Why Data Archiving is Essential for SAP ECC to S/4HANA Migration and Beyond.

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For organisations preparing for their migration journey to S/4HANA, archiving has become a crucial consideration. SAP’s own research highlights that companies who proactively archive data prior to their S/4HANA migration achieve migration times that are 30-40% faster. This considerable reduction in migration duration directly translates into lower operational downtime, fewer complexities during conversion, and reduced project costs.

Unlike traditional ECC systems, S/4HANA operates on an in-memory database. This shift means every gigabyte of data held directly in S/4HANA memory costs significantly more than storage in traditional persistent databases used in ECC. Efficiently managing data through archiving or deletion can therefore substantially decrease total cost of ownership in an S/4HANA environment.

Historically, many SAP ECC customers did not prioritise data archiving as rigorously, often due to perceived lower storage costs and fewer immediate performance impacts. However, as businesses transition into the S/4HANA world, the mindset around data management must evolve. Data archiving is no longer merely a recommended housekeeping exercise but an essential strategic initiative vital to both system performance and financial efficiency.

In short, proactive data archiving and deletion strategies are not optional for SAP customers migrating to or already operating on S/4HANA—they are fundamental to long-term operational sustainability and cost-effective data management.

For organisations currently operating on ECC, the first crucial step is to fully understand the scope of the data management challenge. Employing analysis tools such as SAP's Data Volume Management (DVM), SNP Scanning, or KTern.AI can provide essential insights into the composition and scale of data held within the system. In my experience, every customer who undertakes this analysis invariably uncovers previously unknown details about their systems and the data they store, making this exercise invaluable for informed decision-making.

Additionally, carrying out fundamental housekeeping activities is essential. Standard technical SAP routines can efficiently handle routine data management tasks, such as clearing temporary data, removing obsolete logs, and ensuring efficient table management. These standard housekeeping tasks significantly simplify the overall data landscape by removing unnecessary data that could otherwise clutter and slow down the migration process.

Moreover, path-clearing projects are a critical pre-conversion step. For instance, organisations that defaulted to storing large (or any) volumes of documents or images within their database, need to take action. Migrating these documents and images from the primary database to an external repository, such as SAP Content Server or suitable third-party solutions, can drastically reduce the volume of data directly managed within ECC.  I have lost count of the number of customers with large databases where the largest table is SOFFCONT1.  This strategic step can save significant amounts of money in the S/4HANA in-memory world.

However, comprehensive archiving and deletion processes present more complex challenges. These processes demand substantial functional and business expertise due to the intricate nature of transactional data and custom configurations often found in older ECC systems. A lack of previous archiving activities exacerbates these difficulties, resulting in a large backlog of historical data that needs careful consideration and handling.

Furthermore, open transactions and interdependencies between archiving objects frequently complicate the archiving process. For instance, unresolved financial postings or incomplete procurement transactions can block archiving efforts, requiring meticulous resolution before data archiving can proceed. The sequencing of archiving objects, particularly between Finance (FI) and Controlling (CO), is essential to avoid disruptions in dependent processes. These complexities sometimes make archiving and deletion near impossible within feasible timelines, compelling organisations to consider a selective transformation approach rather than a straightforward brownfield conversion.

Despite these challenges, effective pre-conversion archiving and data cleansing efforts significantly improve the subsequent S/4HANA conversion. They simplify the conversion process, reduce migration times, minimise downtime, and enhance the post-conversion system's performance, manageability, and cost-efficiency. Consequently, investing in thorough and strategic pre-conversion archiving is indispensable for organisations aiming for a smooth transition to S/4HANA.

Once the effort of archiving and migrating to S/4HANA has been completed, maintaining rigorous housekeeping and archiving practices must become an integral part of everyday operational procedures. Organisations should approach data management proactively, embedding these processes into standard operational frameworks rather than treating them as occasional tasks.

In the post-conversion landscape, it is essential to consider multiple complementary strategies, including data tiering and data aging. Data aging, a standard functionality in S/4HANA, allows organisations to categorise data based on its access frequency and relevance. For instance, business-critical or frequently accessed data remains fully in-memory, providing optimal performance. Meanwhile, less frequently accessed data is systematically shifted to less costly storage tiers, significantly reducing memory consumption and associated costs.

However, data aging alone does not replace the need for robust archiving. Archiving permanently moves infrequently used or obsolete data out of the operational database into dedicated archive storage, drastically reducing in-memory demands and thus lowering overall costs. The combination of data aging and regular archiving offers organisations a sustainable approach to managing the inevitable growth in data volumes, typically around 10-15% per year, ensuring continuous system performance and stability.

Fundamental to the success of post-conversion data management is clear ownership. It is crucial that specific roles within the organisation assume responsibility for maintaining a comprehensive overview of data storage and management practices. These roles should consistently challenge and question data retention policies, asking critical questions such as: "Is this data necessary?", "Where should this data be stored?", and "Is our storage approach cost-effective?"

Additionally, when new functionalities or customisations are introduced into the S/4HANA environment, it is imperative to consider their impact on data lifecycle management from the outset. This means embedding lifecycle considerations into design decisions, ensuring future ease of management, archival suitability, and compliance.

Ultimately, adopting an ongoing strategic approach to data management post-go-live ensures operational sustainability, effective cost management, and optimised system performance, positioning the organisation to benefit fully from its S/4HANA investment.

In summary, a successful brownfield migration from ECC to S/4HANA fundamentally depends on careful planning and the strategic implementation of effective archiving practices. Reducing the data volume within the ECC system significantly simplifies the migration process, resulting in a smoother, faster, and less complex transition to S/4HANA. Additionally, the benefits extend well beyond the initial migration, positively impacting ongoing system costs by minimising data storage needs, processing requirements, and associated infrastructure expenses.

Efficiently organised and regularly archived data directly reduces computational requirements, thereby lowering processing costs and enhancing transactional system performance. The implications for cost control are especially critical in an S/4HANA environment due to the higher costs associated with in-memory storage and processing. Proactively managing data volumes mitigates these expenses, ensuring better system efficiency and financial predictability.

Crucially, successful organisations understand that robust data management and archiving are ongoing responsibilities rather than isolated tasks. A strategic, embedded approach to data lifecycle management must underpin all aspects of system design, delivery, and daily operations. Organisations that embed this proactive mindset into their operational culture are better positioned to sustain optimal performance, ensure compliance, and adapt to future technological demands, thereby fully safeguarding the long-term value of their S/4HANA investment.