In the video below we show how to execute Maintenance Planner for an upgrade to S/4HANA Finance 1605 as part of SAP ERP6 EHP8.   Customers can migrate to S/4HANA Finance 1605 from any ERP6 release.  For more details see this note 2235268 – Release Information Note: SAP S/4HANA Finance 1605

Why is this video need?   The Maintenance Planner makes it very easy to plan an install of S/4HANA Enterprise Management 1511 – but what if my company isn’t ready for the simplification of Logistics and Finance?   What if I just want the innovation of S/4HANA Finance?   The S/4HANA Finance 1605 release delivers the latest Finance simplifications and then allows me to move to Enterprise Management once we’ve mastered the process optimizations in Finance.

Please post your thoughts and questions!

Important Notes for S/4HANA Finance 1605

2235268 – Release Information Note: SAP S/4HANA Finance 1605

2233539 – Release Scope Information: SAP S/4HANA Finance 1605

2255079 – Release Information: SAP Fiori for SAP S/4HANA Finance 1605

2277137 – Release information Note: SAP Smart Business for SAP S/4HANA Finance 1605

2261242 – SAP S/4HANA Finance: Information on Upgrade Paths

2158106 – Problems with add-on installation/upgrade to SAP NW 7.50 AS ABAP

What are some of my lessons learned?

• This is a move to SAP ERP6 EHP8 with S/4HANA Finance 1605 as an ABAP Add-on.   The test scope for all non-Finance applications will be similar to that of any other Enhancement Package project.
• Check your ABAP add-on compatibility!   We had an old Gateway component installed that wasn’t compatible with Netweaver 7.50 (foundation for S/4HANA Finance 1605).   Used SAP Note 2319097 to uninstall IW_SCS 200.
• Maintenance Planner doesn’t add all media to your download basket for EHP8.   When you start SUM SP17 it will prompt you for the ERP EHP8 Upgrade Export DVDs.   This is about 24GB of DVDs!  So painful to download when you already downloaded everything else from Maintenance Planner.   You’ll need 50GB just for EHP8 & S/4HANA Finance 1605 media.
• For your source ERP system – ensure the following has been completed before starting Maintenance Planner
  • Update SAP Host Agent and validate registration to Solution Manager SLD
  • Update SLD Content (SAP Note 669669)
  • Validate Product System & Technical System data in LMDB – specifically the data suppliers. (it’s not even worth trying the Maintenance Planner until all this data is good)
  • Use the ‘Upload to SAP Support Portal’ to upload LMDB data to the Maintenance Planner
    

Direct Link to YouTube video > Preparing S/4HANA Finance 1605 Installation with Maintenance Planner – YouTube

Michael Pytel