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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