In September 2018, SAP published the fourth version of the latest ERP system with SAP S/4HANA 1809. Having started with a simplified data model for financial accounting, today SAP S/4HANA is a fully fledged ERP system that also covers all functions of SAP ERP ECC. With SAP S/4HANA, however, SAP goes significantly further and creates the basis for digitization in companies thanks to the in-memory computing platform SAP HANA.
Important Reasons for Switching to SAP S/4HANA
SAP will only continue to support the old SAP ERP through innovations until 2030
Machine learning, IoT, real-time analyses and big data scenarios are part of the standard repertoire
Relieving internal IT through consolidating many systems into the digital core
Making work easier for end users through SAP Fiori
Approaches to Introducing SAP S/4HANA
In general, there are three ways to introduce S/4HANA.
Greenfield approach – new beginning with SAP S/4HANA
- New installation of the SAP S/4HANA system and migration of existing master and transactional data
- The S/4HANA system is built parallel to the productive system
- Changeover in pure form, without having to consider grown structures or organizational conditions
- Greenfield is also a sensible approach for rethinking existing processes and freeing yourself of burdensome problems
System conversion (Brownfield approach) - from SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA
- The existing system is gradually converted to SAP S/4HANA while maintaining customizing, development, data, authorizations, etc.
- Beforehand, it must be checked whether extensions or add-on programs can be transferred or whether adjustments are necessary
- Incorporate current and historical data, including the conversion for the HANA database
- Useful for systems that are close to the SAP standard
Landscape conversion – realignment of existing system landscape
- This is a preferred solution for larger companies with a large number of systems and possibly also external systems (non-SAP)
- The starting point is the new installation of an SAP S/4HANA system or the conversion of an existing system
- Consolidation into an SAP S/4HANA system or possibly also selective data migration
Aicomp and T.CON – A Partnership for Your Success
Conversion know-how, configuration expertise and many years of industry experience
Together with its long-standing partner T.CON, Aicomp is strengthening its quality promise when implementing conversion projects.
Advantages for your company
Certified SAP S/4HANA competence
20 years of SAP experience
International references
Comprehensive industry expertise
Solutions for end-to-end processes, including important interface connection
Securing existing investments in additional developments (z programs)
Process of System Conversion
The system conversion is a customized approach that can only be planned after carefully analyzing the existing system landscape. The entire process is broken down into a preparation phase and an implementation phase.
Exemplary representation of a conversion
Preparation Phase
In this phase, the system is technically evaluated, such as:
- system design
- architecture and sizing
- need for new hardware resources.
In addition, the connection to the SAP Solution Manager occurs and third-party add-ons are checked to determine whether they are compatible with S/4HANA for the respective version. Pre-checks are implemented as an important prerequisite for converting to SAP S/4HANA. In the process, the necessary functional changes are identified between the ECC version used and the target S/4HANA version.
Implementation Phase
In the implementation phase, the technical conversion occurs with a specific guide for database migration, the installation of the SAP S/4HANA software occurs and your data is converted into the new data structure used by S/4HANA.
The cross-application follow-up activities follow in order to prepare the system. These include, among other things, finance migrations or the configuration and migration of credit management. If necessary, the Fiori environment is set up.
Once the conversion activities are complete, the system can be released for testing after an acceptance test.