The new output management for S/4HANA based on BRF plus

A full replacement for the tried and tested message control?

With S/4HANA (from Release 1511), the new Output Management will be included in your ERP system.

In contrast to the output control (NAST) based on condition technique, SAP now uses the Business Rule Framework plus (BRF +). Especially for companies that already use BRFplus to model business rules, SAP seems to be taking a sensible step towards standardization. Does this make the tried and tested NAST obsolete? Very often the answer is: It depends.

While the new Output Management is mandatory in the S/4HANA Cloud Essentials Edition, in the S/4HANA Cloud Extended edition and under S/4HANA On-Premise you can choose between both output administrations in most cases. Anyone striving for the standardization mentioned at the beginning will quickly find that the new Output Management does not cover the complete range of functions of NAST. Not all document categories (e.g. no deliveries; see OSS note 2612385) and not all transmission mediums are supported On-Premise (e.g. no ALE, see OSS note 2791338). If you want to completely abolish NAST, you would have to fill the gaps with other technologies, such as workflow or S/4HANA Business Event Handling. As a result, there is no more standardization..

So you have to carefully weigh the synergies of using BRFplus as widely as possible and the advantages of the new features against the increased complexity with which, for example, business departments in the SD area are confronted when orders use the new Output Management, but deliveries use NAST.