Do you believe that time flies? In the IT Industry, it certainly feels that way! It has been a decade since SAP released the initial version of the SAP HANA database in November 2020. Thousands of businesses all across the world have gained from its groundbreaking in-memory database technology since then.
Simultaneously, we haave marked five years since SAP published the initial edition of our next-generation ERP solution, SAP S/4HANA, in Q4 2020. (version 1511). While some customers are still assessing and planning their move to SAP S/4HANA, many others have been using it for several years. The subject of upgrading is becoming increasingly significant for consumers on earlier editions (e.g. 1511, 1610).
Why Upgrade?
Maintenance cycles and release strategy
To better understand why you might need to update your SAP S/4HANA system, it’s a good idea to review the SAP S/4HANA release strategy. The SAP Release and Maintenance Strategy document states:
- Generally, SAP S/4HANA provides innovations systematically through releases and feature packages.
- The maintenance-only phase usually begins with the last feature package stack (FPS) for a given release before a new release is published.
- SAP usually delivers repairs but no new features for the release during a maintenance-only period.
- The release normally enters customer-specific maintenance after mainstream maintenance is completed.
SAP plans to make the following items available in the near future:
- A big release occurs once a year.
- For each release, there is a 5-year maintenance cycle.
Landscape simplification
Some SAP Business Suite products, or parts of products (such as SAP CRM or SAP SRM), are now available in SAP S/4HANA, thanks to the evolution of SAP S/4HANA.
If you’re currently using those items as stand-alone systems, you might want to consider streamlining your current setup. Another factor influencing your decision to upgrade to a newer SAP S/4HANA edition could be this.
Of course, you should weigh the benefits and drawbacks of doing this as part of or separate from your SAP S/4HANA upgrade process. You should also double-check that the embedded products have all of the features you require, as there may be some differences between them and standalone products.
Features and functions that have been added
Another incentive to upgrade your SAP S/4HANA system is to meet new business needs by taking advantage of innovations, new features, and functions offered in newer product versions.
Let’s have a look at the resources available to assist you in answering the following critical questions:
- In a new SAP S/4HANA version, what new features and modifications are included?
- What new features are relevant?
What’s New Viewer
What’s New Viewer in the SAP Help Portal is the tool of choice for getting a thorough overview of the new, updated, and deleted features and functionalities in recent releases of SAP S/4HANA. It allows you to filter features by the line of business, solution area, change type, and scope item, as well as view changes in specific SAP S/4HANA versions.
If you need a list of changes in PDF format, use the link in the What’s New page of the SAP Help Portal to download it for each product version.
Simplification Item Catalog
The Simplification Item Catalog contains detailed simplifications between the SAP S/4HANA source and target versions. Additional filters can be applied to see only the products that you are interested in. You can, for example, filter using the Simplification Item Catalog.
Business Value Assessment
The SAP Innovation and Optimization Pathfinder is another excellent tool. All SAP maintenance customers can get this interactive PDF report, which provides recommendations based on how you’re presently utilizing your SAP S/4HANA system. It also reveals relevant SAP innovations available in newer releases, in addition to tailor-made advice on areas of business process improvements and IT optimization potentials for your SAP S/4HANA system.
Simplification Item Check
The Simplification Item Check is another key topic that should not be overlooked during an SAP S/4HANA upgrading effort.
Based on the content in the Simplification Item Catalog, the Simplification Item Check performs relevance and consistency tests. It examines your system to see what features you use, what transactions you use, and what customizations you have. And it displays that the feature you’re now using has been altered in your target SAP S/4HANA release based on this data.
The Simplification Item Check is a required check that Software Update Manager (SUM) will do when you begin the upgrade process. And if there’s a problem, SUM will halt the process shortly before the scheduled downtime until all issues have been resolved.