“Planning a SAP S/4HANA migration: If you answer Yes, you’ve come to the ideal page to learn how.” 

SAP S/4HANA is an advanced enterprise resource planning software suite created by SAP SE that uses in-memory database technology for real-time data processing and analysis. 

Migrating to SAP S/4HANA Cloud can be a time-consuming and challenging process, but it does not have to be, with ample planning and preparation, companies can facilitate a seamless transfer that optimizes operations for the future 

The go-live process is one of the most crucial steps in installing a new system. This is the point at which the system goes live and been utilized in a production environment. As a result, appropriate preparation is required to enable a seamless transition and minimize any possible risks to business processes.  

Firstly, Let’s Know What SAP Go-Live Check is! 

“SAP Go-Live Check” is a set of operations performed prior to launching the system into production. These checks are intended to assess the SAP S/4HANA environment’s readiness and stability, facilitating the transition from the legacy system to the new platform. 

So, How does it benefit you? 

• It reduces risks while also ensuring a seamless transition and minimizing interruptions. 
• It ensures system stability and provides a reliable foundation for business activities.  
• It ensures the accuracy of data, preventing errors or conflicts. 

Your transition S/4HANA offers three different strategies to choose from; similarly, your go live check varies depending on the strategy you choose.   

Do you think it is going to be same for greenfield and brownfield when it comes to transitioning to S/4HANA? 

Well, the answer is, No! 

In this blog, we’ll go through the key steps involved in the preparation for go-live and ensuring a successful deployment for various Implementations 

• Go-Live Check Service for Greenfield Implementation: 

A greenfield implementation go-live check service verifies the readiness of a new system or application before it is launched. This service assists in identifying possible challenges, risks and gaps that might impact your transformation.  

The following are some actions that can be used to conduct a Greenfield installation: 

➔ Conduct a readiness assessment: Evaluates the new system’s readiness by determining whether all essential components, such as hardware, software, and infrastructure, are in place and working properly. Ensures that all system integrations are tested properly

➔ Functional and system testing: It conducts testing across various scenarios and use cases to identify potential issues or bugs, also ensures that the system can manage the anticipated workload, user traffic, and data. 

➔ Review security and compliance: It examines the system’s security and compliance measures to verify whether it fulfils the needs of the organization and industry standards, By Conducting a full security audit of the system, which includes vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. 

➔ Validation of data transfer and transformation: It verifies the proper functioning of the data transfer and transformation mechanisms. Ensure that all data from the old system is transferred accurately and completely to the new system. 

➔ Plan for post-implementation support: Creates a support system, which includes a helpdesk and escalation procedures, to deal with any difficulties that emerge after the go live. 

• Go Live Check Service for Brownfield Implementation: 

A go-live check is necessary for a brownfield implementation, in which an existing system is upgraded, to ensure that the enhanced system functions work well and satisfies the business requirements.  

Here are some essential steps to take while doing a brownfield installation: 

➔ System Testing: Before going live, it is essential to do system testing to confirm that the updated system is functioning properly. This includes testing all system components such as interfaces, reports, and business processes to ensure that they work properly in the updated system. 

➔ User acceptance testing: User acceptance testing comprises testing the improved system with end users to ensure that it meets their needs and is user-friendly. This testing should be conducted with a varied group of end users who can offer input on the system’s usability and functionality 

➔ Regression Testing: Regression testing entails evaluating the updated system to ensure that it has not negatively impacted any existing functionality. This testing should be performed to confirm that current system integrations continue to work properly. 

➔ Data Validation: Before going live, it is critical to validate all data in the updated system. Hence the regression testing confirms that all the data from the old system was successfully migrated and that there are no data inconsistencies or errors.  

➔ Security Testing: This testing entails evaluating the improved system’s security measures to guarantee that the system is secure, and data is secured. It also includes various features like user access restrictions, data encryption, and other security measures. 

Upgrading to SAP S/4HANA is a huge task, and the project’s success is contingent on meticulous planning and preparation. This is where the SAP Readiness assessment report comes in helpful when planning an SAP S/4HANA upgrade.

Let’s look into the Process involved in SAP S/4HANA Readiness assessment.

Process involved in SAP S/4HANA Readiness assessment

The assessment generally involves assessing an association’s IT structure, business processes, data structures, and user interfaces to determine what needs to be streamlined or changed to support S/4HANA. The following are the major steps involved in the readiness assessment:

Let’s learn more about them in detail. 

• System Analysis:

System analysis is the process of carefully reviewing and comprehending an organization’s current systems, processes, data, infrastructure, and needs to choose the best strategy for adopting SAP solutions.  

• Business Process Analysis:

Business process analysis involves assessing and improving the organization’s current business procedures to bring them into compliance with SAP’s best practices and functionality. This is essential to ensuring that the SAP deployment fulfils the organization’s unique requirements while maximizing efficiency and productivity. 

• Data Analysis:

Examining and managing data within the SAP system to guarantee its integrity, correctness, and completeness is known as data analysis. It includes a variety of actions targeted at comprehending the data requirements, assessing the caliber of the current data, and formulating plans for data transfer, cleansing, and integration. 

• Technical Analysis:

It is the process of examining and studying the technical components of a system, such as SAP. It places a strong emphasis on system configuration, customization, integration, and performance for the system’s deployment and operation to be successful. 

• Risk Assessment:

The first stage of risk assessment is to identify possible risks that might occur during the setup of SAP system. It also covers risks relating to organizational transformation, compliance, process integrity, system performance, and data security.
Risks are first identified, and then their chance of happening and possible effects on the company are carefully analyzed. 

Your role in your organization transformation: 

When planning an upgrade, organizations confront a number of responsibilities that are critical to the project’s success. These tasks cover a wide range of parts of the upgrade process, from formulating project objectives through testing the upgraded system, these responsibilities include: 

• Defining project objectives 
• Providing accurate system information 
• Ensuring system readiness 
• Identifying and resolving modifications 
• Ensuring data readiness
  
• Ensuring user readiness 
• Testing the upgraded system 
  

Last Thought: 

We recognize that transitioning to SAP S/4HANA is a major choice with substantial implications for your organization. KaarTech’s goal is to assist you in discovering new benefits by unlocking new corporate value using SAP’s Intelligent ERP.
Our team of Digital Transformation Consultants who have decades of experience in handling numerous transformation projects are here to guide you by conducting various assessments and help you choose the right transformation path.

We, KaarTech have more than 17+ years of expertise in SAP services and solutions. As an SAP Gold Partner with extensive experience in implementing SAP solutions across various industries, KaarTech has demonstrated its ability to deliver 70+ SAP S/4HANA implementations for 300+ happy customers. 

FAQ’s

Why is Go-live preparation crucial for new implementations? 

Going live preparation is vital for a new implementation as it allows for the identification and resolution of any unforeseen issues, ensuring a smooth transition from testing to production.

What are the benefits we get by Readiness assessment tool? 

Utilizing a readiness assessment tool provides organizations with a comprehensive evaluation, enabling effective risk mitigation, actionable insights, increased success rate, and cost and time savings.

What are the responsibilities when preparing for an upgrade? 

The responsibilities customer needs to take while upgrading is defining project objectives, providing accurate system information, ensuring system readiness, identifying and resolving modifications, ensuring data readiness, ensuring user readiness, and thorough testing of the upgraded system.

What Exactly is Go-live Check is? 

A “go-live check” is a set of operations performed prior to launching the system into production. These checks are intended to assess the SAP S/4HANA environment’s readiness and stability, facilitating the transition from the legacy system to the new platform.