Conversion to SAP S/4HANA with SUM

What Is SAP S/4HANA?

SAP S/4HANA is the next-generation business suite. It is a new product fully built on the most advanced in-memory platform today – SAP HANA – and modern design principles with the SAP Fiori user experience (UX) and a new role-based user experience concept. SAP S/4HANA delivers massive simplifications (data model, user experience, decision making, business processes, and models) and innovations (Internet of Things, Big Data, business networks, and mobile-first) to help businesses run simple in the digital economy.

SAP S/4HANA offers a business scope that is similar in terms of coverage, functionality, industries, and languages as the SAP Business Suite 7. Within this scope, SAP S/4HANA also includes the transformational simplifications delivered with SAP S/4HANA Finance (SAP Accounting powered by SAP HANA) as well as a planned integration with SuccessFactors Employee Central and Ariba Network.

The S/4HANA system conversion is based on the switch upgrade procedure within SUM (see also Technical Details of the Upgrade Procedure), optionally with database migration option (DMO) if the source system is not yet on SAP HANA database (see also The DMO Concept).

Framework Conditions for SAP S/4HANA

SAP HANA only: SAP S/4HANA runs on SAP HANA database only. You may have your source SAP ERP system still on another database. The Software Update Manager offers additionally the migration from any database to SAP HANA database during the conversion.
Unicode only: SAP S/4HANA runs with Unicode only. Therefore, you need to migrate to Unicode first before you start the conversion to SAP S/4HANA.

An integrated non-unicode to unicode conversion together with the conversion to SAP S/4HANA is not available. The database migration option of the Software Update Manager offers an integrated unicode conversion only for target releases not higher than SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 7.
Start Release: The lowest start release for the one-step conversion is SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 0 Unicode.

If your system is on a lower release, we recommend carrying out an upgrade to SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 7 first. If the system is on non-Unicode, we recommend an upgrade to SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 7 with DMO including Unicode migration. For both scenarios, you have a two-step procedure.

The lowest supported start release for the upgrade and DMO to SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 7 is SAP R/3 4.6C.
Conversion with or without DMO?
For the conversion to SAP S/4HANA, you have two options depending on the source database:
- SAP HANA database to SAP HANA database
  
  If you run a system already on an SAP HANA database, you carry out the conversion using the Software Update Manager without the database migration option.
- Any database to SAP HANA database
  
  If you run a system on a database other than SAP HANA, you carry out the conversion using the Software Update Manage with the database migration option.

Conversion to SAP S/4HANA

The conversion process to SAP S/4HANA consists of two main phases: the Prepare phase and the Realize phase. The following figure gives an overview of the tools, the phases, and the activities involved in the process:

Prepare Phase

Before starting the realization phase of the conversion process, you have to check the Simplification List, and you have to carry out some preparatory activities.

System Requirements: Before deciding to convert your SAP ERP system to SAP S/4HANA, there are preparatory activities to ensure that you know what the conversion entails. Start with high-level planning for the system requirements. You need to be aware of system requirements, start releases, conversion paths, and data volume. Take into account that system landscape adaptations are performed and make sure that your current SAP system is suitable for the conversion.

Once you have completed your high-level planning, you can continue with the conversion preparation. SAP provides a process for converting to SAP S/4 HANA. There are several components and tools to help with this process:

Maintenance Planner: The Maintenance Planner checks the system with regard to business functions and add-ons. It is a pre-requisite for the system conversion to SAP S/4HANA.
Simplification Item-Check (SI-Check): You run the SI-Check to identify the simplification items relevant for your upgrade project. We recommend to do this early in the project, to get an overview of the upgrade scope.
Custom Code Check: Based on the Simplification list concept, you need to check your custom code against the SAP S/4HANA simplifications before converting to SAP S/4HANA.

Realize Phase

You have completed the abovementioned activities, and you have implemented all the adaptations required to ensure that your system and your custom code are suited to SAP S/4HANA. You can now run the Software Update Manager, either with or without DMO. After the SUM run, there are cross-application and application-specific post-conversion follow-up activities that may be required.

The following figure gives an overview of how the Software Update manager is embedded in the conversion process:

More Information

For more information about the conversion process, see the Conversion Guide for SAP S/4HANA on the SAP Help Portal at http://help.sap.com/s4hanaYou use the Software Update Manager as tool for the process of transitioning <S/4HANA version> Product Documentation Conversion Guide . The guide explains the conversion process with which you can move from your existing SAP Business Suite to SAP S/4HANA as next-generation business suite.
Note

This guide, which you are currently reading, focuses mainly on the Software Update Manager tool and its database migration option.
See also the blog in the SAP Community about the technical aspects of Software Update Manager (SUM) for a System Conversion: System Conversion to SAP S/4HANA: SUM is the tool.
We also recommend the blog in the SAP Community about the short introduction into the SAP S/4HANA System Conversion: SAP S/4HANA System Conversion – At a glance.