At SAP Sapphire 2024, Stephanie Kuebler, the Global Head of Business and Data Transformation Solutions at SAP, and her team announced the highly anticipated Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA within the SAP Business Transformation Center. In this discussion, she elaborates on how this combination aids customers in their digital transformation journey.
Question: Can you provide some information about the SAP Business Transformation Center?
Answer: The SAP Business Transformation Center is envisioned as a one-stop shop for customers looking to transition from SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ERP) 6.0 to SAP S/4HANA. Such transitions present several challenges, as customers need to sift through existing data, consolidate fragmented toolsets, organize the right human resources, and keep a timely eye on pricing.
With the SAP Business Transformation Center, we have made a concerted effort to bring together the latest functionalities and expert guidance into a single, powerful software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering. The SAP Business Transformation Center is easily accessible, deployed on SAP Cloud ALM above the SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP). It is compatible with any implementation of RISE with SAP or any SAP cloud solution and can be ready for use in less than half an hour.
Question: Where can customers go for more information?
Answer: Support materials are available here, including a quick summary of the features and benefits of the SAP Business Transformation Center, as well as introductory videos.
Question: Where can customers go for more information?
Question: What does SAP see as the core mission of the SAP Business Transformation Center?
Answer: The premium hub – Killian Carrolan from COE Ireland Data Management described the mission as follows: “To play an active role in the journey of adopting SAP S/4HANA by supporting core data management and data migration topics and acting as a trusted advisor for our customers.” He further explains that we achieve this through end-to-end support, which includes the practical execution, optimization, transformation, upgrading, and migration of big data and data platforms. In short, we apply our vast portfolio of enterprise information management and landscape transformation tools, methodologies, and processes to the unique transformation scenarios of our customers.
Question: Where are we in the ongoing development of the SAP Business Transformation Center?
Answer: Our first step was to help customers fully understand the structure of their SAP legacy systems through a digital blueprint. This provided the necessary background for them to outline their transformation project. Now, we have completed the second step, which is transferring data to the target system using Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA. This will help optimize the data conversion process and enable a smoother transition to a more agile and innovative enterprise.
Question: What does Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA actually do?
Answer: Data conversion has traditionally been a highly complex task, and we have significantly reduced that complexity. From the outset, Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA helps fundamentally decrease the effort involved in making decisions about which data to migrate. The underlying principle is to provide better recommendations and simpler choices through leading services and tools, along with end-to-end guidance to maximize their benefits. This approach helps customers ensure they only transfer the data that will remain useful, reduces the volume of data for testing and go-live phases, and accelerates the transition process.
With Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA, customers can minimize their SAP legacy data and go live with a clean data foundation in the target system. Combined with the digital blueprint, this solution empowers the SAP Business Transformation Center to handle all the heavy lifting, such as accessing source systems, extracting relevant data, transforming and loading it, and validating data for completeness, consistency, and accuracy.
Question: What types of data can customers choose to exclude from the transfer?
Answer: For example, they may decide to completely ignore obsolete company codes, such as the data of companies they have sold or those that are no longer in use.
Question: What does the broader market see as the most revolutionary aspect of Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA?
Answer: For the first time, SAP provides standard capabilities not only for complete reconstruction, greenfield implementations, system conversions, or brownfield implementations, but also for projects that fall somewhere in between. This represents a third option, if you will, and it offers a holistic approach to significant changes from SAP ECC 6.0 to the SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition.
Question: Can you elaborate on how Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA works and how customers can benefit from it?
Answer: Using the SAP Readiness Check tool for SAP ERP usage and data profiling, we can read data from the source system with the customer and identify legal entities that are no longer in use or are about to become obsolete. The SAP Business Transformation Center can then propose that these entities and their associated data be “removed from scope” before starting the data transition, along with clear instructions on how to do this. It can also assist in identifying customer-specific data within the SAP legacy system. Here too, customers have the option to leave this data behind on the path to SAP S/4HANA to support its clean core strategy and get closer to standardization.
Previously, both of these tasks meant time-consuming manual work for solution architects, resulting in higher costs and extended timelines for customers. By integrating Lean Selective Data Transition into the already popular functionality of digital blueprinting, the SAP Business Transformation Center can now provide optimal support and transparency at each stage of the transformation project. This helps customers analyze the source system, define the migration scope, create the migration cycle, and ultimately transform the lean body of data they have chosen to migrate. From strategy to execution, we work as a trusted partner, helping to ensure that every step along the way leads to meaningful insights and sustainable outcomes. This also reduces both the total cost of implementation (TCI) and the total cost of operation (TCO).
Question: What are customers saying about Lean Selective Data Transition for SAP S/4HANA?
Answer: For example, our long-term partner BMW Group has told us that “this feature significantly accelerates our development as a smart enterprise by implementing sustainable and efficient solutions and methodologies.”