Author: Hendrik von WMEexperts
Have you ever wondered what SAP EWM best practices are or how you can easily access them to learn or create prototypes? Then you've come to the right place! In this blog post, I've summarized the answers to the questions I've asked myself over the past few years.
In this article, I will first explain what EWM best practices are and how they compare to other options such as the Fully Activated Appliance (FAA). In the second part, I will explain how you can access the best practices. In this context, I will also show you a shortcut that will give you access to the best practices in minutes instead of days.
What exactly are SAP EWM best practices?
Simply put, SAP EWM best practices (hereinafter referred to as "BPs") are a set of preconfigured, standardized process scenarios provided by SAP. They are designed to give you a head start by providing you with working warehouse processes that are supported by standard functions and have already been validated by SAP. Instead of starting from scratch, you start with a solid foundation. Their main purpose is to support: • Training: A starting point, especially for beginners learning EWM. • Prototyping: A reliable basis for project activities within the specification phase (e.g., specification workshops).
The BPs are organized into "scope items," each of which is identified by a unique three-digit code (e.g., 4RS for decentralized EWM replenishment).
What you get with each scope item:
1. Process description/overview
2. Process flow diagrams
3. Detailed test scripts
All this information can be found in the SAP Process Navigator (select your solution and then navigate to Supply Chain → Warehousing). Here you will find all detailed documentation, process models, and test scripts.
https://me.sap.com/processnavigator/SolS/EARL_SolS-055/2022?region=DE
BPs vs. RDS vs. fully activated appliance
If you have searched for preconfigured SAP content in the past, you may have encountered various terms:
Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS): This is SAP's old approach from the 2010s. These were pre-built packages with limited scope, but they have since been discontinued. Today, you no longer need to worry about them.
Best Practices (BPs): As already mentioned, these are individual, preconfigured process scenarios (scope items) that can be added individually to an existing SAP system/client.
Fully Activated Appliance (FAA): This is a complete, preconfigured sandbox system environment in which all best practice processes—for EWM and all other modules—are already activated (in my opinion, not 100% of the BPs are covered in the FAA, but around 90%).
Conclusion: For anyone who wants to start using EWM now or create prototypes, the fully activated appliance or selected best practice scope items are the options they should focus on.
Installation
If you want to install FAA on your on-premise system, you must download a complete system image. This also means that you cannot simply import it into an existing system (you basically need a new/empty system or must overwrite an existing one). However, the individual best practice scope elements can be imported into an existing client (details below).
If you would like to learn more about the FAA and its local installation, there is an excellent blog by Joerg Wolf.
Alternatively, the FFA can also be ordered via SAP CAL (Cloud Appliance Library), but you will need an account with one of the major hyperscalers (e.g., Azure, AWS). Operating the system there costs around $4 per hour. Hosting alone will therefore cost you around $1,000 per month if you want to run the instance 10 hours per day. In addition, after the 30-day trial period, you will need a CAL license, which costs at least another $600 to $700 per month.
To my knowledge, the CAL option is the only way to get easy access to best practices directly from SAP (remember that the FAA covers most of the BPs). However, you can add as many best practice scope elements as you want to your local on-premise system.
The process is not entirely straightforward and requires at least some basic SAP knowledge. These are the most important steps at a high level:
1. Create a best practices client.
2. Download the BP package (ZIP file) for your system version of OSS.
3. Save the data and co-files from the ZIP file to your application server.
4. Import the files as a transport using transaction STMS.
5. Import the solution content and installation data using transaction /N/SMB/BBI.
6. Select or deselect the required BP elements.
7. Activate your solution (with demo data).
I won't go into detail here, as there is already a great blog that explains every single detail (a big thank you to Hanuma Rupakula and Mahesh Sardesai (LINK).
My honest opinion is that this process will take even an experienced basic expert at least 1-2 days. You will need patience for release-specific error messages, retries, and many manual steps.
The abbreviation
I promised you a 10-minute option, and here it is—the alternative for consultants, trainers, or students who want to focus on the process and not struggle with the installation.
By using a hosted service (such as the one from IDES24, with whom I work), you essentially get a fully provisioned, fully activated appliance system. This not only covers all EWM best practice elements, but also comprehensive best practice processes configured for all other SAP modules.
The entire process is simple and quick:
Register on the website (www.IDES24.de).
You will receive your login details by email.
Log in via your browser or add the connection data to your local SAP GUI.
That's it! You can now start learning or prototyping more or less immediately. I think this option is a fantastic time and money saver for some of you, as you can focus entirely on learning the EWM processes without having to worry about setting up the system.
Send me a quick email at contact[at]wmexperts.online if you would like to receive a 10% discount and support my blog/channel at the same time!
What happens next?
This concludes my brief insight into SAP EWM best practices and their use.
In the next post in this series, I will present a proven method for learning the basics of EWM using best practice scope elements. I believe I have developed a step-by-step method that makes learning incredibly easy.
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Author: Hendrik von WMexperts