SAP ECC V/S S4 HANA

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Differences between SAP ECC and SAP /4 HANA

1. Overview and Purpose

2. What is SAP ECC?
3. What is SAP S/4 HANA?
4. Working with ABAP
5. Frequently asked questions for differences between SAP ECC and S/4 HANA
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1. Overview and Purpose:

This document is to have an idea of what is SAP ECC and what is SAP S/4 HANA and what are the
major differences.

2. What is SAP ECC?

ECC is SAP's ERP (enterprise resource planning). It is a software that works as the core system of
the organization, managing the key transactions that make the business run.

This includes many areas. For example, when talking about Finance, it includes the General
Ledger and all the entries, creating Purchase Orders, payments, account receivables, etc. When
we talk about Human Capital management (HCM) we talk about managing employees, payrolls,
etc.

3. What is SAP S/4 HANA?

SAP is known for changing the names of its applications, sometimes for marketing purposes,
sometimes because they merged products into a suite, or any other reason.

People that have been working with an application for a while a are already using a specific
name, tent to keep using that "old" terminology and it can all get really confusing.

You can see all the names mentioned above as just different versions of the ERP. It used to be
called R3, then ECC and the latest version is S/4HANA.

Now it is a good time to answer a question we often get from visitor. What is HANA?

In a very simple way, HANA is just the database where the data is stored. Just this database run
in-memory, which makes it fast and can manage huge amounts of information without
performance issues.

SAP has been moving and developing most of its application to run on HANA the same way it
has been working on moving everything to a cloud offering.

SAP S/4HANA is SAP’s next generation business suite. It’s meant to replace SAP ECC/ERP, with a
simplified tool designed specifically to work with SAP HANA. Currently, SAP is reworking the
code behind the SAP ECC modules, optimizing them for the way the HANA database is set up.

SAP HANA OVERVIEW ON A TECHNICAL VIEW:

SAP HANA is a platform that serves to replace the classical hard disk-based data storage system
with an in-memory alternative. The SAP HANA Acronym stands for (High-
performance  Analytic Appliance). While HANA serves as a replacement for classical hard disk-
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based storage systems, it is more than just a replacement. While HANA can perform all features
of a traditional DBMS, it also provides many benefits that a classical database server does not.

SAP HANA AND COLUMN STORES:

A major difference between SAP HANA and traditional databases is that HANA uses column-
store for most database tables, while classical DBs use row-store. The row-store approach works
well when you often need to retrieve an entire record from the database at the time, but as
ABAP developers know, it is much more common to retrieve a subset of fields during processing.
In addition, row-storage often provides only two options when searching a non-primary field.
You can either create secondary indexes to speed up data retrieval, or risk performing full table
scans when retrieving data outside of the primary index.

ABAP FOR HANA  

The most important things to understand when developing ABAP on a SAP HANA based system
is, that SAP HANA is more than just a database system. Beyond just storing and retrieving data,
the SAP HANA can perform many complex operations on the data being retrieved itself. In fact,
since the SAP HANA system has been optimized to work with the data in the system, it can
perform these operations much faster than the calling ABAP program.

OPEN SQL

Open SQL allows developers to perform database operations on traditional databases,

regardless of the underlying RDBMS. The Open SQL written in ABAP programs is converted by
the kernel into Native SQL, and then executed on the actual RDBMS.

The same is true of Open SQL and the HANA database. Our existing Open SQL statements (but
not Native SQL, however) will continue to work the SAP HANA DB due to the kernel converting
the statements to HANAs native DB language.

To take full advantage of the “code pushdown” functionality, however, it is necessary to use
the new Open SQL syntax, which has been enhanced in SAP NetWeaver 7.40 SP05 and onwards.
This new syntax includes arithmetic, aggregational, and comparative functions that allow
operations to be performed at on the database layer (e.g. SUM, COUNT, AMOUNT, CEIL, CASE,
etc.).

Open SQL is a good option if you are performing a one-off database procedure that you will
most likely not be repeating. Here is an example… Note the use of “@” Escape Variables and
Inline DATA Declarations
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select field1, field2

from db_table
where field = @lv_var
INTO @DATA(it_result).

CORE DATA SERVICES VIEWS (CDS)

Core Data Services (CDS) is an SQL like language that provides an open-source Data Definition
Language for the creation database artifacts. CDS can be used to create tables, views, data
types, and data associations. To do this, you would create an “. hdbdd” file (using the Eclipse
editor) and activate the file to generate the associate types and database objects.

CDS Views, which are generated by following the above process, are in many ways like a
standard view that would be defined in SE11. The main difference is that, while a view defined
in SE11 can only be executed within the SAP system, a CDS view resides on the HANA database
itself. Therefore, CDS views can be consumed not only by ABAP programs; but also, by non-
ABAP applications as well. CDS views are also more powerful than regular SE11 views. All the
operations available to Open SQL statements are also available to CDS Views. This provides a
simple and repeatable way for the calling program to take advantage of SAP HANAs powerful
features by executing a simple SQL query. CDS Views are best used when dealing with queries
that will be repeated across multiple applications. Here is an example…

define view SampleView as select from ExampleTable

With parameters p_field1:<somevalue>,
{
  id,
  field1,
  field2
} where field1 = p_field1;

ABAP MANAGED DATABASE PROCEDURES (AMDP)

ABAP Managed Database Procedures (AMDP) are specialized ABAP methods that allow the
creation of database procedures written in database-specific languages. To use AMDP with
HANA, the developer would create a method written in SQL Script that could be directly
executed upon in the database layer. Classes that implement AMDP methods are required to
implement specific interfaces (in the case of HANA, the interface is IF_AMDP_MARKER_HDB).

The method that implements the SQL Script would then need to specify its purpose with specific
additions. An example…

METHOD amdp_hdb_ex BY DATABASE PROCEDURE FOR HDB

                   LANGUAGE SQLSCRIPT
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                   [TRADITIONAL METHOD ADDITIONS]

[SQLSCRIPT CODE]
ENDMETHOD.
While Open SQL or CDS Views will usually be enough to perform many Code Pushdown goals,
AMDP offers a last resort approach to take full advantage of any SAP HANA features that may
not be available by other means.

4. Working with ABAP 7.4 for SAP HANA

 ABAP meets SAP HANA

 Row Store vs Column Store

COLUMN STORAGE

• That are subject to column operations on many rows.

• That have many columns, more unused.
• That are subject to aggregations and intensive search operations.

ROW STORAGE

• That contain mostly distinct values.

• In which most/all columns are relevant.
• That are not subject to aggregation or search operations on non-indexed columns.
• That are fully buffered.
• That have a small number of records.
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 Implications of In-Memory DB

• Avoid unnecessary movement of large data volume.

• Perform data intensive calculations in the database.

Application Layer

Today:

Data intensive Computations

In application layer

Database Layer SAP HANA:

Delegate data
Intensive
operations to
data layer

 Overview Code-to-Data capabilities

SAP HANA specific features:

 ABAP managed database procedures

 Native SQL

Database Oriented Programming

 Open SQL enhancements

 Advanced view definition

Transparent Optimizations

 Fast data access

 Table buffer enhancements

Switching between Row store and Column store

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 SE11 > Technical Settings > DB-Specific properties.

 The switching involves a lot of work on the database especially when there is a huge
amount of data in the table

Table Buffering

 Table buffering is not allowed for new tables. The option is disabled.

 Performance derived by avoiding network latency.

 Table buffer is valid for already buffered tables.

Table Index

 Certain table indices might not be needed any more. E.g., multi-key indices are not
required in HANA due to columnar structure.

 Now we have an option to create an exclude list or include list for specific DB.

Is the existing code still valid?

 Migration to HANA is just like any other DB migration.

 Everything works as before, except: -

1. Native SQL: As Native SQL as DB dependent, it might not work on HANA.

2. DB-specific hints.

3. Direct access to physical pool/clusters: All pool and cluster tables in FI and HR
will be converted to transparent tables.

4. Checking for existence of secondary indices.

 Open SQL Enhancements

 New Open SQL Syntax

 Escaping of host variables
 Comma separated element list
 Target Type Inference
 New Select List features
 Aggregation functions
o Arithmetic expressions
 String expressions
 Select list enhancement
 Conditional expressions
 Client Handling
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 Arithmetic expressions: - Perform all possible arithmetic calculations in the database.

 String expressions: - The company name and the (legal form) are concatenated into the
string table.

• Case expression – Conditional expressions like CASE-ENDCASE can be used in a Select list.
• Simple Case – To check a value
• Searched Case – To perform complex operations like comparing values.

• We can even use Nested Case in a Select list – Case inside Case.
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• Automatic Client Handling

• Client Handling can be overruled with ‘USING CLIENT’ – No need to use ‘CLIENT-
SPECIFIED’ keyword.

• Simplified client handling in JOINS – No need to mention client field in where clause.

 ADBC: Native SAP HANA usage

Call Sequence: -

 Target type definition/ data declaration

 Concatenation/ Definition of the DBSYS-dependent SQL query

 Create statement object.

 Execute query, passing SQL query as string.

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 Assign internal table for query result.

 Retrieve result.

 Close result set/ allocated resources

 Disadvantages of using Native SQL

 No syntax check at compile time: SQL query is passed as a string.

 Coding is DB-dependent
 ABAP table buffers are bypassed.
 Developer is responsible for: -

o Client handling
o Mapping internal table to result set
o Releasing DB resources
o Locking mechanism and DB commit.
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 ADBC: Consumption of AMDP (ABAP Managed Database Procedures)

AMDP usage: -

• Created as a method of the

class.
• Consumption of AMDP like any other class method.
• AMDP is written using SQL Script: Syntax check provided for SQL Script code.
• All AMDP method parameters must be passed by value.
• When an AMDP is processed, the ABAP stack calls the corresponding database procedure in
SAP HANA.
• Several AMDP runtime errors have a corresponding (catchable) exception

 AMDP: Method Syntax

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5. Frequently asked Questions:

Q: Can we move from SAP ECC EHP6 Oracle database to S/4 HANA directly or do we need to
move to HANA and S/4 HANA?

Ans: In Version 1511/1610 we directly move from ECC Oracle to S/4 HANA. We have a tool in
SAP called Software Update Manager (SUM) which is used to migrate applications from ECC to
S/4 HANA and database from Non-HANA database to S/4 HANA.

Q: What is SAP on Premise and SAP on cloud?

Ans: Till 2009, only on-Premise version was available on SAP ECC which means if we want to use
SAP system, we should have separate server wherein we should have ownership of the server
which is kept on your premise.

SAP on Cloud is something which we don’t need to own the system, as it will be provided by the
third party. But From functional point of view, Premise or cloud will not impact the normal
business process.

Q: What is the difference between Central finance and ECC finance? Is that same in Logistics
also?

Ans: Central finance is an enhanced deployment of an S/4 Finance system.

Q: Can you tell me how S/4 HANA is integrated with SAP Ariba from SCM perspective view?

Ans: We have Native integration available in S4 Hana. Native integration means, earlier if we
want to connect to Ariba on SAP system there are Plug-in’s required. Now all these Plug-ins
are already part of S/4 HANA. It is like Plug and play with S/4 HANA system.

Q: In Case of Migration from SAP ECC to S/4 HANA, if the customer is having lot of custom
reports, how will they work? Do we have to build the reports again in S4 Hana system?

Ans: Actually No. Even if the tables are changed, most of the reports will work with concept of
CDS views.

Using CDS views, we can get the reports as it is. Not 100% but can be used up to 80% we can
bring reports with CDS views.
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Q: Is there any System down time in Migration Procedures?

Ans: There is system down time. It depends up on kind of transactions, volume of data we are
going to migrate upon.

Q: How is S/4 HANA relates to BW HANA.

Ans: BW HANA is the first product which came with S/4 HANA database, there is something
called Embedded BW with some functionalities which are directly embedded in the same server.

Normally when we use BW, we need to extract data from ECC to BW, but now BW is embedded
in S/4 HANA system and the reports are available in real time.

Q: Are there any Configuration apps also in SAP Fiori?

Ans: Not in On-premise, but there are basic configuration apps provided on Cloud.

Q: While Migrating/Converting from SAP ECC EHP 7 or EHP 8 to S/4 HANA, what happens to
existing code in User exits, Badi’s or Custom fields added to standard tables, how does it is going
to work? Will SAP assures that the code works, or do we need to consider the
reimplementation?

Ans: If we have custom reports, custom objects, SAP has provided a tool named Custom Code
Analyzer. Using this tool, the technical consultant will run the code which will give us an idea
which custom codes will work as it is in SAP S/4 and which code needs to be adjusted.

For example, if we use KONV table in custom reports, since it is not available in S/4 HANA then
SAP will result in error and will provide SAP Note which provides solution to adjust the code.

Q: How to run Custom Code Analyzer?

Ans: Using transaction SYCM, Custom repository selection screen, enter the Customer
Namespace/Package of the objects we want to analyze. The custom code analyzer will detect all
references to SAP objects in our custom code. The metadata of these references are stored in a
ZIP file.

SAP link for custom code analyzer -

https://help.sap.com/doc/saphelp_nw75/7.5.5/enUS/CA/6FBD35746DBD2DE10000009B38F889/fr
ameset.htm

Q: What is the highest number of SD Pricing Access sequences in SAP ECC and S/4 HANA?
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Ans: We have 99 access sequences in SAP ECC, whereas in S/4 HANA we have 999 access
sequences.

Q: How do MRP runs in SAP ECC and S/4 HANA?

Ans: MRP in SAP ECC is run through batch jobs and during off peak hours. While in S/4 HANA,
there is no need of batch job and can now run in real time with HANA.

Q: How is Output Management run in SAP ECC and S/4 HANA?

Ans: In SAP ECC, output management is done using NAST database table where in S/4 HANA ,
NAST is replaced by Business rule framework plus (BRF +) and target architecture is based on
Adobe document server and Adobe forms.

Q: What is the difference in SD Pricing in SAP ECC and S/4 HANA?

Ans: In SAP ECC, we should update multiple tables for Pricing data, whereas in S/4 HANA we
have a single table PRCD_ELEMENTS to update pricing data.

Q: Behavior of General Ledger in SAP ECC and S/4 HANA?

Ans: SAP ECC has 2 general ledgers(GL) architectures. But, SAP S/4 HANA uses the new General
Ledger Architecture implemented automatically as part of the S4 HANA migration. SAP S/4
HANA also has Extended Warehouse Management functionality embedded into the core system
instead of having a separate SCM system as in SAP ECC.

Q: What is the Incorporation of stand-alone solutions in S/4 HANA core?

Ans: SAP Transportation management and SAP EWM are two standalone solutions which S/4
HANA has brought into its core.

Q: What are the new Functional Capabilities available in S/4 HANA apart from SAP ECC?

Ans: SAP is releasing several new functional capabilities which are designed to work with S/4
HANA and in memory computing. Examples include central finance, SAP Cash Management, and
SAP BPC optimized for S/4 HANA which are not available in SAP ECC.

Q: Difference in Business Partners and Material Number extensions?

Ans: In SAP S/4HANA, Customer and vendor master data need to be integrated/migrated as
Business Partner. Customer-vendor integration (CVI) is a mandatory step to run business with
SAP S/4HANA.
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One key difference between SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA is that the Material number can now be
40 characters instead of the existing 18 in SAP ECC. This is an optional feature. Therefore,
impacts of this extension on interfaces, custom coding, and other SAP applications must be
evaluated. This must be done before switching to 40 characters.

Q: How is User interface differ in S4 HANA and SAP ECC?

Ans: A key difference between S4H and ECC is that SAP Fiori is the new user interface in S4H to
offer a rich and intuitive user experience. We should understand the functional and technical
differences and build their best business use case on why their firm should move to S/4HANA.

Q: How Extended Warehouse Management differs in SAP ECC and S4 HANA?

Ans: SAP’s new application for warehouse management, EWM replaces the existing WM
module. There will be 2 options

 Native integration i.e. inbuilt in SAP S/4HANA

 Side car approach for decentralized deployment
 Some Advantages of EWM over WM
 Complex warehouse processing through Process oriented storage control
(POSC)
 Improved (easily customizable) RF functionality
 Value added service like kitting
 Enhanced wave & replenishment processes
 Labor management

Q: How Output Management differs?

Ans: SAP S/4HANA’s Business rule framework plus (BRF +) replaces SAP ECC’s message
determination with the NAST table. In addition, the target architecture is based on Adobe
Document Server and Adobe forms only.

Q: How both differs in Revenue Accounting and Reporting?

Ans: SAP S/4HANA’s Revenue Accounting and Reporting (RAR) replaces SAP ECC SD Revenue
Recognition. This is due to new accounting standards released jointly by the Financial
Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
The new guideline is also in IFRS 15.
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SAP ECC’s SD Revenue Recognition is based on Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US-
GAAP), International Accounting Standards (IAS)/Financial Reporting Standards (FRS). Therefore,
it provides the option of recognizing revenue based on an event (like Goods issue, proof of
delivery) or over a period (based on specific set of dates) apart from the standard way of
realizing revenue on billing.

The new standard introduces a 5-step model.

 Identify the contract

 Separate performance obligations
 Determine transaction price
 Allocate transaction price
 Recognize revenue

Revenue Accounting and Reporting (RAR) in SAP S/4HANA accounts for fundamental changes
with IFRS 15. Moreover, it also meets the requirements of parallel accounting and cost
recognition.

Q: Material Ledger Mandate?

Ans: In SAP S/4HANA, activation of the material ledger (ML) is mandatory. ML valuates inventory
in multiple currencies. Traditionally, in SAP ERP, a single currency valuates the inventory. In SAP
S/4HANA, ML allows valuation in two additional currencies. This is essentially helpful for global
organizations operating in different countries. They tend to evaluate their inventories in multiple
currencies.

Q: New Credit Management System?

Ans: There is a new credit management system in SAP S/4HANA by the name of FSCM-CR. It is
the credit management of Financial supply chain management. It replaces SAP ECC’s FI-AR-CR.
FSCM-CR is built on a distributed architecture. This allows interfaces with external credit rating
agencies.  Traditional SAP ECC’s FI-AR-CR credit control setting requires high degree of manual
work. In addition, FSCM-CR has valuable advanced features like

 Automatic risk scoring & credit limit calculations with a credit rule engine
 Automatic update to master data based on the approval of credit limit
 Work flow for credit events
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Q: Database Factor of SAP S/4HANA and SAP ECC

Ans: SAP S/4HANA can run only on the HANA database. This is completely different from SAP
ECC. SAP ECC can run on Oracle, IBM DB2 etc.  SAP S/4HANA leverages on SAP HANA’s in-
memory capabilities and design principles.

1. The HANA in-memory database reads data faster than traditional databases which fetch
data from the hard disk. This is because data is read from memory, i.e., data resides in the
main memory RAM (though Write happens in hard disk).
2. HANA’s column-based tables enable faster access (since only affected columns need to be
read in a query), better compression (because only distinct values are compared to rows),
parallel processing (different columns can be easily processed parallelly)
3. OLTP and OLAP capabilities are available in the same system. They offer real time reporting
and predictive analysis.
4. There will be no aggregate (total), index, and history tables in SAP S4HANA. This is due to
dynamic aggregate creations on the fly based on line item tables.

Q: Unison of CO and FI in SAP ECC and SAP S/4 HANA?

Ans: In SAP ECC, we could observe FI GL accounts mapped to CO primary cost elements.
However, in SAP S/4HANA, the universal journal uses only one field to store both GL accounts
and cost elements. Cost elements (both primary and secondary) are now GL accounts. Hence, a
relevant cost element category is used when they are created and maintained (in FS00).
Reconciliation (as in case of CO to FI) is not needed now. Therefore, period end closings will be
faster.

Q: Live Material Requirement Planning (MRP)

Ans: In SAP ECC, MRP runs occur through batch jobs during off peak hours. However, there is no
need of batch jobs in SAP S/4HANA. In SAP S/4HANA, MRP runs can occur in real time by
leveraging the power of SAP HANA.

One key point of difference between SAP S/4HANA and SAP ECC is that while MRP can be only
be run on plant and MRP area level, it cannot be run on the storage location level in SAP
S/4HANA. In SAP ECC, storage locations can either be excluded from MRP or they can be
planned separately. For SAP S/4HANA, SAP recommends usage of MRP area with MRP type for
scenarios at storage location level. In addition, MRP with subcontracting has been simplified in
SAP S/4HANA.
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Q: Migration of data and applications from SAP ECC to S/4 HANA?

Ans: With the Custom Code Migration Worklist (technically part of SAP NetWeaver 7.5) a
customer can check if his SAP Business Suite custom code complies with the scope and data
structure of SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition. The following figure describes basically the
supporting custom code management approach related to SAP S/4HANA.

   

In the context of Custom Code Migration Worklist, a central component is a data store called
“Simplification Database “. This database contains information about which SAP objects changed
between the classical Business Suite and SAP S/4HANA. For each changed object, a SAP note is
referenced describing what has been changed, why it has been changed and how custom code
needs to be adapted.

Custom Code Migration Worklist – The Steps

  1. Simplification List Content (CCMSIDB)
a. Download component CCMSIDB from SMP
b. Upload zip-file into analysis system using report SYCM_UPLOAD_SIMPLIFIC_INFO

2. Create Custom Code Metadata Export (on Dev/QA-System)

c. If where-used index is not up-to-date à execute report SAPRSEUB (Note: this might

have a significant runtime)

3. Get usage data of productively used custom code

Usage and Procedure Logging (UPL) needs to be activated in Production System and

available in Solution Manager.
Note: RFC-connection between analysis system and Solman needs to be set-up

5. Custom Code Migration Worklist

6. Execute report to display the Custom Code Migration Worklist
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7. Contained are objects in use that are affected by simplification items:

– Syntactically (e.g. material number field length extension)
– Semantically
– Use of no more existing functionality
– Use of new functionality is mandatory

8. Not in scope: SAP HANA code optimization (e.g. for performance)

9. SAP-Notes will be referenced to explain the necessary resolution tasks
10. Code adaptation may happen before (using transports) or after System Conversion (e.g. for
initial dev system conversion).

Detailed Analysis:
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Simple Finance was the first part of the Business Suite to be rewritten to run on SAP’s new superfast in-
memory HANA database. Simple Logistics followed, and the combined new product, with New
GL and New Asset Accounting as prerequisite, became known as S/4HANA.

S/4HANA exists as the S/4HANA Cloud which is a standardized Multi-Tenanted Cloud (i.e. all customers
share the same software instance although the data is secure and private). This comes with a mandatory
Fiori user interface, quarterly releases, and bespoke programming is not possible as you are sharing your
system with others. There is also the On-premise S/4HANA with greater flexibility, freedom to customize
as before, and optional Fiori and annual releases.

The exact functionality will vary depending on the release, and this article is mostly based on S/4HANA
1610, which is the October 2016 On-premise release, although some of the functionality below may
already be available in the later enhancement packs of ECC6. I have used print screens mainly from the
GUI to help users to compare the functionality, but mostly the Fiori apps are quite similar.

A lot of the ECC6 functionality is still available in S/4HANA in the SAP GUI; sometimes transactions are
enhanced and easily recognized and both the old and new co-exist (e.g. FAGLL03 and FAGLL03H), and
sometimes you are redirected to new functionality automatically (e.g. FK01->BP). It seems where the
letter H is added at the end of the transaction, it tends to be a new S/4HANA specific transaction, the
letter N has often been added to new transactions anyway, including those introduced with the New GL
(and some are already available in later versions of ECC). The letter L at the end of some transactions
seems to allow posting to different ledgers e.g. FB01 and FB01L as well as a lot of the new asset
transactions, but these are just guidelines not strict rules.

Ledgers and Currencies

In addition to the normal parallel ledgers which were introduced with the New GL, there are now
Extension Ledgers (original called appendix ledgers). The difference is that with an additional parallel
ledger, postings are physically made to both the leading ledger and the parallel ledger, with only
adjustments made to the parallel ledger, whereas extension ledgers have to be linked to a base ledger
and only take delta postings. Therefore, when you run a report for the extension ledger it pulls in both
the base ledger and the extension ledger to show you the complete picture. The extension ledgers
however cannot be used in asset accounting.

There are now 8 additional freely definable currencies available, although they may not all be available
in other modules and a conversion project would be required to ensure historical data is dealt with
appropriately.

Data structure

HANA has the power to calculate on the fly, which means that for financial transactions, index tables
such as BSIS, BSAS, BSID, BSAD, BSIK, BSAK, BSIM, FAGLBSIS and FAGLBSAS, as well as aggregate tables
such as GLT0, GLT3, FAGLFLEXT, KNC1, LFC1, KNC3, LFC3, COSS, COSP are no longer required and have
been removed.  FAGLFLEXA and some other New GL tables are now obsolete and there are also new
customizing tables.
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However, if you have your own ABAP reports using these tables, don’t worry as there are
now Compatibility views with the same name, which recalculate the same values as the tables would
have had, allowing any bespoke programs reading the information to continue to function. There are
new tools which you can run prior to migration, which allow you to check which of your bespoke
programs are read only and will continue to function and which need rewriting. In any case you may find
that some of your bespoke programs are no longer required because that functionality is now available
as standard, or that it will be more efficient to rewrite them using the new tables anyway.

Universal journal

This is the name of the enhanced financial document in S/4HANA. A Universal Journal is created
whenever anything is posted to Finance from any module and each journal can be displayed as before
using the display document transaction FB03. Many of the journal entry, invoice entry and other posting
transactions are still available in the SAP GUI, so you can still for example use FB50 or FB50L (by ledger)
to post a journal, although the Fiori equivalents are more user-friendly. The Universal Journal is the
Single Source of Truth for finance, Controlling and COPA, and includes all the cost objects traditionally
found in Controlling such as cost centers, internal orders and WBS elements as well as columns for the
standard CO-PA characteristics and up to fifty additional characteristics. See also the next section on
merging Finance and Controlling. New reports are available, mainly in Fiori, but the old Controlling
reports continue to work (using compatibility views), including those for planning

ACDOCA is the name of the Finance module’s important new S/4HANA table, which is based on the
Universal Journal line items, containing all the financial fields, as well as a lot of information from other
modules.

Single Source of Truth

Finance and Controlling are now merged, getting rid of data redundancies and the need for
reconciliations, and making visible the internal CO actual postings in FI as well. The real-time FI-CO
integration is also obsolete and Controlling data is stored in the new finance table ACDOCA. 

To have only one field available in the Universal Journal for both the GL account and cost element
numbers, the cost elements are contained inside the GL account master records.

If you select Primary or Secondary Costs as the GL account type, then on the Control Data tab

you will see Controlling Area settings such as the cost element category. The dropdown options are
based on choosing primary costs as the GL account type. Categories relating to secondary costs are
available if you choose the secondary costs GL account type. Cost element groups are still available.

Default account assignments from the cost elements are automatically migrated to the OKB9
configuration transaction and configuring cost object defaults in OKB9 is the only option going forwards.

 
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An additional column appears in Transaction OB52 (opening and closing periods) for postings from
Controlling to Finance, (although you still need OKP1 at Controlling Area level), and you have the option
of selecting the posting period variant prior to entering the time interval screen.

Account-based profitability analysis must be activated but you can still use costing-based profitability
analysis in parallel.  Initially realignment was not supported but this has been brought in with release
1610.

Vendors and Customers

Customers and vendors can only be maintained using the Business Partner functionality (of which there
is of course a Fiori equivalent) and if you try to use the old codes e.g. FK01/2/3 or XK01/2/3 to
create/amend/display a vendor or FD01/2/3 and XD01/2/3 to create/amend display a customer you will
be redirected to transaction BP. 

Many of the screens are fairly like the old master data transactions, but a lot more data is available, and
one Business Partner may have roles in MM, SD, and FI. Employees, banks and other contacts can also
be set up as Business Partners. Multiple relationships can be specified, and new time dependent data is
available for e.g. addresses and bank data.

Line Item Reports

The old reports, such as FBL1N, FBL5N and FAGLL03 still exist alongside FBL1H, FBL5H and FAGLL03H
which have slightly different screens. The selection screen is quite similar, although note that the
additional selections button (the red, green and blue stripy one) now appears halfway down the
selection screen instead of at the top and is labelled Restrictions. Once you execute the report however,
things look somewhat different and the line items start off summarized by period.

Credit Management

FSCM replaces the previous Accounts Receivable credit management transactions (e.g.
F.28/F.31/F.32/F.33/FD32) and the Sales transactions (VKM3/VKM5). If you are not already familiar with
FSCM, this already used the Business Partner functionality prior to S/4HANA and has additional
functionality, in areas such as Credit Management, Collections Management (including collection
worklists), Dispute Management. It also has additional reporting and allows you to import external
credit information. 

Materials

The Material Ledger is mandatory (although Actual Costing is still optional) and there are also new tables
for material documents (MATDOC), a Cost of Goods Sold variance split and no locking of tables. The
material number field is extended from 18 to 40 characters and this information is available in the
Universal Journal document, and therefore the ACDOCA table for reporting in finance. Note that the
extended material functionality can be switched off if for example you have a multi-system landscape.

Global trade Services (GTS)

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GTS replaces the foreign trade functionality in Sales and Procurement. This allows the pulling in of data
from different systems, and is extensively integrated with SD and MM. 

Revenue Recognition

Only the new Revenue Accounting and Reporting, which supports IFRS15, is available in S/4HANA, i.e.
the SD Revenue and Recognition is no longer available.

LSMW  

The Legacy System Migration Workbench is still available in S/4HANA, but it is not recommended for
migrations as it has not been amended for the new data structures, and some functionality is not
available e.g. transaction recordings cannot be made with the Fiori transactions. 

The Maintenance Planner tool has to be used for a system conversion, which among other things,
checks add-ons, active business functions and industry solutions to ensure that they can be converted.

Central Finance

Central Finance is a new concept introduced with S/4HANA. It allows users with a large and distributed
landscape to replicate both SAP and non-SAP finance data real-time to a central S/4HANA system, but
still allowing drilldown to the original document in the SAP systems.

Cash Management

There is a suite of programs, Cash Operations, Bank Account Management (BAM) and Liquidity
Management that replace the classic cash and liquidity management, and you can centrally manage the
actual and forecast cash positions from SAP and non-SAP systems by using the One Exposure operations
Hub. Transactions such as FF7A and FF7B (cash management and liquidity forecast) are now Fiori apps.

House banks and house bank accounts, which are now master data, can be managed by users in Fiori,
along with banks hierarchies or groupings, overdraft limits, signatories and approvals flows and
additional reporting such as the foreign bank account report, helps compliancy. The hierarchy uses the
bank business partner role

Bank accounts can also be downloaded and uploaded to and from Excel, for reporting, migrations and
mass changes. They are created in the productive system, but still need to be replicated to the
development and quality assurance systems etc. as configuration for payments and bank statements still
needs to be made in the development system and moved through quality to production as usual.

If you don’t want to implement the full Bank Account Management (BAM), then Basic Cash
management  is also available, previously known as  BAM Lite. 

Other Fiori apps available include for cash operations include the Incoming bank statements monitor,
cash payments and approvals, cash position reports, transfers, cash pooling. 
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New Asset Accounting

Depreciation Areas - You still have the choice of using the parallel ledgers brought in by the New
GL or accounting for different accounting principles using a different range of GL accounts. However,
even if you use different accounts for the different accounting principles, you still need to set them up in
asset accounting as dummy  ledgers.   You no longer need to set up delta depreciation areas where you
have additional accounting principles, but you do need to have a one to one match for each currency
and ledger in Finance with a depreciation area in Asset Accounting.

The depreciation areas are now equal (i.e. depreciation area 1 does not have to be the leading ledger)
and transaction ASKB, (post additional depreciation areas periodically to finance), has been removed
because you can post all depreciation areas to Finance in real-time if required.  Because all the postings
are real-time, you can navigate and drill down to most of the financial documents not just those in
depreciation area 1. 

Postings – As with finance, a lot of the tables are now redundant, and a lot of the asset information
comes across via the Universal Journal in table ACDOCA. The asset balance sheet accounts are now all
reconciliation accounts – even those in the additional depreciation areas, which prevents manual
postings that are not updating the assets. The depreciation run posting has been improved and the
depreciation journal contains asset information at line item detail so in the GL line item report you can
see the amounts by asset.