What is SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC)?
SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) is an on-premises enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. ECC is also the set of core modules found in SAP ERP. SAP ECC aims to provide an integrated overview of an organization's core business processes. It does this by integrating digital information that's created in one area of a business with data from other areas of the same business in real time. Having a unified view of enterprise resources enables managers to make data-driven decisions that optimize core business processes.
SAP ECC is typically implemented in medium- and large-sized companies and was developed for use in various industries, from pharmaceuticals, chemicals and steel to fast-moving consumer goods.
ECC forms the foundation of SAP Business Suite, which also includes components, or modules, such as SAP Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management.
SAP plans to discontinue support for SAP ECC by 2027 and is promoting SAP S/4HANA in its place.
SAP ECC vs. HANA, S/4HANA and SAP ERP
The SAP product landscape can be confusing. The following are the most straightforward answers to some common questions about how ECC compares to other SAP offerings.
What is the difference between SAP ECC vs. SAP ERP?
The term SAP ERP is SAP's catchall for its various ERP products, including ECC, S/4HANA, Business One and Business ByDesign. Although SAP ERP is used as a catchall, SAP ECC is the set of core modules typically used in SAP ERP.
What is the difference between ECC vs. HANA?
SAP HANA is an in-memory database for processing high volumes of data in real time. Meanwhile, SAP ECC is an ERP system and Business Suite's core. ECC is an application suite that runs on a database, of which HANA is one example. When ECC is run on HANA it's called Suite on HANA. The full name is SAP Business Suite powered by SAP HANA.
What is the difference between ECC vs. S/4HANA?
S/4HANA is SAP's latest ERP product, released in 2015, and SAP ECC is its immediate predecessor. S/4HANA isn't simply an upgrade of ECC but a complete rewrite meant to take advantage of HANA.
S/4HANA notably differs from ECC in its database, deployment options, user experience and use of advanced functions:
- Database. S/4HANA only runs on HANA, while ECC can run on different databases.
- Deployment. S/4HANA has more deployment options, including on-premises, public, private and hybrid clouds. ECC is primarily deployed for on-premises, although it can run in hosted public-cloud environments.
- User experience. S/4HANA uses the SAP Fiori UX, while ECC uses an older, standard GUI.
- Advanced functions. S/4HANA has more advanced technologies, like robotic process automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence. These advanced capabilities aren't available in ECC.
SAP ECC is still in use today, as some companies are reluctant to move to S/4HANA, mainly because doing so is a massive undertaking.
What is the difference between ECC and R/3?
R/3 is ECC's predecessor. ECC is more akin to an evolution of R/3, unlike the relationship of S/4HANA to ECC.
ECC modules
SAP documentation officially changed from using the term module to using the term component when it moved from R/3 to SAP ECC, but many in the industry still use the term module.
SAP ECC components have been integrated to work together. In general usage, both module and component refer to a part of the program that's independently developed to handle a targeted set of business processes. ECC comprises 10 functional core components, or modules, and two technical components.
The following are frequently implemented functional components that SAP ECC includes and the business functions they cover.
FICO
SAP FICO -- SAP Finance (FI) and SAP Controlling (CO) -- actually consists of two modules that handle financial accounting, reporting, and cost planning and monitoring. Together they enable organizations to manage and store all of their financial data and transaction history in one place and run financial analytics.
Sales and Distribution
The SD module manages major processes of sales and distribution. This includes selling products or services through direct sales to customers or through distribution networks. SD also handles customer returns, along with billing and credit issuance.
Materials Management
The MM module manages procurement of materials and services from suppliers and related inventory processes, such as counting and reconciling physical inventory. It also manages goods issuance, receipts and transfers of material from one plant or storage location to another.
Production Planning
The PP module helps businesses align demand with manufacturing capacity so they can more effectively plan product manufacturing, sales and distribution. PP plays a critical role in a manufacturer's supply chain and can be used for discrete, process, repetitive manufacturing or a combination of more than one type.
Quality Management
The QM module integrates with procurement, production, sales and equipment maintenance processes. Advanced features include managing complete internal or external audits. QM can also assist in finding root causes of product failure to ensure ongoing quality improvements to a company's business processes.
Plant Maintenance
The PM module monitors machines and functional locations, such as a chiller room or boiler room, to ensure proper working order. It provides alerts when issues are detected to prevent machine failures and production disruptions. The SAP PM component covers business processes such as preventive, corrective and refurbishment maintenance.
Customer Service
The CS module handles the business processes for providing maintenance services to customer equipment and the option to bill customers for the maintenance services delivered.
Project System
PS is meant to manage large, complex projects such as setting up a new manufacturing plant or monitoring a plant's maintenance turnaround. Funneling all project-specific procurement or production through PS ensures that this module can allocate a project's costs correctly while keeping them within the budget.
Human Capital Management
The HCM module manages HR-related functions. This includes payroll, time management activities such as attendance and leave, career development, travel and workplace safety. Functional modules have submodules that can be implemented as needed.
SAP ECC technical components
The technical components Advanced Business Application Programming (ABAP) and NetWeaver are mandatory for an ECC implementation. The ABAP component supports custom development unique to a company. Companies use it to develop custom reports or specific reporting formats to cater to legal or financial reporting requirements. The NetWeaver component is for system administration. It enables companies to assign specific roles and authorizations to individuals or groups.
SAP ECC implementation
Companies using SAP ECC can migrate to S/4HANA using the SAP-focused project implementation methodology called ASAP (Accelerated SAP). The migration process includes the following steps:
- Assessment.
- Choosing a migration strategy.
- Project preparation.
- System conversion from ECC to SAP S/4HANA.
- Data migration.
- Testing.
- Configuration and setup of the new system.
- Go-live.
- Monitoring.
Companies using SAP ECC typically chose to implement the functional modules FICO, Materials Management, and Sales and Distribution first, though they could choose which modules they wanted.
Although this level of choice and customization offered major flexibility, it also came with inherent complexity. SAP is trying to transition companies to the cloud versions of S/4HANA, which standardizes offerings, though at the cost of flexibility. To compensate, it's also developing industry-focused versions of S/4HANA to match ECC's traditional flexibility.
Future of ECC
SAP is pushing companies to migrate to S/4HANA while promising to support ECC and other core Business Suite 7 applications until 2027, with optional extended maintenance until the end of 2030.
Organizations still using ECC should begin planning a migration to S/4HANA or other ERP systems. Unless an organization opts for the extended maintenance option, support updates and security patches for ECC will stop in 2027. This means any vulnerabilities found in the software after 2027 won't be fixed, opening organizations up to possible security risks.
Organizations that move from ECC to S/4HANA will see benefits, such as simplified data models, better analytics and reporting, an improved user experience and features like internet of things integration and artificial intelligence-enabled tools. SAP 4/HANA is updated every two years.
In the future, SAP will likely continue to promote S/4HANA and S/4HANA Cloud options.
Due to SAP ending support for ECC, every company currently using ECC will eventually have to move to S/4HANA or another ERP system. Learn more about different S/4HANA deployment options.
