1. The Power to Handle Bigger Data
   With SAP HANA your organization is much better equipped to handle, and even go beyond, the Big Data trend. HANA seamlessly integrates information from a wide range of external and internal sources. Its machine learning and advanced analytic capabilities also mean that vast amounts of unstructured data can be incorporated – text, predictive, spatial, event streams, and time series.
2. Real-Time Analytic Capability
   If your organization has a need for up-to-the-moment information or processes reports that take a long time to generate, SAP HANA can undoubtedly help you. In short, with SAP HANA you can react in almost real time to events affecting your business and take appropriate actions to capitalize on opportunities or overcome challenges.
3. Scalable Solutions
   No business should be aiming to remain static, and one benefit of migrating to SAP HANA is that, when your needs increase and your business grows, you can very easily increase the size of your HANA solution dynamically and cost effectively.
4. Flexibility and Versatility
   One of the greatest benefits of SAP HANA is its compatibility with other databases, hardware and software, making it one of the most versatile data solutions available. This means your team can achieve greater analytic capabilities, without giving up the interfaces they trust.
   Although SAP HANA is compatible with a huge range of systems, it’s columnar data models mean some existing custom ABAP code will no longer perform optimally and can potentially even cause system errors.
5. Enhanced Security:
   For Configuring and Using New Features and New Business Functionality
   Probably the biggest advantage of going for an EHP upgrade on your SAP system is the array of additional features that you get along with it. These features and new sets of functionalities are developed keeping in mind the pain points of using the current SAP version.
6. Uninterrupted SAP Support
   You may be familiar with several cases where organizations stop getting active SAP support for an older version just because they didn’t upgrade it with the last EHP version. This happens due to the fact that the SAP support team is trained to work on the latest EHP upgrades, and over time, the previous versions become completely obsolete.
7. Reduce Customization Cost for Solution Implementation
   Another fairly obvious benefit of updating your SAP system to the latest EHP version is that it significantly slashes down the cost incurred during the customization for solution implementation. This is probably why SAP itself recommends these seemingly optional upgrades as they are meant to make your system more efficient, bug-free and economical than ever before!
8. Respond to the Customer Quickly
   Last but certainly not least is the indirect betterment of the customer experience through SAP EHP upgrades. This mainly happens as a result of improved efficiency in a multitude of ways as well as due to the introduction of new features in your SAP system.

Industries:

• Consumer product
• Production and manufacturing
• Retail
• Professional Services
• Wholesale distribution
• Wearhouse
• INDUSTRIAL MACHINERY AND COMPONENTS
• E-Commerce
• Logistics and Mobility

SAP Migration to S/4HANA: State of the Market

According to a SAPinsider survey, over half (52%) of respondents are currently in the evaluation phase of their S/4HANA migration. This sounds encouraging, perhaps, but it also means that many, perhaps most, organizations planning a move from SAP ERP ECC to S/4 HANA have not taken more concrete steps to get there.

According to the insights we gathered while talking to customers in various verticals (consumer goods, retail, manufacturing, and pharma, to name a few):

• Most SAP customers plan to take the system conversion (brownfield) path to S/4HANA.
• A major customer pain point is the evaluation (business case) phase.
• Project scope, resources, and timeline are difficult to evaluate.

With so many moving parts and new standards, complexity and risk seem to be inherent to every SAP S/4 HANA system conversion.

What are common SAP S4 HANA migration challenges:

SAP S4HANA migration presents several challenges during migration which we addressed successfully:

• Data migration: Moving large amounts of data from legacy systems to SAP S/4HANA can be time-consuming and complex, requiring significant effort to ensure data accuracy and completeness.
• Customization compatibility: Customizations made in the legacy system may not be compatible with the new SAP S/4HANA system and may require rework.
• Technical compatibility: Ensuring that SAP S/4HANA integrates with other systems and ensuring technical compatibility can pose a challenge.
• Cost: The cost of migration can be high, especially if extensive customizations or integrations are required.
• Technical expertise: Migrating to SAP S/4HANA requires a high level of technical expertise, and a shortage of skilled resources can be challenging.
• Testing: Extensive testing is required to ensure the new SAP S/4HANA system works correctly and meets business requirements.
• Time: Migration can take several months to complete, and disruption to business operations during this time can be significant.

S/4HANA Migration Strategy -Three Approaches, One Goal

Each approach uses a different methodology and has its advantages and disadvantages. Read on for an analysis of each approach and how to choose the one most suitable for your specific circumstances.

The Greenfield Approach – New Implementation

A greenfield project is a new implementation of SAP S/4HANA. It is a golden opportunity to redefine and simplify business processes and take full advantage of S/4HANA capabilities you may not have previously leveraged. While this approach does not guarantee operational success from the start, there is time to make necessary adjustments as the new system is implemented.

Nonetheless, the radical changes inevitably introduced in how you operate the system can be unnerving. And the re-implementation process can be tiresome and time-consuming, especially on the change management side. So, before you go down the greenfield path, be sure you’re ready for an intense and involved re-engineering process.

The Brownfield Approach – System Conversion

The brownfield alternative is SAP’s recommendation for customers who want to migrate to S/4HANA but preserve the value of the time and effort invested in adapting SAP ECC to their needs. It is a conversion process in which you migrate and adapt all your business processes to the new S/4HANA platform. This approach is less disruptive and can offer a better solution if you don’t want any essential operational changes.

A brownfield project runs the risk of possible technical issues during and after conversion. However, SAP has provided specific conversion tools and guidelines intended to mitigate such problems from the start.

Landscape Transformation – Selective Combinations

Landscape transformation is not a system conversion or a new implementation; it’s selective SAP S/4HANA migration or consolidation of multiple systems.

With this approach, you can limit SAP S/4HANA migration to specific business processes while leaving the rest as is. Some organizations go down this route for migrations expected to produce the best or fastest ROI, such as incorporating S/4HANA capabilities into their Central Finance business unit.

The same essential methodology, executed with the right SAP tools, can be used to consolidate SAP and non-SAP systems. Creating a single, centralized system reshapes your business landscape for more streamlined management.

How to Choose the Right S/4HANA Migration Approach

To choose the right migration approach, you’ll need an extensive analysis of your organization’s technical and functional aspects to determine SAP S/4HANA readiness. This includes evaluating the database, platform, configurations currently in use, your business workflows, the system landscape, and more.

More importantly, you should look at how the migration fits into your organization’s digital transformation roadmap. Identify where you are now, where you want to go in the coming years, and how you plan to get there.

Steps to a Successful SAP S/4HANA Migration

Once the path has been decided upon, it’s time to plan the exact ECC to S/4HANA migration steps needed for a successful implementation.

Greenfield

The SAP Activate methodology provides a clear structure and detailed series of steps for the greenfield approach:

Discover: Identify the value of your business and then develop the roadmap and strategy to be used in the implementation of the project.

Prepare: Start working on final project plans and preparing your team. Choosing the right people for your team ensures the project will run optimally.

Explore: SAP S/4HANA offers a wide range of solutions for your business, especially for a new implementation. Initiate the scope evaluation process with a Fit/Gap analysis — instead of traditional blueprint requirements — to ensure a more efficient implementation.

Realize: Focus on the business requirements defined in the previous phase. These include system configuration settings, integration scenarios, and data migration.

Deploy: Set up the production environment in this phase. When it’s ready, execute cutover activities and move business operations to the new system.

Brownfield & Landscape Transformation

The necessary landscape transformation or S/4HANA conversion steps are divided into two phases: preparation and realization.

Preparation: System Requirements & Planning: Conduct an assessment of the existing system and then define the best possible solution to execute the migration.

Conversion Pre-Check: Ensure any add-ons or business functions active in the current system are compatible with S/4HANA. (SAP has provided the Simplification Item Check for this purpose.)

Custom Code Migration: Check your custom code for S/4HANA compatibility. This is essential, especially if there are enhancements in your current system.

System Installation: Start the conversion to SAP S/4HANA, including database migration and data conversion.

Follow-On Activities: All relevant, customized settings must be migrated after the technical conversion.

Data consistency check (especially for financial data): Since SAP S/4HANA collects all relevant components from Financial Accounting (FI) and Controlling (CO) into one data pool, called the Universal Journal, you must reconcile your accounting components so that data can be merged correctly.

Iteration Testing: When all customizations are completed and all data has been migrated, you need to perform test iterations to ensure the system runs correctly.

3 Steps to Ease SAP S/4HANA Migration

Tackle the most common S/4HANA migration obstacles with these three moves:

• Use Value Stream Management to prioritize so you allocate resources based on added value for the end-user experience. Do not automatically assume your most challenging projects are also the most impactful ones.
• Start building a viable business case well ahead of your move. Waiting until the last-minute means you will have to pay the cost of indecision: technical debt, market share lost to competition, and a rushed insufficiently resourced migration project.
• Connect with HTSM to learn how we can ease your journey to S/4HANA and ensure a quicker return on your technology investments.

SAP migration best practices

Here are some best practices for SAP migration:

• Plan and prepare: Thoroughly plan the migration, including defining the scope, timeline, budget, and resources.
• Assess the current environment: To understand the existing systems, customizations, and data structures.
• Define the target landscape: Define the target landscape, including the desired functionalities, customizations, and integrations with other systems.
• Data migration strategy: Develop a data migration strategy that includes data cleansing, mapping, and validation.
• Test the migrated system thoroughly to identify and fix any issues before going live.
• Establish change management: Establish change management procedures to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the migration and its impact on their roles and processes.
• Re-evaluate customizations: Re-evaluate customizations made in the legacy system and determine if they are necessary for the new SAP S/4HANA system.
• Assign a dedicated project team: Assign a dedicated project team with the necessary technical and functional expertise to lead the migration.
• Partner with a trusted vendor: Partner with a trusted vendor or consultant with extensive experience in SAP migration to ensure a smooth and successful migration.
• Monitor and adjust: Continuously monitor the migration and make adjustments as needed to ensure that the project stays on track and meets the desired outcomes.

The Bottom Line: What to Expect

With HTSM, you can expect a seamless and efficient migration experience characterized by the following attributes:

• Remove the Guesswork: A clear understanding of what to install, how to install it, what to run, and in which order, with a tailored project blueprint of object connections based on your company’s production codebase.
• Mitigate Risk with Next-Gen Impact Analysis: Real-time risk analysis evaluates change impact, business processes, and code quality, helping to eliminate uncertainty and maintain security, performance, and compliance.
• Eliminate Scope Confusion: With made-for-SAP risk-based testing and custom code fixes, you get a clear path to rapidly implementing valuable corrections and eliminating unnecessary changes.
• Accelerate Test Execution: Automated test plans ensure efficient release cycles, while a record-and-play feature can capture tests to be reused for codeless automation.

Case Studies 1 - SAP S4 HANA migration

Description: This is a case study based on the migration experience at XYZ (Client Name withheld due to compliance & Information security issues). The client is an alcoholic & Non-alcoholic beverage, soft drink, and food company with multiple operation point within India.

When the food and beverage company planned a major business transformation and financial process consolidation, HTSM helped the customer to convert its SAP ECC to S/4HANA in the AWS cloud. Due to stringent timeline pressure HTSM’s  SAP ECC to S/4HANA Conversion Services were recruited for fast project delivery. We designed and implemented a new SAP S/4HANA solution on time to support the new operating model, improve financial insights, and lower costs in a modern Hyperscaler cloud environment. This digital transformation has helped the customer to realize key goals such as offering an e-commerce platform and to more quickly and easily adapt to changes in the food and beverage industry.

Industry: Food and Beverage

Services: SAP ECC to S/4HANA Conversion Services

Current Mode of Operation: SAP ECC

Future Mode of Operation: S/4HANA in the AWS cloud with some new operating model introduction

Team Size: 6

Time to Migrate: 5 Months

Challenges: Undertaking a significant business transformation, this food and beverage business customer planned to introduce a new operating model. S/4HANA was selected as the best solution platform to fit the core business objectives. The new operating model would include offering retail customers an e-commerce platform while addressing industry changes in product and margin developments.

As part of the process re-design, the company also planned to consolidate fragmented finance processes and systems.

Strenuous timeline pressure meant the project had to begin two weeks from a standing start and deliver the first project landscape within six weeks.

The Solution

HTSM’s SAP ECC to S/4HANA Conversion Services were engaged in planning and designing a new S/4HANA solution and supporting SAP applications. AWS was the customer’s chosen platform for hosting SAP in the new operating model. Implementation included sophisticated high-availability and disaster recovery capabilities as well as advanced automation features.

Case Studies 2 - Rehosts SAP to Microsoft Azure

Description: The hyper-scalability of the cloud brings new meaning to flexibility, elasticity, and resilience — and it’s redefining how applications are architected and delivered. In addition, cloud technologies efficiently support customers as devices and data proliferate. And a pay-as-you-go model provides a fail-fast, agile platform for services development and provisioning.

The same is true for one of HTSM’s clients, a packaging company serving the automotive, food and grocery items, and home care industries. The company transformed its ERP systems, migrating and rehosting its entire SAP landscape from its on-premises data center to Microsoft Azure.

Industry: Packaging, Automotive, food, Grocery, Home care

Services: SAP rehost to Microsoft Azure

Current Mode of Operation: SAP on premises

Future Mode of Operation: SAP on premises to rehost on Microsoft Azure

Team Size: 7

Time to Migrate: 2 Months

Deliverables:

• Rehosts SAP to Microsoft Azure with a tight deadline and no unplanned business interruption
• Eliminates the business risk of maintaining critical ERP system in on-prem data centre
• Takes full advantage of the benefits of Microsoft Azure
• Deploys a three-tier SAP architecture with clustering to offer high availability
• Achieves uptime of 99.95%
• Increases business agility and competitiveness

Solution

Current mode of operation: Legacy infrastructure creates risk

The company had been hosting its SAP solution in its on-premises data center with a configuration that provided no physical separation of the SAP application, its Microsoft SQL database and system controls. That configuration presented a single point of failure, making the system vulnerable to attacks and other unexpected operational interruptions.

As part of its IT strategy, the company elected to exit its on-premises data center and transform its SAP system with a cloud migration to mitigate risk and significantly improve agility and uptime.

Future mode of operation: Migration to the cloud

The company chose HTSM as its partner for the SAP cloud migration and rehosting services. Given only a four-month window before its data center exit, the company collaborated with HTSM, an experienced organisation with  SAP on Microsoft Azure  and the Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure Advanced Specializations.

The team rehosted the following systems on Microsoft Azure:

• 41 Windows virtual machines,19 of which host Microsoft SQL 2019
• 9 Linux virtual machines,5 of which host an SAP HANA database

Altogether, the team deployed 50 servers in the East US 2 region of the Azure environment. Operating systems for the implementation include:

• Windows Server 2008 through 2016 and 2019
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP 12 SP5
• Microsoft SQL Server 2019

The team built all servers from the ground up with a fresh install and data migration using two approaches, import/export and backup/restore for Java and non-Java systems.

Because SAP systems are essential to its business operations, the company ensured the cloud deployment was architected for high availability. To that end, the migration team designed and deployed a three-tier SAP architecture for critical systems, using clustering at each layer to offer high availability using Azure shared disks, availability sets, Azure backup and Azure monitor services. In addition, the team designed, implemented and migrated data, proving high availability by simulating various failure scenarios.

Despite the tight deadline and complex migration, the company experienced less than 12 hours of downtime, including post migration activities and system release.

Cloud transformation success

With its SAP landscape now fully deployed in Microsoft Azure, the high-availability system delivers an uptime of 99.95%. In addition, new features and capabilities streamline the handling and performance of SAP workloads and improve the integration into Azure for its use as a cloud platform.

The company management now has a specific view into how applications are connected and configured. And step-by-step procedures show how the systems are configured and how to remediate any issues that might arise.

Overall, the SAP cloud transformation has given the packaging company significantly higher business agility and increased competitiveness in the marketplace.