The end of support for ECC isn’t a secret. In fact, it might be the biggest single topic in the SAP ecosystem today. But the end of support for existing systems alone doesn’t make the transition easier or less expensive. And certainly not less complicated.
Today, a migration to S/4HANA is likely a migration to Cloud ERP Private, too.
How can we accelerate the migration project while supporting the business effectively? How will we manage the project without blowing up staffing or budgets? Is it possible to eliminate project-related change freezes safely? This is going to be a long-running project where a production change freeze isn’t a practical answer.
BAU down to business continuity
Before the migration begins, most teams will have competing priorities:
- Business continues normally, in addition to the migration project. This means the regular, everyday tasks the team performs today don’t change during the project – at least, not significantly
- Most large enterprises aren’t abandoning their current systems; they are taking a Brownfield approach, bringing a significant amount of their customizations from the existing system forward – at least initially. This means the teams running today’s SAP environment are the best qualified to perform migration tasks, too
This creates real contention for resources:
- Existing business systems will continue to innovate and change during the migration project
- The same team responsible for today’s operations is critical to the migration
- Tracking changes between systems will effectively double the change management requirements and documentation. Some legacy customizations must be adapted to work in S/4HANA, and changes will continue to the existing system until the final cutover
Tackle transformation trouble
One of the ugly challenges of migration is managing customizations that require transformation while the existing system keeps changing during the project.
That is, an existing customization isn’t directly code-compatible with the new S/4HANA platform. The code is transformed for compatibility with the new system, but business requirements result in changes in the existing system, making the newly transformed code out of date.
Solving this problem requires one of two approaches:
- A change-freeze so nothing can change in the existing business system after the code has been transformed for compatibility in the new system. Any required business changes will have to wait until the migration is complete and the new system goes live
- Traditionally, a project landscape with a retrofit capability – the ability to move changes during a parallel project from the business system into the project landscape. However, this approach won’t work since the legacy customization and new S/4HANA system are not code compatible
So, what to do?
Traceability – the key to consistency and control
The secret sauce is traceability, and it’s a function of change management. Traceability accepts two different objects – bits of code – as functionally the same. In a well-run environment, both objects are subject to identical quality and regulatory processes before delivery to production. The biggest difference is that they are tracked and accepted as peers – one for the existing business system and one for the S/4HANA migration landscape.
In practice, it works like this:
- Legacy customization is ported to the new S/4HANA system, making the functionality compatible
- Any new business requirements during the project are implemented normally in the existing business system for as long as it is in production
- The project team adopts and re-transforms business updates during ordinary project cycles, keeping the project system in sync with production changes
- Documentation is produced and maintained, tracking each change, the object in both systems required for implementation, and the test and delivery records as required for audit and compliance functions
Simple. Now do it hundreds or thousands of times over the year(s) the migration project requires and maintain perfect documentation for each change. Some of the changes will be compatible – simple retrofit will do – and some will be complex and require traceability.
Automating traceability and control
What if we could automate the management of change, including documentation, audit and delivery? If we did it right, even complex, incompatible parallel project changes would be as simple to track and maintain as regular change.
Automated SAP change management brings control and traceability to complex SAP environments. Every change is managed, documented, and linked across systems, ensuring complete traceability throughout the SAP landscape. Safety and automation features guarantee consistent, reliable delivery – even when specialized versions of objects and code are required on a system-by-system basis.
Sound like a solution? If it does, solving this problem and the scalability of change in any SAP environment, anywhere it runs, is the specialty of Rev-Trac Platinum. With Rev-Trac Platinum, customers safely navigate the challenge of complex migration projects. Retrofit between ECC and S/4HANA is supported, and so is the traceability of complex, incompatible code supporting change across systems.
As a result, Rev-Trac Platinum users navigate change and transformation projects at scale, without a dramatic increase in staff and without the risk of change–related defects in project or production work.
To learn more about Rev-Trac and our solutions for change management and migration project support, explore our advanced SAP automation platform, Rev-Trac Platinum, or contact us for more information and a conversation with an SAP change professional.
