Managing Compliance Register in SAP EHS: Boosting ...

Gowtham_Monunagurusamy

In today’s sustainability driven business environment, organizations are continuously adapting to new regulatory frameworks from environmental permits to occupational health and safety obligations.
With the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition 2508 release, SAP EHS Compliance Management is designed to centralize this process, ensuring that businesses can track, monitor, and demonstrate compliance across their operations.

Step-by-Step guide:

Maintaining an Entry in the Compliance Register
1. Confirm master data
  1. Ensure the Location (site / plant) is created and maintained in the system. (The user creating an entry in the compliance register must be assigned as the "Environmental Manager" under the location's "Person Responsible Tab")
  2. Ensure the Regulation / Permit (parent regulation) and its Requirements / Sub-requirements are created in the system.
2. Open the Manage Compliance Register app (F8632)
  1. Select the relevant Company / Site / Location and establish a link between the available Compliance obligations. This creates an assignment and it appears on the registers list. (Note that Permits can only be linked to the location to which it was originally maintained with)
3. Maintain Applicability Status for the Requirements and Sub-requirements
  1. Select an assignment and maintain applicability status for compliance and its requirements.
  2. Under "Requirement's" tab, from All Requirements, update the Applicability and Fulfillment Status for all the items that are in scope.
  3. By default, Applicability will be set as "Not Assessed"
  4. Applicability Status are as below
    1. Applicable - The requirement applies to your location.
    2. Exempted - The requirement can't be implemented and the authorities have exempted your location from having to comply with it.
    3. Not Applicable - The requirement doesn't apply to your location.
    4. Not Assessed - You haven't yet assessed whether the requirement applies to your location, or a reassessment is required.
4. Set Fulfilment Status at requirement level
  1. Once the Requirement is applicable, it is possible to create and manage "Tasks". After the necessary tasks are completed, maintain the Fulfillment Status by choosing "Set Status"
  2. Fulfillment status are as below
    1. Fulfilled - You assess the requirement as fulfilled, or you've already planned actions to fulfill it.
    2. Fulfilled with Variance - The requirement is fulfilled with acceptable deviations.
    3. Not Assessed - The status of the requirement is undefined. This is the default status for a newly assigned applicable requirement.
    4. Not Fulfilled - The requirement is unfulfilled because either no actions have been taken, or the actions have failed.
  3. Ensure both Applicability and Fulfillment statuses get updated, and If there is an action required for a requirement (e.g., regulation changed or a task failed), mark Action Required = Yes for that requirement and add the remediation note. Once the action is addressed, choose "Clear Action Required" button which immediately set it to No.
  4. Go back to Parent compliance, and update the fulfilment status.
  5. Note: The “Action Required” status auto-updates and triggers an email notification to the responsible person in the following cases:
    1. When a compliance is modified and if the same is already in the register, it changes to “Yes”, indicating review is needed by the Compliance Manager.
    2. If any sub-requirement has Action Required = Yes, the parent compliance also updates to “Yes”.
5. Change Log Review
  1. Click the “View Change Log” button to view all recorded entries, including location creation, compliance creation, assessment updates, and justifications. This ensures an audit-ready register with complete accountability and transparency.
6. Maintenance of Compliance register
  1. The Environmental manager must ensure that all the compliance in the register are reviewed and up to date.
Verify in Operational Compliance Overview (F8787)
1. Open the Operational Compliance Overview app (F8787)
  1. Maintain the necessary filters and choose "Go".
2. Compliance Overview cards
  1. Compliance Rate : Displays a percentage based on overall fulfilled and fulfilled with variance counts.
    Colour logic:
    ≤ 30% → Red
    > 30% and < 60% → Orange
    ≥ 60% → Green
  2. Obligation Applicability : Displays the total number of obligations categorised by their applicability status. (i.e., which obligations are applicable across locations).
  3. Obligation Fulfilment : Shows the number of obligations by location and their fulfilment status.
  4. Note: Interacting with any section of the chart will navigate back to the Manage Compliance register app.

By maintaining a structured digital compliance register and having clear visibility in dashboards:

Organizations strengthen their ESG governance structure.
It enhances audit readiness, since every regulation, task, and status update is traceable.
Most importantly, it bridges the gap between regulatory adherence and sustainability accountability, making compliance measurable and reportable.

The 2508 release is another example of SAP’s commitment to continuously improve the sustainability and compliance landscape.
By leveraging these new functionalities, EHS and sustainability teams can move from reactive reporting to proactive compliance management, ensuring that regulatory requirements are met efficiently and transparently.

This blog is intended for knowledge sharing and aims to help readers better understand and explore SAP Sustainability solutions. I hope it provided valuable insights into the topic discussed. In the upcoming blogs, I’ll continue sharing key functionalities, practical use cases, and best practices that can help organizations in their sustainability and compliance journey.

Stay tuned for more updates and feel free to share your thoughts or questions in the comments below.

Managing Compliance Register in SAP EHS: Boosting Transparency and Control