An Overview on Rise with SAP

Abstract

Customers moving to SAP S/4HANA come from different backgrounds and have different end goals.  RISE with SAP is designed to address unique customer scenarios. RISE is not a system upgrade, it's a redesigned method of working that allows customers to change not only once, but to continuously transform. Rise with SAP simplifies a customer's move to the cloud and helps throughout their business transformation journey. RISE with SAP delivers seamlessly with SAP partners, Hyperscaler partners, the Reseller community, and Software partners.  RISE with SAP is designed to help SAP customers.

Introduction

RISE with SAP is meant to simplify a customer's move to the cloud and deliver continuous innovation. RISE with SAP is delivered seamlessly by SAP along with their partners. Please see the below example: 

SAP ECC customers are planning for their transition to SAP S/4HANA.  Conversion experts can help customers in choosing the approach to move to SAP S/4HANA and choose a deployment option based on the customer's needs. 

Broadly, there are two deployment options: cloud and on-premise. These two options differ in terms of the "degree of standardization" and the "degree of flexibility". The operating model SAP S/4HANA Any Premise offers a completely different level of flexibility than the cloud. Flexibility is lower and the level of standardization is higher in the cloud version. Every customer must decide on their preferences as per their needs on flexibility and standardization. But SAP recommends more standardization as it reduces the total cost of ownership in the long run.

SAP S/4HANA Cloud public or private?

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Deployment of Choice

Public Cloud is the choice for companies doing the new implementation. They can use best practices and predefined processes.  Private Cloud is preferred by existing SAP Customers who want to do system conversion. It is designed to provide innovation and cloud value. It allows SAP customers to retain their investments by converting their existing systems to Pvt Cloud.

Consider your Options - Deployment Strategy

RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud (previously SAP S/4HANA Cloud, essentials edition)

This “Public Cloud” solution is highly standardized. Services are delivered to customers over a network generated from a multi-tenant server. "Multi-tenant" means that two or more tenants (customers) are sharing the bandwidth of one server. This multi-tenant server resides in an SAP data center. Your cloud provider (SAP) is responsible for maintaining the technical backend of the system and running your software service in the server where your tenant resides. RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud has the fastest innovation, meaning regular release cycles, where new features and enhancements to existing functionality are released. SAP maintains customers’ systems with bi-weekly hotfixes and installs the release upgrades to customer systems on the defined release schedule.

RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud has the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO), because of more standardization.  The solution is delivered with the RISE with SAP business transformation services. If you have subscriptions to multiple solutions in addition to SAP S/4HANA Cloud (e.g. SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Concur, etc.), you will have an individual tenant for each software server that may or may not reside in the same data center as your SAP S/4HANA Cloud ERP solution. An existing ECC system cannot be moved to Rise with SAP Public Cloud. This solution is suitable only for new implementations. 

RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, The Private Edition

RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, is a cloud solution with the full SAP S/4HANA on-premise scope. It has the elasticity, resilience, and TCO of cloud infrastructure. Existing SAP ECC customers can convert their existing SAP ECC systems to a RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the private edition. New customers can also choose for their new implementation. RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the private edition is suitable for new implementations and system conversion. 

Customers have full access to the extensibility framework and also support in-app and side-by-side extensions in addition to code enhancement &  modifications. Expert configuration is possible with full IMG access, and the operating expense model is subscription-based. The solution is inherently deployed with SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud to provide the private cloud infrastructure and technical managed services. However, customers can choose where their solution is hosted: SAP data center or Hyperscaler data center. Hyperscaler data center providers include Alibaba Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and. Amazon Web Services. SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the private edition is delivered with RISE with SAP services in addition to the core ERP scope to support a customer's business transformation to the cloud. All services, from RISE to infrastructure management to the core software are delivered under ONE contract with SAP. Even if your solution is in a Hyperscaler data center, all services are under one contract with SAP.

Key Features of RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the private edition:

  • Full functional S/4HANA scope 

  • The existing ECC system can be moved to the cloud Pvt edition. 

  • Safeguarding prior investments into SAP systems 

  • Flexibility and Extensibility - Access to S/4HANA Extensibility Framework 

SAP S/4HANA On Premise

SAP S/4HANA On-Premise is suitable for customers that require maximum control of their SAP system. It can be hosted usually in their data center or with an IaaS provider. This solution is best for customers who want full control and ownership of their application and landscape. It provides a broad level of functionality with the maximum degree of flexibility in customization. 

Customers can configure, extend, and modify their software, with full access to the SAP HANA database and development tools. SAP S/4HANA On-premise has an annual release cycle where customers can choose to adopt innovations on their schedule. Customers can choose to deploy the SAP S/4HANA solution in their preferred infrastructure, with varying degrees of maintenance responsibilities depending on the infrastructure selected. SAP S/ 4HANA has perpetual licensing when deployed on-premise, in a customer's data center. Subscription or bring your license (BYOL) when deployed on the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, or a third-party hyperscaler (e.g. Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud Platform).

 Infrastructure Provider of Choice

A cloud software service solution requires the infrastructure to host the solution (a physical server where your software is installed). These types of service providers are called infrastructure service providers and are also called Hyperscalers. Examples: Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Alibaba Cloud. When customers use an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) they need not buy the physical hardware or need not appoint anyone to maintain it. 

Choosing an SAP S/4HANA On-Premise Deployment Option

SAP S/4HANA Hosted in the Customer's Data Center: 

The classic "on-premise" deployment option, where the customer has purchased their hardware and is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure, purchasing, installing, configuring, and managing the software.

SAP S/4HANA Hosted by an IaaS Provider (Hyperscaler) Data Center: 

The SAP S/4HANA on-premise solution is hosted in a non-SAP infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provider data center (private cloud). We refer to these third-party IaaS providers as Hyperscalers. They deliver a computing infrastructure, provisioned and managed through the internet. The Infrastructure as a service ( IaaS) provider will be responsible for maintaining your infrastructure, and the customer is responsible for, installing, configuring, and managing the software (operating systems, middleware, and applications) hosted in the cloud.

SAP S/4HANA hosted in SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) in an SAP data center: 

The SAP S/4HANA on-premise solution is hosted in the private, SAP-managed HANA Enterprise Cloud, deployed on an SAP data center. SAP HEC is an IaaS platform with managed services delivered by SAP to support SAP applications and solutions. The managed services include coordination and management of your entire cloud solution landscape, including infrastructure, systems, technology, and applications

SAP S/4HANA hosted in SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) in a hyperscaler data center: 

The SAP S/4HANA on-premise solution is hosted in the private, SAP-managed HANA Enterprise Cloud deployed on a Hyperscaler data center. SAP provides customers who choose this option with the same comprehensive managed services for HEC in a non-SAP data center as HEC in an SAP data center. SAP operates and manages the customers SAP systems in the HEC private, managed cloud with the IaaS provider of their choice under one contract and comprehensive responsibility

What will influence your choice of the deployment option? 

The path/approach we choose to move to SAP S/4HANA is one of the key factors that influence the choice of deployment. There are three different approaches for moving to SAP S/4HANA

  1. New Implementation 

  2. System Conversion 

  3. Selective Data Transition. 

Which approach is right for you?

New Implementation 

Organizations using other than SAP will consider this option to move to SAP S/4HANA or customers running SAP ECC Business Suite and want to move to SAP S/4HANA can also consider this option to completely redesign their processes.  

System Conversion should be considered when: 

  • The business is focused on incremental innovation projects

  • The IT software landscape requires the retention of past customizations

  • All data needs to be retained 

New Implementation should be considered when:

  • If existing business processes do not support  long-term strategies 

  • The business wants to standardize SAP Best Practices packages 

  • Usually, SAP ECC customers prefer new implementation if the existing system does not meet the SAP S/4HANA Conversion prerequisites.  (If the system is technically and functionally not fit for conversion) 

Selective Data Transition option should be considered when:

  • The business needs to go live in phases

  • Existing SAP ERP instances need to be split or merged 

  • If you want to migrate only specific years of data or specific company codes

Are there any SAP S/4HANA move planning tools that help existing SAP ECC customers? 

Yes, different tools simplify your journey to SAP S/4HANA

  1. SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA

  2. Process Discovery Transformation (SAP Business Scenario Recommendations)

  3. SAP Transformation Navigator

  4. SAP Fiori app Recommendation Report 

SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA

The SAP Readiness Check is one of the components of the RISE with SAP services for a system conversion to RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, the private edition. It assesses the functional and technical aspects of the existing SAP ECC system to be able to convert to SAP S/4HANA. This assessment provides insight into mandatory application changes, and potential impacts are detailed in relevant simplification items along with conversion prerequisites, such as compatibility of existing add-ons and existing business functions. The tool assesses the many functional and technical aspects to identify system readiness for system conversion. Examples: custom-code compatibility, system sizing and data volume management, inconsistencies in Financial data, and so on.

Process Discovery Tool

Process Discovery Transformation has replaced SAP BSR (Business Scenario Recommendations). Process Discovery is a free analysis tool. This helps SAP ECC customers and partners to drive innovation adoption.

Process Discovery consists of two components 

  1. Process Discovery summary 

  2. Process Discovery solution (Spotlight). 

Customers can request their own Process Discovery. Refer to SAP Note 2758146 and SAP Note 2745851. The analysis in the online solution will be delivered to customers along with a PDF document as an executive summary. 

SAP Transformation Navigator

This is a self-service tool that guides your digital transformation. It assesses the existing landscape and industry trends. It delivers a report that contains recommendations for the SAP products and solutions required to plan and realize your digital strategy.

SAP Fiori app Recommandation Report 

This tool provides the SAP Fiori apps you need on the SAP S/4HANA system. 

Please refer to my book on SAP Conversions for complete information on SAP S/4HANA Conversions https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4842-8091-1

Author: Dr. Ravi Surya

Dr. Ravi Surya Subrahmanyam is an expert Fixer for ERPfixers and a technical and Financials writer with a background in SAP Financial Accounting, Funds Management, Financial Supply Chain Management, Cash Management & in-house cash, SAP S/4 HANA Finance. He has been working as Director – SAP Practice for The Hackett group India Ltd, GDC- India. He completed his Master’s degree in Finance from Central University, Master of Commerce from Osmania University, Master of Commerce from Andhra University, and Ph.D.in Finance from one of the best universities in India. His research Papers have been published in National and International magazines. He has been a Visiting Instructor for SAP India Education and SAP Indonesia – Education. He has been working on Conversion and Upgradation projects. He has been a Certified Solution Architect for SAP S/4 HANA and SAP S/4 HANA Certified Professional.

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