SAP ECC End of Life. Overview the impact.
When support for an existing (ERP) system ends, an organization is faced with the choice of a new product. For example, ERP supplier SAP has announced that support for SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) will end in 2027. SAP ECC users can opt for the new SAP ERP product, SAP S4/HANA. But doesn't this offer an opportunity to consider the best next step?
The end of life announcement of SAP ECC is a natural moment to carefully examine the wishes and requirements regarding the new solution and to visualize the impact of the implementation. In this article we provide a number of considerations that are important when determining the choice and subsequent implementation.
New implementation is always complex
SAP plays a crucial role in primary and supporting processes in many organizations. Regardless of the choice for SAP S4/HANA or an alternative from another supplier, a smooth transition to the new situation is essential. And that is not a given even in the case of a switch to SAP S4/HANA!
The switch to SAP S4/HANA is not a simple upgrade, but a completely new ERP implementation, including a data migration.
It is advisable to determine whether the new product suits your business operations, what the ROI is and what the impact is of switching.
Make a conscious choice in time
In principle, you have three options:
- Do nothing and wait until the old application is disrupted. Very unwise, because you will have limited access to knowledge. Security patches and updates are no longer provided, which endangers the operation. Performance and usability will also generally decrease.
- Switch to SAP S4/HANA and determine a migration path based on the supplier's advice. You make this choice if there is a good fit, you experience a lot of value from the new advanced options and if you need a solid foundation for future development.
- Reorient yourself in the market and make a new choice, in which you properly compare your needs and the offer. You can choose this route if SAP S4/HANA does not have a good fit or is too broad for your situation, expects a lot of impact due to existing adjustments and integrations, or if you want to avoid vendor lock-in.
Create an implementation and data migration plan
Once a choice has been made for the new system, the real work begins and a plan must be drawn up. The work processes, the relationships with other IT components and the required reports are described in such a plan. It is advisable to set up two separate projects for the implementation and the data migration. The implementation focuses on setting up, configuring and getting the system live. This is often carried out by either specialized in-house personnel or by an SAP implementation specialist. The data migration is carried out by specialists who focus on the transformation of data, data quality and optimizing the value of data in the new processes. The old system usually contains a lot of historical data. Part of the data migration plan is to determine which data is in-scope for migration. The implementation plan and the data migration plan form the basis for the communication with the organization about going live, whereby optimal use of data and continuity of business processes are the starting points.
Data migration is an important aspect
Data eXcellence focuses specifically on data migration. In order to successfully execute a data migration, the following is described in the plan:
- The in-scope data for migration
- The transformations to load the data into the target environment
- The data quality requirements to be able to execute the processes in the new system.
The source environment usually contains more data than is strictly necessary in the target environment. In workshops with the data owners and users, it is determined which data is in-scope and in what way selection should be applied. During data migration, DX translates the old to the new data structure, in such a way that the new application can work properly. The data migration is an excellent moment to pay attention to the quality of data. The targeted addition, improvement or removal of data ensures that the users can start with a clean slate. DX helps to map and specifically improve the data in the data migration process.
Testing, testing and more testing..
If the requirements and wishes regarding data migration have been properly established in advance, it can be determined exactly during the (trial) migrations whether the data migration has been carried out correctly. Data from the source system that cannot be migrated with the current quality and known transformations are reported as failure. Adjusting the transformations or improving data in the source system reduces the failure.
Not only the correctness of the selection and the execution of the transformations are tested, the support of the business processes based on migrated data must also be tested.
Understand the impact
Whether you are switching to SAP S4/HANA or other ERP software, it is wise to oversee the impact. Data migration is part of this impact.
We would be happy to discuss this with you. Our experienced specialists will be happy to advise you on the impact, preparation and execution of the necessary data migration.