SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition 2023 brings a range of new features and enhancements to simplify Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) processes allowing organizations to proactively identify and mitigate risks related to environmental, health, and safety issues. The system also allows the identification and assessment of hazards, the implementation of preventive measures, and the monitoring of risk controls. This helps organizations to reduce incidents, injuries, and environmental impacts.

In the following blog, I will give you an engineering expert view of some selected highlights of our SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition for Environment, Health and Safety 2023 release, to demonstrate that automation, system integration and end-to-end transparency can help companies transform their EHS process and that can better support them on the path to sustainable growth.

The blog presents the key highlights for:

• Environment Management,
• Health and Safety Management,
• EHS Incident Management,
• Waste Management.

Provision of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data to Support Integration with
SAP Sustainability Control Tower

Background

Managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data is essential for understanding, mitigating, and adapting to climate change. It provides the foundation for informed decision-making, policy development, and actions to reduce emissions, promote sustainability, and protect the environment for future generations. Accurate data on greenhouse gas emissions allows governments, organizations, and industries to set realistic and measurable targets to reduce their carbon footprint. These targets are essential for creating effective climate action plans and policies.

In the same way, managing greenhouse gas emissions data enables organizations to measure and report their emissions accurately. Many companies are now required to disclose their emissions data as part of sustainability reporting or to meet regulatory requirements. Transparent reporting enhances accountability and enables stakeholders to make informed decisions and comparisons. This can stimulate innovation and drive investments in low-carbon technologies, renewable energy, and sustainable practices. It helps identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvements, the development of clean technologies, and the transition to a sustainable and low-carbon economy.

Key Features

With this new 2023 release for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, you can enable the integration with SAP Sustainability Control Tower to import activity data for greenhouse gas emissions. With the integration, you can:

• Import your recorded GHG emissions from EHS in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition,
• Associate your activity data with GHG scopes and sub-categories based on pre-defined classifiers.
• Assign emission data to business locations in the SAP Sustainability Control Tower.
• Analyse emission data in the “View Emission Dashboard” app,
• Set and track your emission goals in the “Our Ambitions” app.

Picture 1: Take your corporate environmental footprints data, such as air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, wastewater, and waste data that have been calculated and recorded in SAP EHS Management, environment management to SAP Sustainability Control Tower for steering and target setting.

Integration into SAP Sustainability Control Tower

To enable this system integration from a functional perspective, it’s essential to ensure that the correct data classifiers are set for your datasets within Environment Management.

Based on the defined data classifiers, the SAP Sustainability Control Tower will process the data and generate reports tailored to specific reporting requirements. Additionally, you need to define the business locations in SAP Sustainability Control Tower and maintain the applicable plant for each location in EHS in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, which will be used as the source.

The following limitations should be considered:

• Only data for the listed substance carbon dioxide equivalent in metric tons is imported.
• Of the GHG data classifiers in EHS in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, a subset is supported.
• Only approved, non-preliminary data is imported.
• The data must be assigned to locations of type Site or Plant. These locations must have a PlantID. It is used as the identifier for the business location hierarchy of the imported data. Ensure to maintain your SAP Sustainability Control Tower business location hierarchy with the required plants.

Remark: This interface is a one-directional data feed from SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition, that transmits actual greenhouse gas emission amounts along with relevant metadata.

For more information about the SAP Sustainability Control Tower, see here.

For more information about the management of your Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory, see this blog post.

Declare (Report) Emissions – Data Collection, Calculations, and Support Reporting to External Entities (e.g. Governments)

Background

Many governments have implemented environmental regulations and policies to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Reporting emissions is often a legal requirement to ensure compliance with these regulations. This allows governments to monitor and track the progress of emissions reduction efforts at a national or regional level. This information helps legislators assess the effectiveness of existing policies and develop new strategies to achieve emission reduction targets.

Key Features

Provide a new type of compliance scenario to support the preparation of air emissions data for the emitted substances (pollutants).

The SAP Fiori app “Manage Compliance Scenario” has been extended (type Emissions Declaration) so that you can create and revise emissions declaration scenarios in addition to generic compliance scenarios. Emissions declaration scenarios are modeled after the company’s production process that releases emissions relevant for reporting. This type of scenario comes with four predefined data collections (total duration, off-gas flow rate, humidity, and temperature), and is assigned emitted substances in the form of activities before activation.

Picture 2: Enable customers to plan, collect, calculate, and validate air emissions data.

As an environmental manager, in the SAP Fiori app “Manage Compliance Scenario” — for scenarios of the emissions declarations type — you can add or remove emitted substances, create scenario revisions, assign environmental limits to emitted substances, and monitor your data against the regulated thresholds. However, all data calculations for emissions declarations are done in the SAP Fiori app “My Emissions Declarations”.

For more information, see Emissions Declaration Scenario.

New SAP Fiori app “My Emission Declarations”.

With this new SAP Fiori app, you can collect, store, and calculate data that is relevant for emissions declarations, and which is used for regulatory reporting as required specifically by the German authorities.

Picture 3: Support compliance, and assure accuracy and transparency of the emissions reporting process.

You can use this app to do the following:

• Create and export emissions declaration data records based on an active compliance scenario of the emissions declaration type.
• Collect, store, calculate, and submit emissions data as required by local regulations.
• Calculate the concentration, mass flow, and total emissions of an emitted company substance.
• Monitor your data against assigned environmental limits.

With this new 2023 release, we introduce also new validation:

• Total Duration: The total duration of an activity or process, measured in hours, can now only be between 0 and 8784. This range corresponds to the maximum number of working hours in a year.
• Temperature: The acceptable values for temperature have been defined as ranging from -273 to 2700. This range covers a wide spectrum of temperatures, including extreme cold and high heat.
• Off-Gas Flow Rate: The off-gas flow rate, which refers to the rate at which gases are emitted or discharged during a process, now requires values greater than 0. This ensures that there is a measurable flow of off-gas and prevents zero or negative values.
• Humidity: The acceptable values for humidity have been set from 0 to 100. This range covers the entire spectrum of relative humidity, from completely dry (0%) to fully saturated (100%).

For more information, see My Emissions Declarations.

New SAP Fiori app “Manage Emissions Declarations Report”.

With this new SAP Fiori app, you can prepare and generate emissions declaration report files for the emission of substances that are relevant for regulatory reporting. Based on the emissions declarations report form, you can select the specific criteria that you need (such as plant or type of equipment) and generate the report file.

Picture 4: Enable customers to intuitively generate XML-based emissions reports to submit to for example government agencies.

You can use this app to do the following:

• Specify report information, such as main location and reporting period.
• Specify reporting criteria, such as location type, location classifiers, or data classifiers.
• Specify report details, such as a unit of measure.
• Generate a report file.
• Download a report file.

For more information, see Generating Environmental Reports.

Geolocation Visualization in SAP Analytics Cloud

In this new 2023 release, the CDS (Core Data Services) EHS Amount has been enhanced to simplify the consumption of geographical coordinates for EHS locations. This enhancement specifically facilitates the integration of the EHS Location coordinates with the SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC) platform.

With this enhancement, SAC users can easily access and utilize the geographical coordinates of EHS locations when creating stories or visualizations. The geographical coordinates enable the plotting of precise plant locations on maps, allowing for an accurate representation of the physical positioning of the plants.

Picture 5: Support live connection between SAP Analytics Cloud and SAP EHS Management, environment management.

Improve the Quality of your Emission Management Data and Calculations

With this 2023 release, a dynamic emission factor handling feature has been introduced. Within the Calculation Setup Details, users now have the option to select the Get Dynamic Value checkbox when utilizing Regulatory Lists. When this checkbox is activated, the system retrieves the emission factor based on the current revision.

For example, let’s consider a Compliance Scenario that is valid from 2020, along with a corresponding Compliance Requirement. Initially, the Compliance Requirement specifies an emission factor of 1.5. In this case, the system performs calculations using the emission factor of 1.5 for the years 2020 and 2021.

However, in 2022, the Compliance Requirement undergoes a revision, resulting in a change to the emission factor, now set at 2. With the Get Dynamic Value checkbox active, the system calculates emissions for the year 2022 using the updated emission factor of 2. The dynamic value ensures that the system considers the revised emission factor for the appropriate period.

On the other hand, if the Get Dynamic Value checkbox is not activated, any changes made to the emission factor would retroactively affect calculations for past periods. Therefore, without the dynamic value option, the system would calculate emissions for all periods using the new emission factor as soon as it is modified, including past periods.

Picture 6: Enhance the control and visibility of your emission-relevant transactional data with updated monitoring applications.

The primary reason for implementing health and safety management is to ensure the well-being and safety of employees. By identifying and mitigating workplace hazards, companies can prevent accidents, injuries, and illnesses, thereby protecting their employees from harm.

Companies also have a legal and moral obligation to provide a safe and healthy working environment for their employees. Failure to comply with health and safety regulations can result in legal consequences, such as fines, penalties, and even criminal charges. Implementing effective health and safety management systems helps companies meet their legal obligations and avoid legal liabilities.

Single Overview Page with Workplace Safety Insights

Business Background

Having an overview page that displays critical information allows industrial hygienists to quickly assess the severity and urgency of incidents or tasks. This enables them to prioritize and respond promptly, minimizing potential risks and hazards.

This helps maintain work safety it enables timely response, and efficient resource allocation, enhances situational awareness, ensures compliance, and promotes effective communication and collaboration.

Key Features

With this new 2023 release, we deliver a new Workplace Safety Overview application that provides Cards with data insights regarding Incident Management. All Cards are based on the My Location concept and use the currently set My Location ID for the logged-in user to pre-filter all data. If no location is set, then by default the Cards will show all data in the organization.

With this new app (App ID: F7512), you can get an overview of active incidents and incident-related tasks at your organization. The overview includes data from your selected location and its sublocations. You can see the most recent items that require attention and navigate to due tasks. Additionally, you can analyze statistical data presented in a variety of chart formats.

Picture 7: Visualize critical information on incidents and work to complete urgent tasks.

You can use this app to do the following:

• Get an overview of active incidents, near misses, and safety observations at your organization or your location and its sublocations.
• See the most recently created or updated incidents of all categories.
• Get an overview of incident-related due and overdue tasks and navigate to them.
• View data presented in a variety of chart formats and aggregated by date, category, and status.
• Navigate to the Set My Location app to specify or change the location you see data for.
• See how many days have passed without any incidents.
• Navigate to other apps that support your incident management processes.

Update of Occupational Exposure Limits for Various Countries

Business Background

Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) are guidelines established by regulatory agencies or professional organizations to protect workers from the potential adverse effects of exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace. OELs define the maximum allowable concentration or level of exposure to a particular substance over a specified time period, such as an 8-hour workday or a 40-hour workweek.

The purpose of OELs is to prevent or minimize the risk of acute or chronic health effects that may result from exposure to hazardous substances. These limits are typically based on scientific research and take into account factors such as toxicity, exposure duration, and the potential for cumulative effects.

Key Features

With this 2023 release, new and changed content regarding occupational exposure limits (OELs) for various countries is delivered to your system.

• Use of occupational exposure limits (OELs) to define permissible limits of substances in the air at workplaces in relevant countries.
• A comprehensive listing of such limits in SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management, for about 95 countries all over the world:
• Complete list of countries here: SAP Note 3362892
• Inclusion of the following new OEL lists in SAP S/4HANA, private edition 2023:
  • Albania: occupational exposure limits for carcinogens and mutagens
  • Albania: indicative occupational exposure limits
• Inclusion of the following updated OEL lists in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition 2023:
  • Canada: occupational exposure limits for Quebec /  Switzerland: occupational exposure limits
  • China: occupational exposure limits
  • Denmark: occupational exposure limits
  • Norway: occupational exposure limits
  • Sweden: occupational exposure limits
  • Spain: occupational exposure limits
  • European Union: risks related to exposure to asbestos – 2009/148/EC
  • European Union: exposure to chemical, physical, and biological agents – 91/322/EEC
  • France: occupational exposure limits
  • Hungary: occupational exposure limits
  • Netherlands: occupational exposure limits
  • Serbia: occupational exposure limits
  • Ukraine: hygiene regulations of chemicals in the air of the working zone
  • United States: American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit values
  • United States: workplace environmental exposure levels (WEEL)

Picture 8: Make sure that operational risk assessment processes consider up-to-date occupational exposure limits suited for the relevant countries.

For more information, see Activate Compliance Requirements.

New Application for Processing Incidents

Business Background

By recording and analyzing incidents, observations, and near misses, organizations can identify potential hazards and risks in the workplace. Capturing such incidents provides an opportunity for organizations to learn from past mistakes and improve their safety practices. By analyzing the root causes of incidents and near misses, organizations can identify areas for improvement and implement corrective actions to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Key Features

With this new 2023 release, you can view and edit incidents in a flexible and responsive interface.

With the “Edit Incident (Overview Page Floorplan)” app, you can manage incidents and the processes related to them, such as defining tasks, conducting investigations, and reporting to legal authorities. You can review and complete the information in incident records and track the processing status of incidents.

Picture 9: Improved visibility and transparency of the access to the incident data.

You can use this app to do, for example, the following:

• Adjust the categorization of an incident.
• Specify the regulations that are relevant to an incident.
• Review and complete the information in an incident record.
• Enter information about people and organizations involved in an incident.
• Enter information about assets involved and damages caused by an incident.
• Enter information about releases into the environment and clean-up responses.
• Enter notices of violation that were issued to your organization.
• Track the financial impact of an incident.
• Carry out an investigation to determine the causes that led to an incident.
• Define tasks that are to be implemented in response to an incident.
• Generate and send reports to comply with legal, regulatory, and internal reporting requirements.
• Close an incident when all related processes have been completed.
• And more …

For more information, see Edit Incident (Overview Page Floorplan).

Configuration for Incident Management

With the Activate Overview Page Floorplan (New) configuration activity, you can activate the overview page floorplan (OVP) for viewing and editing incidents. When the OVP floorplan is activated, all navigation to incidents leads to the OVP version of the user interface. You can find the activity in Customizing under Environment, Health and Safety > Incident Management > General Configuration > Activate Overview Page Floorplan (New).

Picture 10: New configuration activity which provides the possibility to switch to the new Overview Page Floorplan (New).

Additional Details

• By default, the user interface is available in its previous version, built using the object instance floorplan (OIF).
• Before you activate the OVP floorplan in the productive system, make sure to replicate your custom user interface enhancements and screen adaptations in the new floorplan. Modifications of the OIF floorplan are not compatible with the OVP floorplan.

Ability to Restrict the Access to Incidents

Authorization Concept for Accessing Incidents

The authorization concept for accessing incidents now includes both the EHHSS_INC6 and EHFND_LOC authorization objects and grants access to specific locations listed in the user restrictions of the authorization role. If users have access to a location, they cannot access incidents that have their subordinate locations assigned unless these locations are explicitly stated in the user restrictions.

Restrict Data Access Functionality

With this feature, you can restrict access to multiple sections of an incident record in a single step. Previously, it was necessary to navigate to each section in order to restrict access to it. Based on these settings, information is only displayed to authorized users.

Picture 11: Improved user experience in handling sensitive data in the incident.

With Waste Management in EHS for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, you can handle the management of waste generated by an organization. It is designed to help companies comply with environmental regulations and ensure proper handling, disposal, and reporting of waste materials.

The features provide functionalities to track and manage waste throughout its lifecycle, from generation to disposal. It enables organizations to record waste generation data, classify waste types, track waste storage locations, and manage waste transportation and disposal processes.

Import Waste Documents – Delivery Notes

Business Background

Delivery notes provide a record of the waste being transported, including its quantity, type, and origin. This documentation is crucial for regulatory compliance and helps ensure transparency and accountability in waste management. This means delivery notes enable the tracking of waste from its point of origin to its final destination. This helps authorities and waste management companies monitor the movement of waste and ensure it is handled appropriately.

Key Features

With this new Import Delivery Notes app, you can use a template to import data from nonregulated waste transportation documents (delivery notes) that are provided by a disposer to confirm the transportation and disposal of non-hazardous waste. The system then creates entries for the waste transfer requests and waste transportation documents related to the completed waste shipments.

You can use this app to do the following:

• Import data from waste delivery notes using a downloadable template.
• Get an overview of waste delivery notes and their import status.
• Search for delivery notes by file name and filter by import status.
• Navigate to the waste transportation documents and waste transfer requests that are created during the import.
• View validation messages for files that aren’t imported.
• Export the information displayed in the overview table to a spreadsheet.

Picture 12: Enable straightforward bulk upload of delivery notes for non-hazardous waste shipments.

Improvements in Waste Permit Handling

Business Background

Waste codes are often required by regulatory agencies to track and manage waste. They help ensure that waste is handled, transported, and disposed of in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. During waste management, the waste codes provide a common language for waste management professionals, allowing them to communicate and understand the characteristics and hazards associated with different types of waste. This information is crucial for determining appropriate handling, storage, treatment, and disposal methods.

Key Features

With this new 2023 release, improvements for working with waste permits have been introduced. When you are creating or editing a permit, the Waste Data section now appears only when the domain Waste has been selected.

Additionally, when a domain is selected, the list of available permit types is now restricted to permit types relevant to the selected domain.

Picture 13: Improved user experience in handling waste permits.

Effects on Customizing

The following new configuration activities support this functionality:

• Specify Permit Types
• Assign Permit Types to Compliance Requirement Domains

For more information on the configuration options, see Configuration for Waste Management.

Provision of Dangerous Good Data for Waste Transportation Documents

Business Background

When you classify packaged products according to dangerous goods regulations, the system generates the dangerous goods description for documents containing information about a dangerous good. The description for documents is printed on documents within the value chain, such as sales order confirmations, delivery notes, and the ADR Dangerous Goods Notes. The dangerous goods data that must be printed is determined by the type of the document. Therefore, different output scenarios are provided, which contain the dangerous goods data needed for a specific document.

Key Features

With this new 2023 release, a new output scenario for the dangerous goods description for waste transportation documents is provided.

Picture 14: Example for a waste transportation document required based on German legislation.

Effects on Customizing

The dangerous goods descriptions that are printed are not only dependent on the dangerous goods classification of the product but they’re also determined by the type of document on which they are printed.

In the Specify Output of Dangerous Goods Description activity, you can specify which dangerous goods descriptions are printed on which document and in which sequence. In addition, you can specify whether the dangerous goods regulations are printed together with their modes of transport and the transport permission on one document.

You can change the settings in Customizing under Product Compliance > Dangerous Goods Management > Specify Output of Dangerous Goods Description.

For more information about the generation of the description for documents, see Dangerous Goods Descriptions.

Manual Maintenance of Dangerous Goods Information

Business Background

Waste materials can pose significant risks to human health, the environment, and property if not handled properly. Dangerous goods information provides details about the hazards associated with specific waste materials, such as flammability, toxicity, corrosiveness, or reactivity. This information helps transporters and handlers take appropriate precautions to minimize the risks and prevent accidents or incidents.

Key Features

With the “Manage Dangerous Goods Information” app (App ID: F7337), you can classify waste products according to dangerous goods regulations. When you select a material in the “Manage Material Data” app, you can create dangerous goods assessments for the products assigned to this material and their related packaged products.

You can use this app to do the following:

• Get an overview of dangerous goods assessments of a product and the related packaged products.
• Classify a waste product and related packaged products according to dangerous goods regulations.
• Specify the transport permission, mode of transport, and packaging information for a packaged product.
• Specify the transport permission (in assessments of products).
• Specify the transport permission, mode of transport, and packaging information (in assessments of packaged products).
• Enter a dangerous goods basic description (in assessments of products).
• Enter a description for documents (in assessments of packaged products).

Picture 15: Maintain dangerous goods data (proper shipping names) without automated checks for applicable dangerous goods regulations.

For more information, see Manage Dangerous Goods Information.

Waste Analytics

With this new 2023 release, you can compare and analyze aggregated data based on previously defined waste transportation documents.

With the “Waste Analytics – Waste Management” app, you can do the following:

• Select a time period using from/to dates in the mandatory Handover Date field to retrieve aggregated data from previously created waste transportation documents.
• Select other optional data using search fields.
• Select different settings to compare the aggregated data listed.
• Choose how you view aggregated data (in the form of a chart, table, or both).

Picture 16: Ability to compare and analyse aggregated data.

For more information, see Waste Analytics – Waste Management.

Thanks for reading this blog post.

If you are also interested in other Lines of Business and Industries for this new SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition 2023 release, I would like to draw your attention to my link collection blog – The Link Collection.

If you want to learn more about SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, join our Partner Community. This group focuses on providing enhanced learnings and periodic updates with respect to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition product. Our goal is to facilitate collaboration with your peers and SAP subject matter experts.

For general roadmap information please check the SAP S/4HANA Roadmap.

For more information on SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, check out the following links:

• The Link Collection for Product Compliance here
  The Link Collection for Environment, Health and Safety here
• SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition release info: com/s4hana
• SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, and SAP S/4HANA Community here
• SAP S/4HANA PSCC Digital Enablement Wheel here
• Inside SAP S/4HANA Podcast here
• Best practices for SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition here
• Help Portal Product Page here
• Feature Scope Description here
• What’s New here

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