In our earlier blog on “5 Reasons to Build an Intelligent Organization using SAP S/4 HANA”, we discussed how organizations using SAP ECC will need to migrate to S/4 HANA by 2025 when ECC reaches end-of-support.
A major percentage of ECC clients have not yet migrated – which means the coming few years are of utmost importance and organizations must plan a transition roadmap to ensure a smooth migration with minimal downtime and low business impact.
While every organization has unique migration requirements, the process of migrating to S/4 HANA is undoubtedly a technical challenge for most organizations. SAP as a company has done its bit by providing a set of optimized tools, assets, premium consulting, and engagement services as well as partner-led implementation and deployment services catering to all the different customer scenarios while migrating to S/4 HANA.
SAP Services and Tools to Enable Adoption of S/4 HANA
SAP has provided personalized tools to educate and prepare IT teams and business leaders for migration and build a roadmap for technology deployment.
SAP S/4HANA Integrated Delivery Framework, for example, helps streamline projects, reduce risks, and improve time-to-value. Enabled by SAP Value Assurance service, it is delivered by experts who are well-versed in SAP product roadmaps.
Another example is the SAP Business Scenario Recommendations which provides insights into current business process performance. It identifies the client’s current business processes and makes recommendations on how they can be transformed with S/4 HANA functionalities and innovations. It also provides a comparison of the existing IT or ERP landscape to industry benchmarks and guidelines for enhancing productivity. These customized recommendations for SAP S/4HANA functionalities and apps provide business managers with the support they need to rationalize the need to move to S/4HANA.
SAP S/4HANA Adoption Starter Engagement is a free, virtual course in a classroom setting, spanning about six weeks, and is conducted by an SAP expert. The course covers the tools we have discussed above, such as the SAP Business Scenario Recommendations, SAP Transformation Navigator, and SAP Readiness Check. This guided approach provides a structure to participants to self-manage the steps in planning their move to SAP S/4HANA. At the end of the course, participants can develop an action plan for their S/4 HANA transformation roadmap.
If required, organizations can opt for individual guidance through SAP S/4HANA Value Discovery Engagement or Premium Engagements.
S/4 HANA Transition Scenarios
Companies planning to move to SAP S/4HANA may fall into one of the three transition scenarios explained below, depending on their current system landscape:
New Implementation
There are two scenarios in which the organization may need a “greenfield” implementation – i.e., a completely new implementation of S/4 HANA.
a) Migrating from a non-SAP ERP
b) Migrating from any 3rd-party legacy IT system
c) Migrating from a much older SAP system or a highly customized and modified system
Since it is a completely new implementation, the only choice the organization needs to make is whether to deploy S/4 HANA on the cloud (public or private) or use an on-premise version. Project durations in this scenario vary according to the number of data migration object and their complexity.
Benefits of this approach:
– Since it is a new installation, pre-configured business processes are used to drive optimal performance.
– Best practices can be deployed to avoid intensive migration programming.
– New innovations in S/4 HANA can be standardized and adopted immediately.
System Conversion
Replacing SAP ECC with S/4 HANA is the ideal scenario for system conversion. This involves a tool-based technical conversion, which transforms the existing ECC while minimizing downtime and reducing cost. While this process facilitates migration from any database to the SAP HANA database and the simplified HANA data model, it does not enforce migration from the legacy SAO GUI to Fiori Apps UI (this can be taken up in a later phase).
Benefits of this approach:
– Avoids the risk of a big bang conversion.
– Improves current business process without disruption.
– Reduces the scope of transition and allows a phased approach.
Landscape Transformation
This refers to the selective data migration to the new SAP S/4HANA platform. In this approach, the objective is to cherry-pick migration of those objects and processes which will deliver the highest ROI and lowest TCO. It allows migration in a strategic, phased manner rather than a completely new system transition. The current systems are consolidated and selectively moved to the S/4 HANA platform. The target system to which the data is migrated could either be a greenfield installation of S/4 HANA or may even be a system conversion from ECC to S/4 HANA.
An important consideration for organizations before considering this approach is that it is not tool-based and there is no documentation to guide the transition. It requires signing up for SAP Value Assurance Services or a SAP consulting engagement.
Benefits of this approach:
– The full IT landscape is consolidated; simplifications and unified master data lead to a significant cost reduction.
– Business processes are harmonized and shared master data is achieved through consolidation.
– It results in a reduced data footprint and IT process simplification.
Migrating to S/4 HANA with Sapours
At Sapours, we are transforming our clients’ businesses through next-gen S/4 Hana implementation and migration services. Our proficient and experienced team of SAP-certified professionals has completed multiple migration projects using the SAP-recommended Rapid Deployment methodology for more accuracy and quicker results.
Our product and domain experts help our clients to take the leap to S/4 Hana and reap the benefits of AI, RPA, and real-time analytics.
Are you ready to make the move to S/4 HANA? Schedule a free consultation call with Sapours today!
Author Details –
Pravin Malve.
Delivery Lead S4 HANA
Experienced Lead Consultant with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and Service Industry. Skilled in Business Process, SAP Production Planning, Quality Management, SAP implementation, HANA implementation, Requirements Analysis, and Pre-sales.
