To compete in the rapidly accelerating Digital Transformation and Networked driven economy, clients require a SAP driven Supply Chain that runs all applications in real time, proposes intelligent and proactive solutions, provides easy collaboration tools, facilitates priorities, better decision making, simulations and better service to their clients. The improved SAP system must also support which includes the IOT (Internet of things). Enterprise Management in S/4 HANA is the revolutionary answer to doing this.
How does SAP S/4 HANA Enterprise Management work?
Enterprise Management uses SAP HANA and SAP Fiori to drive Digital transformation. The new SAP Fiori design is centered on proposed solutions to enable decision making simplicity and role-based decision, while adding real time collaboration, notifications and simulations for and amongst SAP Enterprise Management users. SAP HANA is a new programming model which is an in-memory data base platform. SAP S/4HANA delivers high-volume transaction processing (OLTP) and high volume real-time analytical processes (OLAP) based on a unified data model without the redundant data layers typically required. Data analytics uses larger data sets by combining SAP tables thus eliminating redundancies. Therefore the data is not replicated from multiple systems (ex: APO and ECC).
Areas of the business supported by Enterprise Management include:
- Supply Chain
- Sales
- Sourcing and Procurement
- Manufacturing
- Sustainability Performance Management
- R&D
- Asset Management
- Services
Enterprise Management also integrates with all Core ERP Supply Chain Functions including SCM, CRM, PLM and SRM
The differences between SAP ERP and Enterprise Management
ERP was as an electronic form of keeping your transactional data and documenting what is happening in your enterprise. ERP is a system of record focused on making transactional systems more efficient. SAP ERP was broken down by modules (ex: MM or PP) and transactions within those modules. In ERP, SAP users are greeted with a screen that lists all SAP Modules and transactions unless they create favorites.
With Enterprise Management in S/4 Hana there is now more value, intelligence and the users can be proactive instead of reactive. Users are greeted with a screen that is their cockpit of limited tiles that are specifically pertaining to his or her functions. The Supply Chain user can now drill down on each tile for additional information (). All drill down information is relevant to a user’s tasks and helps the user make informed decisions instead of searching SAP modules and transactions for information. Enterprise Management also proposes solutions, allows for simulations, helps with decision making and makes social collaboration easy. It’s similar to having Artificial Intelligence to help your decision making. Let’s look at an example of Enterprise Management in action.
An example of how Enterprise Management adds value
In the morning, a Procurement Analyst is greeted with a simple screen of tiles (cockpit) which contains only relevant information to complete his daily tasks. These individual tiles contain purchasing and sales priorities related to vendors and customers, and the possibility to drill down for more detailed vendor and customer information. The Procurement Analyst then drills down to see financial profitability information of a product to make informed decisions about a potential purchase. Once these tasks are complete he can ask for proposed solutions from SAP in real time. The Enterprise Management system takes in consideration of Procurement, Sales, Inventory and Financial information to propose the best solutions in priority. A close collaboration between different Enterprise Management processes (e.g., Sales and Procurement) is evidenced when the purchasing user is prompted to check with Sales before moving a particular purchase order, so he sends off a note and graph from his collaboration cockpit to Sales so they can both easily collaborate on the decision. The user has more value, intelligence for his daily tasks, and the user is now proactive instead of reactive through proposed system solutions and simulations. The end result of this close collaboration and enhanced decision making is higher savings.
Additional S/4 HANA Enterprise Management Innovations
- Enterprise Management can run on tablets, smartphone and even smart watches. This is done through responsive design (easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling).
- The analytical and transactional processing are now minimized and condensed to dramatically improve all Data driven businesses. For example MRP is now real time (eliminate batch jobs) and has a decision support cockpit.
- There is a reduction of duplication of information between SAP modules. For example ATP (Available to promise) functionality from Global APO and ERP are both used to provide a more comprehensive solution.
- Provide customers with the best solution for a particular business problem. For example, constrained capacity planning is driven by Production Planning and APO detailed scheduling thus requiring less searching or creating additional reports to accomplish similar results.
- System proposed solutions and simulations allow users to envision problems and provide solutions to these latent issues
- Supports Industry trends 4.0 and IOT (Internet of things).
The basic requirements to implement SAP S/4HANA
SAP S/4 HANA runs on a new programming model using an in-memory data base platform. It also requires SAP Fiori which creates smart business cockpits for a personalized, responsive and simple user experience across devices and deployment options.
SAP will use SAP Activate methodology for implementing Enterprise Management as ASAP methodology will be phased out after release 8. The key components of SAP Activate methodology include “Prepare, Explore, Realize and Deploy”. These key components do not deviate too far from SAP’s ASAP methodology.
Summary
With Enterprise Management in S/4 HANA, clients can now accelerate the process of solving business-critical problems and drive rapid results in an effective collaborative way. By using a new Digital Transformation and Network driven SAP Supply Chain they will also improve the entire Sales and Operations planning cycle, resulting in faster speed to market and ultimately improved profits.
Terry Vermeylen is hell bent on rapidly transforming your business into a World Class Operation by major transformation or by eliminating one bad habit at a time.
Terry Vermeylen brings 30+ years of experience in SAP and Supply Chain Process improvement. As an SAP professional and Supply Chain Architect he has worked and consulted for some of the world’s largest and most successful manufacturing companies focusing primarily on the Aerospace and Pharmaceutical industries as well as the US Military.
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