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SAP HANA is a high-performance system, and as such, it can cause massive increases in the amount of data that must be managed by your organization.

As Avantra explains (https://www.avantra.com/sap-hana-performance-monitoring), this can be very frustrating for many organizations, which means that many of them are forced to migrate their SAP systems to a newer platform to accommodate the extra data and manage the increase in the number of users.

In this post, we’ll discuss why SAP HANA migration is necessary and how to make the process as seamless as possible.

What is SAP HANA Migration?

Before learning about SAP HANA migration, it’s important to understand what SAP HANA means. SAP HANA is an in-memory database that’s used for ERP applications. It utilises the RAM to organise, analyse and give real-time information on large data.

SAP S/4HANA is the latest version, and it’s much faster and more efficient than its predecessor. SAP HANA features various capabilities like application development, database management and data virtualisation. It also supports the Advanced Business Application Programming language.

This version was designed to target organisations that want to utilise the cloud maximally. Over 33,000 global customers are using SAP HANA, and about 16,000 have migrated to use SAP S/4HANA.

Understanding SAP S/4HANA Before Migrating

SAP HANA was released in 2010 and had been running on Linux®. However, now it only runs on the Linux operating system. Therefore, organisations using a different operating system will have to migrate from the legacy ERP system and migrate to Linux.

Linux offers SAP S/4HANA a solid foundation that gives stability, more security, better performance, flexibility and large scale availability. The migration to SAP HANA will help organisations become alert and competitive through modernisation and improved ways of taking advantage of the cloud.

Why is SAP HANA Migration Necessary?

The SAP S/4 HANA utilises an in-memory database, but the previous versions used outsourced databases. There is a lot of data in the old database, so there is a need to migrate to the new S/4 HANA.
For an organisation to get all their previous data on the new platform, SAP HANA migration has to be done. This migration will ensure that you get your data in sync and connected. It will also get overcome the drawbacks of the old databases.

How to Do SAP HANA Migration

The SAP HANA migration takes place in three phases, namely:

• The Pre-conversion phase – in this stage, you perform all the pre-steps necessary before the conversion. These steps will help you discover any underlying issues during the early phase of the conversion. In other terms, it’s also known as the preparatory stage.

During the preparatory stage, you check and fix any issues in the SAP ECC system. In doing so, the conversion process will be seamless and error-free.

• The Conversion phase – this phase involves converting the system to S4 HANA. It involves adaptation to the new processes and validation. The phase has two steps: conversion and migration.

For the SAP Database conversion, you convert the old ECC model and update it to the new S4 HANA system. The SAP S4 HANA uses the Business Suit or Enterprise Management in place of ECC. After the conversion, you have to adopt a new business process.

• The Post-conversion phase – is the final stage which involves follow-up activities that ensure the SAP S4 HANA is in great working condition. You have to check if there is maximum use of the new database.

Migrating SAP HANA Smoothly

To perform the SAP HANA migration, you should carry out a heterogenous system copy using the usual tools like software provisioning manager, the Migration Monitor and R3load. During the system copy, the following has to be done:

Change the operating system (OS migration)
Change the database system (DB migration)
Change both the operating system and database system (OS/DB migration)

SAP HANA Migration Summary

SAP HANA migration is important to upgrade SAP ERP to the S/4 HANA platform. Therefore, you must understand the concept well before venturing into it. This article has described the SAP HANA migration and how to do it seamlessly. Hopefully, by reading through, you can successfully do a migration of your SAP HANA.

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George Wilson

Data Science and Business Intelligence Strategist at Symbolic Data

George Wilson is the Lead Editor at Symbolic Data, where he spearheads the editorial direction and content strategy. With over a decade of experience in business intelligence and data management, George has established himself as a thought leader in the field. His expertise lies in translating complex data concepts into actionable insights for business executives and CEOs.