SAP ECC vs. S/4HANA Data Model Differences

Business Logic Changes

Account-Based CO-PA as the Default Option

In SAP ECC, Costing-based CO-PA was the most widely used option, where profitability analysis was performed based on "value fields" and did not always reconcile with the General Ledger (GL).

In SAP S/4HANA, Account-based CO-PA is the default and preferred option. It provides full integration and reconciliation with the Universal Journal (ACDOCA) in the General Ledger.

→ How Profitability Reporting (CO-PA) works in SAP S/4HANA

Finance (FI) and Controlling (CO) Merger

In SAP ECC, businesses users manage their financial data with both FI (Finance) and CO (Controlling) while using separate tables (e.g., BKPF/BSEG for FI and COEP/COSP for CO). In S/4HANA, these tables are merged into a single table called ACDOCA, also known as the Universal Journal. This ensures that all financial and controlling data are stored together at the line-item level.

→ ACDOCA Use-Cases In SAP S/4HANA

→ See Finance Tables in ECC vs. ACDOCA

Integrated Business Partners

In SAP ECC, customers and vendors are separate data objects. SAP S/4HANA integrates customers and vendors into a unified master data object called business partners. Customer-vendor integration has several benefits, such as:

• One business partner can have multiple roles and addresses
• General data is shared across roles, which reduces your database footprint
• There's less redundancy since unused data is deleted after a certain time-period

→ Business Partners in SAP S/4HANA

Mandatory Material Ledger

In SAP ECC, the Material Ledger was optional. Many companies avoided activating it due to its complexity, reliance on numerous aggregate/index tables, and the performance overhead associated with them. In SAP S/4HANA, the Material Ledger is mandatory. It's tightly integrated into the Universal Journal (ACDOCA) architecture, eliminating the need for many aggregate and index tables.

MATDOC Inventory Management

SAP S/4HANA introduces MATDOC, a new inventory management system that eliminates over 26 tables present in SAP ECC. Now, material documents are stored in MATDOC instead of MKPF or MSEG tables. This removes redundancy and improves stock reporting efficiency.

→ Inventory Management Tables in SAP S/4HANA

Billing: New Tables for Pricing

In SAP S/4HANA, the data model for pricing conditions has been simplified compared to SAP ECC. Key ECC tables such as KONV (Condition Values), KONP (Condition Records), and KOND (Condition Master Data) have been replaced or consolidated. The new PRCD_ELEMENTS table is introduced in S/4HANA to store pricing condition records, reducing redundancy and improving efficiency.

→ Pricing Elements Tables in SAP S/4HANA

Data Extraction Changes

Introduction of CDS Views

Core Data Services (CDS) Views in SAP S/4HANA are advanced data modeling tools that enable efficient and flexible data access. Built on SQL-like syntax, CDS Views allow developers to create virtual data models and data extracts quickly.

→ CDS Views vs. Extractors vs. RAW SAP Tables

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