Learn more about our latest book release Building Demand-Driven Supply Chains with SAP SNC Responsive Replenishment by Sonal Dhawan.

Vendor-managed inventory enables replenishment using real-time demand signals from consumers. Get a bird’s-eye view of Customer Collaboration and dive into industry-specific configuration techniques.

 Set up customer messages and forecasting and use consigned and non-consigned inventory in replenishment planning. Dig into background processing with the Planning Service Manager and configure validation checks in your system.

• Explore demand-driven supply with SAP Supply Network Collaboration
• Configure vendor-managed inventory in Customer Collaboration
• Get step-by-step instructions and tips for the CPG and high-tech industries
• Get guidance on industry-specific configuration

Author Sonal Dhawan is a solution architect specializing in the area of supply chain planning and collaboration.

She has been involved in various end-to-end implementations and rapid prototypes, and has industry expertise in consumer packaged goods (CPG), high-tech, life sciences, and automotive domains.

Sonal has led the global SAP SNC community as a topic owner for field services, and has conducted multiple trainings for SAP SNC in India through SAP Education.

Are you an SAP expert looking to build your personal brand and grow your digital SAP business?

Look no further than Espresso Tutorials. We offer a number of unique opportunities for you to share your expertise with thousands of SAP users around the world.

Tap into our existing platform and extensive marketing reach by writing a book or creating a set of video tutorials for the SAP eBook Library.

Many leading SAP experts choose to work with Espresso Tutorials to grow their digital SAP business. Some of their reasons include:

• We are recognized for short, concise books on SAP topics, as well as effective video tutorials.
• We offer our authors access to a SAP S/4HANA system to use for free, indefinitely.
• We know that you have a day job and are flexible in working with you on project deadlines.
• We offer a full range of professional services including content editing, spell checking, layout, video production, and marketing and sales.
• We offer full transparency into book and video sales and/or lendings via the SAP eBook Library using our online Author Relationship Management tool.

Interested in learning more? Email alice.adams@espresso-tutorials.com for additional information. We look forward to hearing from you!

Excerpt from Practical Guide to Data Migration with SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit by Uche Nnene.

A system conversion scenario for transitioning to SAP S/4HANA can be viewed from a concept perspective at least as similar to an upgrade but it is NOT an upgrade (see Figure 2.3). A system conversion can be viewed as a complete technical conversion of an existing SAP Business Suite ERP system to SAP S/4HANA. With this approach, you convert your current ECC system to the new SAP S/4HANA system. This approach can be adopted only on-premise and could be done either in an organization’s own data center or as part of an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model.

An S/4HANA system conversion requires no (real) data migration (i. e., no physical extraction or transformation is required). Instead, a technical data migration that migrates elements such as the material ledger and transaction data to the universal journal as part of the post-S/4HANA conversion step is performed, as shown in Figure 2.2. For those not conversant with the terminology, the universal journal is a ledger of all accounting entries of business transactions in Finance (FI) and Controlling (CO) and it represents the single source of truth in SAP S/4HANA.

Figure 2.2: Migration as part of an S/4HANA conversion

Figure 2.3 provides a diagrammatic representation of the process for converting an existing SAP ECC system, with the steps typically involving:

• Database migration from a non-HANA database (AnyDB) platform from SAP ERP 6.0 and above, and from an SAP HANA database to an SAP S/4HANA database
• Conversion of the data model from ERP core (SAP Business Suite ERP 6.0) to SAP S/4HANA core, or from SAP S/4HANA Finance (formerly known as Simple Finance) to SAP S/4HANA
• Conversion of old application code and tables to new applications and structures; this also includes adapting the customer’s custom code so that it is compliant with the new data structures
• Creation of compatibility views (known as Core Data Services (CDS) views) to make the old reports and interfaces still function as normal
• Configuration adaptation in the areas of master data, the Financials, Logistics, Human Resources, Portfolio and Project Management, Procurement, Sales and Distribution modules, as well as industryspecific functions (for example, in New Asset Accounting, additional currencies, parallel valuation, material ledgers, etc.) based on the SAP simplification list (see Section 2.3 for further information on the simplification list)
• No forced migration from Classic GUI to Fiori except where transactions are no longer supported in GUI (refer to the simplification list)

Figure 2.3: System conversion

Why choose this option? Choose this option if your organization’s strategic goal is to:

• Bring existing processes to the new platform
• Perform a complete technical conversion of the existing SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA
• Keep investment in custom code and technical debt
• Mitigate the risk and investment involved in a big-bang conversion project
• Retain recent investment in SAP Business Suite, with no business need to transform existing processes
• Adopt innovation at the organization’s own pace
• Adopt SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA to enhance user experience, mobility, and flexibility at the organization’s own pace

You should also choose this option if your organization has no strategic vision for migrating its SAP system to the cloud.

Start reading now!

If you work in a company that uses SAP or other non-SAP ERP systems and are looking at migrating to the latest digital core from SAP, whether the cloud or on-premise edition, then this book is for you! Explore your options for transitioning to SAP S/4HANA. Walk in detail through the phases of a data migration project using SAP Activate methodology. Identify SAP rapid data migration best practices for SAP S/4HANA with SAP Data Services. Learn about methods for migrating data to a new SAP implementation scenario, as well as the SAP Data Services architecture that deals with the process of extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) of data. Examine the steps required to execute the migration within the ETL stages and how SAP Data Services can be extended to meet additional migration needs. Take a deep dive into SAP S/4HANA migration cockpit and SAP S/4HANA migration object modeler. Walk through the steps required for migrating data from source systems to SAP S/4HANA (on-premise or cloud edition) using the preconfigured data migration objects delivered by SAP. Delve into the process of creating a migration project and generating the upload template, as well as the steps for uploading and validating the data, including error handling. Review the various migration options and tools available for migrating your legacy data to SAP S/4HANA (on-premise or cloud edition).

Uche Nnene is an experienced SAP finance solution architect and Director UK & Ireland Advisory Services at EY AgilityWorks.

Uche has spent over 15 years working on and implementing SAP ERP solutions across different sectors, including oil and gas, retail, utilities, manufacturing, and public sector organizations (both central and local government).

Excerpt from Material Valuation and the Material Ledger in SAP S/4HANA by Tom King.

The primary function of the material ledger in S/4HANA is to be the vehicle for maintaining inventory valuation in multiple currencies. Corporations that conduct business in multiple countries need to be able to view inventory values both in local currency and in other currencies, according to corporate requirements. The material ledger allows for inventory to be represented in three different currencies simultaneously.

Parallel currency valuation scenario Let’s look at an example company—Universal Writing Utensils, which is based in Belgium. Group currency for the S/4HANA client is set to EUR. The company also has plants in the United States and Mexico, and wants to be able to view inventory for the North American operations in USD, as well as in EUR. In addition, the Mexican plant needs valuation in the local country currency, MXN (Mexican pesos). Universal Writing Utensils does not want to implement actual costing for these plants.

Two global companies have been defined: K101 for Europe and K102 for North America (see Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1: Universal Writing Utensils companies

Companies are configured under menu path Enterprise Structure • Definition • Financial Accounting • Define Company. Figure 2.2 shows the details of the North American company, K102, which uses USD as the company currency (currency type 60).

Figure 2.2: Definition of company K102

Three company codes have been set up using menu path Enterprise Structure • Definition • Financial Accounting • Edit, Copy, Delete, Check Company Code: K101 for Belgium, K102 for the United States, and K103 for Mexico (see Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3: Company codes for Universal Writing Utensils

Company codes are assigned to companies via menu path Enterprise Structure • Assignment • Financial Accounting • Assign Company Code to Company. Figure 2.4 shows company codes K102 and K103 assigned to company K102.

Figure 2.4: Assigning company codes to companies

Start reading now!

The methods used for inventory valuation have been transformed with SAP S/4HANA. The material ledger is now integrated with the Universal Journal and is the sole means for valuing materials. This book covers how valuation is managed in up to three different currencies, in parallel, without requiring the actual costing functionality.

Learn how the material ledger interacts with the Universal Journal and how to configure the currencies used for parallel valuation. Investigate various valuation approaches and see how legal, group, and profit center valuation views can be used to help understand company profitability.

Be guided through the configuration steps that enable these multiple valuation approaches. For those who are using or intending to use actual costing, learn how the actual cost is determined and the steps required to set this up to achieve maximum benefit. Find out how the actual costing run works and how alternative valuation runs can be used to provide additional information about inventory values. Review the optional business functions FIN_CO_COGM for parallel valuation of cost of goods manufactured, and LOG_MM_SIT for intercompany stock-in-transit and actual costing to see how they can be used for additional analysis of inventory. Investigate the different forms of balance sheet valuation and how they interact with the material ledger.

– Valuation in parallel currencies, with and without transfer pricing
– Defining currencies and using them with the Material Ledger
– Valuation using standard cost, moving average cost, and actual cost
– Balance sheet valuation methods

Tom King is a graduate of Northwestern University and recently retired as a senior business analyst with a focus in controlling and product costing. He has more than 10 years of experience with the SAP FI-CO modules, primarily as an internal consultant. Prior to that, he was involved with the modeling and design of an Activity Based Costing system using a different ERP system for his company’s European operations. He has spoken at conferences on several CO module topics and is the author of Practical Guide to SAP® CO Templates, SAP S/4HANA Product Cost Planning Configuration and Master Data, and SAP S/4HANA Product Cost Planning – Costing with Quantity Structure.

Espresso Tutorials is pleased to announce the release of Practical Guide to Data Migration with SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit by Uche Nnene.

If you work in a company that uses SAP or other non-SAP ERP systems and are looking at migrating to the latest digital core from SAP, whether the cloud or on-premise edition, then this book is for you! Explore your options for transitioning to SAP S/4HANA.

Walk in detail through the phases of a data migration project using SAP Activate methodology. Identify SAP rapid data migration best practices for SAP S/4HANA with SAP Data Services. Learn about methods for migrating data to a new SAP implementation scenario, as well as the SAP Data Services architecture that deals with the process of extraction, transformation, and load (ETL) of data. Examine the steps required to execute the migration within the ETL stages and how SAP Data Services can be extended to meet additional migration needs. Take a deep dive into SAP S/4HANA migration cockpit and SAP S/4HANA migration object modeler. Walk through the steps required for migrating data from source systems to SAP S/4HANA (on-premise or cloud edition) using the preconfigured data migration objects delivered by SAP. Delve into the process of creating a migration project and generating the upload template, as well as the steps for uploading and validating the data, including error handling. Review the various migration options and tools available for migrating your legacy data to SAP S/4HANA (on-premise or cloud edition).

• Data migration scenarios and tools for moving data to S/4HANA
• Plan an S/4HANA data migration using SAP Activate methodology
• Step-by-step guide for using S/4HANA migration cockpit and S/4HANA migration object modeler
• Evaluate S/4HANA migration tool

Start reading now!

Uche Nnene is an experienced SAP finance solution architect and Director UK & Ireland Advisory Services at EY AgilityWorks.

Uche has spent over 15 years working on and implementing SAP ERP solutions across different sectors, including oil and gas, retail, utilities, manufacturing, and public sector organizations (both central and local government).

Espresso Tutorials is pleased to announce the release of Material Valuation and the Material Ledger in SAP S/4HANA by Tom King.

The methods used for inventory valuation have been transformed with SAP S/4HANA. The material ledger is now integrated with the Universal Journal and is the sole means for valuing materials. This book covers how valuation is managed in up to three different currencies, in parallel, without requiring the actual costing functionality.

Learn how the material ledger interacts with the Universal Journal and how to configure the currencies used for parallel valuation. Investigate various valuation approaches and see how legal, group, and profit center valuation views can be used to help understand company profitability.

Be guided through the configuration steps that enable these multiple valuation approaches. For those who are using or intending to use actual costing, learn how the actual cost is determined and the steps required to set this up to achieve maximum benefit. Find out how the actual costing run works and how alternative valuation runs can be used to provide additional information about inventory values. Review the optional business functions FIN_CO_COGM for parallel valuation of cost of goods manufactured, and LOG_MM_SIT for intercompany stock-in-transit and actual costing to see how they can be used for additional analysis of inventory. Investigate the different forms of balance sheet valuation and how they interact with the material ledger.

• Valuation in parallel currencies, with and without transfer pricing
• Defining currencies and using them with the Material Ledger
• Valuation using standard cost, moving average cost, and actual cost
• Balance sheet valuation methods

Start reading now!

Tom King is a graduate of Northwestern University and recently retired as a senior business analyst with a focus in controlling and product costing. He has more than 10 years of experience with the SAP FI-CO modules, primarily as an internal consultant.

Prior to that, he was involved with the modeling and design of an Activity Based Costing system using a different ERP system for his company’s European operations.

He has spoken at conferences on several CO module topics and is the author of Practical Guide to SAP® CO Templates, SAP S/4HANA Product Cost Planning Configuration and Master Data, and SAP S/4HANA Product Cost Planning – Costing with Quantity Structure.

Excerpt from Practical Guide to Advanced DSOs in SAP by Deepa Rawat.

Advantages
1. Open ODS view is a view on the source table structures, so it does not persist data

2. Instead of using InfoObjects, Open ODS view utilizes field-based constructs. This helps a developer to quickly implement queries and do a quicker proof of concept.

3. Open ODS view can connect a field’s definition to either an InfoObject or another Open ODS view. This enables a field to utilize an existing BW definition to enrich queries.

Disadvantage
1. Open ODS view should be created on smaller-sized source tables. Query performance gets degraded if the source table size is big.

Start reading now

This book delves into the fundamentals of SAP BW based on SAP HANA Advanced Data Store Objects (aDSOs). Explore the various aDSO types and templates available and learn how to quickly create aDSOs specific to your business needs. Create, manage, and use aDSOs tables enhanced reporting capabilities. Dive into new objects in SAP BW on SAP HANA including open ODS views, composite providers, and advanced DSOs. Explore data modeling with SAP HANA Studio, using composite providers, advanced DSOs, open ODS views, and InfoObjects. Walk through detailed example of how to use templates, embed aDSOs in queries, and create your first query using field-based modeling. Get detailed information and guidelines on how to create a data acquisition layer, corporate memory, and data warehouse layer for delta calculation and datamart. By using practical examples, tips, and screenshots, this book explores:

• Fundamentals of Advanced Data Store Objects
• Modeling with SAP HANA Studio
• How to create an SAP HANA-optimized InfoProvider
• Examples and screenshots based on real-world scenarios

Author Deepa Rawat is a senior consultant for a global consulting company. For the past 17 years, her main area of focus has been SAP BW and more recently, SAP BW on SAP HANA. She has extensive experience implementing and leading SAP BW projects globally.

Currently, Ms. Rawat is an SAP BW team lead and leads a team of more than 15 consultants across different projects. She has a degree in Masters in Information Systems from University of Southampton, UK.

Espresso Tutorials is very pleased to announce our first Japanese-language book.
First Steps in SAP ファーストステップ SAP®入門 dives into SAP for those new to the topic.

SAPの基本を知るのに400ページの本を読みたいですか？もっと簡単に知りたいなら、この本がオススメです。本書はエッセンスだけに絞っており、難しすぎる内容を大胆に省いています。ステップを１つ１つ解説しながら、SAP ERPシステムの操作方法、トランザクション、組織ユニット、マスタデータを解説しています。産業別ソリューション、プログラミング言語であるABAP、EHP(エンハンスメントパッケージ)についても触れています。
SAP ERPだけでなく、BI、CRM、SRM、SCM、GRC、NetWeaver、SuccessFactors、HANAについても紹介します。SAP業界によく出てくる用語やSAP ERP以外の製品について知識をつけたい方にもオススメです。

• ERPの概要、SAPの歴史
• SAP ERPの操作方法
• トランザクション、組織ユニット、マスタデータ
• ERP以外のSAP製品と最新トレンド

Learn now!

Expertly translated by SAP expert and consultant Hiroshi Semba.

Are you an SAP expert looking to build your personal brand and grow your digital SAP business?

Look no further than Espresso Tutorials. We offer a number of unique opportunities for you to share your expertise with thousands of SAP users around the world.

Tap into our existing platform and extensive marketing reach by writing a book or creating a set of video tutorials for the SAP eBook Library.

Many leading SAP experts choose to work with Espresso Tutorials to grow their digital SAP business. Some of their reasons include:

• We are recognized for short, concise books on SAP topics, as well as effective video tutorials.
• We offer our authors access to a SAP S/4HANA system to use for free, indefinitely.
• We know that you have a day job and are flexible in working with you on project deadlines.
• We offer a full range of professional services including content editing, spell checking, layout, video production, and marketing and sales.
• We offer full transparency into book and video sales and/or lendings via the SAP eBook Library using our online Author Relationship Management tool.

Interested in learning more? Email alice.adams@espresso-tutorials.com for additional information. We look forward to hearing from you!

Excerpt from First Steps in SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics by Dmitry Kuznetsov.   There are multiple ways to discover the predelivered and custom-built content, depending on the setup (cloud or on-premise) and availability of external reporting tools.

In this chapter, we focus on content that is the handiest while on the project and when the system is operational for some time.   Let us look at the options for discovery, sorted by preference: – Query browser – External tools   Before we start using the tools, let us see how the views are typically being structured in a Virtual Data Model, using an example from Finance General Ledger (later FI GL) (see Figure 2.1).  

Figure 2.1: Typical structure of views and queries in embedded analytics  

For the sake of coming to the same terminology, our queries are based on a cube (in this example, G/L Line Items cube). The cube is a central object that supplies information to multiple queries (standard and custom), built using different technologies (CDS or BW). The choices and differences are explained in detail in Chapter 4.

Discover the content   The cube itself is a modeling object that combines a lot of underlying views to make a complete analytical model. In our example, these are G/L Account Line Item (transactional data) and Company Code, Cost Center, Fiscal Calendar, etc. (master-data) views. It is advisable to keep Figure 2.1 bookmarked when looking at the tools described in this chapter; it should serve as a guide map.  

Keep reading in First Steps in SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics.

  Dive into this expertly written introduction to embedded analytics in SAP. Get quickly up to speed on the most-important embedded analytics concepts and tools available in SAP S/4HANA. Walk through project activities and get the answer to the question—how much of SAP standard can I use? Obtain an overview of front-end tools including KPIs, multidimensional reporting client, and view/query browser. Learn how to build your own KPIs and reports. Explore custom query options, including those based on CDS technology and BW modeling tools. Get practical advice for managing roles and authorizations. Dive into a list of the most-frequently asked questions.  

• Explore SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics
• Look at front-end tools including multidimensional clients
• Learn how to build your own KPIs and reports
• Identify custom query options

Dmitry Kuznetsov is an independent consultant who has worked with embedded analytics since 2016, starting with SAP S/4HANA (implementation #5 in the world), which led to deep dives into CDS, SAP Fiori, and all the other new toys SAP has created. He has a bright past in the BW and SAP HANA modeling spaces, creating data warehouses, local data marts, operational reporting solutions, and more.

Espresso Tutorials is pleased to announce the release of First Steps in SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics by Dmitry Kuznetsov.   Dive into this expertly written introduction to embedded analytics in SAP. Get quickly up to speed on the most-important embedded analytics concepts and tools available in SAP S/4HANA.

Walk through project activities and get the answer to the question—how much of SAP standard can I use? Obtain an overview of front-end tools including KPIs, multidimensional reporting client, and view/query browser. Learn how to build your own KPIs and reports. Explore custom query options, including those based on CDS technology and BW modeling tools. Get practical advice for managing roles and authorizations. Dive into a list of the most-frequently asked questions.

• Explore SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics
• Look at front-end tools including multidimensional clients
• Learn how to build your own KPIs and reports
• Identify custom query options

Start reading now!

Dmitry Kuznetsov is an independent consultant who has worked with embedded analytics since 2016, starting with SAP S/4HANA (implementation #5 in the world), which led to deep dives into CDS, SAP Fiori, and all the other new toys SAP has created.

He has a bright past in the BW and SAP HANA modeling spaces, creating data warehouses, local data marts, operational reporting solutions, and more.

Tip from First Steps in SAP S/4HANA Sales and Distribution (SD) by John von Aspen.

As a general rule, it is best to keep the organizational structures in SAP as simple as possible in order to support business needs.

The more complex the organizational structure, the more burden is placed on master data maintenance. Every material and customer master data record created needs to be created in every combination of organizational structures it will be used in. Additionally, the more elaborate the organizational structures, the higher the chance that someone will either pick the wrong one or will be so overwhelmed by choices, that they pick whatever comes first in a list.

Keep reading in First Steps in SAP S/4HANA Sales and Distribution (SD) by John von Aspen.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to SAP S/4HANA Sales and Distribution (SD). You will learn the basic fundamentals of SAP SD, with examples based on a case-study approach.

Using a fictional company scenario, you will learn the fundamentals of the order-to-cash process and key flow, from sales order delivery to billing document. Explore the foundational document–the sales order. Obtain detailed information on master data and how it is used in SD. Dive into master data objects, business partners, and material masters. Review how master data is connected to sales orders and pricing. Understand sales order processing, including item categories, availability checking, dates, shipping, texts, and more. Walk through delivery processing and billing. Familiarize yourself with two of the major SD pre-sales documents – contracts and quotations. Delve into the post-sales processes, including returns, service, and debit and credit memos. Look at transactional list reports and analytical reports. For readers who are new to SAP SD in S/4HANA, the detailed case study, practical examples, tips and screenshots quickly bring readers up to speed on the fundamentals.

• Foundations of SAP SD in S/4HANA
• Sales orders and document types
• Master data objects, business partners and material masters
• Examples and screenshots based on a case-study approach

Author John von Aspen is a business technology expert with over 23 years’ experience with SAP products and implementation projects. John started his career with SAP America, where he served for ten years before launching his own independent consulting business. His areas of expertise in SAP include the Order-to-Cash business processes, Sales and Distribution (SD), Customer Service (CS), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), E-Commerce,and Digital Payments.