SAP's end of mainstream maintenance for ECC has created a compelling — and for many, urgent — case for migration to S/4HANA. Yet the complexity of these migrations, combined with the risk aversion of mid-market enterprises, means many organisations are still in the planning phase. This guide offers a structured path forward.
Phase 1: Business Case and Readiness Assessment
Before any technical work begins, the business case must be clearly articulated. S/4HANA migration is not just a platform upgrade — it is a business transformation. The assessment phase should evaluate current system landscape, data quality, custom code volume, and organisational readiness.
- Custom code analysis using SAP's Custom Code Migration Worklist
- Data quality audit and cleansing roadmap
- Process harmonisation opportunities across business units
- TCO modelling: Brownfield vs. Greenfield vs. Selective Data Transition
Choosing Your Migration Approach
The three primary migration approaches each have distinct trade-offs in terms of time, cost, risk, and the degree of process reimagination possible. System Conversion (Brownfield) preserves existing configurations; New Implementation (Greenfield) allows a clean start; Selective Data Transition threads the needle between the two.
There is no universally correct migration approach. The right choice depends on the age of your ECC system, your appetite for business process change, and your organisation's capacity for transformation.
Data Migration and Testing Strategy
Data quality is the single biggest risk in any S/4HANA migration. We recommend at least three mock migrations before the final cutover, with each cycle used to identify and resolve data quality issues, refine the migration tooling, and rehearse the cutover process. Testing must cover functional correctness, integration points, and performance under production load.
← Zurück zu Impulse
