How Accurate Was SAP on S/4HANA Being Complete?

ByShaun Snapp

Executive Summary

  • For years SAP has said that S/4HANA was complete in terms of development.
  • In this article, we review the accuracy of this claim. 

Video Introduction: What SAP Said About S/4HANA Being Complete

Text Introduction (Skip if You Watched the Video)

SAP has repeatedly stated that S4HANA would be complete in 2015. The following graphic is not shown very often anymore, but it was published by SAP at one time. SAP has contradicted itself by stating that S4HANA was “complete” but that each quarter that S4HANA would become incrementally more complete — which seems to bring up the question of what SAP considers the word “complete” to means to SAP. All of this was designed to get customers to implement S4HANA before it was ready to be implemented. You will learn how accurate SAP was in saying that S4HANA was complete.

The Truth About S/4HANA’s Completion Level

There is quite a history to this, and it is explained in the article The Evidence that S/4HANA Missed its Deadlines. But SAP severely missed the deadlines for the non-Finance portion of the suite. Furthermore, SAP concocted a storyline that was pushed through an SAP paid media entity and quoting a highly compliant consulting company that the fact S/4HANA was not yet complete was in “the eye of the beholder,” as is covered in the article SAP’s Misleading Storyline for S/4HANA Being Incomplete. Which, of course, contradicts SAP’s previous position that S/4HANA is complete.

Conclusion and Calculation

SAP receives a 0% accuracy rating on S/4HANA being complete.

Link to the Parent Article

This is one of many research articles on a specific topic that supports a larger research calculation. For the overview of the research calculation for all of the SAP topics that were part of the study, see the following primary research A Study into SAP’s Accuracy.