Implementing S/4HANA Cloud

[Manuelli]

Background

After having an S/4HANA Cloud system running in productive mode since January, 2019, I want to share some recomendations about what you need to consider if you are going to undertake an S/4HANA Cloud implementation project.

The recommendations below belong to S/4HANA Cloud Multi-tenant, as well known as, S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, as well known as, S/4HANA Cloud Essentials. Different names for what, now, is known as S/4HANA Cloud. From my point of view, S/4HANA Cloud is the ERP for companies who quickly want a robust, working and stable ERP to run their business and not dedicating time to re-invent the wheel. S/4HANA Cloud is a system for the future that you can use today.

Note: another business scenario where S/4HANA Cloud will be very helpful is the Two Tiers ERP

Recomendations

The below points are what I would have liked to know before starting an S/4HANA Cloud implementation proyect:

1. Follow the compass: SAP Activate methodology, SAP Roadmap viewer and SAP Best Practices. They are great guidance for project implementation and there is a lot of content ready to use: test cases, training, templates,...


2. Change Management is instrumental for a successful implementation. Stakeholders need to accept the changes caused by the project and you should inform to stakeholders in advance the impact on them, when things will occur, when they will have to work and what they will have to do. It is also important that they understand and adopt the cloud mindset


3. Ensure the people/company you hire to implement the project know about S/4HANA Cloud


4. Enable your employees (IT and business Teams) participating in the project - give them an S/4HANA Cloud training.


5. Start with role definition and data migration from the beginning (fit-to-standard).


6. Keep in mind the releases calendar in your planning because for three weeks you will be unable to: Transport changes, request new system, request new scope item or country activation, and other restriction might apply.


7. Avoid developments/extensions wherever you can. Fit-to-Standard approach. Reduce total cost of implementation and total cost of ownership. But also, if you need to extend, do it right and be aware of the different extension options: In-app (new fields, new logic, substitutions, validations,…), side-by-side (BTP) and the new Developer Extensibility.  See SAP Extensibility Explorer for SAP S/4HANA Cloud


8. Leverage custom CDS, custom queries and embedded SAC. Ensure consultants know well these capabilities to offer solutions to your reporting requirements.


9. Consider implementing SAP Cloud Integration to connect your S/4HANA Cloud to other systems. Integration is limited to the published APIs and CDS. Ensure you have consultants with relevant knowledge on SAP Cloud Integration.


10. Consider to build automate testing for regression testing using the Test Automation Tool included in the license.


11. Consider to request and use SAP Cloud ALM. I find this tool very useful for implementation and later for operations.


12. SAP Customer influence program does not work to solve a problem during implementation. It might take months/years to have a new feature implemented. 2963059 - How to Submit Feature Requests for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Product


13. Data archiving: might not be necessary but there is not much documentation. Archiving jobs are executed weekly by SAP weekly so process is slow.


14. Be ready for the cloud latency, system time response is bigger than on-premise and you can do nothing.

Useful links

Here you have a list of links which I think you need to have at hand in your every day work with S/4HANA Cloud.

• S/4HANA Cloud help https://help.sap.com/docs/SAP_S4HANA_CLOUD


• S/4HANA Cloud topic page https://community.sap.com/topics/s4hana-cloud


• SAP API Hub https://api.sap.com


• SAP Fiori Apps reference library https://fioriappslibrary.hana.ondemand.com/sap/fix/externalViewer/


• SAP Product roadmap https://www.sap.com/spain/products/roadmaps.html


• S/4HANA Cloud Localization topic page https://community.sap.com/topics/s4hana-cloud-localization


• SAP Customer Influence https://influence.sap.com/sap/ino/


• SAP Customer Interaction center https://support.sap.com/en/contact-us.html


• SAP Activate topic page https://community.sap.com/topics/activate


• SAP S/4HANA Cloud onboarding presentation from SAP Roadmap viewer https://support.sap.com/content/dam/SAAP/SAP_Activate/S4H_399%20Onboarding%20Presentation.pptx


• When SAP mentions a ‘Best Practice’ it’s talking about the best way to execute a process in the SAP system. https://blogs.sap.com/2019/07/22/what-is-an-sap-best-practice-anyway

 

I hope these points help you in identifying the skills and size of your team, in planning and executing your project and to save time and headaches in your S/4HANA Cloud journey.

I would like to ask you to add in the comments of this blog any other lesson learned you might have or chime in any of my points above. Discussion will be helpful to others.

If you want to know more you can join to the Linkedin group S/4HANACloud