“We are moving to S/4HANA, what are my Warehouse Management System options?”, has been one of the most common questions we’ve been asked up until recently.
Many of our customers are also considering the implications of the decision to extend the life of the SAP ECC platform (and therefore also SAP Warehouse Management) on business systems roadmaps. Many more are looking to understand the implications of extending the use of SAP WM as a tactical solution until such a time as their S/4 Roadmap is clear.
Currently, the SAP Warehouse Management System (WMS) options available to you are shown in the table 1 of SAP WMS options by SAP ERP.
Helping make sense of this complex situation and making confident decisions on where to invest budget to support your business needs has become a hot topic, as SAP users need to assess what system will be right for them, and make plans to de-mystify the current scenario.
Decision Scenarios
Already running SAP S/4HANA? The selection process is straightforward,
based on requirements and budget.
Running SAP ECC with an S/4HANA transformation plan? The
selection process is also fairly clear with more consideration required on the
actual transition strategy and roadmap.
However, for businesses running SAP ECC looking to introduce
a WMS solution, or with existing SAP WM solutions, they need to enhance to
support new business requirements or improve usability the decision is now far
more complex. Until recently the investment decision was far clearer cut, with
the end-of-life of the SAP WM platform forcing many decisions. But, with the
extended life further investment into SAP WM can still make sense and support a
good return on investment prior to longer term S/4HANA and Extended Warehouse
Management transformation.
The decision tree below can
help you quickly focus on where your key choices are:
Regardless of which path you are taking, having a well-defined investment justification is critical to support budget approval, regardless if this is to support a higher investment into a strategic solution like SAP EWM or to support investment on a twilight platform like SAP WM as a tactical solution.
A little more on your SAP WMS options
A quick comparison showing each
platform capability. Only strategic platforms are receiving further development
investment from SAP.
ERP 6.0 Warehouse Management
Integrated warehouse option within ECC that can support simple warehouse operations via paper-based picking, but also includes basic mobile (RF) execution of warehouse activities. As an older generation platform, it lacks innovations, capability and user experience of modern platforms. While this can be a lower cost option in the short term, bear in mind re-implementation costs as you move onto S/4HANA.
Where SAP Warehouse Management makes sense for a business but the software capability shortcomings are detrimental to productivity and user experience we have helped many business cost-effectively extend the life of the SAP WM platform with easy to implement packaged add-ons that bridge the features gaps in SAP WM (that are standard in SAP EWM) and giving the native mobile experience a much needed significant usability improvement.
S/4 Stock Room Management
Offered by SAP primarily as a quick to implement tactical stop-gap solution. It supports existing businesses running SAP ECC with migration to the new ERP S/4 HANA where the initial focus is on ERP capability, but with the need to conduct very simplistic inventory / warehouse operations as part of the ERP functions, before the wider digital supply chain functions are addressed. Read more
S/4 EWM (Basic)
This is a go-to solution for any business running or migrating to SAP S/4 HANA and in need of support for warehouses with simple, low volume operations. It is relatively fast to implement, has very cost-effective licensing and offers greater capability than WM or SRM, so as long as it fits your requirements it can be an easy winner.
S/4 EWM (Advanced)
If you are looking to drive business benefit across your supply chain, you have large scale, high volume or service rich warehouses and distribution centres, or production sites, this will likely be your go-to platform. Significant additional benefits can be derived from the integration with other SAP digital supply chain platforms and support specific transportation, production, and traceability scenarios with relative simplicity.
You can learn more about basic and advanced SAP EWM here.
Verdict
For businesses running or committed to moving to S/4HANA it is beneficial to focus their WMS selection on the available EWM options. The supporting arguments for capability, technical simplicity, and total cost of ownership are very strong.
For businesses running SAP ECC with anything more than
simplistic requirements, moving to a future proofed standalone (decentral) EWM solution
is advantageous. However, with the pragmatism required to balance short term
budgets against the ideal strategic approach using SAP WM as a short-term
tactical solution or a stop gap to a longer-term strategy, WM is still worthy
of serious consideration. This is especially true where there is a reasonable
match to your requirements, in which case lower software and implementation
costs can get you up and running and achieve a short-term return on investment.
Tools to help you
Making the right SAP WMS platform selection is complex and
time consuming, to accelerate decision making The SAP WMS selection tool is
simple and easy to use and will provide a full personalised report in under 10
minutes and giving you with a method to rapidly align the WMS platform
capability with your specific needs, you can re-iterate your needs unlimited
times free if charge, to gain total transparency of functionality provided
within each platform, putting the control back into your hands
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