More and more organizations rely on SAP S/4HANA as the foundation of their business operations. This is no surprise, as SAP is one of the most widely used ERP systems worldwide for supporting and optimizing business processes. Yet many organizations face one recurring challenge: generating, managing and distributing documents. Think of invoices, order confirmations, delivery notes and production reports.
For those who work with SAP on a daily basis, these document processes are often complex, time-consuming, inflexible and costly. Fortunately, Advanced-Forms®, in combination with the Advanced-Forms® SAP Connector, offers a solution that simplifies document processes. In this blog, you will learn how Advanced-Forms® helps SAP users save time, costs and frustration.
What Is SAP?
SAP is an ERP platform that helps organizations manage all their business processes in one central digital environment. From finance to logistics, from HR to production: SAP ensures that all departments work with the same real-time data.
A sales order created in SAP is automatically linked to the correct invoice, delivery and production planning. The finance department immediately sees the payment status, logistics knows what needs to be shipped, and management has access to up-to-date information.
With the latest generation, SAP S/4HANA, speed and intelligence are taken even further. Thanks to the powerful HANA data platform, information is processed at lightning speed and reports are instantly available. Organizations can choose from different deployment options, such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud (public or private) or an on-premise installation.
The Challenges of Output Management in SAP S/4HANA
Although SAP is a powerful system, document creation and distribution remain among its most complex components. Many organizations encounter the same challenges:
1. Lack of flexibility
Standard SAP templates are limited and difficult to customize. Even small changes often require technical expertise.
2. Changes require time and expertise
Document modifications take time, specialized knowledge and usually multiple alignment rounds with IT or external consultants.
3. High costs
Hiring SAP consultants for output management is expensive. As a result, necessary changes are often postponed, forcing organizations to work within existing limitations.
4. Limited integration
Documents that need to combine information from other systems, such as CRM, PIM or other platforms, add an extra layer of complexity.
5. Complex management
SAP’s output management is technical, fragmented and difficult for end users to oversee.
These limitations make document processes time-consuming, error-prone and inefficient. That’s where Advanced-Forms® comes in.
How Advanced-Forms® Solves These Challenges
Advanced-Forms® is a document output management solution that integrates seamlessly with SAP S/4HANA. It helps organizations design, manage and distribute documents more easily, without technical knowledge or complex configurations.
1. Designing documents without technical expertise
While SAP templates are often rigid, Advanced-Forms® offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. Users can easily:
- Create and modify templates
- Integrate corporate branding elements
- Add non-calculated data by retrieving additional fields from SAP S/4HANA
- Apply multilingual support
2. Consistency across all business documents
Organizations place great value on a consistent corporate identity. Advanced-Forms® supports this by:
- Using a single, centralized corporate style
- Structuring all invoices, order confirmations and delivery notes uniformly
- Managing different versions easily (for example per language)
This enhances professionalism and prevents errors caused by manual adjustments.
3. Automation of document workflows
In many organizations, documents are still manually printed, emailed, stored or uploaded to other systems. Advanced-Forms® fully automates these steps.
Documents are automatically:
- Enriched with SAP data
- Generated in the correct format (such as PDF)
- Sent through the preferred channel
- Archived in a DMS or file system and accessible from SAP
- Linked to the appropriate workflow
This significantly reduces workload and minimizes the risk of errors.
4. Integration with other applications
Organizations often use multiple systems alongside SAP. Advanced-Forms® makes it easy to:
- Implement Peppol e-invoicing without high costs
- Add CRM data
- Store documents in an archiving system
- Send notifications via email or portals
- Combine process data into a single, complete document
This creates one integrated document flow, regardless of the data source.
5. Lower costs and shorter lead times
By making document management simpler and more accessible, both internal and external costs are reduced:
- Fewer consultancy hours required
- Less dependency on IT
- Less rework due to errors
- Faster changes and implementations
For many organizations, this results in immediate and significant time and cost savings.
Conclusion
For many organizations, SAP is the heart of their business operations. However, output management often remains a bottleneck that leads to higher costs, delays and error-prone processes.
Advanced-Forms® provides a practical and flexible solution for document processes in SAP. It makes document creation easily accessible, automates output processes and integrates seamlessly with other systems. As a result, organizations work faster, at lower costs and with a more professional document appearance. Exactly what modern businesses need.
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