From an existing SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA transition can be complex. This shift requires a thorough assessment of the current landscape, understanding the implications involved, and readiness for upcoming changes. To facilitate a successful transition, organizations should focus on key strategies in the initial phases of this transformation. Here, we delve into five essential assessments that can effectively guide organizations through this process, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum benefit.
When embarking on a system conversion project, accurate time and effort estimation are crucial for keeping the project on track. However, achieving these estimations can pose challenges without data-driven actions.
To simplify this process, we recommend performing the following five key assessments:
Business Transformation Assessment for Seamless S/4HANA Transition
A comprehensive understanding of the landscape and how each process is affected is essential for building a successful digital transformation plan. This assessment involves:
- Collecting all business processes from the legacy system and organizing them hierarchically:
- L1 – Line of business
- L2 – Process Group
- L3 – Scope item
- L4 – Process variant
- L5 – Process step
- Conducting a materiality analysis of all Functional Modules to identify heavily used and rarely used modules in the existing landscape. The primary goal of this analysis is to comprehend the AS-IS state.
Landscape Assessment for SAP S/4HANA Transition Success
- Active vs Inactive Users: Determine the total count of SAP ERP users and categorize them into active and inactive users based on their engagement levels. This analysis offers an analytical overview of all system users, aiding in informed decisions regarding license procurement before transitioning to S/4HANA.
- Add-on Analytics: The transition from ECC to S/4HANA may face challenges due to incompatible add-ons. All add-ons must undergo certification to operate on S/4HANA. For SAP’s proprietary add-ons or those available through SAP’s pricelist, direct inquiries about their status and compatibility can be made to SAP. However, SAP does not bear responsibility for independent third-party add-ons.
- Archiving List: Within SAP, archiving refers to relocating data that is no longer actively used or necessary for daily operations to a separate storage location. This practice aids in reducing the production database’s size, enhancing system performance, and ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory data retention requirements.
Process Assessment for SAP S/4HANA Integration
- Enterprise Structure Mining: Enterprise Structure Mining assessments are vital in comprehending the current organizational framework, encompassing company codes, sales organizations, purchase organizations, and other pivotal components. This analysis serves to identify avenues for process optimization, efficiency enhancement, and aligning the SAP system with the organization’s strategic objectives. For instance, when examining Sales documents, the analysis progresses from company codes, sales organizations, distribution channels, and plants and extends to the sales documents themselves.
- Complexity Analysis: A thorough analysis of system complexity is crucial, focusing on parameters such as the New General Ledger (G/L), Special Purpose Ledger, Material Ledger, Multi-Currency model, and active Business Partners within the existing landscape. This assessment provides insights into the system’s intricacies, aiding in effective planning for the transition to SAP S/4HANA.
- Simplification Item Check: Simplification analysis is pivotal in preparing for an SAP S/4HANA conversion. It entails assessing the necessary adaptation work required to transition from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA at a functional level. This analysis identifies simplification items: changes or adjustments needed for business processes and custom developments to align with SAP S/4HANA’s functionalities and best practices. Organizations can effectively plan and execute their conversion projects by providing insights into the impact of these changes.
- Training Plan: In a system conversion project like transitioning to SAP S/4HANA, prioritizing end-user training is essential. While the focus often centres on the technical aspects of the project, overlooking user training can result in challenges post-implementation. To ensure a smooth transition, develop a comprehensive training plan that includes scenario-based training and end-user onboarding early in the process. This approach equips users with the necessary skills for the new system and fosters a mindset shift towards leveraging SAP S/4HANA for success in the digital economy.
Custom Objects Assessment to Ensure SAP S/4HANA Compatibility
The Custom Objects Assessment aims to identify all custom objects within the system. These custom objects may not be compatible or readable in the S/4HANA system, potentially necessitating considerable time for adaptation. After this assessment, you should comprehensively understand the total number of custom objects, modules with a high volume of custom objects, total impacted objects, and total impacted cases. This information is vital for effectively planning and executing the transition to SAP S/4HANA.
Timeline & Effort Assessment for Successful SAP S/4HANA Transition
1.Timeline Assessment
The Timeline Assessment involves creating a project timeline based on team size, assessment results, and project scope. It encompasses developing a high-level roadmap for the SAP S/4HANA system conversion process, validating it with solution architects and project managers, and detailing a plan for the conversion project. This step is crucial for establishing realistic deadlines, milestones, and sub-phase timelines to ensure the project remains on track and completed.
2. Effort Estimation
Effort Estimation in the context of SAP S/4HANA conversion entails accurately predicting the resources and efforts necessary for the conversion project. This process includes identifying required preparation and pre-checks in the current system landscape, estimating HANA database and hardware sizing, and quantifying the IT effort needed for the transition. Such estimation aids in optimizing the total cost of conversion and deploying appropriate resources for a successful realization of SAP S/4HANA.
Conclusion
SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA transition is a significant undertaking that requires thorough assessment and planning. The outlined assessments – Business Transformation, Landscape, Process, Simplification Item Check, Custom Objects, Timeline/Effort – serve as a roadmap for organizations to navigate this transition successfully. By understanding current processes, system complexities, user activity, and custom object compatibility, organizations can optimize their systems for S/4HANA. Planning the project timeline and estimating efforts accurately are crucial for a smooth and cost-effective transition. These assessments are key pillars in ensuring a seamless and beneficial move to SAP S/4HANA, minimizing disruptions and maximizing the potential of this advanced ERP system.
At VE3, we understand the significance of this move and leverage our partnership with SAP to offer diverse solutions to guide organizations through a seamless migration. To know more, explore our innovative digital solutions or contact us directly.
