S4 HANA FINANCE MIGRATION – what’s on your plate?

S4 HANA FINACE MIGRATION – what’s on your plate?

S4 HANA Migration is an IMG activity however lot goes into system pre-checks, customizing and resolving specific issues during customizing and transnational data migration process. A carefully crafted strategy is a key to the success of the completion of the project. Another equally important thing is participation of all the stake holders – specifically SMEs and key business users who have in depth knowledge of the existing processes, customization, are able to assess risks and plan for mitigation. A strong support from basis team is a back-bone.

Currently, we are on the verge of completing the S4 HANA FIN 1605 migration project and I would like to share our experience to the benefit of those who are on their way. I believe it would help them to prepare, plan and avoid any last minute surprises. In short, learn from our experience.

Here are the most important phases of the S4 HANA migration project that we went through. Please note that the duration for each phase would depend on the complexity of the current implementation. The average time we would recommend including Assessment phase is 6 to 8 months.

I. Assessment – Feasibility study and GAP Analysis
A. On site Workshops – In the first six weeks period for assessment, we conducted workshops with stakeholders from IT and business including Functional Consultants, developers, key business users and senior management. Workshops for the following topics were arranged with two sessions on S4 HANA Overview and rest in detail, areas that were applicable to the current implementation of SAP (ECC 6 Ehp 7). The main purpose of conducting the workshops was to introduce S4 HANA Finance, its new architecture, understand the current business processes, come up with detailed GAP analysis, understand risks and discuss on mitigation.

1. Introduction to S4 HANA Finance 1605 – Session 1
2. Introduction to S4 HANA Finance 1605 – session 2
3. S4 HANA Finance impact in the areas of GL, AP and AR
4. S4 HANA Period Closing
5. S4 HANA Finance New Asset Accounting
6. S4 HANA Finance Controlling
7. S4 HANA Finance COPA – 2 sessions
8. S4 HANA Finance Cash and Liquidity Management
9. S4 HANA Analytics (BW)
10. S4 HANA Security
11. S4 HANA ABAP Analysis ( Custom Code)

B. Preparing Traceability Matrix

The final deliverable was the consolidated traceable matrix that would provide all the touch points, provide synopsis with new t-codes, configuration / customization requirements, Impact on key business processes and reporting. This would in turn become a reference point for the Blueprint Design. It would also provide estimation of total efforts, resource needs and time frame for the entire project. The assessment would set expectations – understand any limitations, define risk management, weak links and list the WRICEFs. We based this Traceability matrix on the current BPML (Business Process Master List) document and the WRICEF Inventory.

II. POC for key areas affected by new S4 HANA Architecture in the Lab System    
It is very important to create partial Proof of Concept for areas that look like a grey area. IT department and Business would provide clues on such areas. As a company policy we create test cases in our lab especially because we do not access client system before the Assessment is complete and we get go-ahead by the client to start working on their SandBox system.

In our Lab system ( S4 HANA FIN 1605) we created test cases in the Areas of COPA (Account Based COPA) New Asset Accounting ( Delta Area, Depreciation Calculations), Bank Account Management, General Ledger ( currency / Extension Ledger). Any issues were reported to SAP support and validated from key stake holders from IT and business.

For Example, following scenarios were tested in the area of COPA:

1. End to end SD sales order process to update COPA
2. End to end Internal Order process to settle to COPA
3. End to end FI postings to COPA
4. End to end Internal order process settlement to AUC
5. Standard order type with Debit / Credit memo
6. Credit memo order type with no PGI but billing
7.  Debit memo order type with no PGI but billing

III. Preparation – Pre-checks, Custom Code Analysis in the current system

This I believe is one of the most important steps to be carried out before installing the S4 HANA FIN component ie before any migration activities. Any errors in the pre-check needs to be resolved. SAP has used this strategy for the entire migration – it won’t allow you to ignore errors that are crucial. You will need to do it again and again in the Lab, SandBoxes – get used to it, resolve errors. Do as many iterations with good amount of test data.

Please find the steps involved in the Pre-checks. Note that you must refer to the latest documentation from SAP https://help.sap.com/sfin300

Example: Error in New Asset Accounting Pre-Check. (Program RASFIN_MIGR_PRECHECK)

Pre-checks needs a separate BLOG/s where I will list each step, List of SAP Notes to be implemented, Checks / pre requisites for New Asset Accounting and  pre-checks.

Stay tuned…