Exploring the SAP S/4HANA Conversion

• SAP S/4HANA is the next generation business suite. It's fully built on the most advanced in-memory platform existing today: SAP HANA. The product uses modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience (UX) and a new role-based user experience concept. With the move to SAP S/4HANA, you're benefiting from continuous application innovations such as:
• Application optimizations specific for the SAP HANA column-based data storage: With SAP S/4HANA, SAP optimizes the application to make the best use of the capabilities of the SAP HANA database, for example, removed aggregates and reduction of the data footprint.
• Responsive user experience design: With SAP S/4HANA, SAP designs the application with the latest role-based user experience (UX).
• Unifying functionality in the core: With SAP S/4HANA, SAP removes redundancy. SAP S/4HANA is designed to provide one functionality for one objective.
• With SAP S/4HANA, SAP helps businesses to run simple in the digital economy, including topics such as the Internet of Things, Big Data, business networks, and mobile-first.

SAP provides a process for the conversion to SAP S/4HANA. This training gives an overview of the tools, the phases, and the activities involved in the process.

SAP recommends that you perform the activities in the sequence shown in this lesson.

For moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition, SAP has established a best-practice process for migration which is explained at the end of this lesson.

To enable you to do an optimal planning of your path to SAP S/4HANA, SAP provides the Simplification Item Catalog for SAP S/4HANA. This list describes in detail the effects on individual transactions and functions in SAP S/4HANA.

These figures are taken from the SAP S/4HANA Conversion Guide.

In SAP S/4HANA Server, many tables do not exist any longer – especially aggregate and index tables. Data is moved to other tables. Existing tables are combined with new tables.

The first step of the prepare phase is the checking of the planning and system requirements. For example, the Product Availability Matrix support.sap.com/pam contains technical prerequisite information.

The major Software Update Manager SAP Note for the SAP S/4HANA conversion contains an attachment that lists the supported course and target releases for this Software Update Manager version.

For more details, see support.sap.com/sltoolset.

A central source for information and documents is the SAP Help Portal at help.sap.com/s4hana.

The Maintenance Planner has to be used to calculate the stack.XML file needed for Software Update Manager. It also calculates the individual files needed for this specific SAP S/4HANA conversion.

The Maintenance Planner simplifies the landscape maintenance process to update, upgrade, and install SAP systems with ease and efficiency.

Choose the SAP system to be upgraded and plan your target version.

For an SAP S/4HANA conversion, choose the Plan for SAP S/4HANA tile. An ease to transition is offered. Building blocks (such as SAP Fiori) are automatically integrated.

Define changes based on your landscape data in the customer profile.

Push all the required files to your download basket and download the stack.XML file.

The Simplification Item Check (SI-Check) checks for data that will cause problems during and after the SAP S/4HANA conversion.

The Simplification Item Catalog and the Simplification List contain information about changed business processes. These have to be adapted during the SAP S/4HANA conversion project.

The SI-Checks must be performed – and errors must be solved – before the Software Update Manager can enter downtime. The Software Update Manager re-checks the results.

Because of the changed data model and the changed business processes, most of the own development won't work any longer. The custom code analysis checks which custom code is affected.

As an example, the data structure of material data has changed significantly – comparing SAP ECC with SAP S/4HANA Server.

The custom code analysis can be done before the SAP S/4HANA conversion. The custom code adoption can only be performed after the conversion.

Optionally, the SAP Readiness Check can be performed. It combines many checks for the SAP ECC system to be converted, based on the data of the production system.

SAP Readiness Check for SAP S/4HANA displays the simplification items that are relevant for your specific SAP ECC source system conversion to SAP S/4HANA Server. The simplification items are identified according to factors such as transactions used, customizing, and table contents. The simplification items are one of the most important means of preparing your move to SAP S/4HANA Server, and enable you to do the following:

• Display the SAP S/4HANA simplification items that are relevant for your SAP ECC system.

• Reference-related project activities for each item to organize project efforts.

• Focus on the most important activities first, for example, which business decisions are to be made and which tasks can be performed now on the source SAP ECC system.

• Filter mandatory and conditional activities to ease project planning.

• Organize work by setting a manual status and adding personal comments.

• Upload the detailed consistency check results to deep dive into necessary data cleanup and corrections.

The Software Update Manager is the central tool for the SAP S/4HANA conversion. It combines actions like a database migration to the SAP HANA database, the update of the SAP software from SAP ECC to SAP S/4HANA Server, and the major part of the data conversion to the new data model.

This is a high-level overview of the steps of the Software Update Manager and manual activities – especially those that have to be performed in downtime, using the standard SAP S/4HANA conversion procedure.

After the Software Update Manager has finished, several manual activities have to be performed to complete the SAP S/4HANA conversion.

There are different options for where to install the SAP Fiori apps. The general recommendation is to install the SAP Fiori apps embedded, as part of the SAP S/4HANA Server system.

• Use the Simplification List to map existing business processes to SAP S/4HANA.
• Start Usage and Procedure Logging (UPL) to have statistics based on a long phase.
• Check the custom code: Which parts are obsolete? What does SAP offer today?
• Reduce database size, for example, by archiving or using SAP Data Volume Management (DVM).
• Consider unicode conversion.
• Consider Readiness Check.
• Read the System Conversion guide
• Use the Maintenance Planner: Get familiar and use checks early.
• Run the Simplification Item (SI) check programs.

Moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition

Note

While this SAP Certification provides foundational knowledge, please note that a private cloud migration can be a complex process, with many teams involved, timelines, systems, processes.

We expect our PartnerEdge Sell and Service partners providing migration services to have comprehensive experience using SAP tools and to be aware of the processes involved and that is why we also highly encourage you to consume the following resources:

https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/administering-sap-s-4hana-cloud-private-edition-Interaction-with-sap

https://learning.sap.com/learning-journeys/getting-started-with-support-from-sap-support-accreditation

https://support.sap.com/en/product/onboarding-resource-center/rise.html

Transition paths to the private cloud are supported by the RISE with SAP system transition workbench. It enhances the standard Software Update Manager approaches with cloud-specific optimizations and automates preparation and handover activities. In alignment with the Software Update Manager, it offers two approaches to combine a system conversion to SAP S/4HANA and a move to hyperscaler: DMOVE2S4 and DMO with System Move, where DMOVE2S4 is capable of downtime optimization approaches, as previously explained. To use this approach as a partner or customer, SAP Enterprise Cloud Services, which is SAP's Cloud Service organization, offers a temporary system used for migration, the Migration Server. The following prerequisites need to be considered:

• Standard connectivity options to SAP S/4HANA cloud are used.
• The partner will be located on customer side or will be connected to the customer’s network.
• The partner will use the customer’s connection.

Typically, customers create a dedicated connection from their on-premise network to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition landscape.

This involves setting up a site-to-site IPSEC VPN between their on-premise network and the hyperscaler network, supported by network layer encryption. Additionally, they have the option to use dedicated private connectivity solutions like AWS Direct Connect, Azure Express Route, and Google Cloud Interconnect.

The general process for system conversion and moving to SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition is like a system conversion to SAP S/4HANA on Premise:

The preparation phase begins with collecting system requirements, and moves on to system prechecks and custom code preparation on the source system. This phase requires close coordination between the migration partner, the customer, and the SAP Enterprise Cloud Services team managing the transition to SAP S/4HANA private cloud. The goal is to align source and target system requirements, ensuring the skeleton system setup meets the customer's needs. This alignment ensures a smooth transition process, verifying that source system custom code and target system software versions, storage, bandwidth, and compute environment align with expectations.

Depending on whether the approach is DMOVE2S4 or DMO with System Move, the migration partner uses the SWPM to either install an additional application server pointed at the source system, or a Primary application server pointed at the target system on the migration server. The detailed steps for each approach are outlined below.

What's important to note is that SAP does not allow access to the operating system on the target server. Therefore, an additional virtual server (migration server) is provided which allows access to the operating system. The migration server is used during the transition project will be decommissioned after successful transition.

After the technical conversion by Software Update Manager, post-activities in the target system, requiring only GUI access, can be performed by the migration partner without additional or special access.

For DMOVE2S4 the steps of the system conversion and moving to hyperscaler are as follows:

1. SAP Enterprise Cloud Services provisions an empty SAP S/4HANA system.
2. SAP Enterprise Cloud Services provisions the temporary system (migration server) with the RISE with SAP system transition workbench available.
3. The workbench automatically installs an additional application server on the migration server that is connected to the source system.
4. The migration partner prepares the source system for the system conversion to SAP S/4HANA.
5. The workbench starts the Software Update Manager on the additional application server installed on the migration server and confirms the instance move in the Software Update Manager user interface.
6. The migration partner finishes the system conversion with Software Update Manager.
7. The migration partner performs the post-processing activities in the RISE with SAP system transition workbench. As part of this step, the partners opens a service request to switch the primary application server to the SAP application server in SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition system.
8. The migration partner informs SAP Enterprise Cloud Services on completion of conversion and stops all SAP processes.
9. The migration partner executes all the post-conversion technical steps and activities in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition system.
10. SAP Enterprise Cloud Services executes post activities before handover to customer including monitoring tools, backup schedule and validation.

For DMO with System Move the steps of the system conversion and move to hyperscaler are as follows:

1. SAP Enterprise Cloud Services provisions an empty SAP S/4HANA system.
2. SAP Enterprise Cloud Services provisions the temporary system (Migration Server).
3. The RISE with SAP system transition workbench automatically installs an additional application server on the migration server that is connected to the source system.
4. The migration partner prepares the source system for system conversion to SAP S/4HANA, supported by the RISE with SAP system transition workbench.
5. The migration partner starts the Software Update Manager on the primary application server of the source system and exports the database content.
6. The migration partner transfers the exported data from the source to the target host.
7. The RISE with SAP system transition workbench starts the Software Update Manager on the migration server. The migration partner imports the database content, finishes the Software Update Manager procedure, exits the tool, and returns to the workbench.
8. The migration partner performs the post-processing activities in the RISE with SAP system transition workbench. As part of this step the partners opens a service request to switch the primary application server to the SAP application server in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition system.
9. The migration partner informs SAP Enterprise Cloud Services that the conversion is finished and stops all SAP processes.
10. The migration partner executes all the post-technical conversion steps and activities in the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition system
11. SAP Enterprise Cloud Services executes post activities before handover to customer including monitoring tools, backup schedule and validation.