended to update decimal precision. Otherwise, the system defaults to two decimal places. You can import the master data entities using the Import Master Data app or the Import Master Data (Corporate and Products) OData API on SAP Business Accelerator Hub which has been enhanced accordingly. The inverse method to convert amounts from one currency to another is also supported. In an exchange rate type, you can specify whether the system is allowed to use the inverted exchange rate. For more information, see Master Data Entities.
In the Record GHG Data app, when the period’s emission factor currency differs from the business activity’s currency, the converted amount is displayed automatically. The prerequisite is that currency conversion master data is available and that the amount can be converted into the target currency.
Other Release Highlights
In the Manage Purchased Product Footprints app, you can now create a single footprint applicable to all plants in your master data by not selecting any specific plant. Previously, the system generated individual footprints for each plant, cluttering the released footprints list. This change streamlines and simplifies the process of creating footprints for purchased products and reduces clutter. Also, when leveraging the AI-based automatic mapping, now only one single footprint record will be created after releasing the mapping result, applicable to all plants. For more information, see Manage Purchased Product Footprints. To ensure that footprints are calculated correctly, a new default product determination method has been configured that is used for calculating a purchased product footprint based on the product and all plants combination. Check Manage Calculation Variants for more details.
A recent update to the Import Master Data app ensures that inconsistencies in Quantity Conversions, Quantity Dimensions, Global Trade Item Numbers, and Commodity Codes no longer affect the overall consistency of product master data records. This enhancement allows for product records with minor data issues to remain usable in further processes, improving the reliability and utility of the data. We also improved our documentation and the Resolving Data Inconsistencies section in Master Data Consistency has been updated with more information on this topic. For guidance on how the system validates units of measure in data records and how to resolve related inconsistencies across various data records, see Resolving Inconsistencies from Units of Measure.
An update of the Import Business Transactions app now allows the import of reversed business transactions, including corrections to previously posted goods movements and service confirmations. Unlike before, these reversals are no longer considered inconsistencies but are processed for footprint calculation. This enhances the accuracy of tracking carbon emissions associated with goods movements and resource usage. Reversals can either decrease or increase the footprint of products and ongoing production processes during the period they’re imported into SAP Sustainability Footprint Management. For more information, see Calculating Reversals of Business Transactions.
For providing direct feedback about your experience with SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, we implemented a new feedback tool, accessible via a new button on the launchpad. A survey will open in which you can rate your user experience and provide additional feedback or suggestions. This will help us to further improve the quality and features. Feedback is collected at a company level, and no personal data is captured. Please note that this tool isn’t intended for creating support cases or requesting technical support and you won't receive a reply regarding the feedback you submit.
The user interface of the application is now also available in additional languages:
- Czech
- Hungarian
- Slovenian
- Slovak
- Romanian
Check SAP Help for the overview of all Supported Languages.
To help you better understand the application, we’re constantly improving the documentation on SAP Help. Recently, the help for the Manage Emission Factors app has been restructured and expanded, now including detailed information such as a list of consumer applications that utilize emission factor references, default data packages provided with the app, and an updated list of tasks. Additionally, new examples have been provided to clarify how calculation cycles work in processes where output becomes input in iterative cycles.
I talked about the integration of SAP Sustainability Footprint Management with SAP Sustainability Data Exchange in a couple of previous blog posts, enabling the sharing of actual footprints across the supply chain. You can obtain primary emissions from your suppliers to leverage in your calculation, and you can send the calculated results to your customers. This not only improves the accuracy of footprints and supports the move from average to actual data, but also strengthens the relationship with your customers. We’re happy to announce that SAP Sustainability Data Exchange is now generally available for all customers. Find more information in the feature SAP Sustainability Data Exchange Now Available to Help Companies Achieve Net-Zero Goals by Gunther Rothermel, as well as in this blog post by Leyi Liu: SAP Sustainability Data Exchange Launched as Generally Available.
Another crucial element is the integration of calculated footprints into SAP S/4HANA and your end-to-end processes to enable your business users making sustainable decisions. Besides out-of-the-box integrations in Purchasing and Inventory Management, you can also leverage Key User and Developer Extensibility to extend additional S/4HANA business processes with emission information. Besides the overall footprint, it’s now also possible to display the breakdown of the footprint into the individual GHG Scopes and categories directly in SAP S/4HANA. The blog post Key User Extensibility and Developer Extensibility for Carbon Footprint Category Breakdown by Martin Knechtel has all details and guides you through the required steps.
SAP Continuous Influence
At SAP, customer feedback is at the heart of our innovation process. With the SAP Continuous Influence program, you have the opportunity to directly impact the future development of SAP products and services. By sharing your ideas, needs, and priorities, you can help shape the direction of our solutions and ensure they meet your business needs. We’re excited to announce the launch of our new SAP Influence page for SAP Sustainability solutions.
Besides SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, this also contains SAP Sustainability Control Tower and SAP Responsible Design and Production. These solutions cover key sustainability topics like ESG-related disclosure, Material Transition, and Carbon Management. This dedicated platform allows you, as a customer or partner, to submit feature requests, vote on others' ideas, and receive timely feedback from SAP.
Check out the page at https://influence.sap.com/go/sustainability and start making your voice heard.
Customer Success Stories
With the Catena-X network, empowered by SAP Sustainability solutions, WITTE Automotive leads the way in supply chain decarbonization. The family-owned company was founded in 1899 and is a global leader in mechatronic locking systems for vehicles. They emphasize sustainability, climate protection, and circular economy considerations in their product development. WITTE needed a standardized method, widely accepted in the industry, to calculate and communicate their product carbon footprint (PCF). They also required efficient communication of PCF values to multiple customers and suppliers, instead of 1:1 interaction. To solve those challenges, WITTE implemented SAP Sustainability Footprint Management to calculate the PCF in compliance with the Catena-X rulebook, and significantly reduced the manual effort through automated data flow from their SAP S/4HANA system. They now further use SAP Sustainability Data Exchange to manage and share PCF data with business partners through the Catena-X network. As a result, through the ERP integration they achieve a 3-5 times more efficient calculation, compared to a manual, Excel-based method. They also save around 10k EUR per PCF calculation, compared to hiring external calculation experts. Read the full story here: WITTE Automotive customer story sustainability.
In my last quarter’s blog post, I already shared the SAP Innovation Award win by Martur Fompak and would like to provide some more details on their accomplishments in this edition. As one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers, they integrated SAP Sustainability Footprint Management with their SAP S/4HANA Cloud system to monitor their carbon footprint across core business processes. In combination with SAP Business AI, they can now make informed decisions based on the environmental impacts of different activities and components. The technology played a crucial role in a project for sustainable vehicle cockpit customization, enabling the development of an app using SAP Build Apps that allows users to personalize cockpit elements and choose sustainable materials. The app leverages SAP Business AI to suggest eco-friendly materials and uses virtual reality to showcase the environmental impact of choices. Additionally, Martur Fompak uses this solution for carbon footprint monitoring across 620 work centers and 100 energy analyzers, improving the transparency and efficiency of its energy consumption tracking. By doing so, they achieved significant environmental benefits, including a reduction of more than a third in car seat carbon emissions and over half in transportation emissions. The solution's detailed analytical reporting capabilities enable their employees and executives to incorporate sustainability data into daily decisions, such as adopting green steel and increasing renewable energy use. Carbon footprint calculations are now over 50 times faster compared to manual methods, and data collection is 75 times quicker than previous spreadsheet-based processes. This efficiency allows Martur Fompak to address sustainability challenges more swiftly and focus on strategic initiatives. By tracking emissions throughout product lifecycles, the company has met sustainability standards ahead of regulatory deadlines. Additionally, leveraging SAP Signavio Process Insights to optimize sustainability-related processes positions Martur Fompak as a leader in integrating sustainability with Cloud ERP systems. Ultimately, the company's focus on sustainability not only aligns with customer priorities but aims to effect industry-wide changes, encouraging vehicle manufacturers to adopt low-carbon solutions. Check out the full customer story: Martur Fompak: Unlocking sustainability with carbon footprint transparency. It’s also worth watching Özlem Altinisik, Martur Fompak’s Group Intelligent Technologies Director, telling their impressive story on stage at this year’s SAP Sapphire Barcelona Customer Keynote:
Another great customer is Matsumoto Precision, a producer of pneumatic control components and other automotive and machine parts, based in Japan. They’ve implemented SAP Sustainability Footprint Management successfully to calculate and report the carbon footprint of each of their purchased and manufactured products, providing essential environmental insights to business partners and setting a benchmark in sustainable practices. This supports them in their green transformation and aligns with the company's core strategy of creating ‘The Sustainable Factory’, which includes goals like self-sufficiency in electricity through solar power. Matsumoto Precision can now provide detailed carbon emission data for each product, adding value and differentiating their offerings in the marketplace. This initiative aims to drive a broader push towards sustainability within Japan's manufacturing sector, encouraging collaboration across various company sizes to improve national competitiveness. The project serves as a model for other companies looking to reduce their carbon footprints and contribute to a decarbonized society through collaborative efforts. Watch the following video to hear the CEO Toshitada Matsumoto sharing their story: Matsumoto Precision: Driving transformation to enable sustainability in the value chain.
Additional Information
For in-depth details on SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, including concepts, setup, and the application help, I recommend you browsing through the SAP Help Portal. For an overview of all new features and functions that have been released, check the What’s New section, which is updated with every new software release.
To get an outlook on the features and functions that are planned to be added to the solution in the next months, have a look into SAP Road Map Explorer. This is updated regularly and will provide you with an overview of all planned innovations and which benefits those will bring to you.
For exploring and experimenting in a live system, register for the free SAP Sustainability Footprint Management Trial. You’ll receive an e-mail with access information within seconds after your registration and can then test the solution at your own convenience within a 30-day trial period. It also includes a wide range of guided tours designed to help you navigate through all the features and functions comprehensively. Recently, we also added new tours and will shortly release additional ones, representing the latest features and an enhanced user experience.
If you want to learn more about the product, check out our SAP Learning Journey: Taking Action on Climate Change with SAP Sustainability Footprint Management. This eLearning includes three comprehensive courses, each consisting of multiple units. The training is interactive, featuring numerous hands-on simulations and exercises. Upon successful completion of the program, you’ll be rewarded with a Record of Achievement and a digital badge. In Q4-24, we will also deliver a major update to provide separate learning journeys for different roles and levels, stay tuned!
To stay up to date on SAP Sustainability Footprint Management, follow me here in the SAP Community. In regular cadence, I’ll publish blog posts giving you updates on all the product’s new features and functions as well as deep dives into the product capabilities. I’m also looking forward to engaging with you directly, feel free to leave your feedback in the comment section.
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