SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance Consulting

The main motivation for companies to use SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance is to reliably meet regulatory and company-specific product requirements with only little manual effort. Numbers as well as complexity of regulations are increasing constantly. Non-compliance can result in significant financial penalties and considerable financial and reputational damages will be the consequence. Therefore, a multitude of regulations, guidelines, national laws and rules must be taken into account when marketing products. Essential requirement is the conformity with all relevant legal requirements. Which legal requirements are relevant results from involved business partners such as producers, distributor, downstream users, etc., in combination with the respective relevant validity areas such as EU, NAFTA, Germany, USA, China etc. Where applicable, also local regulations – such as in certain US States in place – need to be considered.
With SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance, S/4HANA features embedded compliance as an enhanced functionality. SI PRO advises on company-wide integrated product compliance concepts and roadmaps based on SAP solutions. Further SI PRO possesses the knowledge of comprehensive best practices for mapping any country-specific legal requirements within the regions Europe with EMEA, North- and South-America as well as Asia-Pacific. Just as one example, SI PRO has already implemented more than 300 different country-specific product testings and trade controls in SAP systems for its clients, or also all chemical inventory and dangerous goods regulations.

We support our clients in mapping the implementation of legal requirements with the corresponding SAP solutions such as SAP S/4 HANA for Product Compliance and Integration into business processes.

The following outlines typical requirements and solutions with SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance and SI PRO best practices. Regarding the terminology: SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance is often referred to as “Product Compliance new” while the long-standing solution SAP EHS for Product Safety and Stewardship is also known as “Product Compliance classic.”

Compliance Master Data Providing

SI PRO has established best practices and Signavio reference processes to efficiently map product master data, including compositions, packaging, and legally relevant data—supplemented by SAPembedded content as well as additional content, for example via the 3E Hybrid Adapter. This enables the automated determination of dangerous goods classification, hazardous substance assessment, and hazardous substance labelling for products by leveraging the rules and functionalities of Product Compliance classic.

These compliance master data are assigned to the products for further use in subsequent processes. Examples include master data for compliance checks in product development, the creation of safety data sheets, and compliance checks in logistics or the digital supply chain, such as dangerous goods checks or the preparation of dangerous goods documents.

Integration of Supplier Data

An important requirement is the management of supplier materials, including supplier specifications, declarations, and safety data. 
SI PRO provides best practices and solutions for the integration of suppliers and supplier materials, as well as for ensuring quick response times to initial supplier inquiries and updates.

Compliance Checks in Product Development

The goal of providing compliance master data is to support the entire product lifecycle, i.e., to perform compliance checks already during product development.
SI PRO offers best practices for integrating compliance checks into SAP PLM (SAP Recipe Development), SAP QM, and external PLM systems. In this process, bills of materials (BOMs) or recipes are used to check for prohibited or regulated substances, as well as any applicable limits. These checks support the entire product lifecycle from design to operate.

Safety Data Sheet Creation and Distribution

With respective compliance templates and compliance requirements, SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance provides the possibility to create safety data sheets (SDS). The required information is captured directly via Fiori apps and can then be generated as a legally compliant safety data sheet. SI PRO supports companies in analyzing and implementing this solution for SDS creation with SAP Product Compliance new.

Another way to create safety data sheets with SAP Product Compliance is through hybrid generation using the 3E ERC+ Suite via the 3E Hybrid Adapter. In this scenario, a Product Compliance classic system with the 3E ERC+ Suite acts as the SDS authoring system, while the Product Compliance new system handles the remaining processes. Relevant information is exchanged between Product Compliance new and Product Compliance classic via the Hybrid Adapter. This solution enables companies to take advantage of modern processes in SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance, while continuing to generate the safety data sheets required in some of these processes with the highly automated and proven 3E ERC+ Suite in a Product Compliance classic system.

Labels and Label Printing

As part of the labelling requirements of sales products and their packaging, it is usually necessary for chemical products or other hazardous goods to print not only general product information but also hazardous substance and dangerous goods data on the labels. Also for labels, compliance requirements based on compliance templates are available, containing the information to be displayed on the labels.
SI PRO supports with the design and the implementation of label printing using SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance. Furthermore, SI PRO is also a partner of Loftware and provides support for setting up the Loftware Cloud for the management and printing of labels with hazardous substance and dangerous goods data, as well as other logistical information.

Integration of Product Compliance in Order and Delivery Processes

SAP S/4HANA supports the integration of compliance data from SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance within certain logistics processes, for example in safety data sheet checks, dangerous goods checks, put away checks or marketability checks based on regulatory listings. This helps companies to legally comply with requirements across a wide range of countries and regions.

SI PRO also offers comprehensive best practices for mapping legal and country-specific requirements in the EMEA, Americas and APAC regions. For example, SI PRO has implemented more than 300 different country-specific product checks and trade controls in SAP systems for customers, as well as mapping all chemical inventories and dangerous goods regulations in SAP.

Integration of Product Compliance in Procurement Processes

Compliance checks can also be performed within procurement documents. For example, the admissibility of a REACH relevant product being imported from outside the EU into the EU can be monitored. In addition, the compliance status of a supplier can be checked against various legal requirements, such as the “Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains” (Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz, LkSG) or against internal company requirements, such as chemical approvals.

Integration of Product Compliance into Transportation Processes

With SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance, transportation planning and execution can be supported through SAP Transportation Management. In this context, dangerous goods data can primarily be used to assess the legality of transporting dangerous goods on a specific route and/or with a specific mode of transport, as well as to apply applicable segregation and loading regulations to the transport. Furthermore, the data can be used to consider potential exemptions for a transport, such as those under ADR 1.1.3.6 ("1,000-points rule"), Limited or Excepted Quantities or exemptions based on the viscosity of a flammable product.

Information Sharing of Dangerous Goods Data

SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance supports the distribution of dangerous goods data within logistics processes, for example the inclusion of dangerous goods data in shipping documents (such as freight notes or specific dangerous goods documents like the Shipper's Declaration for air transport or the IMO Declaration for sea transport). Dangerous goods data can also be integrated into electronic data exchange, for example with freight forwarders or other transport service providers. SI PRO has extensive experience in dangerous goods handling across all modes of transport and regulations, gained from numerous projects in the EMEA, Americas, and APAC regions.

Substance Volume Tracking

With substance volume tracking, imported, manufactured and/or sold quantities can be tracked and monitored for regulated substances. Substance volume tracking can be set up in accordance with regulations such as REACH, TSCA, CEPA and others. SI PRO has many years of experience in implementing substance volume tracking for various chemical inventories.

Auditability

Master data, changes, distributed safety data sheets and substance volumes are tracked and therefore fully auditable. SI PRO supports customers during internal and external audits.

SAP Product Compliance and Sustainability

SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance also plays a role in the area of SAP sustainability solutions. Data on regulatory requirements, industry standards, product compositions and hazardous substance properties are also of central importance for sustainability requirements. SI PRO, for example, has implemented solutions for SAP Sustainability Footprint Management. In this context, data from SAP S/4HANA for Product Compliance can be integrated into SAP Sustainability Footprint Management.