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COVID-19 has changed Last-Mile Deliveries forever and is going to be one of the biggest challenges as new technologies must be introduced to save time, reduce operational costs, and enhance the customer experience. Learn about how the new innovations shipped with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01 can help here concerning the Consumers Products Industry.
Since the market introduction of the first delivery of SAP S/4HANA in 2015, we have significantly invested in industries and continuously added new functionalities and values to the SAP S/4HANA solution bringing simplifications, innovations, automation, analytics, and user experience to customers.
The blog is built as a series of 2 parts and present the key highlights for:
Let us put the focus on some of the most recent innovations for industries that are new with the latest release SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01.
Last Mile Distribution supports the distribution of ordered goods directly to the final points of sale. Manufacturers and suppliers of different consumer goods industries can coordinate all phases of the distribution process centrally.
Last Mile Distribution enables manufacturers and suppliers of different consumer goods to coordinate the distribution of goods to the final point of sale (POS), such as retail stores or a mom-
and-pop stores: from route preparation to route execution through to route settlement. It represents an alternative approach to central retail deliveries for delivering goods to stores. Last Mile Distribution is most suitable for supporting the needs of consumer goods companies involved in the production of food and beverages, as well as the needs of tobacco and oil and gas companies.
Now with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01, we bring innovations in three areas for the status of routes and settlement.
Route Document Flow:
With this app, you can gain an overview of all customer visits for settled routes that have uncompleted documents and navigate to these documents to take action if necessary.
You can use this app to:
Route Overview:
With this app, you can see all relevant route information and KPIs at a glance. This information gives you insights into the statuses of routes during the execution and settlement phases so that you can take action if necessary.
This app provides the following key features:
Figure 1: Increase transparency about route processing end to end
Collected Payments:
With this app, you can track the payments for delivered goods that drivers have collected from customers on delivery routes.
You can use this app to:
With the FPS01 release, we deliver multiple enhancements options to the overall process to change or adapt data throughout the process.
Define custom scenarios for route processing:
With this feature, you can adapt the route preparation process, the mobile data upload and download, and the route settlement process according to the requirements of your process for delivering ordered goods. You can change the sequence of standard processes and process steps. Furthermore, you can also delete processes and process steps and add new ones.
Enhance route settlement:
With this feature, you can enhance the route settlement process in Last Mile Distribution by implementing customer-specific enhancements. For example, you can adjust the information in sales documents and billing documents that are created and posted during route settlement.
Figure 2: Avoidance of modifying the system by using defined and integrated enhancements capabilities
You can use this process if you receive delivery confirmations per EDI, in which your JIT customer confirms the call components you delivered. In practice, these delivery confirmations are also called day’s collective delivery notes. The system can automatically create a billing document on the basis of the delivery confirmation. Then you can carry out a logistic quantity match with the calls in your system.
Now with the SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01 release, we have a new SAP Fiori app and you could display incoming JIT delivery confirmations from your customers and its matching and release status on document and item level. On the item level, you can display the referred customer JIT calls and the comparison of confirmed quantity and delivered quantity. Follow-on documents from consignment issue order to billing document are displayed per the JIT delivery confirmation item.
When not released automatically, you can release JIT delivery confirmations manually.
Figure 3: Manage JIT delivery confirmations from customers primarily within the context of sequenced JIT calls, and as a base for billing or self-billing
Due to the specific nature of their missions and tasks, armed forces, police organizations, and aid organizations need to be able to perform the following activities from the domestic base for operations and exercises:
This feature enables operation and exercise management.
Figure 4: Enhancements for force elements with inherited supplier relationships
The Public Sector industry provides solutions for activities and services provided by public authorities at the federal, state, and municipal level. Solutions are provided for the financial management of services, incomes, taxes, and applications in conjunction with citizens and commercial organizations. The Public Sector Management solutions are designed to manage the government income and expenditure budget.
Now with FPS01, we deliver enterprise search capabilities for account assignments and documents used in the public sector, defense, higher education, and research industry segments.
This feature enables you to:
The key benefits here are that the customer has now one entry point for application navigation based on search results and we improved the user experience by enhancing searching capabilities for all public-sector account assignments and documents.
Figure 5: Increase user efficiency by finding the right object throughout the system landscape
In times of deregulated markets and increasing competition, it is vital that you provide the best possible response to your customers’ requirements, use operational information tailored to their specific requirements, and maximize revenue potential.
SAP S/4HANA for Utilities is a process-oriented sales and information system that supports all services provided by utility and waste disposal companies. You can use SAP Utilities to manage and bill residential, commercial and industrial, and prospective customers.
This feature enables you to use an asynchronous (A2A) outbound service to replicate sales contracts, installations, and installation facts in bulk from SAP S/4HANA Utilities to other systems.
New with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01:
Video 1: Provide customers with the ability to choose between IS-U contract and Sales Contract to replicate to external marketing system such as SAP Marketing Cloud.
Insurance provides advanced claims, policy, and billing management capabilities insurers need to improve efficiency, profitability, and customer loyalty. It enables insurers to implement best-in-class business processes.
Remark: With Claims Notification for Insurance, you can manage the entire claims process, from the first notification of loss to claims adjustment and financial reporting.
Now with this new release, we develop a new SAP Fiori app Claims Inquiry and Update Claim. With the Claims Inquiry and Update Claim app, you can search for and display claims on an SAP Fiori interface. You can also update the claim header and sub-claim sections of the selected claim using this app. You can search for existing claims using attributes like the policyholder name, license plate number, and policy product, and select the claim to be updated from a list of records. The claims information provided includes sub-claim details, the claim status, pending tasks, the financials details of reserves and payments, coverage referrals, and notes.
Additional Details: The Claims Inquiry and Update Claim app is an application variant of the Claims Inquiry app and has the same features as the Claims Inquiry app. It allows you to update a set of specific claim data using the Update Claim Header and Edit buttons in the respective sections. Click the required button to navigate to the Update Claim Header or Maintain Sub-claim app where you can update the header and sub-claim information using the available fields.
Figure 6: Improve usability and increase efficiency while maintaining insurance claims
Remark: With Policy processing for Insurance, you can map the whole life cycle of an insurance contract, starting from the creation of an application, through policy issuance and ongoing contract maintenance, right up to the termination of the contract.
Now we have a new Time Model Function to Trigger the Creation of a Renewal Quote in External System. The new time model function CTRREN is available within the context of Renewal. You can use this time model function to trigger the creation of a renewal quote in SAP Product, Quotation, and Underwriting Management (PQM).
Banking solutions in SAP S/4HANA manage the complete lifecycle of various financial products in the following areas:
Remark: The Average Daily Balance (ADB) is a figure that represents the average balance of an account for a specific period. This component allows you to calculate ADBs for intra-month dates based on the posting date of FI documents. You can also calculate several other key figures, such as the year-to-date average balance. This component, therefore, allows you to calculate efficiently and accurately the ADB at any point during a year.
Now with the SAP Fiori app ADB Trial Balance you can display average daily balances and spot balances. You can do this for each ledger and all company codes. Using this app, you can add the measures and dimensions by using drag and drop functions to provide a user-friendly interface. Also, this allows you to display data in a hierarchical format.
The following features enable these abilities in monitoring your ledger balance granularity and conditions on a daily basis to ensure delivery of accurate and consistent information to statutory, regulatory, and management stakeholders at scheduled times:
Figure 7: Gain immediate insights into your balance sheet and income statement condition through clarity on the ADB and spot balance key figures
Retail and Fashion is a unique industry that requires perfect execution. The end-to-end lifecycle of delivering products and services while providing outstanding customer experiences is a challenge that requires precision and accuracy to win every time. Retail and Fashion companies must be ready to serve their customers at any given moment with the right information, the right product, in the right location, and at the right price.
The capabilities delivered with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01for Retail and Fashion are to ensure that the processes run smoothly and efficiently across the entire customer engagement lifecycle.
With these new SAP Fiori apps, you can manage assortment modules and their related versions, along with the product assignments and assortment user assignments. Both the product assignments and the assortment user assignments form the relationship between the products and the assortment users.
The goals here are to improve the user experience and fulfill the user criteria and satisfaction by harmonizing assortment and product life-cycle.
Figure 8: Ensure the ability to order the right products at the right time to the right stores.
Store associates need an intuitive app to adjust the stock of multiple products for different reasons to maintain the stock accuracy of products available in the store. Additionally, the app helps to increase the productivity of the store and the replenishment process of products to the store.
As a store associate, you can use the app to adjust the stock quantity of products at the store and storage location levels for different reasons that you can define such as write-offs, wastage, breakage, giveaways, and own consumption by scanning the barcode (GTIN) of products and posting the adjustment in the system quickly. The stock quantity will be updated immediately after the posting.
Figure 9: Optimize store replenishment and product availability.
Key Features:
This app provides the following key features:
The Hand Over Orders app is enhanced with the following features:
Figure 10: Increase customer satisfaction through efficient interactions with store associates.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Stay tuned!
If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP S/4HANA, join our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Customer Community. This platform which is available to SAP S/4HANA customers and partners has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with one another about best practices and product solutions.
For more information on SAP S/4HANA, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:
Follow us via @Sisn and #S4HANA, or myself via @VoglerChrist and LinkedIn
Since the market introduction of the first delivery of SAP S/4HANA in 2015, we have significantly invested in industries and continuously added new functionalities and values to the SAP S/4HANA solution bringing simplifications, innovations, automation, analytics, and user experience to customers.
The blog is built as a series of 2 parts and present the key highlights for:
- Part 1: Lines of business
- Part 2: Industries
Let us put the focus on some of the most recent innovations for industries that are new with the latest release SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01.
Consumer Products
Last Mile Distribution for Direct Distribution: Quickly gain insights into the status of routes and settlement and take immediate action, if necessary.
Last Mile Distribution supports the distribution of ordered goods directly to the final points of sale. Manufacturers and suppliers of different consumer goods industries can coordinate all phases of the distribution process centrally.
Last Mile Distribution enables manufacturers and suppliers of different consumer goods to coordinate the distribution of goods to the final point of sale (POS), such as retail stores or a mom-
and-pop stores: from route preparation to route execution through to route settlement. It represents an alternative approach to central retail deliveries for delivering goods to stores. Last Mile Distribution is most suitable for supporting the needs of consumer goods companies involved in the production of food and beverages, as well as the needs of tobacco and oil and gas companies.
Now with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01, we bring innovations in three areas for the status of routes and settlement.
Route Document Flow:
With this app, you can gain an overview of all customer visits for settled routes that have uncompleted documents and navigate to these documents to take action if necessary.
You can use this app to:
- Show visits for settled routes with uncompleted documents.
- Based on the status of all relevant settlement documents, an overall status for any uncompleted documents is shown for each visit.
- Show the status of billing documents related to a visit with regard to the clearing.
- Based on the status of all billing documents created during route settlement, such as journal entries, and overall clearing document status is shown for a visit.
- Shows the flow of all customer documents for each visit by route after route settlement.
- The documents shown include the sales document, goods issue, freight order, and billing documents.
- Navigate to customer documents that are relevant for the settled route. For example, navigate to uncompleted documents to analyze what action needs to be taken.
- Navigate to related apps used in the last mile distribution process (Settle Route Data, Monitor Route Data, Collected Payments - Settled Routes, Route Overview).
- Export the route document flow to a spreadsheet.
Route Overview:
With this app, you can see all relevant route information and KPIs at a glance. This information gives you insights into the statuses of routes during the execution and settlement phases so that you can take action if necessary.
This app provides the following key features:
- Filtering of routes by route life cycle status, for example, routes that are in execution. Routes are displayed in chronological order; the topmost route is the route that has the earliest departure date.
- Navigation to more details about a specific route, which are shown in the Monitor Route Data app.
- Filtering of routes by settlement status, for example, routes with errors. Routes are displayed in chronological order; the topmost route is the route that has the earliest departure date.
- Navigation to more details about a specific route, which are shown in the Settle Route Data app.
- Visual representation of the number of routes with a specific status in the form of an interactive donut chart.
- Display of the overall check-in difference amount within a specific date range.
- Navigation to more details about each settled route with check-in differences, such as the respective driver and the check-in amount, which are shown in the Collected Payments - Settled Documents app.
- Display the total number of visits for settled routes with uncompleted documents within a specific date range.
- Navigation to more details about uncompleted documents for visits, which are shown in the Route Document Flow - Settled Documents app
Figure 1: Increase transparency about route processing end to end
Collected Payments:
With this app, you can track the payments for delivered goods that drivers have collected from customers on delivery routes.
You can use this app to:
- Show the total amount of all payments collected by a driver during a delivery route.
- Show the total amount of payments that were recorded at check-in for each settled route.
- Show settled routes and filter by settled routes with check-in differences. Check-in differences for settled routes are based on the amounts recorded at check-out, the payments collected for a route, and the payments checked in by the driver.
Last Mile Distribution for Direct Distribution: Enhancement options for customers to adapt the solution to meet their needs.
With the FPS01 release, we deliver multiple enhancements options to the overall process to change or adapt data throughout the process.
Define custom scenarios for route processing:
With this feature, you can adapt the route preparation process, the mobile data upload and download, and the route settlement process according to the requirements of your process for delivering ordered goods. You can change the sequence of standard processes and process steps. Furthermore, you can also delete processes and process steps and add new ones.
Enhance route settlement:
With this feature, you can enhance the route settlement process in Last Mile Distribution by implementing customer-specific enhancements. For example, you can adjust the information in sales documents and billing documents that are created and posted during route settlement.
Figure 2: Avoidance of modifying the system by using defined and integrated enhancements capabilities
Automotive
Just-In-Time Processing: Manage just-in-time (JIT) delivery confirmations from customers.
You can use this process if you receive delivery confirmations per EDI, in which your JIT customer confirms the call components you delivered. In practice, these delivery confirmations are also called day’s collective delivery notes. The system can automatically create a billing document on the basis of the delivery confirmation. Then you can carry out a logistic quantity match with the calls in your system.
Now with the SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01 release, we have a new SAP Fiori app and you could display incoming JIT delivery confirmations from your customers and its matching and release status on document and item level. On the item level, you can display the referred customer JIT calls and the comparison of confirmed quantity and delivered quantity. Follow-on documents from consignment issue order to billing document are displayed per the JIT delivery confirmation item.
When not released automatically, you can release JIT delivery confirmations manually.
Figure 3: Manage JIT delivery confirmations from customers primarily within the context of sequenced JIT calls, and as a base for billing or self-billing
Defense Forces & Public Security
Due to the specific nature of their missions and tasks, armed forces, police organizations, and aid organizations need to be able to perform the following activities from the domestic base for operations and exercises:
- Flexibly plan and execute operations and exercises (planning, relocation of contingents, execution, redeployment of contingents)
- Trigger and control accompanying or subsequent business processes (such as purchase orders, maintenance tasks, budgeting)
- Automate/automatically trigger and execute subsequent processes as a result of organizational changes
Force Generation: Round off existing and integrate additional maintenance and logistics processes for defense and security organizations.
This feature enables operation and exercise management.
- Dedicated force element structures based on operation and exercise usage types.
- Information about the operation, its relationship, and rotation.
- Ability to create or copy operational and exercise force elements with the relationship, rotation assignment, operational position, and provider assignment.
- Ability to create or copy operational and exercise positions with the relationship, rotation, and operational personnel assignment.
Figure 4: Enhancements for force elements with inherited supplier relationships
Public Sector
The Public Sector industry provides solutions for activities and services provided by public authorities at the federal, state, and municipal level. Solutions are provided for the financial management of services, incomes, taxes, and applications in conjunction with citizens and commercial organizations. The Public Sector Management solutions are designed to manage the government income and expenditure budget.
Grantee Management: Enable users to find public-sector-related master data and relevant objects using enterprise search capabilities.
Now with FPS01, we deliver enterprise search capabilities for account assignments and documents used in the public sector, defense, higher education, and research industry segments.
This feature enables you to:
- Search the entire system for funded programs that match the data entry.
- Search within the funded program master data application for specific items based on the search entry.
- Provide application navigation for all search results.
The key benefits here are that the customer has now one entry point for application navigation based on search results and we improved the user experience by enhancing searching capabilities for all public-sector account assignments and documents.
Figure 5: Increase user efficiency by finding the right object throughout the system landscape
Utilities
In times of deregulated markets and increasing competition, it is vital that you provide the best possible response to your customers’ requirements, use operational information tailored to their specific requirements, and maximize revenue potential.
SAP S/4HANA for Utilities is a process-oriented sales and information system that supports all services provided by utility and waste disposal companies. You can use SAP Utilities to manage and bill residential, commercial and industrial, and prospective customers.
Marketing for Utilities: enhance sales-contract service to support replication of installation to external marketing systems such as SAP Marketing Cloud.
This feature enables you to use an asynchronous (A2A) outbound service to replicate sales contracts, installations, and installation facts in bulk from SAP S/4HANA Utilities to other systems.
New with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01:
- Enable sales contract replication from IS-U to external marketing system to stay up to date with enhanced installation service
- Consider if any changes occurring in the installation: then corresponding sales contract (agreement) updated at marketing
Video 1: Provide customers with the ability to choose between IS-U contract and Sales Contract to replicate to external marketing system such as SAP Marketing Cloud.
Insurance
Insurance provides advanced claims, policy, and billing management capabilities insurers need to improve efficiency, profitability, and customer loyalty. It enables insurers to implement best-in-class business processes.
Claims Notification: Update claims information using the SAP Fiori app for claims management.
Remark: With Claims Notification for Insurance, you can manage the entire claims process, from the first notification of loss to claims adjustment and financial reporting.
Now with this new release, we develop a new SAP Fiori app Claims Inquiry and Update Claim. With the Claims Inquiry and Update Claim app, you can search for and display claims on an SAP Fiori interface. You can also update the claim header and sub-claim sections of the selected claim using this app. You can search for existing claims using attributes like the policyholder name, license plate number, and policy product, and select the claim to be updated from a list of records. The claims information provided includes sub-claim details, the claim status, pending tasks, the financials details of reserves and payments, coverage referrals, and notes.
Additional Details: The Claims Inquiry and Update Claim app is an application variant of the Claims Inquiry app and has the same features as the Claims Inquiry app. It allows you to update a set of specific claim data using the Update Claim Header and Edit buttons in the respective sections. Click the required button to navigate to the Update Claim Header or Maintain Sub-claim app where you can update the header and sub-claim information using the available fields.
Figure 6: Improve usability and increase efficiency while maintaining insurance claims
Policy Processing: Intelligent and integrated insurance-policy renewal process
Remark: With Policy processing for Insurance, you can map the whole life cycle of an insurance contract, starting from the creation of an application, through policy issuance and ongoing contract maintenance, right up to the termination of the contract.
Now we have a new Time Model Function to Trigger the Creation of a Renewal Quote in External System. The new time model function CTRREN is available within the context of Renewal. You can use this time model function to trigger the creation of a renewal quote in SAP Product, Quotation, and Underwriting Management (PQM).
Banking
Banking solutions in SAP S/4HANA manage the complete lifecycle of various financial products in the following areas:
- Deposits (for example, current accounts, savings accounts, and fixed-term deposits)
- Loans (for example, mortgage, consumer, policy, and commercial loans)
- Collaterals (for example, real estate, ships, cars, security accounts, and their relationships to receivables)
Corporate Close: Reduce days to close annual books with SAP Fiori app of average daily balances (ADB)
Remark: The Average Daily Balance (ADB) is a figure that represents the average balance of an account for a specific period. This component allows you to calculate ADBs for intra-month dates based on the posting date of FI documents. You can also calculate several other key figures, such as the year-to-date average balance. This component, therefore, allows you to calculate efficiently and accurately the ADB at any point during a year.
Now with the SAP Fiori app ADB Trial Balance you can display average daily balances and spot balances. You can do this for each ledger and all company codes. Using this app, you can add the measures and dimensions by using drag and drop functions to provide a user-friendly interface. Also, this allows you to display data in a hierarchical format.
The following features enable these abilities in monitoring your ledger balance granularity and conditions on a daily basis to ensure delivery of accurate and consistent information to statutory, regulatory, and management stakeholders at scheduled times:
- View key figures by different currency types: transaction currency, local currency, group currency, and so on
- Automatically view your average daily balance (ADB) and spot balance key figures by any of your ledger dimensions
- Drill down to account line items
- Drill down from account line items to general ledger (GL) documents.
Figure 7: Gain immediate insights into your balance sheet and income statement condition through clarity on the ADB and spot balance key figures
Retail and Fashion
Retail and Fashion is a unique industry that requires perfect execution. The end-to-end lifecycle of delivering products and services while providing outstanding customer experiences is a challenge that requires precision and accuracy to win every time. Retail and Fashion companies must be ready to serve their customers at any given moment with the right information, the right product, in the right location, and at the right price.
The capabilities delivered with SAP S/4HANA 2020 FPS01for Retail and Fashion are to ensure that the processes run smoothly and efficiently across the entire customer engagement lifecycle.
Assortment Management: Enables assortment specialists to define assortment modules, assign products and users, and monitor occurring errors.
With these new SAP Fiori apps, you can manage assortment modules and their related versions, along with the product assignments and assortment user assignments. Both the product assignments and the assortment user assignments form the relationship between the products and the assortment users.
The goals here are to improve the user experience and fulfill the user criteria and satisfaction by harmonizing assortment and product life-cycle.
Figure 8: Ensure the ability to order the right products at the right time to the right stores.
Store Merchandise and Inventory: Quantity adjustment at the store and storage location level
Store associates need an intuitive app to adjust the stock of multiple products for different reasons to maintain the stock accuracy of products available in the store. Additionally, the app helps to increase the productivity of the store and the replenishment process of products to the store.
As a store associate, you can use the app to adjust the stock quantity of products at the store and storage location levels for different reasons that you can define such as write-offs, wastage, breakage, giveaways, and own consumption by scanning the barcode (GTIN) of products and posting the adjustment in the system quickly. The stock quantity will be updated immediately after the posting.
Figure 9: Optimize store replenishment and product availability.
Key Features:
This app provides the following key features:
- Adjust the stock quantity of multiple products in one single posting.
- Add products for adjustment by scanning the barcode (GTIN) or by using the search functionality.
- Adjust products with multiple units of measure.
- Share the completed adjustment via email.
- Print the completed adjustment, if required.
- View recent postings.
Store Merchandise and Inventory: Allow store associates to efficiently pick and hand over products ordered online.
The Hand Over Orders app is enhanced with the following features:
- If the store associate chooses to assign the picked products to the handover shelves in the Process Picking Requests, then the withdrawal of products from the handover area is necessary. Alternatively, you can skip the assignment of picked products to handover shelves, to ease and speed up the handover process. To activate this feature, you need to enable the necessary settings in the Customizing. For more information, see Product Assistance.
- At the time of handing over orders, if the consumer is not happy with substituted products, the system allows you to remove the substituted products from the picked products list and cancel them from the order.
Figure 10: Increase customer satisfaction through efficient interactions with store associates.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Stay tuned!
If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP S/4HANA, join our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Customer Community. This platform which is available to SAP S/4HANA customers and partners has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with one another about best practices and product solutions.
For more information on SAP S/4HANA, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:
- UPDATE: don’t miss the blog from Yannick about the key innovations of the main release SAP S/4HANA 2020
- Product videos on our SAP S/4HANA Cloud and SAP S/4HANA YouTube playlist
- SAP S/4HANA PSCC Digital Enablement Wheel here
- Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast here
- SAP S/4HANA Microlearning (OP/CL) – The ultimate collection blog
- Best practices for SAP S/4HANA here
- Feature Scope Description here
- What’s New here
- Help Portal Product Page here
- RISE with SAP here
- SAP Fiori Application Library: http://spr.ly/6006Ds0Uw
- SAP S/4HANA Trials: http://spr.ly/6005Ds0Uc
Follow us via @Sisn and #S4HANA, or myself via @VoglerChrist and LinkedIn
