SAP CCoE, RISE With SAP, and S/4 Licenses

RISE with SAP Customer Center of Expertise

A RISE contract transitions the customer to the SAP cloud. This also encompasses change management at SAP Basis. The personnel of a CCoE (Customer Center of Expertise) are assigned new responsibilities and roles as a result of the transfer of numerous basic services to SAP. The impact of this RISE transformation on the company's own SAP Basis team will be presented, examined, and discussed at the SAP Community Days May 21 and 22 in Salzburg. Additionally, a DSAG theme day will be held for SAP license managers.

The German energy company EnBW has selected an SAP RISE contract and successfully completed the transformation of its CCoE team. The need for a "new" SAP Basis team arises from the division of tasks between SAP and their customers. A RISE contract entails the user transferring its ERP to SAP. However, the SAP customer remains responsible for operational matters pertaining to organization and compliance. In practice, this means that the customer is no longer required to perform any necessary tasks themselves, but must instead register and initiate them with SAP using a ticket system. Consequently, operational responsibility remains with the user, with SAP acting as a cloud service provider that is triggered via a ticketing system.

Change management at SAP Basis

The latest developments in change management at SAP Basis were the subject of intense discussion at the DSAG annual congress in Leipzig. A final decision was not reached on this matter. Some DSAG members even speculated that an increasing number of SAP Basis employees would be working for the user as part of an SAP RISE contract. During the course of the lively discussion, however, all participants concurred that the roles and functions of a CCoE will continue to evolve. At the SAP Competence Center Summit 2025 in Salzburg, we expect the discussion to resume.

The issue of change management will continue to be a key concern for the SAP community in the coming years, particularly in light of the Rise with SAP initiative. Additionally, the concept of "Clean Core" will necessitate a re-evaluation of existing ERP processes. The S/4 core will be equipped with a "protective shell" of APIs to guarantee the release-capable handling of S/4 Hana, while modifications and ERP enhancements will be conducted in the context of the SAP BTP (Business Technology Platform). The CCoE, Clean Core and SAP BTP are all based on change management.

RISE with SAP

The 2024 Annual Congress demonstrated that a significant number of DSAG members intend to pursue the RISE option. This decision is not inherently problematic, provided that the associated change management process is adequately addressed. The success of this process hinges on the quality of the SAP team assigned. Some attendees of the annual congress shared their experiences, which highlighted discrepancies in the level of training and S/4 knowledge across SAP employees. If you are an SAP customer, there is a possibility of being assigned a less experienced RISE team from SAP. In such a scenario, the RISE path may not be viable. However, according to the RISE contract, the user is still obliged to pay the cloud subscription fee, even if the project is stopped.