SAP HANA Migration - The Ultimate Guide (2022)

As businesses strive to remain competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape, the need for advanced technologies like SAP HANA becomes increasingly apparent. For those looking to migrate to SAP HANA, this comprehensive guide will provide all the information you need to make an informed decision.

We will take you through every detail, from the advantages of SAP HANA to outlining the individual steps for migrating over. Start your journey to SAP HANA today!

Why Migrate to SAP S/4HANA?

Migrating to SAP S/4HANA is an exciting and potentially rewarding decision for any business. As one of the most advanced enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions available, it provides a comprehensive suite of tools designed to help businesses maximize their operations, performance, and profitability. With its rich feature set, cloud-based architecture, and scalability, migrating to SAP S/4HANA can deliver significant value in terms of cost savings, improved efficiency, streamlined processes, enhanced customer satisfaction and more.

SAP S/4HANA has been developed with several core principles in mind: agility, simplicity and innovation. Much like the software itself these principles enable organizations to quickly adapt to changing business requirements while still ensuring that key processes remain intact. This agility ensures the organization can react quickly to customer needs and market trends, as well as enable businesses to make more informed decisions. The simple user interface provides an intuitive environment for users to interact with data and manage tasks in a straightforward manner. Furthermore, increased automation capabilities allow for quicker execution of both mundane and complex tasks with minimal need for manual intervention.

Why Are Companies Moving?

Of course, the decision to migrate to S/4HANA is not one that should be taken lightly. Depending on the size and complexity of a business, migration can involve significant time and resources. However, companies typically move to S/4HANA because their legacy systems are no longer sustainable or they want a more current ERP system with access to leading-edge technologies. Merger and acquisition activity was another early driver of demand for S/4HANA, as it made sense for organizations with disparate ERP systems to consolidate them into one unified system. Additionally, new businesses looking for an efficient way to manage various operational processes have also looked towards SAP S/4HANA as a viable option.

In terms of the actual migration, many organizations are opting to develop a comprehensive and detailed strategy first. This involves understanding the current environment, identifying areas of improvement, and developing a plan that takes into account budget limitations and other constraints. Once the strategy is in place, businesses can map out their timeline for migration as well as outline any associated costs. It’s also important to consider potential disruptions during the process – such as downtime or decrease in employee productivity – so that company leaders can adequately prepare for them.

Ultimately, migrating to SAP S/4HANA requires careful consideration and planning if it is to be successful. However, with proper preparation and execution there is tremendous potential for businesses of all sizes who make the switch over from legacy systems or create new ERP systems on SAP S/4HANA.

SAP HANA Migration Checklist (ECC to S4)

Migrating from SAP ECC to S4 HANA is a complex process. To ensure that you have a successful migration, it’s important to follow the proper steps during the preparatory phase, technical migration, delta customization, data functional migration, and testing before going live with your new system. The following checklist will guide you through the process:

• Preparatory Phase: The first stage of the migration process involves gathering information on your existing system so that you can determine what needs to be migrated to SAP S/4HANA. This includes collecting requirements for system upgrades, identifying custom code changes, assessing maintenance plans and conducting pre-checks. It’s important to create a plan of action and timeline to ensure that all requirements are met in a timely manner.
• Technical Migration: Once the preparatory phase is complete, the next step is to start migrating the system components. This includes database migration, software updates and data conversion. It’s important to carefully test each of these components before they are put into production.
• Delta Customization: After the technical migration is complete, it’s time to customize the new SAP S/4HANA environment for your business needs. This involves configuring modules such as General Ledger, New Asset Accounting, Material Ledger and Bank Accounting.
• Data Functional Migration: After all of the customization work is done, you need to migrate existing data from ECC into S/4HANA. This process requires careful planning and execution to ensure data accuracy and consistency.
• Testing: Once all of the data has been successfully migrated and business processes mapped, it’s time for testing. This involves running tests on both the technical and functional aspects of the new system to ensure that everything is working properly. It’s important to have a comprehensive test plan in place to ensure that the migration process goes smoothly.
• Go Live: The final phase involves going live with SAP S/4HANA. This includes creating a back-up plan, conducting user training and preparing for any last-minute issues that may arise. Once you are confident that everything is in order, you can switch over to your new system and start using it.

Following this checklist will ensure that your migration from SAP ECC to S4 HANA is successful. With careful planning and preparation, you can be sure that your new system will be up and running without any problems. Once complete, you’ll have access to the latest features of SAP S4 HANA with improved performance, scalability, and reliability.

The Three Conversion Phases

The process of transitioning to SAP HANA requires a comprehensive understanding of the three distinct phases: Pre-Conversion, Conversion, and Post-Conversion. Each phase has its own set of objectives, considerations, and best practices that must be taken into account in order to ensure a successful transition.

1. Pre-Conversion is an essential step in the migration process as it lays the foundation for all other phases. The primary focus during this stage is to identify which processes and data will need to be migrated over to the new system. It involves creating a detailed assessment of your current environment, including areas such as customizing, master data, documents/files, and authorizations (roles & profiles). This assessment can then be used to develop a roadmap of the entire transition.
2. The Conversion phase is responsible for actually moving the data from one system to the other. This includes tasks such as creating an architecture plan, setting up technical interfaces, and defining parameters in the new system. It’s important to ensure that all of the necessary components are being migrated over within this stage so that they can be properly utilized once post-conversion begins.
3. Lastly, Post-Conversion is where most of the work will be done in order to ensure a smooth transition. This involves testing out each component that was moved over and making any changes or adjustments as needed. Furthermore, it requires educating users on how to use the new system and providing ongoing support when issues arise. The goal of this phase is to ensure that the transition was successful and that all processes and data are running smoothly.

Three SAP S/4HANA Migration Approaches

Companies looking to move from legacy ERP systems to SAP S/4HANA can choose from three main approaches – greenfield deployment, blue-green deployment, and landscape transformation.

• Greenfield Deployment: This approach is ideal for companies that want a clean break from their legacy ERP systems. A greenfield deployment requires complete replacement of both the data center infrastructure and all associated applications with a new SAP S/4HANA system. All data must be migrated from the old environment into the new system utilizing standard migration processes. This approach is often chosen when there is a need to re-engineer existing business processes or start fresh with new functionality.
• SAP HANA Finance: This approach is recommended for companies that want to keep their existing ERP system while transitioning to SAP S/4HANA. This involves extracting financial data from the legacy ERP system and loading it into a new instance of SAP S/4HANA Finance. The finance module can then be integrated with other applications using Central Finance.
• Rise with SAP: This option is ideal for companies that want to move to SAP S/4HANA Cloud quickly and efficiently. With Rise with SAP, customers receive all the components they need—such as an instance of SAP S/4HANA cloud, access to strategic partners like Ariba Procurement Network, professional services for business process reengineering and integration services with Central Finance.

Each of these approaches to SAP S/4HANA Migration has its own set of advantages and drawbacks, and it is important for organizations to understand all their options before proceeding with the migration process. By carefully considering business requirements, existing infrastructure architecture and organizational culture, companies can choose the most appropriate approach for their needs. With the right strategy in place, businesses can maximize ROI from migrating to SAP S/4HANA.

The Benefits of an S/4HANA Migration

Migrating to an SAP S/4HANA system can have powerful benefits for enterprises striving for digital transformation. An S/4HANA migration opens up access to the latest technology, including AI, chatbots, IoT and more. It also provides a platform that simplifies complex business processes and makes them easier to update. In addition, migrating to an S/4HANA system offers significant advantages in terms of speedier period-end financial closings and real-time analytics on consolidated data.

The transition process is simplified due to the fact that SAP’s Central Finance application consolidates all financial data into a single source - eliminating the need for manual consolidation efforts. Additionally, with automatic updates every quarter, users benefit from the latest in technology without having to continually invest in new systems.

The user experience is further enhanced by the graphical and simplified UI of S/4HANA, which makes it easier for users to quickly access data and insights. In addition, process automation within SAP takes some of the burdensome manual workload off employees’ shoulders.

The ultimate benefit of an S/4HANA migration is that businesses can achieve greater visibility into their operations and finances - allowing them to make more informed decisions faster. With real-time analytics on consolidated data, enterprises can identify trends, plan ahead and optimize processes with minimal effort. By migrating to an S/4HANA system, businesses can not only streamline back-end processes, but also benefit from improved customer experience and satisfaction.

In short, an S/4HANA migration provides access to the latest technology, process automation, easier-to-update business models, speedier period-end financial closings and real-time analytics on consolidated data - all of which can lead to increased efficiency and cost savings.

Trust Approyo with Your SAP HANA Migration

The migration to SAP HANA can revolutionize an organization’s data and analytics capabilities, providing access to insights unimaginable before. When it comes to ensuring successful migrations, Approyo stands apart from the competition with its comprehensive suite of services. Our experienced team provides comprehensive consulting and guidance throughout the entire process—from initial analysis and requirements gathering through post-migration support. Furthermore, our managed hosting solutions provide secure 24/7 access to SAP HANA environments with low latency performance at scale—making Approyo the perfect partner for businesses looking to make a smooth transition into this new technology platform.

With years of experience in managing SAP landscapes around the globe, our clients can rest assured that their migration will be handled professionally and securely - allowing them to unlock the power of SAP HANA to drive their business success.

When it comes to SAP HANA migrations, Approyo provides the full spectrum of services necessary for a successful deployment. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to upgrade your existing system, our team is here to provide exceptional service and guidance - every step of the way!

Contact us today and let’s start discussing how Approyo can help you migrate your business into the future with SAP HANA.

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