As outlined on the Migration of SAP Systems to SAP HANA page, several options exist for the migration of ABAP-based SAP systems to SAP HANA. To support you in finding the best option for the individual requirements and boundary conditions you are facing, SAP provides a decision matrix in the End-to-End Implementation Roadmap for SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP, created in a combined effort of several colleagues and teams – and as also already presented at SAP TechEd in the last years.

The matrix is intended to highlight important aspects for your decision on the right migration procedure, including these key considerations:

• What is the release and Support Package level of your existing SAP system? Is an update mandatory or desired as part of the migration procedure?
• Is your existing SAP system already Unicode?
• Do you plan any landscape changes – such as changing the SAPSID of your SAP system or the hardware of your application server – as part of the migration or do you rather prefer an in-place migration?
• Are your operating system and your database versions supported according to the Product Availability Matrix (PAM) of the target release or are corresponding updates required?
• Do you expect a significant downtime due to a large database volume?

The following figure shows a screenshot of the matrix – please see the roadmap guide for the latest version:

• The left column gives an example for the corresponding row (that is, one initial situation for which the technical requirements in this row would apply)
• The columns with the technical requirements cover the key considerations mentioned above
• The right part of the matrix lists the corresponding recommendations which migration procedure to use when and what aspects to consider
• The lower part of the matrix provides the explanation of the symbols
• To keep the matrix in a usable format, not all combinations of technical requirements are listed – if several technical requirements should apply, try to merge the corresponding recommendations and consider all aspects given there

In  the End-to-End Implementation Roadmap for SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP guide, you can also find a small example how to use the matrix.

Again, use the decision matrix only as starting point for an individual assessment – that is, consider your situation with the support of the matrix and take the relevant aspects and recommendations into the discussion with your cross-functional teams and use them as basis for an individual assessment based on the boundary conditions you are facing.

We hope that the matrix is a step into the right direction to make the selection of the best migration procedure for you easier and more transparent!