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Sven Denecken Assigned Tags

August 1, 2022 | 6 minute read
SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Cloud Myth Busting: Myth #4 – RISE with SAP

Localization is Limited in the Cloud SAP Activate

SAP S/4HANA

 0  14  1,256 2Tier ERP

cloud

Hybrid Cloud ERP

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Next in the series (part 3 here), lets check in on localization/globalization in the cloud.
View more... 
Multinational enterprises need a Cloud ERP that facilitates global rollouts. A key
differentiator for SAP S/4HANA Cloud is its ability to help enterprises scale their business
processes across the globe by addressing country-specific requirements and regulatory Similar Blog Posts 
needs.
Busting Myths of SAP Activate
By Daniel Ciecko May 14, 2021

Busting Myths of SAP Activate

Part 3
By Jan Musil Aug 26, 2021

Busting Myths of SAP Activate

Part 2
By Jan Musil Aug 20, 2021

What is “Localization” in SAP S/4HANA Cloud?

Related Questions 

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10/20/23, 7:37 PM Cloud Myth Busting: Myth #4 – Localization is Limited in the Cloud | SAP Blogs

Localization plays a pivotal role in supporting the cloud journey. A dedicated team of
S/4HANA and large quantity data
localization experts deployed across the globe help deliver the legal changes for SAP
entry.
S/4HANA Cloud. Localization supports customer business compliance and caters to
adjusting the product’s functional properties, characteristics, and content to By Adam Yarnell Jul 31, 2019
accommodate the language and legal differences.
best way to extract Purchasing
Functional localization delivered by SAP addresses areas that require enhancement of data from S/4HANA Cloud to
processes in the core of SAP S/4HANA. BW/4HANA
Content Localization caters to the localization configuration to run basic business By Robert Anglberger May 20, 2020
processes and the Business Configuration layer enables further customization using
Self-Service Configuration UIs.
Limit ABAP in S/4HANA on
Extensibility features help in adapting and adding on top of what SAP is delivering. Premise to ABAP 4 Cloud?
The SAP Central Business Configuration- Configuration Localization Tool (Planned) By Gregor Wolf Feb 05, 2018
enables a copy of the business configuration content so that the customer/partner can
create a new SAP Delivered Local Versions.

The different layers in a localization are represented with examples in the illustration
below:

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What is the Localization Coverage of S/4HANA Cloud?

SAP Offers S/4HANA Cloud with Standard Localization for 43 countries and 27 languages.

SAP localization addresses some of the cases where localization is a must and required:
Payments, Invoicing, Languages, Validations, Statutory reporting, Time Data, UIX,
Benefits, Social Media Integration, Tax.

There are country-specific accounting processes and reporting needs.

Businesses have ultimate accountability for indirect tax and its compliance.
There are validations for country-specific formats for addresses, bank accounts, etc.
Country-specific formats for incoming/outgoing payment data.
Document and Reporting Compliance: electronic document exchange, statutory
reporting requirements as mandated by regulatory authorities.
Users want to interact with the solution in their local language, therefore software must
support region-specific rules/formats such as calendar, currency, time zone, etc.

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How Can a Customer and/or Partner Implement Localization on Their Own?

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The Configuration Localization Tool enables customers to configure localization during the
implementation stage. This tool offers the ability to copy local versions from a source to a
target local version. The configuration localization tool is currently under development.

Development:

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To cover the last mile, we have localization extensibility. This enables customers to extend
what SAP already offers as localization for the delivered local versions or develop
altogether new local versions not delivered or planned by SAP.

Key User Extensibility (In-app Extensibility): Enables customers to create, edit or add
fields and business objects (allow-listed) and insert custom logic (pseudo code) via the
user interface of the application.

Some of the business use cases covered in the localization toolkit:

Print Payment Due Date on Output Form of the Manual Invoice for Singapore
Extending SAP S/4HANA Cloud for Japan Subcontract Act
Search for Country-Specific Extension Attributes
Building Custom Solutions by Extending CDS Views on SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Side-by-side Extensibility: SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) allows you to build
cloud applications consuming APIs, CDS views, and other data objects from SAP
S/4HANA Cloud.

Some of the business use cases covered in the localization toolkit:

Tax Service: Calculate Indirect Taxes in SAP S/4HANA Cloud and On-Premises
Developer Extensibility: SAP S/4HANA Cloud ABAP Environment (Planned in 3SL)
enables developers to build applications and services using ABAP, with the restriction
that only released SAP APIs and objects can be used in the custom code.
Extend SAP solutions for simple scenarios such as new payment format, tax numbers,
and custom forms. Localizations requiring modification of SAP code are not possible.

Available scenarios within the localization toolkit:

Create a New VAT Report using Advanced Compliance Reporting

Create a New Withholding Tax Report using Advanced Compliance Reporting
Create reports in Advanced Compliance Reporting

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More information can be found here.

What is the Localization Toolkit?

The toolkit consists of specific localization tools coupled with general tools and
technologies to extend an application. Alongside the in-built localization features such as
Advanced Compliance Reporting and Payment Medium Workbench, the toolkit leverages
the generic extensibility features such as fields, logic, UI, and CDS Views. The toolkit also
provides guidance on how to cover the requirements on top of the available localization
features for a country.

What are the Customer Success Stories on Localization?

One of the global market leaders in geographic information system (GIS) software,
location intelligence, and mapping wanted to capture country legal compliance for
Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore in the output forms, primarily those that
need to be issued to the customer, vendor or any external to the client. The customer was
able to meet its legal requirements by using Key User Extensibility.

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SAP S/4HANA Cloud with SAP Document and Reporting Compliance provide a ready-to-
use global solution for customers to fulfil all types of mandates, from electronic invoices to
statutory reports, all in one platform with a process standardized worldwide. Be it NFe for
Brazil, e-invoicing for India, EU, LATAM or SAF-T, they are all managed out-of-the-box
centrally with a standardized solution.
As a global solution, it goes beyond local compliance. From a business perspective, it
translates into improved efficiency, automation, and transparency by digitalizing and
automating processes. Additionally, it allows for harmonization across two worlds – e-
invoices and reporting.

Where Can I Find Detailed Information Regarding the Localized Versions?

SAP Delivered Local Versions -> Currently Available

Localization Roadmap
Localization Toolkit for SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Frequently Asked Questions around the Localization Toolkit for SAP S/4HANA Cloud

Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast

As always, I would like to encourage you to subscribe to our podcast “Inside SAP
S/4HANA”. This podcast leverages the unique knowledge and expertise of SAP S/4HANA
product experts, partners, and customers to address your needs by sharing product
insights and project best practice. There is no customer success without product success
and project success; we help you get to the next level and make your SAP S/4HANA
projects a success. Subscribe now and benefit from the shared knowledge.

openSAP microlearnings for SAP S/4HANA

Just a couple of months ago, we launched openSAP microlearnings for SAP S/4HANA as
an exciting new learning opportunity. What began with a small batch of 20 videos, has now
become a channel with more than 50 microlearnings that have generated over 20,000
views since then. Today we cover multiple lines of business, like Finance and
Manufacturing & Supply Chain, and key technology topics like Master Data Management,

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Extensibility, User Experience, and Upgrade Management. We are continuously adding

new microlearnings to the SAP S/4HANA channel, so make sure you check them out.

Your Voice Matters!

If you want to learn more and actively engage with SAP subject matter experts on SAP
S/4HANA Cloud, join our SAP S/4HANA Cloud Community – now fully integrated with SAP
Community. The community brings together SAP S/4HANA Cloud customers, partners
and SAP experts and has a clear mission: deliver an interactive community to engage with
one another about best practices and product solutions. We invite you to explore the new
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Community ‘one-stop shop’ as the central place for all resources,
tools, content questions, answers and connect with experts to guide you through your SAP
S/4HANA Cloud journey.

For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, check out the following links:

SAP S/4HANA Cloud: New Product Releases here

Latest SAP S/4HANA Cloud Release blog posts here
SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation Content here
SAP S/4HANA PSCC Digital Enablement Wheel here
Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast here
SAP S/4HANA Cloud Community here
SAP Activate Community here
Best practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud here
Help Portal Product Page here
What’s New here

Follow us via @SAP and #S4HANA, or myself via @SDenecken

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