SAP S/4HANA Finance

Dr. Jens Kruger heads the LoB Finance and SAP Innovation Center unit in the board area of Products & Innovation, where he reports to Bernd Leukert, a member of the SAP Executive Board. Jens oversees a global development organization that is dedicated to delivering SAP Simple Finance in the cloud powered by SAP HANA, in close collaborationwith customers and partners.Prior to joining SAP in September 2013, Jens was co-representativeof Dr. Plattner's research chair at the Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering. He was one of the founding members of the prominent joint research project with SAP, which built the first prototype of SAP's award-winning in-memory platform SAP HANA.Jens holds a master's degree in business administration from the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and received a doctorate degree for his dissertation, "Enterprise-Specific In-Memory Data Management," from the Hasso Plattner Institute at the University of Potsdam.

. Foreword. 15

. Preface. 17

. Acknowledgments. 25

1. Introduction. 27

1.1. Market Trends. 27

1.2. Leadership Trends. 29

1.3. Technology Trends. 32

1.4. Introducing SAP S/4HANA Finance. 33

. Part I: Exploring the SAP S/4HANA Finance Model. 63

2. In-Memory Technology and SAP HANA. 65

2.1. Keeping Data in Memory. 67

2.2. Columnar Data Organization. 69

2.3. Data Encoding and Compression. 72

2.4. Parallel Execution. 75

2.5. Delta Store and Merge. 77

3. Removal of Redundancy. 81

3.1. Benefits of a Redundancy-Free System. 82

3.2. In-Memory Technology Removes Redundancy. 86

3.3. Simplifying the Core Data Model. 89

3.4. Immediate Benefits of the New Data Model. 92

4. Nondisruptive Innovation. 97

4.1. Compatible Refactoring. 98

4.2. Transitioning to SAP S/4HANA Finance. 101

5. Unlimited Flexibility Based on Line Items. 105

5.1. Gaining Unparalleled Insights. 105

5.2. Removing Predefined Aggregates. 107

5.3. Deciding without Information Loss. 110

5.4. Optimizing Operations with Big Data. 113

5.5. Innovating with Line Item Granularity. 115

6. Finance in Real Time. 117

6.1. Accepting the Limits of Retroactive Analysis. 118

6.2. Benefitting from Real-Time Finance. 120

6.3. Identifying Real-Time Finance Patterns. 126

6.4. Becoming a Real-Time Finance Company. 128

. Part II: Using SAP S/4HANA Finance. 133

7. Building Blocks of SAP S/4HANA Finance. 135

7.1. Seeing the Big Picture. 135

7.2. Reloading SAP ERP Financials Functionality. 138

7.3. New Applications in SAP S/4HANA Finance. 143

8. Single Source of Truth: Universal Journal. 147

8.1. Mastering Business Challenges without SAP HANA. 147

8.2. New SAP HANA-Based Architecture. 151

8.3. Immediate Benefits of the New Model. 156

8.4. Building on Top of the Universal Journal. 162

9. Flexible Reporting. 169

9.1. The Challenge of Flexible Operational Reporting Needs. 170

9.2. Addressing Challenges Using SAP S/4HANA Finance. 173

9.3. Conceptual Advances in Reporting. 178

9.4. Advances for End Users. 180

10. Flexible Analytics with Core Data Services. 185

10.1. Replacing Complex Analytics with Simplicity. 186

10.2. Paradigms of Core Data Services in SAP S/4HANA. 187

10.3. Building Blocks of Core Data Services in SAP S/4HANA. 190

10.4. Unified View of Data for Analytics. 194

11. SAP S/4HANA Finance Applications. 197

11.1. Business Cockpits for Businesspeople. 197

11.2. Financials Operations. 205

11.3. Ariba Network Integration. 212

11.4. Cash Management. 216

11.5. SAP Business Planning and Consolidation for Finance. 227

11.6. Profitability. 236

11.7. Financial Closing and Consolidation. 242

11.8. Revenue Accounting. 249

11.9. Real-Time Governance and Compliance. 254

12. Revamping the User Experience with SAP Fiori Apps. 263

12.1. SAP Fiori Design Philosophy. 264

12.2. Developing Intuitive Products. 265

12.3. SAP Fiori Design Principles in SAP S/4HANA Finance. 266

12.4. SAP Fiori Application Framework and Finance. 271

12.5. Extending SAP Fiori. 274

. Part III: Running SAP S/4HANA Finance. 279

13. Deploying SAP S/4HANA Finance. 281

13.1. On-Premise Edition. 282

13.2. Cloud Editions. 288

13.3. Managed Cloud Options. 289

13.4. Extensibility. 296

14. Landscape Consolidation with Central Finance. 299

14.1. Harmonization and Standardization. 300

14.2. Principles and Capabilities. 304

14.3. Evolution to an Operational System. 309

14.4. Central Finance in the Cloud. 312

15. Adoption Scenarios. 313

15.1. Greenfield vs. Brownfield Approach. 314

15.2. SAP S/4HANA Finance in SAP Business Suite on SAP HANA. 316

15.3. Central Finance and Central Reporting. 319

16. Success Story: SAP SE Runs SAP S/4HANA Finance. 323

16.1. Defining a Finance Vision. 324

16.2. Moving to SAP S/4HANA Finance. 326

16.3. Reaping the Benefits. 334

16.4. Anticipating the Next Steps. 338

16.5. The Takeaway. 338

. Part IV: Moving Forward with SAP S/4HANA Finance. 341

17. Design Thinking. 343

17.1. Foundation of Design Thinking. 344

17.2. Impacts on a Business Process Landscape. 348

17.3. Identify and Define Changes. 349

17.4. Set Up a Design Thinking Workshop. 354

17.5. Opportunities in the Business Process Landscape. 355

18. Digital Enterprise and the Future of Finance. 359

18.1. Behind the Term “Digital Enterprise”. 360

18.2. From Mechanics to Analytics. 363

18.3. Simulation and Predictive Analysis. 369

18.4. Proactive Finance Solution. 371

18.5. Summary. 375

. Appendices. 377

A. Changes to the Data Model. 379

B. Additional Information. 381

B.1. Bibliography. 381

B.2. Resources. 388

C. The Authors. 391

. Index. 405