Describing the Technical Layers and Deployment Variants of SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA is an acronym for the SAP Suite 4 the HANA Database.

We call it the "next generation" of SAP business suite software because it replaces the previous version of SAP's ERP software, SAP ECC (SAP Enterprise Central Component), the same way a new android or apple mobile device replaces the previous device versions. SAP S/4HANA is the digital core of an organization and is designed with capabilities that enable business to constantly collect data, which feeds into analytical applications, which supports automation and predictive insights.

SAP S/4HANA is integration-ready, and includes capabilities within the applications to enable customers to easily make extensions and customizations to tailor the solution to their needs. The suite is built on the SAP HANA database, and the user experience is enhanced with the SAP Fiori user interface to provide a consistent and intuitive user experience, both in desktop and mobile apps.

The SAP HANA database is an in-memory, column-oriented database designed to store, receive, and query data that powers the SAP S/4HANA ERP solution. The in-memory computing engine enables HANA to process data stored in RAM as opposed to reading it from a disk. Storing data in main memory rather than on disk provides faster data access and, by extension, faster querying and processing. Column-oriented systems store all data for a single column in the same location, rather than storing all data for a single row in the same location (row-oriented systems), and therefore is able to precisely access the data needed to answer a query, rather than scanning and discarding unwanted data stored in rows.

Core Data Services (CDS) is a common set of domain-specific languages and services for defining and consuming semantically rich data models. In other words, the CDS layer provides a universal language to read and process data across different applications. You can create CDS views to model data from the database for analytical purposes, or to generate application programming interfaces (APIs) to allow other applications to consume the data. In general, CDS views are intended to be consumed by a user interface (UI), analytics, or other systems.

The SAP Fiori Launchpad is the central entry point to SAP S/4HANA for all users on mobile and desktop devices. The launchpad is a shell that hosts SAP Fiori applications, and provides services such as navigation, personalization, embedded support, and application configuration. Each tile represents a business application a user can launch. The launchpad is role-based, meaning applications displayed are based on the user's assigned business role. Hundreds of SAP Fiori apps are available across different lines of business and industries covering a wide range of transactional and analytical tasks.

There are three distinct variations in how customers can choose to deploy their SAP S/4HANA ERP software.

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, customers can see results right away with ready-to-work business processes built on proven industry best practices. You can stay ahead by getting the latest business processes and technology innovations with twice yearly release upgrades in August and February, which are automatically installed in your system by SAP on the dates defined in the release schedule. The fully extensible platform enables your unique business processes and you can easily expand as your needs evolve with the cloud architecture.

With SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, customers can move to the cloud at their own pace. A comprehensive library of ready-to-run business processes make it easy to start with a baseline, while the customization flexibility enables you to build highly tailored business processes that support industry requirements. SAP releases upgrades twice per year to enable you to stay current with the latest innovations, while giving customers the ability to manage the pace of change by rolling out innovations on their own timeline. Customers are required to stay within mainstream maintenance, which requires at least 1 upgrade every 7 years.

SAP S/4HANA (on premise) and SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition have the same functional scope, including the end-to-end line of business processes, support for all 25 industries and annual upgrades. The primary difference between the two is the license (perpetual or subscription), and where the infrastructure lives (onsite for the customer or in a remote data center). In addition, there is no requirement for customers to install upgrades within a specific time frame.