Loady™ and SAP® S/4HANA in the Context of Logistics Master Data and SAP® BN4L
A structured, collaborative alternative to existing approaches
This white paper highlights the role of Loady as a specialized platform for the collaborative maintenance of logistical loading and unloading requirements. Compared to SAP S/4HANA and the SAP Business Network for Logistics (SAP BN4L), Loady offers a validated, role-based solution for a master data topic that has so far been insufficiently addressed. By shifting care responsibilities to the source (e.g. the shipper, goods recipient or the operator of the external warehouse), Loady enables higher data quality, lower maintenance costs and seamless integration into existing ERP and TMS systems.
With the introduction of SAP S/4HANA as a strategic successor platform to SAP ECC (formerly SAP R/3), SAP SE has laid the foundation for a sustainable ERP ecosystem. According to SAP's official product strategy, the maintenance of SAP ECC will be discontinued by the end of 2027 at the latest — with an optional, fee-based extension until 2030. The transition to S/4HANA is therefore not only technologically but also economically viable for SAP-centered organizations. The changeover has already been initiated in many companies — but has not been completed: According to the market study “Investment Paper 2025” of the DSAG (German SAP User Group), the majority of the companies surveyed are still in the planning or early phase of implementation. Although the willingness to invest is increasing, it is also apparent that basic architectures such as Master Data and Integration Logic are often addressed too late.
As part of this transformation, many companies are faced with the challenge of transferring existing, often historically developed, in-house solutions to the new architecture — or completely redesigning them. Such solutions — for example to map individual customer unloading requirements — have often been deeply integrated into SAP ECC or operated as peripheral tools and are usually not compatible with the new S/4HANA logic and structure. I.e. your new development will be cost-intensive, isolated and not really future-proof.
This is exactly where Loady comes in: Role-based Care Responsibility at the Source — i.e. at the Shipper, Goods Recipient, External Warehouse, Freight Terminal, Tank Farm or Industrial Park — creates a consolidated, versioned and validated data model of logistical loading requirements. Super-standardized interfaces (such as REST APIs) can link this information both with S/4HANA and with TMS systems or network platforms such as the SAP Business Network for Logistics.
Comparing loading requirements' management in SAP S/4HANA vs. SAP BN4L vs. Loady
