Issue

Many business process steps involve the handling of documents by an enterprise system, be it via the generation of output documents, the ingestion of documents from business partners or other sources, or by using externally-maintained documents in transactions. Documents are typically seen as unstructured or semi-structured information and consume significantly more storage than transactional data inside the ERP system's database. Both of these characteristics make management inside the ERP database an unwise choice, especially when running on HANA which is relatively expensive on a per-gigabyte basis. It is thus advisable to use a document management system that is separate to the database of the ERP system. Due to the different use patterns involved, a single solution or system will likely be insufficient to support all. Hence this document will recommend a document management solution for each based on a qualitative analysis of the most feasible options in the market. 

Recommendation

The overarching recommendation is to use the native SAP BTP-based Forms Service for document generation, and the OpenText suite of products for document management. Different OpenText products are recommended for different document management patterns: 

For document generation, the BTP Forms Service is the sole future-proof solution offered by SAP following the planned obsolescence of NetWeaver ADS (Adobe Document Services) in 2027. Several technically viable options exist for each of the other use patterns, including some native SAP offerings, but no single solution is able to address all of them well. Recommending the OpenText suite of products thus minimises overall complexity by limiting the number of vendors involved, and reducing technical complexity via reuse and integration of some technical components common to multiple OpenText products. As SAP's preferred partner in the document management space, OpenText is not only on SAP's price list, but also operationally integrated into RISE, with SAP able to support the required connectors and add-ons within the scope of RISE technical managed services. 

Background & Context

Explain the context in which the decision is being made.

Assumptions

Clearly describe the underlying assumptions which informed or limited the choices available, or impacted the decision: cost, schedule, regulatory requirements, business drivers, country footprint, technology, etc. Include links as necessary. This section is important because a future change in circumstances might invalidate some key assumptions, which then prompts a decision to be revisited. 

• Storage of static PDF documents inside the HANA database must be avoided whenever possible due to the high cost of HANA storage. 
• Certain documents stored in the solution may be considered CUI. The system used to store and process these documents must thus adhere to all of the certifications and accreditations inherent to systems processing CUI. 

Constraints

Capture any constraints or limitations inherent to the recommended option. This could be aspects which, if changed or removed in future, could cause the decision to be revisited or invalidated. For example, a constraint might be that a new product has significant gaps in important functionality, which caused an older alternative to be recommended. If those gaps are closed in future, this might cause the decision to be invalidated.

• This document does not consider in its scope data archiving, i.e. the reduction of the size of database tables by removing records from them and storing them as files in the file system, in a format which can later be re-imported into the database in case of an audit request. Although this is important in order to control database growth after go-live, native SAP archiving programs (transaction SARA) is basically the only option for this as the execution of archiving requires detailed knowledge of the underlying data model to ensure referential integrity is not violated.

Impacts

Describe the impact of the decision on other aspects such as other processes, infrastructure, other SAP modules or systems, data cleansing and migration, developments, automations, interfaces, in-flight projects, etc.

Business Rules

The decision may translate into business rules which enforce the decision and will require configuration. List these business rules here. For example, "An Outline Agreement cannot be created via the RFQ process. An awarded RFQ can only result in a Purchase Order". 

Options considered

This section considers each pattern separately, as different products target each of the different use cases. 

Pattern 1: Generation of output documents

This pattern covers the generation of output documents, in the format of a PDF file, from data inside the database of S/4HANA. This pattern covers both printing to document or label printers (e.g. delivery documents, invoices, shipping labels), as well as generation of PDF for digital distribution (e.g. to send purchase orders to suppliers via email, or to attach PDF documents to electronic invoices lodged with relevant government authorities). 

Option 1A: SAP NetWeaver Adobe Document Services (ADS)

SAP NetWeaver Adobe Document Services (ADS) is the on-premises form-processing engine embedded into SAP NetWeaver Java. It enables the design and rendering of both interactive and static PDF forms directly from ABAP-based applications, and providing its output to the SAP spool system or as a PDF file. Generation of static PDFs does not attract any additional licensing fees. As of 2025, this technology is in productive use at Syensqo, however its reliance on the NetWeaver Java stack, which is due to exit mainstream maintenance in December 2027, limits its usefulness for the greenfield SyWay program. 

Option 1B: SAP BTP Forms Service by Adobe

SAP BTP Forms Service by Adobe is the cloud-hosted counterpart to NetWeaver ADS, running on SAP Business Technology Platform. Templates for both static and interactive forms are created using the same LifeCycle Designer tool also used for ADS, but are uploaded into a BTP service hosted by SAP. SAP S/4HANA or other systems then interact with APIs provided by the BTP service to invoke a rendering service that turns data, provided in the API call, into rendered PDF documents without the need to maintain any additional servers. Generation of documents attracts usage fees on a per-document basis however these costs are minimal (€9.80 per 1000 invocations). RISE also includes 200,000 invocations per month at no additional charge. 

Pattern 2: Archival storage of output documents

This pattern covers documents that are generated by a process inside an SAP system (as per Pattern 1), and which thus are associated with a business transaction inside an SAP system, may need to be stored for some time to meet regulatory or audit requirements. Due to their size and static nature, storage inside the HANA database must be avoided. As a result only options which store the document outside of the HANA database are considered here. 

Option 2A: SAP BTP Document Management Service

The BTP Document Management Service is SAP's first-party, cloud-native document repository supporting versioning, metadata tagging, and access control, and storing documents in SAP-managed infrastructure. BTP DMS is a primarily "headless" application with only a rudimentary user interface; the application is primarily designed to be used via APIs from custom-developed applications. BTP DMS uses the CMIS protocol for integration; like its predecessor ArchiveLink, this provides for durable links between transactions and database records inside an S/4HANA system, and the associated documents stored in BTP DMS. Documents stored in BTP DMS can technically be accessed directly, provided that the document ID is known. However BTP DMS does not provide fine-grained authorisation controls and instead primarily relies on the authorisations of the S/4HANA system: The system design assumes that only users authorised to access a particular record in S/4HANA (e.g. a specific purchase order) are able to retrieve the document IDs associated to that record, and thus are able to retrieve the documents from BTP DMS. 

Option 2B: SAP Archiving and Document Access by OpenText

SAP Archiving and Document Access by OpenText ("SAP ADA") is a hybrid solution composed of an add-on inside S/4HANA and a cloud component hosted by OpenText. It builds on the ArchiveLink interface to create durable links between transactions and records inside an S/4HANA system, and the associated documents stored in the OpenText cloud. ArchiveLink has been in place for decades and thus provides more than 200 integration points into core SAP functionality and transactions, meaning that a broad range of application functions can access this service to store and retrieve documents in a manner that is transparent to the user. The storage system supports automated lifecycle policies, and full-text indexing for fast search. Traditional ArchiveLink products (e.g. OpenText Archive Server) are "headless" and thus offer no mechanism for users to securely access documents without first opening the SAP object (such as a delivery) that generated the document. SAP ADA provides its own user interface inside S/4HANA which allows users to centrally access documents they are authorised to see, without first having to find and open the record which generated the document.

Option 2C: Arcana Cloud Archive

Arcana provides a cloud-native document storage and archiving service compatible with both SAP ArchiveLink and SAP's new CMIS protocol, and is tightly integrated into Azure. Arcana's solution is deployed using a serverless architecture directly into the customer's Azure Subscription and thus allows documents to be stored inside the customer's in-cloud security boundary, using customer-controlled encryption keys. It is designed for highly-regulated environments which place a premium on data residency and control of encryption, and ensures that only the customer can decrypt documents stored using its solution. Arcana is a "headless" application which does not provide a user interface. The design of the integration assumes that only users authorised to access a particular record in S/4HANA (e.g. a specific purchase order) are able to retrieve the document IDs associated to that record, and thus are able to retrieve the documents via the CMIS API from Arcana. 

Options not considered in detail

SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is SAP's tool for the central governance of data retention, archival, and secure deletion of documents for highly regulated companies. It can enforce legally compliant retention rules, automate disposition processes, and record detailed audit logs on access, modification, and deletion. Based on NetWeaver, it will exit mainstream maintenance in December 2027 and is thus not a suitable option for SyWay. 

SAP Content Server is an on-premises repository server which stores files in a file system rather than a database. It is tightly integrated with the SAP ArchiveLink API which allows the SAP S/4HANA application to maintain a tight link between a transactional record in the SAP database tables, and associated documents stored in Content Server. As of 2025, this is pre-existing technology at Syensqo, however the product is somewhat dated and has not been actively developed by SAP for some time. When associated with S/4HANA, Content Server is theoretically supported until 2040, but Syensqo IT plan to deprecate it in 2026 due to its age. 

Pattern 3: Ingestion and processing of external documents

This pattern covers scenarios where documents are generated externally by business partners of Syensqo in a format that not under the control of Syensqo, and are received as an input into a process being executed inside an SAP product. These documents may need to have information extracted from them, e.g. OCR performed on an invoice which is received as an arbitrary PDF or image. Regardless of processing, they must be stored as immutable attachments to the transaction inside the SAP system (e.g. attached to an AP invoice). 

Option 3A: OpenText Information Capture Core

OpenText Information Capture Core is the cloud-based OCR and document-recognition service used by Vendor Invoice Management (the preferred invoice management application). However the service is not exclusive to processing invoices and can be configured to process any other kind of document by parsing it, extracting recognisable tokens which match a pre-configured pattern (e.g. a SKU), and creating machine-processable content from documents. It provides a level of machine learning to continuously refine detection and parsing rules, and avoid the creation of fixed-format parsing rules. SAP's Invoice Management solution provides a large number of pre-defined processing rules which would not otherwise be available for documents other than invoices, such as purchase orders received from customers. However using the service and some custom logic inside S/4HANA, it would be possible to build a bespoke solution that reuses components of the Invoice Management framework. 

Option 3B: SAP BTP Document Information Extraction Service

The SAP BTP Document Information Extraction Service is a first-party offering build by SAP and hosted inside BTP. It supports processing of unstructured and semi-structured documents to extract certain elements, attributes, and structured data such as rows from a table, into machine-processable formats using both template-based and AI-driven extraction processes. SAP delivers a handful of pre-trained models for common document types (invoices, delivery notes, purchase orders), though anecdotal experience suggests these are best seen as examples demonstrating product capability, than production-ready components. 

Option 3C: Azure AI Document Intelligence

Azure AI Document Intelligence is a native Azure service that applies machine learning to identify and extract structured data like text, key-value pairs, or rows in a table, from documents and forms. It offers pre-built models for common document types (invoices, receipts, etc.), and supports the creation of custom models that can be refined using provided form layouts in order to better recognise formats commonly used by important business partners of Syensqo. Information extracted from input documents is presented in a machine-processable JSON format that includes confidence scores to support exception management, such as when information can only be parsed incompletely. Rather than a complete application which can be integrated out-of-box with SAP S/4HANA, this should be regarded as a foundational building block which, together with Azure functions, Logic Apps, and other Azure components, can be assembled into a functional system using development effort. 

Options not considered in detail

Due to KDD056 - Invoice Management with S/4HANA recommending the use of SAP Invoice Management by OpenText over competitor products like ReadSoft Process Director, the evaluation here did not consider enterprise application vendors other than OpenText as viable options due to the duplication and likely commercial disadvantages. 

Hyperscalers such as Google Cloud Platform and AWS also offer document ingestion services comparable to Azure AI Document Intelligence (e.g. Amazon Textract, AWS Intelligent Document Processing, GCP Document AI), but these were excluded due to low perceived differentiating factors as compared to Azure's service, and Syensqo's overall direction towards greater use of Azure services. 

Pattern 4: Referencing external documents in transactions

Option 4A: OpenText Extended Content Management (xECM)

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Option 4B: Microsoft SharePoint

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Option 4C: RegDocs

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Evaluation

Pattern 1: Generation of output documents

Option 1B - SAP BTP Forms Service by Adobe - is the clear preference based on the analysis below. 

	Option 1A SAP NetWeaver Adobe Document Services (ADS)	Option 1B SAP BTP Forms Service by Adobe
Maturity	Mature; the solution has been in widespread use for decades	Mature; although newer, the solution has been successfully implemented for several years by customers
Functionality	Both options support the generation of static and interactive PDF documents and thus provide all of the features expected to be needed.
Future-proof solution	Depends on the NetWeaver Java runtime which exits mainstream maintenance in December 2027.	SAP's sole investment focus for products supporting the generation of PDFs.
Implementation complexity	Although not complicated to install, it does require a NetWeaver Java environment along with suitable HA/DR solution.	Simple turn-key PaaS service hosted by SAP, with built-in reliability metrics and SLAs.
Operational complexity	Requires regular updates to the operating system, NetWeaver layer, and database.	Simple to operate, and very little to configure
Cost	No license cost for generation of static output documents. Interactive PDFs do incur a licensing fee, but are not planned to be used by SyWay.	Although not free, the likely cost is minimal. A RISE subscription includes 200,000 invocations per month at no extra charge; excess is charged at less than €0.01 per document.

Pattern 2: Archival storage of output documents

Option 2B - OpenText Archiving and Document Access - is the recommended solution due to its functional richness, its end-user interface that can be used to directly access and navigate the archive store, and overall maturity. 

	Option 2A SAP BTP Document Management Service	Option 2B SAP Archiving and Document Access by OpenText	Option 2C Arcana Cloud Archive
Maturity	Available in BTP since 2020. Very limited innovations and changes delivered in the past 2 years.	Based on mature and widely-deployed OpenText Archive Server and SAP ArchiveLink protocol.	Start-up company with a customer base mostly in the German-speaking parts of Europe
Functionality	Extremely limited functionality. BTP DMS is a "headless" document storage service which provides no significant administration UI, and no user-facing interface. Access to documents is possible only via the application which originally stored the document.  Documents are stored in cloud storage (e.g. Azure blob) owned and managed by SAP, thus complicating compliance and limiting portability.  Encryption is performed by keys managed by Syensqo, ensuring that data cannot be inspected by SAP.	Supports complex configurations including logical associations between different document types, complex access controls, and storage performance tiers.  Besides "headless" access patterns, OpenText ADA provides an UI through which end users can directly access documents stored in the archive without navigating via S/4HANA, while still having authorisations enforced.  Documents are stored in cloud infrastructure operated by OpenText, meaning that termination of the relationship will necessitate data migration.  Encryption is performed by keys managed by Syensqo, ensuring that data cannot be inspected by OpenText or SAP.	Simple functionality compared to OpenText ADA, but a richer administration interface than BTP DMS, and much better encryption capabilities. Arcana is a "headless" service which provides no user-facing interface. Access to documents is possible only via the application which originally stored the document.  Documents are stored in Azure blob storage owned and managed by Syensqo. This avoids data processing by a third party and ensures that Syensqo will always have access to the documents even if the relationship with Arcana is terminated.  Encryption is performed by keys managed by Syensqo, ensuring that data cannot be inspected by Arcana.
Implementation complexity	Simple to implement with S/4HANA due to use of SAP's CMIS API.	Implemented using well-known archiving configuration in S/4HANA, and a connector provided by RISE.	Requires use of BTP DMS Integration option as an adapter layer to SAP's CMIS protocol, thus adding some complexity Fully cloud-native and serverless.  Very limited documentation necessitates heavy reliance on vendor support.
Operational complexity	Simple to operate once configured. All components are operated and maintained by SAP, with only the API connection from S/4HANA requiring maintenance by Syensqo.		Simple to operate once configured. Updates to Azure logic apps can be deployed using Azure portal; all other components are SAP-provided PaaS APIs or stable Azure primitives such as Blob store.
Cost	Cost competitive but marginally higher cost compared to Arcana due to SAP's very high mark-up on the cost of the underlying Azure blob storage layer.	Pricing is more complex due to a use of both ingestion-based and storage-based pricing. Storage fees use a significantly lower mark-up than BTP DMS.	Very cost competitive; cheapest of the three options due to lower mark-up of underlying Azure blob storage.

Pattern 3: Ingestion and processing of external documents

Option 3A - OpenText Information Capture Core - is the recommended tool for ingestion and recognition of externally-generated documents such as invoices in the SyWay solution. Although document recognition is rapidly becoming commoditised via solutions from the major hyperscalers as well as SAP, these are largely generic document recognition services which lack the integration to S/4HANA and user UIs. Considering that document recognition is not a strategically important function of the SyWay solution, this KDD recommends retaining the commonly-deployed and well-known OpenText solution rather than venture into a potentially more modern but more risky third-party solution. 

	Option 3A OpenText Information Capture Core	Option 3B SAP BTP Document Information Extraction Service	Option 3C Azure AI Document Intelligence
Maturity	Very mature product which has been the de-facto standard for processing of invoices and other inbound documents for 15+ years (see also KDD056).	Available for over 5 years in BTP but adoption in larger enterprises has been limited.	Relatively new service with few known production deployments in the context of SAP invoice processing.
Functionality	Pre-delivered templates for ingestion of common document types used in enterprise scenarios and SAP S/4HANA deployments.  Native first-party integration to the Vendor Invoice Management workflow inside S/4HANA.  End-user and administration interfaces to supervise ingestion and recognition process, tune/enhance recognition models, etc.	Foundational "building block" service. Integration from Vendor Invoice Management workflow would be the responsibility of Syensqo to implement.  Completely "headless" service without an end user UI to manage document ingestion, correct errors, or train the recognition model.	Pre-delivered document templates are very simplistic and apparently designed with proofs of concepts, rather than production deployments, in mind.  Integration from Vendor Invoice Management workflow would be the responsibility of Syensqo to implement.  More credible AI capabilities due to Microsoft's track record of innovation in this space, and larger pool of non-SAP use cases to drive evolution of functionality.
Implementation complexity	Complex to implement, however experienced consultants with multiple implementation experiences are readily available in the market.	Experience from one customer in Australia who sought to replace OpenText ICC provides a cautionary example of the significant effort required to get production-ready functionality working. After budget and schedule overruns, the final solution achieved lower no-touch rates than VIM.	Although simple to build a proof of concept, developing a reliable, production-ready solution is made more complex due to the immaturity of the product and partly non-deterministic nature of the employed text recognition and pattern matching.
Operational complexity	Vendor support from OpenText and SAP (for the integration of S/4HANA from RISE, including the connector servers).	This is a foundational "building block" service rather than a fully functioning application, hence SAP's support will be limited to base technical functionality. All application and functional support would need to be performed by Syensqo.	This is a foundational "building block" service rather than a fully functioning application, hence Microsoft's support will be limited to base technical functionality. All application and functional support would need to be performed by Syensqo.
Cost	Competitive pricing at approx. €0.22 per invoice.  Document-based, rather than page-based, pricing is a good fit to Syensqo's use cases.	The most expensive of the alternatives at approx. €0.40 per document. Document-based, rather than page-based, pricing is a good fit to Syensqo's use cases.	The lowest-cost option of the alternatives; potentially as low as €0.05 per invoice.  Page-based pricing is less suitable to processing invoices which can contain addendums without business value.

Pattern 4: Referencing external documents in transactions

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See also

KDD056 - Invoice Management with S/4HANA

Change log