Describing SAP S/4HANA

In SAP R/2, SAP started to deliver screens to specialists in order to enter information into the system. These users were experts in their fields, highly skilled, and well-trained to use the system. Today, even the operation of an MRP Run is more like controlling a machine or using an interface to a business function than an intuitive and self-explaining UI.

With SAP S/4HANA, SAP is executing the vision to empower every customer employee to use SAP business software. The "S" in S/4HANA stands for Suite, the "4" stands for fourth generation. The complete name is SAP Business Suite 4 (for) SAP HANA (S/4HANA).

SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite to help lines of business and industries to run simply, with all that only SAP HANA can do. SAP S/4HANA combines recent innovations (SAP HANA platform and SAP Fiori UX) with over 40 years of experience in mastering complex industry challenges in a new suite that caters to a digital, networked economy. The first part of SAP S/4HANA that was available was SAP Simple Finance, the first optimized solution.

SAP S/4HANA delivers the simplicity that users must succeed. 

From an IT value perspective, SAP S/4HANA creates unique opportunities to dramatically simplify the landscape and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), with SAP HANA as the great simplifier. Business users can leverage a simple and role-based user experience based on modern design principles, minimizing training efforts while increasing productivity. Rapid activation eases the creation of settings in areas from system administration to application customizing. Enterprises can now significantly reduce their data footprint and work with larger data sets in one system to reduce hardware and operational costs and save time.

One of the key features of SAP S/4HANA includes smaller total data footprint. Watch the video to understand how SAP HANA reduces its data footprint.

The general system roles in the SAP Fiori system landscape do not change when moving to SAP S/4HANA. The SAP Fiori launchpad running in a client still connects to the FES via the SAP Web Dispatcher. What changes are the capabilities of the BES, which now has optimized code for SAP HANA as an SAP S/4HANA. General information about the FES can be found in the SAP Note 2590653 – SAP Fiori front-end server deployment for SAP S/4HANA.

All application types are available for SAP S/4HANA (S4H). The important difference to the SAP Business Suite is that there is only one architecture type for all application types. All applications act like transactional apps communicating via SAP Gateway over the FES with the BES now an S4H. Only the classic applications and in some scenarios the SAP Fiori search connect directly to the S4H.

The hub deployment option will be supported also for SAP S/4HANA 2025. Nevertheless, there might be restrictions regarding the availability of future new features. Some features might only be available in the embedded deployment due to technical reasons.

The recommended deployment option for SAP S/4HANA is the embedded deployment. The main reason is that with SAP S/4HANA all data and functions reside in one system. A hub system for routing requests to certain back-ends is no longer needed. In addition, many configuration steps for SAP Fiori get easier when having everything in one system.

The UIs for analytical apps are part of the same product-specific UI add-ons that provide transactional apps. SAP Gateway again manages the OData services for the apps, but the source is now different. ABAP Core Data Services (CDS) Views are the basis for all analytical applications in S4H. ABAP CDS Views are able to integrate with SAP S/4HANA Embedded Analytics, which originated from SAP Business Warehouse (BW).

The area of business analytics specifically used in SAP Fiori is called SAP Smart Business. The core element there is the Key Performance Indicator (KPI). A KPI is built on top of ABAP CDS Views and defines data source, semantics, and tiles. Related KPIs can be managed in groups.

A report (formally known as drill-down) is the visualization of a KPI offering predefined ways for the user to interact with the data. Customers can organize multiple reports in stories, for example, to tell the story of a product.

Since SAP S/4HANA 1909, Manage KPIs and Reports [F2814] is the central app for managing KPIs, reports, and stories. It is the successor of the KPI Workspace [F0818], introduced in SAP S/4HANA 1511 and deprecated since SAP S/4HANA 2020.

In this example from the SAP Fiori apps reference library, you see the SAP S/4HANA 2023 as the product solution. Generic drill-down apps like this one need the /SSB/SMART_BUSINESS_RUNTIME_SRVOData service for generating the visualization. In addition, there is an OData service for the actual app data containing "CDS" in its name.

The entry points for users to create their own evaluations are the Query Browser [F1068] available since SAP S/4HANA 1511 and the View Browser [2170] available since SAP S/4HANA 1610. Both show a list of ABAP CDS Views, which are available in the system. The difference is that the Query Browser limits the list on pure analytical views whereas the View Browser is used by more advanced users offering a list of all ABAP CDS Views. Not only the consumption views providing data for applications but all views of the whole virtual data model (VDM) are visible. This enables a more detailed view on the data source but also demands more knowledge of the topic.

No matter which browser is used, after selecting an ABAP CDS View as data source, the Custom Analytical Queries [F1572] app can be started to actually define a query handling dimension, tables, and charts. The result can be saved as a tile to access the query directly in the SAP Fiori launchpad.

When users want to search for data in the SAP Fiori launchpad, the SAP Fiori search accesses the SAP HANA enterprise search, a successor of the SAP NetWeaver enterprise search. The protocol used for a direct network communication is the SAP proprietary Information Access (InA) protocol, which has some parallels to OData but is specialized for search requests and responses. Since SAP S/4HANA 1809, you can also use the SAP Gateway service ESH_SEARCH_SRV instead. So both, InA and OData are suitable ways of accessing the SAP HANA enterprise search depending on the network landscape.

Fact sheet apps use search models developed for SAP HANA enterprise search. These search models use the search capabilities of SAP HANA and, therefore, do not run on an SAP Search and Classification (TREX) used by SAP NetWeaver enterprise search. The administration and handling is mainly the same when using SAP HANA or TREX. The following important transactions and applications work for both search engines:

Connector Administration Cockpit (ESH_COCKPIT)

Connector administration cockpit for connectors of search models to the search engine

Search and Analytics Modeler (ESH_MODELER)

Modeler for search and analytic for managing search object connector models

Enterprise Search Test (ESH_TEST_SEARCH)

Test environment for enterprise search checking consistency of connectors and search results

Search and Operational Analytics Implementation Guide (ESH_IMG)

Area of the Implementation Guide (IMG) containing administration and configuration of the enterprise search

Search models are shipped by SAP and are the basis for search connectors used by apps. Search connectors are indexed (generated) once the search models are available in a system. Therefore, the search connector ID contains the system and client in which it was generated.

The UIs for object pages are part of the same product-specific UI add-ons that provide transactional and analytical apps. SAP Gateway manages again the OData services for the apps. ABAP Core Data Services (CDS) Views are the basis for all object pages in S4H. ABAP CDS Views utilize the search capabilities of the SAP HANA database by integrating with the SAP HANA enterprise search. That results in generated so-called CDS-based enterprise search (ES) connectors. Similar to the search connectors based on search models, they can be managed in the Connector Administration Cockpit. But the details about the source tables, views, and fields are not visible.

These details are available in the Manage Search Models [F3036] app since SAP S/4HANA 1909. There, everything concerning a CDS-based ES-connector can be viewed such as fields, filters, relations, or even the source code of the ABAP CDS View.

Since SAP S/4HANA 1809, more SAP Fiori apps are available for managing the processing of CDS-based ES-connectors:

Analyze Query Log [F2571]

Evaluate log data containing user activities collected during searches, graphically in bar charts, or in tables.

Define Search Behavior (Synonyms) [F2700]

Display search configurations of business objects, create synonym and stop-word lists, and display where-used lists for configuration settings.

Fine-Tune (Search) Ranking [F2777]

Create and edit ranking factors and boosts, and test their effects immediately in a simulation.

Let's look at an example of SAP Fiori object page based on CDS view.

In this example from the SAP Fiori apps reference library, you see the SAP S/4HANA 2023 as a product solution. In addition, there is an OData service but without "CDS" in its name. Not every OData service using ABAP CDS Views is showing this in its name.

Users of the SAP Fiori launchpad can activate a personalized search in the FLP settings by selecting Track Search Activities under Search. In addition, it is possible to limit the personalized search scope to a selectable number of search connectors.

After activation, all search requests of the user in the SAP Fiori search are logged and made available via the My Queries [F3719] app. Users can view and evaluate their search activities and search terms either graphically in a bar chart or as a table. By default, the personalized search is deactivated and the history can be cleared at any time. These defaults for collecting user-specific data can be managed via the Configure Personalized Search [F2800] app.

These customizing parameters can be used to configure the SAP Fiori search in the SAP Fiori launchpad:

DEFAULT_SEARCH_SCOPE_APPS

Specify the default search scope as "Apps" (true) or "All" (false).

true/false (default)

SEARCH

Specify whether the search option is displayed in the launchpad shell header bar.

true (default)/false

SEARCH_BUSINESS_OBJECTS

Specify if business objects are included in the search scope.

true (default)/false

SEARCH_SCOPE_WITHOUT_ALL

Specify whether the "All" connector is removed from the search bar.

true/false (default)