Importance of S/4HANA Simple Logistics in Finance Industry

Enterprises all around the world have shown dramatic increases in the implementation of S/4HANA general suite, or particularly S/4HANA Finance. Proportionate to the growth of Simple Finance implementation, there is also a lot of movement taking place concerning S/4HANA Simple Logistics which is also called S/4HANA Enterprise Management.

The next step for SAP FI/CO systems is SAP S/4HANA Simple Finance. Identical to this succession, ECC6.0 conventional logistics modules are being replaced by S/4HANA Enterprise Management. Simple Logistics is a process focused as opposed to being module focused. This application looks into Order to Cash, Procure to Pay, Plan to Produce and Request to Service. The system running on a HANA database allows for an accelerated suite which runs across several devices using the ground-breaking SAP Fiori interface, which enhances the user experience dramatically along with mobility.

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SAP S/4 HANA Simple Logistics Scope and Business Benefits

SAP S/4 HANA enforced by the processing powers of HANA will see innovations based on New‐Data Models supported by easy‐to‐use FIORI applications yielding the following benefits in the Logistics domain:

Sales and Distribution (OTC Area)

One gains better visibility and control over Sales Order Fulfilment through Sales Analytics and the Smart Sales Fulfilment Cockpit. It will also aid in closely monitoring the KPI and executing necessary corrective actions within time. Support for management of issues and unfinished orders about Sales, Delivery and Billing transactions. This guarantees fulfilment of commitment to clients in the required time and frequency for every enterprise.

Production Planning Area (SAP PP Module)

Accelerated Material Resource Planning run with interactive‐simulations capability is bound to be particularly useful in Retail and Trading environments.

Minimizing locking issues and reducing the post‐processing time will lead to a speedier and hassle-free Material Valuation process. Businesses that utilize standard pricing will benefit from this innovation.

A New data‐model will bring about speedy inventory closing, event‐based reactions and even Real‐Time High Volume Back-flush.

 Materials Management (SAP MM module)

Procurement KPIs can be assessed and monitored with brand new analytics apps such as Spend and Contract Management and more. This would lead to boosted efficiencies in the P2P processes. Also, smoother integration for PO Order and Procurement processes is made possible using native integration with Business-Network systems such as Ariba networks.

Enterprises looking to explore major innovations will find such innovation using a Material Ledger and valuation methods according to different accounting laws such as GAAP.

Availability Check and Back Order Processing

Business efficiency in sales order processing can be achieved using the new HANA based comprehensive and Advanced ATP or AATP algorithm and optimized back-order processing. AATP is meant for enterprises with a single instance of ERP, which are not willing to invest in a full-blown APO but still want to benefit from richer functionalities. Organizations with high volume sales and frequent changes in sales orders stand to gain massively from back-order processing.

Simple Finance was the first suite built on SAP HANA and has shown how it is possible to run simple in the digital economy due to the innovation that the SAP HANA platform brings. The release of Simple Logistics is expected to bring a whole lot more of such innovations to the digital enterprise.

Given below is how such changes will facilitate the move from delivering products to delivering outcomes:

Delivering customer outcomes

Customers in need of a product usually place an order to receive goods. This seems like a straightforward process, but the reality is far from this assumption. For a business to fulfil an order it has to navigate through the complex nature of the supply chain, get through the deficiency in real-time data, along with the frequent communication hindrances that plague organizations worldwide.

Today’s digital world demands a lot more than business processes which have been constructed on and around long-standing batch processes which highly limited by various factors. Enterprises that are weighed down by daily or weekly production planning along with order fulfilment and delivery will find their ability to adapt and evolve being compromised. What is infinitely worse and detrimental to the company is that the organization’s ability to give the customer what they need will be significantly reduced.

Digital technology and analytical tools are transforming into highly advanced and complex resources with each passing day, enabling access to a wealth of fresh data sources and information. To achieve business success it is of paramount importance how such data is applied in identifying and defining customer expectations. When such expectations are fulfilled, they are naturally translated into customer loyalty resulting from the delivery of appealing revenue-generating products. The drivers for grasping and fully comprehending customer expectations include smart customer interactions, which generates a significant need for analysis.

“What are our customers’ goals?” “How can we help our customers achieve them?” – The answers to these questions can guide enterprises in optimizing their process flows to set them apart from their competition. S/4HANA has been designed to initiate and facilitate business process innovation, through speed, usability and agility. This will allow businesses to increase their operational flexibility. This will directly translate into better equipping the company to meet customer needs and provide the quality of service that customers of the digital age have come to expect.

Given below are some of the features and advantages delivered by SAP Simple Logistics

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Simple logistics

Architected for the objective of recording transactional data Logistics in ERP led to transactional processes of higher efficiencies. Even though users were empowered to recognize issues within their processes and apply corrective actions, analysis of issues and evaluation of possible solutions always needed high levels of knowledge and expertise. More often than not, a sub-par solution was arrived upon since users were left with insufficient time to execute the right decisions.

This is where SAP Simple Logistics steps in to transform logistics from a system of records to a decision support system by harnessing data in what can be measured as a significantly more proactive and efficient manner. The innovation that the HANA platform brings to the fore makes all this possible. The integrated and highly enhanced scope of Simple Logistics which is placed alongside core ERP functions is augmented by the capabilities of PLM, SCM, SRM, and CRM along with support for technologies of value chain organization.

Forecasting and proactively acting in response to fulfilling customer needs is possible now, thanks to Simple Logistics. Along with that, automation of complex processes accelerated the pace of innovation and expansion of product configurations is possible. Enterprises will also gain instant visibility concerning customer changes and a digitized core for the application enables response to such changes.

Empowering users

Signalling alerts and generating possible solutions is achieved by empowering users to execute business decisions based on proactive analysis of real-time data. Production planners dealing with a product shortage in the current state of the market or industry will need to analyse reports, extract data residing in ERP which, generally isn’t readily available. The planner will also have to wait for material updates through batch job processing, wait for the overnight interface from a third party warehouse and a whole lot more. With Simple Logistics, this entire painstaking and time-intensive process will be rendered obsolete or at least redundant, freeing up the user to concentrate on their actual role.

Transforming the business and user experience

User will be enabled to perform beyond great in their role as SAP Fiori user interface would bring together all the relevant data and information needed for the same. The need for users to remember multiple transactions has been eliminated; using the cockpit with its tile-based apps is a simple and easy-to-use interface available on most devices. The requirements of each business role here are met by consolidating and integrating relevant information needed to execute each role and nothing beyond that scope.

For instance, users will be given relevant data and information from finance, procurement, production and logistics in real-time in Sales Order Fulfilment. This data will enable users to recognize the optimum solution from the selection of system proposed solutions. With a single click, a user can view the forecasted effect of fulfilling the latest and most profitable orders by simulation of the solutions proposed.

Effective collaboration

Organizations need to listen to their customers in all matters to comprehend where the enterprise needs to be; after all, customers are almost always generating a large chunk of revenue for any business. Incorporation of social media data can facilitate execution of real-time sentiment analysis to assess what customers are sharing about particular products, their availability, promotions for the said product and a whole lot more. Also, the information can be shared through SAP Jam to enable collaboration and even connect partners, employees and customers with important information speeding up the process of resolving mission-critical business problems which drive accelerated results in a collaborative environment.

When core customers know they are being included in a product’s future design based on offered feedback, it will open up previously unimaginable possibilities, such as unparalleled and unwavering customer loyalty and retention.

SAP S/4HANA, on-premise edition and SAP S/4HANA, cloud edition

The business scope of both these editions was designed to offer maximum choice to customers in alignment with business requirements.

From the perspective of functionality, languages, coverage and industries, the SAP Simple Logistics on-premise edition provides a business scope that is mostly identical to the existing SAP Business Suite. Also, SAP Simple Logistics has within its scope, transformational simplifications which are delivered with SAP Simple Finance along with planned integration with SAP Central, SAP Ariba and SAP Success Factors network. The premise edition is intended to offer a yearly innovation cycle through innovation packages.

Specific business scenarios for the marketing line of business along with the professional services industry are covered by SAP Simple Finance. The scenarios also include the ones where a whole business can be run in the cloud using a digital core including

The SAP Simple Logistics cloud edition spans highly specific scenarios for the marketing business vertical along with the services industry as a whole. It supports vital scenarios to run a business in the cloud-powered by a digital core which includes, but is not limited to product lifecycle management, plant maintenance, manufacturing, procurement, and also finance and accounting

Benefits accrued by Businesses through the implementation of SAP Simple Logistics:

• Processing of massive volumes of operational data to gain business insight while the respective operations are simultaneously running
• Execution of analyses based on all the data from operational applications
• Implementation of flexible analytic models when working with the information to reveal business-critical trends and patterns is made a reality
• The analytic environments are kept connected to the operational applications
• Minimizing the lag times between data collection and accrual of insight into that data

Reasons to go for Simple Logistics

• Scalable Infrastructure – Optimized system landscape, along with minimized systems count, provides the customers lower Total Cost of Ownership and higher performance.
• Reporting and Analysis – Enables real-time analysis at the lower range granularity on chief transactional data. It also skips aggregates.
• Increased Throughput– enables maximized throughput by eliminating data redundancies and reduced data footprint.
• User Experience– provides the largest user productivity along with outstanding, role-based User Interfaces and accessibility on multiple devices.

Go through our SAP S/4HANA Simple Logistics Interview Questions  to crack the Interviews.

Conclusion

SAP S/4 HANA is the unique new platform that will enable businesses to operate proactively and collaboratively both with suppliers and customers, while also providing users with real-time data needed to concentrate on issue resolution and implementation of corrective action towards issue resolution. Departments and lines of business have barriers that need to be taken down, about data and communication, and SAP Simple Logistics can be that catalyst that spearheads the dissolution of such barriers. A simplified data model will boost throughput, while the new user interface will offer coordination and simulation capabilities, making sure users have the right insights to make the correct business decisions.

I hope that by now you have had an overview of SAP S/4 HANA Logistics. Before you enroll in ZaranTech’s certification course on SAP S/4 HANA Logistics , do check out the S4 HANA Logistics demo: