Major differences between SAP ECC and S/4HANA

If you're looking for an ERP suited for large enterprises, you should go for SAP S/4HANA. It is known as the successor to SAP R/3 and SAP ERP. SAP S/4HANA's purpose is simple, to provide end-users with impeccable decision support in real-time. These can be done based on real-time data acquired from internal and external sources.?

SAP S/4HANA is a breakthrough from conventional transaction systems whose only function is to record data.?

The main variance.?

And before you decide to migrate all of your resources, it is important to dive deep into the key differences between S/4HANA and ECC. But, before that, you need to observe the variation between these two i.e. the database.?

ECC is known to run on third-party database systems. On the other hand, S/4HANA comes with the SAP in-memory database.?

The Beginning of SAP ECC?

?SAP has a legacy suite of enterprise applications, otherwise known as SAP ECC. As mentioned above, this runs on a third-party database.?

It had its origins as a Financial software package known as RF in the year 1973. SAP started to include more components, and the package was then called R/1.?

Six years later, R/2 was released. It was integrated with different enterprise functionalities such as supply chain, logistics, HR and accounting.?

Then in 1992, R/3 was unveiled. So, this was the first ever package that didn't need any mainframes. It also supported a variety of operating systems.?

2004 was the year when SAP decided to name this the SAP ECC. ECC is better known by the name ERP Central Component. ?

Now, the Advent of SAP HANA?

Many companies desperately needed an in-memory database that could accelerate the SAP applications and its business processes. That's where SAP HANA came in.?It had a simplified data structure that improved performance and lead to very good productivity levels. ?

Now it is time to know what SAP S/4HANA is.?

SAP S/4HANA's emergence?

SAP was making plans to capitalise on HANA's performance and innovational data models. And this is why SAP rebuilt its ERP solution.?

After a few years, SAP S/4HANA got launched in 2015. It also provided an award-winning UX known as Fiori. ?

The other variations?

Merger of Controlling (CO) and Finance (FI): In SAP ECC, FI GL accounts are mapped to CO's primary cost elements. Whereas in S/4HANA, the structure of the universal journal is used to store both the GL account and cost element.?

New General Ledger (GL): SAP ECC operates on either a "classic" GL structure or the "new" GL structure. On the other hand, S/4HANA uses only the new GL.?

Customer vs. vendor to Business Partner: SAP ECC maintains separate customer and vendor files. S/4HANA combines common data structure elements into a Business Partner record.?

To conclude?

It is well known that SAP ECC can help business owners to run their enterprises today. But for the future, the infrastructure provided by SAP S/4HANA provides a foot in the door of the SAP intelligent enterprise. ?

The real power lies in the future and that is where SAP S/4HANA gets the edge over its predecessor.?