Migrate from Dynamics to SAP S/4HANA

It is almost night and day when you get involve with this migration. I'm on my 3rd system migration from Dynamics AX/GP to SAP S4HANA and there's always something unique in each implementation.

One uniqueness is the S4 platform - On-premise vs Cloud, now there's Hybrid. Data migration is another unique criteria to consider. 

The process is almost the same as I remember, a WRICEF or RICEFW was the basis of all the development work and all other requirements like functional specs, change management, master data, etc. were documented.

Every detail is documented and this is where the implementation approach differs from Dynamics and SAP. This is why I said from the start it's like night and day. In a typical Dynamics implementation unless the partner don't have the resources, you normally will deal with a PM, a functional consultant, developer and maybe a report writer but the developer can fill this in some instances. 

The biggest difference is the functional consultant which in a Dynamics project is normally your resource for financials, distribution (supply chain), interfaces and reporting. In SAP, you have functional consultants in almost every module, well that's what I've experienced so far. You have one or two in FI/CO, one each for OTC, PTP and if you do inventory management (MTS/MTO) you need at least one. On the technical side you have one for conversions, one for SAP PI/PO, one or 2 for reporting, more than one for development (ABAP) based on WRICEF and one for training. There's more required for HANA hardware and database.

To summarize, the investment for the migration includes the following:

- SAP S/4HANA licenses. Do multiple negotiations before you commit to SAP.

- HANA hardware (Cloud, Hybrid, on-premise). Azure and AWS are pretty stable now.

- Implementation partner which can be one or multiple and I've done 3 partners at once (Not recommended)

- Internal resources. You'd rather over invest here as you don't want to scramble looking for a resource in the middle of the implementation 

- Get an overall Program Lead not just a project mgr who will oversee functional, technical, infrastructure, financials, and more important "change management". Don't underestimate the last one as you can be on schedule and budget but if your business partners are not happy with the transition then they won't consider it a success internally.