Using Integrated Toolchain across SAP Activate for System Conversion

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Explain how SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, and SAP Cloud ALM share ownership of processes, architecture, and execution providing end-to-end traceability across Discover, Prepare, Explore, and Realize/Deploy during System Conversion.
Plan the program setup by running SAP Readiness Check to identify simplification items, documenting Architecture Decisions and transformation items in SAP LeanIX, and creating the System Conversion project in SAP Cloud ALM with aligned phases and milestones synchronized to a LeanIX initiative for portfolio reporting.
Maintain process-driven delivery quality by modeling and synchronizing processes from SAP Signavio to SAP Cloud ALM, converting simplification items into Cloud ALM requirements, and planning manual tests from process steps while automating regression with SAP Partner solution Tricentis.

SAP S/4HANA System Conversion with SAP Toolchain

Learn how to apply SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, and SAP Cloud ALM from SAP’s integrated toolchain to a system conversion project aligned with the SAP Activate roadmap. A system conversion is a technical migration of an existing SAP ERP to SAP S/4HANA with minimal process change. Organizations choose this path to minimize business impact while capturing the technical benefits of the new platform.

Major steps are:

Prepare ERP system: Custom code needs to be cleaned up, and data volumes should be reduced where possible.
Database migration: Data is moved from the legacy database to the SAP S/4HANA database.
Software update: The system is updated with new applications and database tables.
Data conversion: Data is converted to fit the new data model of the target system.
Software configuration: Implement SAP S/4HANA mandatory items and simplification items while reusing most of the original business processes/configuration.

A system conversion is characterized by a "big bang" approach in which all systems and interfaces move from ECC to SAP S/4HANA simultaneously on a single go‑live date, unlike new implementations that often roll out in phases across regions or organizations. It is commonly IT‑driven, with business users mainly involved in testing activities; therefore, the focus skews toward technical readiness and may miss opportunities for process improvement or broader business transformation.

Although system conversion centers on the core ERP system, it inevitably affects all integrated applications; therefore, a comprehensive landscape assessment and disciplined interface management are critical. The effort must address "simplification items" - technical changes where ECC functionality is absent or behaves differently in SAP S/4HANA. For example, ECC Warehouse Management transitions to stockroom management or embedded/decentralized EWM.

System Conversion Flow with SAP LeanIX, SAP Signavio and SAP Cloud ALM.

The use case of system conversion is described and how SAP’s integrated toolchain – particularly SAP Signavio, SAP LeanIX, and SAP Cloud ALM – can support a system conversion in alignment with the SAP Activate phases is explained.

Discover Phase: Gain Transparency into Applications and Processes

Before making changes to your ECC system, a clear picture of both the application and process landscapes is essential. Understanding which applications are in use, how they integrate, and which organizational units depend on them reduces risk and helps ensure a smooth system conversion; therefore, disruptions at go‑live are less likely.

To gain transparency into the application landscape, use SAP Discovery in SAP LeanIX. The discovery capability automates the identification and management of your SAP systems, services, and custom extensions, thereby providing an accurate view of the as‑is footprint and supporting reliable transformation planning. Discovered items appear in the Discovery Inbox, where they can be reviewed and either turned into new fact sheets or linked to existing ones.

Applications not discovered with SAP discovery, such as non-SAP applications, can be added to the inventory by using Excel Import or through the Inventory Builder.

Note

Set up and use the reference catalog. It automatically keeps the description, hosting and SSO information of your factsheet synchronized. To learn more, see Reference Catalog.

Map ECC System Interfaces and Understand Dependencies in Your Baseline Architecture

Import and ensure, that all custom interfaces and connections between your ECC system and other applications are recorded in SAP LeanIX. By understanding data flows, dependencies, and critical interfaces, you gain visibility into your current landscape. This is essential for system conversion, as changes to the core ECC system will affect the entire connected landscape.

Process Analysis with SAP Signavio

Gaining clear visibility into how processes are executed in your ECC system is essential to identify and mitigate system conversion risks; therefore, transparency across real usage helps define scope, engage the right stakeholders, and minimize surprises during testing and go‑live. Furthermore, targeted process analysis should clarify the following:

Project scope: Which processes and process variants must be considered for each organizational unit.
Required stakeholders: Who owns each process in business and IT, and who needs to be involved in subsequent activities.
Test scope: Which processes require testing and which teams are accountable for a disruption-free go-live.
Customizing and configuration: Which rarely used or unused customizing objects and backlog items can be retired or archived.
Mandatory changes: Which SAP Readiness Check simplification items affect active legacy processes, and where process redesign is needed.

In a system conversion, the aim of process analysis is to gain just enough insight to enable a smooth transition without launching a full redesign. Transparency into which processes are actively used by each organizational unit - and the identification of rarely or never‑used customizations and backlogs - allows targeted cleanup and archiving, therefore reducing database size and total cost of ownership. To obtain these insights, organizations can either leverage an existing Business Process Management practice and its process architecture (processes, variants, classifications, and owners) or adopt a data‑driven approach when no BPM foundation exists. Furthermore, SAP Signavio Process Insights offers out‑of‑the‑box visibility into as‑is process usage and performance in SAP ERP, helping quantify performance and focus remediation where it matters most.

For more information on how to use SAP Signavio Process Insights see SAP integrated toolchain documentation.

SAP Readiness Check

SAP Readiness Check is a technical assessment that analyzes your current SAP ECC system to clarify what will and won’t work in SAP S/4HANA. It identifies "simplification items" where functionality is absent or behaves differently, therefore enabling early scoping of mandatory changes. The insights improve planning by informing timeline and resource needs and furthermore support architectural choices - such as whether to adopt embedded or decentralized warehouse management in SAP S/4HANA. The ideal lead for the assessment is the SAP Competence Center Lead, who brings deep system knowledge and should collaborate with the SAP RISE architect or BTS (Business Transformation Services) contact for context and support. You can access and run the Readiness Check via SAP Cloud ALM, through SAP for Me, or directly on your ECC system, ensuring flexibility in how findings are gathered and shared.

To see how to execute the SAP Readiness Check in Cloud ALM follow the SAP integrated toolchain documentation.

Use SAP Readiness Check to plan your system conversion by first reviewing the simplification items, focusing on critical areas and understanding the business impact of each. Then make the corresponding architectural choices for SAP S/4HANA functionality and document them early with SAP LeanIX Architecture Decisions.

Next, convert the technical simplification items into business requirements together with your SAP contact and create them in SAP Cloud ALM. Note that translating simplification items into SAP S/4HANA scope items is not straightforward and often requires manual interpretation, with optional manual process identification in SAP Signavio Process AI. Business requirements should be captured in SAP Cloud ALM. Finally, use the readiness check results to shape your testing strategy and plan manual test cases in SAP Cloud ALM.

Prepare Phase: Plan and Manage System Conversion Project

In the Prepare phase, the foundation for a successful system conversion is established by structuring the project in SAP Cloud ALM, aligning milestones, and integrating SAP LeanIX for portfolio‑level oversight. SAP Cloud ALM is used as the primary source of truth for project details -therefore tasks, deliverables, clean‑core quality gates, phases, sprints, and milestones remain authoritative and easy to manage. Creating the project with the System Conversion roadmap template unlocks the Guided Implementation app, which provides a phase‑grouped view of tasks and quality gates that can be maintained directly in the app. Furthermore, a corresponding initiative is created in SAP LeanIX and synchronized with the Cloud ALM project so real‑time milestones and phases flow back for reporting and management oversight. The result is a single, consistent timeline with seamless navigation from LeanIX to Cloud ALM for implementation details.

Key activities and outcomes:

Create the system conversion project in SAP Cloud ALM using the roadmap template and Guided Implementation, ensuring tasks, subtasks, and quality gates are preconfigured and grouped by phase.
Model scope and timeboxes (phases, sprints, milestones) in Cloud ALM to keep planning and execution aligned in one source of truth.
Set up a single SAP LeanIX initiative to reflect the "big bang" conversion and configure the LeanIX–Cloud ALM integration.
Synchronize phases and milestones from Cloud ALM into the LeanIX initiative, therefore providing portfolio visibility for enterprise architects without duplicating effort.
Maintain task‑level management in Cloud ALM while using LeanIX for high‑level, strategic planning and reporting; open Cloud ALM directly from LeanIX when detailed implementation views are needed.

The most important milestone identified is the go-live date, and it defines when the S/4HANA target system will be set to active. The go-live date becomes critical for subsequent target architecture design. It is tracked in SAP Cloud ALM and synchronized back to the corresponding SAP LeanIX initiative. To learn more, see Project Planning with Timeboxes.

Explore Phase: Define Target Architecture, Processes and Requirements

In the Explore Phase, the program defines the target architecture, to‑be processes, and implementation requirements so the design can move confidently into execution. SAP LeanIX Architecture and Road Map Planning provide milestones, transformation roadmaps, and Architecture Decisions, while transformation items in the initiative fact sheet describe required changes and are automatically decomposed into impacts on the current landscape. Therefore, teams can visualize and preview outcomes in reports, understand dependencies and risks, and evaluate alternatives without modifying the as‑is architecture. Furthermore, target processes are modeled in SAP Signavio and technical requirements are captured in SAP Cloud ALM, preserving end‑to‑end traceability into Realize. The outcome is an evidence‑based target design ready for commitment and orchestrated delivery.

Visualize Transformations

With the reporting capabilities in SAP LeanIX, you can visualize the future state of your architecture. This is possible to review the change in the applications over the timeline of the transformation.

In additional also changes to interfaces can be visualized using the interface circle map report to understand dependencies in your target architecture.

Interface modeling in SAP LeanIX shows which interfaces are added, removed, or changed, and how data flows between applications. This helps identify all systems connected to ECC that will be impacted during system conversion and, therefore, need testing and validation.

Make sure your target architecture design accounts for the "big bang" nature of system conversion:

Everything goes live simultaneously on a single date.
All interfaces switch from ECC to SAP S/4HANA at the same time.
No phased rollouts – all connected systems must be ready to transition simultaneously.

Document and Track Architectural Decisions

In a system conversion, target architecture design is a key decision point wherefindings from the SAP Readiness Check are translated into explicit architecture decisions. SAP LeanIX supports this by providing a structured way to model the target architecture and document architecture decisions using architecture decisions. Using architecture decision records (ADR) in SAP LeanIX, you can document the selected option, capture the rationale behind the decision, and link it to the affected applications and capabilities. This ensures architectural decisions are transparent, traceable, and aligned with the target architecture throughout the system conversion. To learn more, see Architecture Decision.

Design your Target Process in SAP Signavio

Even in a technically driven system conversion, some business processes must be adapted due to mandatory changes when moving from ECC to SAP S/4HANA. SAP Signavio Process Manager supports the design and validation of these target processes in a collaborative way. To ensure efficient alignment between Subject Matter Experts from Business and IT on the required target processes, it is recommended to prepare and run workshops appropriately. For a detailed agenda and list of deliverables for such workshops and how SAP Signavio supports these workshops, see the documentation.

Synchronize Target Process Diagrams with SAP Cloud ALM for Seamless Realization

Synchronizing process models (BPMN diagrams) from SAP Signavio to SAP Cloud ALM connects business design with execution, ensuring implementation teams always work from the latest approved processes. Because SAP Signavio remains the central source of truth, only the relevant diagram revisions are pushed, which prevents discrepancies, reduces rework, and strengthens governance and lifecycle management. The automated handover eliminates error‑prone manual transfers between business and IT. Therefore collaboration improves and end‑to‑end visibility is maintained - from high‑level design in SAP Signavio to detailed realization activities in Cloud ALM.

Two synchronization options are available:

Manual synchronization of the latest diagram revision from SAP Signavio to SAP Cloud ALM.
Automatic synchronization upon process approval via SAP Signavio Process Governance.

Detailed prerequisites and steps are available in the product guides for manual sync, automatic sync, and the overall synchronization with SAP Cloud ALM.

Create and Manage Requirements in SAP Cloud ALM

You review the process diagrams in SAP Cloud ALM and create technical and business requirements for specific process steps where gaps have been identified.

First, review the synchronized process diagram (in SAP Cloud ALM, this is called Solution Process Flow). You can turn simplification items from the SAP Readiness Check into technical follow-up requirements in SAP Cloud ALM, ensuring that all necessary changes are tracked and implemented when moving from ECC to SAP S/4HANA.

SAP Cloud ALM is the central tool where business requirements are created and attached to specific business steps. A technical requirement, such as removing mass creation authorization, can be linked to the specific process step where the gap is identified. This ensures traceability between process design decisions in SAP Signavio and implementation requirements in SAP Cloud ALM. To understand how to create requirements for a simplification item from the Readiness Check view the step-by-step guide.

Realize and Deploy Phase: Plan and Automate Testing

Testing in a system conversion is a primary determinant of success because the go‑live follows a "big bang" approach. Therefore, all systems and interfaces must transition to SAP S/4HANA on the same day without disrupting business. SAP Cloud ALM serves as the central test management hub, while integration with SAP partner solution Tricentis adds automated testing capabilities so the converted S/4HANA system is validated end‑to‑end with connected applications. Target processes modeled in SAP Signavio synchronize to SAP Cloud ALM, and test cases are authored directly from approved process steps. Consequently, testing remains aligned to business execution rather than isolated technical scenarios, and traceability from process to test results is preserved.

A practical testing flow begins with manual validation to confirm core functionality, then evolves into selective automation focused on regression. Cloud ALM’s analytics make test outcomes visible for release decision‑making and SAP partner solution Tricentis automation ensures repeatable checks across cycles. Furthermore, Interfaces and processes identified as high‑risk in the SAP Readiness Check are prioritized for automation to maximize impact. End‑to‑end traceability in Cloud ALM links requirements, test cases, defects, and transports back to the solution process, which streamlines readiness assessments and supports auditability.

Key activities and outcomes:

Align tests to business processes: Synchronize Signavio target processes to Cloud ALM and generate test cases from process steps.
Validate manually first: Execute manual test cases in Cloud ALM to confirm basic functionality and stabilize changes.
Automate for regression: Synchronize regression‑suitable cases to Tricentis and run automated suites for repeatable coverage; therefore, quality is sustained across releases.
Use analytics for decisions: Leverage Cloud ALM test execution analysis to identify failure hotspots and inform release readiness.
Preserve traceability: Maintain links from requirements to tests, defects, and transports so cutover approvals are evidence‑based.

Lesson Summary:

You should now be able to:

Set up the system conversion project in SAP Cloud ALM, align milestones, and synchronize them with a SAP LeanIX initiative for portfolio reporting.
Create business requirements in SAP Cloud ALM from SAP Readiness Check simplification items and document related Architecture Decisions in SAP LeanIX.
Plan test plans, execute manual test cases, and transition to regression automation with SAP partner solution Tricentis while using SAP Cloud ALM analytics to assess release readiness.

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