Our customers come to us with a wide variety of questions: How can migration proceed from WM to embedded EWM smoothly? How can we map the market requirements in EWM while reducing the number of add-ons? Where can we become more efficient in warehouse logistics and save costs? Our logistics are not very extensive, and our logistics budget is limited – is there an inexpensive way to implement SAP EWM? What is the difference between decentralized EWM and embedded EWM and between EWM Basic and Advanced – which one is the right one for us?
Due to the announcement from SAP that WM and ECC maintenance will run out at the end of 2025, many companies are faced with the decision of what they should implement for the future. A good initial step of integrating your warehouse management into the S/4HANA world of SAP is by using Embedded EWM. Unlike previous EWM, where warehouse management was decentralized, the current solution enables a centralized solution providing richer user-friendliness and a simplified architecture. Embedded EWM was first delivered with the SAP S/4HANA Release 1610. Since then, additional EWM functionality has been added to each new S/4HANA release.
SAP EWM and SAP S/4HANA can be operated separately. However, S/4HANA now also offers an embedded EWM. The result is many new applications compared to WM – which up to this point, has been the single central warehouse management system in SAP. Even in the Basic version, Embedded EWM offers richer functionality than WM including resource management, graphical storage location management, exception handling and much more. For companies that have been using WM successfully and do not need the full scope of an EWM system, S/4HANA with Embedded EWM in the Basic version is an optimal solution. Additionally, SAP also offers Embedded EWM in the Advanced Version in S/4HANA. Candidates for this solution have a functional scope which corresponds to that of the classic SAP EWM. There are optimization and integration functionalities, such as components for the Material Flow System (MFS) and the Dock Appointment Scheduling, as well as the seamless connection to SAP TM. The Advanced version therefore covers the entire material flow, starting with the conveyor technology in the warehouse, through yard management and the entire supply chain.