Webinar tip: SAP S/4HANA, data quality and the procurement of complex services

The switch to S/4HANA is getting closer for many midmarket SAP customers. However, the time pressure from SAP to switch to S/4HANA only plays a subordinate role. Rather, the added value of an S/4HANA conversion and ERP modernization is becoming more important: 88 percent of companies expect higher data quality through the introduction of S/4HANA, according to the latest Lünendonk Study 2021 from the DACH region. How can Complex Services procurement in particular meet this expectation under S/4HANA? In a webinar, we will show you how to put an end to workarounds.

Expectations regarding SAP S/4HANA as Digital Core

The coronavirus crisis has made many companies aware of their own weaknesses in terms of digitalization and digital business models. According to the latest Lünendonk Study 2021, when it comes to linking business processes with one another in order to achieve a higher level of digitalization and automation and develop data-based business models, poor data quality has prevented significant progress in digitalization - especially in the use of artificial intelligence and robotic process automation (RPA). 100 IT managers from companies in the DACH region were surveyed.

Among the main reasons for an ERP change, 38 percent cited changing business requirements that need to be mapped in the ERP, as well as the modernization of the IT landscape due to high complexity and outdated technologies.

It is therefore only logical that 88 percent of surveyed IT decision-makers expect a much better data quality as a result of a move to S/4HANA – this focus has also increased significantly compared to the first edition of this study in 2019: Three years ago, only 54 percent of the surveyed companies considered this to be (very) important.

So awareness has increased - the challenges are the same: In order to achieve improvements at the data level, all information stored in the ERP systems must be up to date, unambiguous and consistent. The prerequisites for this are integration capability and interface openness. "According to SAP, the ability to integrate with other systems and the ability to create end-to-end processes are indeed key added values of S/4HANA - however, SAP customers have often been skeptical about this in recent years, which now seems to be changing" (Lünendonk Study 2021, p. 15).

These are the overarching goals so far. However, if we look at the requirements that are specific to procurement – in particular complex services – a switch to S/4HANA alone does not improve the technical or process-related prerequisites for more data quality. Why is that?

Data quality in the procurement process of complex services

In the SAP context, complex services are services based on multi-level item lists – and thus the counterpart to the "lean services" offered and propagated by SAP, which are comparable to single-level material lists. This structural difference has far-reaching consequences for the process chain of procurement of all service types based on these structured item lists. First and foremost, construction services, which are firmly linked to the GAEB industry standard, but which SAP does not support

Ultimately, even SAP Ariba solutions such as Ariba Sourcing and Ariba Network, which are intended to complement the sourcing and procurement world in S/4HANA, cannot fill this gap. There are three main reasons for this:

• Access via Fiori Apps to multi-level item lists (item category "D") is not possible
• The new material type "SERV" is only to be used as a single-level list in "Lean Service Procurement" and is not suitable for services
• Ariba Sourcing and Ariba Network do not support GAEB-based item lists

As a result, manual workarounds via Excel and Outlook continue to be used in the requesting and processing of construction work and services – and this thwarts the aspiration to completeness, up-to-dateness, and consistency of the data stored in SAP. In conclusion, in the context of purchasing complex services under S/4HANA with a Fiori interface, the goal of expanding SAP as a digital core cannot be achieved that way.

Webinar Tip: Put an end to workarounds when using S/4HANA for complex services

In our webinar "Complex Services and SAP S/4HANA - simply tender, negotiate and order", we show how back-end automation AND front-end integration in connection with the procurement of complex services leads to more data quality in SAP S/4HANA.

By means of integrated GAEB-based structures and a connected supplier network dedicated to the material group of services, the cloud platform FUTURA supports companies with the requesting and processing of complex services as well, and all that via one single interface.

In the webinar, we will present the approach of FUTURA and the FUTURA apps and show how the SAP Launchpad can be the hub of all your procurement activities.

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