Navigating SAP S/4HANA Upgrades: Here are 5 Best Practices

With a lot of organizations already on various SAP S/4HANA versions, now comes the important question of how to continue to be on the innovation journey via periodic version upgrades.

On-prem customers have the flexibility of pushing out the upgrade decision until it is out of maintenance from SAP. RISE with SAP customers also have some amount of flexibility in choosing when to upgrade within the RISE program. Regardless of whether you are on-prem or on RISE, the key challenges faced are somewhat similar. Here are 5 best practices that you can adopt proactively to ensure that your innovation journey with SAP S/4HANA upgrades is seamless and risk mitigated:

1. SAP Readiness Check: Run the SAP Readiness Check for S/4HANA Upgrades (SAP Note 3059197). This free tool provided by SAP will identify the impacts of upgrading to the target S/4HANA release. Impacts identified include compatibility issues with installed add-ons, required custom code adjustments, and required adjustments related to integration across all interface types. What’s missing from the SAP Readiness Check is the impact on Standard Fiori apps.  NTT DATA Business Solutions has developed a proprietary tool to extract Fiori Usage data which can be used to run the SAP Fiori upgrade impact analysis.
2. Data: A well-planned data archiving strategy is crucial for a successful and cost-effective S/4HANA upgrade, as it optimizes system performance, reduces upgrade costs, ensures data integrity, improves compliance, and enables a more agile IT environment.
3. Testing: A comprehensive testing strategy covering functional, performance, and user experience aspects is vital for a successful and risk-mitigated SAP S/4HANA upgrade, as it helps maintain business continuity, data integrity, and user productivity.
4. Functional Value: With newer versions come various innovations that can reduce costs and drive additional business value. Evaluating these opportunities and identifying the relevant ones to be the fast-followers after a technical upgrade will ensure that your investment continues to bring incremental returns.
5. Cloud Concierge Services: If you are on a RISE with SAP solution, then you should also consider the RISE Cloud Concierge Services from NTT DATA Business Solutions to make the upgrade journey a very positive experience. Cloud Concierge Services complements RISE by providing a white-glove experience to customers by taking care of all the technical aspects of the solution.

Take these proactive steps to ensure your upgrade initiatives are smooth and minimize disruption. Working with a partner with the relevant SAP S/4HANA upgrade experience will make navigating these steps easier and ensure organizations can fully realize the benefits of the latest version.

Further reading:

• Why Data Archiving is Important for Today’s SAP Environment
• SAP Automated Testing Services
• Functional Value with Advisory Services
• Cloud Concierge for RISE with SAP