World's largest Hana migration

Atos acted as development and implementation partner for the migration of the SAP environment to Hana at Siemens. According to the press release, the implementation of the project is intended to handle one of the world's largest implementations of the SAP Hana platform. As a long-standing IT partner, Atos is perfectly positioned to support this transition from SAP ERP to SAP Hana, it said. The expectations of the IT service provider are therefore high, and the bar has been set. Summer 2016, one year later: The move is complete, the project team reports successful completion. After just one year, the switch has been successfully completed and Siemens is now running the world's largest SAP Hana implementation. What happened in the intervening months can serve as an example of good project management, the value of a partner relationship, and practical applied IT expertise.

Bringing Hana into the enterprise

The goal of the project was to implement a cloud platform based on SAP Hana that would enable Siemens to meet its growing business needs. The platform is based on bullion, the high-end enterprise x86 servers from Atos subsidiary Bull. More than 100,000 Siemens employees worldwide access the solution across the company. SAP Hana is a scalable, in-memory and cloud-enabled SAP platform. Siemens is using this solution to drive its innovation and visionary strategy toward a collaborative business model. Most of the core systems and processes have been moved from the classic SAP ERP application to SAP Hana. This has a positive impact on cost efficiency, flexibility, and scalability, while at the same time allowing for more agile operations. The use of SAP Hana creates shorter planning cycles in the area of business intelligence. SAP Hana delivers the analysis performance in one hour, which can take up to eight hours with a classic SAP environment: Business Intelligence is thus closer to the business reality, improves decision templates and enables shorter response times.
Atos implemented the migration to SAP Hana as an integrated project: In addition to IT services, costs are also to be reduced. Moreover, an innovative business model based on the bullion x86 servers comes into play. The responsible team fed its experience from the stages, migrations and go-lives of the extensive project directly back into the ongoing process in order to avoid delays and continuously improve the work. Points of discussion included the management of the complex logistics and the correct sizing of the systems.

Dimensions of the project

Originally, the project plan called for about 175 of Siemens' 400 SAP system IDs to be migrated to the Hana platform, an average of 15 IDs each month. However, the project grew significantly during the migration, with numerous regional business units requiring the addition of their own system IDs. By the end of the project, well over 200 system IDs had been migrated to the new environment across multiple sites and different continents. The new SAP Hana solution simplifies and improves the work of more than 100,000 Siemens employees, located in all units of the company. More than 800 changes were made to the Hana databases, with a total volume of around 500 TB - without any noticeable impact on business processes. Over 150 Atos experts worldwide contributed to the success of the project.

The key to project success

Throughout the project period, it became apparent: The close collaboration between Siemens and Atos was the crucial element in successfully implementing this complex task within the required timeframe. Thanks to this intensive partnership, Atos was able to build on its long-established understanding of Siemens' requirements. At the same time, Siemens already knew and was familiar with its design and implementation partner. As a result, the Group was able to trust a proven partner for this forward-looking and business-critical project. Siemens and Atos have had an alliance since 2011, one of the largest strategic ties to date between a global industrial company and a global IT service provider. In November 2015, Siemens and Atos expanded the existing IT agreement: business cooperation will be extended and joint initiatives expanded. In addition to projects in the areas of managed services, application management and systems integration, services were extended to the digitization of Siemens' business areas, including cloud computing, industrial data analytics and cybersecurity. The joint investment program for innovations was increased from the original €100 million to €150 million. The alliance between the two companies is thus based on three elements: Siemens and Atos are business partners and strive to implement new business opportunities and customer value through technology. Second, Siemens is Atos' largest customer and Atos is Siemens' preferred provider for systems integration, managed services and consulting services. Third, Siemens is Atos' largest industrial shareholder.

After the project is before the project

The defined system IDs now run via SAP Hana and enable Siemens to perform faster analyses, achieve high availability, even in times of high utilization, and respond flexibly to market requirements. These capabilities must now prove their worth and performance in everyday use. Atos continues to stand by Siemens to guarantee continuous performance and make services even more efficient.
In addition, the new Hana features still have to be fully integrated into the existing system landscape in order to reap the full benefits. If the full impact of the use of SAP Hana at Siemens unfolds, this successful migration project will demonstrate its charisma as a pioneer for further migration projects of central applications to the cloud.