In January 2016, Enhancement Package 8 for SEM-BCS was released with numerous new functionalities (see also:"SAP SEM-BCS - Why enhancement packages can be worthwhile"). After this, the future of SEM-BCS was unclear for some time.
This uncertainty resulted primarily from the introduction of SAP BW/4HANA in September 2016 as SAP's new strategic data warehousing solution. With the introduction of SAP BW/4HANA, the end of mainstream maintenance for SAP NetWeaver BW 7.5 and SEM-BCS, which is technically based on it, was simultaneously set for 2025.
As SAP BW/4HANA differs technologically from SAP NetWeaver BW - for example, the InfoCubes and DSOs required by SEM-BCS are no longer available in SAP BW/4HANA and have been replaced by the more powerful 'advanced DSOs' - it was not technically possible to use SEM-BCS under SAP BW/4HANA. This was also communicated via SAP note "2189708 - SAP BW/4HANA: Add-on processing and use".
In December 2017, version 37 of the above SAP note then mentioned that support for SEM-BCS under SAP BW/4HANA was planned from Q4/2018.
In November 2018, SAP presented its new solution for group reporting and group consolidation at the DSAG theme day "SAP Group Consolidation - The new SAP solution S/4HANA for Group Reporting". This new product combines the strengths of previous SAP solutions for preparing consolidated financial statements, also offers perfect integration with SAP S/4HANA in conjunction with a modern user interface and is available both in the cloud and on premise. At the same time, SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting was positioned by SAP as a strategic solution for group reporting integrated into SAP S/4HANA. At this event, the manufacturer also explained that the development focus is exclusively on Group Reporting and that new implementations of SEM-BCS are therefore not necessarily recommended.
Through a lively exchange with our customers, we were able to recognize that there are quite different positions. On the one hand, the desire was expressed that there should be a clear focus on Group Reporting on the part of the manufacturer - after all, the SAP portfolio includes four other products with EC-CS, SAP BPC, SAP FC and SEM-BCS - on the other hand, there was a desire for investment protection for Group reporting that has grown over many years, for example on the basis of SEM-BCS. SAP may also have had similar considerations.
BCS/4HANA includes the functional scope of SEM-BCS with Enhancement Package 1 to 8 with a few, generally negligible exceptions, and extends this with some innovative features. Due to the optimization of BCS/4HANA for the SAP HANA Platform and the new developments contained in BCS/4HANA, BCS/4HANA must also be licensed separately for existing SEM-BCS customers. A license for SAP BW/4HANA is also required.
BCS/4HANA is licensed via the license for SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting. The purchase of a license for SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting for 50 consolidation units also includes the use of BCS/4HANA for an unlimited number of consolidation units. BCS/4HANA offers the following key benefits, particularly for companies that already use SEM-BCS:
As the product name suggests, only the consolidation functionality of SEM-BCS is ported to SAP BW/4HANA with BCS/4HANA. Other components of the SAP SEM product, such as SEM-BIC, SEM-CPM or SEM-SRM, will not be made available under SAP BW/4HANA.
Companies that already use SEM-BCS have the following alternatives:
Since February 13, 2019, there is clarity about the future of SEM-BCS under SAP BW/4HANA: SAP BCS 1.0 for SAP BW/4HANA - hereinafter referred to as BCS/4HANA - is generally available. At the same time, the licensing of BCS/4HANA underlines the positioning of S/4HANA for Group Reporting as a strategic solution for group reporting.
With BCS/4HANA, BPC, EC-CS, FC and Group Reporting, the SAP portfolio for group planning, consolidated financial statement preparation and group reporting comprises five powerful solutions that differ greatly in terms of architecture, connection to operational upstream systems, mapping of consolidation logic, user interface and reporting.
This raises the question of the optimal solution. There is no general answer to this question, as the answer depends on the specific requirements and their weighting. In this respect, BCS/4HANA may be the optimal choice for one company, while SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting may be the best solution for another.
At the CALEO Enterprise Performance Day on May 22, 2019 in Munich, we will go into detail about the new functionalities of BCS/4HANA and SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting. We will also show for which requirements one or the other solution is best suited.
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