A practical guide to assessing your organization's preparedness for S/4HANA transformation
Moving from SAP ECC to S/4HANA represents one of the most significant technology transitions an SAP customer will undertake. With SAP ECC 6.0 mainstream maintenance ending in 2027 (with extended support available until 2030 for additional fees), organizations must begin planning their S/4HANA journey. This guide provides a structured approach to assess your readiness and identify preparation activities needed before embarking on this transformation.
S/4HANA is not simply an upgrade—it represents a fundamental platform change with a completely redesigned data model, new user experience, and cloud-ready architecture. Success requires careful preparation across technical, functional, and organizational dimensions. Organizations that conduct thorough readiness assessments experience shorter implementation timelines, lower costs, and fewer business disruptions.
SAP provides a free readiness check tool that analyzes your current system and identifies technical prerequisites for S/4HANA. This automated scan examines your system configuration, installed components, and data structures to highlight areas requiring attention.
Key areas analyzed:
The readiness check generates a detailed report prioritizing issues by severity. Address critical items before proceeding with migration planning. Run this check 12-18 months before your planned migration to allow adequate time for remediation.
Custom ABAP code represents one of the largest migration challenges. SAP has removed or changed numerous data structures in S/4HANA, requiring code modifications. The Custom Code Migration app (available in SAP Fiori) provides detailed analysis of required changes.
Common code issues:
Estimate 2-6 months for custom code remediation depending on your code volume and complexity. Prioritize changes based on business criticality and usage frequency. Consider this an opportunity to eliminate unused code and improve program efficiency.
Third-party add-ons and integration middleware must be certified for S/4HANA. Contact each vendor to verify compatibility and obtain migration guidance. Some add-ons may require version upgrades or complete replacement with S/4HANA native functionality.
Key integration points to assess:
S/4HANA migration provides an opportunity to improve master data quality. Poor data quality causes migration failures, performance issues, and inaccurate reporting. Conduct data quality assessments focusing on critical master data objects.
Priority areas for data cleanup:
Implement data governance processes to maintain quality post-migration. Assign data ownership and establish regular quality monitoring. Clean data reduces migration risk and improves S/4HANA performance.
S/4HANA migration duration correlates directly with data volume. Large transaction tables significantly extend downtime windows. Develop an archiving strategy to reduce data volume before migration.
Archiving candidates:
Balance archiving aggressiveness with business requirements for data access. Implement SAP Data Archiving or Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) solutions to archive systematically. Start archiving 6-12 months before migration to achieve meaningful volume reduction.
S/4HANA introduces simplified processes and new best practices. Review your current business processes to identify optimization opportunities. Determine whether to maintain current processes (Brownfield approach) or redesign processes (Greenfield approach).
Process assessment questions:
Engage business process owners early in readiness assessment. Their buy-in is critical for migration success. Document process decisions to guide implementation approach selection.
S/4HANA migration requires significant organizational change management. The new SAP Fiori user interface differs substantially from classic SAP GUI. Users require training and support during transition.
Change management activities:
Allocate 15-20% of project budget to change management activities. Organizations with strong change management experience higher user adoption and faster time-to-benefit.
S/4HANA runs on SAP HANA database, which requires different infrastructure specifications than traditional databases. HANA operates in-memory, requiring substantially more RAM than disk-based databases. Conduct sizing exercises to determine hardware requirements.
Sizing considerations:
SAP provides Quick Sizer tool for initial estimates. Conduct more detailed sizing during planning phase. Budget for infrastructure costs in total project ROI analysis.
S/4HANA migration presents an opportunity to move to cloud infrastructure. Evaluate cloud versus on-premise deployment based on business requirements, cost analysis, and strategic direction.
Cloud considerations:
Each approach has implications for project timeline, cost structure, and operational model. Cloud deployments may accelerate implementation but require different skill sets for ongoing management.
S/4HANA migration requires dedicated project team with appropriate skills and authority. Assess your organization's capacity to staff and manage a large-scale transformation program.
Required project roles:
Consider external support from SAP partners or consultants to supplement internal capabilities. Establish clear governance structure with regular steering committee meetings and escalation procedures.
S/4HANA migration readiness assessment identifies technical, business, and organizational gaps that must be addressed for successful transformation. Organizations that invest in thorough readiness activities experience smoother implementations with fewer surprises and lower total costs.
Start readiness assessment 12-18 months before planned migration. Address critical findings before proceeding to detailed project planning. Engage experienced SAP partners to supplement internal capabilities and leverage lessons learned from prior S/4HANA implementations.
The effort invested in readiness assessment pays dividends through reduced project risk, shorter implementation timelines, and higher user adoption. Use this checklist as a starting point for your readiness journey.
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For assistance with S/4HANA readiness assessment or migration planning, contact our team.