Should businesses manage data before or after S/4HANA?

In an episode of the Proceed podcast, we had the pleasure of sitting down with Proceed’s founder, Nick Parkin, to discuss the impact proper SAP data management can have on the S/4HANA journey’s success. You can enjoy the entire episode by watching the video above or review the key highlights below.

What do we mean by data management in the context of the S/4HANA journey?

Data management can mean different things to different people, but for Proceed, it boils down to a critical question: Do you really need all of this data in your SAP system? In the context of a migration, it’s essential to consider the age of your data. For example, if you are moving from an old ECC6 system with 20 years of data to S/4HANA, it’s worth asking if you truly need all 20 years of that data – or just seven to ten years. This decision should be based on your data retention needs, ensuring you only bring over the data that’s essential.

This is where Proceed comes in – our role revolves around deciding which data should reside in the S/4HANA system and what can be archived. Typically, only two years of data need to be in S/4HANA, while the remaining eight years can be stored in an archive for retrieval through S/4HANA transactions.

The impact of neglecting data management ahead of the migration

When planning a migration, two significant factors come into play:

Firstly, the size of the database you’re moving influences the cost, affecting both HANA memory expenses and, potentially, SAP licensing fees. A smaller database results in cost savings.

Secondly, the time required for the migration, especially in brownfield scenarios, is a critical consideration. Migrations need to be completed swiftly, as users go live on the system. The smaller the database – the quicker the migration will take place.

What are the consequences of not addressing data management before a transition to S/4HANA?

It’s essential to consider database size when migrating to S/4HANA. A large corporate customer with a 40-terabyte database reduced it to 30 terabytes but faced a 130-hour migration time—over five days of system downtime. To address this, they archived even deeper into their data to reduce the size of the database.

The cost implications of a migration

When a customer opts for on-premise HANA in their data center, it entails significant hardware investments. This includes the production system, a disaster recovery system of equivalent size, pre-production and quality assurance systems, a smaller development system, and a few sandboxes. For larger databases, this can amount to millions of pounds. However, data archiving can significantly reduce costs, potentially saving half of the initial investment. Numerous examples show that data management projects have led to monthly savings of tens of thousands of pounds, with significant returns on investment.

Additionally, the time required for Brownfield migrations can be reduced with a smaller database, resulting in considerable time and cost savings by minimising the need for multiple dry runs and data selection efforts.