Where to begin and how to succeed
Migrating to SAP S/4HANA is a critical milestone for many organizations seeking to modernize operations, consolidate systems, and position themselves for future growth.
But without the right approach, the journey can quickly become complex, costly and high risk. With SAP ending mainstream maintenance for ECC in 2027, organizations also face a clear deadline to upgrade.
Delaying the transition increases the risk of running unsupported systems, compliance issues, and costly last-minute efforts.
At Hopp, we bring a focused, proven methodology that combines business understanding with technical precision.
Our approach is designed to accelerate delivery, reduce risk, and ensure your migration doesn’t just move data; it moves your business forward with shorter time to market and lower total cost than traditional methods.
Business-Driven Scoping Based on Real-World Objects
A successful S/4HANA data migration begins with clearly defined scoping, not at the technical table level, but at the business level.
Instead of focusing on individual tables or fields, Hopp structures the migration around complete business objects.
This business-first scoping phase helps identify:
- Which business objects are required for the target environment
- How data flows between systems and processes
- Where potential risks or data quality issues exist
- What outcomes the organization needs to achieve from the migration
By aligning the scope with operational objectives rather than purely technical parameters, this approach ensures that migration delivers measurable value, minimizes unnecessary complexity, and stays on track with project timelines.
It lays the foundation for a controlled, transparent, and scalable migration process.
Our Process is Structured, Transparent, Scalable
At the core of Hopp’s approach is a structured end-to-end framework tailored to S/4HANA projects.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to the process:
1. Assess and Plan
Hopp supports different migration strategies whether you’re opting for a greenfield implementation, a selective data migration, or a full system conversion.
We also fully support hybrid approaches that combine elements of both new implementation and system conversion.
In these cases, organizations may choose to preserve specific parts of the existing SAP system while redesigning or leaving others behind.
This flexible setup makes it possible to retain what works, improve what doesn’t, and avoid migrating unnecessary legacy data ultimately helping to accelerate time-to-value and minimize disruption.
Whether you're reusing parts of an existing landscape or building a completely new one, preparation is key.
For system conversion or selective migration, this means ensuring compatibility with SAP S/4HANA by reviewing legacy customizations, third-party integrations, and database requirements.
For greenfield implementations, preparation focuses on designing the target system architecture, defining required business processes, and aligning data structures with the S/4HANA model.
3. Data analysis
After preparing the system, the next step is to analyze the existing data to understand its structure, usage, and quality.
This analysis helps determine what data needs to be migrated, transformed, or potentially excluded.
4. Data Cleansing and Preparation
Depending on the project requirements, data cleansing may be a necessary step to remove outdated, duplicate, or irrelevant data helping to reduce system clutter and improve efficiency.
When needed, cleansing and preparation can be handled directly within the Hopp platform, using built-in validation and transformation capabilities.
This ensures clean, structured data flows into the target system without the need for additional tooling or manual effort.
5. Choose the Right Migration Tools and the Right Support
SAP provides several essential tools to support the technical aspects of migration to S/4HANA, including:
- SAP Migration Cockpit: for structured data transfer
- SAP Data Services: for complex data transformation
- SAP SLT: for real-time or near real-time data replication
However, successful migration isn’t just about using the right tools, it’s about setting them up for success.
Hopp is used before, around, and together with these SAP tools to ensure migrations run smoothly. Hopp helps structure the process from the start, preparing and validating data, aligning formats, and embedding business logic early.
This minimizes failure points, reduces rework, and ensures a faster, more reliable migration.
By surrounding the SAP tools with Hopp’s governance, repeatability, and automation, companies can accelerate delivery, reduce risk, and move forward with confidence.
6. Execute the Migration
In Hopp’s SAP migration framework, execution involves converting the existing SAP ERP system or other legacy systems to S/4HANA while retaining key data, configurations, and business logic.
Rather than starting from scratch, Hopp accelerates the process by leveraging a comprehensive library of prebuilt business objects specifically designed for S/4HANA.
These ready-to-use models represent real-world business objects such as customers, vendors, materials, and finance documents and come with embedded rules and dependencies aligned with the target environment.
This approach enables a structured transition by:
- Validating and preparing data ahead of system-level conversion, based on proven business object templates
- Ensuring all necessary configurations and dependencies are accounted for, reducing gaps or omissions
- Supporting data consistency and completeness across modules through built-in validation and cross-module linkage
Hopp works in parallel with SAP’s technical tools (like Migration Cockpit and Data Services), orchestrating the flow of clean, structured data into the new environment.
This methodology preserves critical information while accelerating time-to-value by minimizing errors, rework, and costly rollbacks.
7. Testing and Validation
After migration, conduct thorough testing to ensure data integrity, system performance, and business process functionality. Involve key users to validate the system before going live.
8. Go-Live and Monitoring
Once testing is successful, switch to the new system. Continuously monitor performance, address any issues, and provide user training for a smooth transition.
A well-structured migration strategy ensures a seamless move to SAP S/4HANA, optimizing business operations and future-proofing your ERP system.
Focus Areas That Drive Project Success
What sets Hopp apart is not just the tools, but the methods:
- Business Object Model: We migrate real business objects, not just isolated tables, which creates a more manageable, intuitive process and minimizes integration challenges.
- Built-In Data Governance: Every step is traceable, and version controlled. You get full visibility, auditability, and accountability across the entire migration process.
- Iterative Delivery with Quality Built-In: Our process supports agile delivery, allowing for rapid adjustments without starting over. Combined with embedded validation and issue tracking, this ensures a high-quality result every time and avoids costly rollbacks or delays.
- User-Friendly Experience: A simple and intuitive interface makes it easy for both IT and business users to get started quickly and adapt to the system, supporting collaboration, alignment, and faster decision-making. This reduces training time and increases adoption across teams.
- Low-Code Simplicity: Get up and running quickly with no complex setup or heavy coding. Fewer developers needed, and business users can build and adapt solutions themselves. This reduces dependency on scarce technical resources and lowers cost.