- What is SAP S/4HANA?
SAP S/4 HANA is an abbreviation of SAP Business Suite 4 SAP HANA, an ERP software package. S/4HANA is the successor to the core product SAP ECC, an intelligent ERP system of the new generation. While the earlier SAP ERP solutions support the most common databases, SAP S/4HANA exclusively uses the SAP HANA in-memory database developed by SAP. The “S” in S/4HANA stands for “simple,” while the “4” refers to the generation sequence.
S/4HANA is the first SAP Business Suite to run only on the proprietary SAP HANA (High-Speed Analytical Appliance) database platform. SAP S/4HANA helps organizations deliver mission-critical applications on a streamlined infrastructure with a single database, OS, and user interface.
SAP S/4HANA integrates and manages business functions – such as human resources, finance, procurement, sales, manufacturing, and service – in real-time. It natively integrates with line-of-business solutions from SAP SE. Along with intelligent ERP functionality, the suite includes customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM), product lifecycle management (PLM), and supply chain management (SCM) functionality.
Hence SAP S/4HANA serves as the digital core for connecting enterprises with people, business networks, big data and IoT, enabling organizations to make business decisions informed by real-time insights, machine learning, IoT scenarios, and predictive computing. Hence S/4HANA allows the companies to be more responsive, flexible, and resilient to ever-changing business requirements, customer demands, and environmental conditions.
SAP S/4HANA Features
SAP S/4HANA was designed to make ERP better, faster, and easier to use through a simplified data model, lean architecture, and a new user experience built on the tile-based SAP Fiori UX. S/4HANA integrates several advanced technologies, including AI, machine learning, advanced analytics, and IoT.
SAP S/4HANA delivers high-volume real-time analytical processes (OLAP) and high-volume transaction processing (OLTP)based on a unified data model without the redundant data layers typically required by traditional RDBMS-based systems.
The critical SAP S/4HANA features include:
- Smaller total data footprint
- Higher throughput
- Faster analytics and reporting
- ERP, CRM, SRM, SCM, and PLM co-deployed
- Unlimited workload capacity
- SAP HANA multi-tenancy
- New SAP Fiori UX for any device (mobile, desktop, tablet)
- Three deployment options: on-premise, public cloud, and managed cloud.