SAP S/4HANA was first presented in February 2015 as the next generation ERP system to support organisations with their digital transformation into digital enterprises. As the technology landscape keeps evolving, SAP also keeps coming up with new versions of S/4HANA with superior functionalities. The latest upgrade was introduced in October 2022. This article will provide you with an overview of the main highlights of the release.
Key features of SAP S/4HANA 2022 release
You must familiarise yourself with the characteristics of new editions so that you can opt for the version that best suits your unique requirements. Listed below are the key features of the 2022 release, their impact on different application areas, and the resulting benefits.
Finance
The new version allows you to push data from SAP Analytics Cloud to SAP S/4HANA for group reporting. It eliminates the need to transfer data first into accounting. This leads to more efficient profitability planning.
R&D / Engineering
It has also introduced an ‘Impact Management in Change Record’ application that enables you to study the outcome of a proposed change. The impact on different objects can be identified early in the product cycle. This reduces the chances of making unnecessary expenditures.
Sales
It facilitates advanced intercompany sales processes in a highly integrated manner. The system automatically creates purchase orders and sales orders in the selling and delivery companies, respectively. This leads to increased transparency, efficiency, and cross-team collaboration.
Product compliance
In the area of product compliance, the latest innovation is that hazardous goods checks are included in the processing of transportation documents for ocean transport. Users can thus achieve better compliance with hazardous goods regulations by making data available to carriers in electronic form. In addition, sustainability integration scenarios are now provided in sourcing and procurement. You can check the carbon footprint data of various products to comply with environmental regulations.
Public sector
This version adds success-tracking features to the ‘Explore At-Risk Customers’ app. You can study customer behaviour based on different risk scores as well as evaluate existing collection strategies. Ultimately, you can determine the best next action for different customers, which has the highest potential for success.
SAP Extended Warehouse Management
Integration services for SAP Warehouse Robotics are offered to help you connect it with SAP Extended Warehouse Management. This helps you to track the movements to and from the warehouse according to the assigned robot operations. For instance, you can timely update the warehouse order status to ‘in process’ as and when the robot starts processing the order. This alignment reduces confusion and duplication of efforts.
SAP Fiori apps
This release also offers apps that increase process flexibility, manage information, and help make better decisions. Some of these apps are the ‘Analyse Incoming Payments’ SAP Fiori app; ‘Manage Environmental Reports’ SAP Fiori app; Fiori apps for analysing stock; maintaining data in product compliance, creating customer returns orders, etc.
Supply Chain Management
The Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) algorithm is used to achieve a more accurate forecast. By interpreting past data and studying trends, the future need for spare parts can be predicted. This minimises inventory costs and avoids situations where the machinery is left idle. Transport management has also been made easier by providing enhanced load planning options. You can view how the loading space is being utilized in the form of a 3D plan or a hierarchical table.
Conclusion
SAP plans to constantly improve upon its products and release new editions of S/4HANA in the future. The aim of this development process is to consider technological advancements and offer a modernised and intelligent solution to businesses. It is, thus, a wise decision to migrate to SAP S/4HANA. If you are looking for further guidance on how to prepare your data for S/4HANA Migration, find more information here or get in touch for expert advice.
