SAP Library / Architect / Cheat sheet
SAP Architect cheat sheet
10 objects in 3 groups. Each links to its full reviewed page.
Architecture Decisions2
- Choosing SAP Integration Style: API vs IDoc vs EventUse a synchronous API when the caller needs an immediate business response, an IDoc when a standard asynchronous business message with mature monitoring/reprocessing fits, and an event when producers should announce a business fact to loosely coupled subscribers without commanding a specific receiver action. The right choice follows interaction semantics, not technology age: latency, coupling, ordering, replay, transactional response and consumer count are the deciding factors.
- S/4HANA Public Cloud vs Private Cloud vs On-PremiseS/4HANA Cloud Public Edition is SAP's standardized SaaS ERP with SAP-managed upgrades and a constrained released-extensibility model. S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition provides a dedicated managed environment with broader compatibility, configuration and custom-code options closer to on-premise. On-premise gives the customer the greatest infrastructure and lifecycle control. Scope, extensibility, upgrade responsibility and operating model—not simply where the servers run—drive the choice.
S/4HANA1
S/4HANA Migration & Simplification7
- Business partner conversion and CVICustomer/Vendor Integration (CVI) synchronizes the S/4HANA Business Partner model with the linked customer and supplier master representations. Business Partner is the leading master object in S/4HANA and customers/suppliers must be linked to BPs for conversion, but CVI should not be described as universally one-way: supported synchronization scenarios can propagate changes between the linked representations according to configuration and process.
- MATDOC and Material Document Simplification in S/4HANAS/4HANA Inventory Management consolidates material-document persistence into MATDOC, replacing the classic MKPF/MSEG physical persistence model while preserving legacy read compatibility through CDS compatibility mechanisms. MATDOC contains material-document line information with header-relevant attributes repeated/available as needed by the simplified model. New custom code should use released material-document CDS/APIs rather than designing direct writes or assuming MSEG is still physically updated.
- Simplification items and how to read themA simplification item documents a specific S/4HANA change that can affect business processes, data models, transactions, interfaces or custom code. Read the complete item for relevance conditions, business and technical impact, required actions, dependencies and target-release notes. Do not treat the title alone as proof that every system is affected, because applicability and remediation are often conditional and can change between releases.
- Simplification item list and the SI check in a conversionThe simplification item list is SAP's catalog of every functional and technical change between ECC and S/4HANA, each with an identifier, documentation, and often an automated check class. The SI check runs that catalog against a specific system's custom code, configuration, and data to flag what will break during conversion. It is a mandatory gate inside Software Update Manager, not an optional readiness report.
- SAP Readiness Check for S/4HANA ConversionSAP Readiness Check analyzes uploaded source-system data to highlight S/4HANA conversion topics such as simplification-item relevance, add-ons/business functions, custom code, sizing/data volume, interfaces and other checks supported by the current assessment version. It is a planning and scoping accelerator, not the production conversion gate by itself; mandatory Simplification Item Check, consistency checks and project-specific remediation still have to be completed.
- SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit and Migration ObjectsSAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit is SAP's guided framework for loading supported master and transactional data into S/4HANA using predefined migration objects, mappings and validation/posting logic. Current releases use the Fiori app 'Migrate Your Data'; older releases used LTMC/LTMOM. Depending on source/edition, supported approaches include file/template, staging tables or direct transfer. Migration objects call application logic—they are not generic table loaders.
- S/4HANA System Conversion with SUM and DMOAn S/4HANA system conversion transforms an existing SAP ERP system into S/4HANA while retaining much of its configuration and transactional history. Software Update Manager (SUM) orchestrates the technical upgrade/conversion; Database Migration Option (DMO) can combine the software change with migration to SAP HANA when required and supported. Successful conversion also depends on simplification checks, add-ons, CVI, custom code, data consistency and post-conversion activities.