13    Integrating SAP S/4HANA, On-Premise, into the System Landscape

This chapter explains the integration of SAP S/4HANA systems with SAP Ariba, SAP SuccessFactors, and further existing SAP systems in the landscape.

Like SAP Business Suite, SAP S/4HANA is based on SAP NetWeaver. As a result, integrating SAP S/4HANA into an existing SAP Business Suite system landscape should be feasible without major issues. In this chapter, we’ll discuss integrating with the Ariba Network and with SAP SuccessFactors. In the last section, we’ll also provide information on integration with existing SAP systems.

13.1    Integration with SAP Ariba Solutions

SAP S/4HANA provides native, easy-to-implement direct connections to SAP Ariba solutions. Neither add-ons nor middleware is required.

The following section addresses the main things you should consider when integrating SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, systems with SAP Ariba solutions.

13.1.1    Integrated Business Processes with SAP Ariba Solutions and SAP S/4HANA

In Chapter 8, Section 8.1, we discussed procurement and accounting business processes that can benefit from the digitalization and integration of SAP S/4HANA and SAP Ariba solutions as well as how to implement these business processes. In this section, we’ll only describe the differences between integrating SAP S/4HANA Cloud versus integrating SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, with SAP Ariba solutions.

Integration with SAP Ariba Solutions Business Processes and Scope Items Middleware Implementation in the System
SAP S/4HANA Cloud 1611
  • 1A0 SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • 1L2 Ariba Quote Automation
  • J82 Ariba Purchase Order to Invoice Automation
  • 19O Ariba Payment and Discount Management
Middleware not required or supported SAP Fiori tile for the configuration
SAP S/4HANA 1610 Native SAP S/4HANA integration:
  • 1A0 SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • J82 Ariba Purchase Order to Invoice Automation
  • 19O Ariba Payment and Discount Management
No middleware required; SAP Process Orchestration (PO) and SAP Cloud Platform Integration supported SAP Implementation Guide (IMG)
Obsolete technologies based on IDoc, BAPI, RFC, and Ariba Cloud Integration (CI): SAP Process Orchestration (PO) or SAP Cloud Platform Integration required SAP IMG
  • SAP Ariba Sourcing
  • Ariba Purchase Order to Payment
  • Ariba Spot Quote/Quote Automation*
  • SAP Ariba Contracting
  • SAP Ariba Buying and Invoicing (P2P/P2O)*
  • SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration (SCC)*
* Technically released for Ariba Cloud Integration CI-8 on SAP Process Orchestration 7.5 in combination with SAP S/4HANA 1511; technically released for CI-9 with SAP Process Integration (PI) 7.5 and SAP S/4HANA 1605. If technically released, customers can have SAP Ariba certify their implementations. Contact SAP Ariba for further information. SAP does not test these scenarios as standard scenarios with SAP S/4HANA.

Table 13.1    Comparing the Integration Variants of SAP S/4HANA Cloud 1611 and SAP S/4HANA 1610 with SAP Ariba Solutions

The scope of the supported business processes, the technical implementation scenarios, and the physical implementation in the system all differ (see Table 13.1).

If you compare SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, to SAP S/4HANA Cloud, you’ll notice that, in general, the same processes are supported as long as so-called native integration with SAP Ariba is used, which was developed for SAP S/4HANA and is based on cXML.

13.1.2    Technical Integration of SAP S/4HANA with SAP Ariba

Depending on the business processes that you selected for integration with SAP Ariba, the implementation can take place with or without middleware: The native integration, which is based on cXML, does not require any middleware. (cXML is the protocol of SAP Ariba, which is supported by SAP S/4HANA in selected scenarios without any add-on or adapters.)

If you still want to use middleware between your SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, system and the SAP Ariba instance in the cloud, you can use this middleware either on-premise (via SAP Process Orchestration, PO) or in the cloud (via SAP Cloud Platform Integration, previously SAP HANA Cloud Integration). If you want to use SAP PO, you’ll have to implement the Ariba Cloud Integration adapter (CI-8 or higher) on it. Refer also to SAP Note 1991088.

[»]  SAP Best Practices

The SAP Best Practices package for integrating SAP S/4HANA with SAP Ariba solutions supports you with step-by-step instructions for both native and indirect integration. For more information, go to https://rapid.sap.com/bp/RDS_S4_ARI.

For indirect integration using middleware, the data is only passed in the cXML format. In SAP PO or SAP Cloud Platform Integration, no data transformation takes place.

Older integrations based on IDocs, EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) connections, BAPIs (Business Application Programming Interfaces), or RFC (Remote Function Call) connections are deliberately not documented as an SAP S/4HANA function. For these integrations, you’ll always need middleware such as SAP PO or SAP Cloud Platform Integration to transform the protocols from IDoc, EDI, BAPI, or RFC to cXML, and vice versa. Furthermore, Ariba Cloud Integration (CI) must be installed on the middleware, and the corresponding transports to the SAP S/4HANA system must be carried out. For further information, read the “Integrating Ariba Cloud Solutions with SAP” white paper at http://bit.ly/v1448131.

The Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS) and SAP Best Practices that SAP developed for integrating SAP Business Suite with SAP Ariba can be useful for processes that have not yet been released for SAP S/4HANA. Experienced users will recognize some roughly similar settings, for example, from integrating SAP ERP with SAP Ariba Buying or SAP Ariba Supply Chain Collaboration. You can find information on the rapid deployment solutions for these scenarios at https://rapid.sap.com/bp/RDS_ARIBA_P2P and https://rapid.sap.com/bp/RDS_ARI.

Because SAP S/4HANA is a standalone, newly defined product, despite its numerous similarities with SAP ERP, you’ll have to consider their differences. You can find these differences in the simplification list, which you can find at https://help.sap.com/s4hana; select your product version, for example, SAP S/4HANA 1610.

You may also want to consider reviewing the compatibility matrix as well as possible release restrictions and SAP Notes, which you can also find at https://help.sap.com/s4hana.

[»]  Additional Information on SAP Best Practices and SAP Activate

In SAP S/4HANA, the common SAP Implementation Guide (IMG) is used. In addition, SAP recommends using the SAP Solution Manager. The SAP Best Practices package for SAP Ariba integration (https://rapid.sap.com/bp/RDS_S4_ARI) and the SAP Best Practices package for SAP S/4HANA (https://rapid.sap.com/bp/BP_OP_ENTPR) provide information on the settings you’ll have to make in the IMG or SAP Solution Manager. Here, navigate to Accelerators • General Documents • Software and Delivery requirements. The SAP Activate implementation method is also used for the integration of SAP S/4HANA.

With regard to the Ariba Network, native integration with SAP S/4HANA is managed in the same way as the integration with SAP S/4HANA Cloud (see Chapter 8, Section 8.1). Thus, the following sections discuss the specific settings in the SAP S/4HANA Implementation Guide. In our example, we’ll focus on the native integration of the scope items for requests for quotations (SAP Ariba Sourcing, scope item 1A0), automation of the document flow from purchase order to invoice (Purchase Order to Invoice Automation, scope item J82), and payment and discount management (Ariba Payment and Discount Management, scope item 19O). We’ll also address the specific settings for indirect integration with SAP PO or SAP Cloud Platform Integration when they deviate from the direct integration settings.

The general settings cover specifying the infrastructure (for example, a secure connection with a certificate or shared secret), message control, RFC and background RFC connections, and job scheduling as well as the definition and setup of services for inbound cXML messages and consumers for outbound messages.

Depending on the specific application, you’ll also have to assign the Ariba Network ID to company codes and set up the output control in two variants—Message Control (MC) or Business Rule Framework plus (BRFplus)—and the SAP Application Interface Framework (AIF).

For indirect integration using SAP Cloud Platform Integration, you’ll additionally have to set up encrypted communication and SSL as well as inbound and outbound scenarios. If you use SAP Process Orchestration, you’ll have to set up the cXML adapter and configure some communication channels.

You can find all these settings in the SAP Best Practices configuration guides for the various integration scenarios at the following URLs:

Currently, SAP Best Practices is restricted to technical integration and the corresponding business processes that are directly supported. Further process optimization and automation are not mapped; however, you should consider optimization and automation in your planning whenever it makes sense.

For example, let’s ask what process should be triggered when purchase orders are rejected by suppliers: Is SAP S/4HANA supposed to automatically contact the next supplier? Is a sourcing process supposed to be triggered? Is the rejection supposed to affect the assessment of the corresponding supplier? In SAP S/4HANA, on-premise, Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) are available that allow for further optimization. You can find them in the IMG.

In SAP Ariba, further process optimizations are possible if you set up the configuration under Administration. You can find the corresponding documentation on the SAP Ariba support pages at https://connect.ariba.com/AC.

[»]  Additional Information on Integrating SAP S/4HANA, On-Premise, with SAP Ariba

You can find more information on the integration of SAP S/4HANA and SAP Ariba on the following pages: