How to prepare to S/4 HANA conversion – part 1
(aka SAP Note 2631152 – Database Migration Option (DMO) of SUM 2.0 SP03)
When considering or preparing a transition to SAP S/4 HANA one key aspect is that after all marketing hype, SAP S/4 HANA conversion is a primarily a technical transition for most of the companies using SAP. Even though all marketing talk focuses on a transition in one step, the fact is that for most of the companies their current platform is not ready for the leap directly to SAP S/4 HANA. In stead, they need one or more intermediate steps to prepare their current SAP ERP landscape for HANA and as well manage all other SAP systems beside SAP ERP to be compliant for HANA or to harmonize the used databases to minimize the cost of database fees. Naturally, there is not a single approach – everything depends what is customer’s current database and operating system and relevant versions.
The key source of information for preparing for SAP S/4 HANA conversion is cryptically named SAP Note 2631152 Database Migration Option (DMO) of SUM 2.0 SP03. SAP Software updates and conversion to SAP S/4 HANA is managed with Software Update Manager (SUM) which is equipped with the feature for database migration option (DMO), which helps to avoid landscape changes (SID, host name) and tool combines all relevant steps for the migration to SAP HANA.
This note lists the minimum requirements and limitations for different platform options. Key points from the note are:
- In order to convert to SAP S/4 HANA with DMO of SUM 2.0, you should be running on SAP ERP 6.0 or higher and system should be a Unicode system. If you happen to be on older version of SAP ERP or on non-Unicode system, you need first upgrade to SAP ERP 6.0 (any EHP level) or do Unicode conversion. However, most of the customers are running on SAP ERP with Unicode, so this is not an issue.
- The latest SAP S/4 HANA version is 1809 running on SAP HANA DB 2.0, which is based on SAP NetWeaver 7.52. Technically this is your target version against which you should map your current system and plan your steps.
- If want to move to latest SAP S/4 HANA version and you are running on Oracle database, the source database must be Oracle version 12 or higher, or if you are running on MS SQL database, the source database must be MS SQL 2012 or higher. In other case, you need first do a database upgrade.
- If you are running on Windows operating system, MS Windows Server 2012 or higher is required if you want to move to latest SAP S/4 HANA version. If you have older Windows operating system, you will need to do OS upgrade first.
- “DMO with System Move” scenario allows to switch the application server, which means that you can move your system to different data center. Earlier there were limitation for DMO with system move scenario, but currently all source databases and any unix-based or windows operating systems are supported.
Everything really starts on where you are now and that dictates how your transition path can be planned. When you want to start planning your path to SAP S/4 HANA, minimum information you need to share with your partner is EWA reports for your SAP systems. EWA reports contain details for your systems and based on that your partner can plan what steps are needed for you to move to SAP S/4 HANA. The actual schedule and sequence of tasks can then be aligned with your own plans of how functional transformation should be handled: would you do only the technical conversion with minimal mandatory application side changes or include implementation of new functionality along the conversion project.
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