Big data is becoming increasingly important to modern-day companies. Everyone, from a simple coffee shop with mailing lists and a hoard of information about their customers to high-end statistics firms, have long lists of data they need to keep safe and query on demand.
While storing such data on a local server or a simple online cloud platform is sufficient for some business processes, other entities need SAP migration to more robust systems like SAP S/4HANA.
What is SAP Hana?
SAP HANA is the memory-based database system used to run SAP ERP applications. It leverages lightning-fast RAM to analyze, organize and report on big data in real time. By cutting the time needed to pull data from permanent storage with each query, an SAP system has considerably faster turnaround times.
Other than this, SAP customers leverage other digital transformation techniques like advanced DB administration, application development, and even data virtualization.
The next iteration of SAP is S/4HANA. It builds on the legacy’s SAP capabilities bringing forth faster performance and more efficiency – especially to technology companies or anyone who prefers deploying their SAP Solutions on cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services.
What are SAP HANA and SAP/4Hana Migration?
This is the process of moving your data and operations to the new SAP/4Hana platform. It could be from any other data management platform or the legacy SAP ECC system.
The migration methodology will vary depending on what our SAP customers were using before. Some data sources need system conversion after the SAP S/4HANA migration, while others will be closer to plug-and-play and third-party support.
The top migration scenarios are:
A Classical Migration
SAP customers moving from other database systems to the SAP HANA platform will need to use this approach. A couple of SAP tools copy data from exported files, process them and commit the results to the SAP database in the correct format. This is as classic as Miles Davies can get.
Sap Software SUM DMO
If you are already running SAP on any DB or AWS, you can get simpler one-step migration by using the SAP SUM DMO software suite. The software bundles up a couple of mandatory migration steps, making it more manageable for small businesses that want to cut costs.
Using a System Replicator
Another plausible migration technique is duplicating and porting an existing SAP system to a new target system. The SAP HANA HSR is a system replicator that lets you directly move data from a primary database to the target database.
This is a fast and efficient way to copy master data to a new system in case you want some redundancy or want to change infrastructure providers.
What Are the Top Migration Challenges?
Organizations’ biggest problem moving from SAP HANA to the new SAP S/4HANA is the need to re-do the custom code they were using to manipulate their former data.
This is because the SAP/S4HANA is a new version and does not have full backward compatibility with the old platform. You will lose some custom solutions after the S/4Hana migration and have to rebuild them.
As such, many SAP solutions clients have chosen to skip the SAP migration or postpone system conversion until their business process deems it necessary or they are ready to handle the migration.
Thinking of Migrating? Here are the Top Things You Should Consider
Proper planning before an SAP migration will make things easier like any new technology deployment. Some of the top considerations you should keep in mind include:
- Make plans to modify any custom code you had running on your old platform to work with the updated SAP deployment and process your data better and faster
- Choose the correct Linux platform to build your upcoming SAP systems on
- Think of any automation you might want in the future and bake it straight into the SAP HANA database from the very start
- Ensure that your team has the proper skills and certifications needed to carry the migration process through
In any case, you should always remember that migration from one platform to another is only as efficient as the people who handle it. Creating backups and focusing on training your SAP S/4 HANA team, and even doing a mock migration before D-Day will help you iron out any oversights that could otherwise turn the SAP HANA migration catastrophic.