In this phase, you define the target architecture and to-be processes identified in fit-to-standard workshops. This section explains on a high-level how to get there.
Program and Roadmap Setup
- Start by defining a global template that fits the majority of your organization, especially if you have a heterogeneous landscape due to M&A activity. The global template typically progresses through the Realize phase and includes testing.
- Use the SAP Activate methodology for SAP S/4HANA Cloud as your implementation framework.
- Select a pilot scope (e.g., one or more legal entities or regions) based on factors such as legal requirements, legacy systems, local specifics, or political considerations.
- Run the selected pilot through the full Activate phases, beginning with Fit-to-Standard (F2S) workshops to identify local or legal deviations from the global template.
- Define the target process scope and target architecture for each entity as input to the transformation.
- Use SAP Signavio to facilitate the assessments during Fit-to-Standard workshops, the planning, cross-functional collaboration and enable a streamlined and efficient initiation of the transformation journey.
To begin designing your target processes and application architecture, follow these steps using SAP Signavio and SAP LeanIX tools:
Step 1. Design target processes in fit-to-standard workshops with SAP Signavio
In Fit-to-Standard workshops, SAP Signavio plays a key role in helping teams understand and validate SAP Best Practice processes. The SAP Signavio Process Explorer (SPX) provides access to standardized SAP process content—such as end-to-end process models, business capability mappings, and accelerator links—serving as the starting point for designing your to-be processes.
Recommended structure for managing as-is and to-be processes
To support synchronized modeling and transformation planning across SAP Signavio Process Manager and SAP LeanIX, it’s essential to clearly distinguish between as-is and to-be processes:
- In SAP Signavio Process Manager, you can either use SAP Best Practices as a blueprint for creating to-be processes in a separate folder or work on a new revision of the existing as-is process. This ensures that both versions are maintained independently while providing a foundation for future improvements.
- Create dedicated folders for "As-Is Processes" and "To-Be Processes" in SAP Signavio to organize and manage different versions of processes efficiently.
- If you opt to use SAP Best Practices, import these templates into the "To-Be Processes" folder and customize them as needed.
- Additionally, create new revisions for existing as-is processes when developing to-be processes, ensuring both versions are clearly labeled and stored in their respective folders.
- Once the structure is set up in SAP Signavio, configure SAP LeanIX to differentiate between as-is and to-be processes by creating dedicated workspaces that mirror the folder structure in SAP Signavio.
- Define fields and attributes to capture additional meta data like application and supported business capabilities.
- This structured approach ensures that as-is and to-be processes are clearly differentiated and managed efficiently across both platforms.
Step 2. Design target application architecture leveraging SAP LeanIX
Leverage SAP LeanIX Architecture and Road Map Planning for a detailed planning of your organization’s target architecture by further specifying how your landscape will be affected by the transformation.
By enriching your SAP LeanIX inventory and adding transformations and impacts, you can compare different transformation scenarios and visualize future states of your application landscape through reports. This will help to answer questions like: What happens if you stay to an SAP standard vs. if you use another system (e.g., introduce SAP SuccessFactors vs. Bamboo HR)?
Creating Transformations and Impacts
Option 1 (recommended): Create transformations with the SAP Reference Solution Architecture (RSA)
For SAP-driven transformations, we recommend using SAP LeanIX’s built-in transformation planning capabilities based on the SAP Reference Solution Architecture (RSA).
When you have linked business capability fact sheets to reference catalog items, various combinations of SAP applications that best support a business capability are grouped into options and offered as suggested SAP solutions for transformations. This enables value-driven planning by aligning transformation initiatives with SAP-recommended solutions for specific business capabilities. For a detailed guide, see Planning Transformations for SAP Solutions.
How it works
- Identify affected business capabilities: Identify the capabilities that are affected from the scoped processes and applications
- Use the relation explorer: In SAP LeanIX, use the relation explorer to check how various elements are linked. Link the relevant business capabilities to the scoped processes and applications. These relationships are essential for targeted transformation planning.
- Ensure Level 3 capability mapping: The transformation recommendations in SAP LeanIX works only if the business capability is:
- Defined at level 3
- Linked to the SAP LeanIX reference catalog item
- Review solution recommendations: Navigate to the Transformations tab on the respective business capability fact sheet. Here, you’ll find SAP-suggested solution options based on the capability’s classification and catalog linkage.
You can choose between different suggested solutions and options based on public cloud or hybrid (Private cloud/on-prem solutions) related to the transformation strategy and objectives you have planned.
Check a more detailed explanation on planning transformations for SAP Solutions.
Option 2: Create transformations manually
If you prefer to customize and extend the planning of transformations, you can create transformations manually within your initiative fact sheets. You can leverage out-of-the-box templates, e.g., introduce new applications, remove interface, etc., to model a given scenario, but also to create custom transformations where you can specify exactly the scope and impact of the transformation scenario. For detailed guide, refer Transformations.
This option offers greater flexibility and specificity in transformation planning. Since you are adding data manually, it’s important to balance the level of detail with the effort required. Once there is clarity and stakeholder alignment on specific initiatives, you can define and detail the transformations to be executed in later phases.
A very helpful overview to keep track of all modelled transformations is the Transformation Explorer. Double check and validate whether the list of transformations at the end of your planning and design phase includes all the needed changes in your landscape:
Visualize changes on your IT landscape and target architecture
With enhanced SAP LeanIX report capabilities, you can visualize the future state of your architecture/ impacts of transformations on your architecture. To learn more about the reporting capabilities enabled by the SAP LeanIX Architecture and Road Map Planning, refer to Reports and Roadmaps.
By adding the planned initiatives as an overlay to your existing application landscape reports, you can see an application landscape report that reflects the impacts of your transformations on your application landscape:
You can also use the roadmap report to see how certain aspects of your landscape change over time due to the selection of one or more Initiatives:
