Configure your roadmap to your next-generation ERP suite with q.beyond's Transformation Launchpad

Transformation scenarios

Brownfield, Greenfield, or a hybrid of both approaches? A good initial basis for deciding on a transformation scenario is provided by an S/4HANA Readiness Check, which analyzes the existing system and process landscape and offers many indications of necessary adjustments within the framework of the transformation.

• Do current business processes support your long-term strategy?
• Can you apply SAP best practices, or would you like to keep the existing customizing?
• Is your move to SAP S/4HANA being driven by the business or by IT?
• Can you convert from SAP ERP application to SAP S/4HANA in a single step?
• Do you need historical transactional data in the system?
• Are landscape consolidation and process Harmonisation the most important factors?
• Do you have a high or low number of interfaces to other systems?
• Can your company follow a multi-year innovation plan with incremental innovations?

q.beyond guides you through these and other questions, creates a quick assessment with you, evaluates the analysis results of the readiness check with you, makes cost-benefit assessments and derives a recommendation for the appropriate transformation scenario.

Methodology & Procedure

q.beyond uses the SAP Activate framework as the basis for transformation projects. We complement this framework with our experience from numerous customer projects, as well as best practices, templates, and concepts compiled in q.beyond's S/4HANA Transformation Launchpad. And above all, we take your individual project goals into account.

From the launch strategy to go-live support, all activities are planned, scheduled, controlled and carried out along defined project phases - Discover, Prepare, Explore, Realize, Deploy and Run.

q.beyond's approach combines agile and traditional project methods into a hybrid methodology, tailored to specific needs. Tools provided by SAP, such as the Transformation Navigator, the Roadmap Viewer, and the Best Practices Explorer, are used strategically, and their results are leveraged in the respective project phases.

The q.beyond approach integrates project-accompanying, continuous quality and risk management.

Digitalisation & Innovation

Digitalisation is disrupting today's business. The traditional boundaries between traditional and digitalized business processes are largely dissolving.

Innovation has become the most important driver for differentiating oneself from market competitors and inspiring and thus retaining customers with new, unexpected added value.

With S/4HANA, SAP delivers the solution components for a wide variety of requirements, which can be combined as needed.
This provides the foundation for highly integrated solutions that also enable topics such as IoT, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.

q.beyond works with you to develop the foundations for your Digitalisation strategy based on S/4HANA. In addition to our experience in Digitalisation consulting, we bring a proven and flexibly adaptable methodology. This process takes your current situation into account and develops a robust, flexible, and scalable architecture.

Lessons Learned & References

We've learned our lessons for you: In each of the numerous S/4HANA projects we've undertaken, we've gained valuable insights and experience – knowledge that no training course can impart. From this, we've developed learnings, templates, and best practices that help reduce the duration of your transformation project and ensure a smoother transition to the S/4HANA world.

• Communication on “Why Digitalisation and S/4HANA?”
• Change management in the Organisation
• Project approach based on agile principles.

At the conclusion of each quality gate and project, q.beyond conducts lessons learned sessions for its clients. The insights gained are then incorporated into all subsequent projects. This ensures the continuous development of q.beyond's S/4HANA methodology and expertise.

Current procedures and guidelines from SAP and the German-speaking SAP User Group (DSAG) are taken into account as best practices in your projects.

Change Management & Training

The Digitalisation and innovative power of markets often necessitate profound structural changes. Tasks are automated, and traditional roles are evolving. S/4HANA forms the technological backbone of this digital transformation, and its implementation involves adjustments to processes, responsibilities, and ways of working. This directly and immediately affects your employees and managers.

We recommend a comprehensive change management approach that begins as early as the strategy development phase and generates commitment from management. Those affected are transformed into stakeholders, which significantly shortens project durations. Technological opportunities are leveraged early on through Organisation adaptation.

For a successful S/4HANA transformation, we ensure effective stakeholder management, proactive communication, and drive process and Organisation changes where necessary. With comprehensive training management, we ensure your employees are well-prepared for go-live and involve your key users early on. Throughout this process, we keep your corporate culture in mind and build upon the existing foundations of your Organisation .

S/4 Deployment Options & Sizing

The physical location of the SAP S/4HANA system's hardware is now largely irrelevant to its use. For the end user, performance and usability are the primary considerations. Nevertheless, companies, especially when first adopting S/4HANA, need to consider which software deployment options are most suitable.

The S/4HANA system can be operated on-premise at your site or in the cloud with q.beyond or a hyperscaler such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform. Operation in the SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud (HEC) by SAP and/or in cooperation with q.beyond is also possible. q.beyond also implements hybrid cloud models.

q.beyond analyzes and evaluates possible deployment options with regard to your company philosophy as well as cost-benefit aspects and provides a recommendation for future system operation.

Additionally, q.beyond offers a sizing module: This involves estimating the size of the infrastructure components to be planned for during the S/4HANA transformation. The approach varies depending on the transformation scenario and deployment strategy.

Licenses

The S/4HANA licensing model introduces several changes compared to SAP ECC licensing. The "Named Users" in SAP ECC are replaced by clearly defined S/4HANA usage types. So-called engines generally no longer require additional user rights, and indirect usage is redefined with the document-based "Digital Access" model, which is now a mandatory part of the license agreement.

q.beyond presents the new licensing model and the possible paths of product conversion and contract conversion.

We work with you to determine the licensing requirements for your future S/4HANA system landscape and explain the options for crediting your legacy software. Your strategy regarding the future operating and billing model is incorporated into our considerations. As a result, q.beyond provides this module as the basis for a concrete commercial licensing offer.

As an SAP Gold Partner with PCoE certification (PCoE = Partner Center of Expertise), q.beyond also offers licensing and maintenance services.

S/4HANA Readiness Check

What can you expect from S/4HANA? Which technical and functional aspects will change? Where do the simplifications in SAP's new ERP software generation S/4HANA come into play, in accordance with the "Principle of One," which states that there should be only one solution for each type of business transaction?

The S/4HANA Readiness Check addresses these aspects and provides initial essential information about the readiness of your system, even if the basic approach of the transformation (Brownfield or Greenfield) has not yet been determined.

q.beyond prepares the S/4HANA Readiness Check for you and supports you throughout the process. In warm-up sessions, expectations, needs, pain points, and risks are defined for each department. Subsequently, key simplifications are identified, upcoming business decisions are determined, and the items for the initial S/4HANA roadmap are presented. The actionable recommendations are then presented in a final presentation.

Optionally, we offer half-day specialist workshops for a thematic deep dive into the S/4HANA innovations and highlight the added value of the individual application areas.

Fiori & Apps

S/4HANA offers comprehensive integration of modern and mobile technologies. Many standard SAP functions are available on any device via SAP Fiori apps. Custom apps can be developed based on SAPUI5 for web apps and native apps on Android and iOS. Leveraging the SAP Cloud Platform creates further possibilities for using apps offline and from anywhere.

SAP Fiori is an essential part of any S/4HANA transformation. q.beyond analyzes your app requirements. The minimum scope of the analysis addresses business processes that can only be managed with SAP Fiori in S/4HANA. The SAP Fiori launchpad and selected apps are then activated. q.beyond utilizes the SAP Fiori Rapid Activation approach to comprehensively cover all processes.

As further services in the area of ​​Fiori & Apps, we offer you the definition of the UX strategy and the Fiori architecture, the topic of permissions for apps and cloud integration for optimal use of the apps.

Of course, the issue of system hardening should not be neglected to ensure that your data is always safe from unauthorized access.

Process design, S/4HANA processes & innovations

Compared to SAP ECC, S/4HANA offers not only a new user interface with the Fiori Launchpad, but also modified process flows. The S/4HANA backend processes are available in either new, optimized, or enhanced versions. Some, however, remain unchanged. The basis for all these changes is the currently valid Simplification List for SAP S/4HANA.

q.beyond guides you through initial fit-to-standard workshops, in which the performance catalog of each SAP standard process for S/4HANA is roughly compared and evaluated against your business processes. The result is a list of the innovations relevant to you.

In the transition project, the concept for S/4HANA processes and innovations is further advanced in detailed Fit-to-Standard or Fit-Gap-Delta workshops.

Business Partner & CVI

SAP S/4HANA introduces a new perspective on a central master data object. All business partners, whether customers or suppliers, employees or contacts, will henceforth be uniformly considered "business partners." This ensures a consistent and integrated data model across all modules.

By assigning different roles, business partners are then defined, for example, as debtors or creditors. The existing data structures known from SAP ECC continue to be maintained during a brownfield migration through Customer-Vendor Integration (CVI).

q.beyond will develop a concept for the introduction of the Business Partner and guide you and all stakeholders through this early phase of your S/4HANA transformation. This process includes, among other things, the evaluation of existing data and the development of proposals for cleansing, standardizing, and simplifying it.

New Ledgers

With the introduction of S/4HANA, SAP is undertaking a redesign in the finance environment, which is made possible for the first time with HANA technology – on a new general ledger.

The path of the "New General Ledger" initiated with SAP ECC 6.0 has been radically yet logically further developed in S/4HANA Finance. The new Universal Journal is the redesigned approach to central document management for external and internal accounting. The previously technically necessary summary tables, secondary indexes, and subledger tables can be eliminated in favor of consistent data updates. Entirely new possibilities are also offered, such as the mapping of profit center accounting in the SAP Finance module, the mapping of an accounting-based CO-PA (SAP module for sales controlling), and enhanced reporting.

q.beyond analyzes your current situation with you. As part of a concept or preliminary study, implementation alternatives are developed and a roadmap for migrating your existing landscape to S/4HANA Finance is presented. The transition to the new asset accounting system and the material ledger is also considered. In a brownfield scenario, q.beyond handles the design and implementation of the migration and delta customizing.

Industry & Cloud Solutions

SAP is not a one-size-fits-all solution: q.beyond supports numerous industry-specific and cloud solutions, and we can provide you with comprehensive consulting services for each. These include, in particular:

• SAP Retail Reference Architecture
• SAP CAR
• SAP CX solutions (S/4 CM, Customer Data Platform, C/4 solutions)
• Point-of-sale systems and their integration.

S/4HANA embedded Solutions

SAP has reintegrated various satellite systems into SAP S/4HANA. Therefore, the question for you is: what does the transition to this look like?

Processes from SAP CRM, for which you previously operated a separate system in the SAP Business Suite, are now included in S/4HANA Core. We transform your SAP CRM service processes into the corresponding S/4HANA processes.

SAP provides tools for the transformation from ERP Customer Service (ECC-CS) and Maintenance (ECC-PM). q.beyond advises you on selecting the migration path and handles the transformation.

S/4HANA Contract Management (CCM) is the successor to SD/MM bonus accounting. q.beyond analyzes your bonus processes, gathers your core requirements in just one week, and builds a prototype in your SAP system. This allows you to see how you can make your commission and bonus processing more efficient.

S/4HANA offers two warehouse management solutions: LE-WM (Stock Room Management) and Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) as an embedded option – with significant differences in technology, functionality, innovation, and future-proofing. Within the S/4HANA embedded Solutions service module and the EWM sub-area, q.beyond presents both solutions and provides a customized recommendation. The required EWM license (basic or advanced) is also determined.

Unicode Conversion & Migration HANA Database

SAP S/4HANA requires Unicode (an international character standard). Conversion to S/4HANA for non-Unicode systems is only possible if minimum requirements are met, which may first need to be established – for example, in the source system and in the custom code. See also: Custom Code Conversion.

A Unicode conversion can be combined with switching to the HANA database and/or an OS migration or upgrade.

It is also important that the S/4HANA system runs exclusively on the SAP HANA database and that Linux is used as the operating system. If neither of these conditions is met, two options are available: You can convert everything simultaneously, meaning the S/4HANA conversion to a HANA database and the switch to Linux are performed at the same time – all in one step. Or you can do it sequentially: First, you transfer the existing system to the HANA database, convert it to Unicode, then switch the operating system, and finally perform the S/4HANA conversion in a subsequent step.

Based on your current situation, q.beyond will discuss the best course of action with you and support you in choosing the appropriate method. q.beyond will then implement the conversion for you, step by step.

Custom Code Conversion

The Custom Code Conversion process adapts the remaining customer-specific objects to the requirements of S/4HANA and Unicode. This is based on the results of the ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) test. See also Unicode Conversion & Migration HANA Database.

SAP already offers several quick solutions for rapidly processing the code sections (findings) that need to be changed. However, in many cases, the software needs to be completely redesigned due to obsolete or significantly altered functionality.

As preparation, the code in the current system can already be converted to HANA compliance, provided a HANA database is not yet in use. Additionally, it is advisable to remove any code that is no longer needed from the system (decommissioning). These preparations reduce the effort required for the code conversion on the S/4HANA system.

q.beyond performs the test for you using the ABAP Test Cockpit, evaluates the results of the test, suggests a suitable approach depending on your chosen transformation scenario, and carries out the code conversion (partially) automatically or manually.

Integration

For the introduction of S/4HANA as well as for a system conversion, a more detailed analysis and documentation of all integration aspects is essential:

During the preparation phase, q.beyond supports you with the analysis of your current system landscape, including its interfaces (SAP/SAP and SAP/non-SAP). We use the SAP Integration Solution Advisory Methodology (ISA-M) for this purpose.

• Design of the solution landscape including the interfaces
• Integration of SAP S/4HANA and SAP cloud solutions
• Integration of SAP and non-SAP solutions
• Clarification of all other technical (non-business) integration issues, such as checking ABAP add-ons and customer-specific solutions for compatibility with S/4HANA.

During the implementation phase, in addition to implementing the interfaces, validating the integration models and scenarios is crucial for the subsequent operation of the solution. q.beyond provides support here with proven processes and tools. This ensures data consistency across distributed system landscapes, offers business process monitoring and alerting, and guarantees performance and scalability.

Analytics, Reporting, Planning

S/4HANA, based on the HANA platform, opens up entirely new possibilities for reporting. Within the framework of the q.beyond Reporting Scenario Recommendations, we examine the various alternatives, such as a modern data warehouse with BW/4HANA or SAP Data Warehouse Cloud, as well as embedded analytics and embedded BW.

• Simplification items such as obsolete tables
• new interface technologies/extractors such as Operational Data Provisioning (ODP), Core Data Services (CDS)
• Changed field lengths (material number, amount fields, etc.).

And we show ways to replace the logistics/sales information system (LIS/VIS) – always with a view to modern reporting.

Furthermore, we examine your company's planning processes and evaluate their mapping with SAP Analytics Cloud and/or SAP Business Planning and Consolidation (BPC).

Data Cleansing

Data consistency and data cleansing are essential for a smooth migration or transformation of existing data. Data cleansing serves to validate, standardize, and clean the data sets before a go-live.

Open business processes and documents should be closed where possible; duplicates should be eliminated. Master data marked for deletion can be deleted or archived. This avoids migrating outdated, incomplete, or redundant data to SAP S/4HANA.

Archiving

Reducing the number of data records, and thus the database size, is a key prerequisite for an efficient transformation and a fast database migration. This also results in lower in-memory storage usage, saving runtime costs.

Archiving in the ERP system before the transformation is an important success factor and can be started well in advance.

q.beyond prepares the archiving, coordinates the rules with you, and carries out the archiving process. Experience shows that this can save an average of 40 percent of the database size.

Even after migrating to SAP S/4HANA, regular archiving remains essential for cost reasons. The process must be adapted to the new archiving objects and options in SAP S/4HANA. q.beyond contributes its experience and the necessary tools and resources to achieve this.

Data migration

• Rapid data migration solutions (SAP Data Services)
• SAP S/4HANA Migration Cockpit (LTMC/LTMOM)
• SAP System Landscape Optimisation (SLO).

q.beyond supports you in all migration phases, from data analysis to go-live and the subsequent hypercare phase. We advise you on the right approach and the selection of tools. If required, we implement necessary testing/mapping routines for you, up to and including custom ETL solutions for combining data from various differently structured sources (ETL = Extract, Transform, Load).

• What data should be transferred?
• In which systems and tables is this data located?
• Are customer-specific tables and fields affected in addition to standard SAP tables/fields?
• How large is the volume of data to be migrated and within what timeframe must the data migration take place?
• Do the source and target data structures match, or are field/value mappings necessary?

Permissions

Be compliance-ready with SAP authorisations.

For new implementations (greenfield):
q.beyond offers you the security of your sensitive data and maps your processes in an audit-proof and compliant manner, thus meeting all legal requirements. You receive best-practice role sets as a starter package for:

• Project consultants and developers
• Application administrators
• SAP Supporter
• Examiners and auditors
• IT support including client 000
• FI, CO, MM, SD, HCM for standard processes as standardised e workplaces (Business Roles).

New processes and functionalities such as Fiori apps are taken into account.

For system conversion (brownfield):
Based on the results of the readiness check and your requirements, q.beyond performs the SAP authorisation and role migration of your existing authorisations to an S/4HANA target environment. New technologies and functionalities such as Fiori apps are taken into account.

The use of established tools specifically reduces migration and testing efforts in the specialist department.

Sandbox

q.beyond offers the installation and operation of an S/4HANA Demo21 Sandbox system and delivers the technical provision within 24 hours of request.

The Demo21 S/4HANA system contains sample data and business transactions from various S/4HANA modules, thus enabling initial and uncomplicated testing of functions and program flows without prior customizing and data maintenance effort.

For brownfield migration approaches, it is possible to create sandboxes based on a copy of your own ERP production system. This allows you to test the upgrade process using your own data at both the technical and application levels, and to refine the process.

For greenfield migration approaches, the sandbox can of course also be installed in the initial delivery state of SAP and then configured according to individual requirements.

The infrastructure is provided as desired via Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), or in q.beyond's private cloud in a European data center. Deployment on cloud resources enables flexible operation. Costs are saved by selectively shutting down the system during periods of inactivity. Operation is handled by the q.beyond team.

The sandbox is used, among other things, for initial departmental workshops (see our service module "Procedure") with the new S/4HANA release, for carrying out the custom code conversion, or for the iterative execution of test changes.

Testing

q.beyond combines data, process and authorisation tests, thus optimizing the different test phases.

These combined test phases will be defined with you for project initiation, depending on the transformation scenario:

• What, how, when, who, KPIs
• Regression versus integration testing
• End-to-end versus process testing
• Cutover and conversion tests.

The testing organisation and defect management will be set up in a timely manner. Defects will be categorized according to error classes, and the necessary corrective actions will be taken based on these classes.

For test automation, q.beyond uses the SAP Solution Manager as well as other test and defect management tools.

Technical Conversion SUM

Technical system conversion is relevant in the S/4HANA transformation in the brownfield scenario and is primarily carried out by the SAP Software Update Manager.

Since the data conversion runtime depends, among other things, on the data volume, and S/4HANA system conversions can generally only be performed on weekends, strategies for Minimisation technical downtime may need to be developed, depending on the size of the SAP ECC source system. SAP System Update Management (SUM) offers various downtime Minimisation options to address this. These options enable updates to SAP S/4HANA systems with less technical downtime and thus minimized business disruption.

Test migrations in sandbox environments help to optimize the runtime of the real migration and to solve challenges in advance.

q.beyond advises and supports you in all preparatory measures, develops the appropriate scenario with you for minimal business downtime, taking into account the system environment, and carries out the technical conversion including go-live for you.

SAP AI Discovery

Guided by q.beyond, discover and understand SAP's strategic approach to Business AI for your company. In a workshop format, we will jointly develop your AI opportunity roadmap. This consists of a detailed AI action plan outlining the next steps, responsibilities, and potential involvement of various partners

To understand the current state of SAP Business AI, we will present inspiring AI use cases available in the SAP Experience Center. Following this, we will work together to identify your current situation and key challenges, and assess which ones can be addressed with AI. We will also discuss your readiness to integrate AI into your company

SAP Proof of Value

• Review identified AI use cases to assess their relevance and added value for your business processes and challenges
• Evaluate and prioritise use cases based on various dimensions such as business case, technical requirements, etc., and prioritise the top candidates for activation
• Discover custom AI solutions - tailor-made AI solutions specifically designed for your business.
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You will also learn how the consumption model works with AI units, thus gaining clarity about the cost structure and benefits of AI solutions