How quality management benefits from S/4HANA

Interrupted supply chains due to international conflicts of interest are putting companies under great pressure. In addition, customers are demanding more and more service, which can only be satisfied with innovative business ideas and new technologies such as IoT, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) using traditional ERP systems. There is virtually no alternative to switching to S/4HANA with its countless possibilities in order to master the current challenges and ensure competitiveness. SAP is exerting additional pressure by setting the end of maintenance for the ECC systems for 2027.

What do users need to be prepared for when switching over? The most striking change is probably the new structure of the system. The new architecture replaces the classic ERP modules with lines of business (LoB). This means that each LoB comprises processes and functions for a specific business area of the company. An SAP LoB is therefore a logical unit in S/4HANA. The following LoBs exist:

• Asset Management: includes fixed assets and functions for the maintenance and servicing of production facilities (plant maintenance) as well as features for environmental, health and safety management.
• Finance: relates to financial accounting (including the general ledger), accounts receivable and accounts payable, controlling, financial planning and analysis, treasury, risk management, consolidation and financial statements.
• Human Resources: provides all the necessary processes and functions for HR. These include personnel administration, payroll accounting, time and attendance management and self-service access options to HR data for employees.
• Manufacturing: bundles all important applications and scenarios relating to production. The central functions are production planning and control, production execution and quality management.
• R&D and Engineering: provides companies with all relevant features relating to product lifecycle management, i.e. the management of the product lifecycle. This includes functions for defining product structures and parts lists, revisions, costing, project and portfolio management and investment management.
• Sales: combines all the important functions for sales. Classic tasks such as calculation, quotations, orders, picking, packing, returns and invoicing are supported.
• Sourcing and Procurement: supports business processes in the areas of procurement and purchasing. The functions of the former MM and SRM modules have been transferred to this SAP LoB and extended. Purchasing and procurement processes can be mapped end-to-end with the module. All processes are closely interlinked with the adjacent LoBs (Supply Chain and Manufacturing).
• Supply Chain: optimizes all activities along the entire supply chain - from suppliers to production to the end customer. Important information such as sales forecasts, production planning and demand planning is continuously incorporated.

In addition to the new structure, S/4HANA also focuses on the new FIORI user interface with its apps. SAP Fiori can be used on the office computer, but also on the go and even with various mobile devices - from smartphones to tablets, can be personalized (individual adaptation of layouts and fields, etc.) and enables role-based access. In theory, this means that the right information is available to every user at the right time via different user interfaces. Many users now fear that this will fundamentally change the operation of S/4HANA, which could possibly lead to resistance or resentment and reduce their efficiency because they first have to familiarize themselves with the new operating concept. This is a fallacy. In most cases, the introduction of FIORI is not accompanied by the deletion of transactions. The GUI functionality remains 95 to 99 percent the same in S/4HANA. However, some transactions will be removed or replaced in order to reduce parallel concepts for the same functions. For example, the transaction BP (Maintain Business Partner) replaces transactions for maintaining customer and vendor data, or the transaction MIGO (Post Goods Movements) replaces many of the MB* transactions - such as MB01, MB02, MB03, etc.

It turns out that almost all tasks can still be managed in the internalized SAP GUI. Users can therefore operate their processes as usual and are not forced to completely rethink. However, it is also important to be aware that SAP will only map new functionalities and innovations in FIORI in future.

A practical example from the QM area will illustrate this. The topic of "non-conformance management" (NC) has been integrated into QM, which allows defects to be recorded separately from inspection lot processing. However, this non-conformance solution can only be accessed via FIORI. Here, for example, individual defects can be created and processed with measures - for example using the 8D methodology. This involves a systematic approach and consistent documentation of individual solution steps. The approach is based on facts and ensures that product defects are traced back to their causes and avoided in future.

Although many things change when switching to S/4HANA, there is no complete break with the old system. Employees can basically work with the new system in the same way as before, as the changes to the SAP GUI are only minimal. However, there are many new functionalities that improve day-to-day work and make it more efficient. These include, for example, real-time insights into the company's processes, graphical overviews of defined key figures as well as contextual information and important aspects of central business process objects. However, these extended, innovative functions require a rethink and the use of the new FIORI apps.