From ECC to SAP S/4Hana

In 2027, SAP will finally discontinue the maintenance of legacy applications in favor of S/4. This will force existing SAP customers to consider the move to the new platform. However, there is also a lot to be said for the switch in terms of digitalization, as the system enables faster and more flexible processes. For this reason, the BMW Group has decided to migrate to S/4 - including the migration of selected historical data and completely new system structures and processes. 

The challenge with this new system set-up was that all the necessary historical data had to be transferred to the new installation. In order to implement this project in the best possible way, the BMW Group broke new ground and also relied on external support. Following a tender, Natuvion was awarded the contract. In addition to the technical and content-related expertise, the Data Conversion Server (DCS) transformation software was also a decisive factor. This software is able to map the entire transformation process both technically and organizationally for large projects.

The specific task: the migration of all selected historical data from the BMW Group's ECC system, which is more than 30 TB in size, to the newly created S/4 Greenfield system - naturally with maximum data quality. In addition, any interruptions to operations at the BMW Group's seven sales organizations were not to exceed 72 hours.

The project was to be implemented as quickly as possible and with a tight schedule. The project was to start in January 2021, with the BMW Group's German unit successfully migrating to the new system by July 2022 as the lead project. Three further migration waves were planned for the other countries. 

With a tight schedule and to ensure high quality, smart transformation tools are crucial at all stages of the project. The Natuvion Sophia analysis platform integrated into the DCS was used during the analysis of the ECC system. This determines which data is in the system, how it is structured and which of this data - in this case with the Selective Data Transition - will be moved to the new system. The software delivered this knowledge within a very short space of time, enabling all migration-relevant data for the individual countries and units to be determined promptly. On this basis, Natuvion developed the sometimes complex data mapping rules for the migration from the old to the new system. The migration was checked and adjusted in a total of six test runs and a dress rehearsal before the productive migration to S/4 took place. 

DCS played a crucial role in the migration. Using the Extract, Transform and Load functions, the data was automatically extracted from the ECC system, transformed according to the mapping rules and then imported and validated in the new S/4 Hana system environment. The automation of these processes both ensured quality assurance and greatly reduced the time required for the migration. In addition, the intelligent near-zero downtime procedures (NZDT) of the DCS were used to limit system downtimes to a maximum of 72 hours. 

Thanks to the use of the transformation tools and the experience gained from numerous other transformation projects, Natuvion ensured that the BMW Group's first go-live on the new system environment was on time and on budget.

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