In this blog post, I would like to provide you an overview of the SAP S/4HANA Service solution and its integration with SAP Service Cloud and SAP Field Service Management, as well a first insight into the new SAP S/4HANA Service Strategy.

General overview

Through the Compatibility Packages (CP) SAP provides a limited use right to SAP S/4HANA On-Premise customers to run the “classic” SAP ERP solution SD-CS, CRM Service and SAP PM until 31.12.2030 on SAP S/4HANA installation.

For this limited time all of features, which are originally created for SAP ERP are still available in SAP S/4HANA. The functionalities are treated in maintenance mode and no further innovation is planned.

Compatibility Packs are documented in detail in SAP note 2269324 and in the Software Use Rights.)

The new, continuously evolving “service management” solution in SAP S/4HANA is SAP S/4HANA Service, which combines the functional elements from SAP ERP SD-CS, CRM and SAP PM solutions supplemented with new functional innovations.

SAP S/4HANA Service, as the new long-term “go-to” solution covers the following areas:

Technical Service

• execution of operational service management from planning to fulfilment and manage all variants of on-site and in-house technical service on a single platform (fully integrated E2E)

Commercial Service

• sign and manage contractual agreements, design Service Portfolio, manage bundles for service, products, subscriptions and projects

Service Analytics

• advanced analytical tools to track operational and financial KPIs; *Service execution with interactive and intelligent analytics

Service Business Planning

• craft a holistic Service Business strategy, identify new Services, define and offer as part of value and product chain

SAP S/4HANA Service Strategy

SAP service strategy: Integration of back office and front office functionality

The goal of SAP service strategy is to integrate the existing Front office and Back office functionality in SAP S/4HANA.

In SAP ERP system the SAP CRM Service or SAP ERP Customer Service (CS) can be used parallelly or individually for Customer Management in Back office.

When SAP S/4HANA for Customer Management was developed SAP CRM Service and SAP ERP Customer Service were used as a basis to enhance SAP S/4HANA Customer Management. SAP S/4HANA for customer management finally evolved to SAP S/4HANA Service OnPrem which is an integral part of SAP S/4HANA OnPrem.

SAP Service Cloud serves to execute service tasks and self-service in Front office. Cloud Service engagement center and SAP Cloud for Customer were used as a basis and enhanced when SAP Service Cloud was developed.

The new Front Office solution can be also integrated with Mobile Solutions. SAP Cloud for Customer and SAP CRM Service Manager as well as SAP Work Manager were used to map mobile service processes. The integration of the Front Office with Mobile Solutions is ultimately the combination of SAP Service Cloud and SAP Field Service Management (formerly known as CORE systems).

End-to-End Customer Service to Field Service

SAP S/4HANA Service On-Premise interacts closely with SAP Service Cloud and SAP Field Service Management.

SAP Service in the Intelligent Enterprise

In SAP S/4HANA system the SAP S/4HANA Service OnPrem can be regarded as the core which can exchange data with SAP Service Cloud and SAP Field Service Management.

S/4HANA Service On-Premise focuses on planned – and complex service, supports the set up and operation of functions and processes for service contract management, service order management, service request management, service billing, and customer engagement.

S/4HANA Service solution also supports subscription order management and is used with various industry solutions.

SAP Service Cloud can be integrated with back office (SAP S/4HANA OnPrem or Cloud) and connected to customer service to process solving customer issue. The Service Cloud solution can be also connected with SAP Field Service Management (by integration contact center with field service) to accelerate service execution and ensure full traceability of the process, from the first contact with the customer to the resolution of the issue.

SAP Service Cloud focuses on the following two areas:

• Self Service
• Execution of simple service tasks

SAP Field Service Management  can be integrated with SAP S/4HANA Service to optimize the service processes.

The integration solution can be used bi-directional for data replication: the data can be replicated from SAP S/4HANA On-Premise to SAP Field Service Management and from SAP Field Service Management to SAP S/4HANA On-Premise.

The integration solution supports the replication of the following entities between SAP S/4HANA and SAP Field Service Management:

• Service order
• Service item
• Service part
• Business Partner
• Business Partner address
• Business Partner contact
• Business Partner relationship
• Product
• Product price
• Product stock
• Organizational hierarchy

SAP Field Service Management supports the real-time, automated workforce scheduling, planning, and dispatching for employees and provides self-service options for customers. SAP Field Service Management also supports mobile field service and ensures proactive customer service with machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) technology and analytics.

Furthermore, SAP S/4HANA Service can exchange data with Asset Management by integrated processes for maintenance planning, scheduling, and execution. With Maintenance Service is possible to use asset management capabilities like maintenance planning and execution, along with commercial aspects of service like contract management, price agreements, credit check and so on.

For reporting purposes the data can be checked by using Analytics tools. Service monitoring and analytics provides monitoring and analytical features for core service business processes, including service order management and service contract management.

Business object in SAP S/4HANA Service

SAP S/4HANA Service: Origin of Business Objects

SAP S/4HANA Service is based on SAP S/4HANA for Customer Management. The design of SAP S/4HANA Service eliminates functional redundancies, data replication and select most suitable object, engine and process. The unified CRM and S/4HANA objects share the same database representation, thus require no middleware.

Service order management provides a variety of functions that allow you to set up end-to-end service processes. It is integrated with solution order and service contract management as well as with procurement, inventory management, pricing, billing, and financials.

In the second part of this blog post I will give you an overview of capability highlights in SAP S/4HANA Service.