American Journal of Computer Architecture 2016, 3(1): 1-7

DOI: 10.5923/j.ajca.20160301.01

Integrating ERP Business Components into SAP S/4

HANA Cloud Edition - A Functional and Technical
Mallikarjuna R. Ghattamneni

PSCM (Procurement and Supply Chain Management) Group, Spectra Energy Corp, Houston, USA

Abstract In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead
of your computer's hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet. SAP S/4HANA Cloud Platform is an in-memory
cloud stage for now’s inexorably arranged, versatile, social, and information-driven world. This case study is based on a
project for implementing Enterprise Management, which uses HANA database, and the project team can say that it was really
a challenge. A lot of companies will face that same challenge if they want to go with SAP’s new technology i.e S/4 HANA, a
brand new product with table simplification, increased user experience and real-time information within the Enterprise
Management solution. In simple words, SAP is going on the right direction, but it will be a real challenge to adopt this
innovation. Before explaining why that challenging, have to clarify that S/4HANA product is still improving and evolving.
While several companies are wondering if it is time to move on into S/4HANA or wait? This article is all about the important
factors to be consider before making the decision. Especially talking about the variables that play into the big step to
move towards S/4HANA. The major variables covered in this article are broadly classified and discussed in terms of
1. Functionality, 2. Architecture and landscape, 3. Hardware, 4. Integration and customization and, 5. Change adoption.
Keywords SAP, ERP, S/4 HANA, Cloud, On-Premise, Fiori, Mobile applications, Internet, APIs, TM, SRM, EWM,
TCO and CRM

The platform SAP HANA has been available since 2010,

1. Introduction and SAP applications like SAP ERP and the SAP Business
SAP S/4HANA is the short form for ―SAP Business Suite Suite have been able to run on the SAP HANA database
4 (for) SAP HANA‖ with another code line. It brings and/or any other database. However SAP Business Suite 4
enormous flood of SAP advancement to their clients, like the only runs on the SAP HANA database, and thus it is
move from SAP R/2 to SAP R/3. It is SAP’s cutting edge packaged as one product: SAP S/4HANA. The offering is
business suite and another item completely based on the meant to cover all mission-critical processes of an enterprise.
most exceptional in-memory stage today. And, as per the It integrates functions from lines of businesses as well as
present-day outline standards this suite came up with SAP industry solutions, and also re-integrates portions of SAP
Fiori (Fig: 1) client experience (UX). SAP S/4HANA Business Suite products such as SAP SRM, CRM and SCM.
conveys gigantic rearrangements (client appropriation, Companies can reduce the complexity of their systems
information model, client experience, basic leadership, with S/4HANA because the platform integrates people,
business procedures, and models) and developments devices, big data and business networks in real time. We
(Internet of Things, Big Data, business systems, and versatile confidently can say that, SAP HANA platform can
first). This will give organizations run straightforward in an potentially save an organization 37% across hardware,
advanced and arranged economy. SAP at present offer software, and labor costs.
on-Premise, cloud (open and oversaw) and half-breed
organizations to give a genuine decision to clients.
SAP S/4HANA additionally gives their clients an 2. Strategy to Move onto S/4 HANA
alternative to completely influence the new HANA A reasonable methodology on moving to S/4HANA must
multi-tenancy usefulness as gave by the SAP HANA stage be characterized, proceeding begin any undertaking or
for the cloud. exercises to move into the most up to date SAP advancement.
This procedure must be adjusted to business technique. We
* Corresponding author:
dearmallik@hotmail.com (Mallikarjuna R. Ghattamneni)
like the phrase read couple of days ago: ―We don’t need a
Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ajca digital strategy - we need a business strategy for a digital
Copyright © 2016 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved world‖.
2 Mallikarjuna R. Ghattamneni: Integrating ERP Business Components into
SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Edition - A Functional and Technical

Recommended three situations on moving to S/4HANA: includes like APO, CRM, SRM, EWM, and TM. This is part
1. New implementation, also known as ―green field‖ of SAP’s simplification, also if there is a plan to expand the
implementation, for companies that does not have SAP business or enter to new markets where you will need new
ERP core or companies willing to re-implement SAP business processes or new ways of doing things, you should
core solution. consider a full functionality review beforehand. The good
2. System conversion, which means is not an upgrade for thing is S/4HANA helping you on entering to new markets or
going to S/4HANA. As a new product system migration going to new business processes providing speed and some
is possible, but consider that a lot of data transformation flexibility with Cloud Platform (to make extensions).
needs to be done. System architects have to take a deep review of S/4HANA
3. Landscape transformation that could include migration simplification list and SAP Help to check for functionality
of selected applications or system consolidation into on each version. Be aware that each quarter new releases are
one S/4HANA system. This is when having several coming for cloud edition and every year for on-premise
instances or different functionality in several SAP edition.
systems which need to consolidate them on S/4HANA.
In scenarios 2 and 3, system upgrade is not an option. One
example of migration would be converting vendors &
4. System Architecture & Landscape
customers into business partners. In order to do it data Organizations should remember making sure the global
transformation should takes place. SAP is providing some architecture definitions before the start of S/4HANA
tools for data migration and transformation, even though implementation or conversion. Check for periodic updates
process validation, data analysis and data cleansing times on components and make sure releases on cloud edition are
must be considered during the project’s timeline. planned in advance, this is to avoid system failures generated
The fundamental challenge is to establish a by updates.
business-aligned road-map to move into S/4HANA. Architecture is one of the big changes in S/4HANA
Planning times for transition schema should be considered implementations. With this new product a lot of components
for all activities within to avoid operation risks and business must be installed or activated (Application engines, Fiori,
downtimes. For any selected scenario a clear strategy should CDS, Gateway, HANA Studio, KPI modeler, OData,
be addressed from the very beginning day of the project. To BW-Embedded, Analytics, etc.). These component versions
make the strategy for implementation, it will take time and are updated and enhancement packages are constantly
resources to streamline the project scope. released to make improvements on the new product. So, take
into consideration of periodic checks on system and
component versions, support packages and/or enhancement
3. Functionality packages. SAP mentions that releases will not be disruptive
For this part, make sure all the current business processes as in predecessor technologies (R/3, ECC), but a clear
are covered by new product functionality on the new suite. strategy into that statement should be adopted by companies
There is a road map available for S/4HANA to include all on sticking to standard S/4HANA processes.
ECC (Enterprise Central Component) functions which

Figure 1. SAP Fiori User interface (UX)

 American Journal of Computer Architecture 2016, 3(1): 1-7 3

Figure 2. S/4 HANA landscape (architecture)

Also when integrating to other SAP systems you could separate system as now.
find new standard API’s (Application Programming 2. EP: Enterprise portal stays and will be integrated with
Interface) like Success Factors - Employee Central UI front end server.
integration to S/4HANA Human Resources, new integration Today as in the past, we have a classic financial document
tools like HANA Cloud Integration (HCI) and more. Some that is stored in one or two tables. However, aggregates and
considerations when integrating with Non-SAP systems index tables used to be necessary, the different views have
could affect definitions for SOA and S/4HANA integration mapped to the document. Which are no longer needed in the
processes. new architecture? If the underlying data structures, we try to
We successfully integrated below business components consolidate and simplify. For an in-memory database can
with S/4 HANA. Below components are remodeled into the work best with wide tables. Tables that have been nested
new architecture successfully. Some going to be converted earlier, you put together now. Fundamental data structures
with S/4 HANA and some of the components will be merged that define how a financial document, a material movement
with SAP S/4 HANA core. document or inventory management document look, we have
1. EWM, TM, and TREX: S/4 HANA search engine will constant. The evidence we have so far as possible as it is.
replace TREX. EWM and TM are planning to move This makes the customer the way easier of a classic ERP
S/4 HANA core. system to new technology. A new data structure would mean
2. BW & BI: BI will be moved to cloud as C4A (Cloud that he would have to make a complete migration. From
for analytics). BW – Operational reporting will be effort forth that is similar to a system implementation. For
moved to S/4 HANA and BW-history reporting stays the customer this way we have chosen is so simple, as we
as EDW. allow an upgrade to a new system. Briefly: The old data
3. PI: will be converted as PO or HANA cloud integration model was basically okay. And we can achieve so much, that
(HCI). we see no need to rush the customer in a disruptive process
4. SCM: ATP, Production planning ad detail scheduling of a completely new data model with a slightly modified data
will come to S/4 HANA. Demand planning and Supply model.
planning will renew with IBP. Before your systems architecture design started, we
5. SRM: Converts as ARIBA for business network & S/4 should remember SAP S/4HANA delivers high-volume
HANA for procurement solutions transaction processing (OLTP) and high volume real-time
6. CRM: Hybris & C4C (Cloud for customer) for analytical processes (OLAP) based on a unified data model
customer interaction and sales order execution will be without the redundant data layers typically required by
moved to S/4 HANA. traditional RDBMS based systems. This reduces TCO (Total
These are the components continued AS-IS in new Cost of Ownership) while providing new opportunities to
architecture as well: increase business value from existing architecture. Examples
1. MDG (Master Data Governance): It will stay as a for redundant data layers are custom-built layers based on
4 Mallikarjuna R. Ghattamneni: Integrating ERP Business Components into
SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Edition - A Functional and Technical

database tuning efforts such as secondary indexes, or SPS12+ [1], HPE Integrated Lights Out Advanced.
application built-in performance accelerators such as
aggregate tables or multiple general ledger versions for
different managerial reporting needs. The massive 6. Integration and Customization
simplifications of the data model and the data processing
layers enable business and technological innovations on a SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition is designed for enterprises
broad scale across all lines-of-business and industry that need standardized cloud integration offerings that cover
solutions. The new application architecture simplifies system the core business scenarios and the line-of business cloud
landscape architectures and accelerates cloud deployments solutions. For the cloud edition, the main integration
on an economical scale. technologies are SAP HANA Cloud Integration and Web
Two distinct changes that S/4 HANA architecture offers: services. Based on the selected scope and subscription model,
From the technical aspect, S/4 cuts the digital footprint of customers can leverage the fully integrated, secured, and
business by as much as 90%. An example of this is the managed SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition by SAP. In most
reduction of the ERP table structure from 110 tables to 10 cases, the required customer integration scenarios are
tables and removing all rollups, aggregations and updates to provisioned, configured, and activated from SAP Cloud
the non-transactional data groups. This is important, because, Operations and SAP Cloud Service Center, or SAP provides
like watching a before-and-after episode of Hoarders, the self-configuration user interfaces so customers are able to
reduction of data forces one to clean house of redundant, configure the solution.
dated material that people like to keep because they ―might‖ The deployment of extensions in the HANA Cloud
need it someday. Platform (HCP) is an elegant way to enhance S/4HANA
With the newly available architectural functionalities, the systems or to build completely new applications, which
business process has been rewritten. SAP rethought the referred as guided customizations. S/4HANA combines the
architecture. In our case study, 45% of the SAP IT load is proven set of core business functionality, in many languages
data exchange between the CRM and ERP systems. This and for nearly all countries, with the ability to venture into
latest architecture with multi tenancy solution put the completely new dimensions of applications. This capability
systems together and ran one application. That is a process is key when business processes are developing at an ever
changer, application changer, database changer, User increasing speed and core enterprise systems cannot just be
Interface changer and configuration changer. complemented by point solutions but have to also
accommodate these changes. This reduction in complexity
also lowers the threshold for smaller companies to switch to
5. Hardware S/4HANA.
The current SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition already covers
The HPE ConvergedSystem for SAP HANA portfolio are specific business scenarios for the marketing line of business
optimized systems built to deliver the highest levels of and for the professional services industry. The enterprise
performance and availability for clients’ in-memory edition includes: finance, accounting, controlling,
computing initiatives. From managing analytics and data procurement, sales, manufacturing, plant maintenance,
warehousing workloads to running mission-critical business project system, and product lifecycle management. The
applications, the HPE ConvergedSystem can help businesses content is integrated with SAP cloud solutions such as SAP
unlock operational efficiencies and turn large amounts of SuccessFactors Employee Central, SAP Ariba, SAP Hybris
data into real-time, actionable business insights. HPE Marketing, SAP Jam, SAP Financial Services Network, and
Converged System for SAP HANA portfolio is designed to third-party integration with Vertex for tax calculation.
support SAP’s latest generation business suite, SAP Customization by developing code out of standard
S/4HANA. functionality is always a huge challenge and involves with
Compute Node: Optimized for SAP HANA available with budgets and resources. But for sure making customization
a choice of Intel Xeon E7-8890v4 or Intel Xeon E7-8880v4 reduction is a good recommendation so far; keep core
processors on the new, enterprise-class HPE ProLiant development at minimum and non-core customizations on
DL580 Gen9 Servers. The ProLiant DL580 Gen9 Server has external applications, so when going into new versions
security and data protection features for system resiliency non-disruptive adoption really happens.
that your business can depend on—making it ideal for Recommendation is, HANA Cloud Platform has tools for
mission-critical enterprise, business intelligence, and code development and extensions on standard functionality,
database applications. an architecture validation for customization should be driven
Storage: Fast, easy to use enterprise class HPE D3700 to choose the right component for developing new code.
Storage array offers reliable performance for your HANA Beforehand should not consider S/4HANA cloud edition if
database. The external storage is optional for configurations core development is taken as a business strategy. So
up to and including 1 TB, but is required for configurations S/4HANA on-premise will be the best option. So far we still
of 1.5 TB and larger. recommend staying on standard processes all the way
Operating System: SAP HANA Studio / SAP HANA through the transition (it does not matter if there is cloud or
 American Journal of Computer Architecture 2016, 3(1): 1-7 5

on-premise edition). product not only users or business analysts must be willing to
adopt change, but also consultants, IT specialists, even
directors and sponsors must understand innovation and their
7. Change Adoption participation as part of the business transformation. An
active role is clearly needed from company’s leadership to
Embrace change and innovation as one of the most help get things done while change is the biggest challenge of
important things on moving into S/4HANA, easy to say and all.
very hard to apply. A lot of transformation processes fail
because of people’s change resistance. With this new

Figure 3. Integration path of SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition to cloud solutions from SAP

Figure 4. The Road to SAP S/4HANA Transition and deployment options (Numbering shows the order in which deployment takes place)
6 Mallikarjuna R. Ghattamneni: Integrating ERP Business Components into
SAP S/4 HANA Cloud Edition - A Functional and Technical

Change Management is a must on any transformation standard reporting, analytics and predictions, the digital
process, this is not an exception, make sure all the project’s boardroom or the multi-channel customer interaction, to
team, company’s leaders, sponsors and change agents are name a few, becomes a world class component in its own
aligned to embrace change and innovation. Clarify right. This alone is a reason to consider an earlier migration
objectives and participation for all business roles during the to S/4HANA.
transitions, while more communication provided the more With the introduction given and the challenges mentioned
understanding on each person’s contribution to achieve the about SAP S/4HANA implementations, one can meet the
final goals. challenges of the day to day Networked Economy. Here’s
S/4HANA is here now, and is really changing the way of how:
doing business. These challenges could be surpassed by
1. Rethink about the plan of action by streamlining your
taking into consideration the main points. Not required be
business joint effort to interface individuals, gadgets
afraid to affront these obstacles, look forward for a good
and business systems continuously (by adopting the
strategy and expert support to move into S/4HANA If you
core challenges mentioned above). Grasp
think about it maybe your Organization needs this
high-exactness focusing on and social advertising,
transformation now, and getting into it soon will give your
request driven supply chains with downstream demand
company an advantage that other would not have.
visibility, smarter business arranging with constant
planning and reproductions.
2. Rethink about the decision making by getting insight on
8. Conclusions any data from anywhere in real time to accelerate and
S/4HANA is by far the best ERP system SAP has ever intensify business impacts. Connect contextual data and
offered to the market. In combination with the new customer business users at the point of decision to discuss
facing applications like hybris, the SaaS applications broadly about the challenges and how to overcome
Success Factors, Ariba, Fieldglass, Concur and the Internet those.
of Things projects with HANA SAP offers a unique suite of 3. Rethink your business processes by focusing on
products, which can be installed and activated quickly. The essential tasks in real time – with the flexibility to adapt
HANA Cloud Platform allows for easy implementations of quickly. SAP S/4HANA offers a single data foundation
extensions to integrate other software products or bespoke where both transactional and analytical workloads can
applications. As a result the new product offers a clear be executed and the gap between insights and action is
competitive advantage for relatively low costs. SAP saw a closed.
dramatic increase in S/4HANA projects which could 4. Rethink the user experience by completing the job
otherwise benefit a lot in these days of massive changes, to across lines of business with a personalized, simple user
make the move to S/4HANA by facing minor challenges experience on any device. Embed data mining and
discussed in detail. predictive tools in front-end applications. This
One of the reasons why companies have plans for empowers employees to make better, more informed
S/4HANA is the completeness of the product. To recreate the decisions and respond to today’s real-time business
wealth of functionality of the business suite is quite a challenges.
challenge, but now financials, sales and logistics are Eventually for the project to be success, the following
available and most of the industry specific solutions will items should be clearly addressed:
follow soon. SAP wants to achieve a better separation  Business case clearly balancing the cost of working in
between the industries in order to reduce potential conflicts multiple systems against the benefits
between them. Every transition case from ECC 6.0 to  Budget for patching and regression testing source
S/4HANA has to be evaluated individually (in terms of systems
architecture, functionality, hardware and existing business  Clear Master Data Governance Strategy and capability
processes). For some time there will always be a plan
constellation, where the suite is the more complete solution  Architectural and integration plan for the consolidated
for a specific client. That shouldn’t be interpreted as a solution.
weakness of S/4HANA but a compliment to the suite. Many
clients choose to become familiar with HANA by moving
the business warehouse onto S/4HANA or start with
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
completely new projects in product research or service This case study was supported by Maria LeBeau (Director,
including internet of things scenarios. Supply Chain Management, Spectra Energy Corporation)
SAP will allow in running the new system in the cloud and and Christopher Collins (Manager, ERP Legacy Systems,
on premise, but it will be only S/4HANA with which we can PSCM – Procurement and Supply Chain Management,
achieve this in one software version going forward. This will Spectra Energy Corporation, headquarters, Houston, TX).
reduce the TCO and speed up the so much needed step into We thank our colleagues from Spectra Energy Corporation
the future. Every single application area like data entry, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the
 American Journal of Computer Architecture 2016, 3(1): 1-7 7

research, with their willingness to support all of the [4] Getting started with SAP HANA Cloud Platform: SAP
interpretations/conclusions of this paper. HANA, SAP HCP, by James Wood (Author), [PP-478,
Integration points for extending SAP Cloud solutions].
I would also like to show our gratitude to the Phillip Dunn
(Manager, Compliance and SOX), Jim Ischy (Manager, [5] Operating SAP in the Cloud, by Andr Bgelsack (Author),
MDM technologies, Spectra Energy Corporation) and Irfan Galina Baader (Author), Loina Prifti (Author), Ronny
Ahmed (Manager, Business Process Improvements and Zimmermann (Author), Helmut Krcmar (Author), [PP-305,
SAP HANA Cloud platform].
Implementation, Spectra Energy Corporation) for sharing
their pearls of wisdom with us during the course of this case [6] SAP on the Cloud (Management for Profession- als), by
study, and we thank the reviewers Veloz Rene (Reporting Michael Missbach (Author), Josef Stelzel (Au- thor),
Data Expert, Spectra Energy Corporation) for their Cameron Gardiner (Author), George Anderson (Author),
Mark Tempes (Author), [PP-88, Change and configuration
so-called insights. We are also immensely grateful to management].
Pohjonen, Antti-Jussi (Manager, Supply Chain Management,
Spectra Energy Corporation) for his comments on an earlier [7] SAP Solution Manager for SAP S/4HANA (SolMan):
version of the manuscript. Managing Your Digital, by Marc O. Schfer (Author),
Matthias Melich (Author), [PP-143].
[8] http://news.sap.com/internet-things-networked-economy-sap
-s4hana-connected/

REFERENCES [9] http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372163,00.asp

[1] Implementing SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA, [10] https://websmp104.sap-ag.de/~sapidp/012002523100012384

S/4HANA, by Michael Pytel (Author), [PP-39, 571]. 722015E.pdf

[2] SAP Fiori Implementation and Development, by Anil [11] Are You Ready For An Architectural Evolution With
Bavaraju (Author), [PP-30, Architecture and Integration]. Converged Applications? , Forrester, 1 April 2013.

[3] SAP HANA Cloud Integration (SAP HCI), by John Mutumba [12] http://www8.hp.com/us/en/business-solutions/converged-sys
Bilay (Author), Peter Gutsche (Author), Volker Stiehl tems/big-data-solutions/sap-hana.html
(Author). [13] https://www.dsag.de/news/s4-hana-hana-cloud-platform-faq