Moving to SAP S/4 HANA is no easy feat - whether customers have been running an older version of SAP or a non-SAP legacy system and regardless of which implementation or upgrade method is chosen. This is because the way customers do business has changed and therefore people, processes, and technology are forced to change as a result.
Business has become digital and not keeping up means that customers can be swallowed whole by hungry competition. IT budget is therefore focused on enabling all the good, exciting things that the Executive Committee variously are after - Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Digital Supply Chains and true eCommerce
This is all good and well, but focusing on the prize without focusing on the foundation and lifeblood of the system, i.e. its data, can cost a customer dearly.
“I have been called into too many meetings recently where data has been the main issue preventing a successful go-live for a customer that has embarked on a new or Greenfields implementation of the latest ERP from SAP, SAP S/4 HANA“ states Malan Barnard – Director at GlueData Services
“The meetings all have a
common theme with complaints such as:
● We have not been able to
do a successful mock data load yet and we are already in the UAT (User
Acceptance testing) phase of the project.
● We thought S/4 HANA came
with a toolset to load data and that would be sufficient.
● We never expected data
to be our challenge and we started looking at the data too late.
● We did not expect such a
big effort for data clean-up as we were doing a system conversion.
● We made too many assumptions
and never executed our test cycles with migrated data. Now that we have, a
whole can of worms has been opened causing massive project delays.
The list goes on” continues Malan.
The planning stage of the
SAP ERP Implementation is the best time to make the data topic a relevant and
focused stream - the earlier the better. A sound strategy is required that, at
the very least, outlines the following:Thw approach for ERP and other systems
(e.g., BI). For example, for a Greenfields implementation, defining the
archiving and data resolution approach.
● The reconciliation
approach (recon techniques can for example range from field by field
comparisons to spot checks), figuring out what makes business sense for each
"data object" (e.g. Customer Master) is key.
● The project phases which
outlining the number of mock cycles lined up to the project plan together with
entry and exit criteria.
● The systems landscape
covers tooling and technical approach (i.e. which systems to load which mock
into).
● The Data Migration
Scope: an inventory of all data to be migrated; the source of the data, target,
data owners and what data needs to be migrated, archived, or stored in Near
line Storage.
● Roles and Responsibilities - defined especially if the implementation team is separate from the data team.
It also does not help to implement SAP S/4 HANA with good quality data without a strategy for keeping the quality standards after go-live. A master data management strategy should therefore also be implemented, and as with the normal business processes, master data processes should also be defined. Data Governance capabilities should be established so that there is a framework of policies, rules, processes and roles defined to enable the business to operate successfully post-go-live.
Look out for future
articles where Malan will dive into some of the technical elements and options
available when performing the data migration. Contact GlueData
to find out more about offerings.
GlueData Boilerplate
GlueData is an SAP Gold Service Partner
and an SAP Special Expertise Partner in Enterprise Information Management
(EIM). The company is founded on the principle of achieving quality data,
knowing that data drives process and process drives profitability.
GlueData has proven rich methodologies, skilled consultants and the relevant implementation experience to rapidly deliver sustainable value for our customers. The company started in 2010 and has offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. GlueData provides SAP Data Management Solutions and Products to customers of all industries within South Africa and across the globe.