Five Key assessments for a Smooth ECC to S/4HANA Transformation

[GovarthanG]

Greetings to all!           

      Embarking on the journey from an existing SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA can be a complex and daunting task. The transition involves assessing the current landscape, understanding the implications of the move, and preparing for the changes ahead. In the initial phase of this transformation, focusing on key strategies can help streamline the process and set the stage for a successful transition. Here, we discuss five essential assessments that organizations can do to navigate this transformation effectively, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum benefit.

Also when initiating a system conversion project, time and effort estimation are crucial to ensure the project stays on track. However, achieving accurate estimations can be challenging without data-driven actions.

To simplify this process, we can perform five key assessments:

1. Business Transformation Assessment
2. Landscape Assessment
3. Process Assessment
4. Custom Objects Assessment
5. Timeline Assessment

Let's get started

1. Business Transformation Assessment

Without a proper understanding of the landscape and the knowledge of how each of the processes is affected, it is literally impossible to build a proper digital transformation plan.

Collect all the business processes from the legacy system and organize them hierarchically into the following levels

L1 – Line of business

L2 – Process group

L3 – Scope item

L4 – Process variant

L5 – Process step

And conduct a materiality analysis of all the Functional Modules. This will help you identify the heavily used modules and the rarely used modules in the existing landscape. The primary purpose of this analysis is to understand the AS-IS state.

2. Landscape Assessment

 2.1  Active vs Inactive Users
         Find out the total number of SAP ERP users and classify them into active and inactive users based on their activity. As a result, this section gives you an analytical view of all the users present in the system and helps you make the right decision with respect to license purchase before moving to S/4HANA.

 2.2 Add-on Analytics   

        Your transition from ECC to S/4HANA can be hindered by an incompatible add-on. All add-ons must be certified to run on S/4HANA. For SAP's own add-ons or those sold through SAP's pricelist, you can directly request the status of add-ons and additional packages from SAP. However, SAP is not responsible for independent third-party add-ons.

 2.3 Archiving List

       Archiving in SAP refers to the process of moving data that is no longer actively used or needed for daily operations to a separate storage location. This helps reduce the size of the production database, improve system performance, and ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements regarding data retention.

3. Process Assessment

 3.1 Enterprise Structure Mining

    Enterprise Structure Mining assessments are crucial for understanding the current organizational setup, including the number of company codes, sales organizations, purchase organizations, and other key elements. This information is used to identify opportunities for streamlining processes, improving efficiency, and aligning the SAP system with the organization's strategic objectives.

For example, in the case of Sales documents, the analysis drills down from company codes, sales organizations, distribution channels, plants, and all the way up to the sales documents.                                     

 3.2 Complexity Analysis

     Analyze the complexity of the system in terms of parameters such as the New G/L, Special Purpose Ledger, Material Ledger, Multi-Currency model, and Business Partners that are active in the existing landscape.

 3.3 Simplification Item Check

       Simplification analysis is a crucial step in preparing for an SAP S/4HANA conversion. It involves assessing the potential adaptation work needed to transition from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA at a functional level. This analysis helps identify simplification items, which are changes or adaptations required for business processes and custom developments to align with SAP S/4HANA's functionalities and best practices. The analysis provides insights into the impact of these changes, helping organizations plan and execute their conversion projects effectively.

 3.4  Training Plan

        In a system conversion project like transitioning to SAP S/4HANA, it's crucial to prioritize training for end-users. Often, the focus is on the technical aspects of the project, but neglecting user training can lead to challenges post-implementation. To ensure a successful transition, create a comprehensive training plan that includes scenario-based training and onboard end-users early in the process. This approach not only prepares users for the new system but also helps in embracing a mindset shift towards leveraging SAP S/4HANA for success in the digital economy.

4. Custom Objects Assessment

     In the Custom Objects Assessment, the goal is to identify all custom objects in the system. These custom objects may not be readable in the S/4HANA system, potentially requiring significant time for adaptation. By the end of this assessment, you should have the total number of custom objects, modules with a high number of custom objects, total impacted objects, and total impacted cases. This information is crucial for planning and executing the transition to SAP S/4HANA effectively.

5. Timeline/Effort Assessment

 5.1  Timeline Assessment

Timeline Assessment involves planning the project timeline based on team size, assessment results, and project scope. It includes creating a high-level roadmap for the SAP S/4HANA system conversion process, validating it with solution architects and project managers, and charting out a detailed plan for the conversion project. This step is crucial for setting realistic deadlines, milestones, and sub-phase timelines to ensure the project stays on track and is completed successfully.  

 5.2 Effort Estimation

 Effort Estimation in the context of SAP S/4HANA conversion refers to accurately predicting the resources and efforts required for the conversion project. It involves identifying the necessary preparation and pre-checks in the current system landscape, estimating HANA database and hardware sizing, and quantifying the IT effort needed for the transition. This helps in optimizing the total cost of conversion and deploying the right resources for a successful SAP S/4HANA realization.

[GovarthanG · Accepted solution]

For more detailed information, you can also check out the video 5 key assessments.

[Charlebois54]

Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. Office ally Your contributions make a significant difference.

[GovarthanG]

You're welcome! I'm glad to hear that my contributions are valued.