Migrating to SAP S/4HANA  is one of the most thoughtful decisions as it is the most efficient Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for current and future scenarios. With this wise technological shift, you can quickly achieve all your goals in a more time-conserving and equipped manner.

SAP is one of the most productive enterprise resource planning software available. In fact, 77% of all worldwide business transactions touch an SAP system. It is not surprising that SAP is powering multiple businesses all over the world today. The introduction of SAP S/4HANA is a critical development for end users as well as IT teams. This brand-new Enterprise Resource Planning System from the SAP family permits users to use in-memory database technology, allowing the application to process vast data in real-time. The technology is a revolution because it will let the engine operate data stored in RAM, drastically enhancing the speed as opposed to reading the data from a disk.

SAP has declared that soon it will not support the present SAP platform, and all its clients will have to switch to SAP S4/HANA. Therefore, it is the time to start planning your migration. Thus, we have designed this guide with step-by-step instructions and suggestions to help you get a finer idea about migrating to HANA quickly.

Why Move to SAP S/4HANA Now?

The current SAP ECC 6.0 state (let alone the older versions) is already outdated when it comes to matching today’s technological requirements. SAP S/4HANA’s design is rather revolutionary compared to a traditional relational database. Since it is memory-based and stores information in columns, it can do analytics and computations at near-real-time speeds. SAP S/4HANA’s primary goal isn’t only data collection; rather, it’s empowering end users with real-time, data-driven decision support that considers both internal and external data sources. The result is a more knowledgeable and insightful firm benefiting from real-time data.

Ultimately, SAP S/4HANA helps companies function well in the digital economy. Because of this, many SAP ERP-using businesses have spent considerable time and effort weighing the pros and cons of upgrading to the S/4HANA version of ERP software. With multiple customers using SAP S/4HANA and hundreds more choosing it monthly, now is your time to migrate to a better ERP system.

  • Enhance Current Business Processes

SAP S/4HANA is developed using the capabilities of SAP HANA, an in-memory database, and the application of speed to data models that are more easily accessible. 

  • Embrace Machine Learning

The critical enterprise processes are automated by in-built machine learning, and it helps in improving performance and empowering the employees with real-time insights.

  • Simplify your Landscape

Businesses that have shifted to SAP S/4HANA  have noticed an improvement in their productivity, for instance, moving to double-digit revenue.

 

The Steps to Take While Migrating Towards SAP S4/HANA

Step 1: Decide the Correct Size of the HANA Landscape

To keep your project cost-efficient, it is crucial to determine the exact size of your SAP S/4HANA landscape. Sizing the HANA landscape appropriately helps you realize the maximum potential of your investment.

In case the hardware is under-equipped, you might face delays in execution, and it would overall hamper the performance of the operational system. On the contrary, if you over position the size of the HANA landscape, it will lead to bloating. Moreover, to avoid complications and errors, you can take the help of the SAP quick size tool to determine actual memory size.

 

Step 2: Choose the Right Strategy

One of the most critical questions while SAP data migration is whether you wish to choose an on-site or a cloud platform. If you choose an on-site deployment strategy, you need to choose an SAP HANA appliance which can be easily installed by a hardware partner and make it easy to harness the power of SAP HANA’s in memory. Whereas, if you choose cloud performance, it comes with an advantageous  SAP HANA software license, basic cloud infrastructure and an array of cloud services affiliated with SAP. 

 

Step 3: Determine the Best SAP Data Migration Strategy

After choosing a HANA deployment type, the next step is to analyze the most suitable migration approach per your business needs. The major approaches are:

  • Greenfield Approach, where the company decides to implement SAP HANA from the beginning, and it provides you liberty while designing a new system.
  • Brownfield Approach, where the company decides to modify, update and convert the current system to make it SAP HANA friendly.
  • The hybrid approached, also called Selective Data Transation. This route is chosen by those companies that wish to migrate a selection of data by organizational units. It’s a good option to merge multiple ERP solutions.

Step 4: Follow the Suitable Data Migration Strategy

Choosing the most suitable SAP data migration strategy is a crucial step. Also, it is advisable to follow a guided plan for data migration. While conducting the migration process, the companies overlook the data cleansing process, in which the unnecessary data is removed, making it cost-effective.

 

Keeping only the necessary data makes the system perform better and the analysis easy. As suggested, it is best to archive your old business data so that your new system comprises just the required data. You should pay utmost attention to the technical migration phase, and seeking help from a mentor is an additional benefit. Moving forth, you should regularly restore the backup and archive logs, which will help save your data in case of an inconvenience. Next, to validate your migration process, do a proof of concept in a sandpit environment. Following a proper strategy will help you complete the migration process successfully and reduce the project risk greatly.

Final Thought

Focus on maximizing your experience and productivity and generating rewarding benefits with a shift to SAP S/4HANA. While there is still time to shift to SAP HANA till 2027, the sooner you migrate, the better it will be, as it will give you an upper hand in front of your competitors who may still be figuring out how to adopt SAP HANA.

TJC Group can help you assess what is the best Data Volume Management strategy as per your organisation’s needs and assist in implementing a proper program.