9 Tips for Successful SAP S/4 HANA Migration

To mitigate any potential risk and operational vulnerability, larger enterprises are driving their ERP systems on the path to SAP S/4 HANA into numerous segments. The initial rational move is to migrate the main ERP application to the SAP HANA on-premises or cloud-based storage system.

But how can you assure that your SAP S/4 HANA Migration becomes a success?

Here are some pointers to assist you in effectively performing an SAP HANA migration. Let’s have a look at them:

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Begin with a full-sized factory version

It’s appealing to deploy your existing system as a training platform. However, it could easily be a bad idea. You might want to start working on a comprehensive replica as early as feasible since that’s the best approach to discovering how to operate on the actual new SAP ERP system.

The overall data capacity will be present in the factory version. Since you will get the foundations of a switchover strategy, you may create a thorough training material centered on that factory simulation. You will also have the existing code set to help the process in customizations and modification test runs.

Begin your housekeeping duties early

You would not desire to squander storage capacity while using an in-memory data storage library like the SAP S/4 HANA Cloud. Hence, it would be good to consider eliminating all the unnecessary data you will never need again before migrating to the SAP S/4 HANA systems.

Your SAP Migration partner should be able to provide you with a standardized process for cleaning up tens of gigabytes, if not terabytes of information. And they should be able to do this without disrupting your regular business operations.

Experts estimate that cleaning requires at least two-six months, primarily due to the large volume of content that must be deleted. Such cleaning activities could also take a lot of time to complete, and you would not wish to disrupt business activities by being overly harsh.

Install and use your production equipment to its fullest

After you switch to the more innovative SAP S/4 HANA Cloud database, you would like to guarantee stability. We usually propose that you initially set up your production hardware, install it, and then configure it as a fault-tolerant ensemble and utilize it for one or more trial migrations processes.

You can perhaps utilize it later for your first simulation if it is completed in time. Anyways it goes, you’ll need it up and operating for a while before the switchover to ensure that any significant or minor hardware setup issues are ironed out before the actual transfer.

Consider incorporating more infrastructural modifications

Increasing the number of trial sessions is the key expense determinant in an SAP S/4 HANA Migration process. Since you would be evaluating so extensively, consider implementing further modifications to increase stability and minimize TCO.

Examine the application landscape as a whole

The SAP Business Suite platform and SAP S/4 HANA systems will be at the heart of your business’s overall SAP environment. Hence, they will affect practically everybody in the company’s software support department. It implies that you may need to update various other additional areas, including the Business Warehousing, Gateways, or Solution Administrator, simultaneously during the actual migration process.

Concentrate on test management

Several SAP clients have been using mature SAP R/3 setups in operation for the past decade or even more. This SAP service had a robust testing management system initially during the time of its launch. But the efficiency and framework of system testing management have deteriorated over time.

Implementing SAP Business Suite for HANA is the initial phase for your enterprises to migrate to S/4HANA. It only implies that there will be more trial runs for screening in the coming years. So, it only seems perfectly reasonable to conduct a solid approach to test management initially. Examine your testability concerning the existing business operations to ensure that you have all the required updated tools, and consider automated tests wherever applicable.

Apply the appropriate tools for customized code cleanup and repair

Customized code, particularly test management, has grown in popularity inside SAP settings during the last few years. You might often come across companies having 30,000–50,000 unique customized code classes, yet 30–80% of that script is never utilized. As a result, selecting the appropriate tools is critical.
If you are not sure about the best-suited tools in your case, you can take assistance from your SAP S/4 HANA Migration Partner for recommendations.

Determine and compare essential processes

When you introduce the term SAP HANA, your corporate clients anticipate lightning-fast performance.

Hence it is critical to recognize and analyze operations that are significantly critical to your organization. Assuming such operations have been benchmarked, you need to ensure that they are assessed as core elements of the testing phase. You should also put further emphasis on guaranteeing that these operational processes are optimized for the innovative SAP S/4 HANA Cloud platform. It will be beneficial to the marketing and communication business strategy.

Include a longer hyper care adjustment period

Experts have discovered that a few efficiency bugs might still slip through the gaps even after meticulously customized code optimizations, excellent strategy, and performance testing. As a result, they propose that you conduct prolonged hyper care. It allows you to avail the advantages of SAP S/4 HANA platform enhancements right away and leverage the current project crew to reap the edges as soon as possible.

Conclusion

The existing edition of the SAP-supported ECC system is set to retire by 2025. Clients that wish to migrate to the SAP HANA platform eventually or continue with SAP as their ERP software platform may postpone implementation. Still, it might be unlikely for them to escape it forever.

As a result, firms should begin employing contemporary digital solutions and initiate the SAP S/4 HANA Migration process as soon as possible. And while migrating to this new and innovative database platform, keep the tips mentioned above in mind to ensure a successful migration and implementation process.

Author Bio:

Eric Smith is an SAP professional providing a wide range of SAP consulting services to his clients. With a knack for technology, he loves to write on the latest SAP developments and share his knowledge with the readers.

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