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9mustknowsbeforeimplementingSAPSimpleFinance.Uhm...nowinS/4HANA...Finance...|MendelKoerts|Pulse|LinkedIn

9mustknowsbefore
implementingSAPSimple
Finance.Uhm...nowinS/4HANA...
Finance...
PublishedonApril22,2015

MendelKoertsFollow

Independentconsultant

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WhentalkingtotheVPofEnterpriseArchitectureina
SwissbasedmanufacturerbackinApril'15,hetoldme
hewasquiteconfusedwithalltheSAPmarketing
aroundS/4HANA,S/4HANAFinance,SAPCentral
Finance,SAPSimpleFinance,SAPHANAEnterprise
Cloud(HEC),BW/4HANA,andtheuserinterfacesthat
comealongwithallthislikeFiori.Hewaslookingforthe
bigpicture,therealnononsenseone.

IexplainedthatinessenceS/4HANAisjustanewnameforthesamegoodold
Suitefunctionality(ERP,SRM,CRM,...)thedifferencehoweveristheSuitecan
nowrunonaninmemorydatabasecalledHANA.Oneandthesameinstallation,
mindyou.OkayandyoucansourceS/4HANAfromthecloud(HEC,forone)
andyouhavemorealternativeswhenitcomestothegraphicaluserinterfaceone
ofthembeingFiori.
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Anyway,howdoesthisrelatetoSAPSimpleFinance(sFin)?Well,theFinancials
codingwasthefirstpartofERPoptimizedtorunonHANA.Thefunctionality
itselforthewaytoconfigurethesystemhardlychanges(unlessyouwanttouse
theFioriapps...).Notethatnotalladdonsorindustrysolutionsaresupported
(yet).

SAPSimpleFinanceincludesSAPAccountingpoweredbySAPHANA,SAP
CashManagementandSAPIntegratedBusinessPlanning(IPandBPCand
embeddedBW)forFinanceandadditionalinnovationsintheareasofTreasuryand
FinancialRiskManagement,CollaborativeFinanceOperationsandmore.TheFI
andCOtablesarenowcombinedintheUniversalJournal,asinglelineitemtable.

Atfirst,SAPSimpleFinancewaslaunchedasanaddontoERP,whichmeansitis
astandardproductdevelopedtoworkontopofSAPERP(ECC6.07tobeprecise).
TheofficialnameusedtobeSAPSimpleFinanceaddon2.0forSAPBusiness
SuitepoweredbySAPHANAakasFin2.0.

However...asofOctober2015,theaddonwasremovedfromtheService
Marketplacesincethe'Simple'codingwasmergedintoS/4HANA.Thefullblown
SAPS/4HANAEnterpriseManagement,onpremiseedition1511became
availableinNovember2015(hence,1511...)andobviouslyincludesFinance.

Butthere'salsoS/4HANAFinance,astrippeddownversionofERP.SAPSimple
FinanceAddOnforSAPBusinessSuitepoweredbySAPHANAcorrespondsto
sFinrelease1.0.SAPS/4HANAFinance,OnPremiseEdition1503correspondsto
sFinrelease2.0,andSAPS/4HANAFinance1605correspondstosFinrelease3.0.

Forthesakeofcompleteness,mindthere'salsothecloudeditionsofS/4HANA,
havingtheirownreleases.AnexcellentoverviewofthefiveS/4HANAeditions
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canbefoundhere.

Ifyouinadditiontothisarticlereadthe'ImplementingSAPS/4HANA
Finance'bookbyAnupMaheshwari,you'rewellpreparedforjumpingdirectly
fromERPtoS/4HANAeventhoughthebookassumesanonpremiseinstallation
ofthesoftware.InthecaseofgoingfromERPtoS/4HANAdirectly,youcan
forgetaboutSimpleFinanceatall.

TotestanddoublecheckthefeasibilityofHANA,theSwissVPaskedmetowork
withhimonseveralProofofConcepts.WelookedatSAPCentralFinance,of
whichSAPMasterDataGovernance(MDG)isanimportantcomponent,wetested
howwellSAPSupplierRelationshipManagement(SRM)wasintegratedinto
S/4HANA,andweevaluatedaseriesofcloudoptions.HavealookatourPoC
results.

AnotherHANArelatedissuewaswhetherornottomigratetheSAPBusiness
Warehouse(SAPBW)ontoHANA.WithBW/4HANA1.0beinggeneralavailable
asofSeptember,2016,wedecidedtosaybye,byetoSAPBWonHANAand
updatedourinternalSAPstrategyandroadmapaccordingly.

ShouldyoudecidetodoanSAPSimpleFinanceimplementationafterall,theresa
fewthingsyouandyourteammustknow*.Note:thebelowdoesnotgofor
S/4HANA1511+.

9mustknowsbeforestartingyourSimpleFinanceimplementation:

1.ThefinanceaddonreplacestheclassicFinancialsapplicationsinyourSAP
ERPsystem.IncontrasttoaccountinginSAPenhancementpackage7for
SAPERP6.0,SimpleFinancecomeswithasimplifieddatamodel.Totals
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tablesandapplicationindextableshavebeenremovedandreplacedwith
HANAviewswiththesametechnicalnames.Afulllistcanbefoundatthe
bottomofthisarticle.Thismeanstheimpactneedstobeassessedonyour
interfaces,yourdatawarehouse,yourauthorizationprofiles,andpotentially
yourmonitoringtools
2.SomeindustrysolutionsandSAPERPaddonsarenotfullycompatiblewith
SAPSimpleFinance,likeAssetAccounting(FIAA).Carefullyassess
compatibilitywithothercomponentsinyourlandscape
3.Theuserexperienceislikelytochange.Assesstheimpactontherequired
skillsetinyourteamsandthepotentialneedtorewritedocumentation
and/ortrainingmaterials
4.HandletherequiredSPlevelsforSAPERP6.0EHP7andforSAP
NetWeaver7.40withtheutmostcautionandasdescribedinthe
administratorsguide
5.BeforeyouinstalltheFinanceaddon,youmustpreparethemigrationof
applicationdata.Thesestepsrequirespecificfinancialsapplication
knowledge
6.InstallthefinanceaddonusingtheSoftwareUpdateManager(SUM).
EnsurethatyouhavedownloadedthelatestversionofitfromtheSAP
ServiceMarketplace.Inaddition,youmustinstalltwoSAPHANALive
packagesusingtheHANALifecycleManager(HLM)
7.Torunthefinancialsapplications,youmustmigratetheapplicationdata
first.ForSPS02,SPS03,andSP04,someadditionalconfigurationis
required.Formoreinformation,seeInstallationofandMigrationtotheSAP
SimpleFinanceAddOnforSAPBusinessSuitepoweredbySAPHANA
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8.ReadtheReleaseInformationforSAPSimpleFinanceaddonforSAP
BusinessSuitepoweredbySAPHANA(note1925902),and
9.Toconclude,makesureyourteamreadstheReleaseScopeInformation
(note1968568).

ThefollowingtableswerereplacedbySAPHANAviewswiththesamenames:

Thelineitem,totalstablesandapplicationindextablesofGeneralLedger
Accounting(GLT0,BSIS,BSASandFAGLFLEXA,FAGLFLEXT,
FAGLBSIS,FAGLBSAS)

ThetotalstablesandapplicationindextablesofAccountsReceivableand
AccountsPayable(KNC1,KNC3,LFC1,LFC3,BSID,BSIK,BSAD,
BSAK)

ThelineitemandtotalstablesofControlling(COEPforcertainvaluetypes,
COSPandCOSS)

Thematerialledgertablesforparallelvaluations(MLIT,MLPP,MLPPF,
MLCR,MLCD,CKMI1,BSIM)

TheAssetAccountingtables(ANEK,ANEP,ANEA,ANLP,ANLC)

MENDELKOERTSjoinedEYConsultancyin1996aftergraduatingfrom
bothBusinessAdministrationandComputingScience.HefoundedENSEAD
Advisoryin2011andisproudtohaveGartnerConsultingasoneofhis
clients.AsanindependentITadvisorhehasspecializedinITStrategy&
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ArchitecturewithaspecificfocusonSAPenabledDigital
Transformation.Opinionsexpressedinthisarticlearestrictlyhisown.He
hadnocommercialinterestinsellingSAPPressbooks.

*BasedontheAdministrator'sGuideSAPSimpleFinanceAddOnforSAP
BusinessSuitepoweredbySAPHANA,documentversion1.020150129

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