Make the Move to SAP S/4 HANA

3 The Three Paths to SAP S/4HANA

4 SAP Brownfield Migration Planning

6 SAP Brownfield Migration Execution

8 Greenfield: The Reimplementation Approach

9 Exploring the Selective Data Transition Approach

11 Executing the Selective Data Transition

13 Making the Move

14 Additional Resources

Table of Contents

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3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

81% of ERP Instances

Will migrate to SAP S/4HANA, according to a majority of SAP customers planning their migration 61% of SAP Customers

not yet using SAP S/4HANA currently use SAP ECC#1 Challenge

Building the business case for executive buy-in

38% of SAP Customers

believe their current ERP doesn’t provide a clear integration path for new SAP innovations

Source: SAPinsider 2020 SAP S/4HANA Migration Benchmark Report

SAP S/4HANA Migration Trends

3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

Charting an ERP migration plan can be intimidating. After all, the journey to become an intelligent enterprise will affect almost every part of your business. Determining which approach to take is often debated among executives, project managers and senior IT leaders. So, how can an organization make the correct choice? Generally speaking, that answer is dependent on organizational vision and change management readiness.

Understanding the pros and cons of various ERP migration strategies will enable you to make smarter choices that align most closely to your business goals, risk tolerance levels and implementation timeframes. But assessing the best path forward isn’t enough. Determining when to make the move is equally important.

Now’s the Time. Here’s Why.A recent study from SAPinsights reveals 38% of SAP ECC users (roughly 61% of respondents) “do not see a clear path to integrating SAP’s current product line and innovations with their current ERP.” Acting now ensures your ability to fully automate business processes, create better user experiences, identify new data types and reach new levels of insights — the full power of SAP innovation.

And then there’s the deadline.

Maintenance for core applications of SAP ECC 6.0 software will only be supported through 2027. That might seem like a long runway...until you factor these important considerations:

• Long-term Value — Should you make investments in a system that will be out of mainstream support by 2027?

• Economic Factors — 2023 to 2027 may resemble 1996 to 2000 and the Y2K push for a new platform. Companies waiting to switch may see a shortage of resources and, therefore, higher cost.

• Real-time Data — Embedded analytics and advanced SAP FIORI interfaces provide unprecedented insights to your business.

• User Experience — Faster response times and a better performance enable new capabilities like IoT and predictive capabilities.

This eBook will help you realize your journey to becoming an intelligent enterprise by guiding you through three potential paths for your move to SAP S/4HANA: Brownfield, Greenfield and Selective Data Transition.

The Three Paths to SAP S/4HANA

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38% of SAP ECC users say they “do not see a clear path to integrating SAP’s current product line and innovations with their current ERP.”

The Brownfield approach to digital transformation is perfect for companies that are satisfied with their business processes and data management but need to enable quicker adoption and development of new innovations.

Using this method, your company can migrate from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA simply by converting your existing SAP environment — without re-implementation or disruption to your existing business processes.

Still, several elements must be considered when preparing for an SAP S/4HANA Brownfield migration, starting with the SAP Transformation Navigator and Readiness Check 2.0.

SAP Transformation NavigatorThe SAP Transformation Navigator is a no-cost, self-service tool available to all existing SAP customers. It provides customers with important information about potential options and capabilities, helping guide the way toward becoming an Intelligent Enterprise.

By assessing the current IT and SAP landscape, the SAP Transformation Navigator creates custom recommendations — via a comprehensive and immediately downloadable report — of the SAP products and solutions needed to fully realize a digital roadmap.

Customers can access it via the SAP ONE Support Portal (with a valid S#).

SAP Brownfield Migration Planning

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3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

Information gained from the SAP Transformation Navigator can help clarify potential license impacts in your conversion.

Readiness Check 2.0SAP’s Readiness Check 2.0 is a toolset designed to analyze various attributes of your current SAP ECC Production environment.

The check includes analysis of simplification items, business functions, SAP Fiori recommendations, ‘customer/vendor’ to ‘business partner’ conversion, and custom code. SAP recommends performing the check by using the production system — or at least a copy of the production system. Results will be displayed in the online portal only, accessible via the customer’s designated S#.

If you are planning an SAP S/4HANA conversion project, please refer to SAP Note #2758146 for Readiness Check 2.0. SAP highly recommends using this option to benefit from new and improved functionalities. It can be accessed here. The current release, SAP S/4HANA 1909, is available in the Readiness Check 2.0 report under “RC_COLLECT_ANALYSIS_DATA”.

Simplification Item Check Framework ReportReadiness Check 2.0 utilizes the Simplification Item Check Framework report (/SDF/RC_START_CHECK). To access, you will need to download the latest simplification item catalog and select “SAP S/4HANA 1909.”

The simplification list is available in PDF and XSL formats, highlighting deltas between SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA. Specifically, the list describes incompatible changes that occur between SAP S/4HANA and SAP ECC (or previous versions of SAP S/4HANA).

Available in an online tool maintained by the SAP S/4HANA team, the item catalog serves as the central location SAP maintains simplification items, with the latest for SAP S/4HANA and SAP BW/4HANA available for download.

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Other ConsiderationsOnce you’ve collected and analyzed all the information from the readiness check, you can start planning your SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA migration in earnest. Other elements to consider while planning the Brownfield approach include:

• Current SAP version (i.e 4.6C, ECC 5.0, ECC 6.0 EhP X) — You must be on an ECC 6.0 version to make a successful single-step jump to SAP S/4HANA.

• Unicode — Your system must be Unicode compliant. If not, a Unicode conversion will need to take place as part of the conversion process.

• Current Operating System (OS) version/patch level

• Current Database (DB) version/patch level

• Current SAP Kernel version/patch level

Now that you’re armed and ready to go, proper execution planning of your SAP S/4HANA conversion project can move forward.

3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

Cons

Limited process reengineering opportunities

Any unwanted data must be archived in ECC first

Only big-bang deployment possible

Can only convert a single source system

Additional optimization projects may be needed to realize benefits

Pros

Lower business impact / organizational change impact

Keep historical data

Generally lower cost

Typically, shortest timeline

You now have all the information necessary to begin developing an execution plan on your journey to SAP S/4HANA via the Brownfield approach. You’re well on your way to converting your existing SAP environment — without re-implementation or disruption to your existing business processes.

It’s important to recognize that your approach to planning will influence your ability to adapt to next-generation processes. Make sure your planning process includes an innovation roadmap so you can truly capitalize on the advantages of the Intelligent Enterprise.

Getting Started The first thing you must do is review current documentation from SAP regarding a conversion from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA. Start with the Release Information Note (RIN), which contains information regarding the application of Feature Package (FP)/Support Package (SP) stacks to SAP S/4HANA. Be aware that this information is subject to change alongside each release of SAP S/4HANA. Check any applicable note for changes on a regular basis. All important changes are documented under “Important Changes After Release of SAP S/4HANA.”

The “Conversion Guide” is also a good place to start following the readiness check and appropriate OSS Release note guidance. The guide explains the conversion process in full.

Another good point of reference is the Product Availability Matrix (PAM). The PAM serves as a collection of technical and release planning information on SAP Product Versions, available for quick reference. You’ll find information on availability dates, maintenance end dates and upgrade paths, as well as technical release information (DB platforms, operating systems, etc.).

SAP Brownfield Migration Execution

6

Assessment

S4Rehearsal ECC

Box Build

S4Rehearsal ECC

Box Prepare

S4Rehearsal

Conversion

Rehearsal System 1-2 Regression /

UAT Testing

S4DEV ECC

S4DEV Box Prepare

S4DEV

Conversion

DEV Validation

S4EEC PRD

S4 PRD ECC

Box Prepare

S4 PRD

Conversion

PRD SAP S/4HANA

Recreate QAS from

PRD

Realize the Intelligent Enterprise

RoadmapS/4 “Rehearsal 1” Live 2X S/4 “DEV” Live S/4 “PRD” Live

S/4 “QAS” Live

Readiness Check

3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

The Tools for ConversionNow that you’ve reviewed the appropriate documentation, you must take stock of several necessary tools for the conversion process:

Maintenance Planner

SAP Solution Manager’s cloud-based Maintenance Planner enables easy and efficient planning of all changes in your SAP system landscape. Since 2015, the Maintenance Planner has served as the central tool for planning updates, upgrades, and new installations in your system landscape.

Software Update Manager (SUM)

The Software Update Manager (SUM) can be run after completing the appropriate pre-steps and implementing all the necessary adaptations that ensure your system and custom code is suited to SAP S/4HANA. The SUM tool completes the following tasks as part of a one-step conversion:

• Optional database migration (if your source system is not yet running on the SAP S/4HANA database, use the Database Migration Option (DMO) of the SUM to migrate your database to SAP S/4HANA during the conversion)

• Installation of the SAP S/4HANA software

• Conversion of your data into the new data structure used by SAP S/4HANA (this is the automated part of the data migration)

Once the SUM has completed the technical conversion, you can start adapting your own custom code.

A customer can also optimize their downtime as part of the conversion process. For more information about SUM downtime optimization, go here.

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Code Correction

Any modifications or enhancements through code correction must be adapted using the standard transactions SPDD, SPAU and SPAU_ENH. This is the same process as in previous upgrades to the SAP Business Suite product portfolio (except that the SPDD and SPAU tools have been renewed).

You’ll also need to fix any issues related to SAP S/4HANA simplifications. To find them, use the ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) in your converted system with the check variant “S4HANA_READINESS.”

In order to minimize your code correction efforts, SAP now offers automatic code adaptations using the Quick Fixes (or Ctrl +1 shortcut) feature of ABAP Development Tools (ADT) in Eclipse. We recommend using this feature for custom code adaptation, as SE80 no longer supports all development objects (such as CDS Views) needed in SAP S/4HANA.

Post StepsAfter the SUM has run, you’ll need to note and perform the following activities, often called “Post Steps”:

• SAP S/4HANA will introduce a new style of output management — note that other existing frameworks can be used as well, depending on the application.

• Review existing back-end PFCG role menus for obsolete transactions and transaction code replacements.

• Plan and enable SAP Fiori as a UI. Activate the appropriate applications and apply the necessary security.

• Important application-specific follow-up steps may need to be applied. Specific OSS notes will be available to consider if this is the case.

• The Obsolete Data Handling tool allows you to delete obsolete data that remains after the conversion of your SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA.

Once you’ve completed all of these steps, you can properly evaluate your conversion to SAP S/4HANA and see where you stand on your journey to becoming an Intelligent Enterprise.

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A Greenfield approach is often referred to as a full reimplementation — starting from scratch.

This approach can be disruptive and costly, but it’s good for companies that truly need a net-new implementation, allowing them to redesign undesirable processes based on the latest innovations in SAP S/4HANA and to no longer worry about clunky legacy data.

Greenfield guarantees the benefits of new innovations, including HANA Database, simpler Landscape, SAP Fiori and more. It incorporates all of the industry’s latest and greatest best practices. You can go in any direction.

As we alluded to, though, Greenfield requires a monumental change management undertaking, higher implementation costs, and longer timelines compared to other approaches. But if you need a fresh start and are entirely new to SAP, this approach may be worth investigating more deeply.

Greenfield: The Reimplementation Approach

3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

Cons

Possible high business impact / organizational change impact

Only keep open processes, no historical data

Generally higher cost

Timeline typically longer than Brownfield

Pros

Process Reengineering based on latest innovations

Redesign data structures

Big-bang or phased approaches possible

Can merge data from multiple systems

With the Selective Data Transition approach, a company can enjoy the best of both worlds — establishing new business processes based on a new configuration set, all while extracting, transforming and loading historical data subsets in order to maintain important data. The data can then be altered or enriched to conform to the new configuration, business processes and reporting needs.

Think of the essentials of the alternative Brownfield approach: Your original configuration set is maintained, bringing along all historical master data and transactional data to the new SAP S/4HANA system. Many companies aren’t satisfied with their current SAP ECC system configuration and don’t wish to continue maintaining over 20 years of legacy data.

A Greenfield approach to implementation may be a good way to fully redesign business processes and establish a new configuration set. However, data conversion is typically limited to master data and open transactional items, leaving historical transactional data behind entirely.

In essence, Selective Data Transition allows you to re-use the parts of your existing ERP solution that you want while re-designing the parts you don’t.

What Will It Take? A number of tools are necessary for a Selective Data Transition approach. For instance, the approach uses standard SAP tools and/or third-party data tools, including SAP Data Management and Landscape Transformation software as well as Enterprise Transformer for SAP S/4HANA.

Exploring the Selective Data Transition Approach

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Customization in current ERP systems emerged as the third most common inhibitor (36%) for implementing SAP S/4HANA.

Source: SAPinsider SAP S/4HANA Migration Benchmark Report

These tools enable a company to selectively transfer various types of data, including:

• ABAP repository of objects and developments • Configuration (customizing) data • Master data • Transactional data (open items and a subset of historical closed items)

These are time-tested, proven tools fit for today’s world of mergers and acquisitions, where divesting a company and carving out a subset of its data for a new SAP system is commonplace.

Differences from the Greenfield Approach The Selective Data Transition approach is a strong alternative to a Greenfield net-new implementation. For customers moving from an existing SAP ECC solution to SAP S/4HANA on-premise or SAP S/4HANA Cloud extended edition (formerly SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Single Tenant Edition), it may be ideal.

This approach is similar to a Greenfield one in that data is extracted from an SAP ECC legacy system, transformed with data cleansing and enrichment tools, and loaded into a

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3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

new SAP S/4HANA environment. In other words, an ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) data conversion process is followed in both approaches.

However, in a Selective Data Transition, not all data is moved — and the data may be transformed or enriched in ways that wouldn’t typically occur in a Greenfield approach. The “Transform” step, for example, may include the restructuring of data to utilize business partner capabilities rather than legacy customer and vendor structures. Data may also be otherwise enriched as part of the “Transform” process.

In all, the advantages of a Selective Data Transition include the following:

• The ability to maintain existing business processes or completely redesign business processes, while aligning historical data

• Reducing the total data set by converting a subset of the total master and transactional data in the legacy ECC environment

• Data model changes/enhancements allowing for possible field and value mappings of a historical data set

Bring your business processes to the new platform• A complete technical in-place conversion of an existing SAP ECC software system to

SAP S/4HANA• Adoption of new innovations at your speed

New implementation / Re-implementation• Re-engineering and process simplification based on the latest innovations• Implementing innovative business processes with preconfigured model company• Data migration

New implementation / Re-implementation• Merge and/or split existing ECC instances• Migrate a selection of data by organizational units • Migrate configuration

SAP ECCSystem SAP S4/HANA

SAP ECC or Third- Party System

SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

SAP ECC or Third- Party System(s)

SAP S/4HANA

SAP S/4HANA Cloud

PurposeAvailable ForApproach

Brownfiled

Greenfield

Selective Data Transition

Type

Reusing by In-Place Conversion

Re-Engineered with Data Migration

Standardized

CustomerTailored

When it comes to executing on a Selective Data Transition (SDT), there are three main elements:

1) Establishing the target environment

2) Mapping and transforming the data

3) Fine-tuning and executing the cutover

On first glance, these elements look very familiar — and similar to a traditional implementation. However, the Selective Data Transition offers many powerful capabilities that extend these traditional elements.

1) Establishing the Target Environment

Creating a stable SAP S/4HANA environment is the essential first step of an SDT. This is commonly referred to as the “shell.”

The “shell” can be created in two ways: by making a brand new environment (like in Greenfield) or by converting one (like in Brownfield). The key advantage with SDT is you’re not restricted to either a complete re-design or a complete re-use — and the reality of many organizations often lies somewhere in between.

Here, you can select the best of both worlds. Transfer select customizing and repository, thus re-using existing custom investments and enhancing SAP best practices for unique business needs.

Once established, the new “shell” becomes the golden environment that can be restored or refreshed to its initial state for any rehearsals or mocks.

2) Mapping and Transforming Data

The next step is determining how data transforms between the existing ECC system and future-state SAP S/4HANA system. In addition to structural data change, which is accounted for by the SDT tools, you can accommodate for additional data transformations.

Executing the Selective Data Transition

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3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

Data Slicing

• Exclusion of old historical data (i.e., limiting the transfer of historical data to specific criteria, e.g., 2 years)

• Exclusion of data related to old organizational units (e.g., history for company codes/plants that have been closed or sold)

Data Transformation

• Adjustment of historical data to reflect organizational restructure (e.g., combination or split of company codes or controlling areas)

• Harmonization/standardization of data (e.g., consolidating materials or customers and reflecting the consolidated master data respectively in historical records)

• Adjustment or enrichment of historical data to reflect functionality change (e.g., package tracking information)

Because SDT can slice data at an organizational or functional level, it offers the capability of a phased go-live approach, where you can migrate to SAP S/4HANA by company code or business function. It also can offer several other variations on data transformation, like consolidation of multiple source systems into SAP S/4HANA, carve-outs, re-platforming of applications, and more.

ECC S/4

X Years

ECC S/4

ScopeCC1

CC2

CC3

CC4

CC1

CC2

ECC S/4CC1

CC2

CC3

CC1

CC3

CC4

ECC S/4A

a

E

A

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3) Cutover Fine-Tuning

In a Selective Data Transition, large volumes of interdependent data are transferred during the cutover period. The final cutover calls for a fine-tuned orchestration of tasks — in the right sequence, and in the right duration — that fills the “shell” with the future-state data over an optimized downtime.

The data model is more complex in an SDT than in other approaches, as it incorporates historical data and contains a generally higher volume of data as well. In this approach, data selection, transformation and load sequence are essential for data consistency.

For a majority of companies, this approach can help migrate everything in an acceptable business downtime, such as a weekend. However, for companies with higher data volume or special considerations, SDT allows for an additional cutover optimization (known as Near Zero Downtime, or NZDT). Here, the idea is to perform a majority of the data transfer ahead of time and to reduce the cutover downtime for the deltas (new and changed records) that have occurred since the migration started. As data remains static, delta volumes typically remain significantly lower.

Cutover rehearsal itself is key to an SDT. Your cutover plan will be refined with each mock, and your cutover team’s execution becomes seamless.

Is It For You? An SDT requires specialized — and robust — Landscape Transformation (LT) tools for moving and transforming large volumes of data. LTs allow for faster data loads, the ability to restructure data and transfer historical data, as well as added flexibility in the types of data that can be migrated.

SAP- or SDT-certified partners are recommended for navigating this process.

Overall, a Selective Data Transition is a powerful option for an SAP S/4HANA conversion approach — one that allows you to properly balance between re-engineering and re-use.

3 Paths | The Brownfield Approach | SAP Brownfield Execution | Greenfield | Selective Data Transition | Conclusion | Resources

Cons

Potentially higher complexity and risk

Additional licensing for specialized SDT tools

More thorough testing required

Timeline includes both a establishing a Greenfield landscape and a data transformation

Pros

Highly customizable scope

Opportunity to select only wanted data

Opportunity to adapt historical transactional data to fit new design

Can merge data from multiple systems

The Intelligent Enterprise future is here, but it’s not here to wait for you.

SAP S/4HANA is powered by a shift from in-house client server technologies to digital technologies with cloud and mobile enablement capabilities. While its core is still back-office functions, it now enables far-reaching technologies as well, including:

• Utilizing the advanced in-memory platform/database of SAP HANA

• Serving as the “digital core” that enables the Intelligent Enterprise

• Working as the backbone for business operations that utilize next-generation technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), cloud integration, big data management, and customer experience (CX)

So, which approach is best for you? That’s up to you decide. Brownfield, Greenfield and Selective Data Transition each have their own distinct advantages.

But whatever you do decide, we’re here to help. As SAP experts with more than two decades of experience with SAP software and solutions, we can help ensure you continue to maintain focus on what you do best — while we take care of the rest.

Making the Move

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Let’s Talk.First Name

Last Name

Click Here to Fill Out Form

Organization

Phone

Email

Introduction to the Intelligent Enterprise

SAP ONE Support Portal

SAP Readiness Check 2.0

Simplification Item Catalog

SAP Conversion Guide

Product Availability Matrix

Maintenance Planner

SUM Downtime Optimization Details

Quick Fixes for Automatic Code Adaptations

ASUG Pulse of the SAP Customer Infographic

Additional Resources

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