What is a SAP Warranty Assessment

Many organizations treat warranty software implementations like a simple technology upgrade. They sign the licensing agreement, hire a systems integrator, and expect the new tool to solve their operational headaches. Six months later, the project stalls. Costs rise while timelines stretch into the next fiscal year. The issue is rarely the technology itself. The problem is almost always a misunderstanding of the business's actual warranty exposure and process reality.

Soren Detering has watched this scenario play out for more than 20 years. As a Senior Solution Architect, he knows that successful SAP projects do not start with configuration. They start with a brutal look at the truth. Most companies believe they have a handle on their claims, returns, and entitlements. In reality, critical knowledge often lives in the heads of a few veteran employees or inside disconnected spreadsheets.

You cannot automate a process you have not defined. This is why we advocate for a specific exercise before any major commitment to software. We call it the QuickScan. It is a decision-enabling project designed to clarify exactly what you need before you lock in a budget. It bridges the gap between high-level business strategy and the gritty reality of execution.

Why Warranty Projects Often Fail

Executives often view warranty management as a single, cohesive function. From the boardroom, it looks like a straight line: a customer makes a claim, the company validates it, and payment goes out. However, the operational reality is much messier. Warranty touches finance, quality assurance, logistics, and legal departments. In many global enterprises, these units do not speak the same language.

We frequently find that a division in North America handles returns differently than its counterpart in Germany. One team might use a legacy database while another relies on email chains. When you try to force these fragmented methods into a rigid SAP framework without preparation, the system breaks. You end up with a solution that technically works but fails to support the actual business.

This fragmentation leads to "scope creep." You start the project thinking you need to migrate three processes. Halfway through, you discover five more that nobody documented. Suddenly, the project requires custom code that no one budgeted for. The timeline slips, and stakeholders lose confidence. This is the primary risk that a preliminary assessment aims to eliminate.

Defining the QuickScan Assessment

The QuickScan is a structured engagement that typically lasts two to four weeks. It involves a mix of onsite workshops and remote analysis. Many software vendors offer "discovery sessions," but those are often thinly veiled sales meetings intended to confirm a purchase you have already considered. Our approach is different because it is product-agnostic regarding the final configuration.

We view this assessment as a "decision prerequisite." You cannot responsibly order software from SAP Germany without knowing exactly what pieces you need. The QuickScan produces a detailed map of your warranty and service contract processes. It identifies the gaps between what you do today and what SAP best practices require.

This exercise serves as a risk reduction tool. By defining the scope accurately upfront, we prevent the surprises that derail implementations later. It also gives you a clear picture of the effort required. You might discover that your data is not ready for migration, or that your supplier recovery process is nonexistent. Knowing this early saves money.

Choosing Between SAP Standard and ACS

One of the most critical outcomes of the assessment is determining which SAP solution fits your business. Many clients assume they need the most expensive, feature-rich option available. Others try to save money by forcing complex requirements into a basic framework. Both approaches lead to waste.

The assessment helps you decide between SAP Standard Warranty and the advanced SAP ACS (Advanced Customer Service) Warranty Management Solution. Soren Detering collaborates closely with the ACS development team in Germany. This relationship provides insight into powerful innovations that generalist integrators often miss. However, not every business needs the full power of ACS.

If your warranty logic is straightforward, standard S/4HANA functionality might suffice. But if you manage complex entitlements, multi-tier service contracts, or intricate supplier recovery models, you likely need the advanced capabilities of ACS. The QuickScan provides the data to make this choice with confidence. It prevents you from overpaying for shelfware or under-provisioning a system that cannot handle your volume.

Uncovering Shadow Processes

Every organization has "shadow processes." These are the workflows that do not appear in any official training manual. They are the workarounds employees invented five years ago to get a job done. For example, a warranty clerk might manually adjust claim values in a spreadsheet before entering them into the system. If you design a new SAP solution without knowing this, the automation will fail because the data input will be wrong.

The assessment phase digs these practices out of the dark. We interview the people who actually do the work, not just the managers who oversee it. We often find that domestic teams handle RMAs (Return Merchandise Authorizations) completely differently than international teams. These discrepancies cause massive headaches during global rollouts.

We document these variations to create a unified entitlement framework. This does not mean everyone must work exactly the same way immediately. But it does mean the system must be flexible enough to handle the variations that matter. Uncovering these details early allows us to design a solution that users will actually adopt.

How the Assessment Works

The QuickScan follows a structured path to move from ambiguity to clarity. We strip away the assumptions and look at the raw data and workflows. Here is how the process typically unfolds during the engagement.

Building the Financial Business Case

A warranty project must pay for itself. The QuickScan does more than just list technical requirements; it builds a financial argument for the investment. We look for "revenue leakage." This occurs when you pay claims you should have rejected or when you fail to collect reimbursements from your own suppliers.

Supplier recovery is often the biggest opportunity. Many manufacturers pay warranty claims to their customers but never pass those costs back to the component supplier who caused the failure. This happens because the process is manual and disconnected. By automating this through SAP, you can often recover millions of dollars that were previously written off.

We also look at operational efficiency. How much time do your claims adjusters spend manually validating data? By modernizing these models, we can calculate the reduction in administrative overhead. This creates a clear ROI calculation that you can present to your leadership team. It turns the project from a cost center into a profit improvement initiative.

Conclusion

Rushing into a warranty implementation without a clear map is a recipe for disaster. The technology is powerful, but it requires a solid foundation of defined processes and clear data. The QuickScan assessment provides that foundation. It allows you to see the full picture of your aftermarket obligations before you spend a single dollar on licenses.

Soren Detering and his team use this exercise to bridge the gap between what you think happens in your business and what actually happens. By uncovering hidden risks and identifying financial opportunities, the assessment transforms a technical project into a strategic win. If you are considering an SAP warranty project, start with the right questions. The answers will determine your success.