How companies effortlessly switch to SAP S/4HANA with SAP add-ons - despite complex overall migration

But what does this mean in concrete terms for the migration of solutions that are integrated with SAP ERP? Do companies automatically take the automated processing of their sales orders or incoming invoices with them into the new SAP S/4HANA world, or do special steps need to be taken here in the migration process?

Stefan Fellner, product manager and specialist at AFI Solutions, has already accompanied numerous migrations and knows the success factors for a successful changeover.

Many SAP solutions, i.e. SAP add-ons, are seamlessly integrated into SAP. Do companies also need to plan for their migration?

Stefan FellnerSAP add-ons are part of the migration process to SAP S/4HANA and must be taken into account during project planning. It is important to consider the SAP-
Get add-on suppliers on board early on in an upcoming changeover - preferably right from the start.

After all, suppliers must also plan for the joint migration project and can provide additional support with their experience. Only then can it be ensured that, for example, the digital processing of orders, incoming invoices or order confirmations also works perfectly in the new SAP world right from the start.

2. why is it not enough to update SAP add-ons later? Nothing changes in the process of the respective digital document processing, right?

Under SAP S/4HANA, previously established processes behave differently in some cases. We have a completely new system here, in which SAP has made a number of changes. A simple example: Under SAP S/4HANA, the previous accounts receivable and accounts payable were migrated to -Business Partner. This is a completely different SAP element. It is precisely such parameters that companies must take into account and, above all, test so that the corresponding document process also functions smoothly under SAP S/4HANA.

If the SAP system was static when an SAP add-on was introduced, it is now dynamic during migration. Thus, every change in the new system also has an impact on the SAP add-ons.

3. can you give a practical example to illustrate this?

Take customer orders, for example, whose processing was optimized with an SAP add-on. Under SAP ERP, all the cogs interlocked perfectly and the process ran efficiently. Now the company decides to migrate to SAP S/4HANA and introduce the new, longer material numbers at the same time.

On the one hand, the technological environment is now changing for the process, and on the other hand, another important variable such as the material numbers. Logically, the old process can now no longer function under SAP S/4HANA as it did before.

Many companies realize that they need to test their SAP Material Management (MM) or SAP Sales and Distribution (SD) module. What is often not clear, however, is that the same applies to SAP add-ons. They are only a small part of the process, but one that needs to be in place to ensure that the process works from start to finish.

4. that sounds complicated. How do add-on suppliers support their customers in the migration process to SAP S/4HANA?

I can only speak for AFI Solutions here. We have known since before yesterday that all SAP customers will eventually have to migrate to SAP S/4HANA. And that affects both our current customers and companies that will still be reimplementing our solution for their SAP ERP.

For this reason, we wanted to develop something that would make it as easy as possible for our customers to migrate their SAP add-ons to SAP S/4HANA. The result is our Simple Move approach.

5. how exactly does this simple move approach help with the migration of SAP add-ons?

Simple Move is a step-by-step documentation that is based on the SAP conversion phase model. Similar to SAP, the conversion process is divided into phases that are processed one after the other. With SAP, there is a preparation phase, an implementation phase and a phase for rework. Simple Move supplements this model with essential steps for the migration of the respective add-ons.

The Simple Move model provides clear instructions and guides our customers safely through the process. It describes which changes they need to make, how they can adopt individual settings and their own developments, and where further adjustments are required.

Simple Move empowers companies to prepare themselves optimally and to set all important switches to "Go". In the implementation phase, we then actively join in and accompany the customer until the system has been converted.

As a vendor of solutions for SAP, we do not set the pace for the timing of the migration. As a rule, the company's IT department issues a project plan that includes the time phases. We integrate ourselves into the planning and, together with all the departments involved, have to ensure that everything meshes seamlessly in terms of timing and technology.

Then it also plays a role whether a company is using the standard product, where the time required is manageable, or special developments, where the project time is very individual. It then depends on how compatible these are with SAP S/4HANA. This should be checked together beforehand, for example with our Simple Move approach.

7 SAP S/4HANA offers many more technological options than SAP ERP. Does this also expand the technical options for SAP add-ons?

Definitely, SAP add-ons can leverage the new SAP S/4HANA playground. We are doing so by increasingly pursuing the app approach in the direction of "Fiorization". In our solution for customer orders in particular, we are currently developing an extensive analytics dashboard based on Fiori apps. At the same time, we are also developing a lot of new things in other areas.

8. in summary, what are the lessons learned so far from the SAP S/4HANA migration projects?

There are two main factors for a successful transition:

• Involving the supplier at an early stage for a jointly agreed project plan to ensure that all the cogs in the system mesh neatly with each other.
• The testing of the process including all affected elements. The better and more comprehensive the tests, the better and more error-free the result. In all previous projects, this was a decisive success factor.

If these two things are observed, nothing stands in the way of a successful migration!