SAP have recently changed the terminology used to describe their various S/4HANA editions, so I thought I would explain how the various SAP S/4HANA editions work with our LRS portfolio.
Simply stated, we support all possible combinations. All S/4HANA editions are supported* regardless of where you choose to run them. What’s more, our LRS output management software can be implemented and managed by our customers’ IT staff, by LRS personnel, or by 3rd party IaaS/PaaS providers. The table below explains the supported combinations:
| If you are working towards... |
And you want to run SAP software… |
LRS software needed |
LRS software location |
Who can host or manage your LRS software? |
Does LRS support this? |
| S/4HANA on-premise |
Onsite |
VPSX Output Manager |
Onsite or Cloud |
LRS, 3rd party or customer |
Yes |
| S/4HANA on-premise Cloud |
Cloud |
VPSX Output Manager |
Onsite or Cloud |
LRS, 3rd party or customer |
Yes |
| S/4HANA Cloud, Private edition* |
Cloud |
VPSX Output Manager |
Onsite or Cloud |
LRS, 3rd party or customer |
Yes |
*LRS Software is certified as Works with RISE with SAP. You can find us in the SAP Certified Solution Directory.
Although we support running LRS software in any of these locations, the best practice may be to install our VPSX/OutputManager software onsite. This enables all print data to be delivered in compressed form from the Cloud to your network, but you only need to have two static firewall rules for all printers. Remember, even if you want to run your LRS software onsite at your location, you can ask for a team of LRS experts to manage (maintain and operate) the solution.
In addition to the SAP editions listed in the table above, we can also interface with the S/4HANA Cloud public edition (previously called SAP S/4HANA (ES) ) as well as printing from SAP BTP. Since SAP uses different interfaces from the S/4-BC-XOM interface that we use for VPSX Output Manager, here is a summary table showing the different interfaces used.
| SAP Solution |
Technical Interface Used by LRS |
| SAP S/4HANA OnPremise |
S/4-BC-XOM |
| SAP S/4HANA Cloud® (private edition) |
S/4-BC-XOM |
| SAP S/4HANA Cloud® (public edition) |
S4HC-ES-PRINT-OMS |
| SAP BTP Business Technology Platform* |
BTP-PRINT-OMS |
In the table above, please note the reference to SAP BTP. This is the PaaS offering from SAP, which allows customers, 3rd party, and SAP itself to develop applications that are tightly integrated with SAP ECC in the Cloud. For example, one SAP application that directly uses BTP-PRINT-OMS to print is SAP DMC, a.k.a. Digital Manufacturing Cloud (the successor to SAP ME — Manufacturing Execution).
SAP Customers should also note the SAP-BTP-PRINT interface may well be taking a much bigger role in the future, as SAP has announced that from 2027 SAP ADS and therefore SAP Adobe Interactive Forms for Print, will no longer be supported (though extended maintenance until 2030 is available for a fee). Their current thinking is that customers should migrate to the BTP cloud service “SAP Forms Service by Adobe” for which there is a fairly painless migration tool, and receive their output over SAP-BTP-PRINT. So that’s another good reason to ensure your EOM system has this capability and that it is highly performant. Another fun fact: both SAP Forms Service by Adobe and SAP-BTP-PRINT are metered (pay by usage) applications, which is quite different from the current system which provides the “for print” part without such charges. I will be closely watching developments in this area, as this decision has caused a great deal of critical discussion in the various SAP user groups.
Breaking it Down
So what does this all mean for a customer? It means that when moving their S/4HANA on-premise system to the Cloud, the SAP output landscape can be migrated as-is. With two simple firewall changes, everything will work as it did before. This is what Works with RISE with SAP is all about. Future corporate use of SAP BTP developments or SAP Cloud (public edition) will likewise work straight out of the box. This allows all output to be managed by a single Enterprise Output Management System. Which in turn means that all the functionality available in our Enterprise output management solution is available to all SAP output, regardless of application or where it runs.
What are the customer benefits of Enterprise OMS functionality? Some are relatively straightforward, such as:
- Ability to print a PDF in duplex or in simplex, in color or in monochrome
- Access to Pull Print functionality
- Ability to print to locations not on the company network without troublesome VPNs
- Automated definition and maintenance of SAP printers
Other benefits are more involved, for example:
- Ability to merge SAP and non-SAP documents
- Production line warehouse printing
- Device type independence
- Huge reduction in SAP Basis administrator time spent dealing with output issues
- ROI in less than 5 months
Still unsure? Well, I have been working directly with SAP personnel and our mutual LRS-SAP customers for the better part of two decades. Here’s a brief list of what they tell me they like about our solution:
| Fewer custom printer device types |
Single point of control for Help Desk to deal with ALL printing issues. |
| Fewer printer device types in use |
Sensor-driven Integration of printing in Production Line environments |
| Enterprise-wide tray pull settings across all relevant devices |
Reduction in manual document processes |
| Reduction in number of printer definitions |
Operational agility: new printers in service within minutes instead of days; automated printer definitions through standard S/4-BC-XOM interface |
| Elimination of all other spooling software (e.g., Windows Print Servers, CUPS, etc.) |
Independence of SAP Form design from printer hardware (zero impact on the SAP Forms when they change printer hardware) |
I hope that after reading this admittedly long article, you now have a better idea of how LRS’s VPSX Output Management solution fits in with your Cloud strategy and the benefits you can achieve. If this has whetted your appetite to know more about the solution, or even trial it in your own environment, please contact your local LRS team, who will be very happy to help you further.
Best Wishes from the Odenwald.