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MIDNIGHT STUDIO/ADOBEA CHECKLISTFOR MIGRATINGTO SAP S/4HANAA CHECKLISTFOR MIGRATING TOSAP S/4HANAITCHAZNONG/ADOBEPRODUCED BY

S/4HANA MIGRATION CHECKLISTS/4HANA MIGRATION CHECKLISTThe move from SAP’s current ECC software to S/4HANA is inevitable.
Themoveat
fromSAP’s arecurrent
ECC software
to S/4HANA
inevitable.
Experts
Experts
Panayahelping
organisations
withistheir
upgradeandat Panaya are helping organisations with their upgrade and how best to prepare
how best to prepareM

any SAP application managers
are actively considering how best
to upgrade to S/4HANA, the latest
platform of the software supplier’s
core business software. However, it is a bigundertaking and a commitment potentiallyinvolving significant costs and resources. For
any organisation embarking on a migration
programme, it is important to have a clear
picture of what will be involved.

“S/4HANA is the newest platform for any ERP
requirements, but there are many challenges in
the upgrade which means several companies
have either postponed the upgrade or calledin systems integrators. However, there are“There are simple steps“There are simple steps companies
companies can take for a pain-free journey
can take for a pain-free journey
to not forestallinnovation”
to not forestallinnovation”

SAP has extended the support deadline
for its current ECC software from 2025 to2027 following pressure from customers,
but the move to S/4HANA is inevitable –and can bring significant benefits to thebusiness once implemented.

Amitvice-president
Garussi, vice-president
Amit Garussi,
product, product,
Change Intelligence,
ChangePanaya
Intelligence, Panaya

SAP experts at Panaya are helping organisations with their upgrade to S/4HANA and understanding how best to prepare – what you needto know and what you need to do to minimise
disruption and ensure the benefits are delivered.

simple steps they can take for a pain-freejourney to not forestall innovation,” says Amit
Garussi, vice-president product, ChangeIntelligence at Panaya.

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Garussi says that the main resistance toupgrading to S/4HANA is that it impacts
many everyday business processes, adding
complexity through rebuilding those processes
for the new environment.

“They should be prepared from a budget andplanning perspective, and this is critical in theearly stages,” says Garussi.
“During the assessment phase, it is importantto build a pre-plan of the project covering thetiming, the duration and the expertise. The
importance of ensuring the business case isaccurate cannot be re-emphasised enough. It
helps manage expectations.”“Organisations need to understand the time itwill take, the budget, and whether they haveenough in-house expertise,” he adds.
A typical project will take two-to-three years andGarussi says organisations must ensure theycan tick off all the items on Panaya’s recommended checklist before starting out – he says
it may even be better to postpone if everything
is not in place.

3. Greenfield
Greenfieldvs
vsbrownfieldbrownfield
3.
Organisations must choose whether to pursue
a “greenfield” or a “brownfield” implementationand evaluate the pros and cons for each.

There are four key stages in the journey to
S/4HANA – assessment, preparation, migration
and acceleration:“A greenfield site means starting from scratch,whereas a brownfield site builds on what youhave,” says Garussi.

Assessment
phase phase
Assessment“Greenfield requires re-sketching every business process, which involves politics within theorganisation. It is fresh, up to date, but it takes
a longer time and involves more people. With abrownfield approach, you take the legacy andthe business processes you already have to thenewer platform.”1.
mapping
1. Value
Value mapping
Creating an SAP value map enables different
departments to understand how they must
prepare for the upgrade and how they standto benefit from the innovation available. Thisshould be made as part of the business case.
It is critical that both the IT department andbusiness stakeholders appreciate the impact
and outcome of the journey to S/4HANA.
This will help to minimise disruption, keep totimelines and deliver a swift migration without
wasting resources.
“Seeing the impact of change in advance ispriceless,” says Garussi.

Assessing the two approaches involves looking
at current processes and whether they meetthe future requirements of the business; theimplications for business strategy; and thebudget and time available. Panaya can provide
analysis to help organisations decide whether
to build on their solid SAP foundation andmigrate from ECC to S/4HANA, or whether tochoose a greenfield implementation for thebest way forward.

2. Put expertise2.
expertiseininplace
place

Preparation
phase phase
Preparation

Organisations need to understand the levels of
expertise required, otherwise the project could
turn out to be stop-start, costly and lacking enduser engagement. Ensuring that resources areefficiently used is vital and companies need toknow what resources are required for the projectfrom the outset.

4. Project
Projectvisibility
visibility
4.
Real-time visibility for project managers andemployees is essential. Panaya offers a richdashboard, displaying effort, progress, defects,
risk, best practices and drill-down into the codefor each change.

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7.Avoid
Avoidcriticalcriticalbusinessbusinessdisruption
disruption
7.

“It is a critical piece to have full visibility so thatevery manager, the CIO and the business cansee every stage of the project. Reports shouldbe accessible by all users – not just by the techsavvy. Ensuring everything is on track, having
one place, one source and one platform thatmanages the project end-to-end for full visibility
is vital. If you have information stored in email,SharePoint, Excel and so on, you are nevergoing be able to build a map and show in realtime what is going on,” says Garussi.

When planning timescales for the cutover to
S/4HANA, be aware of critical business periods
that cannot be disrupted.
“Avoiding a business shut-down during a rush
period such as end-of-year or Christmas isrecommended. Testing and go-live can cause
a one-to-two day shut-down. If IT wants fullco-operation with the business, with everythingin place and synchronised data, it is important
to avoid these critical times,” says Garussi.

5. Standardisation
5.
Standardisation
A focus on standardisation during testing will
ensure synchronisation and collaboration to
manage timescales. This is impossible if information is kept in silos such as email or Excel
as visibility is lost and compiling key facts takes
time and wastes resources.

“Ensuring everything is on track,“Ensuring everything is on track,
having one
one place,oneonesourceand oneandplatform
havingplace,sourceoneplatform
managestheend-to-end
projectthat thatmanages
the projectend-to-endfor
forfull
fullvisibility
visibility
is vital”
is vital”“Centralisation, standardisation and synchronisation between key testers to ensure full collaboration and to reduce timelines is essential,”says Garussi.

Amit Garussi,
vice-president
product, product,
Amit
Garussi, vice-president
Change Intelligence, Panaya
Change Intelligence, Panaya

6.
Be clearclear onondesireddesiredoutcomesoutcomes
6. Be

8.
Documentbusinessbusinessprocesses
processes
8. Document

Identify and disseminate the businessjustification for the migration to S/4HANA. It
might be business process enhancement, orcutting-edge digital technologies, or alignment
with other entities within the organisation topromote standardisation, accuracy and agility.
Organisations will have different benefits theywish to achieve, but it is important to make astrong business case to make sure everyone
understands the desired outcome.

Be sure to gather and share a thorough understanding of the business processes currently
in production. Garussi recommends that IT
scopes one year of usage of all activities, suchas financial reporting, for a better understanding
and analysis of systems. The aim is to have thebest and most accurate plan of the project fromthe beginning and to ask what will be required interms of resources and time based on the target
version of the upgrade.

“Every customer looks at the business casefrom a different angle. There may be no choicebecause of end-of-life, but what will you attach
to the project beyond that? Whether it is innovation, business process enhancement, morestrategic reporting or providing access to othertechnologies, this will vary from organisation toorganisation and depend on the management
and their vision,” says Garussi.

Migrationphase phaseMigration
9. The
The importanceimportanceofoftesting
testing
Every organisation must be prepared to do testing at every stage of the migration project, andrecognise that it will be carried out by different
stakeholders, such as developers or business-4-

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HOW PANAYA SUPPORTS S/4HANA MIGRATION

users. User acceptance testing (UAT) helps
smooth the transition for business users.

HOW PANAYA SUPPORTS
Preparing a business case? Panaya provides a full picture
S/4HANAMIGRATION
to a client covering
how much effort such as time, testing

Panaya can enable UAT with multiple tests
coordinated simultaneously, internationally andremotely to support any decentralised testing
effort. Panaya’s platform and solutions for
S/4HANA migration include “out-of-the-box”
comprehensive testing capabilities, as wellas the Test Dynamix platform, which is partof S/4Convert.

and planned correction activities are required to complete
the project.
Preparinga business case? Panaya provides a full
picture to a client covering how much effort such as time,
Preparing?
Panaya’stoolbox
helps reduce
the risktestingand plannedcorrection
activities
are required
to inmigration
bysupporting
pre-conversion
activities,
such ascomplete the project.

moving to the HANA database and code cleaning. It enables
organisations
to start
designingnew businessprocesses
Preparing?
Panaya’s
toolboxhelps reduce
the risk inbased onexisting
ECC system.activities, such
migration
bytheir
supporting
pre-conversion

Automated testing is recommended for repetitive
testing activities, such as regression testing,which are part of the migration project. Intelligent
code remediation (ICR) using Panaya’s
automatic code fixes for HANA-related activities,
can save thousands of manual corrections
done by developers, with a click of a button.
This can cut the project duration by months.

as moving to the HANA database and code cleaning. It
Startingthe migration?
coversenablesorganisations
to startPanaya
designing
new end-to-end
business
project
execution
toensure
thefullscope
processes based on their existing ECC system.of a project tomigrate from ECC to S/4HANA is understood. The project
includes all workstreams, corrections and testing activities.
Starting the migration? Panaya covers end-to-end projectSome activities are done automatically, such as throughexecution to ensure the full scope of a project to migrate
intelligent code remediation (ICR). It helps minimise risk
from ECC to S/4HANA is understood. The project includes
and reduce project time and cost by 50%.
all workstreams, corrections and testing activities. Some
activities are done automatically, such as through intelligent
Already on S/4HANA? Panaya covers end-to-end projectcode remediation (ICR). It helps minimise risk and reduce
execution when upgrading from an existing S/4HANA
project time and cost by 50%.

“Panaya provides one platform to manage
testing activities for IT and the business,”says Garussi.

implementation, to a new version of S/4HANA. This enables
improved functionality and can help businesses upgrade
Already on S/4HANA? Panaya covers end-to-end proefficiently and rapidly
ject execution when upgrading from an existing S/4HANA
irrespective of version. For
implementation, to a new version of S/4HANA. This enables
example, early adopters
improved functionality and can help businesses upgradeof S/4HANA will be out ofefficiently and rapidly irrespective of version. For example,
service after five years andearly adopters of S/4HANA will be out of service after five
will need to upgrade.

Before hitting the green light to go live – test,
test and test again.

10.
order
10. Complete
Completetasks
tasksininthe
thecorrect
correct
It might seem an obvious statement to ensure
the correct ordering of tasks – but the problems
caused by failing to do so can be significant.
Pre-planning, planning, business case, conversion activities such as code corrections andtesting and acceleration are all key elements,
and all require dedicated time and resources,and no stage should be neglected.

years and will need to upgrade.

tasks should be followed up with further analysis
and testing. Keeping track of what needs to bedone is only possible with a 360-degree view.

11.
11. A
A holistic
holistic view
view

“Panaya provides one platform“Panaya provides one platform
to manage
activities
to manage
testingtesting
activities
for IT and fortheITbusiness”
and the business”

Organisations must aim for a holistic viewof the project, especially when it comes totesting, to deal with interdependencies andensure synchronisation for pre- and postupgrade corrections.

Amit Garussi,
vice-president
product, product,
AmitGarussi, vice-president
Change Intelligence,
PanayaChange Intelligence, Panaya

Sometimes new activities will be required postconversion. Execution of required conversion-5-

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12. TheThe go-live
go-livedecision
decision
12.
Going live is clearly a critical event. If thechecklist has been followed thoroughly, risk is
12. The go-live decisionminimised, but giving the green light requires
high levels of co-operation and preparation
Going live is clearly a critical event. If theacross the business. Don’t underestimate what
checklist has been followed thoroughly, risk is
is involved.
minimised, but giving the green light requires
high levels of co-operation and preparation“A steering committee should manage theacross the business. Don’t underestimate what
project from start to end. The decision to go live
is involved.
should be based on KPIs defined by specificactivities. For example, a threshold such as less“A steering committee should manage thethan five medium priority defects, with confirmaproject from start to end. The decision to go live
tion from the business,” says Garussi.
should be based on KPIs defined by specificactivities. For example, a threshold such as less
13. Compliance
Compliance andandregulation
regulation
13.
than five medium priority defects, with confirmation from the business,” says Garussi.
All businesses will have regulations andcompliance procedures which must be adhered
13. Compliance and regulation
to in any upgrade. If an organisation is in aAll businesses will have regulations andhighly regulated sector, such as health or
finance, the pressure increases to comply.
This can be helped with services such as
Panaya’s built-in recording functionality tohighly regulated sector, such as health ortrack compliance and the use of e-signatures
finance, the pressure increases to comply.
to lock-in approvals.
This can be helped with services such as
Panaya’s built-in recording functionality toAcceleration
phase
Acceleration
track complianceand the usephaseof e-signatures
to lock-in approvals.

14.
14. Innovation
Innovationnever
neverends
ends

Acceleration phase

Panaya enables testing assets to be re-used infuture projects by creating a test library to build
14. Innovation never ends
up a knowledge base that adds value during
future innovations.
Panaya enables testing assets to be re-used infuture projects by creating a test library to build“Once you are on S/4HANA, you are not done.
up a knowledge base that adds value during
If you stand in one place, you are moving
future innovations.
backwards. You need to look at the next
milestone and plan for the next upgrade,”“Once you are on S/4HANA, you are not done.
says Garussi.
If you stand in one place, you are moving
backwards. You need to look at the next

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