Central Finance and SAP S/4HANA

Carsten Hilker is the global solution owner for Central Finance. He is the emcee and host of the annual SAP Financial Excellence Forum, an annual event for SAP customers to network and interact with domain experts and thought leaders in finance and management accounting. He has been working in the field of financial and management accounting for 20+ years in various roles including development, consulting, and product management. Javaid Awan is a qualified accountant with 25 years hands on experience in software applications. He has held roles as a member of IT leadership teams, CIO, transformation director, dev ops director, chief architect, and head of share services, and he has led large-scale delivery for major transformations globally. Javaid has worked in finance, treasury, sales, HR, procurement, supply chain, and analytics in the consumer goods, life sciences, oil and gas, telecoms, media, manufacturing, and public sector industries.

Foreword on Enterprise Management
Foreword on Technology Simplification
Foreword on Finance Transformation
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part I Getting Started with Central Finance
The Basics: What Is Central Finance?
A Centralized Finance System
Central Finance Building Blocks
Central Finance Results
Boundaries and Restrictions
Summary
The Mechanics: How Does Central Finance Work?
Functional Foundation
Central Finance Capabilities
Summary
The Motivation: Why Central Finance and Why Now?
Central Finance as a Silver Bullet
Innovation Acceleration
Process Transformation
Business Model Evolution
Technology Transformation
SAP S/4HANA Adoption
Summary
Reporting: What Can I Learn About My Data?
Advanced Reporting
Extended Dimensional Reporting
Entity Reporting
Group Reporting
Summary
Finance Processes: What Can Central Finance Improve?
Processes and Process Orchestration
Payables and Receivables
Accounting and Financial Close
Banking and Treasury
Controlling Processes
Beyond Core Finance
Summary
Deployment Options: How Do I Implement Central Finance?
Getting Started
On-Premise
Cloud
Hybrid
Two-Tier Strategy
Summary
Deploying Central Finance
System Architecture
Technical Architecture
Central Finance Landscape
SAP Landscape Transformation Replication Server
SAP Application Interface Framework
SAP Master Data Governance
Frontend Tools and Central Finance
Summary
Implementing Central Finance
Rollout
Roadmap
System Setup
Data Integration Framework
Replication Setup
Process Design
Master Data
Business Mapping
Initial Data Load
Summary
Central Finance Operations
Centers of Excellence
Ongoing Replication
Master Data
System Onboarding
Process Onboarding
Mergers and Acquisitions
Divestitures
Summary
Master Data Management
Data Loads
Master Data Processes
Master Data Objects
Governance
Summary
Next Steps with Central Finance
Mergers and Integrations
Integration Catalyst
Mergers and Acquisitions
Post-Merger Integration
Summary
Central Finance as a Stepping Stone to SAP S/4HANA
Charting Your Journey
Choosing Your Route
Planning the Process
Summary
Finance Transformation
Strategy Management
Value Management
Risk Management
Business Process Management
Organizational Change Management
Summary
Platform Transformation
Platform Transformation Strategy
System and Application Consolidation
Digitization
Readiness for Services Consumption in the Cloud
Summary
Central Finance Business Case Development
Identifying Stakeholders
Evaluating the Status Quo
Determining Key Value Drivers
Assessing the Cost
Return on Investment
Summary
The Authors
The Contributors
Index