Most companies pick SAP modules before they finish mapping their processes. The list gets handed to the SI, the SI prices off the list, and six months in the scope has doubled because half the processes the modules were meant to support were never agreed in the first place. That sequence is the single most common cause of scope creep I see.
I built this tool to flip the order. Tell it your industry, your size, and the business processes you actually run. It gives you back a starting module list, the BTP components worth considering, and a phased rollout that respects which modules depend on which. It is the conversation starter, not the answer. The answer comes from your blueprint.
The output is vendor-neutral. It does not push RISE over GROW or core extensions over BTP. It tells you what shape the architecture probably needs, so you can walk into the SI conversation with a position instead of a question.
Pick your industry from the dropdown, set your company size, and select the business processes that genuinely sit inside scope. The tool weights core modules by industry fit, layers in industry-specific variants where relevant, suggests BTP extensions where the gap is real, and orders the lot into phases.
You can edit the recommendations before generating the roadmap. You know your business better than the tool does. The tool's job is to stop the conversation from starting at zero.
- Core module list. FI/CO, MM, SD, PP, HCM, and the other ERP backbone modules your processes need.
- Industry-specific modules. Banking, Retail, Healthcare, or Manufacturing variants where they apply.
- BTP extensions. Integration Suite, Build, AI Core, and other platform pieces that fill the gap between standard SAP and what you actually do.
- Integration map. Where the modules sit relative to each other and where the obvious integration points are.
- Phased roadmap. Which modules go in phase one, which defer to phase two, and which dependencies you cannot break.
Create your SAP implementation roadmap
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- FI (Financial Accounting). General ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, asset accounting. The non-negotiable core.
- CO (Controlling). Cost centres, profit centres, internal orders, product costing. Usually paired with FI.
- MM (Materials Management). Procurement, inventory, vendor management, invoice verification.
- SD (Sales and Distribution). Order to cash, pricing, shipping, billing.
- PP (Production Planning). Discrete, process, and repetitive manufacturing. PP-PI for process industries.
- HCM (Human Capital Management) or SuccessFactors. Core HR, payroll, talent. Most new builds go SuccessFactors for the front office and keep SAP Payroll where local compliance demands it.
- EWM (Extended Warehouse Management). Anything beyond basic stock locations. Wave management, slotting, labour.
- PM (Plant Maintenance). Asset-heavy industries. Work orders, preventive maintenance, notifications.
- QM (Quality Management). Inspection, non-conformance, sampling. Regulated industries especially.
- PS (Project System). Project-driven businesses. Construction, engineering, capex tracking.
- TM (Transportation Management). Freight, route planning, carrier integration.
- GTS (Global Trade Services). Customs, sanctions screening, preferential trade.
- BTP (Business Technology Platform). Integration Suite, Build, AI Core, HANA Cloud. The extension layer for everything that doesn't belong in the core.
- Industry cloud (S/4HANA for Retail, Banking, Utilities, etc.). Industry-specific data models and processes on top of S/4HANA.
Start with the processes. Not the modules. If you cannot describe order-to-cash, procure-to-pay, record-to-report, and hire-to-retire as they run in your business today, you are not ready to pick modules. Every greenfield-versus-brownfield debate I have watched go sideways started without this step.
Defer aggressively to phase two. Most clients want everything in phase one. Almost none of them need it. EWM, TM, GTS, PS, and the deeper analytics layer can usually wait. Get FI, CO, MM, SD, and PP stable first. Add the rest when the business has absorbed the change.
Treat the clean core principle as a discipline, not a slogan. Every customisation in the core costs you twice: once to build, and again at every upgrade for the next ten years. If a process needs custom logic, put it on BTP. The core stays clean. The extension stays portable. That is the single biggest architectural decision on most programmes and almost nobody gets it right in phase one.
Use BTP where the gap is real, not where it looks modern. Integration Suite is genuine value when you have more than three or four non-SAP systems in scope. Build is genuine value when you need a workflow or low-code app that doesn't fit a Fiori standard. AI Core is genuine value when you have a defined use case, not when "we should do something with AI" is on the slide.
- Manufacturing (discrete and process)
- Retail and consumer goods
- Financial services and banking
- Healthcare and life sciences
- Logistics and transportation
- Energy and utilities
- Construction and engineering
- Public sector and government
- Professional services
- Telecommunications
- Hospitality
- Education
Each industry adjusts the module mix. Manufacturing pulls in PP, QM, and often EWM. Retail leans on SD, MM, and the industry cloud variant. Banking and insurance bring their own data models on S/4HANA. Healthcare adds compliance and patient-record complexity that the standard model doesn't carry.
- CIOs and IT directors sizing the architecture before a vendor selection.
- Programme directors building a phased rollout plan that survives steering committee scrutiny.
- CFOs and finance leaders sanity-checking the module list a partner has proposed.
- Advisors and independent consultants producing a defensible starting position for a client conversation.
- In-house transformation teams running the early architecture work before bringing in an SI.
- Defensible starting position. A module list that came from process logic, not from the SI's pricing sheet.
- Faster blueprint. Hours into the conversation, not weeks.
- Phasing built in. The roadmap orders modules by dependency, not by what the partner wants to sell first.
- BTP versus core clarity. A first cut on what belongs on the platform and what belongs in the core.
- Vendor-neutral. No incentive to push RISE, GROW, or any specific edition.
- Free and private. Runs in your browser. Nothing leaves your machine.
Does this tool recommend specific SAP products or just modules?
It recommends modules and BTP components by category, not specific SKUs. You will see FI/CO, MM, SD, PP, Integration Suite, AI Core, and similar building blocks. It does not pick between RISE with SAP, GROW with SAP, or on-premise S/4HANA, because that decision depends on your deployment preference, infrastructure, and commercial appetite, not on the module mix.
For the product-edition conversation, take the module list into the vendor discussion and ask for pricing under each option.
Can I export the Bill of Materials?
Yes. The output is a module list with phasing, which you can copy into a spreadsheet, blueprint document, or proposal. The list is structured so it maps cleanly onto an SAP partner's pricing template.
If you want a richer narrative around the BOM, my SAP implementation cost calculator gives you the financial envelope to pair with it.
Is RISE with SAP bundled into the recommendation?
No. RISE is a commercial wrapper around S/4HANA Cloud, BTP credits, and managed services. The tool focuses on what you need functionally. Whether you consume that through RISE, GROW, or a traditional licence is a separate decision that depends on hosting preference, IT operating model, and how much of the run you want SAP to take.
The module list is the same either way. The commercial vehicle changes.
Does it cover BTP extensions?
Yes. Integration Suite, Build (low-code and process automation), AI Core, HANA Cloud, and the broader extension layer are all in scope. The tool flags where BTP probably earns its place: more than a few non-SAP integrations, custom workflow needs, or a defined AI use case. It will not pad BTP into the recommendation for its own sake.
The clean core principle drives the BTP layer. If a customisation has to exist, put it on BTP, not in the ERP core.
What about industry-specific variants?
Industry cloud variants (S/4HANA for Retail, Banking, Utilities, Professional Services, and the rest) are pulled in when your industry selection triggers them. So are the industry-specific modules: PP-PI for process manufacturing, IS-U for utilities, IS-B for banking. These show up as separate line items so you can see why they were recommended.
If your industry is a hybrid (manufacturing with a strong services arm, or retail with a manufacturing tail), pick the dominant one and add the secondary modules manually.
Is this for new SAP customers or existing ones?
Both. New customers use it to draft an initial architecture before vendor selection. Existing customers use it to stress-test what they have, find modules they probably should have implemented, or scope a phase-two expansion. The phasing logic respects what is already in place if you mark modules as existing.
If you are mid-migration from ECC to S/4HANA, this tool helps you decide what to bring forward, what to retire, and what to add. The BTP recommendations matter more in that conversation because most legacy ECC estates carry custom code that needs a home outside the new core.
How accurate is the phasing recommendation?
The phasing reflects dependency logic that holds in most programmes: FI and CO before MM, MM before SD, core ERP before EWM and TM, and BTP integration before any heavy non-SAP system coupling. It does not reflect your specific organisational change capacity, your regulatory calendar, or your finance close cycle. Adjust accordingly.
I have seen programmes try to do everything at once. It does not work. Phase one should be the minimum that lets the business close its books and serve its customers on the new platform. Everything else is phase two.
Is the tool free?
Yes. No sign-up, no email, no payment. The recommendation runs entirely in your browser and nothing is stored or transmitted.
If you want help turning the output into a real blueprint or stress-testing a partner proposal, book a 30-minute call.