Every organization’s SAP landscape is different, with a combination of hardware, software, customisation, and processes that have been built over time to meet specific business needs. This combination drives the approach to an organisation’s transformation journey from ECC to SAP S/4HANA.

Unless an organisation has decades of legacy customisation or wants to leverage new S/4 functionality, the transformation option tends towards a Brownfield approach.

Unlike enterprises opting for the Greenfield (first-time implementation or a clean slate) or Hybrid (migrating some existing systems) approaches, those embarking on a Brownfield approach have several unique considerations.

These include the analysis, adaption and tuning of ABAP custom code.

ABAP code clean up and adaption.

The custom code clean-up and adaption process consists of the preparatory analysis and the adaptation of the custom code after the technical system conversion.

Analysis and clean-up

The first step is analysing existing custom code to determine its value to the business going forward. This will help determine the ABAP custom code that needs to be taken over to SAP S/4HANA and identify the rarely used or no longer needed code that can be deleted during the system conversion.

Effective scoping enables the existing custom code to be optimised and minimises the overall adaptation effort.

Adaptation

Next is the adaption process to ensure the code will run on the S/4 HANA Platform. Because the S/4 HANA platform operates differently, some custom code must be modified to adapt. This includes adapting any modifications related to ABAP Dictionary objects and modifications related to repository objects.

Some code can be automatically transitioned without modification, while others require substantial changes.

SAP provides several tools within ABAP Test Cockpit (ATC) to run code checks, resulting in a list of ATC findings for SAP S/4HANA simplifications. The findings will provide a list.

Tuning

Finally, check which business processes need to be optimized in SAP HANA. This involves checking the performance of the most used SQL statements to optimise each.

Missing this step could result in expensive SQL queries running much longer than necessary and an unnecessary overuse iof system resources.

The value of automation.

Keeping track of the custom code progressing through each phase and the action required for each can be overwhelming. Spreadsheets will help but fall way short of a best-practice approach.

A new eBook from Basis Technologies highlights how automation can help.

“Driving a Brownfield SAP S/4HANA transformation with confidence - A best practice guide to making the critical migration journey fast, affordable and safe”, is a free guide to minimising the risks associated with a Brownfield transformation.

Feel free to access your copy here: Access the free guide.

We can help.

Leg Up Software are expert in SAP IT operational and infrastructure software automation solutions, including those to support an enterprise’s transformation journey.

We know the SAP operations and infrastructure automation solutions landscape and have already done the legwork to identify the best solutions.

We have excellent relationships with many software vendors and can negotiate an evaluation process that best suits your circumstances and budget.

Why not set up a time to start the conversation by putting something in our calendar?

Make time to talk with Rick.