What is the difference between BPD and SDD?
Business Process Design (BPD): The BPD focuses on the business processes – the steps, roles, inputs and outputs, and related business rules. The objective of the BPD is to define how business operations should function in the new SAP S/4HANA environment. The BPD captures both current (‘as-is’) processes and future (‘to-be’) processes after S/4HANA is implemented.
BPD primarily revolves around the functional aspects of a business, such as:
- How the operational processes will flow (for example, order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, record-to-report).
- Roles and responsibilities in these processes.
- Key data elements involved.
- Process KPIs and performance measures.
- Compliance and controls.
Solution Design Document (SDD): The SDD, on the other hand, takes the business process requirements from the BPD and describes how the SAP S/4HANA system will be configured and customized to support these processes. It serves as the link between the functional requirements (business processes) and the technical implementation.
The SDD focuses on technical aspects, such as:
- The architecture of the solution, including how different modules interact.
- Details on the technical configuration of the system.
- Any system enhancements or custom developments needed to support the business processes.
- Data migration strategies and data mapping.
- Integration with other systems.
- Security design, including roles and authorizations.
In summary, the BPD defines what the business processes should look like, while the SDD describes how the system will be designed and configured to support these processes. Both are critical to ensure a successful SAP S/4HANA implementation that meets the business needs.