This blog discusses the ways in which your business data can be migrated to your newly deployed SAP S/4HANA system (on premise or cloud).
This is not the first blog about the topic, but I hope it offers slightly different approach/perspective than the existing ones hence decided to post it. Researching for it has certainly helped me understand this space and I hope it will also help you. Please refer to the end of the article for links to other blogs and information sources about this topic.
The blog will be primarily focusing on New System Implementation transition scenario as illustrated:
In this scenario, you decided to deploy new SAP S/4HANA system and migrate selected data from your legacy system. By the way – that legacy system could be an SAP R/3 or ERP system or any 3rd party system. If it is an SAP ERP system, then you could transition to SAP S/4HANA (on premise) using Conversion scenario, but you have decided not to.
If the above sounds like your case, read on…
In the context of this article, we focus on migration of business data and not system data, like for example configuration.
The New System Implementation scenario supports two distinct targets – SAP S/4HANA (lack of any suffix indicates on premise edition) and SAP S/4HANA Cloud.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves – before talking about how the migration can be done, it is prudent to discuss how data should be prepared for the migration. Broadly, the data in your current environment can be classified into following buckets:
In this article, we are focusing on data which must be migrated to the new SAP S/4HANA transactional system – represented by buckets 1 and 3 above. So, before we move on (and after discarding bucket 5), what options do we have for buckets 2 & 4? Following could be considered:
In essence, what you should have in place prior to undertaking major migration project should be a strategy or at least a vision for all kinds of information your organization manages. If you aren't sure where to start, check the blog on Information Governance Model.
Now, we are left with buckets 1 & 3 to deal with. The only difference between them is the quality of the data – the poorer quality, the better tooling and more effort is required to cleanse and/or enrich the data and it may impact the decision regarding choice of migration tools.
The matrix below shows tools available in various data migration scenarios:
Target → Source | SAP S/4HANA | SAP S/4HANA Cloud |
SAP R/3 |
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SAP ERP | ||
Any ERP |
Let’s get the elephant out of the room straight away – the notable absence of Legacy System Migration Workbench (LSMW) from the matrix above. As per note 2287723 - LSMW in SAP S/4HANA on premise edition:
The use of LSMW for data load to SAP S/4HANA is not recommended and at the customer's own responsibility. Instead, the SAP S/4HANA migration cockpit is SAP’s solution for data migration to SAP S/4HANA. You should always check if the object is available with the SAP S/4HANA migration cockpit before using the LSMW.
If you still use the LSMW, you have to carefully test the processes so that you can ensure that it is actually working for you. It might not work for you and in any case.
Expect restrictions around transaction recording (as this is not possible with the new SAP Fiori screens) and changed interfaces (for instance the Business Partner CVI). Standard Batch Input programs may also no longer work as transactions may have changed functionality or may be completely removed within some areas. For example, due to security reasons batch import has been limited for RCCLBI02 program. Also, transactions for customer master data (FD*/XD*) and vendor master data (FK*/XK*) cannot be used anymore due to the change to the Business Partner data model in SAP S/4HANA.
Needless to say that LSMW is not available at all in Cloud edition.
For the reasons above, we will not be discussing LSMW in this article. We will be discussing two set of tools and approaches – using built-in SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit and Object Modeler and rapid data migration content for SAP Data Services.
Please also refer to the following blog: Comparison: Migration Cockpit, Rapid Data Migration (with Data Services) and LSMW.
SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit (MC) and Migration Object Modeler (MOM)
For an easy introduction to SAP S/4HANA MC refer to this video (also check links at the bottom of this blog for more videos).
SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit (referred to as MC hereafter) is a new migration tool that is shipped exclusively with SAP S/4HANA – it was initially available for Cloud edition, but since SAP S/4HANA 1610 it is also shipped with on premise edition.
It is accompanied by Migration Object Modeler (referred to as MOM hereafter), which is a design tool for enhancements and modifications of pre-defined migration objects. We will get back to it a little bit later.
Since both of these tools are new, let’s elaborate a bit on their structure and capabilities to give you a better idea on what to expect of them.
MC is delivered with standard deployment of SAP S/4HANA – that is no additional add-ons or special UI activation activities need to take place after you have installed, upgraded or converted to SAP S/4HANA 1610 or higher. It can be launched using Manage Your Solution Launchpad in case of the Cloud edition or using tx. LTMC in case of On-Premise. The MC itself has a browser based (WebDynpro) interface. There are following concepts employed within MC:
Migration Project provides what is based described as “organizational layer” – it allows for grouping of the migration activities to suit project needs. Examples of criteria used to define separate projects (examples only, can be combined):
Migration Project has a transfer ID associated with it – concept taken from System Landscape Transformation capabilities. The transfer ID acts as unique identifier per project in order to facilitate transfer of project specific settings (including value mappings) between environments in the landscape – for example between QA and Production systems (which is performed using the Export/Import Content function and not using Change & Transport System (CTS)).
Once Migration Project has been created, you can choose which Migration Objects will be utilized within that Project. On the Project’s overview screen, all available Objects are presented with following information:
Once you pick particular object for the first time, the associated object template will be copied to the Migration Project – what that means is that this object’s standard template and transfer rules are copied. It should be noted that the template is only applied at the time of copy. This has following consequences:
Now, that you have selected your Migration Object(s) within the Migration Project, you can do the following:
It is important to understand that APIs used to post data to the target SAP S/4HANA system only support INSERT actions. In other words, there are no UPSERT or UPDATE actions supported. Thus, any data already loaded to the target system cannot be re-loaded. Similarly, if particular data file has been partially successful, you should filter only failed records for subsequent re-run to avoid errors associated with attempts to create duplicate records (for those which were successful during first run).
To summarise key aspects of the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit:
Documentation of the SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit can be found here:
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SAP S/4HANA Migration Object Modeler (MOM) is a tool delivered in On-premise edition only and can be seen as a design-time tool for definition of the Migration Objects. Its enhancement capabilities are evolving and depending on which SAP S/4HANA version you are working with.
In essence, following activities can be performed using MOM in S/4HANA 1610 up to and including FPS01:
In SAP S/4HANA 1610 FPS02 new features have been introduced:
So, with enhancements introduced recently, you are also able to migrate data into custom built apps (within SAP S/4HANA) as well – as long as there is a suitable API to post to particular data object.
Documentation for the SAP S/4HANA Migration Object Modeler can be found here:
Prior to introduction of SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit to on-premise world, SAP Data Services were the only tool recommended and fully supported for the purposes of data migration to SAP S/4HANA (on-premise). Furthermore, we have also built and been delivering associated accelerators in the form of Best Practice for “rapid data migration to SAP S/4HANA (on premise)” available at https://rapid.sap.com/bp/RDM_S4H_OP (always check for latest version of the BP).
This best practice is built on the capabilities of SAP Data Services, the market leading data integration tool with full data quality capabilities. The logical architecture and scope of this solution is depicted on the diagram below:
The content delivered with Best Practice includes:
And before we proceed, it is worth distinguishing two use cases of this best practice depending on your requirements and license in place. As per Note 2239701 - SAP Rapid Data Migration for SAP S/4HANA, on premise edition:
If you own either a runtime (REAB) or full use SAP HANA license, this includes a limited use license of SAP Data Services software restricted to loading data into SAP HANA (called Data Integrator license). This fills the minimum requirement for the SAP Rapid Data Migration to SAP S/4HANA content which includes full ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load) used to extract data from heterogeneous source systems, the transformation and mapping, the validation and the data load.
In other words, the limited use license allows you to take advantage of all scope items in the diagram above. Additional licenses may be useful for two specific extensions to the core functionality - advanced data profiling and advanced data cleansing.
With regards to advanced data cleansing there is a dedicated job to standardise, cleanse, match and de-duplicate Business Partner names and addresses, which uses Data Quality transforms and thus requires the full Data Services license.
The SAP Information Steward comes into the picture to provide advanced data profiling capabilities based on its Data Insight that includes the ability to run extensive types of profiling like:
To take advantage of the capabilities listed above, respective license is required. Henceforward we will focus on capabilities included in the Data Integrator package.
SAP Data Services use IDocs to post data into SAP S/4HANA, therefore respective configuration on the SAP S/4HANA target system is a common requirement for all migration objects. There is a custom program delivered to create required partner profiles for each required message type (refer to building block “Data Migration IDoc Config Guide (W01)”).
Now, we do obviously need to deploy SAP Data Services and associated requirements as well as pre-delivered migration content – this is documented in “RDM_S4H_OP_DS42V2_Quick_Guide_EN_XX” attached to Note 2239701. Worth noting that there are two separate versions of this manual – one for Windows and one for Linux based deployment with support for underlying repository database platforms varying between these deployments. Also, the document may only detail set-up steps for one selected DB – for other supported DB platforms, refer to standard SAP Data Services documentation.
Once standard set-up is complete, delivered content needs to be applied – from that point forward, the platform is ready for preparation and execution of data migration for selected objects.
When sourcing data from your legacy system, you will have a choice of using flat files (text or XLS) as intermediary or to connect directly to your source system or database.
With the documentation and content delivered via referenced Note, you can deliver your data migration project yourself. But, SAP does have packaged service to deliver the described scope. You can get more details from https://rapid.sap.com/bp/#/browse/packageversions/RDM_S4H_OP > Accelerators > Customer presentation. The service has flexible scope and experienced team to deliver. This can be particularly interesting when you do not operate SAP Data Services in your environment and do not have the necessary skills available.
The two toolsets and methods for migrating your data described above are quite different when it comes to the tooling, capabilities and associated effort. The matrix below attempts to summarise and compare key aspects of each.
Tool/Method Aspect | SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit (MC) and SAP S/4HANA Migration Object Modeler (MOM) | Rapid Data Migration with SAP Data Services (DS) |
Technical deployment | Built into the SAP S/4HANA 1610 and later | Separate deployment and set-up necessary for SAP Data Services, BI Platform and optionally Information Steward. |
Commercial aspects | Capability provided as part of SAP S/4HANA license. | Core capability included in selected SAP HANA licenses. Advanced functionality (for data cleansing) requires full SAP Data Services license. |
Data extraction methods | File-based load supported only at this stage. | File-based as well as direct load from source system/database. |
Delivery method | Best practice documentation and built-in migration object templates delivered as part of the solution. | Best practice documentation and built-in migration object templates delivered as part of the solution. Also available as packaged service from SAP. |
Extensibility | Extensibility using MOM allows to go beyond reliance on standard content in Migration Cockpit. | Full extensibility using standard SAP Data Services capabilities. |
Data quality support | None other than data validation during (simulation) posting. | Yes, but requires SAP Data Services license. |
Scope of supported migration objects | Decided not to attempt to compare the scope in this blog as it tends to change quite rapidly and depends (especially in case of MC/MOM) on the target SAP S/4HANA version. It is fair to say that up to certain point, SAP Data Services has numerical (number of supported objects) advantage, but this is rapidly changing. And with both toolsets supporting custom build of migration objects and scenarios, sky is the limit... |
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