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OwenPettiford
Active Participant
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One of the features SAP delivered with S/4HANA to ease conversion from SAP ECC are the so called Compatibility Pack Scope items. Put simply these are bits of functionality that exist in SAP ECC but do not form part of the long term scope for S/4HANA.

To see the full scope of S/4HANA 1809 and the associated Compatibility Pack Scope look into the S/4HANA Functional Scope Description document.

Note : This is a great document to show anyone that doesn’t understand the functional richness of SAP S/4HANA – At nearly 572 pages (with 94 covering Compatibility Pack Scope) it makes a great bedtime read.

You can use Compatibility Pack Scope items in S/4HANA after a conversion BUT importantly you will not be able to use them after 2025 as they will not have a license, will not be supported, will not be tested to see if they work between versions/support packs and SAP could choose to remove them at any time.


Why do we have Compatibility Pack Scope ?


The reasons for a feature becoming part of the Compatibility Scope are various but in my opinion can be grouped into 3 main areas :-

  • Duplicates : Features that were duplicated by other features in the system – SAP want S/4HANA to have just one place for each feature – this is known as the “Principle of One”.

  • Superseded : Features that have been superseded by more advanced functionality which must be migrated to by 2025. The most known example here is Warehouse Management (LE-WM) module which is replaced with Extended Warehouse Management. Others include Special Ledgers, Transportation (LE-TRA), most of HR, many industry solutions and Logistic Information Systems - see the Compatibility Scope Matrix in the SAP Note below for a full list.

  • Not Used : Features that very few customers ever used and have been removed to simplify the solutions.


Why should you care about Compatibility Pack Scope ?


If you are considering a Brownfield conversion the Compatibility Pack Scope is really important as you will need to factor the time and effort required to move from the items you use in the Compatibility Pack Scope to the new recommended solution. This can be done any time before 2025, so you have plenty of time but the associated effort and costs should be built into your business case to convert to S/4HANA. In some case you many find that the effort required tips you closer to going Greenfield with a fresh implementation and the benefits of a fresh start. See my Greenfield / Brownfield questionnaire to see other things to consider.

If you do consider going Greenfield and you do this with the On Premise version then you still need to be aware of the Compatibility Pack Scope because you need to make sure that your implementation partner doesn’t turn on “stuff “you will then have to turn off – I haven’t seen this personally but I can imagine it happening if the people implementing are experienced SAP ECC consultants and not close to the S/4HANA capabilities.

One way to avoid this risk is to go with S/4HANA Cloud because in this SaaS environment you (or the people implementing the solution) will not be able to access the Compatibility Pack Scope as it is not exposed as part of the Best Practice configuration.

How do I find out what is in Compatibility Pack Scope ?


As with all things SAP – a SAP note exists for that !

https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2269324

This references a nice overview presentation, an FAQ document and also a detailed matrix that shows the Compatibility Pack Scope and the associated replacement scope and SAP Note.


Still have questions on Compatibility Pack Scope ?


If you have any further questions on specific Compatibility Pack Scope and the impact it might have on your S/4HANA plans please post them below and I can raise them with SAP next time the SAP Mentors meet with development in Walldorf.
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