Flagship project – first SAP customer to use selective data transition to merge into existing SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SPS Companies (SPS), a Kansas-based steel company, successfully completed Go-Live on their SAP S/4HANA flagship project, SPS/4WARD. They become the first company to use Selective Data Transition to merge selective data and processes from an ECC 6.0 on-premise system into a productive SAP S/4HANA Cloud, EX environment.
“What was achieved over New Years’ weekend has never been done before” says Johannes Semel, Sr. Practice Director at cbs Corporate Business Solutions America. He continues, “this project proves that Selective Data Transition offers more flexibility to SAP users looking to migrate into the S/4HANA cloud.”
Alongside the one-step move from ECC on-prem into the S/4HANA cloud, the project consisted of two additional core transformation elements. First, a significant data footprint reduction by selectively migrating 5 years of relevant historical data, including the restructuring, and renaming of organizational units. Secondly, a thorough financial reorganization to leverage the functionalities of the new S/4HANA Universal Ledger. This includes retroactively converting historical data into new S/4HANA components like Margin Analysis (cost based to account-based CO-PA), the new FI Asset Accounting (classic FI-AA to new FI-AA), and NewGL Document Splitting (classic to NewGL).
“All these puzzle pieces by themselves are daunting, challenging and impossible to be carried out simultaneously without Selective Data Transition” Johannes Semel claims.
Blueprint for future S/4HANA migrations
This was not a normal SAP S/4HANA transition project, and many SAP customer will find similarities in the hurdles faced by SPS in their own transformation journeys. Not only did SPS move from on-premise to the cloud, they also:
- Left years of old, obsolete data behind
- Renamed company codes
- Merged into an existing SAP S/4HANA Cloud landscape
- Harmonized chart of accounts
- Changed to account-based controlling
- Switched from Classic to NewGL in ACDOCA
- Implemented specific new S/4 functionalities
“Selective Data Transition solved one of the bigger issues we were facing,” Justin Moldrup, IT Director at SPS Companies states. “Brownfield was simply not possible, and Greenfield meant a long project timeline with multiple rollout phases. Selective Data Transition offered added flexibility to bring this down to a year.”
SPS/4WARD will pave the way for hundreds of SAP customers looking to leverage next generation technologies at the enterprise level by hosting their entire SAP infrastructure in the cloud. “This project is pioneering and groundbreaking. It demonstrates that S/4 transformation projects do not have to take years and that they can genuinely add value to the business. This project will serve as a blueprint for future S/4 migrations into the cloud,” emphasizes Lorenz Praefcke, CEO of cbs America.
New approach cuts transition time up to 50 percent
Selective Data Transition is a unique, software-driven SAP S/4HANA transformation approach cutting project implementation time by up to 50 percent. It solves the binary choice between New Implementation and System Conversion by adding a flexible, data-driven, and business focused alternative for SAP customers across industries. cbs Corporate Business Solutions is a founding member of SAP’s Selective Data Transition Engagement, a select community of partners responsible for pioneering this approach, and establishing standard procedures for the execution of complex landscape transformation projects.
