The move to an intelligent enterprise can be a complex journey, especially during a time when digitization is accelerating at a rapid pace and innovation and technology across every sector is forcing corporations to stay competitive and relevant.
This usually begins with establishing an intelligent core or enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, but for many companies, migrating to a new system is more than just a simple upgrade.
With the accumulation of years of historical business data across highly complex system landscapes, companies need to take a specific migration approach to SAP S/4HANA to help ensure they are maintaining business continuity, while benefitting from any innovation that comes along with the migration. While many of these transitions may take the form of a new implementation or system conversion, some customers need more flexibility to master their move to an intelligent ERP.
Common Standard for the Market
Recognizing this need, SAP formed a working group, SAP S/4HANA Selective Data Transition Engagement, along with expert consulting firms cbs, Datavard, Natuvion, and SNP. The group facilitates a common standard that addresses a very specific need from the market: a tailored scope between system conversion and new implementation.
This approach, called selective data transition, combines the redesign of business processes with the retention of select historical data to align with the customer’s new business reality.
Alongside industry peers that have proven expertise in system landscape transformation projects, SAP put together common standards and best practices for the market to help ensure that high quality is continuously maintained as customers make their move to SAP S/4HANA using selective data transition. While each party works with its individual customers on their own unique migrations, the group has access to expert content, recommended scenarios, best practices, and solution patterns to help make sure that all customers’ needs are met.
Customers across the globe can now rely on this working group to get a better understanding of their options, and the opportunities and benefits of using this selective approach, as well as access to a range of expertise through an internal knowledge exchange that takes place across the group. The group has defined a variety of scenarios that can benefit from this migration approach and continue to get updated on the database.
Custom Approach for Each Migration
Striking a balance between redesign and reuse, selective data transition can take place across various scenarios for companies of all sizes to support a smooth transition to SAP S/4HANA that enables the right IT landscape for each customer’s unique needs. Since selective data transition goes beyond a standard implementation, there are a host of options that customers can choose from depending on their current landscapes and their future needs.
Customers can work with SAP or their partners to define the appropriate structural changes that need to take place during data migration, as well as any business processes that may need to be amended or redesigned. With this tailored approach, customers have increased flexibility to adapt data and processes – all in just one step.
Using selective data transition, customers can take advantage of select innovation, where they can adjust business processes to enable the use of new tools and functionality without having to start from scratch. Long-time SAP customers that have very mature landscapes can clean up their environments while retaining those investments that matter most and short track their transitions by bypassing preparation projects.
For those looking to split some of their projects between the cloud and on premise, selective data transition allows them to split, restructure, and consolidate their environments as they please. Most importantly, this migration approach allows customers to save time by combining all tasks in one step.
With the SAP S/4HANA Movement initiative, SAP is constantly looking for ways to make these migrations as simple as possible for customers, investing in ways that provide as much flexibility as possible.
