Implementing SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, Professional Services

This course is designed to provide business users with a solid understanding of how to utilize this powerful cloud solution to manage project-based services within your organization, whether you're an experienced professional or new to the field of project management.

Throughout this course, we'll explore the world of professional services and its subindustries, focusing on how SAP S/4HANA Cloud can help you effectively manage project delivery. You'll gain a strong foundation in the basics of SAP S/4HANA Cloud and its crucial role in guiding the core processes for professional services.

As the course progresses, we'll delve into the key components of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for professional services, including project management, finance management, and workforce management. You'll learn how to handle project billing, time recording, sales order processing, revenue recognition, procurement management, and the integration of SAP Fieldglass.

This course offers interactive learning experiences and practical, real-world examples to help you grasp and navigate the functions of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for professional services. By the end of the course, you'll have gained the foundational knowledge needed to advance your project management career and confidently utilize the SAP S/4HANA Cloud solution to drive successful project outcomes.

Whether you're looking to expand your expertise or gain a solid understanding of resource allocation and project management, this course is designed to enhance your knowledge of SAP S/4HANA Cloud and support your professional development. Let's get started on this learning journey together.

Imagine you work for an organization with internal project management challenges such as lack of efficiency, misallocation of resources, and projects consistently going over time and budget. The negative impact on business performance, client relationships, and workforce is immense.

This lesson is crucial as it equips you with the foundational knowledge of utilizing SAP S/4HANA Cloud for managing your internal projects more effectively. You will learn how to plan, control, and execute project-based services within your company, leading to a more streamlined and efficient project lifecycle.

By mastering the use of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, you'll gain the capacity to not only manage but also to intuitively staff your projects. You'll know how to utilize the resources efficiently, reduce inefficiencies, ensure projects are completed on time and within budget, and effectively handle the procurement of materials and services needed for your projects.

This knowledge will empower you to provide more value to your organization by enhancing its internal project management processes, resulting in improved productivity and overall performance. Furthermore, the skills and experience gained will solidify your professional growth within your organization, contributing to a more productive and successful professional service landscape.

Upon completion of this course, you will be adept at leveraging the power of SAP S/4HANA Cloud to streamline project management tasks within their organization. You will have the capacity to define and implement process steps efficiently, identify and assign relevant business roles, and utilize the SAP Fiori apps for configuring internal projects.

Furthermore, you will have a deep understanding of the structure of Customer Project Management, enabling them to execute projects more effectively. In essence, you will acquire the skills to implement the fundamentals of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services and assign appropriate roles to users, optimizing project management processes and ultimately, enhancing organizational productivity.

In this course, you'll engage with a variety of materials to enhance your learning experience.

• You'll read detailed content that covers the fundamentals of SAP Professional Services.
• Informative graphics will help you visualize key concepts and processes.
• You'll also watch demonstration videos showcasing the Professional Services software in action, providing practical insights into its features and capabilities.
• Additionally, content-related videos will further explain and illustrate important points, helping you to better understand and retain the information.

This mix of reading, visuals, and videos will ensure a comprehensive and engaging learning experience. So if you are ready, let’s begin.

Welcome to the introduction to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, professional services!

In this lesson, we will provide you with a comprehensive overview of the key elements and functionalities of SAP S/4HANA Cloud for professional services.

By the end of this unit, you will have a solid foundation to build upon as you dive deeper into the advanced features and capabilities of this powerful cloud solution.

1. Understanding Professional Services and Subindustries
   • Explore various professional services and subindustries
   • Learn how SAP is utilized for project delivery and management
2. Introduction to SAP S/4HANA Cloud
   • Understand the basics of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, professional services
   • Discover its importance in managing core processes for professional services
3. Core Components of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, professional services
   • Project Management: Creating, planning, and managing projects
   • Finance Management: Analyzing project profitability and handling billing scenarios
   • Workforce Management: Integrating SAP SuccessFactors for efficient staffing
4. Project Billing and Time Recording
   • Learn about billing processes and scenarios
   • Understand time recording practices for internal and customer projects
5. Sales Order Processing and Revenue Recognition
   • Discover the integration of sales orders with project management
   • Understand invoicing and revenue recognition for various projects
6. Procurement Management
   • Gain insight into managing procurement for services and materials
   • Ensure efficient project execution through effective procurement
7. Understanding SAP Fieldglass Integration
   • Discuss the integration of SAP Fieldglass for managing contingent labor
   • Learn how it enhances flexible workforce management in professional services
8. Navigating SAP Process Navigator and Using Scope Items
   • Learn to navigate the SAP Process Navigator effectively
   • Discover how to find specific scope items detailing SAP S/4HANA Cloud functionality
9. Additional Roles and Authorizations
   • Business Roles Assignments: Assign roles for correct user permissions
   • Scope of Role-Based Access: Understand the scope and management of access based on roles

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud professional services solution gains real-time visibility into your projects' performance and profitability, using the following features:

• A single solution to create and manage all data related to projects.
• End-to-end core finance and project accounting to deliver client value profitably.
• Billing and invoicing to streamline the accounts receivable process.
• One single customer invoice with all the details.

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud professional services solution deploys the right resources to the right projects at the right time in the following ways:

• Seamless workforce management to optimize project staffing.
• 360° insight into the overall workforce, including contingent workers.
• Powerful text-based search of relevant employee data to help find the right skills for the project.
• Native integration of employee data between SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

The SAP S/4HANA Cloud professional services solution brings together business process and analytics in real time in the following ways:

• Advanced capabilities to analyze data across the projects and clients and make forecasts.
• Unified journal, real-time insight into finance processes and managerial accounting data.
• Text-based enterprise search on any master data, document, and process-related information.

Customer Project Management handles the complete end-to-end process of selling and performing project-based services to customers. It integrates sales orders with project management, allowing you to create customer invoices for time and expenses - including external services - recorded against a customer project. Invoices can be created on a time and materials basis, a fixed price basis, a combination of both, or as periodic services. You can also derive contract values and show whether the contract margin is on plan. After the customer invoice is issued, customer payments can be monitored. During period-end closing activities, accounting and financial close activities can be performed. This scope item also supports the analysis of project profitability based on project costs and revenues.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Manage customer projects during the planning and execution phase.
• Maintain work package staffing of customer project.
• Procure external services for customer project.
• Record times for customer project
• Create customer invoices.
• Analyze customer projects.
• Perform accounting and financial close activities.
• Perform period-end closing activities.

Time Recording for project-based services provides employees a quick entry method for recording time against customer or internal projects. In the time entry sheet, all work packages or work items assigned to the employee are visible. Nonbillable times can also be entered for full-time accountability. Time recording on behalf of the employee and approval of time sheet entries is also possible.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Record actual working times
• Access time sheet on behalf of employees
• Transfer time recordings to target components.
• Approve time sheet entries.
• Notify the missing time.
• See an overview of team utilization for line managers.

This scenario is used for billing customer projects as part of project-related services. It supports billing on a fixed-price, time-and-expense, periodic, and usage basis. It also includes payments on account and down payments for time and expense contracts, as well as down payments for fixed price contracts. One of the most important capabilities is the write-off and postponement of recorded amounts or quantities in the time and expense scenario. In addition, an approval workflow for project billing requests can be activated in various ways. 

The key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Create, edit, and manage project billing requests.
• Create billing document requests.

Sales Order Processing describes the entire process sequence for the sales order maintenance and the billing process within the project-based services scenario. It includes the billing subprocesses and encompasses the creation of billing documents (invoices), credit memos, manual credit memo requests, and manual debit memo requests.

In the invoicing subprocess, the leading customer project management process triggers the creation of a debit memo request, which is transformed into a customer invoice.

In the credit memo subprocess, a credit memo is created with reference to an existing customer invoice.

In the manual debit memo subprocess, a debit memo request is created manually and then sent to billing where a corresponding customer invoice is created.

Finally, these processes transfer to the accounts receivable process.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Create billing documents: Create customer invoices and journal entry.
• Create credit memo: Create credit memo with reference to customer invoice and journal entry.

Event-Based Revenue Recognition calculates and posts real-time revenue and cost adjustment for professional services for fixed price, time and material, and periodic service type projects.

Processes that don't write a prima nota don't result in any real-time revenue recognition postings (for example, changes of plan data don't directly result in revenue recognition postings). If necessary, period-end closing postings (periodic revenue recognition) correct the event-based postings. This scope item covers best guess reporting, as figures are only correct after period-end closing.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Monitor event-based revenue recognition for projects.
• Manage real-time revenue recognition issues
• Run revenue recognition for projects in period-end closing.
• Manage revenue recognition issues for projects.
• Report projects actuals
• Report projects WIP details (relevant only for time and material projects)
• Inspect revenue recognition postings.

Internal Project Management handles the complete end-to-end process of project-based services inside the company. This scope item realizes the main steps of the end-to-end scenario for project-based services focusing on internal project management and costs. It integrates project planning and staffing with core project management functionalities, procurement processes for materials and services, and time recording against the project work items. During period-end closing activities, accounting and financial close activities can be performed. This scope item also supports the analysis of project key figures.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Manage internal projects during the planning and execution phase.
• Maintain work package staffing of internal project.
• Procure external services for internal project.
• Record times for internal project
• Analyze internal projects.
• Perform accounting and financial close activities.
• Perform period end closing activities.

Service and Material Procurement for project-based services covers all relevant procurement processes of the professional services scenario.

Possible procurement sub-processes are as follows:

• Service procurement - an external service is ordered. The external service company confirms the purchase order and performs the service. The supplier posts the expenses back. A supplier invoice is created and processed.
• Material procurement for consumption - a consumption material is requested from a customer or internal project and a purchase order is created and sent to the supplier. The supplier sends the material to the company, and the goods receipt is checked. Finally, the supplier invoice is created, and the invoice is paid.
• Procurement for third-party order processing - a material is ordered by the purchaser of the ordering company for an end customer from a supplier. The supplier ships the material directly to this end-customer.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

Procure services:

• Create purchase requisition.
• Create and approve purchase order
• Send purchase order to supplier.
• Confirm service from supplier.
• Post expenses of service
• Create supplier invoice.

Procure material for consumption:

• Create purchase requisition.
• Create and check the purchase order
• Send purchase order to supplier.
• Post and check goods receipt.
• Create supplier invoice

Procure for third-party order processing:

• Create purchase requisition.
• Create and check purchase order.
• Send purchase order to supplier
• Post and check goods receipt.
• Create supplier invoice

Create contracts:

• Create contract from scratch.
• Create contract based on purchase requisition.

A company has an affiliate company. The affiliate company delivers a service to the ordering company in the course of a customer project. The affiliate company posts expenses and records time on the project. These expenses are transformed into debit memo requests. An intercompany invoice with reference to the debit memo request is created by the delivering company. The intercompany invoice is posted automatically also to the accounts payables of the ordering company.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Create debit memo requests for intercompany billing based on intercompany travel postings and time confirmation from the delivering company.
• Create billing document (intercompany invoice)
• Post intercompany invoice automatically from company to accounts payables of ordering company

Additional information: This scope item is excluded from the default activation.

Applications (such as time recording for EPPM or services) can create cross-company cost accounting documents. Also, cross-company cost accounting documents can be created manually in controlling with the Manage Direct Activity Allocation app. For these FI documents, you must still create legal invoices, including tax. Based on resource-related intercompany billing functionality, you can create the necessary customer invoices with the affiliated company as the customer. After the invoices are created, the system can automatically create mirroring accounts payable documents in the receiving affiliated company.

The following key process steps are covered by this scope item:

• Create an intercompany sales order in the affiliated cost sending company where the customer represents the affiliated cost receiving company.
• Create a debit memo request for cross-company cost accounting postings in the affiliated cost sending company
• Create a customer invoice in the affiliated cost sending company.
• Create an accounts payable document in the affiliated cost receiving company.

Think about a previous experience you might have had managing a project in a professional setting. Can you identify parallels between the components of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services and the techniques you used to oversee the project?

Consider aspects like finance, workforce, sales, procurement, project billing, and how they correspond to the processes handled by SAP S/4HANA Cloud.

In my experience as a project manager, the elements highlighted in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services mirror real-life project management situations. From a financial perspective, tracking and analyzing project profitability was crucial, similar to how SAP S/4HANA Cloud provides real-time data on cost, revenue, margin, and variance. From a workforce perspective, finding the right skills for a project and deploying resources at the right time was a regular part of my role, which SAP S/4HANA Cloud handles with its integration of employee data and workforce management. The ability to manage procurement is also a key parallel, ensuring that all necessary services and materials are acquired for successful implementation. Similar to SAP's approach, our team used billing proposals for different types of work completed on projects, and sales orders were integrated for tracking invoicing and revenue recognition in real time. The SAP S/4HANA Cloud essentially encapsulates these key project management practices within one effective solution. Consequently, implementing this tool can help streamline and automate tasks that previously required significant manual effort, enhancing overall project efficiency.

This lesson introduced SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services, a comprehensive solution for effectively managing different aspects of a professional services business. Key components of this cloud-based solution include Project Management, Workforce Management, and Finance Management.

We dived deeper into how the SAP S/4HANA Cloud solution facilitates project planning, creating billing plans, managing and monitoring projects, and recording work efforts. Its integration with SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central and SAP Fieldglass was highlighted, emphasizing the utilization of internal employees and external contingent workforce.

The lesson also covered the process of project billing, time recording, sales order processing and revenue recognition. You learned how these processes work together to ensure efficiency, profitability, and the successful execution of projects.

Procurement management in professional services was explained, including how services and materials are efficiently procured to ensure successful project execution.

Finally, we touched upon navigating the SAP Process Navigator and managing user roles and permissions within the SAP S/4HANA Cloud system.

By the end of this module, learners should have a fundamental understanding of SAP S/4HANA Cloud Professional Services. This foundational knowledge forms the basis for more advanced exploration and application of the solution in a real-world professional services context.