In 2027, SAP will cease promoting SAP ECC to focus on S4/HANA. Are you afraid of migrating? Yet it can bring you a lot! Learn more about best practices to help ensure a smooth transition.
15/12/2022
How to successfully migrate to S/4 HANA?
6 minutes read
Successor to SAP ECC, S4/HANA is the latest version of SAP’s ERP thatwasreleased in 2015. Presented as an ERP with In Memory technology and artificial intelligence integration, it has become an interesting option for companiesthatwant to maintain or evencreate a competitiveadvantage.
But this option became a necessitywhen the German firmannouncedthatitwould stop maintenance on SAP ECC from 2027 (with the possibility of extension for an additionalfeeuntil 2030). Whilethisdecisionwascriticized, manycompaniesdecided to migrate, eventhoughitisoftenseen as a long and complex process.
Why migrate to S4/HANA?
S4/HANA is the most recent version of SAP’s ERP. Unlike its predecessors, it is designed to run on-premises but is also perfectly adapted to the Cloud on which all its modules can run optimally.
What are the differences between S4/Hana and SAP ECC?
SAP Hana: This is perhaps the most important difference with SAP ECC, which works with an external database. We talk about in-memory technology. The Hana revolution lies in the fact that it can track information, data, and transactions in real-time without consuming as much capacity as more traditional databases. Indeed, it uses RAM which increases the speed of information processing and storage capacity. Thus, it is interesting to migrate to SAP S4Hana because this system allows an acceleration of the performances and visibility in real-time.
The choice of installation: as we mentioned above, S4/Hana can be deployed in three different ways: on-site (the only possibility of SAP ECC), in the Cloud, and even in hybrid. This shows a real desire to adapt to each company in order to offer them a quality service.
A better user experience: all S4/Hana applications run on SAP Fiori SAP UI5, unlike SAP ECC whichismainlybased on SAP GUI. As a reminder, SAP Fiori is a collection of applications developed to facilitatetask management and user experience. It has a responsive design thatallowsit to offer the sameexperienceregardless of the medium used.
Innovative technology: artificial intelligence is the future of new technologies and SAP has understood it. With S4/Hana, itbecomeseasier to implement Machine Learning technologies such as facial recognition, voice recognition or advancedanalytics to simplifytasks and improve user productivity in all business processes.
How to optimize productivity in business management using S4 Hana?
S4Hana is an agile solution that can enable better management in companies. Let’ssee the advantages of this solution and especially how itoptimizesoverall business management:
Increased speed: better data processing
S4Hana allows you to plan, execute, and generate reports and analyses based on real-time data; it automatically triggers closing periods and gives improved forecasts.
Ease of use
Managing and administering the IT landscapeissimplifiedwith S4Hana. Indeed, simplification is one of the key concepts in the design of the software package designed by SAP. Resources are now all centralized in one place, which simplifies the exchange of information between the various business processes.
In addition, SAP S4Hana provides a simple modern interface thanks to itstile system on Fiori compatible desktop and mobile. Numerous applications such as a chat module, personalizedsummaries or real-time reports can beusedwithin the company to improve the management and organization of differentdepartments.
To beginwith, itis important to defineyourneeds and business objectivesduring the audit of yourcompany. It isalso essential to answerseveral questions:
In general: Do you want to reduce the costs of your ageing IT? Optimize your business processes to increase efficiency? Have more transversality in your business processes? Have homogeneity of data and a greaterergonomics of access to them? Gain in productivity?
Technical and organizationallevel: do you have the necessaryskills for thisproject? Do you have a lot of custom processes and codes?
Can your company withstand long cutover and test phases of the SAP system?
Then comes the Business Case with crucial questions: What will be my savings on the TCO? How long will it take to reach my ROI?
Once all these questions have been answeredexhaustively, you can move on to the last step: the formulation of the roadmap for the implementation of S/4 HANAwithinyourorganization.
Here someadditionalrecommendations beforeyoufinallyvalidate the project and launch the Kick-off:
Make thisproject a business affair : it has been provenmany times thatthiselementis one of the keys to a successful migration. Indeed, changing ERP and database (in this case SAP HANA) ismuch more than a technical challenge, itis a complete or partial overhaul of the way of workingwithin yourorganization. In order to win the hearts of future users of yourtool, showthem the benefits theywillget in theirdailylives. You can measure the speed of execution of theirtenmost important invoices or highlight the operational insights provided by the intelligent tools of S/4 HANA.
In any case, the collective involvement of your employees will be a catalyst for success in the change management of your project.
Analyze all the planning options for your migration: Do you want to migrate all systems simultaneously to limit the testing effort and the disruption to the business? Or do you prefer to take a phased approach to limit risk but at the cost of extensive testing and rework? Finally, the costwillveryoftenbe the determining factor.
Nevertheless, the migration of severalsystemssimultaneouslyis an option thatshouldbeconsideredbecauseitallows for better planning and resource allocation.
Ensure data quality: 40% of failures in business transformation projects are related to data quality issues. It is therefore essential to adopt a “get clean / keep clean” approach. The first step is to ensure that the data you have is clean and that it can be kept over time.
Choosing your migration methode
Greenfield approach
The Greenfield migration consists in startingfrom scratch with a brand new system, a brand new structure and thereforesayinggoodbye to everythingthat has been donebefore.
Literally, the expression translates as “virgin land” in French. It is more a question of relocation than of migration.
Therefore, most of the time, itiscompaniesusing an ERP fromanothervendorthatwill move towardthis type of migration. But thereis no absoluterule. For example, a companythatalready uses SAP ERP can easilyopt for a Greenfield migration.
In both cases, this involves cleaning up data and processes. This can be a good thing if the processes are outdated and the data is disorganized and of poor quality. The main advantage is to be as close as possible to the standard from the start and thus be able to use all the proposed functionalities. Note that the redesign of authorizations is part of this process.
It istherefore the whole structure of the companythatwillbemodified. Moreover, Greenfield migration isoftenaccompanied by profoundorganizational changes. The resultwillbe to workwith an ERP thatis in line with business needs, corporatestrategy and business model.
It isvery important to think and organizestrategically, especially in the design of the differentroles in line with the rules of eachdomain.
The advantages of a Greenfield migration are:
The fact of being able to start over on a good basis
Complete analysis of the functionalities used
Faster access to new technologies offered by S/4HANA
On the other hand, this solution will logically be longer and more expensive.
Brownfield approach
Contrary to the previous type of migration, the Brownfieldapproach, allowsyou to take advantage of the existing system to transfer to S/4HANA. It consists of capitalizing on the existing system in order to switch to S/4 HANAwhileimporting the data, codes and business processesthatyouwant to keep.
It willconsist of performing a diagnostic of an existing SAP system in order to implement SAP S/4HANA whilemigrating the existing SAP workflows and systems to the latest version of SAP’s ERP.
The existing structure and processes are retained. It isalsoentirely possible to addotherprocesses or functionalities.
This approachispreferred for companieswith a good structure and organized data. It has the advantage of being scalable because the company can keep and transferitsprocessesthatwork and, conversely, re-evaluate and transferthosethat pose aproblem. In addition, sinceeverythingisbased on the existing system and can bedonestep by step, the migration isusuallylessexpensive, shorter and does not disrupt the whole system.
Nevertheless, this solution islessconducive to innovation because the companywillstay on whatitknows and whatit can do.
The in-between solution : the Bluefield approach
Halfwaybetween Greenfield and Brownfield, the Bluefield or hybridapproachisbased on the best of bothapproaches. It willbe possible to keep the aspects of a system that the companywishes to keep and, conversely, to rebuild the selectedprocesses and then clean up and transfer the selected data to the new ERP.
It has the advantage of being able to combine severalERPsinto one. It isthereforeappreciated by large companiesthatwish to standardize practices and processesbetween all theirsubsidiaries and for companiesthatit has acquired, for example. Moreover, the migration time isreducedsince the old system isused and works in parallelwith the migration.
What are the steps to take into account before starting a migration?
To prepare and facilitate the migration, SAP has set up the SAP Activate Roadwhichdefines the differentsteps to ensurethat the migration isdonecorrectly and that the transition does not negatively affect the company. There are six stages:
Discover
15%
The objective is to discover S/4Hana. This involves setting up a new digital strategy in which ERP is central. It isadvisable at this stage to include IoT, Omnichannel technologies… The objective is to propose a trial to discover S4/HANA and itsfunctioningwith SAP Fiori
Prepare
25%
Preparationconsists of the beginning of the project. Afterhavinglaunched the classicalstudies (functionalfeasibility, technicalverifications…), itwillbe a question of creatingwork teams to pursue the project and test the prototypes…
Explore
35%
At this stage, the workwillbeverydifferentdepending on the project teams. For example, the data will have to beprepared (analyzed, sorted, cleaned…) from the source system beforebeingtransferred.
Realize
55%
Thisis the functional and technicalimplementation stage. Hereagain, this stage willdiffergreatlydepending on the project’s focus. If wekeepourexample of data, thisis the stage duringwhich the data isconfigured, verified, and thenloaded in a securemanner. At the end of this stage, we can considerthat the migration reallybegins.
Deploy
75%
The deployment phase is the final preparation for the Go-Live. It is essential to ensurethateverythingisready for the migration to becarried out in a securemanner. Note that the phase thatfollows the Go-Live iscalledHyperCare. It is about stabilizing and optimizing the system.
Run
100%
With the projectcomplete, the goal is to establishsecure and efficient operations on the new system. But itis important that the projectdoes not end herebecause S4/HANA offers an infinitepossibility of innovations to continue the digital transformation of yourcompany.
For more information, find the S/4HANA migration guide published by SAP: readhere