PRODUCED BY
A CHECKLIST
FOR MIGRATING
TO SAP S/4HANA
A CHECKLIST
FOR MIGRATING TO
SAP S/4HANA
MIDNIGHT STUDIO/ADOBE
PRODUCED BY
ITCHAZNONG/ADOBE
S/4HANA MIGRATION CHECKLIST
S/4HANA MIGRATION CHECKLIST
The move from SAP’s current ECC software to S/4HANA is inevitable.
The moveat
Experts from SAP’s are
Panaya current ECC software
helping to S/4HANA
organisations withistheir
inevitable. Experts
upgrade and
at Panaya are helping organisations with their upgrade and how best to prepare
how best to prepare
M
any SAP application managers “S/4HANA is the newest platform for any ERP
are actively considering how best requirements, but there are many challenges in
to upgrade to S/4HANA, the latest the upgrade which means several companies
platform of the software supplier’s have either postponed the upgrade or called
core business software. However, it is a big in systems integrators. However, there are
undertaking and a commitment potentially
involving significant costs and resources. For
any organisation embarking on a migration
“There are simple steps
programme, it is important to have a clear
“There are simple steps companies
picture of what will be involved. companies can take for a pain-free journey
can take for a pain-free journey
SAP has extended the support deadline to not forestall
to not forestall innovation”
innovation”
for its current ECC software from 2025 to
2027 following pressure from customers,
Amitvice-president
Amit Garussi, Garussi, vice-president
product, product,
but the move to S/4HANA is inevitable –
Change Intelligence,
ChangePanaya
Intelligence, Panaya
and can bring significant benefits to the
business once implemented.
SAP experts at Panaya are helping organisa-
tions with their upgrade to S/4HANA and under- simple steps they can take for a pain-free
standing how best to prepare – what you need journey to not forestall innovation,” says Amit
to know and what you need to do to minimise Garussi, vice-president product, Change
disruption and ensure the benefits are delivered. Intelligence at Panaya.
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Garussi says that the main resistance to “They should be prepared from a budget and
upgrading to S/4HANA is that it impacts planning perspective, and this is critical in the
many everyday business processes, adding early stages,” says Garussi.
complexity through rebuilding those processes
for the new environment. “During the assessment phase, it is important
to build a pre-plan of the project covering the
“Organisations need to understand the time it timing, the duration and the expertise. The
will take, the budget, and whether they have importance of ensuring the business case is
enough in-house expertise,” he adds. accurate cannot be re-emphasised enough. It
helps manage expectations.”
A typical project will take two-to-three years and
Garussi says organisations must ensure they 3. Greenfield
3. Greenfieldvs
vsbrownfield
brownfield
can tick off all the items on Panaya’s recom-
mended checklist before starting out – he says Organisations must choose whether to pursue
it may even be better to postpone if everything a “greenfield” or a “brownfield” implementation
is not in place. and evaluate the pros and cons for each.
There are four key stages in the journey to “A greenfield site means starting from scratch,
S/4HANA – assessment, preparation, migration whereas a brownfield site builds on what you
and acceleration: have,” says Garussi.
Assessment
Assessment phase phase “Greenfield requires re-sketching every busi-
ness process, which involves politics within the
1.
1. Value mapping
Value mapping organisation. It is fresh, up to date, but it takes
a longer time and involves more people. With a
Creating an SAP value map enables different brownfield approach, you take the legacy and
departments to understand how they must the business processes you already have to the
prepare for the upgrade and how they stand newer platform.”
to benefit from the innovation available. This
should be made as part of the business case. Assessing the two approaches involves looking
It is critical that both the IT department and at current processes and whether they meet
business stakeholders appreciate the impact the future requirements of the business; the
and outcome of the journey to S/4HANA. implications for business strategy; and the
This will help to minimise disruption, keep to budget and time available. Panaya can provide
timelines and deliver a swift migration without analysis to help organisations decide whether
wasting resources. to build on their solid SAP foundation and
migrate from ECC to S/4HANA, or whether to
“Seeing the impact of change in advance is choose a greenfield implementation for the
priceless,” says Garussi. best way forward.
2.
2. Put expertise
expertiseininplace
place Preparation phase phase
Preparation
Organisations need to understand the levels of 4. Project
4. Projectvisibility
visibility
expertise required, otherwise the project could
turn out to be stop-start, costly and lacking end- Real-time visibility for project managers and
user engagement. Ensuring that resources are employees is essential. Panaya offers a rich
efficiently used is vital and companies need to dashboard, displaying effort, progress, defects,
know what resources are required for the project risk, best practices and drill-down into the code
from the outset. for each change.
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“It is a critical piece to have full visibility so that 7.Avoid
7. Avoidcritical
criticalbusiness
businessdisruption
disruption
every manager, the CIO and the business can
see every stage of the project. Reports should When planning timescales for the cutover to
be accessible by all users – not just by the tech- S/4HANA, be aware of critical business periods
savvy. Ensuring everything is on track, having that cannot be disrupted.
one place, one source and one platform that
manages the project end-to-end for full visibility “Avoiding a business shut-down during a rush
is vital. If you have information stored in email, period such as end-of-year or Christmas is
SharePoint, Excel and so on, you are never recommended. Testing and go-live can cause
going be able to build a map and show in real- a one-to-two day shut-down. If IT wants full
time what is going on,” says Garussi. co-operation with the business, with everything
in place and synchronised data, it is important
5. Standardisation
Standardisation to avoid these critical times,” says Garussi.
A focus on standardisation during testing will
ensure synchronisation and collaboration to “Ensuring everything is on track,
manage timescales. This is impossible if infor- “Ensuring everything is on track,
mation is kept in silos such as email or Excel having one
having one place,
place,oneonesource and oneand
source platform
one
as visibility is lost and compiling key facts takes
time and wastes resources.
that that
platform manages the project
manages theend-to-end
project
end-to-endfor forfull
fullvisibility
visibility is vital”
is vital”
“Centralisation, standardisation and synchro-
nisation between key testers to ensure full col- Amit Garussi, vice-president product, product,
Amit Garussi, vice-president
laboration and to reduce timelines is essential,” Change Intelligence, Panaya
says Garussi.
Change Intelligence, Panaya
6. Be clear
clear on
ondesired
desiredoutcomes
outcomes
8. Documentbusiness
8. Document businessprocesses
processes
Identify and disseminate the business
justification for the migration to S/4HANA. It Be sure to gather and share a thorough under-
might be business process enhancement, or standing of the business processes currently
cutting-edge digital technologies, or alignment in production. Garussi recommends that IT
with other entities within the organisation to scopes one year of usage of all activities, such
promote standardisation, accuracy and agility. as financial reporting, for a better understanding
Organisations will have different benefits they and analysis of systems. The aim is to have the
wish to achieve, but it is important to make a best and most accurate plan of the project from
strong business case to make sure everyone the beginning and to ask what will be required in
understands the desired outcome. terms of resources and time based on the target
version of the upgrade.
“Every customer looks at the business case
from a different angle. There may be no choice Migration
Migration phase phase
because of end-of-life, but what will you attach
to the project beyond that? Whether it is inno- 9. The importance
9. The importanceofoftesting
testing
vation, business process enhancement, more
strategic reporting or providing access to other Every organisation must be prepared to do test-
technologies, this will vary from organisation to ing at every stage of the migration project, and
organisation and depend on the management recognise that it will be carried out by different
and their vision,” says Garussi. stakeholders, such as developers or business
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users. User acceptance testing (UAT) helps HOW PANAYA SUPPORTS S/4HANA MIGRATION
smooth the transition for business users. HOW PANAYA SUPPORTS
Preparing a business case? Panaya provides a full picture
Panaya can enable UAT with multiple tests
S/4HANA MIGRATION
to a client covering how much effort such as time, testing
coordinated simultaneously, internationally and and planned correction activities are required to complete
remotely to support any decentralised testing the project.
Preparing a business case? Panaya provides a full
effort. Panaya’s platform and solutions for picture to a client covering how much effort such as time,
S/4HANA migration include “out-of-the-box” Preparing?
testing Panaya’s
and planned toolbox
correction helps reduce
activities the risk
are required to in
comprehensive testing capabilities, as well migration by supporting
complete the project. pre-conversion activities, such as
as the Test Dynamix platform, which is part moving to the HANA database and code cleaning. It enables
of S/4Convert. organisations
Preparing? to start
Panaya’s designing
toolbox new business
helps reduce processes
the risk in
based on
migration bytheir existing
supporting ECC system.activities, such
pre-conversion
Automated testing is recommended for repetitive as moving to the HANA database and code cleaning. It
testing activities, such as regression testing, Starting
enables the migration?
organisations to startPanaya covers
designing new end-to-end
business
which are part of the migration project. Intelligent processes based on their existing ECC system.of a project to
project execution to ensure the full scope
code remediation (ICR) using Panaya’s
migrate from ECC to S/4HANA is understood. The project
automatic code fixes for HANA-related activities,
includes all workstreams, corrections and testing activities.
Starting the migration? Panaya covers end-to-end project
can save thousands of manual corrections
Some activities are done automatically, such as through
execution to ensure the full scope of a project to migrate
done by developers, with a click of a button.
intelligent code remediation (ICR). It helps minimise risk
from ECC to S/4HANA is understood. The project includes
and reduce project time and cost by 50%.
This can cut the project duration by months. all workstreams, corrections and testing activities. Some
activities are done automatically, such as through intelligent
Already on S/4HANA? Panaya covers end-to-end project
“Panaya provides one platform to manage code remediation (ICR). It helps minimise risk and reduce
execution when upgrading from an existing S/4HANA
testing activities for IT and the business,” project time and cost by 50%.
implementation, to a new version of S/4HANA. This enables
says Garussi.
improved functionality and can help businesses upgrade
Already on S/4HANA? Panaya covers end-to-end pro-
efficiently and rapidly
Before hitting the green light to go live – test, ject execution when upgrading from an existing S/4HANA
irrespective of version. For
test and test again. implementation, to a new version of S/4HANA. This enables
example, early adopters
improved functionality and can help businesses upgrade
of S/4HANA will be out of
10. Complete
10. Completetasks
tasksininthe
thecorrect
correctorder efficiently and rapidly irrespective of version. For example,
service after five years and
early adopters of S/4HANA will be out of service after five
will need to upgrade.
It might seem an obvious statement to ensure years and will need to upgrade.
the correct ordering of tasks – but the problems
caused by failing to do so can be significant.
Pre-planning, planning, business case, con-
version activities such as code corrections and
testing and acceleration are all key elements, tasks should be followed up with further analysis
and all require dedicated time and resources, and testing. Keeping track of what needs to be
and no stage should be neglected. done is only possible with a 360-degree view.
11. A holistic
holistic view
view
“Panaya provides one platform
“Panaya provides one platform
Organisations must aim for a holistic view
of the project, especially when it comes to
to manageto manage
testingtesting activities
activities
testing, to deal with interdependencies and
ensure synchronisation for pre- and post- for IT and for
theIT and the business”
business”
upgrade corrections.
Amit Garussi,
Amitvice-president product, product,
Garussi, vice-president
Sometimes new activities will be required post- Change Intelligence, Panaya
Change Intelligence, Panaya
conversion. Execution of required conversion
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The go-live
12. The go-livedecision
decision highly regulated sector, such as health or
finance, the pressure increases to comply.
Going live is clearly a critical event. If the This can be helped with services such as
checklist has been followed thoroughly, risk is Panaya’s built-in recording functionality to
12. The go-live decision highly regulated sector, such as health or
minimised, but giving the green light requires track compliance and the use of e-signatures
finance, the pressure increases to comply.
high levels of co-operation and preparation to lock-in approvals.
Going live is clearly a critical event. If the This can be helped with services such as
across the business. Don’t underestimate what
checklist has been followed thoroughly, risk is Panaya’s built-in recording functionality to
is involved. Acceleration phase
Acceleration
minimised, but giving the green light requires track compliance and the usephase
of e-signatures
high levels of co-operation and preparation to lock-in approvals.
“A steering committee should manage the 14.
14. Innovation
Innovationnever
neverends
ends
across the business. Don’t underestimate what
project from start to end. The decision to go live
is involved. Acceleration phase
should be based on KPIs defined by specific Panaya enables testing assets to be re-used in
activities. For example, a threshold such as less future projects by creating a test library to build
“A steering committee should manage the 14. Innovation never ends
than five medium priority defects, with confirma- up a knowledge base that adds value during
project from start to end. The decision to go live
tion from the business,” says Garussi. future innovations.
should be based on KPIs defined by specific Panaya enables testing assets to be re-used in
activities. For example, a threshold such as less future projects by creating a test library to build
Compliance and
13. Compliance andregulation
regulation “Once you are on S/4HANA, you are not done.
than five medium priority defects, with confirma- up a knowledge base that adds value during
If you stand in one place, you are moving
tion from the business,” says Garussi. future innovations.
All businesses will have regulations and backwards. You need to look at the next
compliance procedures which must be adhered milestone and plan for the next upgrade,”
13. Compliance and regulation “Once you are on S/4HANA, you are not done.
to in any upgrade. If an organisation is in a says Garussi.
If you stand in one place, you are moving
All businesses will have regulations and backwards. You need to look at the next
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compliance procedures which must be adhered milestone and plan for the next upgrade,”
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to in any upgrade. If an organisation is in a says Garussi.
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