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Many students learn SAP because they want to land a new job, and proficiency in SAP is a requirement. Like any topic, part of understanding SAP S/4 HANA is theory. My SAP classes provide a solid foundation for learners.

There is also large amounts of understanding that comes while processing transactions in the actual system. And there is no good substitute for getting your hands dirty and learning by practicing in an SAP test system.

In SAP production environments the pressure to get things correct looms over every key-stroke. Mess up a sales order and you’re dealing with unhappy customers in real life. Screw up a journal entry and you may have auditors breathing down your neck. SAP practice systems remove this pressure. There are no consequences for not executing a transaction quite right. You’re free to experiment with SAP transactions and discover useful reporting scenarios.

Enough talk, let’s get you into a practice system ASAP! There are two routes to take. First, if you’re technically proficient, you may consider installing an SAP practice system on your own. This option has some serious hardware requirements, and it’s going to go well beyond the typical SAP end-user’s needs.

For non-developer users, such as myself, the simpler option is paying for an SAP practice system.

Pay-to-Play

Paying for a practice SAP system is the quickest and, by far, the most straight forward way of getting into an SAP sandbox. Major benefits of paying for a system include:

• Straight forward installation process

• Fully legal software to practice with

• Current systems with S/4 HANA BBP (Business Best Practice) data or SAP ECC IDES (Internet Demo & Evaluation System) data. This data ensures you can transact in a configured system with sample master data.

• ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) access if you want to learn to customize SAP

• Administrator supported SAP systems with very limited down time

I’ve searched far and wide, and the most reliable test SAP system comes from Michael Management. The S/4 HANA 2020 with Fiori live SAP access is what I use to develop my courses on LinkedIn Learning. I’ve not experienced any downtime in over 4 years of use. The BBP data allows me to transact and create interesting reporting scenarios for my students.

SAP (the company) also offers what they call Learning System Access. I have not used this service, but I have to assume it’s also of excellent quality. The major drawback is that it’s billed on an hourly basis in increments of 20 or 60 hours of system use. For someone not wanting to feel pressured to make use of all system time, this presents a stressful option.

For learners wanting to dive deep into SAP S4/HANA getting a practice system that suits your needs is a requirement. Have some other solutions that could work? I’d love to hear them. Let me know!