SAP S/4HANA implementation
S/4HANA is the digital core that finance, supply chain, manufacturing, sales and procurement all post into. We design and build it with you, from the first fit-to-standard workshop to the first month-end close after go-live.
What changes with S/4HANA
S/4HANA runs on the SAP HANA in-memory database and replaces many of the aggregate and index tables ECC relied on. Finance and controlling post into one Universal Journal (table ACDOCA), customers and vendors become Business Partners, inventory is valued in the material ledger, and reports that used to run overnight can run on live transactional data through CDS views and embedded analytics.
For the people using it, the visible change is SAP Fiori: role-based apps and launchpads instead of a long list of transaction codes. For the people running it, the change is a simpler data model, a smaller footprint and a system that can take AI, automation and cloud extensions without being modified.
An implementation is the moment to decide how much of that you adopt. We push for standard processes wherever the business can live with them, because every deviation is something you pay for at each upgrade.
How we run an implementation
We follow SAP Activate, adapted to the size of your programme. The phases are fixed; how much effort sits in each one is not.
01Discover
Business case, scope and deployment model (on-premise, RISE with SAP private cloud or public cloud). We look at what the business needs from the system over the next five to ten years, not only what it does today.
02Prepare
Project governance, team onboarding, system provisioning and a baseline landscape. Data owners are named here, because data issues found late are the most expensive ones.
03Explore
Fit-to-standard workshops run in a preconfigured system using SAP Best Practices. Gaps are logged as requirements with a decision: adopt the standard, configure, extend cleanly on BTP, or accept the gap.
04Realize
Configuration and development in sprints, unit and string testing, integration build, migration test loads and the security role design. Business users test end-to-end scenarios, not single transactions.
05Deploy
User acceptance testing, end-user training, mock cutovers and the production cutover itself, with a documented go or no-go decision.
06Run
Hypercare with daily triage until incident volumes settle, then handover to support and a backlog of improvements that only show up once people use the system for real.
Where we configure and build
- Finance and controlling
- General ledger, asset accounting, AP and AR, bank and cash, margin analysis, product costing, material ledger, profit centres and the period-end close.
- Sales and service
- Order to cash with pricing, ATP, credit management, billing, rebates through settlement management, and service orders and contracts.
- Sourcing and procurement
- Purchasing, central procurement, contracts, release strategies and flexible workflow, invoice verification and supplier evaluation.
- Manufacturing
- MRP Live, PP/DS, production and process orders, Kanban, quality inspections and manufacturing execution integration.
- Warehousing and logistics
- Inventory management, embedded EWM, transportation management, batch management and serialisation.
- Analytics and UX
- CDS-based embedded analytics, Fiori launchpad spaces and pages, role design and situation handling.
Global rollouts
Many of our S/4HANA engagements are templates built once and rolled out to plants, companies and countries.
- Global template design with clear lines between what is fixed and what each country may localise
- Country rollouts with local tax, statutory reporting and e-invoicing requirements
- Intercompany processes across company codes, including stock transfers and cross-company billing
- Wave planning that respects each site's peak season and financial calendar
- Template governance so later changes reach every site that uses the template
Implementation questions
Should we keep our current processes or adopt SAP Best Practices?
Start from the standard and make the business case for each deviation. A process that genuinely sets you apart from competitors deserves an extension. A process that is different only because the old system worked that way usually does not.
Can you work alongside our system integrator?
Yes. We often supply module leads and senior consultants into programmes led by a larger integrator, or own a defined workstream such as finance, manufacturing or data migration.
Which deployment model should we choose?
It depends on how much you want to extend the system, how often you are willing to take upgrades and who you want to run the infrastructure. We lay out the trade-offs, but the licensing decision belongs to you and your SAP account team.
Explore the SAP practice
S/4HANA and ERP transformation
Platform, AI and data
Finance and revenue
Supply chain, manufacturing and assets
People, spend and customers
Plan the next step with us
Share what you're working on. We'll tell you how we'd approach it and who would do the work.