The next generation Business Suite of SAP is SAP S/4HANA which is designed in a simplified way specifically to work with SAP HANA and to replace the SAP ECC/ERP. The transition of SAP users to SAP S/4HANA is similar to the earlier transition from the ERP versions, SAP R/2 to SAP R/3. Discounts Customer discounts through existing SD discount processing at ECC have been replaced by settlement management through conditional agreements at S/4HANA. It is designed to run only on SAP HANA as the database. However, new GL functionality is required in S/4HANA and is a prerequisite for new asset accounting.ĥ: Rebates. The S/4HANA uses only the new GL, which is technically similar to the new GL in ECC. SAP ECC FI can run on any “classic” GL framework or “new” GL framework. In SAP S/4HANA, the universal journal structure stores both the GL account and the cost factor.Ĥ: New General Ledger (GL). In SEP ECC, FI GL accounts are mapped with CO base value elements. The S/4HANA Business Partner integrates common data structure elements into the record.ģ: Integration of controlling (CO) and finance (FI). SAP maintains separate customer and seller files, even when an organization partners with a company for both tasks. On the other hand, SAP S/4HANA can only run on SAP HANA, advanced technology in memory.Ģ: Customer vs. SAP ECC FI can run on third-party databases such as Oracle, Max DB, and IBM. So let’s dive a little deeper, highlighting the five biggest differences below.ġ: Database. The above chart shows several important differences between SEP ECC and S/4HANA.