Forms in S/4HANA: Choosing the Right Document Technology

Forms are fundamental for generating printed and digital documents across SAP applications, heavily used for everything from Sales Order Confirmations, Production Orders, Purchase Documents and Labels.

With the transition to SAP S/4 HANA, understanding the current status and future direction of form technologies is crucial for a smooth migration and modern system setup.

The Future-Proof Solution: Adobe Forms

Adobe Forms (or SAP Interactive Forms by Adobe) is the definitive, strategic form technology for all S/4 HANA implementations.

• Full S/4 HANA Support: Adobe Forms are fully supported across all S/4 HANA editions (On-Premise and Cloud).
• Modern Output: They allow you to create professional, modern-looking PDF-based forms and interactive forms.
• Design Tool: Forms are designed using Adobe LiveCycle Designer or Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Forms.
• Service Requirement:
  • S/4HANA On-Premise: Requires a separate server installation for Adobe Document Services (ADS).
  • S/4HANA Cloud: Utilizes the SAP Forms Service by Adobe, a managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) running in the cloud.

If you are migrating from an older system or starting a greenfield S/4 HANA project, Adobe Forms is the clear choice.

Legacy Technologies: SAPScript and Smartforms

While these older technologies powered documents for decades in SAP ECC, their use in S/4HANA is limited and not strategic.

SAPScript

Smartforms

Takeaway: While Smartforms and SAPScript still function in S/4 HANA On-Premise, their exclusion from the cloud editions signals that Adobe Forms is the path forward. Using legacy forms will hinder a future move to the cloud.

Output Management: NAST vs. BRFplus

How documents are triggered (when and how they are sent) is also changing in S/4 HANA.

NAST (Message Management)

• Function: Standard ECC transaction used to configure forms and triggers for applications like Sales and Purchasing.
• S/4HANA Status: Still available in S/4HANA On-Premise
• The Change: SAP replaced this functionality in the cloud editions with BRFplus.

Business Rule Framework Plus (BRFplus)

• Function: SAP’s modern, central application for defining and processing business rules, now used for output management logic.
• S/4HANA Status: Strategic solution for output management in S/4 HANA, mandatory in S/4 HANA Cloud editions.
• Advantage: Offers a more flexible, comprehensive, and standardized way to manage output determination rules compared to NAST.

Migration Recommendation

Start planning your migration to Adobe Forms and BRFplus now to ensure your document output remains stable, modern, and aligned with the strategic direction of S/4 HANA.

Want to know more? Get in touch with us for a free consultation now!