SZENE

There's an official deadline of 2025.

Transformation to S/4 and Hana: How to manage? By Heiko Friedrichs, Hinrich Mielke (Devoteam Alegri) and Achim Zimmermann (QPCM)

Hooray! The direction is right! But is there enough

time? So that the Hana and S/4 trip does not become

an odyssey, the SAP customer must look around for

professional help: Odysseus had ten years for his

return home from Troy and arrived in his native Ithaca

as a beggar. The SAP inventory customers only have

about five years at his disposal and he wants

as the teams of Devoteam Alegri and QPCM

represent it, is thus the natural customizing process

in the SAP-Community. SAP looks the same, but the

Hana-Inventor and S/4 provider made a mistake:

Consultants and experts are not arbitrarily available

and even their day has only 24 hours. In the last few

months, the whole SAP customers have already been

using SAP for many thousands of man-days have been

S/4 is not a paper tiger

not as a stranded person, but

with a successful change

management project. A "release

change" is not a new or unusual

situation. Since the successful

R/2 days it belongs to

purchased from global consulting companies. There are

no more resources available until 2025. It is thanks to

the medium-sized SAP partners that they began a long

time ago to build up Hana and S/4 knowledge at their

own cost, which is currently many existing customers

urgently need.

the good manners to customize an SAP system only

with the help of experienced consultants and experts.

But Hana and S/4 are not just about customizing! As

the report by Heiko Friedrichs, Hinrich Mielke and

Achim Zimmermann clearly shows, the requirements

are considerably higher this time. It is the digital

transformation of the SAP world. It is not a technical

version change. The transformation to S/4 must also

take into account business, organizational, technical

and licensing aspects. The use of consultants and

experts is a completely natural procedure for this. In

the "digital transformation" phase, the existing SAP

customer needs a great deal of experience and

knowledge that is no longer needed on a daily basis

later in operations. A correctly adjusted SAP system is

not a perpetual motion machine, but it is a well-oiled

machine that only needs blood refreshment for a time.

The involvement of Consultants and Experts

It will probably be 2022 before SAP decides whether

or not to turn the clock in view of the scarcity of

consultant resources. Waiting, however, is by no

means an option. And another tip for the SAP

community. Strictly speaking, it's about in this digital

transformation around two themes: Database and

ERP. Hana can be a fantastic, but also challenging

database. Achim Zimmermann from QPCM could fill

books about it. S/4 is a new ERP model and concept.

Heiko Friedrichs and Hinrich Mielke from Devoteam

Alegri can prove this with many examples. In this text,

the topic is briefly explained using the example of the

new general ledger. The areas FI/CO and logistics are

affected in any case. S/4 is therefore not a paper tiger

- on the contrary: it is a challenge to which much

attention should be paid, even with expert support!

(pmf)

28 E-3 May 2019

S/4-Transformation SCENE

The problem: Support for ECC 6.0 from SAP

is guaranteed until 2025. For the period

after that, support for S/4 Hana is signaled

at the current status. This means that the

switch to S/4 must be made in five and a half

years.

This period is shorter than it sounds. Similar

to the year-2000 changeover and the euro

changeover, it will become more difficult to

recruit qualified personnel as the deadline

approaches. This applies internally as well as

externally and worldwide. The challenge is

similar: it was not an option not to "take

part" in the changeover to the year 2000 or

the euro.

It should also be noted that, in addition to

the technological strand (change to a new

database, possibly a new operating system),

business processes and in-house

developments must also be considered. At

the same time, questions regarding the

front-end strategy (Fiori) must be clarified,

the integration of new, cloud-based services

must be carried out, and all cloud options

(IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) must be considered and

evaluated together.

All business processes and in-house

developments must be put to the test,

including those that were previously run

outside ECC. In the simplest case, these

business processes and developments are

only adapted to the changed possibilities.

Thus, however, the changed business

processes are only used incompletely. It is

better to familiarize oneself intensively with

the new possibilities and to use them in the

best possible way for the existing business

models.

However, these tasks have been known for

several years - every CIO or SAP manager will

have prepared appropriate solutions and set

up an appropriate program management.

The resulting expenses should not be

underestimated. They are well invested -

and can be halved with an experienced

partner according to a rule of thumb.

The main problem, however, is usually the

support of the specialist departments: This

applies to key users who lack the time and

often also the existing or granted space to

"rethink". In some cases, this leads to the

CIO having to push the switch to S/4 Hana

with his customers, the specialist

departments, the product being perceived

as unpopular and thus being operated

rather sluggishly. Two areas are directly and

directly affected by the changeover to S/4.

In the FI/CO area, the mandatory

changeover to the new general ledger, the

Customer-Vendor-Integration, has resulted

in

(CVI) and the convergence of FI and CO

require considerable action. Eta- bled

business processes must be revised, 3rd

party applications must be re-tested and

reporting from the changed table

structure must be set up. The

improvements can be experienced, the

benefits can be felt - a change project

must be set up accordingly.

S/4 plus Ariba

There are also important changes to be

managed in the area of logistics. Here,

however, the business benefit is more

immediate and therefore a ROI more

likely to be presented. A technically

interesting detail is the use of "pull" for

short-term status formats from 3rd party

systems, e.g. the location of goods in

transport. Thus "Pull" replaces the

traditional "Push" and reduces the system

load. The integrated connection to Ariba

as a procurement platform also reduces

media disruptions and makes processes

consistent in the SAP universe.

However, it is optimal to establish new

and completely changed business

processes, which are possible due to the

new circumstances. This, however, requires

know-how about the professional and

technical possibilities as well as "thinking

outside the box". A partner with an

unobstructed view will initially accelerate

this process in unison and will also

constantly reinvigorate it due to the external

view. Every customer will develop and

establish these renewed business processes

for himself - this is the only way to gain a

competitive edge over the market.

All these changes will have an impact on

collaboration between business, IT and

external partners. In order to achieve the

necessary agility, interdisciplinary teams

will be required who also understand and

ideally speak the technical language of the

experts involved. A classical division

according to customer and service provider

is not promising. Only with collegial equality

and a lot of initiative can the change be

realized in a goal-oriented context.

This will, let us say so much in advance,

continue to be a recipe for success for an

agile and value-adding approach to the

new possibilities even after the

changeover. Thus this change is also a

change in the organization, the

cooperation of different areas and the

perception of the business contributions.

Devoteam Alegri has a simple, approach

using the S/4 booster methodology to

present the changes and benefits of S/4 to

its customers in the shortest possible time.

This is done with the processes, data and

procedures from the existing ECC 6.0

system - in a slim S/4 that is adapted to the

customer system is tied to.

S/4 Booster & iHAL Thus the advantages of S/4 and Hana can

be experienced quickly - with your own

data and processes. This S/4 can, for

example, be made available from the

cloud in the short term (already carried

out with Azure) and can be set up on-

premises if the evaluation is positive. The

benefit is that a department can quickly

experience the advantage of S/4 with its

own data and processes - and thus support

this transformation both morally and in

substance. Another example is the iHAL

(intelligent Hana Assurance List),

developed by SAP partner QPCM: SAP

Hana is developing rapidly. As with every

further development of a software, every

revision, in addition to improvements and

new functions, also contains new

functions.

Hinrich Mielke from

SAP-Partner Devoteam Alegri knows exactly how to do it – but is there still enough time?

E-3 May 2019 29

SCENE S/4-Transformation

Heiko Friedrichs not only

masters S/4 and Hana, but

also the necessary change

management including

governance.

bugs, too. These can affect both old and

new revisions. Logical software bugs are

serious because they cannot be

intercepted by any HA solution. In order to

minimize the risks from software errors in

the operation of Hana, the necessary SAP

notes must be checked cyclically. A check

of the notes - suitable for your own

scenario - can quickly become time-

consuming. With iHAL, QPCM has created

a tool with which these checks can be

carried out quickly, effectively and

efficiently.

Cloud, IaaS and Governance These examples show how technologies help the customer to switch to S/4. The use of the cloud as IaaS is also a proven means of setting up tests, projects and

training systems in hours and days instead of dealing with the procurement of hardware on prices or from the outsourcer. As long as you

have IaaS in Pay-as-you-go model, systems can also be resized or decommissioned within hours. As a result, there are no longer any sizing risks. Anything that doesn't fit is

pass- sent - with the downshift. time of a "through-booting".

This order picking and decomissioning

must be accompanied by appropriate

commercial processes. Otherwise, a

proliferation of systems can quickly occur -

resulting in corresponding cost increases.

This is no theoretical danger, different

customer experiences speak a clear

language here. Of course, the use of cloud

services must be accompanied by

appropriate governance. Here, an

experienced partner can significantly

shorten the preparation time so that the

agility of the cloud can be used quickly and

easily.

The cloud provider of choice for IaaS is -

approached systematically - for most of the

customers of one of the leaner forerunner

projects: It must be supported by SAP,

meet compliance and certification

requirements, and the provider's locations

must match the requirements and

technical constraints. An important aspect

is the integration of the cloud provider into

the existing environment - services are

often already consumed, so that energy

effects can be leveraged here.

Process Methodology and Scope

It is easy to see that this change can become

complex and that conventional approaches

are often not sufficient to

30 E-3 May 2019

E-3 Mai 2019

S/4-Transformation SCENE

realize the maximum benefit from the

conversion. The information fin- ding phase

and the definition of the scope are more

complex and even more important than with

conventional changes. At the same time, an

agile approach with regular determination of

the location and readjustment of the next

section is required.

Devoteam Alegri has designed a procedure

based on the experience and know-how. This is

based on SAP requirements and was

supplemented by the experience of the

consultants. The many years of experience

with tenders and operation in an IaaS

environment as well as from green field and

brownfield projects for S/4 have resulted in

tools and tools that reduce project runtimes

and risks and minimize expenses for

customers.

Administration of S/4 Hana

The development of a strategy - including

new possibilities from the cloud,

architecture including the Fiori systems - as

well as the actual transformation are one

thing. After a hypercare phase, the

subsequent operation is another, often (too)

late considered topic: With many

conversions, support is organised to set up

the system of the new processes,

Achim Zimmermann from the SAP partner

QPCM has his own tools to successfully manage

the Hana database. he world.

connection of the cloud up to the go-live of

the S/4 system. But how can a customer

map his existing administration

organization to the new architecture and

transform it without interruption? Both

the classic SAP basis and the application

teams will have to adapt to new structures,

solutions and tasks. Two simple examples

are intended to illustrate this:

1. Administrative tasks such as

monitoring or security will change. Current

monitoring solutions in SAP are tailored to

Abap and Java systems; comprehensive

monitoring on-premises and cloud solutions

can usually only be integrated via detours.

The same applies to security settings. If a

company's own IT can still fully ensure

security within its own on-premises

network, it will reach its limits when cloud

solutions are integrated. Here, as with

monitoring, new ways of convenient and

secure use and monitoring are needed.

2. Application support as well as

development are currently mostly system-

related, since the business processes also

run within a system. This will change in the

future and processes will be system- and

world-spanning. Development as well as

support must therefore build up

corresponding interdisciplinary knowledge.

This includes, for example, adapted change

management, since changes will have to be

organized consistently across significantly

more systems and system environments in

the future. It will also be necessary to

establish new organizational structures, as

administrative and technical teams work

much more closely together.

The transformation from classic SAP

system support to modern hybrid support

of processes and services around the

digital core in the form of the S/4 system

with integration of various cloud

structures and applications is complex. It

requires experienced experts who have

already successfully completed similar

conversions and already know the

advantages and risks of potential

structures. At the same time

one does not have to speak yet at all

of an inclusion of IoT, artificial

intelligence or blockchain, a simple

look at the publishing houses of SAP

functionalities on cloud solutions

(WebIDE, SCM functionalities,

monitoring cockpits, interface and

data integration...) is completely

sufficient.

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Conclusion