NETWORK’s Successful SAP HANA Journey Goes Through the Cloud
Network Services Company, Schaumburg, IL
Success Story
Challenges
nFullmigrationofSAPHANAtothecloud
nUpgradeECCfromEHP3toEHP7
nUpgradeallsystemstobecompatiblewithSAP
HANA,includingPI,Portal,MDM,Vertex,Esker,
Paymetric,andeCommerce(CDI)
nHardware/DBMigrationtoSAPHANAforECCand
BW
nRoutineprocessesandSAPT-codeshaving
long-runningresponsetimes
nLong-runningBWQuerytimeslimitingusefulness
ofanalyticsandreporting
nNoin-houseSAPHANAexpertise
Benefits
nPerformanceimprovementstoon-premiseSAPECC
systemanditsmanagementofhigh-transaction
volumes
nHelpemployeesworkinginfinancialapplications
byexpeditingtheirexecutionandreportgeneration
nReducequerytimesagainstitsBWinstallation
nModernizeallSAPinvestmentsandapplicationsvia
anupgradetoEnhancementPack7
nManagedCloud(Hosted)environmentspreads
financialcostovertime,allowingforcontinued
upgradestofuturesolutions
nManagedCloud(Hosting)PayAsYouGrowpricing
modelavoidsSAPHANAapplianceandserver
purchasesbothonpremiseandinourDRData
Center
Solutions
nSAPHANAinthecloud
nEnhancementPack7
Why itelligence?
nExpertiseinmodernizingandmigratingtoSAP
HANAproductsinthecloud
nProvenexperienceandleadershipadvising
enterprisesmodernizingandtransitioningtoSAP
HANA
nEffectivetestingofmigrationstepsandgo-live
coupledwithongoingenvironmentsupport,
ensuringaseamlessandefficienttransition
Wewereimpressedwiththeexpertisethatweidentifiedwithitelligenceasourhostingpartner.WeknewlittleaboutSAP
HANA.Theywereexperts,andwefelttheywerebestequippedtosatisfyusfromthatperspective.Michael Johnson, CFO, Network Services Company
02/2016
Need for SAP HANA Modernization
NETWORK’sjourneytoSAPHANAbeganin2013,
whenCIOPaulRocheproposedastrategytothe
company’sBoardandthemanagementteam.Through
asharedgovernanceandbuy-inapproachtoSAP
HANA,expectationswereclearlysetforhowendgoals
wouldbemet.
WhilethedecisiontomovetoSAPHANAmayhave
beenrelativelyeasy,determiningthebestwaytoget
thereprovedtobeverycomplex.Eventually,after
extensivestatisticalandfinancialanalysisofvarious
hostingpartners,NETWORKchoseitelligence.“We
wereimpressedwiththeexpertisethatweidentified
withourhostingpartner,”saidMichaelJohnson,CFO,
NetworkServicesCompany.“Weknewlittleabout
SAPHANA.Theywereexperts,andwefelttheywere
bestequippedtosatisfyusfromthatperspective.”
Theprojectplanningtooktheformofthreephases
executedintwo“enduser”steps.itelligenceledthe
migrationtohostingduringthefirstphasefrom
August2014tomid-February2015.Thisincluded
migratingDev/QA/Prodtoahostingsite,while
performingWindowsOSandSQLDBupgradesatthe
sametime.Athirdaspectincludednewprimaryand
backupVPNcircuitsfortelecomimprovements.The
secondphaseinvolvedanupgradeanddatabase
migrationfromthefirstweekofJanuarythrough
April.
Upgrading and SAP HANA Migration
PhasetwoofNETWORK’sjourneytoSAPHANA
beganinearlyJanuary,followingthecompletionof
thecutovertotheitelligenceManagedCloud.
Throughoutthisphase,teamsfromNTTData,
itelligence,andNETWORKworkedcloselytoplan,
manageandexecutethetechnicalupgradeand
migration,regressiontestingandinitialapplication
optimizationsrequiredforasuccessfulgo-live.Forthe
ERPlandscape,phasetwoinvolvedupgradingthe
threetierlandscapefromERP6.0EnhancementPack
3tothelatestsupportstackofERP6.0Enhancement
Pack7.Thisenhancementpackupgradewas
combinedwithamigrationfromSQLServertoSAP
HANAutilizingtheonestepapproachenabledbythe
DatabaseMigrationOption(DMO)ofSUM(Software
UpdateManager).
ForthethreetierBWenvironment,noupgradewas
requiredsincethesourcelandscapewasalreadyatthe
requiredminimumreleaseofNetweaver7.30.
However,therewasaneedtoapplyasupportpackage
stackpriortobeginningtheSAPHANAconversion.
Oncethatwascompleted,theBWSAPHANA
migrationwasexecutedusingstandardSAPdatabase
migrationtoolsforSAPHANA.TheBWandERP
landscapesweremigratedtoSAPHANAinparallel,
withbothprojectsstartinginearlyJanuaryand
completedsuccessfullyinproductionlessthanfour
monthslater,inlateApril.
Pre-Migration
DatabaseSize
onSQLServer
Post-Migration
SAPHANA
Memory
Utilization
Approximate
Production
Downtime*
ERP 1.5TB 700GB 24hrs
BW 600GB 280GB 18hrs
*IncludestimerequiredforcompletingaVMcloneof
thesourcereleasedatabaseserver.Alsoincludestime
requiredforBWsupportpackages.
30TB of data freed
Company: Network Services Company
Industry: Distribution
Products: National distribution solution provider for cleaning and sanitation supplies, industrial packaging materials, foodservice disposables, and printing papers.
Number of employees: 150+
Revenue: $1.2 billion
Headquarters: Schaumburg, Illinois
Website: www.networkdistribution.com
Headquarters: itelligence US 10856 Reed Hartman Highway Cincinnati OH 45242 Phone: +1-513-956-2000 www.itelligencegroup.com
02/2016
A Cost-Effective Cloud Transition
NETWORK’sSAPHANAjourneydidnotoriginally
includeplansforthecloud.Instead,executives
initiallybelievedthecompany’sstandardon-premise
approachwouldcontinuetobetheproperroute.
However,opinionschangedwhendecisionmakers
evaluatedfactorssuchasacostanalysisoverthenext
decadeanddisasterrecoveryrequirements,according
toRoche.
“Weneversetouttogotothecloud,”saidRoche.“We
setouttogotoSAPHANA.”Headded,“Afterlooking
atthenumbers,itmadesenseforustobeinthe
cloud.”CFOJohnsonalsopraisedSAPHANAinthe
cloud,“Ithelpedusrealizesomecashflowadvantages.
Becausemovingtoahostedenvironmentspreadsthe
costoutovertimefromanoperatingexpenseversusa
one-timecapitalexpenditurein[technology]that
wouldeventuallybecomeobsolete.”
Collective Ownership for United Results
Acompany-widecommitmenttothetestingphase
provedcriticalinproducinggreatsuccess.
ThecompanyhasseenARlistsreducedfrom360
secondsto10seconds,whileAPlistshavebeen
reducedfrom300secondsto30seconds.Inaddition,
BWonSAPHANAquerytimeshaveimproved90
percent,enablingemployeestospendmoretimein
value-addedactivitiesandmakefasterdecisions.Asa
result,NETWORKisrealizingproductivity
gains—thousandsofpercentimprovementsinsome
cases—rootedinbetteranalysis.Further,bymovingto
ahostingplatform,NETWORKfreedupover30TBof
tier-onestorage,whichwereredeployedforother
applications.
Positioned for Success
Throughthedecisionsthathavebeenmade,
NETWORKbelievesthecompanyhaseffectively
movedaheadofthecurve.RecentSAPS/4HANA
developmentsmaketheircaseevenstronger.“SAP
HANApositionsustodothingsbetter,”saidJohnson.
“WiththeS/4HANAannouncement,weweregoingto
havetodothisanywayifwewanttotakeadvantageof
futureenhancements.Sowe’reaheadofthegame,and
we’rereadytodothat.”Lookingahead,thecompany
planstotakeadvantageofevenmorenew
technologies.Johnsonconcluded,“We’relooking
forwardtoSimpleFinance—Ithinkthat’sgoingtobe
ofgreatbenefittous,andwe’rereadytogo.”
About Network Services Company
(NETWORK)
NETWORKistheflexible,integrateddistribution
solutionthatimprovessupplychainefficiencyand
drivesbusinesssuccess.Forcorporateaccountsin
industrial,commercialrealestate,healthcare,
foodservice,printingandthepublicsector,NETWORK
offersdeepexperience,vastinfrastructure,
customizableprogramsandbest-in-classproductsin
ourcorecategoriesofjanitorialsuppliesand
equipment,foodservicedisposables,packaging
suppliesandequipment,andprintingpapers.Their
systemblendssingle-sourceconveniencewithtrue
localmarketpresenceonaninternationalscale.
Centralizedaccountmanagementprovidesgreater
control,whiletheirnetworkofdistributorsdelivers
theflexibility,accountabilityandcategoryexpertise
youneedtostayaheadofthecompetition.
Headquarters: itelligence US 10856 Reed Hartman Highway Cincinnati OH 45242 Phone: +1-513-956-2000 www.itelligencegroup.com
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