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SAP S/4HANA with a core that stays upgradeable.

We plan and run S/4HANA programmes for Indian business groups, keep custom logic out of the core with extensions on SAP BTP, and connect SAP to the IRP, your data platform, your European entities and AI. Upgrades stay routine while finance and operations keep running.

For Indian business groups that run SAP across entities in India and Europe, from group close to plant operations.

  • SAPGold PartnerPartner status · SAP
  • ISO/IEC 27001 certified
  • 600+ European government projects
An upgradeable S/4HANA core and its surroundings. In the centre is SAP S/4HANA, kept as a clean core. Above it are three layers for custom logic: key-user extensions inside the application, ABAP Cloud developer extensions on the same stack, and separate applications on SAP BTP. Six links run outward from the core: Joule and custom AI services, the data platform, identity, Salesforce or another CRM, Odoo in smaller entities, and the IRP for GST e-invoices together with Peppol for European trading partners.

When SAP is the right core, and when it is not

A good fit when

  • Finance, procurement, production and inventory span several legal entities and GST registrations, in India and abroad, and the group needs one consistent ledger.
  • An ECC system is still in production and the board wants a dated plan for S/4HANA ahead of the 2027 end of mainstream maintenance.
  • Statutory audit, maker-checker controls and segregation of duties cannot be compromised.
  • A PSU or another public body needs commitments and budget availability checked in the same ledger as its accounts.
  • Business teams accept SAP’s standard processes and do not expect the core to mirror every legacy screen.

Look elsewhere when

  • A subsidiary, a new business unit or an MSME arm needs a lighter ERP it can run on its own. Odoo, linked to SAP at group level in a two-tier set-up, is usually cheaper to run.

    Alternative: Odoo
  • The real gap is dealer engagement, service requests or customer portals rather than the ledger. Salesforce in front, with SAP behind it, usually serves that better.

    Alternative: Salesforce
  • The process is specific to your business and no standard model fits it. A custom application built beside SAP protects the core from modifications.

    Alternative: Enterprise Software & SaaS

Five types of SAP work

Most programmes combine several of these five. They also serve as the column headings in the capability matrix.

  1. 01

    Implement

    S/4HANA implementation

    We run fit-to-standard workshops with your process owners, configure finance, logistics and tax including GST, design master data, and release in stages, each with its test evidence.

    Deliverables

    • Fit-gap backlog
    • Configured releases
    • Test evidence
  2. 02

    Extend

    Clean-core extensions

    Logic goes first to key-user tools, then to ABAP Cloud close to the data, and otherwise into SAP BTP applications on CAP, SAP’s Cloud Application Programming Model, which keeps upgrades predictable.

    Deliverables

    • Extension guidelines
    • BTP applications
    • Released APIs only
  3. 03

    Integrate

    Interfaces and events

    Business events and APIs on SAP Integration Suite connect SAP with the IRP, Salesforce, Odoo and your European entities, and legacy interfaces are moved off SAP Process Orchestration.

    Deliverables

    • Interface catalogue
    • Monitored flows
  4. 04

    Migrate

    ECC to S/4HANA

    The route, whether brownfield, greenfield or selective, follows from your custom code, the state of your data and how much process change you can absorb. Then come readiness checks, remediation, rehearsed migrations and the cut-over itself.

    Deliverables

    • Route decision
    • Custom code inventory
    • Cut-over runbook
  5. 05

    Operate

    Run and improve

    After go-live we monitor the system, prepare each upgrade, keep a ranked backlog of improvements and introduce new SAP capabilities only when they justify the change.

    Deliverables

    • Release calendar
    • Runbook
    • Improvement backlog

Capability matrix

The SAP areas we cover and the type of work in each. Read each row across.

  • S/4HANA Finance

    Universal Journal, group close, controlling and country tax set-up, such as GST in India, across entities.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Migrate
    • Operate
  • Procurement, supply chain and production

    Procure to pay, stock, production planning and logistics execution across plants.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Integrate
    • Migrate
    • Operate
  • Public Sector Management

    Budget availability checks, commitments and funds management for PSUs and other public bodies.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Migrate
    • Operate
  • Custom code and clean core

    Analysis of existing custom code, remediation, and moving modifications onto released extension points.

    • Extend
    • Migrate
    • Operate
  • SAP BTP applications

    Separate applications built with CAP and SAP Build, and extensions triggered by business events.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Integrate
    • Operate
  • SAP Integration Suite

    Cloud integration, API management, the link to the IRP and the move of interfaces off SAP Process Orchestration.

    • Implement
    • Integrate
    • Migrate
    • Operate
  • SAP Datasphere and Business Data Cloud

    SAP data prepared for reporting and AI with its business context preserved.

    • Implement
    • Integrate
    • Operate
  • Joule and SAP Business AI

    Review, activation and governance of the AI scenarios included in your licence.

    • Implement
    • Extend
    • Operate
  • Identity and authorisations

    SAP Cloud Identity Services, role design, segregation of duties and maker-checker approvals.

    • Implement
    • Integrate
    • Operate

SAP and AI

Standard on the platform

SAP Business AI is the name SAP gives to the AI built into its cloud applications. Within supported applications, Joule acts as a copilot: it responds to questions on SAP data, takes users to the right screen and can complete transactions. SAP is also releasing agents for particular business processes.

SAP AI Core includes a generative AI hub that gives governed access to several large language models, with controls on grounding, prompts and spend. Which features you can use depends on the product, how it is deployed and what your licence covers, so we check your entitlements before a plan relies on any of them.

Built beside the platform

Many valuable scenarios cross the boundary between SAP and other systems: vendor invoices checked for their IRN and matched with purchase orders and contracts held outside SAP, replies drafted from SAP data and internal policies, anomalies flagged across SAP and non-SAP sources. We build these as services on SAP BTP or on your own cloud, calling SAP only through released APIs and events and never writing directly into tables.

Each AI component works within the SAP roles you assign, records every step and waits for an authorised officer’s approval before any posting with financial effect. Quality criteria are agreed up front and tested before and after go-live, and uncertain cases are routed to people.

Choosing the route

  1. 01

    Does SAP deliver this scenario as standard within your licence?

    If yes

    Switch on and govern the standard feature first; it follows SAP’s release cycle and leaves no code to maintain.

    If no

    Look at a service built on SAP BTP with the generative AI hub, or a model platform you already run.

  2. 02

    Does the use case depend on data held outside SAP?

    If yes

    Build it beside SAP, which then becomes one of several governed sources.

    If no

    Keep it in SAP, where standard features and roles already apply.

  3. 03

    Will the AI post or alter invoices, orders or other documents?

    If yes

    Design the maker-checker step and the audit trail before go-live.

    If no

    Begin read-only, measure quality against the agreed criteria, then decide.

From ECC to an upgradeable S/4HANA core

  1. Step 01

    Assess

    Readiness check, custom code analysis, review of processes and data, and an inventory of interfaces including the IRP link.

    • Readiness report
    • Custom code inventory
    • Interface register
  2. Step 02

    Choose the route

    A decision between greenfield, brownfield and selective data transition, on the deployment model, including RISE with SAP, and on written clean-core rules.

    • Migration strategy
    • Target architecture
  3. Step 03

    Prepare

    Data cleansing, remediation of custom code, interface redesign and automated regression testing.

    • Cleansed data
    • Remediated code
    • Regression suite
  4. Step 04

    Build and rehearse

    Configuration, BTP extensions and interfaces, with several complete migration rehearsals.

    • Release candidates
    • Rehearsal reports
    • Cut-over runbook
  5. Step 05

    Cut over

    An agreed downtime window, reconciliation of balances, open items and GST data, and hypercare with business users.

    • Signed reconciliation
    • Hypercare log
  6. Step 06

    Evolve

    Upgrades on a fixed calendar; automation and AI follow when the core has settled.

    • Release plan
    • Operating model
Illustrative example

One SAP template for India and Europe

01Situation
An Indian engineering group runs SAP ECC for its Indian companies, while its subsidiaries in two EU countries use local accounting packages. ECC mainstream maintenance ends in 2027, the Indian companies report e-invoices to the IRP, and the EU subsidiaries face their own e-invoicing rules.
02What we would put in place
A single S/4HANA template for the group, reached by selective data transition; Odoo for the two smaller EU subsidiaries; and SAP Integration Suite carrying intercompany flows, IRP reporting with the IRN stored on each invoice, and EU e-invoice exchange.
03Where an officer decides
An authorised officer in group finance approves intercompany postings above an agreed limit (maker-checker); each automated posting keeps its source document and is logged.
04How success would be measured
Days to close the group books, share of intercompany items matched without manual work, invoices reported to the IRP within the 30-day window, and effort per upgrade.

SAP among your other systems

In most groups SAP holds the record of money and materials, but it never works alone. We connect it through SAP Integration Suite or the integration platform you already use, with released APIs, business events and well-specified file interfaces. The IRP for GST e-invoices, Salesforce at the front, Odoo in smaller entities, the data platform and your European subsidiaries each receive what they need, without a web of point-to-point links.

Many landscapes still run their interfaces on SAP Process Orchestration, and SAP’s mainstream maintenance for its current release also ends in 2027. Moving those interfaces belongs in the same plan as the S/4HANA programme, and our Integrations & APIs team designs the two together.

Illustrative example

People and channels

  • SAP Fiori and Joule
  • Salesforce front office
  • Supplier and dealer portals

SAP S/4HANA

Integration Suite · APIs · events

Systems and data

  • Data platform, Datasphere
  • Odoo in smaller entities
  • Identity provider
  • IRP, GST and Peppol
How SAP connects to people, systems and networks
Read the diagram as text

Left: people and channels, with SAP Fiori and Joule for SAP users, Salesforce at the front office, and portals for suppliers and dealers.

Centre: SAP S/4HANA, linked to all other systems through a single integration layer, SAP Integration Suite with APIs and business events.

Right: systems and data, with the data platform and SAP Datasphere, Odoo in smaller entities, the identity provider, and the IRP for GST e-invoices alongside Peppol for European partners.

SAP by sector

Funds management and budget control in S/4HANA for PSUs and public bodies, with interfaces to government platforms and GST e-invoicing. An ECC system in a PSU faces the same end of mainstream maintenance as any enterprise, and the move has to fit public procurement rules and the budget of the financial year.

600+

European government projects

  • Manufacturing & Industry

    Production planning, quality and plant maintenance on S/4HANA for auto component and engineering exporters, with shop-floor data and AI-supported planning kept outside the core.

  • Banking & Financial Services

    Finance and regulatory reporting for banks, NBFCs and insurers with segregation of duties and complete audit trails, and, for groups with financial entities in the EU, the operational resilience evidence DORA calls for.

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences

    Procurement, inventory and finance for hospital groups and pharma manufacturers, with batch traceability and controlled change for products exported to the EU.

India

SAP rules for groups in India and Europe

One SAP template for an Indian parent and its European subsidiaries has to meet different rules at the same time. In India, GST e-invoicing requires invoices to be reported to the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP) and the returned Invoice Reference Number (IRN) to be kept with each document; since 1 April 2025, larger taxpayers cannot report invoices more than 30 days old, so the interface has to run reliably every day. In the EU, each Member State sets its own e-invoicing rules: Belgium, for example, has required structured e-invoices between businesses since 1 January 2026, in practice over Peppol.

We design the localisation, output management and integration layer so that a new country or GST registration is a configuration task, not a change to the core. Personal data in customer, vendor and employee records falls under the DPDP Act in India and under the GDPR in the European entities. On the European side, the EU Data Act governs data sharing and switching, and NIS2 the security of the integration layer.

Questions about SAP

Until when is SAP ECC in mainstream maintenance?

SAP’s commitment for SAP ECC 6.0 (SAP Business Suite 7) is mainstream maintenance until 31 December 2027. Extended maintenance can be bought until the end of 2030, and SAP has announced transition arrangements for certain customers who move to RISE with SAP.

Your contract decides the details, and SAP revises its terms from time to time. We confirm the position that applies to you with SAP before the programme plan relies on it.

Which S/4HANA route suits us: greenfield, brownfield or selective?

Brownfield converts the system you have, with its history and custom code; it is the fastest route if your processes are in good shape. Greenfield begins with an empty system and fits a business that wants to rethink its processes. Selective data transition is the middle path: a fresh system into which you carry only the history and company codes you select.

The choice rests on evidence: how much custom code there is and how good it is, the quality of master and GST data, how far processes have moved from standard, and how much change your teams can take on in one go.

What does a clean core mean day to day?

Three rules. SAP’s own code is left untouched. Extensions connect only through released APIs and extension points. Each piece of custom logic goes to the layer that suits it: key-user tools for small adjustments, ABAP Cloud on the stack when it needs to run near the data, and SAP BTP when it is an application with a separate release cycle.

The benefit is upgrades measured in weeks, not in projects. We record the rules as extension guidelines and review each new development against them.

Is Joule available in our SAP landscape?

Availability is set by your SAP product mix, the deployment model and the scope of your licence; Joule is offered mainly in SAP’s cloud applications.

We begin with an inventory of your entitlements and then advise whether to enable the standard features, develop a service on SAP BTP, or do both.

Can our custom code move with us to S/4HANA?

Some of it will move. When we analyse custom code, a large part typically turns out to be unused, another part duplicates what S/4HANA now does as standard, and only the remainder is remediated or rebuilt as a clean extension. The decision is made object by object, after measurement.

Do you bring public-sector experience to SAP work?

Yes, from Europe. Public-sector SAP work combines funds management with procurement rules, accessibility and links to government services, and our 600+ projects for European public administrations, completed and ongoing, shape how we run SAP programmes. For a PSU or public body in India the same habits apply: budget control in the ledger, a full audit trail and documentation that answers each clause of the bid document. See Government & public sector.

Plan the next step for your SAP landscape

Bring your landscape, your GST and European entity set-up and the dates you are working to. We will help you decide the S/4HANA route, the clean-core rules and where AI fits.